Recent content by Slake

A firm Italian bread cut into thick slices and toasted. Linguica sausage butterflied and fried until just crisp on the outside. A fried egg. Jack Daniel's Horseradish mustard.

I only wear an apron when I'm baking, because I can get a bit random with the flour and the apron helps keep it off my clothing. When I was still living in California, my wife and I took a number of weekend classes at the California Culinary Academy. They gave us one of their aprons for each...

After baking all our bread for the last six years a 5,000 feet and above, I'd like to share some recipes that have worked well for me in the hope that things might go a little easier for some other high-altitude bakers. Two of my favorites are the Rustic Potato Loaves from Julia Child's book...

Making a chicken pot pie.

I totally agree with Barbara L. When I want to make half a recipe, I take a minute and jot down all the measurements I'm going to use in pencil next to the original measurements. This has saved me a lot of grief, as I have tried doing it in my head too many times and in the heat of the moment...

I have the brand I'm sure a million other people have, the Marcato Atlas. This is a hand-crank machine and it works very well. I've made a lot of pasta with it and am satisfied with the job that it does for the price. My one complaint is that it is a greasy little devil. It tells you to wipe it...

Trying a new recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with pancetta, roasted red peppers, onions, etc. Have some leftover risotto to go with it.

They are my preferred brand of canned tomato. I always have some in my pantry. I gladly pay a little more for them, although Kroger has them on sale once in a while. Their fire-roasted tomatoes are the best.

Read, fly fish, walk the dog, eat, think about cooking, grocery shop, eat...

All of the above suggestions are really good. I don't know where you live - how big a town, etc. - but I'd suggest you check with your town's community services, recreation department, etc. They often offer basic cooking classes free or very cheaply, along with all the other stuff like exercise...

Where I live it has to be Whole Foods. We have Safeway and King Sooper (Kroger's) but here in Colorado these two large chains have pretty poor quality produce and their meats are fairly ho-hum. Whole Foods is pricey, but I can get good meat, seafood, cheese, and produce there, so when it...

Favorites: Bobby Flay Giada deLaurentis Tyler Florence Nigella Lawson Ina Garten Least Favorites: Pretty much everyone else.

Chorizo and eggs. Something green on the side, like maybe fried spinach, cooked with garlic and bacon.

I've had some problems over the years with KA mixers that I've used for mixing dough. I bake bread twice a week and maybe I've just overtaxed them, but I'm on my third one in six years. I've been using the most powerful models, but I've broken gears, had lubiricant leaking down the shaft, etc. I...

I have a couple of pork chops I need to do something with, so I'll be searching the recipes looking for a good stuffed or braised pork chop recipe. My wife doesn't like pork chops because they get dry, so I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen. Along with them I think I'll try the fried...