On location in SC - The not so glossy magazine!

$9.95 may sound a smidge expensive but, have a look at my first purchase – Cooks Illustrated

as you can see – 76 recipes!

Just to prove my point – remember the whole wheat flour for the soda bread – here's a review of the very same :

There's another major plus with this magazine – apart from the number of recipes it's full of clear and helpful advice for the novice. I would not describe my friend as a novice cook but needless to say he was impressed and so it stayed. Worth every cent!

By the way – on the “teach as you go” front, from last night's supper we had the technique of “smoking” chicken, an Alfredo sauce and veggies. By the by - another “lost in translation” ingredient – never heard of semolina flour in this neck of the woods (to toss the par boiled potatoes prior to roasting) – life is too short to hunt it down – all purpose (aka plain) flour will do – there's sad and then there's really sad.

I discovered that last evening's supper was photographed and emailed – I think I'll take that as a good sign!

Note to self – check out the pantry for supplies in the am – slow cooked beef could be on the menu and I suspect we may have more ingredient challenges!

On location in SC - My guilty pleasure

My guilty pleasure – don't get too excited!

I know it's not considered “de rigueur” these days but one of my favourite treats is a visit to a book store – aka shop.

A browse is the ultimate treat for me with a coffee and compulsory chocolate chip cookie sitting in a comfy chair. We pinched this idea in the UK but somehow I can't justify the time when at home.

Anyway the other major lesson I've learnt when abroad is that Airlines are quite strict these days about luggage weight – note to self, you can't buy heaps of books that weigh a ton!

Aha – here's my answer – buy good quality magazines instead. There are some really good ones out there and the way I look at it is if you discover 2 or 3 recipes that you like the look of or immediately want to adapt, then it's worth the dosh and it has paid for itself.

In my house magazines are treated the same way as books – I appreciate that this may seem a little over the top but if you are remotely interested in cooking – and buy books or magazines – then you'll browse through both at some time or another. Where magazines are concerned you might not bother to mark anything at all – conversely you might think it's acceptable to turn down a corner to mark a recipe – there's only one problem – I'd put money on you referring back for a particular recipe or article and its vanished into thin air. Treat yourself to a supply of coloured tabs – like post it notes but smaller – and mark as you browse – anything that appeals gets a tab – problem solved!

I know I'm sad – can a cookery magazine qualify as a “glossy mag” - probably not but who cares.

On location in SC – this is your roving reporter!

Did you know apparently there's a problem with bagels – in that when you fill a bagel the filling oozes through the hole – really?!

I give up – surely the (w)hole point – sorry couldn't resist – of a bagel is that the filling is meant to ooze and arming yourself with a heap of table napkins and licking fingers and getting generally messy is the best part!

Anyway I feel it only right that I should impart information that has recently come to my attention. I give you the alternative – a bialy – it's not a bagel, it's not an English muffin, it's the best of both.

The bialy is Jewish in origin – in particular Polish Ashkenazi. It's very similar to a bagel but a bagel is boiled before it's baked - a bialy is baked. The depression – not hole – is filled with various different ingredients to suit.

Personally I'd describe a bialy as a slightly smaller version of a bagel and I have to say that the thought of a cooked onion filling in the “depression” would definitely lift my spirits!

My quest is to see whether we can find them in the UK – I'm on the case.

On location in SC.

It's early morning – which means coffee and my quiet time – perfect for me to “get my head on straight”, which means at least two cups. I do my best thinking at this time of the day. After my first cup its tackle the instructions for the digital scales - for my friend's benefit – not a huge task but there's not much point in me bleating on if I can't demonstrate to him how to use them!

So, after explaining the workings of the scales it's all systems go and my student watches me make a loaf - literally 30 minutes later here's the result :

You might not be surprised to know that there's bread and cheese on the lunch menu today.

The verdict before lunch – “this could be the perfect answer”.

The verdict after lunch – “I never need to buy store bought bread again” and “I have to make a loaf before you leave so you can watch me”.

Great start to the week – my work here is going well.

A small tip – if you are demonstrating equipment like scales or timers it has been my experience that some students have a tendency to be a little heavy handed if you get my drift – slowly and gently wins the day and saves the piece of kit from an early demise!

P.s. Phew! There's always a risk that recipes – even the simplest – don't translate well. There are so many elements that can go wrong – a different oven – the climate – air conditioning etc. in spite of them all I am delighted to report that the bread was good. I might even make another loaf later on – just to make sure it wasn't a fluke – I don't think it will be wasted.

Nothing is ever straight forward!

Whilst my friend loves where he lives he's not enamoured of American bread. If you're fond of brioche and/or bagels then you're well set but ordinary toasting bread ain't so good. So, it makes sense that we begin with Soda Bread – the fastest and most uncomplicated recipe ever and it will suit my friend well – I hope.

However, if you've spent any time in the USA and shopped in “markets” then you'll know that it's a whole different world out there. It's fine once you realise there are different names for different products.

This is what I mean ...

… remember the Soda Bread - here's a list of the ingredients

Soda Bread

170g self raising wholemeal flour

170g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

290ml buttermilk – 300ml pot works

fine

I've shopped to cook many times in the US and have to confess I've never seen self raising wholemeal flour … watch this space. What we call plain flour in the UK is all purpose flour in the US so that's ok. Bicarbonate of soda is known as Baking soda in the US. The one ingredient that should be easily available in the US is buttermilk – bring on our visit to Trader Joe's – a great “supermarket” and reasonably priced too. A voyage of discovery … here's what we found.

I have to confess it's good fun translating recipes – if you have the time of course and I did – hey you never know when you might want to bake Soda Bread in the US – I've saved you all that time and done the research for you!

Houston ..

… we may have a problem

I wouldn't want you to think that I'm spending all my time in the kitchen – I'm not – but as I plan to teach my friend various bits and pieces whilst I'm here it requires a little thought.

What better way to gather my culinary thoughts than to sit, with my morning coffee – notebook at the ready - cuddling the dogs – here's my view :

Hmmm – I need to check the kitchen kit and experience has taught me that it's as well to do this before you leave the house! There are certain essentials that are absolutely necessary.

You can do what you like cooking your signature dish with a drop of this and a pinch of that to refine your recipe and make it your own but you can't mess with baking – it's a science and the recipes are not there for fun, so we need scales. There are no scales – gulp!

Thank you Walmart – you can buy anything in Walmart – cheaply. Panic over!

Confession time - for years I used scales for baking that I know, hand on heart, were not accurate. Do yourself a huge favour and drag yourself kicking and screaming into the 21^st Century and invest in a digital set. Here's why. The majority of cooks have old books which give weights and measures in Imperial. In the UK we use metric weights and measures and have done so for a long time. In the US they still use Imperial. How much joy is there in having a set of scales that does it all – grams, pounds and ounces, fluid ounces, millilitres blah, blah.

The cherry on the top is that your baking is much more likely to be successful if your ingredients are accurately weighed.

If my friend is willing – at the age of 75 years old – to get to grips with a new piece of kit!

You won't regret your investment.

P.s. I only ever knew one person that never used scales - my grandmother - who was a brilliant pastry cook - I never saw her use a set of scales – in truth I don't think she owned any. The best apple pie ever. I'm not sure whether it was skill or practice in that she baked regularly and therefore experience meant that she just knew the amounts were accurate. It couldn't be just luck – I saw her produce and ate the results too many times for it to be a fluke – may be it was a combination of both.

On location - in South Carolina

It's time for a holiday and for me it's time to catch up with my friend in Lake Wiley, South Carolina. Just so you get your bearings Lake Wiley is in the north of South Carolina – yippee that means one flight to Charlotte!

My friend moved earlier this year so his home is completely new to me. I feel it only right that you should get a picture of where I am, so, here's the back view of the house :

Who let the dogs out - me – say hello to Choo Choo and her new best friend Hugo, aka Huggie, two wheaten terriers.

I should explain that this holiday will include some teaching but since my friend (and student) is more than interested we'll have the best time.

It's weekend and taking it easy is definitely the intention so we need to get the shopping out of the way so that we don't have to interrupt this fantastic weather - even by US standards it's warm – actually no it's hot – top 70ies.

On tonight's menu, smoked chicken fillet in Alfredo sauce with roast potatoes, roasted carrots in lemon and butter.

A little revision for me – back to old style Imperial temperatures and getting to grips with a new oven.

It's a tough life!