INSTEAD OF CULINARY SCHOOL SNOTS, the man Food Network viewers know as "Ace of Cakes" exclusively hires art school grads to work in his Baltimore bake shop. He'll explain why next Thursday night at the Corcoran. And if you want to get on his good side, ask about his sweet ride (a jet-black '62 Corvette) and his rock band (he's the bass player).
» EXPRESS: How did you realize cake was your artistic medium?
» GOLDMAN: When I first started out, I made a cake for a couple that wanted something Gustav Klimt-inspired. I got this idea that I would do one that looked like "The Kiss." So, the wedding was at this winery, and I was bringing the cake into a barn to put onto a barrel, when the sun started setting. I had used all of these awesome golds and metallics, and the cake just started to glow. And I knew I had to do more of this.
» EXPRESS: Where do you fall on the buttercream versus fondant debate?
» GOLDMAN: All of our cakes have fondant because it's so much more versatile and you can do so much stuff to it. But buttercream tastes better. So, we frost everything with buttercream and then cover it with fondant, so they can peel it off. Fondant is just what you play with. We get all of these people saying it's gross that we touch the cakes a lot and don't wear gloves, but we wash our hands and nobody eats the fondant anyway. So, shut up.
» EXPRESS: How did you get the name Duff?
» GOLDMAN: My real name is Jeffrey. But when my parents told my older brother, "This is Jeffrey," he kept saying, "Duffy." My parents said, "Call him what you want," and then they started calling me Duffy, too. So, when I started school, the teacher reached "Jeffrey Goldman" on the roll cal,l and I didn't say anything. I didn't know that was my name. In college, I dropped the "y" to be cooler. But if my name was Jeffrey Goldman, I'd be a CPA right now.
IF IT WERE up to Deborah Madison, famed chef and author of books such as "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," squash and melon would never travel farther than from the farm to the farmers market before hitting your plate. She spoke with us about frequenting produce stands, throwing a dinner party using locally sourced ingredients and her new-in-paperback book, "Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating From America's Farmers' Markets" ($26, Broadway).
» EXPRESS: When did you first go to markets?
When I was in college in Cambridge in the '60s. It was Haymarket Square, so it wasn't strictly a farmers' market, but we didn't know any better at the time. It was outdoors with merchants who seemed to know what they were selling.
» EXPRESS: What's their appeal?
Traveling, you get a sense of the possibilities of a region by visiting the farmers' market. I like to find foods that really speak to a place. I live in New Mexico, so our local market has chilies and corn-based foods, like tamales.
JUST BECAUSE THE ECONOMY is suffering doesn't mean that your party guests have to. With 50 bucks — and a bit of old-school home economizing — you can serve 10 pals an ample spread of nibbles.
How to stretch a buck without resorting to Manwich canapes or ramen rolls? Check the fridge or pantry and then work backward. Frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs morph into satays. A can of beans provides the base for a spicy, not pricey dip. Chef Alison Swope of Restaurant K (1700 K St. NW) calls this running down inventory. "Making things out of what's on hand keeps costs down," she says.
Stockpile ingredients, especially costly proteins, when they're on sale. Like a high-low outfit (Louboutin shoes, Target dress), cost-conscious parties should mix inexpensive basics (bread, beans) with costly garnishes for an illusion of extravagance. Veggie dip even seems ritzy topped with chopped shrimp.
A fancy form can also impress guests more than fancy ingredients. At the new Fyve (1250 S. Hayes St., Arlington), chef Amy Brandwein offers risotto balls as an amuse bouche, turning humble rice into something posh. At home, frying up a batch costs less than ordering pizza. "It doesn't get cheaper than that," she says.
1-2-3 SPINACH-ARTICHOKE SPREAD
Makes four cups
Total cost: $8.68
Note: Three ingredients, three minutes to make. Pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil would make a nice garnish.
» 2 10-oz. packages frozen, chopped spinach: $2
» 12-oz. jar artichoke spread: $3.99
» 2 cups (16 ounces) nonfat small curd cottage cheese: $2.69
Thaw spinach in a bowl of hot water. Drain in a colander and squeeze out all of the water. Place the spinach, artichoke spread and cottage cheese in a food processor, and pulse until well combined. Serve with sliced French bread or crackers.
Continue Reading "Entertaining on the Cheap: Big Taste, Little Budget" »
UNLESS YOU'RE IN the third grade, beverages sold in cardboard containers probably play a minimal role at your parties. And we're guessing that the words "boxed wine" conjure up some not-so-fond memories of Franzia at frat fêtes.
But vino that's poured from a package, not uncorked, has suddenly become sophisticated. Dozens of vintners are producing quality wines in boxes, not bottles. And if you're not hip to the squares (or rectangles), you may be missing out on drinkable, affordable libations.
"You've got to sometimes step sideways and realize that it's not the way the wine is delivered," says Jim Barker, president/founder of the Washington Wine Academy, an Alexandria nonprofit group that organizes local tastings.
Continue Reading "Drinking Inside the Box: Wine Without the Bottle" »
HOW DO YOU CREATE a pasta cookbook using recipes from people who won't eat carbs? Barilla faced just such a challenge in creating the free online "Celebrity Italian Table" cookbook (Celebrityitaliantable.com).
Essentially, each section contains a famous person's alleged favorite noodle dish (Natalie Portman and Chris Daughtry are among the chosen six), the instructions for which are some variation on "boil water." The rest is by Mario Batali. Downloading the "book" gives a dollar to charity, though.
EVERYONE KNOWS a watched pot never boils. Now one can infinitely delay the delivery of one's Domino's pizza too by using the company's new Pizza Tracker via phone or the Web.
One can find out exactly when the pizza goes into the oven, comes out and leaves the store; once it's on the road, however, it's off the radar. "It takes the 'mystery' out of waiting for their pizza," says the funniest press release ever.
COSTCO IS THE DWELLING PLACE of pickle jars large enough to brine human heads and cracker boxes the size of (yet more attractive than) the Scion xB. It's also where you can, using Fix Freeze Feast ($15), become a "warehouse gourmet" who efficiently manages giant piles of chicken breasts.
Start with the shopping list in the first chapter and a cooler filled with ice if the weather's hot. Then make basil-balsamic pork chops, mozzarella meatballs and other freezable meals.
THOSE NEON-HUED POTS from Le Creuset or Mario Batali that Santa brought cook so well! But they get so darn hot, and plopping them down on a dowdy old potholder shows disrespect for the kitchen gods.
Give cookwares a hipper place to rest with Branch Home's felted wool trivets ($22). Four-piece sets of interlocking fabric rings come in combos of either tangerine and orange or brown and blue.
Family lore says that my great-grandmother Kitty Ann worked as a cook for a rich farm family in the 1890s. Her boss had three sons, one of whom always took the largest piece of whatever she served. Annoyed, Kitty Ann whipped up some apple dumplings, making one turnover much larger than the others and filling it with dried beans. The greedy brother grabbed it, bit in, and broke a tooth.
When Mom told me this tale as a kid, she probably meant it as a lesson about gluttony or work ethics. But Kitty Ann knew what many cooks and party throwers know: Few can resist dough wrapped around a squishy filling. "They're labor-intensive, so people associate them with happy times," says Laura Schenone, author of "The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken" ($27, Norton), which tracks her quest for her great-grandmother's pasta secrets.
Every wheat-eating culture boasts a turnover, from Chinese shu mai (pork dumplings) to Latin American empanadas. "They're comfort food. You can't go wrong with dishes starring potatoes and bread," says Kera Carpenter, chef/owner of Petworth's W Domku (821 Upshur St. NW; 202-722-7475), which dishes out Polish pierogi and Czech potato dumplings.
Carpenter and other fans of plump pockets admit a dumplings party involves elbow grease and practice. "Have one person who knows what they're doing," says Brian Yarvin, author of "A World of Dumplings: Filled Dumplings, Pockets and Little Pies From Around the Globe" ($22, Countryman). "Kneading and rolling isn't that awesome a task."
If you don't have a pal with dumpling skills, study Ukrainian vareniki or Lebanese fatayer techniques via a book or class. L'Academie de Cuisine offers many classes about dumplings; Taiwanese chef Rebekah Lin Jewell (Artofchinesecooking.com) teaches dim sum workshops.
The tools are basic: rolling pins to flatten dough, Asian dumpling crimpers to close up pies ($5, Surlatable.com) and bamboo steamers or frying pans for cooking 'em. For ravioli, a pasta machine is handy.
Letting guests in on the process is an ice-breaker and time-saver. "Look at it as a fun project," says Schenone. Set up an assembly line with one person rolling out dough, someone else stuffing pies and another guest boiling or frying.
Continue Reading "Styles: From Pierogi to Empanadas, Dumplings Rate High" »
IT'D BE HARD TO round up a collection of potato recipes that wasn't snarfable, right? Calling your cookbook "Yummy Potatoes: 65 Downright Delicious Recipes" ($19, Chronicle) — like Marlena Spieler did — suggests an author in such a carb-induced haze that clever titles escaped her.
So while we would've chuckled to thumb through "The Truth About Tubers" or "Starch Rivals: Why Yams Suck and Potatoes Don't," we're just as happy to cook such delish-sounding dishes as basil mashers or french fries with citrus-garlic mojo. Worldly goodies — Greek potatoes baked with lemon and garlic, Spanish spud tortillas — look particularly, um, smashing.
Image courtesy Chronicle Books
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