Bits, bobs, some bookery + jamming "au pif"
Loosey-goosey is the name of this fruit jam game
Hello! Hello!
I’m in Connecticut again and just starting to find my rhythm. Even though I cross time zones often, I’m slow when it comes to the bounce-back. The first few days after the hours of planes and cars and waiting around and more waiting around, I’m more forgetful than usual (never mind that I keep looking for things in my CT kitchen in the places where I’d find them in Paris), pokey and intermittently grumbly. Also, tired. Over the years, I’ve tried each hack that anyone’s ever suggested, and nothing’s worked. But then, just 24 hours after I’d landed, every little trace of jet lag vanished. I had the kind of energy that Popeye used to get after downing a can of spinach. A jolt of energy, a dash of giddiness, a hefty dose of glee and a twinge of anxiety — I am, after all, a grown-up. Sadly, the magical cure — and it really felt like magic — was a once-in-a-lifetime confluence, unrepeatable and all the more wonderful for its serendipity.
Last Wednesday, at about 4pm, I was headed to the garden and there, on the doorstep, was an oversize box from Harvest Books and I knew it had to hold my first, hot-off-the-press copy of DORIE’S ANYTIME CAKES. Yes, it’s my 15th book, but still, my hands started to shake even before I picked up the box.
From book 1 onward, when I’d get my first copy, I’d page through the book with Michael. Just the two of us. The moment is always complex — there’s the thrill of seeing years of work bound between covers, the fear that something won’t be right, the relief that it’s finally real and the hope, so much hope, that it’s good and that it will make people happy — my guiding spirit for writing my cookbooks. But as soon as I brought the book into the kitchen, I made a snap decision → I was going to open the box “in public,” with my friends.
Because I count you as a friend, here, via the video that Michael made, is the first look at the first real copy of my newest book. The video’s long and I’m breathless, but if you hang on, you can flip through it with me. I think the book is beautiful. And of course, I hope it will make you happy.
Just a reminder: You can preorder ANYTIME CAKES from your favorite bookstore (I’ve got some links for you here) and, if you hold onto your proof of purchase, I’ll send you a sweet thank you gift (still a work in progress, but I’m getting there).
Bookshop.org // B&N // Amazon // RJ Julia (Signed) // More
On the road with ‘Anytime Cakes’
Then, as though holding the book and getting to show it to you weren’t excitement enough, I also got the final schedule — final for now, there might be more to come — of my book tour. The book’s birthday is October 21 and that’s when I start road-tripping. Start getting the chance to meet you, to get to know you a little better and to chat with you about what we love most: food, baking, cooking and sharing. It’s when I start revisiting some of the bookstores that have welcomed me and my work over the years. At each stop, I’ll be in conversation with people I love and admire — I can’t wait to talk with them and I’m betting you’ll feel the same way! I’m so grateful to them for agreeing to spend time with all of us.
Take a look. If one of these stops is near you, I hope you’ll come. Oh, please come! (Most of the events are ticketed, so you’ll need to be in touch with the stores — all of the details are in the links.) The prospect of seeing you IRL fills me with joy.
Baby fruits and quick jams
Having nothing to do with books, tours, cucumbers in the garden or videos from the kitchen (I love that Sam Sifton always uses this transitional phrase in his NYT Cooking newsletters), I’ve been on a quick-refrigerator-jam kick. It started when I couldn’t resist buying a lot of strawberries at the Maubert-Mutualité market in Paris and ended up with the proverbial embarrassment of riches. And then, when Michael, who has buttered toast with jam every morning, polished off my first batch, there was a second and third. My favorite was the apricot jam made with the smallest apricots I’ve ever seen. In fact, the fruit, about the size of a small walnut, was labeled “abricot confiture” or jam apricots. How could I resist. And then, on my last round at the market, I found plums the size of cherries — like purple mirabelles. Of course I wanted to jam them, but two things stood in my way: 1) prudence — we were flying back to Connecticut in a couple of days; and 2) scarcity — by the time I’d walked back to our apartment, I’d eaten so much of the fruit that were more pits than plums in the bag and hardly enough fruit left to make even a mini-batch. Oh well — next summer.
Scroll down for a recipe for small-batch, no-fuss, refrigerator jam that, in the spirit of summer’s lazy days, is “au pif” — meaning it’s loosey-goosey and you get to follow your instincts and whims.
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And also, some books I’m looking forward to
It’s going to be an amazing summer-fall cookbook season. So many terrific authors and so many terrific books. If you want to keep up with what’s new in cookbooks, I recommend checking in regularly with Eat Your Books. And following your favorite indie bookstores on Instagram or Facebook or through their newsletters. (If you’re as interested in cookbooks as I am, you’ll want to subscribe to
— also listen to their excellent podcast; ’s and ’s .) As you know, my lists are never comprehensive, but here are some titles that I’m enjoying and some that I’m looking forward to (and, as usual, they appear in now special order):Ready for Dessert by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Good Things by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Something From Nothing by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Sally’s Baking 101 by Sally McKenney [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Lebanese Baking by Maureen Abood [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Chocolat by Aleksandra Crapanzano [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Cookies by Vaughn Vreeland and NYT Cooking [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Baking and the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Linger by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Repast: The Story of Food by Jenny Linford and The British Museum [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Food Person by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Cheesecake: A Novel by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]In the Kusina by Woldy Reyes [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
The Cook and the Gardener: 25th anniversary edition by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Food You Want to Eat by Thomas Straker [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Celebrate by Paul Hollywood (I’ve got a recipe from the book coming for you soon) [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Salad for Days by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Easy Everyday by
Merchant [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Let’s Party by Dan Pelosi [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
It’s Time to Bake Cookies by
[Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]Beyond Baking by Philip Khoury [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]
Make a list of all the books you want to buy, borrow or preorder and then cook or bake from the books you already love. And if you’ve got some fruit, jam!
📚 You can find more recipes in my latest book Baking with Dorie, and get ready for Dorie’s Anytime Cakes by pre-ordering at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or RJ Julia (signed and personalized).
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QUICK REFRIGERATOR FRUIT JAM: A NO-RECIPE RECIPE TO MAKE “AU PIF”
There are real recipes for jam, but this isn’t one of them. There are real rules for jam, but I don’t usually follow them. My jam, which is made to be refrigerated and eaten within a couple of weeks, is just fruit, rinsed and pitted (if needed), and granulated sugar. Sometimes I squirt in some lemon juice. Sometimes I drop some herbs into the pot and let them simmer with the fruit.
I weigh the fruit and mix it with one quarter to one third of its weight in sugar. There are many rules of thumb for the proportion of sugar to fruit. Some jams have twice as much sugar as fruit, many equal weights of sugar and fruit, and others have less sugar than fruit. Even though the more sugar you have the less time it will take to cook the jam, I usually keep the sugar at a to-taste minimum.
Weigh the fruit so that you can determine the amount of sugar you want. (Yes, you can guesstimate if you don’t have a scale.) Rinse the fruit and shake it dry — a little water clinging to it is good — turn it into a pot and mix the sugar and fruit together.
Set the heat to medium and begin cooking, stirring regularly until you start to get some liquid in the pan. You’re going to have to fiddle with the heat — you want it high enough to keep the jam at a steady bubble. And you’re going to have to stir pretty much all the time, so get comfy.
As the mixture cooks, you’ll see cloudy foam on top — I skim it off, but some people don’t. If you leave it, you’ll see it in the finished jam, but it won’t affect the flavor.
And now it’s all judgement and taste. Keep cooking and stirring until the fruit is soft and the mixture is jammy. The real test for jam involves putting a little of the mixture on a cold plate (one you’ve chilled in the freezer), leaving it there for a minute and then nudging it with your finger. If it wrinkles, it’s right. Since I’m a fan of more liquidy jam, I stop before the wrinkle stage. If you want a squirt of lemon juice, squirt now. If you’ve used herbs, you might want to remove them (they probably look tired).
Spoon the jam into very clean jars — while the jam is cooking, you might want to boil the jars and lids, put them in the dishwasher or just wash and rinse them really well — and cover them tightly. If you’d like, you can turn the jars over and let the jam cool upside down. Doing this helps seal the jars.
When the jam comes to room temperature, store it in the refrigerator and enjoy it over the next couple of weeks.
Thank you for including Linger on your list Dorie! I can’t wait to bake from Anytime Cakes too. We should have a salad and cake party!!!
Congrats on that special moment opening your advance author copy. And thank you, thank you for the Not So Secret Agent shout out! 💕