miette Archives | wit wisdom and food

A few weekends ago (I am so slow at posting these days) I made Coq Au Vin Julia Child style. Coq Au Vin is a dish that sounds complicated and over the years many versions have emerged. For the added challenge I decided to make Julia’s version over say Martha’s. Though if I were to hazard a guess Martha’s is probably more complicated and more challenging. I also decided to tackle my first dessert out of the Miette Cookbook, Old fashioned cupcakes. The thing both these recipes have in common is their fear factor. These recipes have so many steps I was scared to start.

I have been baking and cooking for a couple decades now. Wow that sentence will make a girl feel old. In those decades I have learned a few things that have helped me conquer the most daunting recipes.

1. Read the recipe from beginning to end
If you do nothing else start by sitting down and reading the entire recipe from start to finish so you know what all the ingredients are, if there are things that need extra to cool or marinate, and if you have all the equipment. Nothing will ruin a recipe faster than not having what you need.

I don’t pay heed to this enough. I do it more on recipes that I think will be easy and about 20 minutes in realize I need something I don’t have and have to improvise which doesn’t always work out.

2. Give yourself enough time
If you have never made a recipe before and you really want it to come out right allot enough time to get it done. If you have a recipe that you think will take an hour give yourself an extra 30 minutes to prep and get organized before you start.

I have found that the recipes that state how long it should take to make leave me rushing to get it done or dinner is late to the table. Turns out I am slower in the kitchen and I enjoy the prep so I give myself time to relax and enjoy the project.

3. Prepare all your ingredients in advance
Mise en place is extremely important to professional and home chefs. Mise en place is a a french cooking term that means to put in place. It means to get everything ready and in its spot before you start cooking. If you take the time to measure out everything in advance before you start mixing you will be assured your food isn’t burning while you chop that last ingredient or your whipped egg whites aren’t falling as you sift the flour.

When I first started watching Martha Stewart I was fascinated with all her little bowl she used when cooking. I thought that was just because she was demonstrating on tv and that was probably part of it, but my prep bowls are one of my favorite kitchen items because it keeps everything in its place and ready to use. It makes the recipes seem less daunting when I get started. I kick myself every time I don’t follow this tip.

4. Go slow and be thorough
Most recipes are going to take that time they are going to take. You can’t speed up browning or baking or any other process of cooking. So make it deliberate and go slow. The more attention you pay to the details the better your recipe will come out. It will also help with ways to change the recipe for next time.

5. Go easy on yourself
Most likely you are not a professional chef so cut yourself some slack. If your recipe comes out tasting good but not as pretty it was a success. You can fine tune your skills and work up to pretty. Don’t beat yourself up so much that you don’t want to try again. Like any skill you have to practice.

My cupcakes didn’t all turn out pretty. I didn’t pay enough attention when I put the hot sugar mixture into the kitchen aid for my boiled icing and it splattered all over the sides of the bowl making very pretty rock candy. Some of these pieces got into my piping bag and made it extremely tough to get the icing onto the cupcakes. About half turned out looking close to the bakeries. I celebrated those 12 cupcakes like I had conquered the world. I was waving my hands in the air like a boxer that just won a 12 round bout.

There should probably be a sixth tip and that is have fun. Just enjoy the time in the kitchen and the results, whatever they are, will make any tough recipe possible.

What recipe have you been too afraid to try? Do you have big plans for a new Thanksgiving dish?

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the third issue of whet your whistle wednesday.

Yesterday was my birthday and now I am only 364 days away from 40! I still think of myself as 35. It seems like just yesterday I had moved to California. Turns out what feels like yesterday is actually 15 years ago. I had16 roommates in the 15 years from college to marriage. Don’t judge living in the bay area ain’t cheap and many of those houses had two or more roommates at a time. One of those 16 told me the toughest years for a woman are 27-32. I thought she was nuts and just spouting some nonsense she had read and maybe she was but she couldn’t have been more correct.

Just over a dozen years ago during my 27th year I had just been laid off from a job as a website builder. I was so proud to have earned that job. I taught myself HTML, got a job a web design company, kept learning and proved myself to the engineering staff until they hired me. I was part of the dot.com boom and bust. It was a blast while it lasted. I took advantage of the severance and took 3 months off work until I got tight on money and bored. I had always been in retail so I went back to Crate and Barrel until I figured out what I wanted to do. I went through a lot of ideas and was one payment away from going to culinary school for pastry. It is prohibitively expensive and finishing school and making $8 an hour didn’t seem like a good idea in the very expensive idea. So it was put on hold while I worked on my current career. I wouldn’t change a thing but I have always wondered what it would be like to have my own bakery. I had tons of baking equipment but when I moved into a tiny place in the city I purged most of it. Must have been a great find at Goodwill for someone.

One perfect birthday present from my husband and I am back in the saddle. I have a list of equipment I want to get so I can try some of the amazing recipes from my new cookbook.

Miette is an adorable bakery in San Francisco that was started by a self-taught baker that made a career change at the dot-com bust. I love everything about her bakery. All the cakes are smaller 6-inch cakes. her macarons are beautiful and she spends as much time on the presentation and packaging as the cakes themselves.

The cookbook is just as amazing. The pages are cut with scalloped edges. Pictures of the cute bakery decor and the tasty treats fill the pages. Each recipe is written with great care and explanation of technique. I am sure the cakes appearance makes them look deceptively easy. I know they will be harder than they look and still I can’t wait to dive in. I am already dreaming of pulling off homemade graham crackers and marshmallows for a cute Christmas gift. S’mores aren’t just for summer. They work just as nicely in the fireplace as the campfire. Oh there are so many delicious things in the book.

Do you have a favorite cookbook? How about a favorite present from your birthday?

5 tips for tackling a challenging recipe

passion for baking reignited