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 dessert (25)

    Friday
    Jul232010

    Peach Crisp

    We're almost done. Here in rural New England, the peaches are almost finished. And what a season it's been! It was so warm early and so wet early and then so very dry now that the berries and stone fruits have been in ridiculous abundance, sweet and juicy, almost beyond belief. We'll see if this current dry spell bodes well for tomatoes in the weeks ahead. But for now, peaches are making their last fling.

    Which means we're stocking up. When we see peaches, berries, plums, or cherries in the markets, we go for it, buying way more than we need, then freezing them for the winter ahead. (Stone fruits like plums, cherries, and peaches should be pitted--the larger ones, sliced. Berries can go into the freezer as they are.) None will then be worth eating on its own. But a peach crisp in December is a thing of beauty indeed!

    While we're on the subject, let's just say that frozen fruit is real food, no doubt. In fact, frozen fruit is often a better choice. If the peaches in December have been trucked to the store from Chile or Morocco, you're better off buying the sliced frozen ones in bags. The ones trucked in were picked green and won't be worth much for their taste. The frozen ones were picked at the height of ripeness, even by large-scale growers, and flash-frozen, often right in the fields. These fruits and berries (and vegetables, too) retain more of their essential nutrients--and taste!--than those brought over thousands of miles.

    In fact, frozen vegetables are often picked at a better stage than the fresh ones going to a standard supermarket. The ripe green beans and carrots, the ones ready to eat now, are culled for the freezer truck. The less-than-ripe veggies and fruits are then packed for longer shelf-life at the store. So if peaches are out of season where you live and you want to make this peach crisp, consider the sliced ones in the freezer case--provided there are no chemical shenanigans going on in the package. (Read those labels!)

    OK, the crisp.

    Click to read more ...

    Wednesday
    Jun232010

    Strawberry Sorbet

    I promised abundance. Mostly because Bruce and I have come home to it. So I thought I'd start celebrating it with an easy sorbet, one Bruce whipped up in no time flat.

    If you recall, I gave the run-down on frozen treats here. (And Bruce and I should know, having written this book and this one.) But all those definitions contain exceptions, right? I mean, chefs make buttermilk sorbet these days. It has dairy but it's a sorbet. What gives?

    I think it's the lack of eggs and cream. And maybe that does make it a sorbet, even with the dairy. Life's all about trade-offs, right? And compromises. And grace.

    Let me repeat that: life needs more grace. It needs more give, bend, flexibility. (And at my advanced age, I know what I'm talking about.) Grace is an old-fashioned word, for sure. Yep, it means Audrey Hepburn, as in graceful. But it also means at peace, as in gracious. But it also seems the very essence of summer. Winter is for Calvinists, grammarians, and other scolds. Summer is for dancers of all sorts, even just those who can dance only in their minds. Like me, who can trip across a flat floor but am addicted to modern dance. Do you watch So You Think You Can Dance? My word, I love that show. I love the grace, even if I can only imagine it in my body.

    Anyway, strawberry sorbet. It's summer's grace.

    Click to read more ...

    Monday
    May312010

    Rhubarb Crisp

    Have I told you this? Besides being a cookbook writer and all-around eater, I'm also a news junky. I read several papers a morning, follow a whole host of political blogs of all persuasions.

    So I was a little irritated by that grouchy op ed from E J Dionne in this morning's Washington Post. Yes, it's Memorial Day here in the U. S. And yes, it's about honoring our war dead. And yes, it's important.

    But no, I'm not laying the bunting over graves today. I'm doing what most Americans are doing: enjoying the first taste of summer bliss, of the peace that passeth hot weather. It seems to me that's a great way to honor those who have died: I'm at peace in the world they helped to create. I'm not going to argue just wars or unjust wars today. But soldiers die hoping that those left behind will live in some sort of peace and contentment. Politicians and bureaucrats go to war for other reasons, many of them not worthy of celebration. But soldiers die for hope. And today, in the sunshine, enjoying the beautiful weather, gardening and working in the yard, I think I'm honoring that hope. The peace that passeth hot weather.

    Bruce is about it his own way--which mostly means cooking great food, his peace, about like this rhubarb crisp, a fantastic treat this time of year.

    Click to read more ...

    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 ...

    Monday
    Apr192010

    Crème Anglaise

    I promised lots of people who commented via facebook and email that I'd offer up that almond cake recipe I talked about this past weekend. And I will. But because it's a cake without a frosting, this happens to be the first step.

    Which I can't BELIEVE is missing from this blog. Good grief, no crème anglaise. Are you kidding me?

    It's my all-time favorite beverage . . . er, dessert sauce, I mean.

    It's rich, creamy, delicious: melted ice cream for the plate. Best of all you can make it ahead. Here's how to whip up 3 cups of the stuff, a whole bowl of it, enough to put under slices of that almond cake, with some left over for. . . . Well, you use your imagination.

    Click to read more ...

    Friday
    Apr162010

    Orange Rosemary Biscotti

    You probably could have figured this out, but I'm not much of a soft and gooey person. (No, we're not talking about the marks of a personality!) I'm the guy picking off the crunchy bits at the edge of a casserole. I'm the one who orders his fries extra-extra-extra crisp. And I'm the one who can keep a whole bag of toffee for months on end but will eat every potato chip in the house for no other reason than that they're there. (It's why there's rarely any potato chips around here!)

    For all these reasons, biscotti are about the best cookies for me. But here's the conundrum: I like to dunk them. Yet I still want them still crunchy, even after they take a dive. That means they have to be very crisp. Tooth-breakingly so. Because I want to souse one or two in the last of my red wine after dinner. Or in a cup of tea mid-afternoon. And still get a crunch!

    Bruce's orange rosemary biscotti are gorgeously crunchy but also delicately aromatic. A perfect treat. Plus, they freeze exceptionally well. What could be better?

    Click to read more ...

    Friday
    Apr092010

    Let's Talk: Sugar and Real Food

    As you probably know, this blog is devoted to the concept of getting off processed food. Quietly, in its own little way, it's about reducing the chemical signature of what we eat. It's like being Dreydl there, gnawing on the bone. He's getting back to basics, back to where the marrow is.

    Can we reduce the chemical signature of what we eat? Yes.

    But can we completely? No.

    And right there is the question of balance.

    (More after the jump--but don't miss the discussion going on in the comment thread. Very, very good stuff.)

    Click to read more ...

    Wednesday
    Mar242010

    Muscavado Sugar

    Not sure you noticed this, but if you look closely at many of those pictures for the fig cookies over the last couple days (see here and here for more details), you may have seen a few dark spots in the dough, almost as if it were mottled or freckled.

    Those were undissolved grains of muscavado sugar.

    And with that little sentence, we turn to the question of "real food" in earnest.

    Sugar, as you probably know, is a refined product. Later, when we talk more about our book out in just six weeks, REAL FOOD HAS CURVES: HOW TO GET OFF PROCESSED FOOD, LOSE WEIGHT, AND LOVE WHAT YOU EAT (and you can already see that title here), we'll talk about how sugar fits into the larger plan. (Basically, it slips into the third of our four categores, the one called "barely real food.")

    Suffice it to say that refined sugar is made by pressing sugarcane, beets, date palms, or sorghum to extract their juices. Unfortunately, that's not all there is to it. The juice is treated with various chemical alkalis, then boiled, skimmed, cooled, filtered, treated more, separated, treated more, sieved, and thickened in a variety of chemical processes. Along the way, flavor notes are canceled; essential minerals, washed away or chemically deconstructed.

    Unrefined sugar suffers far fewer of these indignities. This is not to pretend that it's somehow healthy. It isn't. Almost all sweeteners ring in at 45 calories per tablespoon--with little nutritional value.

    That said, do I love the stuff? Of course! Look at the desserts on this blog. But do I know what I'm doing? Yes, more and more so. I don't want to eat chemical residues. I want more flavor in every bite.

    That's why Bruce has lately been baking with lots of unrefined sugars--of which muscavado is one of several that keep much of their mineral profile and many more of their natural flavors--some bitter, some a little sour, and even some umami in the mix. It's not generic sweet, the way refined white sugar is. Rather, muscavado sugar offers more flavor in every grain. (And it's not brown sugar. But more on that later.)

    More flavor is what it's all about. Because as we'll talk in the months ahead, the MORE you can cue satiety in your brain and your stomach through flavor and pleasure, the LESS you'll eat in the long run.

    Now that's math anybody can like.

    Monday
    Mar222010

    Fig Cookies, Part 1

    I can't tell you how many times people have asked Bruce and me, "Where do you get your recipes?"

    Given that Bruce is a trained chef and that I've been writing full-time about food for over a decade, I try not to take offense.

    The recipes come from our kitchen. They are products of our imaginations--and hard work. The photos on this blog, too. I'm not a professional photographer and have no aspirations to be one. I simply snap what's on the counter or the stove without the help of any fancy lights or even a fancy camera. Shoot, I use the one I stick in my pocket when we're on vacation.

    Nonetheless, although the recipes are ours, we do look for inspiration. For example, when we order something we love in a restaurant, Bruce often sees if he can morph the cheffy techniques into a home-friendly recipe. (There's a Chinese-inspired, braised leg of lamb coming up on this blog, based on a recent meal at Szechwan Gourmet in New York City.)

    Believe it or not, another bit of recipe inspiration lies with all those mass-produced things in the supermarket. These are the knock-offs, the recipes where I say to Bruce, "Hey, can you make this, only better?" These are the recipes in which we try to take packaged, processed favorites and turn them back into real food.

    That's how this recipe came about. When we were writing The Ultimate Cook Book (check it out here--with 900 new recipes!), I told Bruce I wanted some figgy, sandwich cookies to match the packaged ones. You know the cookies I mean, the ones I can't name without a trademark issue. Those. Only better. Crunchier and definitely figgier. I wanted a fig danish in cookie form. Or a biscotti wrapped around figs.

    Anyway, here's what he came up with. It takes two days to make these treats, so I'm going to offer this on the blog in two parts. Stick around. It gets better and better. But they're definitely real food, nothing processed about them. And pretty healthy, too.

    Click to read more ...

    Thursday
    Mar042010

    Pistachio Cardamom Cookies

    Lately, I've been obsessed with cardamom, my new favorite "warm" spice (as in "warm in the body," like cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace--not hot, and not herbaceous).

    I've been putting it in chocolate cake, in ice cream, in chicken sautés, in just about everything. I was reading some cookbooks this morning and found a recipe for sour cherry cardamom clafouti. I almost passed out.

    Last week, probably to stifle my cardamom whining, Bruce morphed the Indian sweet, kaju makrum (cashew macaroons) into ridiculously crisp wafer cookies with pistachios and, yes, cardamom. I swear, all week I didn't eat any sweets during the day so I could have a small stack of these with a glass of milk after dinner, my little-kid dessert while the Olympics were on. I was undone. They're that good. Try them. Promise.

    Click to read more ...