TracyFood

Foto Friday: epic cheesesteak sammiches and more 10 February 2012 4:25 pm

Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,bread,cheese,cooking,eating,fangirl,food as spectator sport,fun,hot mess,meat,not even vegetarian,photos,pictures , add a comment

This could have been a Thank You Thursday and Foto Friday all in one, but the alternate title for this picture was “Why Tracy and Peter spent Thursday night in food coma mode,” so…. Yeah. Also: Mmmmm.

I mean, that is just so much win!

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Foto Friday: recipe revisionism EXPOSED! 11 November 2011 2:52 pm

Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,baking,consumerism,cookies,diet stress is a health hazard,food snobbery,geekery,photos,pictures,random,recipes,seasonality , add a comment

Just one picture today, readers, but it is a doozy! Check this out:

Oatmeal cookie recipe revisionism — EXPOSED!

Do you know what this means, readers? DO YOU? (more…)

Another Twitter Tuesday! 8 November 2011 11:24 pm

Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,diet stress is a health hazard,events,fangirl,fast food,food safety,food snobbery,health at every size,media,meta,news,Twitter Tuesday , add a comment

Hey, so like I confessed yesterday, I really didn’t know what to blog about today, only then suddenly, to my surprise and delight, the Twitters, which I kinda sorta really hadn’t been watching since last Tuesday, came through for me in a big way. Check these out! First and foremost, my former classmate Shanti with news that makes me want to make horrible puns about sticky messes:

Shanti Elise Prasad (@shantielise)
If you eat honey, this may blow your mind. Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey… foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-…

I’m having a little trouble wrapping my head around this story, personally, because as far as I can tell from the article, the definition of “honey” being argued about here is whether or not (for example) the sweet golden goo in the plastic bear has pollen in it. But the article’s scandal-monger-y lede:

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

really rubs me the wrong way. Because with the possible exception of some wild-caught fish, pretty much no animal product sold in U.S. grocery stores is exactly what the animals in question produce. It’s all processed one way or another. (more…)

Recipe: Lemon Bundt Cake 22 April 2010 2:54 pm

Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,baking,cooking,dessert,friends,kitchen gear,recipes , 1 comment so far

I think this cake might be the very first one I ever made from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe (it’s either that or the fabulous huevos rancheros also in this issue, January & February 2006). In any case, I am not much of a baker or even a huge cake fan, but for whatever reason this recipe captured my imagination and I had to try it. Maybe it was the buttermilk? I don’t know, but I’m pretty darn sure that does not hurt the deliciousness of this one bit. Anyway. I dedicate this post to Ansley, who has been awesome at reminding me that she really, really wants to know how to make this delicious dessert.

Notes

This recipe is super-wordy because I am not a baker and lots of instructions are helpful to me, but I have cut it down to size on Twitter, like so:

Lemon bundt cake! 9oz butter, 2c sugar, 3 eggs+1 yolk, 3 lemons’ juice+zest, 3/4c buttermilk, 3c APF, 1 tsp powder, 1/2tsp soda, 60min 350F.

7:23 PM Sep 7th, 2009 via web

That’s a little misleading on the lemon juice, but otherwise right on. Also, it leaves out 1 tsp vanilla (oops).

The only other really important thing to know is that in addition to these ingredients you’ll need an extra tablespoon of buttermilk and 2 cups (8 ounces) of confectioner’s sugar, to make a light glaze of super-deliciousness. Armed with that information, experienced bakers can probably feel fine to ignore all my directions.

Last thoughts: the last time I made this recipe I used demerara sugar (Sugar In the Raw, to be exact) and the cake turned out a little crumblier than usual, but still delicious. I think this cake is even more delicious when it’s a day or two old; like many other baked goods, it gets denser and crumblier with time, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. (more…)