Category Archives: Cool Cooking Techniques

In Praise of Cardamom Butter Cake

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This cardamom butter cake is made with an unusual method, and results in a tender, fluffy, and irresistible texture.
This cardamom butter cake is made with an unusual method, and results in a tender, fluffy, and irresistible texture.

When Pittsburgh-based Liana Krissoff set out to write her newest cookbook, she had herself and her daughter in mind — as well as anyone wanting to nurture an everlasting love for cooking in their children.

“In Praise of Home Cooking” (Abrams, 2023), of which I received a review copy, showcases more than 85 recipes that have not only proved formative to Krissoff’s own culinary prowess, but helped her instruct her daughter in such a way that she gained both skills and confidence along the way.

Krissoff, a recipe tester, editor, and veteran cookbook author, readily admits that some of the recipes in the book may seem basic at first glance. However, they provide not only a solid foundation, but a jumping off point to hone techniques and creativity.

That’s why you’ll find recipes for “Grilled Cheese Sandwich” (with tips on how to jazz it up with spices and kimchi or sauerkraut), “Baked Potatoes” (rubbed all over with bacon fat before going into the oven), “Basic Meatloaf with a Few Vegetables,” and “Yogurt Marinated Spiced Chicken.”

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Jamming on Jamaretti Cookies

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A play on the classic thumbprint cookie.
A play on the classic thumbprint cookie.

As a kid, life sure seemed to move at a languid pace. Summer vacation seemed never-ending. Our favorite holidays seemed to take forever to come around.

Not so as an adult.

Life now seems to whoosh by at Millennium Falcon hyper speed, making us ever grateful for all the shortcuts and time-saving tips we can get.

Enter “Jamaretti” cookies from Martha Stewart.

You know those classic jam-filled thumbprint cookies you made as a kid, rolling balls of dough one by one, then pressing your thumb into each one before spooning jam into every single crevice? Yeah, those ones.

Well, this recipe streamlines that process by making these cookies more like biscotti.

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Easier-To-Eat Elotes

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All the deliciousness of elotes, but off the cob.
All the deliciousness of elotes, but off the cob.

Elotes is decidedly not pinkies-in-the-air kind of food.

The grilled Mexican street corn on the cob slathered with mayo, rolled in crumbly cotija cheese, sprinkled with chili powder and chopped cilantro, and finished with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, is one of the most eagerly awaited noshes of summer.

It’s also a two-napkin affair. If not more.

“Tossed Elotes,” though, gives you everything you love about that Mexican dish — but off the cob to eat more neatly with a fork.

Not only that, there’s no mayo, just a generous amount of olive oil instead that forms the base of a voluptuous sauce that the kernels get tossed with.

This easy recipe is from “Asada” (Abrams, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook, which is all about the joys of Mexican-style grilling, was written by Bricia Lopez, whose family owns the James Beard Award-winning Oaxacan restaurant, Guelaguetza, in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. She’s also the founder of the blog, Mole and More; and co-founder of the “Super Mamas” podcast with her sister Paulina. The book was written with Javier Cabral, a Los Angeles food writer who is the editor-in-chief of the local news site, L.A. Taco and was the associate producer for Netflix’s “The Taco Chronicles.”

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Effortless Baked Cauliflower with Black Olives and Cheese

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A winning side dish that couldn't be easier to make.
A winning side dish that couldn’t be easier to make.

Given that it’s June, is it too early to start thinking about festive winter holidays?

Perhaps.

But “Baked Cauliflower with Black Olives and Cheese” is a dish you’ll want to enjoy now, as well as tuck away for safe-keeping for those November and December gatherings that will be here before you know it, given how time flies these days like a Shohei Ohtani fastball.

That’s because this side dish is a crowd-pleaser, easy to make, and much of it can be prepped ahead of time.

This fabulous recipe is from “The Food of Sicily” (Artisan Books, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Palermo-native Farbrizia Lanza, who grew up in a wine-making family, who owns the 200-year-old Tasca d’Almerita in Sicily. In 2006, she took over the operations of her mother’s Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicily.

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For The Love of Crispy Bits

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Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you'll ever enjoy.
Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you’ll ever enjoy.

Raise your hand if you covet those cooked grains of rice that turn golden and ever so crispy on the bottom of the pan.

Then, “Sheet Pan ‘Fried’ Rice” is made for you.

Because this is fried rice that’s cooked not in a wok or saute pan on the stovetop, but in the oven on a sheet pan that’s preheated until it’s blazing hot.

That means far more surface area for the rice to come in contact with to turn exceptionally toasty and crunchy.

This genius recipe is from “Hot Sheet” (Harvest), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook was written by Olga Massov, an editor at the Washington Post’s Food section; and Sanaë Lemoine, a novelist and former cookbook editor, who worked at Martha Stewart and Phaidon Press.

As the title implies, this book is all about recipes made on a sheet pan, one of the hardest working and most useful pans in our kitchens.

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