What Recipes Don't Tell You

Nutritionists claim that a good breakfast should be the best meal of the day. I am not sure what they would say about these snail butter rolls but I suspect they would give it a one star on the rating of nutritious breakfasts. Lots of butter is not their idea of nourishment. Yet on a scale of enjoyment and eating pleasure, these items would receive five stars without hesitation. They are truly delish! And the amount of butter per serving is not outrages. For each of those on the photo you consume 1½ tablespoons butter.

If you are a baker and already know the techniques of puff pastry, they are easy. Follow the recipe below.

Snail Butter Roll

 3½ c all-purpose flour

1 T yeast

1½ t salt

2 t sugar

about 1 c water

12 oz butter, cubed, softened to room temperature

• Prepare dough with all ingredients except butter, adding water gradually until the dough is soft, not sticky or dry. Knead briefly (about five minutes by hand), and let rise 30 minutes in a warm place.
• Roll into long, thin rectangle, short side toward you. Sprinkle water over the top two-third of dough. Place butter cubes over the sprinkled area distributing evenly.
• Starting from bottom, fold bottom third over the center third, wrapping in butter. Then fold the first two third over the top third, incorporating the rest of the butter.
• Gently roll out dough into long thin shape and fold into thirds like you would a letter for an envelope. Repeat rolling and folding one more time. Wrap in damp towel, chill 30 minutes.
• Repeat folding and chilling twice more.
• Roll dough into 12×14-inch rectangle. Cut into two halves lengthwise, spray with water. Roll each into long cylinder starting at the narrow edge, moisten top edge and press to seal. Cut each cylinder crosswise into eight snails and place on ungreased pan (or parchment) cut side down. Let rise for one hour under damp towel.
• If serving for breakfast, refrigerate before letting it rise for the last time and let the snails warm up and rise for an hour in a warm place.
• Bake in preheated 400?F oven for 25 minutes or until crisp and light brown.
• They freeze well and best when rewarmed for five minutes before serving.

When we received a USAID care package shortly after the end of World War II, designed to relieve some of the starvation in Eastern Europe, we were truly puzzled by its contents. I can only recall three items in that box. We quickly figured out how to use the powdered skim milk We decided to spread  a can of condensed sweet milk on bread and toast like liquid jam (we kids adored it!). But we had no idea what to do with the jar.

We had not seen peanut butter before. The jar, without instructions, sat on the pantry shelf for months before we opened it. We dipped spoons into that strange, brown, creamy stuff, tasted it, and liked its nutty, sweet flavor. A strange flavor, we all agreed, but it did taste very good. We gradually ate it as snacks.

In most countries people consume peanuts as cooked vegetable or pressed for their oil content. High in protein and peanut oil, this vegetable seed (not a nut in spite of its name) is full of nutrients. Its 28 percent protein content rivals meat, poultry and seafood. Because of its high added sugar content (about 10%), peanut butter is not nearly as nutritious. In many health food stores you can grind roasted peanuts yourself and eliminate the sugar.

Even better, peanut butter is not hard to make in your own kitchen if you have a food processor. The hardest part is the cleanup, as peanut butter sticks to everything like mud to your boots. Fresh-roasting raw peanuts and grinding them at home makes the very best peanut butter.

It takes between 11 and 18 minutes to roast them in a medium-hot oven. When cool, run the peanuts through the food processor with a steel blade. For every cup of peanuts, I add one tablespoon vegetable oil (for better texture and easier spreading) and a quarter teaspoon salt (it sharpens the flavor).

Peanut butter keeps fine for a long time, except those brands sold by health food stores that are not homogenized with oil floating on top. Once you open the jar, the oil slowly turns rancid unless you mix it into the peanut butter right away.

Orson Wells once said, “I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I cannot stop eating peanuts.”

Good, fresh-roasted peanuts are just as addictive as potato chips or other high-fat foods. Yes, peanuts are high in fat; over 50 percent of the nut is oil. If you are unable to control eating peanuts, think of them as a nutritious high-protein food.

Only three countries produce peanut butter: the US, Canada and Holland, and not many more enjoy it as we do. You are likely to come across boiled peanuts sold at roadside stands in the southern US. Southerners also like to cook the tender, young peanuts into a side dish called goobers.

Peanut butter is sticky and hard to measure by volume for a recipe. Measure it by weight and you have less cleanup. One cup of peanut butter weighs 8½ oz (240 g).

“May you live in interesting times” is a Chinese curse quite appropriate for here and now. We have so many potential problems in our lives. Global warming reeks havoc with the weather on most of the continent. The fear of terrorists is never far from our minds, and the dreadful economy is cruel to too many.

Imagine just for a moment the nightmare of a true disaster. If supplies come to a halt, supermarket shelves would empty in days. Preparing for such eventualities will allow you to  still feed yourself and your family well for weeks, even months.

At one time I lived in Salt Lake City and learned preparedness from the Mormons who routinely  store a year’s supply of food and clothing. Investing in a year’s supply sounds expensive, but dry foods are surprisingly cheap. For no more than $100 a family of four can have a well-stocked long-term pantry. It is sensible to store mostly basic inexpensive food items that keep for many years: beans and other legumes, grains, rice, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, baking powder, baking soda, dried egg powder, pasta, cooking oil and vinegar, dried fruits and vegetables, spices and herbs. These are the basics.

Whatever you decide to store, keep in mind that it needs to have 1) long shelf life, 2) good nutrition, 3) variety.

For long-term storage you need bug-proof containers. Plastic is not good; bugs can chew through the thickest plastic if they smell something yummy inside. Glass and metal containers are the best. Check through your stock every few months to make sure all is in order. Should you find bugs in an item, freeze the whole package overnight to kill both the nasty bugs and their eggs. Covering the top of the storage container with a thick layer of dry ice also gets rid of unwanted critters.

For items not easy to find at a supermarket, a natural food coop where they stock just about anything in bulk at very reasonable prices is a good source. Stockpiling frozen foods is a poor idea. In case of a disaster, the power supply is the first thing to disappear, and not many of us can afford an adequate backup generator. Store a minimum of canned food, too; it takes too much space, and canned nutrients offer a poor second to dehydrated foods.

Cooking may also become a problem. If all fails, camp stoves, fireplaces, wood-burning stoves and barbecue grills work well, although they don’t have the usual conveniences of your range.

Adequate water storage is not easy since we use so much of it. Having several five-gallon containers filled with water takes care of immediate needs. As long as you can boil it, any water source is fine for cooking, washing and cleaning.

Stealing eggs from bird nests had to be one of the original sins. Bird, snake, lizard, tortoise and turtle eggs have the advantages of being both easy to steal and very nutritious.

You cannot name many more nutritious foods than eggs. And if it comes down to the quickest meal you can fix that still tastes good, egg is the answer. Scrambled or fried or made into an omelet, refrigerator to table in five minutes flat. And it is truly cheap—one egg costs 15 to 20 cents. Today’s egg production is so streamlined and efficient that from chicken to market takes a matter of days.

Fortunately, the American Heart Association now allows anyone to have eggs at least a couple of times a week in spite of their high cholesterol. The safety of eggs, however, is still of concern because of the deadly salmonella that may be lurking inside. This microorganism is in the nutrient-rich egg yolk, and although infection is very rare, we cannot take the risk by eating eggs that are not fully cooked.

Most people go to extremes and cook scrambled eggs until tough and dry, fried eggs until both yolk and white are solid. That is not the way to treat eggs. In scrambled eggs a little moisture is acceptable; when the egg whites are solid but the yolk is still runny, it indicates that the safe temperature of 145 degrees has been reached.

Most cooks make traditional scrambled eggs slowly over low heat, stirring often. But try a different method for a change—stir-fried scrambled eggs. I scramble eggs in a small bowl with all the flavoring ingredients and salt. Then I heat a small, heavy frying pan over high heat until smoking hot, add and swish around a splash of vegetable oil or butter, and quickly add the eggs. Stir, stir, stir constantly and in 20 seconds the eggs are cooked, ready to serve, still moist and tender.

For fried eggs I use low heat and partially cover the pan to have the built-up steam cook the egg whites. If you prefer “over-easy,” don’t bother with the lid; after turning the eggs over, the whites cook in seconds. Omelets also prefer low heat—stir from the center out until the omelet is firm but not dry. You may add some ingredients while scrambling the eggs for the omelet; place others, like cheese, on top when nearly done. Omelets with vegetables, potatoes, leftover meats or anything still good in the refrigerator are nearly an instant meal.

Here is a useful conversion table when cooking or baking with eggs:

5 whole large eggs = 1 cup

7 large egg whites = 1 cup

12 large egg yolks = 1 cup

1 egg white = approximately 2¼ tablespoons

Everyone knows what nutritionists say: consider breakfast the most important meal of the day. I beg to differ. To me, every meal is equally important as long as it’s delicious and enjoyable. So many people tell me that their weekday breakfast is invariably the same—oatmeal or granola or something very simple popped into the toaster and on the table in three or four minutes.

My breakfasts vary a lot, but my favorite remains not-too-sweet pastries still warm from the oven—fresh-baked croissants, brioche or cream scones. Sometimes I bake anise biscotti, equally good when dipped in coffee, or spread with a nice jam, marmalade or honey. Fresh bagels are delightful, too, and in our area you can only have good ones if you bake your own. And there is nothing wrong with warm, moist, healthy muffins filled with dried or fresh fruits and nuts.

People tell me these things should be reserved for weekend breakfasts when preparation time is plentiful. But I prepare most of these pastry items the night before and pop them in the oven in the morning.

You can mix up nearly anything the night before, cover with a plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator. The next morning, turn on the oven, and in 15 minutes slide the pastries inside. Since they are still cold, I suggest an extra five minutes in the oven. So quick and efficient that even on a busy weekday morning, everyone can eat the best breakfast in town.

Both baking powder-leavened (like muffins) and yeast-leavened (like brioche) goodies do very well with an overnight rest in the refrigerator. Muffins are really easy to prepare (your own, of course, not a mix) just make sure to hand mix only until moist and dry ingredients are combined. Overmixing develops dry, tough muffins. Even the more time-consuming brioche is worth the effort. They are so delicious spread with good jam that it’s very hard not to overeat.

Muffins, croissants, scones, brioche and bagels all freeze well. In fact, freezing is the best way to keep them fresh. Defrost and refresh in a medium-hot oven for 10 or 15 minutes (steer clear of the microwave). But first sprinkle them with water to replenish lost moisture—when warmed, they will taste just like fresh-baked.

I had planned to include my great brioche recipe here but I realized only the most dedicated bakers would benefit. A simpler and just as good breakfast pastry is the cream scone—not rich, not too sweet and in 15 or 20 minutes anyone can prepare the dough the night before. I make my scones simple—not exotic fruits or nuts, but feel free to add whatever you like. Scone dough is very forgiving. Keep only one thing in mind: do not overmix. Use your hands to combine the dough and knead briefly.

 Cream Scones

 3 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1½ Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp ground cardamom (optional)

6 Tbsp (3 oz) unsalted chilled butter

1 large egg

1 cup half-and-half

¾ cup raisins or currants

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a small bowl beat egg and combine with half-and-half.

Using a pastry cutter, two knives or your fingers, work butter into the flour mixture then add egg-cream mixture, finally the raisins or currants. Combine all and mix until dough forms. Knead gently on your work surface about half a dozen times until the dough is soft, uniform and workable.

Keep the dough cold ALL the time!

Cut into two and shape each into flat disks, place into plastic bags and chill overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400?F, flatten each disk with a floured rolling pin to the thickness of your thumb on lightly flour-dusted work surface. Sprinkle with water then dust with sugar. Cut each disk into six or seven wedges, place on ungreased baking sheet or on parchment paper.

Baked until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet to a wire rack.

Makes 12 to 14 cream scones.

Freeze extras.

As a geologist I worked in a silver mine near a tiny Mexican village named Bolaños. The mine owner provided me with a one-bedroom house and the services of an old Mexican woman to prepare my meals. I was really looking forward to some good, authentic Mexican cooking. Was I ever disappointed! The food was plain rice and barely seasoned refried beans with some scraps of beef, pork or chicken. Exactly the same flavorless meal every day of my ten-day visit, though she varied her choice of meat. The best part was the good Mexican beer that the mine owner filled the small refrigerator with.

That was many years ago, but ever since I have not been fond of Mexican food. Sampling local Mexican restaurants did not change my mind. But I recently found a brand new Mexican cookbook by Roberto Santibañez called Truly Mexican and became a convert. With a little effort and very good ingredients, Mexican food can rival the best Mediterranean cooking. No enchiladas and tamales here.

Through this cookbook I learned that preparing a very good salsa, adobo (puréed salsa), mole and pipián (similar to mole but with nuts and seeds as main ingredients) is the secret. You can add any of these to any meat and continue cooking the combination slowly. You prepare everything from scratch, and the sauces always start with fresh or dried chilies.

Is it time consuming? A little bit. No cooking of any kind has shortcuts that benefit food quality. Preparing good refried beans takes 20 minutes after the beans have been soaked and cooked. To make an adobo, you will spend 20 to 30 minutes in the kitchen. Assembling the meal with all ingredients will take perhaps another 30 or 40 minutes.

What takes time in preparation is dry roasting. In authentic Mexican cooking everything is dry roasted: chilies, tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic. Roasting induces flavor development like nothing else. (Compare the flavor of unroasted and roasted almonds and you will understand the concept.)

Your spices and herbs must be reasonably fresh to produce the good flavor. Buy them in small quantities, date the container and replace old ones when crushing or rubbing between fingers results little or no smell. (I buy all my spices and herbs in natural food coops and health food stores where I can get a small handful at a time.)

Then you’ll have a Mexican meal only the very best Mexican restaurants offer. Once you learn to make some of these Mexican sauces, you will be surprised how really good Mexican food can be.

Who doesn’t look forward to a good holiday reception? Although some can be truly boring, if the host or hostess is known for kitchen expertise, good food can compensate for a lot of meaningless small talk and dreary people.

If you plan to be only a guest, this article isn’t for you. But if you are planning to host one, listen to some useful advice from a seasoned caterer.

The Basics First

Figure out your budget—how much you are willing to spend on the party. Budget and space limitations help you decide on the number of guests to invite. Send invitations early and ask—no beg—for RSVPs. Once these arrive (you can expect 50 to 60 percent returns), you can very roughly estimate a head count.

When preparing the menu, remember that even a mediocre item you prepare will be better received than the very best purchased commercial foods. Keep the menu simple. Five to eight items are enough for the average hors d’oeuvres party.

Plan the reception for 2½ to 3 hours, never longer. Some people will stay well beyond the stated time, and being a host and hostess is tiring.

Food Next

Make the spread varied: something meaty, something cheesy, some snacky items, never forgetting  something sweet. Even though not many bother with healthy veggies and fruit, they must be part of the table because they look good if displayed with flair, and those on diets can eat healthy. Avoid adding buffet items that keep you busy in the kitchen during the event.

Quantities are the hardest to estimate for most home cooks. You don’t want huge amounts, a common mistake. Count on two or three of each kind of the finger foods (like bruschetta with a topping) per person. For heavier items a total of four ounces per person combined meat and cheese is plenty. Depending on their sizes, keep sweets to two to three per guest, or if large, one or two. Add 10 percent extra for uninvited guests and just for your own peace of mind.

Display is critical. The food must look appetizing and beautiful, and be artistically displayed (yes, you can do it). The table setup is the first thing guests will see. Arrange food platters surrounded by various non-edible displays like flowers, candles, knick-knacks, or colorful fabrics. Stack plates at the front of the line of foods and napkins at the end.

Choose small display platters and replenish them from the kitchen frequently. Once a platter is at least half empty, replace it with a fresh, full plate. The food must look neat, with garnishes or possibly a bed of greens. If you serve high-demand items, like shrimp (some guests will fill their plates with them), display them on particularly small plates and don’t replace them right away to stretch them further. Even better, have someone offer those while walking through the crowd every 20 or 30 minutes.

 Once it’s over, you will be exhausted but so satisfied!

As the wet and cool weather takes over in the fall and winter, more and more local mushroom gatherers end up at the ER with terrible pain—the unlucky ones will die. This is the time those irresistible wild mushrooms push up from below the leaf cover, and the expert mushroom hunters often return with their booties for dinner. But those with cursory knowledge are the ones who will be the victims.

Some half a dozen foolproof mushrooms in our area are safe to collect yet even the experts identify every one they cook with absolute certainty before considering them for dinner. Unless you are one of them, take the safe route and buy your mushrooms at the market even though few can match the flavor of some of the wild ones.

Today we are fortunate to have a variety of good mushrooms in every market.

Mushrooms in the Kitchen

Both wild and tame mushrooms are naturally high in MSG; thus, they are wonderful natural flavor enhancers in dishes. Raw mushrooms are almost as flavorless as tofu but, like tofu, they act like sponges soaking up flavors. Marinated in a nice salad dressing for a few hours, they become good additions to salads and hors d’oeuvre trays.

Their flavor really only shines when sautéed, deep-fried, or stir-fried, just like meat and poultry. Whenever the recipe calls for mushrooms, your first step is to brown them. Once browned, they can be part of a vegetable dish or a side dish on their own. Or you can add them to soups and stews both for flavor and that pleasing shrimp-like chewy texture.

The mildest is the common white button mushroom; next is the little brown button mushrooms, also called crimini. Criminis are immature portabellas. As in all mushrooms, the young criminis are the mildest, while their mothers, the big, deep-brown portabellas have a robust, deep, earthy flavor kids tend to hate.

If you wish to murder your mushrooms, leave them in a plastic bag. The bag builds up moisture and molds will destroy them in days. As soon as you get home transfer them into a paper bag, close the top and refrigerate. They will keep for a week.

Mushrooms are very clean, grown in a hospital-sterile environment but they are handled by human hands, so a very quick but thorough wash is essential before cooking. Wash quickly that the open-textured mushrooms don’t absorb extra water, which makes browning difficult. Peeling mushrooms is totally unnecessary. I have no idea why my mother insisted on peeling every one.

You don’t eat mushrooms for their nutrition but for their flavor. Mushrooms are not high in nutrients, unlike most of our vegetables (after all, mushroom is only a lowly fungus).

Whether your choice is wild or commercial, good cooks place mushrooms on the menu often.

If you are a hunter, read the first half only; if a cook, read the second half. Only those hunters who cook their game need to read from top to bottom.

Few people enjoy game meat, complaining that the flavor is too gamey and the meat is too tough. Blame both the hunter and the cook. Game meat can be as free of gamey flavor as good ranch-raised beef and nearly as tender. Let’s start with the hunter.

The Hunter’s Job

A frightened animal releases adrenaline that tightens its muscles; tight muscles mean tougher meat. Good hunters have stealth, patience, and skill to take their game unaware and not frightened. After a successful shot, drain the blood right away, remove testicles and scrotum from males before they can release hormones that taint the flavor of the meat. Gut the carcass quickly and don’t delay transporting meat any longer than necessary.

Hunters who want to save money and process their own game meat are fools. Meat processing is an art and science that butchers spend years learning. The cost of the butcher’s work pays for itself in the long run.

All meat benefit from aging and game is no exception — aging improves flavor, relaxes muscles and tenderizes fibers. Unaged wild meat is still good, but aged meat turns more tender and more flavorful after about five days under controlled temperature and humidity. Very few have the proper place to age meat, again, leave it to the butcher.

Aging means moisture loss, so expect 10 to 12 percent less meat after proper aging, yet the flavor will be more concentrated.

Packaging the meat for long-term storage is as important as processing and aging. Poorly-packaged meat turns rancid when exposed to oxygen in the air that finds its way into the package. It also develops “freezer burns.” The cause of freezer burn is simply dehydration, loss of moisture and oxidation. In a properly wrapped package freezer burn doesn’t exist.

How you freeze meat and how fast you freeze it are both critical to retaining high quality and full moisture content, and only quick freezing in the butcher’s very cold deep freezer with fans running can achieve that. Leave both packaging and freezing to your butcher.

The Cook’s Job

When you want a frozen game meat ready for a meal, plan ahead. Defrost it slowly in the refrigerator for the least moisture loss, never on your counter (bad), under running water (worse) or in a microwave (worst). Thick steaks defrost in a day or two, roasts in three to four days, a little longer if the inside of your refrigerator looks like a commuter bus in rush-hour.

Wild game is not like corn-fed beef. Most wild game develop little fat reserves (except bear in the fall). Expect lean meat — in fact, so lean that it can be much too dry if you don’t cook it right. If the hunter bagged on old animal, it is likely to be tough, too.

First, let’s get rid of the strong gamey flavor that comes mainly from the fat covering, whatever little there is. Trim off all visible fat as much as possible and you get rid of most of that objectionable flavor. But you end up with even leaner meat.

Any cooking method that uses oil adds lubricant to the meat and makes it more tender. Long, slow cooking at bare simmer is the best, such as stewing, braising or pot roasting. If you chose dry-heat cooking, such as broiling or grilling on coal, use either tenderizer or an acidic marinade for at least four hours before cooking. A splash of dry red wine is very nice with wild meat, either in the marinade or in the liquids of slow-cooking methods.

If you are roasting a large piece of wild meat, trim off all fat and stick fatty bacon or salt pork on top to keep the meat moist, then baste it often — every 20 to 30 minutes — while roasting.

As a professional cookbook reviewer, I peruse eight or ten new cookbooks every month. Some end up in the trash, most in the Jackson library and a few irresistible ones on my own cookbook shelf. My shelf space is as limited as everyone else’s, so any time I add a cookbook, something else must go.

I urge you to do the same; cookbooks that you haven’t used for a year or more belong in the trash. It’s best to retain a few high-quality cookbooks that you can trust. As for recipes from the Internet, they are so unreliable that it is best to forget about them.

The following are cookbooks that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend if you have space on your cookbook shelf and money in your budget. To see my reviews, check online at Portland Book Reviews, San Francisco Book Reviews, Sacramento Book Reviews or Amazon.com and search for my name or the book title.

Here is my list:

Tessa Kiros, Food from Many Greek Kitchens (simple Greek recipes from the ordinary folk’s kitchens)

Aaron McCargo, Simply Done, Well Done (nice collection of everyday recipes)

Pamela Sheldon Johns, Cucina Povera (features recipes from Tuscany peasants, simple but flavorful cooking)

Roberto Santibañez, Truly Mexican (about the best Mexican cookbook I have come across, focusing on basics like salsas, guacamoles, adobos, moles and pipianes)

Fine Cooking editors, In Season (excellent recipes using seasonal produce)

Aurora Baccheschi Berti, My Tuscan Kitchen (simple, good recipes from Northern Italy’s Tuscan region, a beautifully produced book)

America’s Test Kitchen, Blue Ribbon Desserts (not only a good dessert cookbook but also gives the results of the test kitchen’s tinkering with each recipe)

DK’s Classic Look and Cook Series, The Illustrated Step-by-Step Cookbook (perfect cookbook for novice cooks, where step-by-step illustrations guide you through recipes, but equally good for advanced cooks)

Joanne Chang, Flour (a serious baking cookbook, some simple and some more complex recipes)

Janet Hornby, What to Cook and How to Cook It (general cookbook, great illustrations, good recipes)

Jennifer and Nathan Winograd, All American Vegan (perfect for anyone who is thinking of becoming a vegan, this humorous cookbook helps you “veganize” your own recipes)

Whether for yourself or as a gift, choose any of these cookbooks that appeal to your cooking style and taste. Most of the recipes in these books are written for the average home cook without the need to search markets for hard-to-find ingredients.