Tag Archives: american cuisine

An easy way to serve buttered corn on the cob

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Buttered cobs of corn ready to serve

This may fall under the category of obvious, but I have eaten so many ears of corn at cook-outs the past few years where the butter was served on the side in pats, that I thought I’d give out a couple of tips:

1)  If you want to serve the butter on the side, place an entire stick of butter on a small plate and tell people to set their corn on top of the butter and rotate it until they have the coverage they desire.  Serve the corn with those little forks that get stuck in each end, which will help in the process.  No rolling once a cob has been gnawed, to prevent illness.

2)  Warm a large, deep casserole and toss in whatever quantity of salted butter (or unsalted butter plus a little salt) seems about right.  I use one stick for 8 – 10 ears.  When your corn is finished cooking, place in the casserole in a single layer with the butter and cover well with two layers of plastic wrap.  You want the top of the wrapped container to resemble a drum.  Shake the corn back and forth every few minutes to distribute the butter, which will melt from the heat of the receptacle and the corn, and serve within 20 – 30 minutes.

Country pork ribs

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Country pork ribs in a bowl

While it’s true that we’re trying to cut costs here at the home front right now, I have always made country pork ribs (from the blade end of the loin, by the shoulder) because they’re so good – tender, great flavor, and an open canvas for dry rubs.  I also prefer them to pork roasts because more of the surface area is subject to seasoning and caramelization.  They go on sale for about $1.80 a pound in these parts, and that’s when I nab a huge package, since they make great leftovers.

When you buy pork country ribs, they may or may not have bones, but they won’t have many in any case; these guys are eaten with a knife and fork.  Try to find some that do not have an overabundance of fat, but you’ll want decent marbling since this keeps the meat moist.

Easy Country Pork Ribs

Massage in a spice rub and Kosher salt, lay them out on a sheet pan with plenty of space between, and convect-roast them at 375 deg. F. for about 45 minutes, depending upon thickness.  They need to reach an internal temperature of 160 deg. F.

Spice rub suggestions:  shawarma, carne asada or cajun; ground thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Starbucks’ banana walnut bread recipe

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Starbucks’ banana walnut bread

My mom came home the other day with a card from Starbucks containing their banana walnut bread recipe.  I thought I’d give it a try since it calls for buttermilk, which is not a common ingredient.  I have to say that we all liked the bread, which was moist and flavorful.

The batter turned out very dry for me, so I added a bit more buttermilk.  However, the bananas I used were a little south of large and not overly ripe, so just know that you, too, may have to make adjustments based on the state of your bananas.  I mean, until I added the extra buttermilk, the stuff would not even move!

The recipe calls for a baking time of 45 – 60 minutes, but my loaf needed a good 20 minutes more before the wooden test skewer came out dry.

One little tip:  keep a container of baker’s buttermilk on hand.  It’s sold dry and you have to reconstitute it with water.  It’s a godsend when you need small quantities of the stuff.

Here’s the recipe:

Starbucks’ Banana Walnut Bread Recipe

PB&J breakfast

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Grilled peanut butter and peach preserve sandwich

You’ve seen the lowly PB&J elevated in recent time by food people everywhere.  From Peanut Butter & Co., a restaurant in the West Village of Manhattan devoted to the 60’s lunchbox classic, to magazine features adding all kinds of crazy ingredients to the mix.

I’ll be honest with you:  I can’t stand peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  My mother would never have packed one for me as a kid because she knows it would have ruined my day.  As a adult, however, I realize that the problem was crappy peanut butter and bad bread, which I have since made adjustments for.  Also, these sandwiches must be griddled.

I like to keep it simple by not adding a whole lot more than good, organic peanut butter, real peach preserves and a good bread, like Vital Vittles’ Sliced Real Bread, which gets a nice crunch, and a little butter for griddling.  The only other things that I might add are sliced bananas or a little grilled ham.

Here’s what you do to make grilled PB&J sandwiches:

1).  Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan that does not stick, over low heat.

2).  Spread a good amount of peanut butter on one slice of bread.

3).  Droop a dollop of peach preserves on top.

4).  Gently press on the top slice of bread.

5).  When butter is hot, but not burned, gently lay in the sammie.  Cover and keep on LOW flame.

6).  After about 3 minutes or when bread is browned, gently turn over with tongs or spatula, first adding a little more butter if the pan is completely dry.

7).  Cover and leave on low flame for a couple of minutes or until browned on that side.

8).  Remove from pan, cut in half with sharp knife without burning yourself and eat.

Remembering date nut bread

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Date nut bread in a loaf pan

A retro dinner the other night (my Mother made Swiss steak, remember that?) made me want to have something I have not had in a good 20 years:  date nut bread.  I have no idea if this was popular all over the country, but it was in New York City when I was a kid in the 1960’s.  Chock full o’Nuts coffee shops sold date nut bread and cream cheese sandwiches.  By the very early 1980’s, when most of the shops had already closed, there were still a few hanging on, and there was one at 116th & Broadway – across from Columbia University – that kept me alive for all those late-night classes with coffee and date nut bread, which, if you dropped it, would have broken your foot.  If you check their site (they still hawk their brand of coffee, though I have no idea how many times the company changed hands) you can hear Mrs. Black singing the jingle about Chock full o’Nuts being “the heavenly coffee” (click on the old commercial links), but they don’t have the story there of the Blacks’ nasty divorce.  Since this is not the kind of thing you’ll find in a new cookbook, I checked out one my old ones and, sure enough.  I love old cookbooks because you’re likely to find names and notes written in them — and stains — and it gives me a feeling of continuity when I think that perhaps a woman back in 1952 was making the same recipe and had dropped her 1/4 pound of butter on page 869, only for me to find it in 2009.  The chosen book was Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking (Chicago:  J. G. Fergusen and Associates, 1952), whose recipe turned out a winner of a loaf, if a bit less dense than I’m used to.  Now for the cream cheese!

(Note that the recipe is missing the baking temperature. I bake it at 350 F.)

Old date nut bread recipe