I have been making a half-hearted attempt to pare down my cookbooks. We hope to move into a much smaller home some day, and I have to give up something in return for asking Terry to throw out his college textbooks and notes.
I’ve started with ones that I don’t have a personal connection with. One is a really lovely book in which the author interviews well-known international chefs on what their last meal would be. I found it interesting, but not something I’d curl up in bed with. So, it will be in the next Friends of the Library book sale. The book sale is, by the way, an excellent place to look for cookbooks. At just $2 you can pick up the classic “Better Homes and Gardens” cookbook with the red-checked cover or the “Gourmet” cookbook. I hate to say it, but at the last sale I came home with “River Road Recipes” from Baton Rouge and “Nathalie Dupree’s Southern Memories” (1993).
I could probably clear out my stacks of all the cookbooks and not notice due to the plethora of information on the Internet. Daily I receive alerts for several websites or blogs that I follow and enjoy. Every now and then I delete one (“Smitten Kitchen”) and replace it with another (“Joy the Baker”). Some have very accessible content (“The Runaway Spoon”) and others I dream about (I will, one day, learn to bake bread).
Here are my current favorites:
Other sites I enjoy are skinnytaste.com, seriouseats.com, food52.com, joythebaker.com, nytcooking.com (New York Times) and markbittman.com.
I encourage you to visit these and other blogs and websites. It’s fun to see what others are cooking, and I guarantee you you’ll learn something.
I wanted to tell you that I have cooked the Spatchcock Buttermilk Chicken twice since my last column, and it is fabulous! It was very tender and a hit each time. I would let it marinate as long as you can to absorb flavor and also liberally season it before cooking.
CARROT DILL BISCUITS WITH CREAM CHEESE BUTTER
Makes at least 12 2-inch biscuits
For the biscuits:
1 1/4 cup soft wheat flour (I like White Lily)
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup finely grated carrots (about 1 large carrot)
3/4 cup whole milk
For the cream cheese butter:
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the biscuits:
For the cream cheese butter:
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