A bushel of bits and bobs, books and questions for bakers
I also hope you’ll help me figure out some stuff
Hello! Hello!
I hadn’t kept track, hadn’t noticed, but it looks like I passed a milestone: I’ve been writing the xoxoDorie newsletter for more than two years! If you take a look at the Archives, which I just did, you’ll find 182 (!!!) posts (lots with recipes) to riffle through. Thank you, each of you, for sailing along with me, for traveling with me, for cooking and baking with me, for commenting, for sharing, for suggesting, for being good company, for just being there. A thousand xoxoxoxoxo’s to you.
Next week … Paris!
I’m flying back to Paris next week. Like passing the two-year mark, the getaway date kind of got away from me and, once again, I’m scrambling to tie up loose ends and pack. I’m also feeling a bit wistful. I’m so lucky to live in two beautiful places — Connecticut and France — and so lucky to see them in every season, but there’s always a little tug when I leave New England in the fall. Here, our weather has been stormy, then calm, glowing then glowering. In other words, typically New Englandish. We were fortunate to get only the tail end of Ophelia’s rains, but they left the waterfall behind our house wild, loud and on the edge of raging. Good weather for herons.
I haven’t been posting much to Instagram or Facebook lately — I’ve had a bunch of work to do and I’ve had the good luck to spend a bunch of time with the kids — and I miss being with you there. But stay tuned: Paris posts coming up, for sure.
Having not written for a while, I’m cramming a bunch into this newsletter.
I’ve got book recs and a look at a kitchen tool I’ve been giving a work-out. And I’ve got some questions for those of you who bake. If you have time, take a look and get back to me — I’d really love to have your answers. I’ll post these questions over on Bake and Tell, too. Whether you’re a beginning baker or an old-hand, I think you’ll love the people in the Bake and Tell group (which is open to everyone) — they’re smart and kind and generous and helpful: They’re bakers!
I’ll write to you from Paris. In the meantime, I’m sending sweet wishes.
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More Cookbooks in My Kitchen
In my last newsletter, I told you about some of the books that had piled up in my kitchen while I’d been away. Now that I’m going away again, I want you to know about a few of the terrific books in my current stack — I don’t want you to miss them.
All in the Family
A VERY CHINESE COOKBOOK by Kevin Pang and Jeffrey Pang
You may know Kevin Pang and his father Jeffrey from America’s Test Kitchen’s Hunger Pangs — if so, I’m betting you already love them. If the duo is new to you, I envy you the delight of discovering them and their recipes. This book is pure joy! And it’s a rarity — the writing is as good as the recipes and there’s a ton of good information on every page. I made the Kung Pao Chicken (page 170) as soon as I got the book — and I’ll be making it again. And again. (I cut the chicken too large and instead of peanuts, I used cashews — they’re what I had. We polished it off with glee all the same.)
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
COOK IT UP by Alex Guarnaschelli and Ava Clark
You probably know Alex Guarnaschelli from Iron Chef and Chopped, and you might know her extraordinarily talented daughter, Ava Clark, from Instagram, where Ava, now a teenager, has been posting food for years. Together, they’ve written a cookbook that is tender and warm and sometimes feisty: Neither cook is short on opinions – or ideas for great food! It’s definitely a keep-it-in-the-kitchen book.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
THE RANCH TABLE by Elizabeth Poett
It was love at first sight when I met Elizabeth Poett at Cherry Bombe’s Jubilee in April. (Mark your calendars for next year’s fete: 4/20/2024.) Elizabeth, who hosts the Ranch to Table show, is a seventh-generation rancher from Central Coast, California, and she has a wonderful story to tell about family life, ranch life and the importance of tradition. She’s also got a barrel full of recipes, most of them simple, many of them fast and all of them meant to feed a family.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
LES DAMES d’ESCOFFIER NEW YORK COOKBOOK by Silvia Baldini and Sharon Franke
Imagine a “community cookbook” in which everyone who shares a recipe is a pro. Imagine if Lydia Bastianich wrote the dedication and Carla Hall chimed in for the foreword. If Silvia Baldini and Sharon Franke put the whole thing together. And if every recipe came with a suggestion for a wine to go with it. This new book from the New York chapter of Les Dames is just that.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
A New Look at Things We Love
A NEW WAY TO BAKE by Philip Khoury
When I messaged Philip Khoury to say that I’d received his new book, he wrote back and called the work “a labor of love” — you sense that on every page. It’s an extraordinary work from a master pastry chef and, as others have said: It’s a game-changer. Every recipe is plant-based! And every recipe has a matching video — there are QR codes, so you can watch Philip make everything from cookies and mousse to crusts and creams. This book is remarkable!
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
LATINISIMO by Sandra Gutierrez
And speaking of masters and labors of love, wait until you read Latinisimo from Sandra Gutierrez. Everything that Sandra writes combines scholarship with delight and this book — truly both a treasure and a treasury — does that and more. It’s encyclopedic in scope and down-to-earth in contents. She gives us the recipes that cooks in 21 Latin American countries make at home. It’s a collection of the everyday foods of a culture, the history and the stories too. The book is timeless.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
CHILI CRISP by James Park
I met James when he was just finishing culinary school and I was on a panel judging students’ cookie. I remember his cookie, but most of all I remember him — it didn’t take a minute to know that James was someone we’d all be hearing from. And we have. On Instagram, for years, now with this firecracker of a book packed with his exciting recipes and great images from Heami Lee.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
CHINESE MENU by Grace Lin
There is so much to love in this book that I hardly know where to begin. Grace Lin is best known for her children’s books and illustrations, but this book is meant for everyone of every age. It’s wonderfully illustrated, delightfully written and there’s something fascinating on every page. Organized by course – just like a menu in a Chinese restaurant – for every dish there’s an explanation of what it is, a history of the dish and then a story about it. This book hasn’t left my kitchen since I got it.
Get at Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
Baker-to-Baker: I’d Love To Know …
I’m working on some new recipes and I’m wondering about a few things. If you have a moment, would you help me out and answer some of the questions? Please and thank you and xoxo.
I think that a few of these would be considered “specialty” pans, but tell me. Do you have a:
One-piece tube pan
Pullman pan
8-inch springform
6-inch round cake pan
12-cup Bundt pan
10-cup Bundt pan
Please list what you have in the comments.
Bits and Bobs
At Last: A Wine Stopper That Doesn’t Leak
If you look for these ingenious wine stoppers and find that they’re sold-out everywhere, you can blame me. I’ve bought a lot of them — some for myself (I’m packing a trio to take to Paris) and many as gifts for friends. They stack for convenient storage. They seal bottles tightly — so tightly that you can store bottles sideways in the fridge and not worry about drips. And they press on and pull off easily. Hooray and cheers.
Have You Seen … ????
I love Cherry Bombe (#oldnews) and have been a card-carrying member of the BombeSquad since the beginning. I always look forward to their magazine, but the current issue is a particularly great one.
The topic is the future of food (do you listen to Cherry Bombe’s podcast, The Future of Food is You, hosted by Abena Anim-Somuah, I love it), it’s got Sohla El-Waylly on the cover and includes a list of 50 people to watch, some of whom you might already know and all of whom you’ll want to know.
Speaking of lists of 50, have you seen Meg Zimbeck’s list of 50 Favorite Paris Restaurants for Fall 2023 — it’s in her Paris by Mouth Substack.
📚 You can find more recipes in my latest book, BAKING WITH DORIE.
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Pans! I have been replacing and adding to my pan collection. As for this list:
One-piece tube pan YES
Pullman pan YES
8-inch springform YES
6-inch round cake pan YES
12-cup Bundt pan NO
10-cup Bundt pan YES, several
We are a household of two and one thing I would love to have is a small version of cake recipes and/or a full recipe to use in multiple smaller pans along with appropriate baking times. I have worked out trial and error methods of baking a full bundt recipe in various smaller Nordic Ware pans (2 x 6 cup, Quad pan, Duet pan, mini bundts) with the extra cakes to gift or freeze. Pandemic/lockdown baking really highlighted the need for this.
I frequently tinker with the proportions of ingredients if I don't have the right size pan, or I'll keep a careful eye on the baking time. Tiny city kitchen, and I just don't have the room for every pan that I want. I have a larger bundt pan and a springform pan, but not the others. Toying with the idea of buying the six-inch cake pan so as to bake on a smaller scale.