From the New York Times' Dining Section...
He Cooks. She Stews. Its Love.: Just in time for Valentine's Day, The Times tells us almost every house has an alpha cook. I'm guessing almost all of us here are the Kings of the Kitchen. Do you cook with your loved one? Wish they had more interest in heating up the kitchen with you? Just don't be a kitchen bully.
So Naughty, So Nice: Trashy or southern tradition . . . The Times digs in to the red velvet cake and does a nice job of covering the topic from both a restaurant and home cook perspective, including a recipe for red velvet cake and icing.
PLUS...
Does anyone know how to color a red velvet with beet juice? I read somewhere that it could be used but don't know how or how it compares with red dye.
Kate, the Times article mentions that some chefs use beets instead red food coloring. You might be able to track down their recipes?
I guess I'll experiment someday and see what happens. Speaking of beets, I put some into a vegetable beef soup recently and it caused a gruesome bloody effect which I toned down by adding black beans and some mexican spice flavors. Very tasty.
The food section of the Chicago tribune has a cover story on Thai food from the little known northern region of the country. To which I say bring it on--am I the only person who finds Thai cuisine as now widely practiced in our country a lot less interesting and varied than decent Chinese?
Speaking of Chinese, they also celebrate the Chinese new year with a raft of cookbooks and a recipe for simplified pot stickers from Wolfgang Puck.
And finally, there's an elegant steak dinner recipe for procrastinators who still want to pull off an impressive romantic Valentine's Day dinner.
The idea of incompatibility in the kitchen seems really awful to me. In fact, I'm not even sure I could be with someone who didn't feel like an equal kitchen partner! My boyfriend and I cooked together for years. The only reason we've stopped is our current apartment's kitchen is too small.
Kate (NC):
The Moosewood dessert cookbook has a red velvet cake colored with beets. I don't have the book with me right now, but I think it involves pureeing a can of beets with some of the juice, then mixing it in with your sugar/oil/vanilla liquids. I can track it down later tonight if you're interested.
Thanks Erin, I looked up some recipes on google and found a couple of methods, one of pureed beets and one with pickled beet juice or red wine vinegar. If anyone has a taste opinion please speak up. I haven't made red velvet but remember it as a Chrismas specialty of an aunt decades ago. The dye seems creepy to me, but maybe beets would be a healthy addition. I love carrot cake.
I'm too old for this revival of Red Velvet Cakes. We used to make them (in the 60s) with cocoa, baking soda and buttermilk--no food coloring--and they always baked up into a beautiful red-brown cake. Now, I'm sure they weren't as floridly red as the ones everyone's talking about lately, but I can't believe that you can't taste that red food coloring--especially since some of them call for 2-3 bottles! of it.
I'm a firm believer that everyone should try the "original" recipe at least once.
A Nony Mous,
I've been scouring the net looking for a red velvet cake recipe that calls for no food coloring. Would you post the original recipe or email me please?