RICER
There is no other way to achieve light and fluffy mashed potatoes. It is also the perfect tool for extracting moisture from cooked spinach, grated potatoes, etc.
THERMOMETER
Why guess when you can know exactly when your food is done, or safe? Instant-read thermometers now register temperatures all the way from freezing to boiling sugar for candy making.
WOODEN SPOONS
Aside from being things of beauty that connect us with all our cooking ancestors, wooden spoons are usually the best tool for the job – mixing, stirring, folding. And the handles don’t get hot when you leave the spoon in the pot.
Daniel – For various reasons, wooden spoons aren’t often used in restaurants anymore. Before they were banned, a wooden spoon was like a maestro’s conducting baton in the hands of a chef, including my grandmother. Chefs would use them to point, gesture for emphasis, or even threaten. My grandmother delivered a few well-deserved smacks with a wooden spoon. The memories of her shaking that spoon in the air will forever be dear to me. From time to time, I see a nice piece of wood and think, “That would make a good wooden spoon.” I have quite a stash of these pieces of wood by now. One of these days when I have plenty of spare time I may carve some spoons again as I did when I was a kid.
TEMPERATURE CONVERSION CHART
The cooking temperatures given in the book are shown in Fahrenheit (°F). For our readers using metric, here are the Celsius (°C) equivalents for the temperatures you’ll encounter:
| FAHRENHEIT | CELSIUS |
| 115 | 46.1 |
| 160 | 71.1 |
| 165 | 74 |
| 200 | 93.3 |
| 275 | 135 |
| 300 | 148.9 |
| 350 | 176.7 |
| 365 | 185 |
| 375 | 190.5 |
| 400 | 204.4 |
| 425 | 218.3 |
| 450 | 232.2 |
| 475 | 246.1 |
RECIPES
BREAD AND SUCH
Chris – Like the song says, let’s start at the very beginning. Making bread is a miracle that transforms lifeless flour and pure water into one of the simplest and most satisfying of pleasures. It is both a miracle to create and a delight to consume and so it has been for millennia.
Every culture has its variations. One of my great childhood pleasures was to dip a plain piece of bread into the Sunday tomato sauce as it simmered on the stove. And the first solid food of any baby in our family is a hunk of bread for them to gnaw on.
Daniel – The smell of bread rising and bread baking can trigger early childhood memories of home. In my mind, I can still see the corner of the kitchen table right against the wall where the bread would rise, covered with a kitchen towel. I remember peeking under those towels many times, wondering what was going on under there.
Chris
These two recipes really belong together because they create one of the most satisfying combinations of simple pleasures – bread and butter. That phrase has crept its way into our vernacular to stand for the very basics, the things we are most comfortable with. But real bread and butter has fallen out of the repertoire of most home cooks. Milk, honey, yeast, flour and a little salt are all that are needed to create this dynamic duo of comfort foods.
A NOTE ABOUT FLOUR
I generally use bread flour or high-gluten flour for this recipe, but all-purpose flour works just fine.
Milk and Honey Bread with Homemade Butter
Makes ½ pound of butter (plus 2 cups of whey or buttermilk) and 2 loaves of bread
BREAD
INGREDIENTS
2 cups whey (you can also use regular milk or buttermilk)
¼ cup warm water (115°F)
2 teaspoons dry yeast
¼ cup honey
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
STEPS
• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the honey and stir to combine. The yeast should begin to foam.
• Put the flour and the whey into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast and honey mixture and finally the salt.
• Beat on low speed with the dough hook until the mixture is combined. Increase the speed a notch and continue to knead until the dough forms a ball and cleans the side of the bowl. This should take around 5 minutes. If the dough appears very stiff and dry you can add a few tablespoons of water. If it is too wet you can add a few tablespoons more of flour.
• Take out the dough hook and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise for about an hour. It should double in size.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Coat the inside of 2 loaf pans with nonstick spray.
• Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface and pull the dough out of the bowl. Cut it in half. Press one half into an approximate 8-inch square. Roll it up tightly and place, seam side down, into one of the pans. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise again until the dough is an inch or more above the rim of the pan.
• Bake the loaves for 35–40 minutes or until a thermometer registers over 200°F. Let the loaves cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then empty onto a rack to cool completely.
• Cut into thick slices with a serrated knife and enjoy with a big slather of your fresh butter.
BUTTER
INGREDIENTS
1 quart heavy cream (avoid the ultra-pasteurized