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The Spice is RightThe Spice is RightThe Spice is Right is the blog of Janaki, owner and kitchen slave of Big Chef, a personal chef service in Chicagoland. Includes copious amounts of food photos, recipes, and food writing. Home of Project Daily Bread. Articles
Top Chef S4E13: Pain in the Plantain
2008-06-08 20:25:00 see more at overcastmedia.comYour Kitchen Ninja Overcast for TCS4E13 is now up. I’d say more, but I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t watched it already. This episode made me want to throw things, though. Share This More About: Pain , Chef , Plantain , Top Chef
I Scream, You Scream
2008-06-07 04:55:00 We all scream for ice cream, yeah? How would you feel about bacon and egg ice cream? A friend of mine sent me this video ages ago, and I thought it seemed like a brilliant idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6CLoRuvGc Y I mean, it makes a ton of sense. It’s basically math: a custard or pudding is largely comprised of eggs and milk/cream, as are nicely scrambled eggs. And what goes better with scrambled eggs than some lovely bacon? And what goes better with lovely bacon than maple syrup? Taking advantage of this idea, I presented it at this year’s Meatstravaganza, which is an annual event that some friends put together years ago that’s seriously the best time of the year for us. It’s full of good food, friends, fun—and indeed, some nice booze as well. Good times! I don’t have an ice cream maker, and I haven’t bought one mainly because I wouldn’t use it very often. I’m not terribly keen on using what limited space I have... More About: Scream
Top Chef S4E11: Restaurant Wars
2008-05-24 06:17:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Share This More About: Wars , Restaurant , Chef , Top Chef
Bread for Sale!
2008-05-17 19:26:00 Have you ever wanted to buy some of the delicious, freshly-baked bread you’ve seen on this site? Or other delicious, freshly-baked breads you haven’t seen on this site? Have you ever wished you could buy my bread? Now you can. I’m proud to announce that I’m now baking bread at the lovely and amazing Lynfred Winery on weekends. If you buy bread from them on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, chances are excellent it’s something I’ve made. So come check it out! Some samples of a typical Saturday’s bounty, as taken by my camera phone (so in no way particularly lovely photos) can be found behind the cut… (more…) Share This More About: For Sale , Sale , Bread
Top Chef S04E10 - To Serve and Protect
2008-05-17 19:04:00 see more at overcastmedia.comYour Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S04E10 is now up! Enjoy. (The ones for E08 and E09 are up as well; just follow the link to the OvercastMedia website to view those or any other entries in the series in their entirety. ) Share This More About: Top Chef , Serve
Top Chef S4E7: The One with the Kids with Sharp Pointy Things
2008-05-05 14:41:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S4E8 is now up! Enjoy! Share This More About: Kids , The Kids , Sharp , Things
Unbearably cheesy.
2008-04-27 19:20:00 I’ve shown you my pizza before, I’m pretty sure. It’s something that my friends know me for, something I’ve made for many years. And I think I’ve also mentioned how I have a tendency to go off in about fifty directions trying new things, but Joe often comes up with good ideas on ...
Top Chef S4E7: Improv Everywhere
2008-04-26 04:33:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for S4E7 of Top Chef is now up! Please enjoy it! I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize for being a bit absent as of late. I’ve got a few things I’ll be posting in the next few days…for real, this time. No, the bread ... More About: Top Chef , Improv
Top Chef S4E6: More than One Way to Skin a Pig
2008-04-18 02:54:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S4E6 is now up. Enjoy! Share This More About: Skin , Top Chef
Day Eighty: Cinnamon Ginger Orange Buns
2008-04-11 21:35:00 Winter is great at first, but eventually it starts to wear on you. You find yourself wanting to either hibernate until Spring arrives, or else forcing that first little taste of Spring to cheer yourself up. If this sounds familiar, have I got a breakfast for you. They’re relatively fast, simple, and good. Sweet, but ... More About: Orange , Cinnamon , Ginger
Top Chef S4E5 - It?s Elemental
2008-04-10 22:02:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef Season Four, Episode Five is now up! Go take a look! I’m going to try to remedy my bread backlog starting tomorrow; please bear with me. And try not to lick your monitors all at once as I toss these loaves up to ... More About: Top Chef
Top Chef S4E4: Film Flan
2008-04-04 22:57:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Top Chef , S4E4 is now up! Go check it out! There’s been bread baked; I just haven’t posted it yet. Look for it soon. Share This More About: Film , Top Chef
Days Seventy-Eight and Seventy-Nine: Rustic Herbed Sourdough
2008-04-01 02:32:00 For some reason, a lot of people are afraid of yeast. I’ve never been quite sure why this is. I have ideas, of course. I suspect that somewhere along the line, many of these people encountered a bad batch of yeast. If your first experience of attempting yeast bakery turns out to be ... More About: Days
Top Chef S4E3: Block Party
2008-03-28 22:58:00 see more at overcastmedia.comThe Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef Chicago: Block Party (S4E3) is now up! Watch the preview with no need for downloading by clicking above; click through to Overcast Media’s site to download their software and watch the whole thing along with TSiR. Share This More About: Top Chef
Day Seventy-Seven: Pane alla Ricotta
2008-03-26 16:35:00 “What are you making now?” Joe asked. “Ricotta bread,” I replied. “That’s not right,” he responded, smiling and shaking his head as he walked away. It is kind of an odd thought, isn’t it? It becomes less so when you think about breads made with yogurt, but it’s not the first thing you think of when ... More About: Pane , Alla
Day Seventy-Six: Chocolate Bread
2008-03-24 16:15:00 I think this can be traced back to the chocolate tortilla chips. A few days ago, I saw a bag of these and thought “that’s either going to be surprisingly good or incredibly disgusting.” Much like KJ determined in posting this chocolate bread recipe, from Tessa Kiros’ Apples for Jam: A Colorful Cookbook, the tortilla ... More About: Chocolate , Bread
Day Seventy-Five: Eyes of Haman
2008-03-22 15:12:00 There are loads of traditional ways to celebrate Purim, and this is a particularly interesting one to me. My friend Yosi was talking about hamentaschen yesterday, which are delightful…but alas, they are not a bread, and so would not fall under the category of The Breadening. No worries, though; this festive, delicious bread ... More About: Eyes
Top Chef S4E2: Zoo Food
2008-03-21 19:54:00 see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef Chicago Episode 2: Zoo Food is now up!Enjoy. Share This More About: Top Chef
Day Seventy-Four: Les Bagels de Jo Goldenberg
2008-03-20 16:36:00 The power of good food never fails to amaze me, because it’s far more than mere nourishment. Of course it’s that as well; we need sustenance in order to survive from day to day. And the sense of taste is nice as well. But more than that, the best food carries with ...
TSIR is proud to present the Kitchen Ninja Overcast series!
2008-03-19 23:43:00 TSIR is now proud to announce our new commentary series on Bravo’s Top Chef Season Four: Chicago! You can find the Overcast for S4E1 here, along with a preview you can view without downloading anything. What’s an Overcast, you’re wondering? Think about all the times you’re hanging out with your friends, watching something ... More About: Kitchen , Series , Ninja , Present , Proud
Day Seventy-Three: Soft Pretzels
2008-03-19 22:20:00 If you’ve ever wished you could make those big, soft, delicious pretzels you can find at kiosks everywhere, from carnivals to shopping malls, I’ve got news for you: you can. They’re not that difficult; a little more effort than a loaf of bread, and a little less practical as well. But these are ... More About: Soft , Pretzels
Days Seventy-Seventy-Two: Fouace Aveyronnaise
2008-03-18 16:51:00 So you think you know sourdough? Think again. I’m usually not one to get cocky. Sometimes I may think I know more about something than someone else, but I try very hard to not be an insufferable know-it-all. This wasn’t always the case, of course; when I was little, such behavior could definitely ... More About: Days
Day Sixty-Eight + Sixty-Nine: Ciabatta
2008-03-15 21:50:00 True ciabatta1 may be one of the most sought-after sandwich breads ever, texturally. It also seems to be ridiculously difficult for some people to say and/or spell correctly as well, which results in some confusion amongst labels and menus. Nevertheless, a good loaf of ciabatta is the stuff of dreams; light and ... More About: Sixty
Day Sixty-Seven: Pan de Yema Oaxaqueño
2008-03-13 18:34:00 If you’re ever wondering what to do with an excess of leftover egg yolks, particularly if you’ve recently made a meringue or an angel food cake, this is the bread recipe for you. Literally meaning “Oaxacan Yolk Bread,” pan de yema Oaxaqueño is kind of like the love child of challah and brioche. It’s full ... More About: Sixty
The Breadening: Wholly Unintentional Hiatus
2008-03-10 21:46:00 Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that we haven’t run out of flour here at The Spice is Right. Unfortunately, though, what we have done is contract a slight case of plague which is delaying our efforts to shovel delicious loaves of bread onto hot coals for the sole purpose of our (and ... More About: Hiatus
A Triple Shot of Awesomeness: Galaga Cupcakes
2008-03-07 19:27:00  My friend Jon is an avid fan of many things, including classic arcade games. He’s got a select few in his collection, and one of his favorites is the Midway classic known as Galaga . It was his birthday yesterday, and since you could never have all three ships operating in the game together at one time, I decided it was high time to rectify this matter in the form of three conjoined cupcake ships.1 Lo and behold, the legend of the triple shot became reality. The cakes themselves were made of my mocha angel food cake, obviously minus the berries and cream. While they were cooling, I made a fresh batch of marshmallow fondant, dyed it accordingly, and went to work. The results are what you’re now viewing. Click any of these images to see a larger version open in a new window. Share This Special thanks to The Gothsicles for additional auditory inspiration More About: Shot , Triple
Day Sixty-Five and Day Sixty-Six: Basic Sourdough Bread
2008-03-07 18:36:00 If you’re not feeling particularly inclined towards rye bread at any given time, you could of course always try making a nice, basic sourdough recipe, such as the one I’ll give below. I’d originally consulted Brother Rick Curry, S.J.’s lovely The Secrets of Jesuit Bread making, and indeed I did mostly follow the recipe he lists there, but with one crucial variation: I did not incorporate ANY commercial yeast into the dough. There are some sourdough recipes which do this, mainly for speed. And you can incorporate very small amounts of commercial yeast into your sourdough breads without spoiling their flavor, but for me personally, I feel a bit like that would be cheating. And so, I don’t like to do it. If I’m going to take the time to make a sourdough bread, I want it to have the fullest flavor it possibly can, and if that means it takes a very long time to rise, so be it. Longer rising time generally guarantees a more flavorful bread an... More About: Basic , Sixty
Day Sixty-Three + Day Sixty-Four: Rye Sour Dough
2008-03-05 18:10:00 You may have noticed by now that we have a certain fondness for rye bread in our house. Of course, I’m trying to maintain balance in the various things I make for Project Daily Bread, but there’s no questioning what bread instantly comes to mind when contemplating what to put our deli meats and cheeses on. It’s almost Pavlovian; indeed, the merest mention of rye bread around here can set our mouths to watering.1 Now, I’d like to think it’s obvious that I couldn’t make bread every day for an entire year and completely ignore the sourdough genre. That would be incredibly remiss of me, especially since I do have a sourdough starter that I like to use on occasion. When I first started using it a couple of years ago, I was very excited. I’d never made a sourdough bread before, but had long admired the way they tasted. To my friend and sometime culinary partner-in-crime Katherine, I gave half my first batch of start... More About: Sixty , Dough
TSiR Shop Now Open!
2008-03-04 18:05:00 Do you like what you’re reading here? Are you interested in some of the books you’ve seen mentioned on The Spice is Right? Why not check out the TSiR Bookstore, set up in conjunction with Amazon.com? You’ll find all the books mentioned on TSiR in the “Featured on TSiR” section, as well as several others we at TSiR are fond of. New books (and probably other food-related items) will continually be added, so take a look periodically and see if something piques your interest! Share This More About: Open , Shop
Day Sixty-Two: Vanilla Bread
More articles from this author:2008-03-04 01:50:00 It looks shy and unassuming on the plate, doesn’t it? But you’d be very, very wrong to underestimate this bread. Very wrong indeed. I’m not sure where or why or how “vanilla” came to be a term of derision, something applied only to the most middle-of-the-road, mediocre, tame things one could possibly do, say, or eat. I can only assume the ignorance which propagates this term as a sort of insult was based on imitation vanilla, at best. Because proper vanilla, in all its glory, has shades-within-shades of flavor. Add in vanilla pods and the complexities are astounding, and nothing short of it. And when you add all that to the already-moderately-complex flavors of a yeast-leavened loaf of bread, well…there’s a lot for your tongue to wrap itself around. This recipe comes out of Tim Allen’s excellent The Ballymaloe Bread Book, and he suggests you serve it with another recipe in the book, for Chocolate B... More About: Sixty , Vanilla 1, 2, 3 |
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