BRUCE (AKA The Chef)

MARK (AKA The Writer)

 

DREYDL (AKA The Dog)

Check out this cheeky tome called Ham: An Obsession With The Hindquarter

FINE COOKING calls it "a witty ode to pork's most primal cut." It's our hymn to backsides: American country ham, European dry-cured hams like prosciutto crudo or jamón ibérico, wet-cured hams like the ones from HoneyBaked, and even fresh hams, the best pork roast you'll ever eat. (Click on the cover to get your copy today.)

The Ultimate Cook Book

Our big compendium cookbook--900 new recipes, tons of cooking tips. You'll be an ultimate cook in no time.

Want to see a video on this book. Check it out here.

Cooking Know-How

WINNER OF THE 2009 GOURMAND AWARD at the Paris cookbook show for the "BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD" for "easy recipes." Also starred reviews in both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal, a main selection of the Good Cook Book of the Month Club, a selection by NPR as one of the best cookbooks of 2009, and a favorite of the San Jose Mercury--that called us "culinary wonks."

Pizza: Grill It, Bake It, Love It!

Our brand-new pizza book. That's the squash, caramelized onion, and pine nut pie. And there are 89 more.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book

Cookies galore--and every one of them with chocolate: chips, shavings, cocoa, melted, irresistible.

The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book

America's favorite spread? Yes, but also the world's. Wait until you see all the no-cook Asian sauces, the African stew, the Filipino braise, and a host of favorites from breakfast to dessert!

Cooking For Two

Every dish for just two--and no waste. Cut it, open it--and use it. It's a feast for twosomes.

The Ultimate Muffin Book

Get your muffins! The chocolate chip ones soon became a holiday tradition in our house.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

The book that started a whole career. A quarter million copies in print and still going strong!

The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book

And a follow-up to The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, this time with gelato, sherbet, granita, and a groaning board of ice cream cakes and frozen pies!

The Ultimate Shrimp Book

A one-book compendium for America's favorite seafood

The Ultimate Party Drink Book

Up, shaken, frozen, pitcher punches, shooters--here's a guide to drinks to make your next party a splash

The Ultimate Brownie Book

Fudgy, cakey, you name it--even a chapter on brownie mix doctor recipes--here's a book that'll keep everyone smiling!

The Ultimate Candy Book

A reviewer on amazon called it "an evil book." We could only hope so. Gooey, crunchy, a ton of chocolate barks, fudge, divinity, and it just keeps going.

The Ultimate Potato Book

Spuds forever! We love everything about the potato--and in this book, we made our favorite vegetable front and center since every recipe is a main course with spuds aplenty.

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Our Youtube Channel

Want to see more? Come on over to our youtube channel. We're cooking up a storm! Check it out here.

Get your copy of our seven-step plan to get off processed food!

Click on the book jacket for your copy. Don't miss it. Seven simple steps, a hundred great recipes, lots of motivational help, and all in an easy plan that starts small and could end up changing your life!

THE BLOG ROLL
THE PERSONAL STUFF
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Want to come cruising with us? We're off to Alaska with Holland America on August 4th for a week--leaving from Vancouver (and returning to there) with lots of cruising up the Tracy Arm and through Glacier Bay National Park. We'll be cooking up a storm in classes on board, so come have a blast with us. For more information, click here.

 

REVIEWS OF COOKING KNOW-HOW

Don't take our word for it. Here are some cool reviews of COOKING KNOW-HOW:

weightwatchers.com

In Mama's Kitchen

5 Second Rule

Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Winston Salem Journal

Super Chef

NPR--chosen one of the ten best cookbooks for the summer of 2009

Relish Magazine (although the writer complains that I use too many big words. Heaven forfend!)

And if you want to see an outrageous clip of us on San Francisco TV, check out our appearance on A View From The Bay here.

Or for white bean veggie burgers on the same show--in which I go off on a bizarre jag about the ethics of cruising--click here.

DANCING WITH A COLLIE

brought on no doubt by that empty bottle of wine on top of the fridge

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    Bruce's Blog

    Bruce has his own blog. A knitting blog. Knits Men Want. It's a companion site to his new knitting book: ten rules every woman should know before she knits for a man--plus ten patterns men are guaranteed to like. And I do. I have some of the sweaters. And I wear them. Imagine that. Check on the cover to check it out.

    Monday
    Apr202009

    Cup Custards

    Egg yolks are small miracles: so perky, so bright, such a tight pack of nutrition.

    And so very fragile. Chickens raised in industrial farms, the birds that don't have room to turn around, the ones whose beaks are snipped to keep them from destroying each other in their nervous frenzy--those chickens produce icky eggs. In fact, their yolks are not yellow. They're mostly gray. Because the chickens don't eat their usual nutrient rich diet of seeds, grubs, and insects.

    Never had a gray yolk? That's because the chickens are also fed dye to make their yolks yellow.

    Hardly real food, I'd say. Mostly fake.

    Which is too bad. Because inferior, gray, tasteless yolks deprive us all of the best cup custards. Which are one of life's better treasures (and easier desserts).

    To start, find good eggs. A local farmers' market, a local co-op. Ours come from here. Better eggs mean better desserts. That's a no-brainer.

    OK, position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Set four 1-cup heat-safe baking cups or ramekins in a baking pan--or six 3/4-cup ones. You can see Bruce uses the old-fashioned kind, the same Pyrex ones my mother and grandmother used. The baking pan should be just large enough to hold them comfortably. Also bring a tea kettle of water to a boil over high heat.

    Technically, you're setting up a bain-marie: a water bath that will provide a coddling, comfortable environment for the egg proteins which tend to react poorly to the oven's intense, ambient heat.

    I actually find the whole name thing more interesting. Bain-marie. Mary's bath. Was she known for her baths? Not that I know of. Actually, it's a mistranslation, if you can believe it, from Greek. The original term was kaminos Marias, Mary's furnace. It was a term of alchemy from the Dark Ages: a way to keep things safer in a moist environment while nonetheless in the heat of the furnace. But somehow, the term got shifted around from Greek to Latin to Old French--and got to be Mary's bath, rather than her furnace.

    Which is too bad. Because cup custards are sort of like alchemy: gold from rather mundane elements.

    Anyway, whisk together 3 large egg yolks, 1 large whole egg, 2 cups milk (whole, low-fat, or even fat-free will work), 1/3 cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. And I mean "whisk." Get a work-out! Get that mixture uniform and foamy.

    Ladle or pour it into the cups or ramekins. Grate a little nutmeg over the mixture in each cup. Take that tea kettle off the boil and let the water settle down for a few seconds.

    Pull out the (hot) oven rack a little ways and set the baking pan with the filled cups on it (make sure it's all steady), then pour the very hot water into the baking pan, until it's about halfway up the cups or ramekins. Take care that no water splashes into the cup custards themselves.

    Gently slide the rack back into the oven, close the door, and bake until the custards are set when the pan is jiggled, about 45 minutes. When you tap the baking pan, the custards should definitely be firm at the edges but not so firm as to appear solid. The center may move just a bit, not in waves, more like a gelling liquid, moving as a whole piece.

    Remove the cups from the hot water bath. One warning: it's really hot and you'll probably need to use a kitchen towel to get a grip on them, but remember that the minute that towel becomes damp, it becomes a very, very effective conduit of heat. Transfer the cup custards to a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes. Then cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. As if they'll last that long!

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    Reader Comments (2)

    These remind me of my late-Dad. Not that he ever made custard, himself. But he'd often bring home a custard pie from Chinatown in San Francisco. I grew up on those cold, creamy, ivory-colored pies. And I can't help but think of him whenever I see custard anywhere about. Thanks for the memories.

    April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCarolyn Jung

    Carolyn: I know--memories for sure. My mother always said they cured what ailed me. These days, in this world of economic turmoil, a lot ails me. So maybe that's why I'm attracted to them. (And the color! So like spring.)

    Love Chinatown custards. Those little custard tarts in the pie shells. We always get ours at the Lung Moon bakery in New York's Chinatown. Yum.

    April 21, 2009 | Registered CommenterMark Scarbrough

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