This recipe was developed by Bouchon Bakery’s head baker, Matthew McDonald. The buns are loaded with currants and cranberries and piped with an icing spiced with cinnamon and cardamom. It’s the beguiling addition of cardamom to just the right amount of cinnamon in the icing, and the way the spices play off the fruit, that gives these buns their zing. Hot cross buns are an English tradition on Good Friday, but they’re so good we hope you’ll make them all year round.
Author: Chef M
Persian rice is really two things: the rice itself and the tahdig the intentionally crispy rice from the bottom of the pan. To get the right results for this rice, make sure to follow the directions exactly and use a seasoned cast-iron (not enameled) pan. You’ll need cheesecloth to make this dish. Serve with kebabs, lamb stew, or a salad of salted tomatoes and raw onion.
Translating the name of this dish is a bit nonsensical since it would be “fried cow of chicken,” but it is simply a version of the classic Vaca Frita “fried cow” made with chicken instead of beef. I like to keep plain shredded cooked chicken on hand in my freezer so I can use it to quickly make meals like this or Reina Pepiada. See Simple Shredded Chicken for how to cook the chicken in bulk on the stovetop, in a slow cooker or in a pressure cooker.
A holiday tradition in Switzerland, these delicately spiced chocolate cookies are soft and chewy, unlike many rolled cookies that are crisp from edge to edge. Containing no flour and naturally gluten-free (for more gluten-free recipes, see here), basler brunsli are loaded with chocolate and ground almonds and bound with just a couple egg whites. To make our flourless dough drier and therefore easier to work with, we employed powdery-fine confectioners’ sugar in place of much of the granulated sugar. In addition, we skipped melting the chocolate; instead, we treated it like a dry ingredient, grinding it in the food processor…
Breaded and fried fish is undeniably delicious when done right, but we wanted a more nutritious path to moist, delicate fish with a crunchy coating, not to mention avoiding the hassle of deep frying. Baking instead of frying was an obvious starting point, but we also wanted to rework the coating. We replaced half the bread crumbs with ground pistachios, which offered more nutrients as well as richness and fragrance. We skipped traditional bread crumbs, which are prone to sogginess, and opted for whole-wheat panko. Toasting the two components together with aromatics brought out their flavors and ensured the topping…
I am partial to the occasional idle dose of custard from a carton, or the nostalgia of custard made from powder, but nothing comes close to homemade custard. Allow yourself enough time to make it. If you don’t want a skin on the custard (shame on you) then cover the surface closely with cling film until ready to serve.
This traditional cake never fails to please; its bitter-sweet flavours make it one of my all-time favourites. I like to use old-fashioned Camp coffee essence for the coffee bit. Still made in Scotland, this iconic dark brown syrup is a blend of chicory and coffee. It dates back to 1876 when it was used by the military as an easy-to-prepare hot drink for sustaining troops during foreign campaigns. However, you can use instant coffee or very strong freshly brewed coffee instead.
This brew is a brown stout, as opposed to the more familiar black stout; it is a rich amber colour. Stouts are so called because of their ‘mouth-feel’ something everyone who has tried the most famous of all stouts, Guinness, will understand. Fairly ancient recipes for brown stouts abound; one from the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1768 called for nothing more than brown malt, hops, water and yeast, though you would need to get a grip on bushels and hogsheads. The 1919 beer is light in flavour and has a creamy head, courtesy of the oat malt.