Cookbook Culling

Brody's book is not doing so well. I made banana bread on Saturday and followed her instructions explicitly, yet when I tried to get the loaf out of the pan, it just came apart, leaving about 1/2 inch of the bottom of the loaf in the pan. I've never had a problem unmolding quick breads before, but I always just give it a quick spray. This time I followed Brody's instructions for buttering and flouring the loaf pan, but the cake was so soft and fluffy . . .well, you know the results. Also, there was not enough banana flavor; the 1/4 cup of lemon juice sort of overwhelmed everything.

I've made two things from Elizabeth Alston's book, and they were both pretty good with great textures: a puffy, crisp, eggy oven pancake that was so absolutely easy to make I could do it on a weekday; and sourdough waffles, which require advance preparation but then the batter lasts for 2 days in the fridge. The sourdough waffles had the slightest tang (not too much, which was good, because I normally don't like sourdough) and the texture was fantastic: light and wonderfully crisp. If you want the recipes, let me know in the comments and I'll post them below.

Mark Bittman's doing fairly well, too. I had tried a chicken and rice dish from the book before and found it bland, but I made a soup this weeked that uses 1/4 pound of prosciutto, plus an onion, 4 cloves garlic and 6 cups boiling water, to make a quick (20 minute) stock, and it was really good. You also add greens and pasta. Brown the prosciutto to render the fat, add the onion and garlic, cook until onions are soft, add the greens and boiling water, then add the pasta and cook until the pasta is done. If you want to save some for later, put it aside before you add the pasta so the pasta doesn't get soggy and soak up all the liquid in the fridge. The stock really was very rich tasting, especially since I chopped up some Parmesan rind and added it to the soup. Next from him is braised pork and turnips.