A Faster Way to Popovers

I have gotten into the habit of making popovers with my daughter on Sundays. The team approach works reasonably well: I measure the ingredients, she dumps them into the bowl, and we take turns mixing. Then, for some peculiar reason, she will inevitably dipping her hands into the measuring cup, eating the plain flour off her fingers until there is no more. I don't get this part

While popovers may not be as magical as the David Eyre's Pancake, watching a few spoonfuls of batter transform into the tall, airy, eggy, crunchy treats is almost as amazing (and delicious, too).

Bao 101

Department of Innovations: The No-Bake Tart

Having conquered the art of no-knead bread, Mark Bittman proceeds to make a no-bake tart: an eggy, lemony, almondy, chewy (and crispy), frittata-ish, desserty (but also breakfasty) dish you cook on top of the stove.

Cooking With Dregs

Don't toss that leftover wine! As long as it hasn't turned into vinegar, you can still use it in your cooking.

hy·per·cook·ing

hy·per·cook·ing (verb): An environmentally-conscious way of cooking that seeks to maximize the impact of the energy used during the cooking process.

One hypercooking technique involves saving energy by turning off the source of the heat before a dish is fully-cooked and relying upon the residual heat to cook the food until it is done.

An article in the Columbus Dispatch described how author Jackie Newgent recommends using hypercooking in her book Big Green Cookbook:

"Newgent also recommends turning off the oven before food is completely cooked. If the dish -- say, a casserole -- needs the crunchy topping produced by extended cooking, she suggests a few minutes under the broiler for the same effect.

The alternative is part of a technique she calls 'hypercooking' -- getting the most out of the energy used."

fat wash·ing

fat wash·ing (verb): A technique for flavoring spirits with ingredients that have a high fat content (e.g., bacon): the fat is rendered, mixed with the alcohol, and then removed after a period of freezing.

 A December 2007 article in Food & Wine magazine explained how bartender Eben Freeman uses fat washing to flavor spirits:

Similarly, a September 13, 2008 article in the Boston Globe described how fat washing may be used to make a bacon-flavored bourbon:

The OCD Kitchen: Pomme Soufflees

Saveur magazine's 13-step guide to slicing potatoes to make pommes soufflees.

Late Night with Jeffrey Steingarten

The food writer ponders factoids and flatbread in a 3:00 a.m. comment critiquing Di Fara's pizza on the pizza blog Slice. Via Eater.

Chef Eric Ripert on McDonald's Burgers

"The proportions are amazing. You can take a burger in your two hands and eat, and you don’t, have the burger all over. The way they cut the pickles, the way they cut the tomatoes, the way they slice the salad, and the size, obviously make those burgers perfect. Except the quality of meat."

The Pastrami Burger

"Salt Lake City’s detractors . . . portray the town as culturally and gastronomically staid. The pastrami burger challenges such notions."