CookWise cookbook by Shirley O. Corriher

Remember when your mother or grandmother told you that you can change things in a recipe when cooking, but do NOT change a thing in a recipe for baking because disaster will be right around the corner! “Baking is a science; the recipe is a formula that can not be changed!” And of course, like most of us, you didn’t listen and you substituted magazine for butter, or used three eggs instead of one, or changed the melted chocolate to powdered chocolate and the results were a total flop. So how did the person who came up with the darn recipe in the first place figuring out the ingredients and correct quantities. Was it a dedicated trial and error process? But if it is science, well then like a scientist who understands the chemistry and physics of transforming a plant resin into rubber; if you understand the chemistry and physics of flour, water, yeast, and salt then it is reasonable to say that you can make bread from your own recipe.

Well, Shirley O. Corriher has written the “chemistry/physics” text book for cooking… “CookWise”. As Ms. Corriher says in her book introduction, “CookWise focuses on how and why things happen in cooking so the roles that ingredients and techniques play are of paramount importance.” This gives you the “rules” of cooking and the reasoning behind them. Once you know the “rules”, then you can understand what can change in a recipe and how it will affect the outcome.

As I said in my other blog entry, Frank Dono, told me about this book. He let me peruse his copy, and it was only after 15 minutes, that I knew I needed this cookbook on my shelf. CookWise covers everything from the rise and fall of cakes, to understanding the mystery of eggs, to how the difference in the protein content of flour affects the final product. Shirley has talked to various scientists and chefs to understand the dynamics of the cooking process. She has not just developed her recipes and published them for us to use, but she has also shared all the knowledge she has gained in the process of putting them together.

Elliot Essman of Style Gourmet reviewed Cookwise and said, ”It will suffice that Shirley Corriher (who, by the way, is a benevolent, cherubic presence who frequently pops up as a guest on Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” television series) has pulled all the science together into a package I can use every day in my own kitchen.” Visit his website at http://www.stylegourmet.com/reviews/006.htm.

And yes, for all of you Alton Brown fans, Shirley not only appears on his Food Channel TV show “Good Eats”, but it is quite evident that Alton as learned quite a bit of what he knows about cooking from Ms. Corriher.

So, if you know someone who loves to cook, this would make a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift. I constantly recommend it to my guests at the Oakwood Inn during breakfast. I tell them how I used Alton Brown’s recipe for the puffy chocolate chip cookies I bake, with some modifications that I added. Alton’s recipe is in Corriher’s book…. Or is it Corriher’s recipe was on Alton’s show. Doesn’t matter, understanding some of the basics of the type of flour and oil to use, help me master the cookie that is wonderful, and the developed a recipe that I can call my own.

You can get CookWise at bookstore or order it online at Amazon.com.

Bon Appetit
Gary

Cooking At The Inn with the book CookWise, by Shirley O. Corriher

I’ve always enjoyed cooking. And eating. As a youngster I used to help my mother in the kitchen when she would be baking… more so at Christmas time. My job was to put the walnut on top of the cookie, or sprinkle the powder sugar on the chruscik (Polish dessert of fried dough covered with a blanket of powdered sugar). I also did the taste testing and also got to lick the beaters and bowel of uncooked cake mix, back when you didn’t worry about uncooked eggs. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s you just worried about under-cooked pork…. Not like today… chicken, eggs, beef, spinach, peanut butter, hamburger, green onions… wait… is there ANY food that hasn’t been recalled or put on the FDA Alert?

The one thing I always wondered about was, how in the heck did the person who wrote the recipe know to use one cup of sugar and not two, or two eggs instead of three, or why do you use baking soda and not baking powder like the recipe we did last week? Must’ve been the scientist in me. As I got older I once in awhile gave cooking that Why question… why did the recipe call for this or that. Or maybe the How.. How did they know to use a teaspoonful of salt… and then why salt?

Alton Brown’s Good Eats TV show on the Food Channel sort of sparked my interest since he seemed to cover the Why’s and How’s of cooking and not just the “just do this, and mix it with that… and don’t ask questions”. When I started working at a local pharmaceutical company in the Research Triangle, I met Frank Dono, a real foodie!

Now this guy just immerses himself into cooking. I mean he enjoys the heck out of it! He's volunteered to work in a restaurant’s kitchen just to learn more about cooking and not even get paid. One year he grew in his own garden some eggplants…. in the numbers of 40… that’s right 40-some different varieties. He would cook different dishes with them. Now it also helps that he is Italian and learned some of his cooking technique from his grandmother, which explains the eggplant fetish. Over the past year, Frank has been cooking with peppers… all kinds and all varieties. Some of the dishes he comes up with are just fabulous! It also helps that his wife, Leanna, is a master gardener. She gives some brilliant direction on how to properly grow Frank’s fresh ingredients. Between the two of them, they could do a fantastic B & B utilizing fresh home grown garden veggies, fruits and herbs. Frank respects my baking capabilities, but I’ll tell ya, this guy can out cook me any day. I certainly respect his capabilities because he is a Master at the Stove…. and his wife a Master of the Soil!

Anyway, Frank is the one who told me about Shirley O. Corriher’s cookbook entitled CookWise The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking with over 230 Great-Tasting Recipes. It also has on the cover, “The Secrets of Cooking Revealed”. It also won the James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence. This is a very prestigious cooking award… you can Google it to learn more about it.

This had to be one of the best recommendations I have ever had from Frank. Better than, “Here try this pepper it is only a 3 on the pepper hot scale, 10 being the hottest.” And then I bite into it, and my mouth turns into Hades just as he says, “Wait… oops.. I’m sorry that was a 7!” No kiddin’ my mouth knows it very well by now, Frank. No, really he is a very knowledge cook, chef, and all around foodie. I was just having some fun. He recommended Shirley’s book, and I really have learned a lot about the scientific basis of cooking. This is a fabulous book for anyone who really wants to learn about what happens on the molecular level when cooking. It would make a great Christmas present, or birthday gift for someone you love who just loves to cook.

I promote CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher at the Inn all the time with our guests. It is a cooking reference all good cooks and chefs should have on the book shelf…. and should read it as well.

On my next blog post, I will discuss CookWise in more detail. Until then.. which only should be in a couple of days…. Bon Appetit à l'Auberge!

Oh! One more thing. Frank the "The Little Italian Foodie" (really, I think he is only about 5ft 6 inches) also told me about Penzey Spices... another fantastic recommendation for herbs and spices... another blog post in the near future! Another great Christmas gift.

SHIRRED EGGS

Oakwood Inn B & B Shirred Eggs

Over the years, we have had many guest stay with us that have had our Shirred Eggs for breakfast and thoroughly enjoy them to the point that they would like the recipe. Now there are various ways to prepare this delightful dish. I learned about this breakfast entrée while taking a culinary class at the Macomb Culinary School in Michigan. This is a fairly simple dish to prepare and one that is filling enough so you shouldn’t want to snack before lunch.

Basically, shirred eggs mean baked eggs. The recipe that I have perfected is one with some cream, cheese, a dash of herbs, and a meat. It can be made without meat for vegetarians.

Many of our guests have asked on numerous occasions, on how to prepare Shirred eggs. The recipe although fairly simple, requires you to use a shirred egg ramekin, which seems difficult for people to find at a regular store. The ramekin is a special baking dish. I have decided to assist many of you wanting to make this breakfast dish, by purchasing the ramekins from our restaurant supply store and offering two of them for sale along with the recipe, all for a $10.00 price.

If you truly love this breakfast dish as much as we do, and would like to prepare yourself at home, please let us know and we will be happy to sell you the Oakwood Inn B & B Shirred Eggs recipe package complete with recipe and two ramekins all for $20.00 which includes sales tax.

I you stay with us and we happen not to prepare this breakfast dish, since we are a chef's choice B & B, we will still sell you the Shirred Egg Recipe Package if you ask for it prior to you departing.

Bon Appetit

Doris

Shirred Egg

Linden Room Remodel

Well its been over two months and we are finally coming down to the final wire with the Linden Room remodel. For those of you who have stayed with us and in particuliar, rented the Linden room, may remember that it was the room across from the office. It is the second largest room in the Inn. It had a light tan and white design wall paper... old and sort of worn. The bathroom, which was the first bathroom in the house, had a yellow semi-modern bathtub from about the 1960's. Yellow 4 inch hexagon floor tiles, a forest green painted vanity, and a green print wallpaper. It also had a queen size bed.

The new look will sport the walls with chocolate colored walls, white trim and a new white crown ceiling molding. A new hand made king size bed that can be split into twins if needed will be the focal point of the room. If you remember the little carpeted foyer area that granted access to the bathroom, well it is not a part of the bathroom with new 12 inch tiles of multi-shades of tan, brown and cream colors. The foyer has had a shelf built in with a mirror and lights to provide a make-up area.

The tile scheme continues in the bathroom, on the floor is 12 inch tiles, in the new two person shower with dual shower heads and bench are 4 inch tiles and some smaller two inchers creating a border about 5 feet off the floor. A new 17 inch high toliet, so you do not feel like you are sitting on the floor to take care of business. The vanity is a brown colored wood cabinet with a white marble top. New lighting fixtures throughout the bathroom/makeup area.

I'm not sure what Doris has in store for curtains or drapes if anything. The TV is a new 17 inch, I believe, screen with DVD player. A new radio/clock with an iPod docking station will also be in the room, so for all of you who have those iPod machines... here you can play your customized song lists.

Overall, I must say the room looks darn good and very upbeat. As soon as I can get some pictures, I will post them which hopefully will entice some of you to rent it out.
Well, back to work. Talk with ya'all soon.
Gary

Carolina Beach & Butter

On Friday, Doris and I went to Carolina Beach for a relaxing two days. We left the Inn at about 11:00am and go to the condo about 1:30pm. Not a bad drive at all. Our neighbors have this one bedroom condo with a nice view of the ocean. They let us rent it for the two days since it was not rent that week, normally they rent it by the week. We had a great time relaxing watching the sun rise and in the evenings, the moon rise on the horizon. The last night, the moon was full and a beautiful reddish-orange ball just as it rose above the ocean horizon. Very peaceful looking.

Went into town and had a couple of good meals. We went to one restaurant called Bowman's. I was a little skeptical of the broiled flounder because the waitress explained that it was cooked in a microwave! Quite unusual for me... but I agreed to try it. It was good... not fabulous, but good and quite a large portion. The baked potato was good although the margarine is not my favorite topping. At least the sour cream was real.

That is one thing I do not get down here in the South... real butter is very hard to find. Everyone eats margarine. You would think in land of fat back, lard, bacon grease... you'd think that butter would be one of the major food groups in the South. I know many people think margarine is healthier for you, however, only the spreadable ones may be better than butter.... and I think there is more and more research coming out that shows that butter may be better if only from the stand point that it is naturally occurring. Yeah, it has to be churned, but margarine is nothing but a chemically processed food. Natural is more agreeable to the body than anything that is chemically altered or processed for consumption. I have to believe that Southerners used and even made their own butter years ago, but for some crazy reason, margarine has been in the majority of restaurants and even homes. We can only hope for the Good Olde Days. Today is Labor Day, a day to sit back and rest.... ironic, isn't it?!

EIGHT YEARS OF INNKEEPING

Doris and I celebrated being bed & breakfast innkeepers for eight years on September 1, 2009. Eight years! It really doesn't seem that long.... not when you are having so much fun! Yeah... right! Don't get me wrong, it has been at times fun, interesting, very rewarding, and exciting. But, it certainly has had its down periods.

Like ten days after we bought the Oakwood Inn, 9/11 hit us. Occupancy tumbled with the weekends generally full, but we lost all of our weekday business. I still wonder why the terrorits waited until Doris and I bought the Inn. Then we had some issues trying to get affordable healthcare insurance as small business owners. Government not putting their nose in operating health insurance... that is a joke here in North Carolina where some of our part-time lawmakers are insurance agents and others take funding from healthcare lobbyists.

Then we had to replace two of our three furnances and A/C units.... not all at once, in a reason span of 2 years. Then the guest who broke the foot of our sleigh bed... sitting on it. Heck, it was going to break.... what do you expect from old wood... it was an antique bed! And then the bride who threw up all over the room. Red wine can have different hues and shades when mixed with stomach acid.

And now we got hit with the Wall Street Fiasco which caused our occcupany to once again tumble but this time with longer and more devastating effects. And the list goes on and onm and will continue to do so. But so will the good list!

The upside in all of this is that we live in Raleigh, North Carolina where it is predicted that the recovery of the economy with be strong. We will be looking at an upward swing and people getting back to work. The state government is doing it's share. It just raised our sales tax from 6.75% to 7.75% to raise more money for more government programs creating more jobs... and it's only temporary. Right! The only thing polictians create as temporary is the lag time from constantly screwing the taxpapers.

But lets celebrate! Doris and I have achieved another milestone at The Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast as the longest staying innkeepers. The four sets before us stayed only an average of 4 years... we doubled it. Maybe because we are nuts and have lost all sense of intelliegence. Maybe because we have severe demenitia and forgot those bad times. Or maybe because the good outweights the bad and the potential for outstanding is always presence. Life only comes once around for a person. Enjoy it whenever you can.
Gary