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
JOIN US!

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.

    Entries in cake (5)

    Wednesday
    Apr212010

    Almond Cake

    Now that you've got the Crème Anglaise on hand, you've got the "frosting" for this moist almond cake, with no standard frosting, but sandwiching a layer of blueberry jam. The custard sauce will get poured onto the plates, the slices of cake then set on top. Gorgeous, no? But I have to tell you: you might just want to try this cake on its own. It's one of Bruce's best confections from THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK. (There are others in that tome. Ah, the Inside Out Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting. That's something for a celebration indeed.)

    One culinary note before we get started: there's no added fat to this cake, other than the almonds and the egg yolks. Strange, eh? (And you know I'm not opposed to fat!) But the lack of butter or walnut oil or what have you allows the cake to become a very light sponge, still quite moist, but almost Twinkie-like in texture. (I can't BELIEVE I just wrote that.)

    So here goes.

    Click to read more ...

    Wednesday
    Jan132010

    Almond Semolina Cake

    And I mean really old-fashioned. Because Bruce found this recipe in a cookbook originally printed in the 1880s. He had to adapt it a bit--especially the amounts (anyone for "two pennies and a half of semolina flour"?)--but this light, fantastically-moist cake is an incredibly puddling-like affair, pretty straightforward, but rich and satisfying. Best of all, there's breakfast involved. Twice. You'll see.

    Click to read more ...

    Thursday
    Aug132009

    Walnut Genoise

    Big statements need big foundations. Did you see this week in the NYTimes when the fancy classical music guru James R. Oestreich basically declared Mozart a hack? (Perhaps I overstate a tad for drama.) Now that's a big statement--which certainly wouldn't have had the same punch if your cousin Melvin had said it. "But Melvin, you watch Friday Night Wrestling." Call me crazy, but it doesn't have the same impact.

    Which is why a layer cake is all about the genoise (French, from Genoa [for some obscure reason], jenn-WAHZ). Big statements, big foundations. These layers are sturdy but delicate, delicious on their own, but even better frosted. Other types of cake layers can be wishy-washy, too easily smooshed or too chewy, almost elastic. Blech. Even Melvin wouldn't approve.

    Traditionally, genoise layers are made with butter. But Bruce has gotten into making them with walnut oil for a slightly nutty taste, just a little heft to meet the thick, rich frosting halfway.

    Here's how to do the layers up right, a recipe from our Ultimate Cook Book.

    Click to read more ...

    Tuesday
    Mar172009

    Seven-Minute Frosting

    And now the banana cake layers come to rest. Or come to frosting. Or come to being eaten. (If you want to see the layers themselves, they're here.)

    A good Southern boy, I grew up on seven-minute frosting: marshmallowy, light, creamy. On cupcakes, on sheet cakes, on fingers. I remember my grandmother beating up bowls of it at the stove--and I remember licking out the remnants of it in those bowls until my pancreas hurt.

    Click to read more ...

    Monday
    Mar162009

    Banana Layer Cake

    Actually, this post is the first of a two-parter. The fully iced cake, up next. Right now, I'm all about the banana cake. Three layers, in fact. 

    Here's the story: we spent a wonderful weekend with house guests, longtime friends from Dallas. In fact, this couple has made it to all three of my weddings. Two of them to Bruce! (Yes, I've married the same guy twice. What am I? Elizabeth Taylor?) Anyway, we had a dinner party on Saturday night with our house guests and two other couples. This week on the blog, I'm starting at the end and going backwards through the dishes.

    Dessert first, naturally. You can't be married three times without learning a bit about the proper order of things.

    Click to read more ...