Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum

Phase 6 Copy Editing

This is the awful one and I always forget just how awful. Foolishly I look forward to having the “baby” back. I also suffer from the illusion that I have submitted a manuscript that is in perfect shape. My illusions are shattered with amazing speed. Take a look at a sample of a copy edited page and you’ll begin to understand what the author is up against—especially the author of a cookbook and most especially the author of a detailed baking book.

The production editors notes are in grey pencil, the copy editor’s in red, and mine in purple.

Continue reading "Book Production Phase 6 Copy Editing" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 05.10.08 at 10:00 AM in Special Stories
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (22) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

I ran over to Whole Foods today and look what I found!!!

From a distance I thought it was albino eggplant but then to my amazement I saw that it was an ostrich egg. Next my eyes took in the entire egg display. All eggs were set on rafia to ressemble nests and there they all were: quail eggs, pheasant eggs and most beloved of all: duck eggs.

I raised home with my cache and lost no time in frying up two of the pheasant eggs for an early lunch. They were flavorful but more delicate than chicken eggs with no "eggy" flavor. The bread is my new whole wheat sandwich bread recipe which I will be posting later this summer.

I just mixed up a small batch of pasta dough for dinner using just the yolks and a little heavy cream. No I don't have time for this but who knows how long this windfall will last.

Incidentall, duck egg yolks make THE most delicious cakes but don't use the white as they don't aerate well at all and the texture will be coarse.

From the kitchen of Rose on 05.08.08 at 11:23 AM in Announcements
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (11) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

A year ago, during my visit to Germany to visit my nephew Alex and family. Marley Jane was only two months old then. When I returned with Elliott a only 6 months later she had, predictable changed significantly--in fact, she took her first steps with him. And what a lovely surprise to receive these recent photos her mom Haley sent me and to see she is already a little girl and such a sweet one too! Haley titled the photo with the daisy "Haysmile" and I just know it's because Marley was looking at her older brother Hadyn!

From the kitchen of Rose on 05.05.08 at 3:40 PM in Photos
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (3) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

... the wedding season that is! Hector, our talented baker/blogger/designer/photographer/friend, has designed a stunning book plate and gift concept for the bride and groom.
He suggests printing it out as a 5x7 photo to tape in your books as a bookplate! He writes that it is ok to print on other sizes but the edges may chop out a little.

From the kitchen of Rose on 05.03.08 at 10:00 AM in Announcements
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (11) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

Phase 5 April 2008 Photography
This is always my favorite moment in book production. It must be akin to a playwright getting to see her play enacted with a full cast of the characters she has envisioned. It’s scary and thrilling at the same time.

This was the first session of what will probably be two, possibly three. But I doubt if we will repeat 10 days in a row of about 6 cakes a day. This was my first experience with professional digital food photography and what a fascinating process. Food stylist Liz Duffy brought two assistants and loads of ingredients and equipment.

Liz Primping the Cake for the Camera

A Small Sampling of the Groceries

Roy Finamore, a long time friend, who was one of the senior editors of Clarkson Potter is now a prop stylist. He contributed infinitely more than inspired props—he majorly participated in the over-all look of the photos, carefully considering how they should appear in relation to where they would be placed in the book.

Photographer Ben Fink repeatedly turned out such astonishingly beautiful photographs every day was a new surprise and joy. I brought my knitting and only succeeded in doing one row in 10 days. Every time I turned away from the set I regretted it as I found I needed to be present to ensure that the cakes reflected the recipes in the book. Liz is the most meticulous and devoted food stylist plus a former pastry chef but producing 6 or more photo worthy cakes a day was a challenge I myself could not have managed and I was grateful that my recipes were in good enough shape that there were no errors or time wasted due to mistakes. Still, we ended up with what was supposed to be an ice cream sandwich as an ice cream cake. It was so beautiful I rewrote the recipe to include both.

I learned several great tricks from Liz and her long time assistant Jan which I will include in the book. One was how to make the top of a cake baked in a fluted tube pan look as a perfect and without air pockets as much as possible. They filled the pans about one inch full with batter and then used the back of a spoon with a side to side motion to press the batter into the grooves of the pan before adding the remainder of the batter. Priceless! And what was poly grip denture cream doing on the baking cart? Turns out it’s the perfect food safe glue for everything from fallen cake crumbs to broken pie crust.

Another exciting learning experience was when the pears in the almond cream pear cake ended up at the top of the cake instead of sinking toward the bottom where they were supposed to land. The entire cake was a brown color that it had never been before. After much Sherlock Holmesing I discovered that the almond cream, when mixed just a little too long, breaks down and infiltrates through the cake batter turning it a deeper color and changing the texture so that the pears are suspended at the top!

Next session is projected to be the last two weeks of July. I’ll be leaving my knitting at home! And now on to the copy editing of the 760 page manuscript which is why you won't be hearing much from me for the next few weeks!

(More photos on the full post page)

Continue reading "Production of Rose’s Heavenly Cakes Part 2" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.26.08 at 10:22 AM in Special Stories
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (19) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

I love champagne. Not all champagne but in a blind taste test Dom Perignon always wins for me. Inexpensive champagne hurts my stomach, partially from acidity and partially from the large bubbles. I’d rather have prosecco.

When it comes to opening a bottle of champagne I’m always nervous—more so when it’s not me opening it, and with good cause. I still remember dinner at an elegant restaurant owned by the famous French chef known primarily for his pastries and gorgeous leather bound cookbooks—Yves Thuries, in the medieval town of Cordes in the south of France. I heard a pop from way across the room and then like a missile the cork whizzed by the left side of my face missing my eye by about 3 inches. And they never even offered me a sip of it as apology. In fact they didn’t even offer an apology of any sort.

Happened again last month at one of the top restaurants in NY. I heard the pop—this time within 6 feet of where I was sitting—and within a split second the cork hit the back of my neck. Of course I screamed and after regaining my composer said: “I hope it’s at least Dom Perignon.”(Ah my prophetic soul—here’s the evidence.)

I informed the apologetic and somewhat horrified sommelier that I was keeping the cork in the tradition of spectators who catch a misdirected baseball at a game. i didn't ask for a signature since i wasn't sure exactly who was responsible for opening that bottle.

OK guys—this is inexcusable. Do I have to wear a catcher’s mask when I dine out? But the main reason I’m telling this tale is to warn you that when removing the little wire cage from the cork you should, at the same time, firmly hold down the cork. I know it seems like it’s in there solid but believe me the pressure of the champagne could well be enough to dislodge it without any encouragement whatsoever on your part (this has happened to me). The proper technique for opening champagne is to have the bottle upright on a solid surface, then to hold the cork firmly in one hand while you rotate the bottle with the other, thus gradually releasing the pressure and twisting out the cork. I like to use a little device called a champagne star that looks like a Ninja weapon. It fits into the groves of the champagne cork holding the cork in place. I also like to use a “perfecto nut cracker” that doubles as a great device to secure the cork. But if neither is available I’ll use my hand or hand it over to my husband and still avert my face. After all, one can’t be too careful when it comes to these things. Seriously.

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.19.08 at 11:38 AM in Special Stories
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (14) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

I was asked by Roxanne Webber of chow.com to offer my opinionas to the suitability of beans as pie weights and whether they remain edible after baking. If you are interested in my response click on this link: http://www.chow.com/stories/11054 I can promise you will be pleasantly surprised!

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.17.08 at 5:10 PM in Announcements
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (8) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

I need a little time to catch up from the past two week marathon of photography for the new book and visit to Gold Medal/General Mills in MN bu I've been following all your postings and look forward to answering and telling about the experience(s) asap! thanks to all of you who have so wisely helped those in need of a response.

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.13.08 at 4:38 PM in Announcements
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (5) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

I discovered this recipe, by Jane Black, in the January 9, 2008 food section of the Washington Post which I read religiously every week and sometimes write for as well. One of my favorite columns is the occasional series “Staff Favorites” in which staff writers share favorite recipes. (As the Post says: “….that we turn to time and time again.” Though I’m a chronic clipper of appealing sounding recipes, they usually end up in the “to file” pile for someday. This one I made the week I clipped it and surely will be making it time and time again myself!

If ever there were a vegetable accompaniment that upstages the main course this is it: Endive Gratin: creamy, nutty-sweet with a gilding of Gruyère cream sauce, the endive within slightly crunchy and slightly and deliciously bitter to offset the richness of the sauce.The French have a wonderful term for this quality aigre-doux which refers mostly to sour/sweet but it is this contrasting yin yang flavors that lifts up a dish and makes it compellingly pleasing.
I served it with steak but I will also serve it with lamb and even with fish. Since there were just two of us I divided the recipe by 3 and, for a change, made no changes what-so-ever.

Continue reading "A Side Dish that Steals the Show" »

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.12.08 at 11:00 AM in Savory Cooking
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (9) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)

You may find it odd that someone who loves scratch baking, weaving, knitting, and other somewhat retro activities so fully embraces new technology. But as far as I’m concerned, anything that improves quality of product, performance, or existence in general is welcome in my life. After all, I wouldn't be here on this blog writing to you if not for the internet!

It took a while before I could have important intimate phone conversations with the use of a headphone but now I find it more immediate than the old-fashioned receiver and besides, it saves my neck! (No more crunching the receiver between ear and shoulder—perish the thought.)

Years ago Elliott told me I should be using voice activation software for which he developed the vocabulary and protocol in radiology. As a 180 word per minute typist I was resistant. Then some years later I had a violent reaction to the powerful antibiotic cipro. It was administered for a minor infection and turned out to be the equivalent of hitting a mosquito with a sledge hammer! It resulted in a thankfully temporary neurological incapacity that made it difficult to type. This served as real motivation to try out the voice activation software that had been sitting on my computer for years.

I will always be grateful to Marc Cohen of www.spokencomputing.com for coming to my aid. Marc lives in San Francisco and is an expert trainer for speech recognition software. He responded to something I wrote about my typing problem on the blog with a kind and invaluable offer to help me get over the hurdle. He told me that his partner had made their wedding cake from The Cake Bible and that in gratitude he wanted to be of help to me.

I cannot sing the praises of voice activation more enthusiastically as it has saved my fingers and given a new voice to my writing. When my mother was still alive I often would read articles I had written over the phone to her. It was a way to give her my time, entertain her, and still get my work done, but the added benefit was that invariably, once I heard my prose out loud, I would change something in the flow of them. I think that the spoken word and the written word need to be in balance and the best way to achieve it is by speaking your writing into the computer and then reading it back!

Often I revert back to my fingers because I type faster than I speak and old habits die hard. BUT, my favorite headphone company (Hello Direct) has come up with a new version of their light-weight and fantastic wireless headphone that can switch back between phone conversations and voice activation on the computer. I’m sure that will make it much more encouraging to use. And somewhere down the line, with Marc’s help, I’ll try out tape recording my notes as I test recipes, plugging it into the computer, and allowing the voice recognition software to transfer my words to the recipe document. That would be the ideal way to test recipes and record all the nuances faithfully.

From the kitchen of Rose on 04.05.08 at 10:56 AM in Announcements
Send to a Friend | Read Comments (6) | Post a Comment | TrackBacks (0)