Michael Ruhlman's Blog, page 89

Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Buttermilk Dinner Rolls, photo by donna

I almost never tear recipes out of magazines, but leafing through Saveur on the 8 a.m.  Houston to Cleveland flight, this recipe caught me because I'd been wanting a soft, comfort-food, James-friendly dinner roll, the kind of Parker House roll that's slightly sweet and yeasty and soft as a pillow.

Turns out this recipe comes from thefreshloaf.com, which says that the recipe is adapted from Great Country Breads of the World.

There really are no new...

Getting Creative With Salt And Slate

When Michael asked me to do a salt shot, I thought, "what can I photograph the salt on that's interesting and makes sense?" Salt—mined—rock—salt of the earth—Hey, I can use my Home Depot slate floor tiles. I bought some that are 12X12 inches and some 5X5 inches.  I'm the kind of girl who likes hardware stores so I have fun looking for interesting inexpensive surfaces and props just about anywhere.

And as long as you're taking a shot like this to illustrate a point, take some others for future ...

Your Kitchen Needs a Scale!Special Opensky Offer $1.99

My scale, measuring 7 grams or 1/4 ounce of yeast, photo by Donna

Over the weekend I made a recipe I tore from the recent issue of Saveur.  I don't use many recipes but I've been looking for a flavorful, soft, comforting roll to make and this one enticed.

Maddeningly though, it called for 5 cups of flour.  Normally when I make bread, I set the mixing bowl on the scale and pour in whatever weight I want.  But here I found myself scooping out cups, scraping off the top, flour drifting over the...

What Salt Should I Use?

Equal weights of different salts, photo by Donna. Notice the difference in volume between the kosher and fleur de sel.

After my minor salt rant, a number of people asked which salt to use and what I thought about various salts.  There are a mind-numbing array of salts out there, even big blocks of salt you can cook and serve on.  But, with apologies to Mark Bitterman, whose work and business I truly admire, I stick to three salts.  Kosher is my all-purpose, everyday...

Apple-Cinnamon Granola

Apple-Cinnamon Granola, photo by Donna

This granola smelled so good when it was baking it actually drew Donna out of bed early on a weekend morning—she's a winter bear and not easily extracted from within the comforter.  So I had to post, even though I've already posted on granola.  This uses the same technique of creating a sweet fruity sauce to toss with the oats and nuts, which I love.  Instead of strawberries and banana I used crisp sweet apples (next time I'll see how using Granny Smiths ...

Completely Unstyled Roasted Chicken Photo

After the last shot that ran—Styled Chicken & Dumplings—I am so glad Michael asked for this roasted chicken shot that I just took on Monday. Every Monday Michael serves a roasted chicken, and when this came out of the oven, I decided we should quickly shoot it because;

1: He talks about roasted chicken a lot and we can't keep running the same photo (even if David Lebovitz loves it). 2: It just looked so beautiful and 3: My lights were all set up.

Michael let me get two frames off before he...

Lemon-Tarragon Brine for Roasted Chicken

Herb-brined, roasted chicken, photo by Donna

I normally don't brine chicken.  I roast a chicken about once a week and it's a step I just don't think about since salting the bird before I roast it works perfectly fine.  Also, I don't like the skin of a brined and roasted bird—it's too thin and dehydrated.  But on Sunday, I had the time and was curious to find out if, as I've read and repeated, meat that has been brined is heavier (and therefore potentially juicier) than non-brined meat.  I...