The Ultimate Cook Book: 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas

704 Pages·2007·3.66 MB·English

by  Bruce Weinstein

The
ULTIMATE
COOK BOOK
900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas
Bruce Weinstein and
Mark Scarbrough
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
OverallTips for Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Thirty-One Examples of Culinary Shorthand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Breakfast and Brunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Breakfast Smoothies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cereals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Eggs EveryWhichWay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Real Reasons for Maple Syrup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Five Breakfast Sides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Appetizers,Nibbles,and Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
No-Cook Spreads,Dips,and Salsas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Cooked Dips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Double-DutyAppetizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The Classic Cocktails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Easy Nibbles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Cheesy Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Fried Bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Elegant Starters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
One Crust,Three Classics:Focaccia,Pissaladière,and Pizza . . . . 80
Pâtés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
StuffedAppetizers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Stuffed Half-Moons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Ultimate Salad Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Side Salads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Slaws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Luncheon Favorites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Main-Course Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Soups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Vegetable Soups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Grain and Legume Soups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Hearty Soups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Cold Soups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Stock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Pasta and Noodles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Homemade Pasta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Three Specialty Pastas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Pasta Sauces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Stuffed Pasta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
iv ’ Contents
Pasta Casseroles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Asian Noodles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Bread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Yeast Breads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Quick Breads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chicken,Turkey,and Other Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Chicken. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Turkey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Other Barnyard Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Water Fowl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Game Birds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Fish and Shellfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
ThinWhite-Fleshed Fish Fillets .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
ThickWhite-Fleshed Fish Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Other Fish Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Fish Steaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Whole Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Fish Burgers and Cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Mussels, Clams,Cockles,and Oysters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Shrimp and Scallops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Lobster and Crab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Contents’ v
Beef, Pork,and Other Meats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Beef. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Veal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Pork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Lamb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Venison and Rabbit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
How to CookVegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Vegetable Side Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Vegetable Casseroles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Main-Course Potato Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
Grains, Beans,Lentils,andTofu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Grains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Beans and Lentils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Tofu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Cakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
A Dozen Basic Cakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Sheet Cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Layer Cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Cheesecakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
Sponge Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
Cupcakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Coffee Cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
vi ’ Contents
Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Classic Cookies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
Filled Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
Bar Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Pies,Tarts, and Fruit Desserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Pies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
Tarts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Cobblers,Crisps,British Puddings,Pandowdies,
Slumps, and Brown Betties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
Puddings, Custards,Mousses,and Soufflés . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
Puddings and Custards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
Frozen Custards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Mousses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Dessert Soufflés. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Tools of theTrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
A Glossary for Some Ingredients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Source Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Quick Reference List for Sauces and Rubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Charts,Conversions,and Substitutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Contents’ vii
About the Authors
OtherBooksby Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Acknowledgments
I
t took us a year to develop nine hundred new recipes. and no one
can keep up that pace—almost three a day, every day, seven days a week!—
without a lot of help.
Our greatest debt is twofold: to Harriet Bell, our editor and publisher at William
Morrow; and to Susan Ginsburg, our agent at Writer’s House. Harriet pushes us to avoid
cliché, to see the modern food scene through the lens of the modern supermarket, and
to forgo the obvious in favor of originality. Susan has championed us and our work
over many years, helping us understand the dynamics of the market and making sure we
were poised when the door opened. Both of them (along with their husbands, Charlie
Allenson and Jerry Webman) have also proven wonderful dinner companions over the
years.
Several people took chapters in draft, overlooked the typos, and tested the recipes.
These brave folks all had the same assignment: make what ever you want and tell us
what happened. Their notes have proven invaluable; we’ve learned lots by seeing what
they made—and what they didn’t! Many thanks to Esther Lou Scarbrough, Debbie
Weinstein, Julie Weinstein, Amy Kull, Dale Brown, Suzie Hukill, and Jo Booher.
Where would we be without our dedicated coterie of New York eaters? They’ve
been game to taste anything—and have rarely turned down a late afternoon invi-
tation to dinner. They offered notes, encouragement, and good humor in the face
of the daunting task of eating “the six chicken dishes from today.” We’re so lucky
to have Steve Rodgers, Marianne Macy, Leora Perlman and Meredith Green-
burg, Steve and Melanie Schwartz, Eric Darton and Katie Kehrig as well as their
fabulous daughter Gwen, Paula and Benny Yarkoni, Bill Poock and Felix Lao-
Batiz, David Sisson and Scott Stevens, and Phyllis Howe and Richard Brad-
spies at our dinner table and thus in our lives. Special thanks to Jennifer Chang,
who has eaten more of this book than anyone else and who, when she tasted the
Autumn Lasagna, said, “You ought to make a year’s worth of these things.”
We c an’t say enough about the generosity of Ron and Debbie Eisenberg have given us
Ariane Daguin at D’Artagnan. She sent boxes of boundless opportunities. We have great fun at our
meat, fowl, and even foie gras. When they showed regular cooking demos in their stores, the Chef’s
up at our apartment, we were briefly the envy of Centrals in Hartsdale, New York, and in Paramus,
every foodie we know. New Jersey. We are indulged by their staff and
Thanks as well to Oliviers & Co. for a won- made welcome by all the people who come back
derful range of aromatic olive oils that have be- time and again to see us.
come an outright addiction. And thanks to In honing our craft, we’d be lost without our
SerendipiTea for a big box of exotic teas. Stepha- magazine editors: Jim Romanoff at Eating Well,
nie Teuwen at Teuwen One Image arranged all Tim Cebula and Ann Pittman at Cooking Light,
these marvels; her support has proved invaluable. Lisa Chernick at weightwatchers. com, Jill Melton
Rival provided us with rice cookers, slow and Candace Floyd at Relish, and Clare Lewis at
cookers, vacuum sealers, and a range of kitchen Today’s Health and Wellness. They have spurred us
appliances that have never left our counters. on to write the best. Plus, Jim brings the best ma-
Thanks to Diane Coffey at The Holmes Group ple syrup from Vermont when he meets us for
for making that possible. Chinatown runs.
And OXO offered us kitchen tools that proved We’re also grateful to Dave Durian and Mal-
indispensable in preparing these recipes. Thanks lory Pinkard at WBAL in Baltimore for giving us
to Gretchen Holt and Stephanie Karlis for send- a chance to strut our stuff on air every Tuesday
ing us so many goodies. morning at 7:55.
Finally, we have gorgeous KitchenAid equip- A book is not only an author’s work; it’s also
ment and appliances thanks to Brian Maynard the work of a publishing house. Lucy Baker and
and to Kim Roman at Digitas. Sometimes, it Stephanie Fraser handled all the rarefied and not-
seems we live in a dream. so-r arefied details. Sonia Greenbaum did a won-
Over the years, the apparently tireless Beth derful job catching all of our pesky errors and
Shepard at Beth Shepard Communications has straightening out any contorted prose. Once
worked to provide us with many spokespeople again, Leah Carlson-Stanisic designed a winner
opportunities, among them those with the Cali- and Ann Cahn, as always, kept the whole produc-
fornia Milk Advisory Board, JIF, Smucker’s, tion schedule moving along. Roberto de Vicq de
Splenda, the National Honey Board, and the U. S. Cumptich has kept the entire Ultimate series
Potato Board. looking beautiful in its design; Carrie Bachman
We’ve had a blast cooking recipes from this and Milena Perez have worked tirelessly promot-
book at various cooking schools around the ing this book and its series. Ken Berger has done
country. Our thanks to Cynthia Liu and Kathleen wonders with special sales. And many thanks to
Taggart at Draeger’s Markets in San Mateo and Emily Saladino, our agent’s assistant, who has the
Menlo Park, California; Phyllis Vaccarelli at Let’s most underrated job in the business. How many
Get Cookin’ in Los Angeles; and the wonderful panicked author calls can one person field and
staff at the Publix Cooking Schools in Tampa and still remain cool and professional?
Sarasota, Florida. Thanks to Alicia Laury at And finally, our deep gratitude to our parents
Kaplow Communications who helped set up the who taught us that the good life is always in
Florida classes. reach—and, like an apple, to be relished.
x ’ Acknowledgments