Posts by jpdstudio
Being Left Handed
I get a lot of questions about being left handed and how it affects the way I do things. Actually, it doesn’t affect me at all. There are several inconveniences I have to suffer of course because this is a right handed world. Every time I have to sign one…
Buying Cookbooks
I have been traveling a lot, mostly on mall tours around the country and I have noticed that people aren’t buying cookbooks the way they used to. I would take it personally but my editor says that with a few notable exceptions (the absolutely hottest new stars on the Food…
Miracle Fruit
Several years ago I was in West Palm Beach Florida for a Gourmet magazine sales meeting staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. I just happened to know the chef, Hubert des Marais, from several projects we had worked on together and the first moment I had a break I sought…
Crispy Roast Duck with Mustard and Green Peppercorn Sauce
Roast Duck is one of my absolute favorites, but it is not easy to get it right. If you concentrate on achieving moist meat, the skin might not crisp up. If you concentrate on crisping up the skin, you risk drying out the breast meat. Still, the desired result is…
Det Burgers
Sandwiches are a perfect choice for weeknight meals and this generously-topped burger is one of my all-time favorites. My first official cooking job was in the mid-seventies at a bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan (where I went to college), called the Del Rio. They featured live jazz on weekends. It…
Comfort Food
Several years ago I was asked to contribute a recipe and inspirational message to a cookbook, “The Susan G. Komen/Pink Plaid Cookbook” The money from the sale of this book was to go to cancer research. The recipe was easy. I sent in something very homey, “gingerbread pancakes with butterscotch…
Balsamic Chicken
The balsamic vinegar in this recipe and you can use the regular old affordable supermarket variety provides a sweet and sour base and great depth of flavor to this very quick sauce. This sauce would go nicely on sautéed pork chops or a flavorful fish such as salmon or bluefish…
Butterscotch Bread Pudding
When I was a kid, one of my all time favorite desserts was coffee ice cream and hot butterscotch sauce. I’m not sure if I loved it for the slightly bitter coffee taste counterbalanced by the sweet buttery sauce or for the canned whipped cream and Day-Glo red cherries on…
Pumpkin Flan with Ginger Whipped Cream
One of our favorite neighborhood restaurants was La Taza de Oro, a great little Puerto Rican spot on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. The menu always featured five or six entrees, accompanied by your choice of yellow or white rice and several different kinds of beans. (When Ruthie was three and…
Lottie Baumgartner’s Cinnamon Cheese Rolls
Lottie is a viewer who sent me a letter in response to a show I did on “Sara’s Secret’s” about using “homemade style” white bread in place of pastry. Lottie says these roll-ups taste like “cheese cake rolls.” We tested them and she is right. Thanks Lottie! Ingredients Makes 20…