Daily Dish

If Pringles aren't potato chips, what are they?

Rene Lynch — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:39:02 -0700

There's nothing like a good food debate to get us through the long Fourth of July weekend. And we have a hot one here. Seems like some Brits have their knickers in a twist over Pringles — those salty snacks that come neatly stacked in a tube. In a court ruling over whether the snacks should be taxed, a court ruled that Pringles cannot be called "crisps." (That's what they call potato chips across the pond.)

So, you ask, what exactly are Pringles made of? Read more here.

I wonder what Frederic J. Baur thinks of all of this. He invented Pringles' "potatoe crisp packaging system" and was reportedly so proud of the endeavor that he's buried in one of the cans.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Pringles?

— Rene Lynch

Notes from the Test Kitchen: Recipe development

Noelle Carter — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:12:14 -0700

For this week's cooking story, Pack it up! It's time for a Fourth of July picnic, Test Kitchen director Donna Deane worked with the editors to come up with smart updates to classic picnic dishes. Her recipes for double-dipped fried chicken, a versatile coleslaw recipe, and shamelessly rich orange brownie bites are fresh takes on iconic picnic items, and the dishes were a hit. Each test batch disappeared in minutes, and the recipes we made for the photo shoot practically had to be locked away — the brownies especially — just so they'd last for their camera close-ups.

Since Donna and I tend to get a lot of questions about how we come up with original recipes and the inspiration behind them, I thought I'd ask Donna about each of the recipes, so she could explain firsthand how each went from inspiration to actual dish.

How did you come up with your method for fried chicken, and what about the brining and double-dipping for the batter? I decided to brine the chicken because many times fried chicken is overcooked and dry. A good brine with herbs and garlic will add flavor throughout the meat and keep the chicken moist. Double-dipping adds crunch to the fried chicken; it makes for chicken that will stay crisp even when fried ahead and chilled before serving.

We've gotten so many requests for coleslaw lately; what made you decide to go the route you did in developing your recipe? After talking with the editors about the recipe, we decided to go with several cabbages to give color and texture variations — one basic recipe with variations. A vinaigrette is a must for a picnic, so I decided to do one with cilantro and tarragon to give a flavor twist on the traditional recipe, along with an Asian-inspired coleslaw, and one with pickling spices for a twist on flavors.

The brownies are wonderful, and it's hard to eat just one. What inspired you to go with an orange pairing, and how did you get them to be that moist? The moist consistency comes from a lot of butter, and not overbaking. I wanted to make a very dense chocolate brownie, so I used two types of chocolate, along with the cocoa. I suggested using Grand Marnier and grated orange peel to give them a more unusual flavor from the traditional brownie. My inspiration came from the wonderful Grand Marnier truffles that you pick up at most chocolate shops. It's a favorite flavor combination of mine.

We hope you like the dishes as much as we did. We'd love to hear your thoughts on these recipes. Happy Fourth of July!

— Noelle Carter

Photos by Robert Lachman

Growing Asian vegetables

Irene Virbila — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:57:09 -0700

Now that we’ve gone crazy for cooking Asian in our household, I thought I’d like to grow some Asian herbs and vegetables. I used to order from Kitazawa Seed Co. in Oakland when I lived in the Bay Area. The company started out in 1917 selling seeds to just-arrived Japanese immigrants. Now, 91 years later, their catalog (available by mail or online) encompasses some 300 varieties of Asian vegetables for Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and other Asian cuisines.

Impressed by their selection of heirloom vegetables from Japan’s Kansai region, I ended up buying much, much more than Chinese chives and Japanese scallions. After scouring their catalog, I decided on three of their seed collections — Asian Herb Garden, Thai Garden and Japanese Heirloom Garden (seven seed packets each). I completed my order with two kinds of yardlong beans, Lunar white carrots, Chinese celery, Japanese bunching onions, two kinds of Thai basil, and more. It’s easy to order online from their informative site, which lists eight — count 'em — types of Thai basil.

From the library, I had checked out Joy Larkcom’s classic gardening book “Oriental Vegetables” (see photo after the jump), decided I liked it and was looking for a used copy online when I discovered the British organic gardening expert had just published a revised version. I immediately ordered it: Now I have someone to hold my hand while I try growing all this exotic stuff. Wish me luck.

Kitazawa Seed Co. (510) 595-1188; fax (510) 595-1860. Seed packets, $3.35 each; seed collections, $21 each.

"Oriental Vegetables" by Joy Larkcom, Kodansha International (2008), 232 pages, paperback, $19.95.

— S. Irene Virbila

Photos by S. Irene Virbila

Pamela Anderson talks turkey, er, vegan

Rene Lynch — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:18:44 -0700

From The Guide: "Pamela Anderson is known worldwide for her fight to end animal cruelty via her work with groups like PETA. Naturally, she is vegan. Anderson is also an avowed lover of Los Angeles, so we find out where the actress is eating out these days (or at least sending out her assistant to grab something for her)."

Read more here. Any vegan restaurants out there that Pam needs to know about?

— Rene Lynch

Photo: Reuters

Cafe Stella expands, a little

Betty Hallock — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:59:12 -0700

There's fresh paint on the walls in the dining room at Cafe Stella in Silver Lake, because the dining room just got a little bigger.

The bistro's courtyard is always charmingly alluring — it's outdoors but covered (and lined with potted olive trees), tucked away from traffic along Sunset Boulevard. In the evening, the candlelit patio seems to warmly glow as locals and various expats sip aperitifs. As long as you're not sitting directly under a speaker blasting out Edith Piaf, it's quite lovely.

The tables on the patio are highly coveted, but there's spillover room in the two small rooms that house the quaint bar and a separate dining room, which now fits a few more tables.

— Betty Hallock

Photo by Betty Hallock

Hopefully, shoppers will be the big winners in this war

Rene Lynch — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:29:06 -0700

It's on! There's a battle brewing for shoppers' hearts and minds and, not coincidentally, their hard-earned dollars. After months of lying low, the supermarket chain Fresh & Easy is making its move. And its target? Trader Joe's. Read more details here in Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch's story in our Business section. But this is the upshot: Fresh & Easy is going head-to-head with a chain that is beloved in Southern California.

Do you prefer the more modern, airy feel of Fresh & Easy? Or the more eclectic atmosphere at Trader Joe's? Would lower prices help pick a side? Post your comments here.

Me? I can't choose. I shop at both. Fresh & Easy has the best hummus that can be purchased in a store. (Don't even bother arguing with me.) And I always stock up on prepared foods at Trader Joe's for busy weeknights.

— Rene Lynch

At Mozza, it’s what the locals do

LATimes — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:43:06 -0700

Amid the clatter and frenzy Saturday night at Pizzeria Mozza sat our small dish of mussels, guarded by our party of three as if it were water from the fountain of youth. The shells sat empty, scattered around the perimeter of the flat bowl that still had plenty of the garlic-crazed broth they were cooked in.

It was our waiter who told us not to let the busboys take it away. “Dunk your pizza crusts in it,” he said. “It’s what all the locals do.” I can’t be certain, but it seemed as though we tore through the Gorgonzola, rosemary, potato pizza, the prosciutto and arugula pizza and the mushroom and cheese pizza with the sole purpose of getting our crusts into that broth. That night, we were all locals.

— Tenny Tatusian

Photo by Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times

Meyenberg goat milk butter

Amy Scattergood — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:45:59 -0700

So here's what I found at the Cheese Store of Silver Lake the other day: a big silver rectangle of Meyenberg goat milk butter. Made in California's San Joaquin valley by a company that has produced goat milk since 1934, the prize-winning butter is lightly salted, so pale it's almost white (rather like lardo, a very, very good thing of which to be reminded, I might add), and slightly but distinctly reminiscent of chèvre in taste.

Spread thickly on slices of baguette, with a sprinkle of Hawaiian black sea salt, the butter is amazingly smooth and has a cool tang to the finish, not unlike goat cheese. It has a lower melting point and is less rich than butter made from cow's milk — a good thing, really, if you put as much butter on your bread as I do.

The emissions problem of cows has been in the news lately. Anybody know what the carbon footprint of a goat looks like? Given the otherwise beautiful efficiency of those animals, you'd think it would be a pretty good one.

Meyenberg goat milk butter, $7.99 for half a pound. Cheese Store of Silver Lake, 3926 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 644-7511.

— Amy Scattergood

Photo by Amy Scattergood

Test Kitchen tips: Measuring and ingredients

Noelle Carter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:00:00 -0700

Every week, Test Kitchen director Donna Deane and I receive e-mails from readers about the week's recipes. Many are positive; the recipes may stir a memory or utilize an ingredient in an exciting new way. Often we receive questions about similar recipes or methods, wondering why we add ingredients when we do, or what we mean by a particular step. Some questions don't relate to just-published recipes but are totally out of the blue — what would we suggest doing with a particular ingredient or how might we cook a certain food? Occasionally we hear from a frustrated e-mailer who's wondering why a recipe didn't come out as expected.

That said, we thought we'd start throwing out some weekly general kitchen tips on this blog. Many will probably be familiar, some may be totally new. In any case, we hope they're helpful. If you've got any questions or tips you'd like us to explore, feel free to comment — we'll do our best to cover each one we receive.

The majority of questions we receive involve baking. With baking being the precise science it is, we thought we'd start by giving some tips relating to measuring and ingredients. Here goes:

• Use liquid measuring cups for liquid ingredients, and dry measures for dry. Honestly, we can't stress how important this is; nothing will throw a recipe off more quickly than measuring out your flour in a liquid measuring cup (you'll end up with much more than is called for in the recipe). Measuring spoons can be used for both liquid and dry ingredients.

• Place the measuring cup on a flat, level surface before measuring. This goes for both liquid and dry ingredients.

• Level off your dry ingredients so they're flush with the top of the measuring spoon or cup. Do this gently.

• Gently spoon — don't pack — the flour into the measuring cup. Packing will throw off a recipe by adding more flour than is called for. And don't scoop the flour using the same spoon/cup with which you're planning to measure — this will pack the flour.

• Pack the brown sugar into your measuring spoon or cup. Yes, this is the total opposite of the flour.

• Opened spice and herb jars should be kept no longer than one year. Spices, like anything else, get stale and lose their potency gradually after they're opened. In the Test Kitchen, we try to date the jars once they're opened so we know when each spice should be replaced.

• Baking soda and powder should be replaced each year. Like the spices, they lose their potency. Quick breads and cookies won't rise (or rise as they should) with stale ingredients.

• Eggs should be at room temperature before they're used in a recipe. One function of eggs in baking is to add volume; room-temperature eggs will give you higher cakes and more magnificent meringues than cold eggs.

• When we call for salt in a recipe, we are referring to fine salt (we use fine sea salt in the Test Kitchen). If a recipe calls for a specific salt, such as kosher or coarse, we will list this in the ingredients.

— Noelle Carter

Photo by Noelle Carter

Get me some basil, buffalo mozzarella and sea salt....STAT!

Rene Lynch — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:38:30 -0700

The August issue of Eating Well has arrived in subscriber mailboxes with a plump, glistening tomato on the cover.

That means the magazine was coming off the printing presses when the salmonella scare was making headlines. So I called Lisa Gosselin, the editor at the Vermont-based publication, to ask about the not-so-perfect timing.

"I woke up in the morning, heard the news, and my first thought was 'Oh no! Is it too late to get this cover back from the printer?' " she said. Turns out the magazine was too far gone — it would have been far too costly and disruptive to reverse course. So, Gosselin took a deep breath and reflected on the fact that the cover had actually been chosen by an on-line poll of readers. There were four to choose from, including one that showcased summer corn. But hands down, readers chose the photograph by Ken Burris that showed the luscious tomato in all its summertime glory. "There’s nothing that says summer more than tasting a ripe tomato," Gosselin said. "A summer-fresh, farmers market tomato is just one of the best things in the world."

If you're unfamiliar with Eating Well, it covers health and nutrition news and trends, and includes yummy recipes for guilt-free eating. My favorite way to use ripe tomatoes is a Caprese salad. I look forward to trying their take on it. Here's another recipe from The Times' archives for heirloom tomatoes and ricotta salad with homemade croutons. C'mon. You can't pass up homemade croutons.

What's your favorite way to enjoy summer-fresh tomatoes? And for the record, there have been no health concerns reported with locally grown tomatoes, such as from your local farmers market. You can read the latest news story on the scare here.

— Rene Lynch

Photo credit: www.EatingWell.com