Southern cornbread for Yankees

For years, my friends have been trying to get me to use cast iron, but I've always found it too heavy. Then Julie gave me extremely detailed instructions on how to cook with cast iron (including the intricacies of bacon drippings) and I found an adorable little 6-1/2" skillet by Lodge. I've been making frittatas for the past few months with a small pan that fits in my toaster oven, so I figured I'd try the same with my cast iron skillet, to boost the iron content of my breakfast. However, Cook's Illustrated says that it's best to cook a few things before trying eggs in Lodge's cast iron skillets.

I have a thing for Southern food, so when I saw that Cook's Illustrated provides recipes for "northern" and "southern" cornbread, I had to try making the latter, just to check what I've been eating all these years - I didn't think the cornbread at Dallas BBQ was that sweet.

The recipe calls for heating oil (or preferably bacon drippings) in the skillet while mixing the rest of the ingredients. I tried it in the toaster oven, but before I'd finished mixing even the dry ingredients, I noticed popping and hissing from the toaster. I frantically turned off the power, and ran around opening windows and exhausts - and moved the skillet to the oven. It went without a hitch there, although I was nervous that I'd overfilled the pan.

Turns out I have been eating northern cornbread all these years. The first bite tasted terrible, because I wasn't expecting a dry polenta. Once I got used to it though, I could see eating it with barbecue chicken or maybe as the crust of a chicken pot pie. Not having any of those in the house, I had it with a slice of smoked cheddar. I'll definitely be making more of this. Read More......

The Problem with Lentils

When you're a hapless cook, cellphone coverage is very important. I had a recipe for sopa de lentejas that I wanted to try, and I duly noted that it required lentils, a carrot, and salt pork/slab bacon. Fairway has horrible cellphone coverage though, so I couldn't call my mother to ask whether it ought to be red lentils or French lentils. I still had red lentils at home from the last time I'd cooked with lentils, so clearly that must be what I'd use this time. WRONG! Apparently the difference is that last time, I made mujaddara, which requires the lentils to dissolve, which I don't think is the right texture for soup :(

Fortunately, I discovered this by flipping through America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook: along with the bad news, it provided a recipe for "Indian-spiced red lentils". I know many bloggers complain their ethnic recipes are inauthentic, but sometimes that isn't the point. I had the requisite coconut milk and garam masala and substituted ground ginger for grated.

I wish it was still the pale red of red lentils - it's a brownish mush after 20mins of simmering - or that I'd had a nice tomato for garnish, instead of a weeks old thing from the back of my fridge. Nonetheless it tastes far better than it looks, a bit of warmth and filling for a cold winter's morning. Read More......