In Praise of the Checkerboard Cookbook

recipes by Joel Kramer, Used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) License

The first cookbook I owned was the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. This cookbook is famous for its checkerboard cover. My first copy was a wedding gift, and the second I bought to replace the first when it fell apart. Both copies were ring-bound with tabs dividing the sections, and I understand the newest iteration of the cookbook doesn’t include that feature. My first copy was a wedding gift, and the second I bought to replace the first when it fell apart. Another quirk both of my copies shared was that they were both Pink Editions (Celebrating the Promise), limited editions of the book that supported the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. Now that I know more about that organization, I don’t really support their work. My grandmother had breast cancer, and family members have supported this organization’s work, but if you want to read some critiques of this organization, check out these articles:

I love this cookbook, however. It includes a section with special recipes by celebrity chefs. To be honest, I haven’t touched that section, which may not be included in other editions of the book. I love the Cooking Basics section with helpful advice on equipment, cooking terms, smart shopping and menu planning, measurement, ingredients, and more.

My two staple recipes from the book are the Pepper-Lime Chicken (p. 467) and the Peanut Butter Cookies (p. 249). Both recipes are simple and delicious. I grew up eating peanut butter cookies made from this recipe, and they’re still my favorite peanut butter cookie. I have also made the Salsa (p. 66) and Buttermilk-Brined Fried Chicken (p. 458) more than once. The Zucchini Bread recipe (p. 132) is a good one. I don’t always think their recipes are the best available. I made the French Onion Soup (p. 566) recipe in this book for over a decade before I found a better one from Ina Garten.

I haven’t come remotely close to cooking my way through the book, even though I’ve owned a copy of the book for 30 years. But everything I’ve tried has been easy and has worked well. I believe this book is a staple for any cook’s kitchen because of its versatility. New editions cater to changing preferences by including new and updated recipes, but classics never die. When I’m not sure where I might want to start, I start with this book.

You can purchase the book’s latest edition from either Bookshop.org (support local, independent bookstores!) or Amazon (affiliate links earn me commissions).

Great British Baking Show 2021

Warning: If you haven’t watched this season of The Great British Baking Show, read no further. Spoilers!

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This season has been my absolute favorite season so far. I loved so many of the bakers, and for the first time, I felt like there was no clear winner going into the final. I absolutely felt like any of the three finalists could have won, and in any other season, there is no way a baker as gifted as Jürgen wouldn’t have made it to the final. I have to admit I was rooting for Giuseppe. Ever since Paul Hollywood asked Giuseppe for his focaccia recipe, I was rooting for him. I admit I was also rooting for Jürgen, and I was crushed when he was eliminated last week.

What I love about this show is how supportive the contestants are of each other. They are truly happy for each other when they’re successful. It makes me sad to say, but it’s not a show that would work in the USA. I know they tried to start an American version of the show, and I understand it failed. I think it’s because we’re too individualistic and competitive. That’s not to say that the UK isn’t also an individualistic society, but they’ve at least managed to care enough about their fellow human beings to have universal health care.

A few years ago, I was intimidated as a baker. I might make occasional cookies and brownies, but I was scared of trying more complicated bakes like bread, and cakes have always been a bit of a challenge for me because I’m impatient and don’t wait for them to cool before frosting them. Watching this show has helped me try things I might not have tried (certainly not at their caliber or level, however). But more than anything else, I love this show because makes me believe in people. This pandemic has been so hard. It’s not over, either. This show has been one light spot over the last two years. I’m really grateful for it because it gives me hope.

It shows me the best parts of humanity every week when I feel surrounded by the worst parts. It’s beautiful to watch the bakers grow over the course of the series. Chigs, for example, started baking during lockdown. That he was in the final is incredible, and he grew tremendously as a baker while competing on the show. Crystelle, too, has had some incredible moments, including a Hollywood handshake during a showstopper and another showstopper that Paul Hollywood declared was “flawless.” It’s been such a journey, especially this season. I loved watching Lizzie every week. She was so cute, and her final showstopper in honor of neurodivergence was really heartwarming. I will buy whatever cookbooks Giuseppe writes, I swear. (I understand from the finale that he’s working on one with his father.) I just know Giuseppe has to have some killer sourdough starter going.

My next quest is trying to get my sister to watch. And then we need to watch it together.

Peach-Bourbon Jam

It’s finally peach season in New England. When I lived in Georgia, peach season started a little earlier in the summer, and I think it lasted longer, too. I went to the local pick-your-own and bought peaches, blackberries, and blueberries from their farm store. The peaches are juicy and delicious. I had two of them today!

I had been wanting to try the Peach-Bourbon Jam recipe from my America’s Test Kitchen book on canning and preserving. I don’t have permission to share the recipe publicly, but I took pictures of the process and results.

Peaches Cooking

Look at that boil! I took a quick video of it to share with my sister.

You need to check to see if the jam is set before putting it in jars, so one way to test that is to put a small plate in the freezer while you’re cooking the jam. Once the cooking is finished, take the plate out of the freezer, put a teaspoon of jam on it, and put it back in the freezer for two minutes. Take it out and run your finger through the jam. If it separates in a nice line, it’s set. If it runs back after you swipe your finger, it needs to cook a little bit more.

Peach Jam

This jam has a nice set.

I filled two jars. One thing I like about the ATK book is there are so many small-batch recipes. I only needed two peaches for this recipe.

There was enough jam in the pot coupled with the teaspoon tested on the plate to spread over a slice of bread, so I tried it. It’s delicious.

Peach Jam on Bread

Tomorrow I’m making biscuits. I can’t wait for my husband to try this jam.

Canning and Preserving Books

I have been wanting to try canning and preserving for a long time, but I was intimidated and also didn’t have enough time to devote to learning a new thing. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might remember that I have made soap pretty often in the past and also taught myself how to make bread. I learned both of these home crafts, for lack of a better term, through reading books (my preferred medium for learning). One of my students told me that’s really weird because she, like many other people her age, prefers to learn by watching YouTube videos.

Shrug Gif

I bought myself two canning and preserving books. I figured I’d have time to read them and try out some recipes now that it’s summer (a perfect time to learn to preserve) and I’m all done with grad school. I did a bit of research to find out which books most people were recommending on blogs, and I wound up buying two.

Canning and Preserving BooksFoolproof Preserving: A Guide to Small Batch Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Condiments, and More by America's Test Kitchen
Published by America's Test Kitchen ISBN: 1940352517
on April 5, 2016
Genres: Cooking
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

Canning perfected the America’s Test Kitchen way. The art of preserving produce by canning and preserving has come full circle from grandmother's kitchen to a whole new generation now eager to learn it. This detailed guide to home preserving is perfect for novice canners and experts alike and offers more than 100 foolproof recipes across a wide range of categories, from sweet jams and jellies to savory jams, vegetables, condiments, pickles, whole fruits, and more. Let the experts at America's Test Kitchen show you how to do it right with detailed tutorials, troubleshooting tips, equipment information, and insight into the science behind canning.

What I loved most about this book is that all the recipes are small-batch, and the book is geared toward novices. One reviewer on Goodreads criticized this book for having a lot of recipes that cannot be processed for long-term storage. That’s a fair critique. One example I noted was their recipe for onion jam; however, the Ball book below has a similar onion jam recipe that can be processed. I thought their instructions were very clear. I have learned to trust America’s Test Kitchen books and recipes online/in magazines after trying so many. They all just work because, well, ATK tests everything (hence, their name). It’s nice to know what pitfalls to avoid. Their ingredient and equipment reviews were really helpful. On their advice, I bought the canning pot, jar lifter, and pectin they recommended.

Canning and Preserving BooksThe All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 350 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes by BALL
Published by Oxmoor House ISBN: 0848746783
on May 31, 2016
Genres: Cooking
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

From the experts at Jarden Home Brands, makers of Ball canning products, comes the first truly comprehensive canning guide created for today's home cooks. This modern handbook boasts more than 350 of the best recipes ranging from jams and jellies to jerkies, pickles, salsas, and more—including extender recipes to create brand new dishes using your freshly preserved farmer's market finds or vegetable garden bounty. Organized by technique, The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving covers water bath and pressure canning, pickling, fermenting, freezing, dehydrating, and smoking. Straightforward instructions and step-by-step photos ensure success for beginners, while practiced home canners will find more advanced methods and inspiring ingredient twists. Thoroughly tested for safety and quality by thermal process engineers at the Fresh Preserving Quality Assurance Lab, recipes range from much-loved classics—Tart Lemon Jelly, Tomato-Herb Jam, Ploughman's Pickles—to fresh flavors such as Asian Pear Kimchi, Smoked Maple-Juniper Bacon, and homemade Kombucha. Make the most of your preserves with delicious dishes including Crab Cakes garnished with Eastern Shore Corn Relish and traditional Strawberry-Rhubarb Hand Pies. Special sidebars highlight seasonal fruits and vegetables, while handy charts cover processing times, temperatures, and recipe formulas for fast preparation. Lushly illustrated with color photographs, The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving is a classic in the making for a new generation of home cooks.

This book is a comprehensive compendium that includes instructions and recipes for everything from jams and fruit preserves to dehydration and smoking and curing meat. I think many of the recipes and techniques are within reach of beginners, but whether or not beginners would want to invest in them is probably another issue; for example, I’m not sure I have an interest in curing my own bacon. Still, that’s just me. Most of the book is dedicated to canning in many forms, from jams to pickles. There is a chapter on pressure canning. I’m not sure I feel like I want to invest in a separate gadget just to try pressure canning, but some of the recipes in that section do look good. There is an intriguing recipe for mustard in the fermenting section that I want to try, and their dill pickle spears look like they’d be interesting to try as well.

Both of these books are great in terms of instructions, advice, and recipes, but I give the nudge to the Ball book in terms of range. I haven’t tried any of its recipes yet, but I made some of the ATK book’s blueberry jam and preserved some cherries in syrup. I’m hoping to try dill pickles next. I took some pictures to chronicle this journey.

Blueberries on the Bush
Photo credit Steve Huff

My husband and I went to our local pick-your-own farm and got four quarts of blueberries. There was something really satisfying about pulling the fruit off the bush and hearing it plink as it fell into the bucket or cardboard box. I’ve never picked blueberries before, but I have gone to this farm to pick strawberries and apples.

Blueberries

I decided to make the America’s Test Kitchen book’s Blueberry Earl Grey jam because I love Earl Grey tea. Also, it was a small two-jar recipe that would give me a chance to try out processing, a technique for preserving jam for long-term storage—up to a year.

Blueberries Cooking

The blueberries don’t need to cook very long before they start to release their juice. After you add the pectin and sugar, it seems like a really quick process. Even though I was just making two jars

Blueberries Becoming Jam

I tried out my new canning pot, which is the one America’s Test Kitchen recommends in their book both in terms of value and durability. When I was done I had two jars of blueberry jam. I can’t taste the Earl Grey tea at all. A friend told me you need a lot more tea than five teabags to impart flavor, so I’m not sure what the folks at ATK were tasting, but it didn’t come through for me. Lesson learned. I’m not going to bother adding the tea in the future.

Jars of Blueberry Jam

Our local pick-your-own had a few tart cherries in their farm store, but the season is pretty much over, and if they grow sweet cherries, I missed it. I bought some sweet cherries from my grocery store. Making the cherries in syrup was a process because I had to pit all the cherries, and I don’t have a cherry pitter. I’m not sure I should get one because I don’t think I’ll be preserving cherries in syrup a lot. They are extremely delicious, but the cherry season is so short. It seems like something I might do once a year. I did a search online to see how you go about pitting cherries if you don’t have a pitter. I found a video that recommends pushing a metal straw through the top of the cherry so the pit comes out the bottom. This might be a fine idea if you only have to pit a few cherries, but if you have to pit three pounds, it’s a bit tedious. Some of the cherries fought pretty hard to hold onto their pits. My hands were covered in cherry juice, and I made a big mess, but I got it done. I followed some additional advice in the ATK book about cutting a vanilla bean in half, scraping out the seeds and putting them in the syrup, and then cutting the bean in fourths and putting one section in each jar. Now, that did make the cherries have a hint of a vanilla flavor that was really delicious, but I don’t want to tell you what I paid for vanilla beans. It was shy of sacrificing my firstborn. I don’t know if the same effect can be achieved by using vanilla extract or not. In any case, I processed the cherries to practice using the canner again.

Cherries in Syrup

I tried some on vanilla ice cream, and they were delicious. They were not overly sweet—just the right amount of sweetness and that yummy hint of vanilla. Fruit in syrup can be cloying, but these were excellent. Perfect for vanilla ice cream.

Cherries on Ice Cream

I really enjoyed starting my canning adventures, and these two books are both highly recommended for anyone looking to try it.