Cooking for Two - Bruce Weinstein [6]
Frozen puff pastry
Garlic
Green peppercorns
Herbs and spices
bay leaves
caraway seeds
cardamom pods
celery seeds
cinnamon sticks
cloves
crystallized ginger
curry powder
dried basil
dried cilantro
dried dill
dried oregano
dried parsley
dried rosemary
dried thyme
dry mustard
grated nutmeg
ground allspice
ground cinnamon
ground cloves
ground cumin
ground ginger
mild paprika
red pepper flakes
rubbed (ground) sage
sesame seeds
star anise pods
turmeric
Hoisin sauce
Honey, preferably an aromatic wildflower variety
Instant espresso powder
Jam
Ketchup
Maple syrup
Mayonnaise
Molasses, preferably unsulphured
Mustard, preferably smooth Dijon mustard
Nuts
blanched almonds
hazelnuts
pecans
pepitás
pine nuts
slivered almonds
unsalted cashews
unsalted peanuts
walnuts
Olive oil
Pastas
Peanut butter, preferably smooth
Quinoa
Rice, white and jasmine
Rolled oats
Rum
Salt
Sesame oil
Solid vegetable shortening
Soy sauce
Stock (beef, chicken, or vegetable, preferably fat free and no salt added)
Sugar (granulated and brown)
Tabasco sauce
Tapioca
Tofu, preferably brands such as Mori-Nu, which require no refrigeration
Unsalted butter
Vanilla extract
Vinegar
apple cider
balsamic
red wine
white wine
Worcestershire sauce
Yellow cornmeal
five tips for success
1. Read a recipe completely before you start cooking. Many have waste-saving steps—particularly, steps that use different parts of the same ingredient. It’s important to know where you’re headed, so you don’t inadvertently throw out something you’ll need later.
2. Avoid substitutions. While some are easy and marked in the book (cider vinegar for rice vinegar, for example), others are more complicated. What would you substitute, say, for unsweetened chocolate? In the end, don’t make substitutions unless they are specifically given in the recipe. When you’re cooking and baking in small batches, the balance of flavors, leavenings, and proteins is slightly more precarious.
3. Measure meticulously. If you were making a traditional, three-tier, chocolate layer cake for ten, you might not level off the flour in one of the cup measures. Perhaps it wouldn’t make a noticeable difference; you’d only be adding 2 or 3 percent more flour to the cake. But if you don’t level off the one tablespoon of flour in our brownie recipe, you’ll be adding as much as 30 percent more flour to the batter. That’s enough to turn two fudgy brownies dry and tough.
If you’re a cook who likes to double the garlic or ground black pepper in recipes, we suggest you refrain with these. Doubling would mean the dish would be overwhelmed with garlic or pepper. More is not necessarily better when you’re cooking in small batches.
4. Don’t use a double boiler to melt chocolate. Half an ounce of chocolate is too small an amount to melt in a double boiler; it will coat the pan and you’ll never get it all out. Instead, place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Place the small bowl inside a larger bowl filled with about an inch of very hot water. (Do not let any of the water spill into the chocolate.) Keep stirring until the chocolate melts. Or melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave set on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until half the chocolate melts; then remove it from the microwave and stir until all the chocolate is melted.
5. Treat the cooking times as guidelines, not laws. Ovens are temperamental: some run hot; others, hot in spots. The best advice we can give? Use the visual cues in the text—“until the edges are brown,” “until fluffy and pale yellow”—and test a dish yourself to see if it’s done to your satisfaction.
a word about what “everyday” means
Short answer: a lot of things. It can indicate a quick and simple dish. Or a homey, comforting one, like a cheesy casserole. Or a streamlined version of a classic, designed to fit into a busy schedule.
We’ve used three symbols to help you decide how a dish fits into the “everyday” rubric—in other words, what day would be appropriate to make which dish. Of