Michael Ruhlman's Blog, page 20

Happy New Year! Top Posts 2014

  It’s been a busy year. I published two books, How To Roast this past fall, the first in a series of technique books, and a big book on the Egg this past spring. I continue to love the dialogue that some of the opinion pieces here inspire; I’m gratified by the enthusiasm with which the Friday Cocktail Hour was greeted (and lamented, perhaps it will return). And people enjoy the recipes when they appear, whether from me of a guest poster. The following are the top rated posts from 2014 and all of these categories are represented. The Opinion Posts, on our health and the importance of cooking, both reported and rant-only: Don’t Eat Healthy Carb Confusion: An internist at the Cleveland Clinic, who has a deep interest in nutrition, talked to me last Read On »

Hoppin’ John

Happy New Year’s Eve day! Every first of the new year I make a big pot of hoppin’ john—and re-post this recipe—black-eyed peas and some kind of cured pork, yes for good luck, but mainly because black-eyed peas are an under appreciated treasure. Nutritious and earthy and economical and deeply satisfying as frigid weather pushes down on us and we look out at the horizon of winter with no May in sight. David Tanis wrote a good piece on black-eyed peas in The Times and their ancient history. He adds greens (symbol of cash) and suggest serving with cornbread (symbol of gold). But I like it humble, without hope or fear: bacon is the cured pork, tomatoes and onions for flavor, and beans beans beans. Wishing all a healthy and fruitful new year.   Hoppin’ John Recipe Read On »

Annie’s Caviar Pie

  My dear friend Annie LaGravanese sent us a whopping big tin of paddlefish caviar (from Paramount Caviar). Paddlefish are native to the Mississippi basin and offer great roe. Caviar and hen eggs go great together. Throw in a little fat and something crunchy and you have a great bite. It’s definitely a luxury item, but at this time of year when we do a lot of entertaining, it’s worth it (especially when you have a friend like Ann!). And this pie goes a long way. It made a great hors d’oeuvre on Christmas Eve for a family of twelve. We then brought it to a friend’s dinner party three days later where it did the same, accompanied by some generous champagne from one of the guests (the preferred accompanying beverage). And yesterday, Donna and I Read On »

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy Cooking All Year Long

                                                Merry Christmas all! Hope Santa was good and brought you lots of cooking tools and/or delicious food. Hope all the cooks had success. And hope we all stopped to consider our blessings. And that we all listen to Linus, regardless of our religions. To paraphrase: “Peace and good will toward all peoples. That’s what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown.” “We are all Charlie Brown. Wishing you all a Happy New Year as it arrives.

Cocktail Cookie! The Salty Dog

Guest post by (my dear friend and assistant) Emilia Juocys It was just Thanksgiving last week, right? Oh, wait, Christmas is this week. That means I have to get into high gear for cookie baking and prepping Christmas Eve dinner. Time has flown by so fast, and I’ve been curling across the Midwest and up in Canada. No matter where I am, I am drawn to local bakeries to see their holiday offerings or talk about baking traditions from local hosts. Home baking soothes me, calms me—even if I bake at 2:00 in the morning listening to dance music, my bake rave time. Measuring ingredients, creaming the fats and sugars, rolling out dough, cutting shapes; I just love it all. Cookie baking is my passion. Cookies are the best to share with friends and family. This year I Read On »

Holiday Punches and Scamper Juice

  Holiday parties call for punch so I’m reposting the post and recipe from my friend Crashy and her Scamper Juice (pictured above with citrus ice ring, photo by donna). But there are all kinds of fun punches out there. Here are a few links with other ideas. One of my faves is the milk punch, which my pal Blake introduced me to the perfect sunday morning hangover cure which of course lead to mondays hangover (back in the eighties, no longer an option thank god.) Herewith a variety of punches and the venerable Scamper Juice. Rum Punch Punch, from the NYTimes Festive Punch Recipes from The Independent Milk Punch is Coming Back Shandy Punch from Heidi Swanson’s 101Cookbooks.com Best punch bars in the USA Holiday punch was out of fashion even in Charles Dickens’ Read On »

Holiday Cookbook Gift Suggestions

I get sent a lot of cookbooks throughout the year, some from publishers looking for blurbs, others just wanting me to know a book has been published. Recently I reviewed some select books out this season for the Wall Street Journal (it will be online for everyone here after a couple weeks). One of those books, which I highly recommend for baking, is Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. But it is not featured above because I am giving it to someone who can actually bake. What is the story about the five books above? As I said, I get a lot of books throughout the year, more than I actually have room for in the downstairs of our house. Cookbook space is now severely rationed. After much difficult thought, the above books are the ones I didn’t Read On »

Yule Log at Winter Solstice

  Carri Thurman has been a friend since she traveled from her home in Homer, Alaska, to visit her fellow Homerian, Daniel Coyle, an author and journalist who’d moved to Cleveland with his Cleveland-born wife—bless you, Dan! (His last book, The Talent Code, is a fascinating look at how talent is developed.) Carri runs Two Sisters Bakery in Homer, and she offers here some fabulous confections for the holidays, right up our alley—proving once again that chocolate, like life, is better with bacon. Thanks for sharing, Carri, and for all the helpful step-by-step pix! —MR   by Carri Thurman “Winter is not a season, it is an occupation.”—Sinclair Lewis Does it get dark there? It’s a question we get a lot this far north. And Yes, Dorothy, it does get dark. Quite dark. Here in the South Central region Read On »

Yule Log At Winter Solstice

  Carri Thurman has been a friend since she traveled from her home in Homer, Alaska, to visit her fellow Homerian, Daniel Coyle, an author and journalist who’d moved to Cleveland with his Cleveland-born wife—bless you, Dan! (His last book, The Talent Code, is a fascinating look at how talent is developed.) Carri runs Two Sisters Bakery in Homer, and she offers here some fabulous confections for the holidays, right up our alley—proving once again that chocolate, like life, is better with bacon. Thanks for sharing, Carri, and for all the helpful step-by-step pix! —MR   by Carri Thurman “Winter is not a season, it is an occupation.”—Sinclair Lewis Does it get dark there? It’s a question we get a lot this far north. And Yes, Dorothy, it does get dark. Quite dark. Here in the South Central region Read On »

One More Holiday Discount

Another chance for 50% off all Ruhlman products! We wanted to give you another opportunity to purchase holiday gifts for your friends and family! So we’re making all the tools from shop.ruhlman.com 50% off for ONE more day. Be sure to enter the promo code JOY into the designated field. Mac and Michael made these tools to make cooking easier and more fun. My mom loves using them and brags about them constantly. Most recently my friend Tricia Keels of No Chefs Allowed used the Spanker on air with Fox 28 in Columbus, Ohio, to make her Beer Cheese Soup. As you all know, the tools began with the simple offset spoon, Michael’s favorite. Great for basting and skimming as it dips naturally into the pan. The offsetness let to offset soup spoons that won’t slide into the soup! And then the big offset Read On »