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
    Mar082010

    Salad Bar Pizza

    Although I'm blogging about a great pie, I'm actually still having that real food discussion, the one that got started on this blog the other day (at this spot and this one).

    I've been thinking about it a lot. Pondering what's real and what's not. And trying to come to terms with why I see the high-falutin' pretension of so much of the current foodie world--let them eat grass-fed cake--so darn overbearing, so silly.

    Yes, Bruce and I are real-food mavens. Yes, we do such crazy things as buying our beef from a local farm (see it here), our pork from our local CSA (see it here), and our eggs from several little roadside stands near us. Bruce spends most of the summer canning. Witness how many jams and pickles have appeared on this blog.

    But then there's the silly stuff, the macho stuff: making your own sauerkraut, killing a wild hog, and showing the world your chest hair. Or the Earth Mother stuff: wearing your Birkenstocks, nurturing your own vinegar, and cultivating your whole-grain pantry. Neither is a real answer to the food dilemmas strafing the developed world.

    Here's one of my answers: a real-food pizza that's not a make-it-yourself. Everything here is from the store. Everything here COULD be made at home--if someone had the time. But in the end, everything here is good and real, nothing fake, no chemical chicanery, no excess fat or sugar to mask half-hearted flavors. Just delicious.

    First off, Bruce bought a whole wheat pizza dough from our local gorcery store, our local Stop&Shop. It's not a high-end market, per se. No gourmet emporium, that's for sure. But a good, standard, local supermarket, our go-to place.

    He didn't buy a pre-baked crust. Instead, he went to the refrigerator case near the cheeses and picked up a whole wheat pizza dough.

    He heated the pizza stone for about 30 minutes on the grill grate, not directly over high heat, but to the side of the gas ranks that were turned on. If you like, you could also eat the stone on the oven rack at 400F.

    Next, he assembled his ingredients. He'd bought oven-roasted tomatoes (sun-dried would work as well), marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and olives from the store's salad bar. He'd also bought a bunch of basil. He whirred it into a simple pesto by using the juices and oils in the container from those ingredients. That's it: basil plus the liquid from the artichokes and such.

    He put cornmeal on the pizza peel, then pressed out the crust. (Rather rustic, I might add, if you note that first photo.) Basically, he set the dough on the peel, dimpled it with his finger tips into a flattened circle, then picked it up by its edge and stretched it a bit. He put it back on the peel (shake it to make sure the dough hasn't stuck--if so, peel it up and add more cornmeal).

    Don't want to go to all this trouble? Then stretch the dough onto a baking sheet. (You don't even have to use a pizza stone if you use a baking sheet.)

    He spread the pesto over the top, leaving a 1/2-inch border all the way around. He diced up the tomatoes and peppers, sliced the olives, and quartered the artichoke hearts. Then he sprinkled these across the pie.

    Finally, he topped it with some red pepper flakes and then a light coating of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Oh, and one more thing--he always shakes the peel, even during the topping process, to make sure the dough isn't sticking.

    He slipped the pie onto the hot stone and then grilled it until the crust was browned, the cheese had melted, and the toppings were hot, a little more than 15 minutes, maybe 17 or 18.

    Done and finished. And delicious. And (dare I say?) real food.

    Although there was one more ingredient, drizzled onto the pie when it came off the grill. Definitely real food, too. But more on that here.

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    Reader Comments (6)

    That's one bodacious looking pie. It may not be thoroughly from scratch. But I'm with you -- the fact is you actually took the time to make it with really good ingredients. For that, you get big-time brownie points. Or, eh, should that be pizza points? :)

    March 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCarolyn Jung

    It looks great, Mark. Definitely real food there. Since I've been talking to you, I've got a new definition of what constitutes real food challenge for me. Cutting down on the numbers. Looking at the ingredients list on the food I buy, and trying to minimize how many 410s and 205s etc that I eat. It's an ongoing process.

    Celia: I think I don't speak Aussie. Help me know what 410s and 205s are. Is that cutting down the numbers?

    March 9, 2010 | Registered CommenterMark Scarbrough

    Sorry Mark, I didn't mean to confuse. Over here, our packaged foods are labelled with ingredients list, and all the preservatives and additives have to have a number ascribed to them. So for example. my block of original Philly cheese has as its ingredients: milk, cream, salt, vegetable gum (410), starter culture.

    By contrast, the tub of Philly extra light spreadable has: cottage cheese (skim milk, starter culture, enzymes), cream cheese (milk, cream, starter culture), water, milk solids non fat, vegetable gums (407, 410) salt, thickener (1442, from maize), maltodextrin (tapioca), food acid (330), preservative (200).

    By choosing the original option, I can cut down on "numbers".

    Love the position you take about healthy vs realistic! After all we are real people, with real jobs, and real life chaos......as much as I would love to, I dont have time to grind my own wheat, and ferment my own...what ever I need to ferment! But when I have an extra half hour I will whip together a whole wheat pizza crust, and left overs make a fantastic topping. I love the idea of anti-pasta toppings from the grocery store bar....WHY did I not think of that?

    SO happy that I found your blog while searching for homemade marshmellow directions....now I see The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book. WOW, I have no further need to want anything else in my life now!

    March 25, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnnette

    Annette: Thanks so much! I'm glad you found us--and we found you. Can't wait to hear more about how you bring real food into real life.

    M.

    March 25, 2010 | Registered CommenterMark Scarbrough

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