cutting pastry

[jazzfish]

Nicholas Was . . ., a heartwarming tale from Mr Neil.

What inspires me to break two weeks of silence? Is it a report on the reading (which went well, and my most sincere thanks to all in attendance)? The trip to Green Valley Book Fair the day after? Giving a presentation at work that included the phrase "No one actually reads the manuals"? Initiating Secret Project Rock? Peeking out of my shell by attending a delightful party where I knew no one but the hostess, and her only barely?

No, it's buying a pastry cutter.

I've made coffeecake a few times now-- it's easy and tasty, and it gives me an excuse to make the kitchen smell really good. The only difficult part has been the "cut butter into flour mix," which is one of the first steps in the recipe ("Buttermilk coffee cake" from the Plaid Book). I detest this part.

For the uninitiated, "cutting butter into" things involves slicing the butter into small pieces, putting them in the whatever, and then attacking the mixture repeatedly with two butter knives. In theory this gets you a mixture of cold butter and flour, which supposedly puffs up better in the oven, and also yields crumbly sweet stuff that can be sprinkled over the top of the coffeecake. In practice my wrists go numb from the whacking and scooping and stirring after about ten minutes, at which point I give up.

But no more. As a tool-using primate, I picked up a pastry cutter when I went grocery shopping on Monday. It's a D-shaped piece of metal, with the long bar of the D as a handle and several parallel blades for the curve. This simple device makes it almost absurdly easy to cut butter into flour. Five minutes of pounding and I'm done.

Simply amazing. Coffeecake for everyone!

Comments

[lizthefair.livejournal.com]

I was just telling J the other day how much I loved my pastry cutter as well. who knew such a simple looking tool could make such a difference?

[vond.livejournal.com]

You surpassed my cooking abilities a while back, so I'm not ashamed to admit that I never knew what that doodad was for (having seen them in kitchen stores and Mom's kitchen).

By the way, we got your box in the mail, thank you very much. Maybe we should try to get together when we're up there, though our schedule will be kind of odd.

[jazzfish]

I would never have been able to figure out what they were myself if someone (most likely uilos) hadn't told me.

Yeah, I figured scheduling might be tricky this time, so I just went ahead and shipped it off. I'd love to get together for dinner or something, though. I'm free, um, 27-31 December, and arguably 21 or 22 as well.

[kittenchan.livejournal.com]

Is lunch or late lunch a possibility on the 31st? We could probably work that time :)

[jazzfish]

I have to work, so it'd have to be somewhere in/verynear Tysons, but yeah, that'd be great.

[kittenchan.livejournal.com]

Okay :) We'll contact you off of LJ to talk about details :)

[jameshroberts.livejournal.com]

You can often get good results using a food processor to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You'll want to pulse rather than mix continuously so that the heat from the motor doesn't melt the butter, but it's still fast. Of course, this assumes you _have_ a food processor; I certainly wouldn't recommend getting one just for this. A pastry blender does a fine job, is much cheaper and easier to clean.

[jameshroberts.livejournal.com]

Oh, and by "The Plaid Book" do you mean "Better Homes and Gardens?"

[jazzfish]

*goes and checks* That is precisely what I mean, yes. It's pretty much the only cookbook I own.

(Also, I lack a blender / processor, since I don't make mixed drinks and haven't encountered anything else where I've thought "Ah, a blender would be helpful here.")

[jameshroberts.livejournal.com]

It's a standard workhorse book of mine as well. I do find that they almost never add salt to anything, so I always make that adjustment. I'm a fan of "The Best Recipe" series of cook-books since they go into the food science and tell you _why_ they've made the decisions they have in their recipes. "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittmann is another one I use a lot.

Food processors and blenders are not exactly interchangeable, but if you haven't felt the need for either, there's no reason to get them. An immersion or "stick" blender is nice for pureeing soups or pasta sauces, if you're into those kinds of things.

[fishy1.livejournal.com]

..also good for cutting cream cheese into mayonnaise (as for cucumber sandwiches)

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

FYI - In a pinch, a good solid fork also works for smaller batches. A food processor if you have one makes this into an effortless task.

[jude.livejournal.com]

*wants coffee cake*

(PS. You gave me the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT IN YEARS OMG. I cannot WAIT to use it. :D)

[jazzfish]

Going to be in town over Xmas?

(That actually applies to both coffeecake and to potentially using the present, actually: my Deutsch is atrocious but I know the English version well enough. And it seemed like the kind of thing that you needed, anyway.)

[jude.livejournal.com]

I'm coming home on Friday, immediately after school. Home who knows how long. We should see about a coffee-cake-and-deutschfluxx session. :D

[idoru.livejournal.com]

Oh man, did you not learn the joys of pastry blenders in home ec? I inherited one from my great aunt/uncle when they moved out of their house & into an assisted living community apartment (a wooden-handled pastry blender and a neat metal trivet -- I love random kitchen stuff). SO MUCH BETTER than trying to cut up butter with a knife >;[.


Have you picked up any of Alton Brown's books, since he talks about fun things AND tools AND "this is how you do this thing that a lot of cookbooks/recipes skim over"?

[jazzfish]

The only cooking instruction I ever got growing up was from Mom on browning meat and making a small handful of desserts (not at the same time), and Dad on scrambling eggs and making omelettes. (uilos and nixve have shared useful pointers as well.)

I keep thinking about getting into Alton Brown's stuff; I've heard nothing but good things from just about everyone.

[platypusgirl.livejournal.com]

I keep encountering recipes that call for a food processor. Blenders do not always (hardly ever) work for this... I'm just going to try chopping things really small.

I bought a candy thermometer earlier this week. Hopefully I will find another use for it after this holiday season. I have a cookie press that I've tried to use and never managed to use successfully.

Kitchens can get filled with all sorts of weird stuff. I love that apple slicer thing. I don't know if it's the ease of suddenly having the apple sliced or the fact that you pretty much get to wreak havok on an apple. (It's like wolver for fruit - but with more function.)

[jazzfish]

I guess there /are/ things I could use a small food processor for. Garlic, for instance.

I am trying very very hard to avoid filling my kitchen with things that have only one use, no matter how small they are, unless I'm likely to make the thing that they're used for fairly often. Since I've made coffeecake an average of once every two months, this is acceptable.

Apple slicer/corers are really neat, though.

[absolutliz.livejournal.com]

I have a pastry cutter, and a food processor. The first time I made piecrust with my Cuisinart, I was stunned. It was literally done in seconds. Also....slicing apples for the pie was a quick task. I've been dying to make scalloped potatoes with it, just so I can slice a ton of them.

I need to cook more...that thing is so fun to use. I don't have a blender right now, but I would like to get an immersion blender, because I think it would be easier to use for hot soups.

Your coffeecake sounds yummy

But...the cuisinart takes up a heck of a lot of room. Although I love to just look at it shining on the counter, I don't have room in my current kitchen for it to be out all the time. (Who builds a 3000 square foot house with such a dinky amount of counter space? gah!)