Monthly Archives: December 2011

Top Posts of 2011

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 31, 2011

Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

The economy struggled but cooking and writing about food sure didn't! My colleague Emilia and I decided to have a look at the most popular—or most viewed is perhaps the better phrase—posts from this site this year. By far the most exciting blog event of the year was Cathy Barrow's and Kim Foster's Charcutepalooza. What an amazing thing happened, and all because of that catchy hashtag on Twitter. This would not have happened without Twitter. Congrats to all who participated and who pushed themselves to cook in unfamiliar and often difficult ways! Special congrats to Cecilia, who blogs at One Vanilla Bean, and Peter, who blogs at Cookblog, as the two year's end finalists. Good luck to you both! Top ruhlman.com posts from ...

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Posted in Appetizers, Article, baking, Books, Bread App, Charcutepalooza, Charcuterie, Technique, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Potassium Effect: Important Ratio

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 28, 2011

 

Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Yesterday the NYTimes covered an important health ratio: the amount of potassium relative to the amount salt you consume. While the article by long time health reporter, Jane Brody, leads with the obvious (excessive salt has proven to be a health risk, according to yet another major study), and the headline writer reinforce the obvious ("Sodium-Saturated Diet is a Threat for All"), the article recognizes that everything is about balance and notes the important role potassium-rich foods play in countering salt's negative effects. "The researchers found that while a diet hight in sodium—salt is the main source—increases your risk," Brody writes, "even more important is the ratio of sodium (harmful) to potassium (protective) in one's diet." This was pointed out to me this summer by Mark Bitterman, author of a great book called Click to Continue Reading

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Posted in aromatics, Food Politics, Food Safety, food science, Seasonings and Spices | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Champagne Time

By emilia | Published: December 26, 2011

In time for New Year's Eve, a quick tutorial about bubbly and suggested purchases, via WSJ.

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Posted in Article, Cocktails, Food Culture, Holiday | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Prolonging Your Life

By emilia | Published: December 26, 2011

Scientists have discovered a specific molecule in one's body that may prolong one's life by reducing caloric intake, via The Independent UK.

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Latke Recipe

By emilia | Published: December 26, 2011

Try a new parsnip latke to spice up your holiday season, via Smitten Kitchen.

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Posted in Appetizers, Article, Recipes, Technique, Vegetables | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas Wishes

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 24, 2011

It's been a long day of wrapping and cooking in preparation for Christmas, amazingly stress free because of my amazing wife and colleague Donna. Her photo above is something of a self-portrait of us on the Christmas tree. Mom and James made cookies and I made our annual Addison's Brioche.  Mom wants to use it to make sticky buns so we'll fill some muffin pans with brown sugar, butter and pecans, top each with the brioche and refrigerate till tomorrow morning. It's become a tradition. As has the reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas before bed. Traditions are powerful indeed. The day has also been occasion to think about how lucky I am, for Donna, for Donna's work, for the health of my children, on this bountiful holiday. I miss my dad who was the very embodiment of The ...

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Posted in Food Writing, Holiday, Memories | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Britta’s Glogg

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 23, 2011

Glogg was a staple of my childhood Christmases. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

I'd been looking for a long ago recipe card used by my parents titled "Britta's Glogg" to do a post about it (and because I hadn't made it in years). Then all of a sudden I start seeing recipes for mulled wine all over the place. I don't remember seeing any in years and then, two different ones from just in the NYTimes alone, one in the Sunday Magazine, another by writer Melissa Clark. It was not the drinking of the glogg that stays in the memory—it wasn't till later that I would actually have been drinking it—it was the aroma of it. I've recently become aware of how powerful the smells of food cooking in house are. They are a natural stress reliever. ...

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Posted in aromatics, Cocktails, Ethnic Cuisine, Holiday, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Christmas Dinner: The Grill/Roast Technique

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 21, 2011

Roast beef mise en place. Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

On Thanksgiving, I offered a roast/braise combination cooking technique for turkey. Interesting that I use a dual cooking technique for our traditional holiday Christmas meal as well. The Grill/Roast method, which I write about in Ruhlman's Twenty. I don’t think there’s a better way to cook a rack of beef (or a whole beef tenderloin) than this combination grill-roast method. It gives the meat great grilled flavor and allows you perfect control of temperatures and timing. I use the method in during holidays, to serve beef tenderloin sandwiches on a buffet or a rack of beef for a large group of people because I can grill the beef a day ahead if I want and then just finish it in the oven. Flavor the meat on ...

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Posted in appearance, aromatics, baking, Beef, Butchery, grilling, Holiday, outdoor cooking, Recipes, Technique | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

Christmas Yorkshire Pudding

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 19, 2011

Freshly made popovers. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Marlene Newell, who runs an excellent cooking forum called CooksKorner tested all the recipes for Ratio and Twenty. She's a friend and excellent cook. One of her passions is Yorkshire pudding, in effect, a savory popover, which is how she bakes them (as above). I, too, make roast beef for Christmans dinner and Yorkshire pudding. I believe it's critical to cook it in beef fat, for flavor, so I buy and render suet for this purpose. I've also poured the batter straight into the roasting pan which works great so long as there are no burnt bits (the pudding ripples and puffs like crazy; I then cut it to serve). I imagine the roasting pan method was how it would have originated, the batter cooking in ...

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Posted in baking, Beef, Books, Bread, Food Writing, From Scratch, Guest Post, Holiday, Memories, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Examining Waste Costs

By emilia | Published: December 19, 2011

Food waste cost about $100 billion in the USA, one must be aware of this situation, via the Atlantic.

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Posted in Article, Food Culture, Food Politics, Food Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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