Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum

A year ago, during my visit to Germany to visit my nephew Alex and family. Marley Jane was only two months old then. When I returned with Elliott a only 6 months later she had, predictable changed significantly--in fact, she took her first steps with him. And what a lovely surprise to receive these recent photos her mom Haley sent me and to see she is already a little girl and such a sweet one too! Haley titled the photo with the daisy "Haysmile" and I just know it's because Marley was looking at her older brother Hadyn!

From the kitchen of Rose on 05.05.08 at 3:40 PM in Photos
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I’m not sure if I’ll ever make onion soup again, at least not as long as I live a 5 minute walk from Blue Ribbon Bakery and they still make their glorious version.

For starters, chef and baker Sefton Stallard makes some of the best bread I’ve ever tasted and believe me I’ve tasted many a bread around the world! When creating the kitchen for Blue Ribbon Bakery he excavated an ancient wood fired brick oven in the cellar and called in an expert from Europe to restore it to working order.

Seton studied in Paris at the Cordon Bleu and apprenticed in Paris and in Switzerland for several years. He created this onion soup based on his taste memory and, I suspect, improved on it as it’s better than any I tasted even in France.

When cold weather sets in there is little more pleasing than this hot soup filled with caramelized onion and topped with a slice of bread soft and comforting with the juices of the stock, also serving to float an ample island of stretchy/stringy strands of melted gruyère with crunchy golden bits adhering to the edges of the bowl. It satisfies every possible longing--at least while eating it.

Continue reading "The Best French Onion Soup" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 02.03.08 at 1:15 PM in Savory Cooking
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well there it is--the babka stayed and i gained a little over 1 pound. i just returned from my early morning swim and ran into one of my favorite neighbors waiting for the elevator. she asked me in a hushed voice what i had been baking the night before last. she said the whole hall smelled like apple pie and permeated all the apartments (she had already queried another neighbor). it was the cinnamon and butter combination of course. incidentally, ann has a luscious sounding chocolate and apricot filling as another great alternative to the cinnamon and sugar.

since i can't seem to get this babka out of my mind, i started thinking that maybe i should use half light brown muscovado sugar in the filling but then decided it was risky as where the babka opens up during baking and the filling carmelizes, the molasses in the brown sugar would make it either burn or become too dark and bitter.

i'm having trouble waiting the 45 minutes for my editor to arrive so we can finish the babka together. i'll distract myself with coffee.

From the kitchen of Rose on 12.19.07 at 7:35 AM in Announcements
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A few postings ago i mentioned viewing the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center and how I regretted not having brought my camera. No longer, however, because standing next to me was Kurt Liu on his first trip to New York from San Francisco and he had a very impressive looking camera mounted onto a tripod. I knew his photos would be better than anything I could have taken so I asked his permission to post it on this blog and he graciously agreed.

These two photos really capture the majesty and exquisite setting of the most spectacular Christmas Tree I've ever seen in all my years in New York. Only once did I happen to be at Rockefeller Center at the moment of the tree lighting and it was an experience I'll never forget.

Thank you Kurt for allowing us all to enjoy these two fantastic photos.

Happy Holidays,
Rose

P.S. for more photos by kurt liu here's the link to his flickr site

From the kitchen of Rose on 12.11.07 at 10:25 AM in Photos
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It was beginning to snow as Shelly climbed up to the top of the tall ladder and refusing my help managed to find a way to sever it together with the branch in a way that kept it from dropping to the ground. That left me free to run for the camera!

The grey and brown paper strips and swirls of the nest were amazingly beautiful up close and through one of the holes in the side one can see the pockets of the hive.

It's the largest one I've ever seen and astounding to contemplate that it is made from the hornets' saliva. Fortunately there were none still dwelling inside. Once the first frost comes they are said to leave the nest and the following year they rebuild from scratch. If left to the elements the next gradually disintegrates. I hope to hang this one from the porch ceiling in a place where the rain doesn't come slanting in to harm it. It's a treasure.

From the kitchen of Rose on 11.19.07 at 10:04 PM in Photos
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I had to share with you...

From: Cathy Waller Subject: Happy Halloween! To: Rose

I just wanted to share with you a little of what I've been up to. I brought this to a Halloween party last night, and it was a hit! It was 4 layers of Perfect All-American Chocolate Cake with Orange flavored Mousseline Buttercream filling and icing. One of the best compliments, besides its spectacular taste, was that most people thought it was a centerpiece, not a cake.

Next is a 3-tiered anniversary cake and another sculpted cake to feed 100. Thanks, friends, for all your encouragement, help and support!

From the kitchen of Rose on 11.06.07 at 2:54 AM in Photos
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It has taken several years, but such is the superiority of silicone in many applications of baking and cooking, the consumers have reached a real comfort level in near record time it usually takes to accept new technology. I would bet that there is at least one silicone product in every kitchen in America. I don’t think anyone still uses rubber spatulas rather than silicone spatulas that are heatproof to over 500˚F.

Through using silicone bakeware and cookware, and learning its properties and how it functions, manufacturers and designers are coming up with all manner of incredibly inventive gadgets that show silicone to its best advantage and that serve as indisputable replacements for old technology.

Continue reading "A Few of My Favorite Silicone Things" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 11.03.07 at 9:45 AM in New Products
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Nushera has shared this great technique for making roses. You can use marzipan, or gumpaste and the colors of your choice.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.10.07 at 7:09 PM in Photos
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When Ron Ben Israel came to live in this country he claims to have known nothing about cakes or cake decorating. He learned baking from The Cake Bibleand cake decorating from the high priestess of pastillage flowers Betty Van Norstrand.

When The Plaza planned their 100th birthday celebration it was Ron they chose to make this extraordinary replica of the hotel in cake!

Ron teaches regularly at the French Culinary Institute and occasionally at different locations around the country.

ONE OF RON'S MANY ASSISTANTS FOR THIS MASSIVE PROJECT

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.09.07 at 7:55 AM in Photos
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My dear friend Ruth, of Montecastelli in Tuscany, where will be in just a few weeks, www.montecastelli.com is an incredibly talented photographer. She rarely sends me an e-mail without including her latest visual splendor and this one, captured at Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierras just East of Yosemite National Park, I just had to share with you.

From the kitchen of Rose on 09.30.07 at 8:20 PM in Photos
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I’m back—well rested and well fed and ready to begin the new year!

Thank you all for responding to each other and I’ll try to catch up with the questions that have remained unanswered as soon as possible.

Here are some Hope highlights from our lovely vacation (for me vacation means getting to cook and bake special things as well as rest).

The hornet's (paper wasp's) nest is just outside our back door but high enough above to keep them and us safe from each other. I can almost forgive them their sting when i observe the splendid home they built for themselves!

Be sure to try the Primo Focaccia which has been posted on the blog many months ago. I think it is my top favorite bread. Since I couldn't bear to throw out any of the fed starter i used all 160 grams and increased everything else by 1.185 times.

Continue reading "I'm Back!" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 09.04.07 at 11:15 AM in Announcements
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i've lost track of just how many years we've lived here (part time) but one of the many things i've enjoyed has been how little things changed. recently this has changed.

the charming village cafe in town, where we enjoyed many lunches and dinners, has closed and is up for auction. and the lovely inn across the way where we went for special dinners has changed hands. it has been owned for many years by our friends cordie and charlie puttkammer who now plan to retire to their home on the beautiful mackinac island in michigan, and tour the u.s. via trailer. i met cordie when another mutual friend, food writer joan nathan, learned that we lived here and insisted that i go over and meet cordie. i found her playing tennis on their court up the hill and we've been friends ever since.

often, cordie would happen by to watch us hit and on occasion appeared with her racket and a partner and we played doubles. i will miss her very much and hope to visit in michigan.

here is our current tennis audience on cordie's court:

From the kitchen of Rose on 08.18.07 at 10:19 AM in Special Stories
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that’s what elliott calls it after my having called attention to the fact that i have foamed the milk for my cappuccino to a new height resembling the matter horn. i’ve written before on this blog about my preference for foamed milk made with a foamer without the injection of steam produced by the foamers on some espresso machines. but i now have some new information that i think will be of use.

first of all, i found that not all foamers are created equal. if using a hand-held battery operated foamer, aeorlatte is the one that produces the finest, most stable foam. if suddenly the foam seems less impressive it’s time for two new batteries. for ease in use, and a finer foam still, i use the nespresso aerocino which plugs in and makes the process mostly and blissfully automatic.

fellow blogger hector made the important discovery that when chilling the aerocino the foam is still more voluminous. i now keep the aerocino in the frig always at the ready!

but there’s another vital factor to the production of ideal foam and that is the milk. you can have the best apparati and still achieve inferior foam if the milk isn’t right.

non-fat milk probably foams the best but has no flavor. next best is 1% so when i use that, i add a little heavy cream to the espresso. whole milk will also foam well but you have to experiment to find the best brand. i’m sure it has to do with something in the milk production and/ or ingredients added. in my area, cream o’ land whole milk and tuscan 1%, work the best.

From the kitchen of Rose on 08.11.07 at 10:10 AM in Drinks
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here are the pictures you've all been waiting for from the amazing Hector!

From the kitchen of Rose on 08.01.07 at 8:37 PM in Photos
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I think I’ve told this story before but for those who may have missed it, here’s the background to this photo that I hope you will find inspiring, i.e. I hope you will see how much one can improve with practice and determination!

Elliott and I were not yet married so this was a little over 31 years ago. Elliott’s son Michael was celebrating his 13th birthday and had the good taste to request see ingthe Broadway play Dracula with Frank Langela. I offered to make the birthday cake. This was BG (before ganache) and I wanted a rich dark chocolate frosting if not for the cake itself at least for the decoration. So I kept adding brown food coloring, not realizing that it would darken on its own after several hours.

Continue reading "My First and Worst Cake" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 06.23.07 at 11:08 AM in Cakes
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Hi,

This was the cake that I made this weekend (with your help!) for my
cousin's wedding.

At the wedding I was asked if I could come teach a class on cake
decorating! I thought they were kidding! This was only my fourth
wedding cake!!! Anyways, I was honoured... but I think I will just
tell them to all go buy your book;)

Thanks again!
Michelle

From the kitchen of Rose on 06.19.07 at 7:55 PM in Wedding
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One of my very favorite things to eat are fried clams but rarely do I find them worthy of eating. For one thing, if they are just the strips without the bellies, they are more batter than clam. Only if they are steamers (aka piss clams) so they won’t have the right texture variation from plump juicy to crisp chewy. And if the place uses a low grade commercial oil for frying and doesn’t change it often enough, the fried clams become all but indigestible. I have found one place in the world that makes fried clams exactly to my taste—The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport Maine (see below for contact info). (Actually this was a discovery of my eating partner in crime Elizabeth Karmel of Grill Friends). I have driven miles to get there from wherever part in Maine I find myself.

Sadly and obviously fried clams can’t be shipped, but to my delight, The Clam Shack has just started shipping their lobster roll kit! It is shipped overnight in Styrofoam, with icepacks, and despite the 90 degree weather it arrived in perfect condition—the ice still frozen and the lobsters, even the Styrofoam, smelling only of that dreamy briny/sweet sea-breeze aroma.

Continue reading "The Great Lobster Pig