I picked up a special issue of Cook's Illustrated at the grocery store last week, and when I read it I remembered why I never buy Cook's Illustrated. Laura Vanderkam linked to an interview with Christopher Kimball in her post today (oh, look, it's actually a post from tomorrow -- now that's time management expertise), and it reminded me of the magazine sitting forlornly on my end table.
I always think I ought to like Cook's Illustrated. A person who blogs about The One True Cornbread should be a natural fit for a magazine that's forever writing about the one best way to do anything in the kitchen. But OH MY GOODNESS I have no patience with Cook's Illustrated. Does anybody remember their crazy pumpkin pie recipe? Let me see if I can find a link... here you go. Dude, if I wanted a sweet potato pie I would make a sweet potato pie. And may I never lead a life in which I have nothing better to do than to boil down canned pumpkin. (Boil! down! canned! pumpkin! I ask you!)
Here are the keys to pumpkin pie that makes everyone happy: first, bite the bullet and learn to make pastry. You do not need any vodka for your pastry (yet another crazy CI idea to complicate your life and jack up your grocery bill); you just need practice. Give it time and your hands will learn just how much moisture is the right amount of moisture and when you need another sprinkle of flour. Use plenty of butter and give it time to rest both before and after you roll it out. Second, never buy tins of ginger in the spice aisle. Get it from a bulk aisle in a store with rapid turnover, and use it frequently. If it's more than six months old it will taste like book lice frass. See? If your pumpkin pie is nestled in a flaky buttery crust and is 100% free of book lice frass, people will clamor for more and you will have one less pot to wash in the run-up to Thanksgiving. (Also, 60% more sanity. Because really? boiling? down? canned? pumpkin?)
(I have not actually been eating the leavings of the book lice. In case you wondered.)
I agree with a lot of what Christopher Kimball says about developing skill in the kitchen, about how learning to cook is something that requires time and patience. I used to like to read his little essays about life in rural Vermont. But the recipes leave me cold. You?
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