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Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze
The BEST way to cook beets? Roasted! These ruby red beets are roasted in the oven until sweet and caramelized, then tossed with orange zest and a balsamic glaze. So good!
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A Foolproof Caramel Recipe That Anyone Can Make at Home for Valentine’s Day
For Susanna Yoon, working with chocolate and caramel has long served as her favorite culinary activity. The chocolatier spent years perfecting the craft at Thomas Keller’s glitzy restaurant, Per Se, before leaving to open her own confectionery, Stick With Me Sweets, in New York City’s Nolita neighborhood.
“I wanted to create chocolate bonbons, but make it more accessible to all chocolate lovers,” she explains.
At her narrow, postage stamp of a store, Susanna specializes in chocolate bonbons and caramels, wrapped and twirled in crinkly plastic. The bonbons, squat orbs of chocolate, are lined up like jewels in a glass case, an amalgamation of white, dark, and milk chocolate. Each piece of chocolate is tended to like a precious work of art: Every bonbon is filled with a slew of ganaches, marshmallows, or cookies, hand-shelled in chocolate, and painted by hand—a process that often takes three days. Some are dusted with a spraying of baby blue powder, others are finished off with neon pinks, yellows, and greens—a cheeky visual clue to what’s sealed inside.
Evan Sung
Susanna’s flavors are just as creative and decadent as the decoration. Bite into the speculoos s’more and you’ll be greeted with a shattering of dark chocolate draped over a soft marshmallow crowning a speculoos cookie. Slicing into the liquid salted caramel reveals a pool of caramel, intensely dark and nutty, spilling out of the chocolate. The bonbons change with the seasons, but you’ll find flavors like mint chocolate cookie, bananas Foster, passion fruit, wild strawberry, and matcha green tea.
“We think of our favorite childhood memories, our favorite desserts, seasonal ingredients, and things we love,” Susanna says of the ideation process, “combining different components to create delicious, fun, and surprising flavors.”
Related Reading: The Best Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts for Her on Amazon
The recipe is developed first, then matched with colors and designs to bring each piece of chocolate to life. “In essence, the design we create serves as the visual identity of the flavors inside,” she says.
Choose your chocolates and they’ll be plopped into boxes that further highlight Susanna’s inherent creativity. The boxes are styled after books and mimic the opening of one, complete with a red-painted spine and white and gray pages. The chocolates are sheathed inside, a colorful trove of prized jewels waiting to be revealed.
Evan Sung
Individual caramels, too, are available for purchase. The chewy ribbons are spiked with a variety of flavors—think cassis, raspberry, and yuzu—sliced into pinkie-sized nubs, and individually wrapped.
If a trip to the N.Y.C. store isn’t possible, Susanna ships sweets across the country. But if you can make it in, you’ll be rewarded with the option to purchase a slew of bonbon boxes. The packages overflow with a range of chocolate bonbons, in flavors like wild strawberry, creme brulee, and kalamansi meringue pie. It’s a gift so sweet you’ll not need a holiday dictating when to eat chocolate—after this, you’ll just be digging into bars and truffles all the time.
But for those who are looking for a bit of a DIY project for their loved ones, Susanna has shared her recipe for caramels designed for home cooks. She guarantees the recipe is foolproof and home friendly, studded with silky Plugra butter, plenty of fleur de sel, and an entire vanilla bean. All the ingredients are whisked together in a pot until reaching 250°F, then gently poured onto a greased Silpat (or piece of parchment paper) to cool until firm. The caramel can be sliced into squat rectangles, wrapped like the perfect gift they are, and passed out on Valentine’s Day. Or any day, really—we won’t tell.
Salted Caramel Recipe
Salted Caramel
Ingredients
- 520 grams dark brown sugar
- 650 grams heavy cream
- 104 grams unsalted Plugra butter
- 130 grams corn syrup
- 8 grams fleur de sel
- 1 whole Madagascar vanilla bean
Instructions
- Place Silpat onto your quarter sheet tray. Lightly spray the edges of the sheet tray with Pam.
- Place all ingredients into your 4-quart pot.
- Continue to whisk the caramel until the temperature reaches 122 degrees Celsius/250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once the caramel reaches 122 degrees Celsius/250 degrees Fahrenheit, immediately pour into your greased quarter sheet tray. Discard the vanilla bean.
- Cool for about 3 hours until firm. Cut, wrap and enjoy!
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When It Comes to Chocolate, What Does Cocoa Percentage Actually Mean?
You’ve seen these numbers listed on fancy chocolate bar packaging, but what do chocolate percentages mean and which one should you pick? We’ll break it down so you can make the best possible chocolate choice.
When it comes to chocolate, I used to belong to the cult of high cocoa percentage. My favorite was 70 percent, with a dash of 82.5 percent thrown in once in a while. The more I learned about chocolate, though, the more I realized that percentage has nothing to do with quality: I’ve had crummy 85 percent bars and fantastic 40 percent bars.
Cocoa Percentage: Cocoa Butter + Cocoa Solids
That’s because cocoa percentage means the percentage of the bar that comes straight from cocoa beans. Take my beloved 70 percent bar as an example: Seventy percent of that bar consists of refined cocoa beans, and 30 percent consists of all the other ingredients, like sugar, vanilla, sea salt, Pop Rocks, you name it.
Just because you’ve tasted one 70 percent bar, though, doesn’t mean you’ve tasted them all. Each one has a unique mouthfeel and unique tastes going on. (Some genius came up with the fancy-sounding “mouthfeel” to describe how things feel in your mouth. Practically speaking, this means whether the chocolate is grainy or smooth, melts quickly or slowly, and so on.) One reason for this is that one chocolate bar might have significantly more cocoa butter in it than another. Both cocoa solids and cocoa butter are included in that 70 percent total.
As I write in my book, “Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution,” “One 70 percent bar could include 50 percent cocoa solids and 20 percent cocoa butter; another could include 30 percent cocoa solids and 40 percent cocoa butter (that would create a very smooth, buttery bar!). To make it even more complicated, different types of beans naturally contain different amounts of cocoa butter. Some are leaner, others fattier. A bean’s natural ‘butteriness’ will change the consistency of the resulting chocolate.”
Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution
A book to savor (alongside something sweet, ideally).
Milk Chocolate vs Dark Chocolate
Milk chocolate is generally a pretty low percentage, usually around 40 percent or below (Hershey’s is 11 percent). I’m in love with Zotter’s 40 percent bar made with “organic Tyrolean mountain milk” as well as Fran’s smoked salt thins.
Dark chocolate doesn’t have a legal definition in the U.S. (it’s under the umbrella of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate). It’s usually at least 55 percent, but most dark chocolate lovers enjoy 70 percent or above. I’m obsessed with a new type called dark milk chocolate, a high-percentage milk chocolate that’s the best of both worlds: You get the intense flavors of dark chocolate with the creaminess of milk chocolate. My favorite right now? Chocolate Naïve’s 62 percent dark milk with porcini. (Yes, you read that right: mushrooms!)
Related Reading: 8 Food & Drink Experiences for Valentine’s Day Way Better Than a Reservation
Then there are some dark chocolate bars that clock in at 100 percent. That means they include only ground-and-refined cocoa beans, and the trick for the chocolate makers is bringing out the natural flavors of those beans to make them not only edible but also enjoyable. The best ones—like those from Fruition and Pralus—are a far cry from baking chocolate. I challenge you to taste a 100 percent bar for Valentine’s Day: You might just find your true love.
But don’t forget about white chocolate either.
Need more Valentine’s ideas? Visit our Valentine’s Day headquarters for tips, tricks, and recipes, and see our Valentine’s Day 2020 Gift Guide for perfect ways to show your love.
Related Video: These Handcrafted Chocolate Bonbons Are Edible Works of Art
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How to Make Your Significant Other Think You’re a Professional Chef on Valentine’s Day
It’s almost Valentine’s Day and, like me, you may be scrambling a bit for the perfect gift. Your significant other, like mine, may be one of those “you don’t have to get me anything” people, which of course is no help at all. Plus, some people don’t like chocolate, so cliché Valentine’s Day gifts are out of the question. But don’t panic! A nice home-cooked meal is one of the most underrated and romantic gifts you can give.
Your S.O. will appreciate the effort you put in, and you guys will save so much money by having your fancy candlelit dinner in the comfort of your own home. If you’re considering cooking for your significant other this Valentine’s Day, let me help you out with some recipes and tips. The trick is to focus on one part of the meal—be it the entrée, the dessert, or even the drinks—and then follow short and simple recipes for the other components of the meal. That way, you have time to prepare multiple elaborate courses and you’ll basically trick your partner into thinking you’re a professional chef. Just make sure they do their share by taking care of the dishes.
Menu #1: That’s Amore
I would like to shamelessly dedicate this first meal to my boyfriend, who could eat any of this stuff 90 times a day. But I can’t really fault him; he’s got great taste in food. For this meal, the entrée is the star, so it’ll take up most of your time. But I promise you that you will still have time (and room) for the side and dessert that follow.
Entrée: Chicken Parmesan
Chowhound
There is something so classic and tasteful about chicken parm. It’s not terribly hard to make, it’s perfectly cheesy, and you can experiment with your own favorite flavors in your sauce. But, since you do have an entire meal to prepare, let’s not get carried away. This recipe for chicken parmesan should only take you anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour to prepare, and the sauce is easy to whip up! Get our Chicken Parmesan recipe.
Pair with: A red wine, obviously.
Side Dish: Angel Hair Pasta with Brown Butter Garlic Sauce
Chicken parm is a hefty, filling dish. Plus, it’s packed with tomato sauce. A scoop of pasta is the perfect complement to chicken parm, and angel hair works best because it’s so delicate and lends itself to a lighter, less filling sauce—like garlic and butter. And this side just sounds like something you’d see on the menu at a fancy restaurant on Valentine’s Day! But it’s not complex; the recipe (via thestayathomechef.com) takes all of ten minutes to make. Remember, it’s Valentine’s Day, so don’t be stingy with the parmesan cheese on top. Get the Angel Hair Pasta with Brown Butter Garlic Sauce recipe.
Dessert: Make Your Own Milkshake Bar
Chowhound
Remember how I said I was dedicating this meal to my boyfriend? I have literally seen that guy down a milkshake faster than I can take one tequila shot. But he’s onto something here; after this meal, you won’t really have room for much else, so a shared milkshake may very well be the best way to go! Plus it’s a really cute thing to do together.
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Add some retro flavor to your ice cream bar.
For this one, you have complete control. For example, my boyfriend loves strawberry shakes, so I’d make sure to have strawberry ice cream and strawberry syrup on hand. If your partner is a chocolate person, stock up on chocolate syrup, Oreos, and sprinkles. Don’t forget whipped cream and a cherry! For tips on getting the perfect creamy milkshake, watch this video. The last thing you want is to finish your meal with a watery shake.
Menu #2: Make ‘Em Melt
This time around, we’re focusing on a decadent and more time-consuming dessert, so you’ll need a lighter dinner that cooks fast. Don’t think for a second we’re sacrificing taste for time, though. This entire meal is super flavorful, and you won’t be forgetting it any time soon.
Entrée: Fast Lemon-Parsley Shrimp Pasta
Chowhound
I mean, this has “fast” right in the name. Pasta and shrimp are two of the quickest things to cook—so it’s convenient for us that they taste great together! You’ll need 30 minutes, tops, to get this done, and your S.O. will have no idea because they’ll be so impressed with how fancy and flavorful this dish is. The lemon and shrimp go great together, and the parmesan cheese and parsley on top make it even better. Get our Fast Lemon-Parsley Shrimp Pasta recipe.
Pair with: While gin and even whiskey would go great with everything in this meal, I think your best bet is a nice bubbly Champagne.
Side Dish: Garlic Bread
Chowhound
Again, we really want room for dessert with this meal, so we need a side dish that isn’t too over the top. Garlic bread is seriously addicting, and the parsley really ties it in with the pasta. Also, it’s great for dipping into any more lemony sauce you may have at the bottom of your bowl. If you so desire, I strongly suggest melting some mozzarella cheese on top of the bread. Get our Garlic Bread recipe.
Dessert: Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes
Chowhound
I told you the dessert would be the highlight of this meal. Seriously, how impressed would your partner be if you put their own individual lava cake right in front of them? This recipe takes about an hour, but it’s so worth it. And it’s served with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream, which make it all the more perfect for Valentine’s Day. Don’t worry—you totally don’t have to make anything but the cake from scratch; your S.O. will be surprised enough that you even know what raspberry coulis is. Get our Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes recipe.
Menu #3: Classically Chic
This is a bigger dinner with a light and sweet dessert. I’d say you’ll focus on the entrée, sides, and dessert pretty equally, but you can’t really have any one without the others!
Entrée: Steak with Garlic Butter
Chowhound
Giving the gift of a steak dinner is a guaranteed success. And this recipe (via damndelicious.net) is flavorful, hearty, and promises the perfect steak! Don’t think the garlic butter is married to it, though, because it would also taste delicious on literally everything else. Get the Steak with Garlic Butter recipe.
Pair with: This meal screams Old Fashioned to me. But if you’re not a whiskey person, you can’t go wrong with red wine or a martini.
Side Dish: Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Chowhound
This would be a great side dish for most meals, but what’s a steak dinner without potatoes? The buttermilk in this recipe really takes it up a notch—your potatoes will be thick and creamy, and you and your date will be full to the brim! Get our Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes recipe.
Dessert: Crème Brulée
Chowhound
If you’re going to make this, plan accordingly! You’re going to need to let these sit overnight, so this is not something you can whip up when your S.O. texts you that they’re on their way. That said, crème brulée is what you get for dessert when you don’t think you have room for dessert. Eating it also always makes me feel super fancy. Follow our recipe, and make sure you’ve got some fresh raspberries to sprinkle on top. This will finish off your steak dinner perfectly. Get our Crème Brulée recipe.
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Serve your Valentine's Day dinner on elegant flatware.
Menu #4: Vegan Valentine’s
You don’t think I forgot about all the vegans out there, do you? If you’re not a vegan, but your partner is, I promise you I’ve selected recipes that will be just as delicious and satisfying for you too! The dessert will take the most time, but is so worth it.
Entrée: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Avocado Sauce
I am such a sucker for sweet potatoes. I think they go with everything, so the fact that a sweet potato is the center of this whole entrée (via thehealthytart.com) is like a dream come true. The chickpeas, beans, spices, and homemade avocado sauce are healthy, flavorful, and filling. Forget Valentine’s Day—I’m making this one for myself! Get the Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Avocado Sauce recipe.
Pair with: I know most vodkas are vegan (don’t ask how), so keep this meal fresh with my favorite drink: a vodka seltzer with the tiniest bit of lime juice!
Side Dish: Corn, Cucumber, and Avocado Salad
Bring out the avocado flavor in your entrée with this light, fresh side salad (via imperfectlybalancedsara.com). The lime juice and dill on top really join all these flavors together in a way you and your S.O. will love. Get the Corn, Cucumber, and Avocado Salad recipe.
Dessert: Almond Caramel Vegan “Cheesecake”
Like the crème brulée, this one calls for a lot of prep time, so plan accordingly! Who says vegans can’t enjoy a cheesecake? This elaborate recipe (via cocooncooks.com) takes you step by step through the crust and cake, so you can do this. The cheesecake is actually an almond cinnamon cashew cream. Combined with an almond crust and homemade date caramel, this is going to be a big hit (and sure, make it for Easter too!). Get the Almond Caramel Vegan “Cheesecake” recipe.
If you prefer to make a morning treat, check out our Valentine’s breakfast in bed menu ideas. Get even more sweet recipes, tips, and tricks at our Valentine’s Day headquarters, including great last-minute Valentine’s Day gift ideas.
Related Video: Pucker Up for a Valentine’s Day Cocktail with Kombucha
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Chef Stephanie Izard’s Trick for the Most Flavorful Braise Ever
Stephanie Izard definitely knows her way around a braise. In Chicago, her inventive menus at The Girl & The Goat, Little Goat, and Duck Duck Goat draw big crowds, and much of the fanfare centers around her tender braised meats, like the namesake goat dishes, beef short ribs, and even a milk-braised pork ragu. If you’ve had the pleasure of sampling her food, you know that an Izard braise isn’t just tender—though it certainly is that—but also extraordinarily flavorful with deep and complex flavors.
I caught up with Izard at this year’s Cayman Cookout, a celebrity-chef studded culinary weekend hosted by Eric Ripert at the Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman. It was there, sipping a piña colada by the sprawling seaside pool, that the former James Beard winner dropped a seriously good tip for nailing an extremely flavorful braise every time.
Izard revealed that in her kitchens, braising liquids are always kept after use and recycled for a future braise, sauce, or any recipe that demands deep flavor. “With each braise, the liquid just gets better and better as flavors cook down and concentrate,” she told me, “ and that stuff is just way too good to waste.” Izard guesses that some of the braising liquids used in her restaurants have literally been going for years now.
If you’re doing this at home for your next braise—and you absolutely should—there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Izard mentioned that her kitchen staff uses (and re-uses) the braising liquids so frequently that they can just be stored in the fridge without spoiling. But if you’re not running a high-volume kitchen, you might not need it quite as often and it’s probably best to freeze the liquid in a plastic Tupperware or pyrex container until you do.
Marquette Castings 6-Quart Ditch Oven, $89.95 on Amazon
Braise everything in this handsome enameled Dutch oven.
One other helpful tip is to always label the braising liquid clearly and with the most prominent flavors (garlic, wine, spices, etc) if you can remember to. Not all braises are the same, of course, and you’ll want to know the flavor profile to ensure it works with whatever you’re making next.
Stephanie Izard’s Braised Pork Shanks
Ready to try a new braise? Don’t forget to save the leftover braising liquid when you’re done. See Izard’s recipe for brined and braised pork shanks with coconut milk and dijon mustard, served at her popular Chicago restaurant The Girl & The Goat.
Stephanie Izard’s Braised Pork Shanks
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- FOR THE BRINE:
- ½ tablespoon black peppercorn
- ½ tablespoon fennel seed
- ½ tablespoon mustard seed
- ½ tablespoon coriander seed
- ½ tablespoon red chili flake
- 4 quarts water
- 1½ cups salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 apples, quartered
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 sprig tarragon
- 1 small piece ginger, smashed
- 4 pork shanks (about 1½lb each)
- 4 quarts ice
- FOR THE BRAISE:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and choppe
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
- 1 bulb fennel, quartered and sliced
- 5 dried shitake mushrooms
- ¼ cup coconut milk plus an additional ½ cup
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 dried Thai chilies
- 8 cups chicken stock
Instructions
- For brining the pork shanks:
- In a small dry skillet set over medium heat, toast spices while stirring constantly until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- In a large stockpot combine water, salt, sugar, toasted spices, and aromatics and bring to a boil.
- Once the brine begins to boil remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Place the pork shanks and ice in a large pot or storage container.
- Pour cooled brine over and cover.
- Refrigerate for 12 hours.
- For braising the pork shanks:
- Preheat the oven to 300°.
- Remove pork shanks from the brine.
- Rinse under cold water, removing any of the spices and aromatics.
- Pat dry with paper towels and allow them to air-dry for an additional 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a roasting pan set over two burners, heat the olive oil.
- Sweat the carrot, onion, and fennel over medium-low heat until they begin to release liquid and soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add dried shitakes, ¼ cup coconut milk, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, Thai chilies and chicken stock.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a steady simmer.
- Nestle shanks into the simmering liquid, adding more stock and coconut milk if necessary.
- Wrap the pan with foil and roast in the oven until tender, 3 ½ – 4 hours.
- When the shanks are tender, remove the pan from the oven and cool to room temperature.
- Remove shanks from braising liquid and strain, disregarding the solids.
- Either place the shanks and liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Place the shanks on a sheet tray or roasting dish and cook until the skin is crispy about 30 minutes.(if using shanks that have been refrigerated, allow them to come to room temperature.).
- Meanwhile, return the liquid to a medium saucepan and bring to a steady boil.
- Reduce the liquid by half.
- Add coconut milk and butter to reach desired consistency and season with salt.
- Remove the shanks from the oven and place on a serving platter. drizzle the shanks with the sauce and serve, passing more sauce at the table.
- Note: for added texture and flavor, toss in some sautéed mushrooms to the finished sauce.
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An $8 Personal Blender & a K-Cup Coffee Machine for Less Than $30
I’m not kidding when I say it’s hard to find a smoothie for less than $8 these days. I’m also not joking when I say Best Buy has a very nifty and well-reviewed Bella 14-ounce personal blender on sale for *checks price again* eight dollars as one of its Deals of the Day.
Compare this model to the Nutri Ninja personal blender in its size—small enough to go virtually anywhere—but also powerful enough to blend a healthy smoothie, shake or single-serve soup in just seconds. And the convenient lid with drinking spout allows you to bring whatever you’ve made out the door and drink it on the go. The Bella personal blender receives high marks in verified-purchase reviews and it bears repeating that this blender is currently down to $8 (!), but just for today.
And we’re only getting started. Best Buy also has a sleek Chefman InstaCoffee single-serve K-Cup coffee maker down to just $30 (originally $50). It’s compatible with K-Cups but also takes traditional ground beans, so whatever you’ve got, it’ll make great coffee out of it and do it fast.
But it’s not just small appliances on a deep discount. Best Buy has some bigger-ticket items slashed down during the flash sale, like a set of two Ember temperature-controlled coffee mugs for $100 (normally $200) and this high-powered KitchenAid five-speed blender marked down $100 to just $150. Or upgrade your coffee system with this fancy Nespresso Lattissima One espresso machine by Italian maker De’Longhi, marked down under $200 (originally $380) just for today.
If you get your cart up over $30, Best Buy will ship everything for free by Friday. Or choose free same-day in-store pickup on any item (large or small) and bring it home in a few hours.
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The perfect blender for fast morning shakes and smoothies. Simple to use and down to just eight bucks today.Buy Now
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The Mysterious History of Red Velvet Cake
What exactly is in a real red velvet cake and where did it come from in the first place?
Red velvet cake is an equal parts vivacious and mysterious confection with Southern pedigree. Or is it Victorian? No, no, of course something as enigmatic as red velvet cake could only be born in New York City. Well, nevermind all that for now—we can all at least agree that the signature of red velvet cake, its redness, undeniably comes from deeply saturated red food coloring. No, hold on, I thought it was the result of a chemical reaction with the cocoa powder? I’m sorry, are you saying that red velvet cake is chocolate? Wait, you say your recipe calls for beets? Okay, but at least the icing is without controversy. Second to the redness, the cream cheese frosting is doubtless the other element that gives red velvet cake its air of je-ne-sais-quoi. Except, of course, when it’s made with ermine icing instead.
Plainly, some things need clearing up. Before we get into the history, what even is red velvet cake? The currently accepted “modern traditional” version, according to David Dial, baker, editor of Spiced blog, and a born-and-bred Southerner, is as follows: “I hate to use the word ‘velvety,’ but that’s what it is. It’s a soft cake. Fluffy, depending on the recipe, with just a hint of chocolate. It’s one of those things; you don’t realize it’s chocolate until someone tells you. Of course there’s the bright red color which now comes from food coloring, but aside from the cake itself, the really distinguishing feature is the cream cheese frosting, with a slight tang. These seem to go really well together.”
Chowhound’s Red Velvet Cake recipe, inspired by “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook” by Matt and Ted Lee
This is what we have presently come to know as red velvet cake, but like many other enigmatic foods (and beverages), the precise origins of its glorious existence remain elusive, as several times and places have claimed at least partial credit for producing it, with the different elements coming together as separate puzzle pieces. “It just kind of appeared, like in a movie,” says Dial, who also credits the appearance of red velvet cake, in the form of an armadillo-shaped Groom’s cake, in “Steel Magnolias” (1989) with its growing popularity north of the Mason-Dixon line. Its lasting popularity in the South is undeniable: “As a kid in the 80s and 90s in Charleston, red velvet cake was everywhere,” says Dial. “My mom made it all the time. If there was a party, there was red velvet cake.”
What we do know for sure is that red velvet cake has steadily risen in popularity in the United States from about the 1950s forward, with particular fervency in the American South, eventually earning its place in the canon of classic American desserts, and becoming the unofficial pastry of the reddest of holidays, Valentine’s Day. While no tidy conclusions exist, here we delineate many of the major players in its storied life, element by element.
The Cake
“Velvet” was a term used in Victorian England to describe cakes with a fine crumb and a soft texture, distinct from other confections such as pound cakes and sponge cakes. It is believed that a sister to red velvet cake—devil’s food cake—was born in this time and place, and was made in a similar style using deeply saturated chocolate to produce not only its signature dark color, but a name that stuck. The result of using cocoa powder in a similar recipe produced what then became called “mahogany cake.”
Another Slice
The Color
Red cakes were becoming popular around the time of World War II for a variety of reasons: First, because of the rationing of supplies, beet juice or even pureed beets were often added to cakes for both color and moisture. Second, during the same time the availability of Dutched or Dutch-process cocoa was limited. (Dutching is a process that deepens the color and takes some of the bitter edge off of natural cocoa.) Non-Dutched cocoa was lighter in color, and reacted with certain acidic ingredients in cakes, such as buttermilk, to produce a slightly red color. The buttermilk element would seem to make a case for Southern pedigree, but Dial believes that is not necessarily indicative of origin, but of popularity: “Buttermilk is such a Southern ingredient. It got added [later], and it’s awesome.” Finally, the advent of artificial food coloring for home use came about from a Texas-based company called Adams Extract.
For contrast: Our Classic Red Velvet Cake recipe uses 2 tablespoons of food coloring for a crimson crumb, while our Red Velvet Bundt Cake recipe only uses 2 teaspoons for a subtler blush
The Icing
Some genius was the progenitor of pairing a bold red cake with a bright white icing, but sadly, the world may never actually know who that was. A roux-based, or “boiled milk,” ermine icing was often called for in early printed recipes for red velvet cake, eventually replaced with the less labor-intensive cream cheese frosting, which upheld the classic color contrast and also added a desirable tang.
Chowhound’s Easy Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting recipe
Red+Velvet+Cake
The early instances of the term “red velvet cake” in print are numerous: In the 1940s and 1950s, The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, “The Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer, the aforementioned Adams Extract company, and Canada’s Eaton’s Department Store all included red velvet cakes as recipes or menu items, with no easy conclusions drawn about who named it first, since the thing was obviously happening before it was printed.
The original Betty Adams Red Velvet Cake recipe from Adams Extract
While red velvet cake’s past may be mysterious, its future is not, as it remains a staple for bakeries and bakers in both the South and the North. Since it has traditionally had a stronger footing in the South, Dial, as a displaced Southerner who now calls upstate New York home, recognizes that it still has the ability to dazzle: “When I make it for friends up here it always gets some attention. It’s just an attractive cake. When you cut into it, it’s such a fun, ‘oh!’”
Related Video: How to Make Red Velvet Cake
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This Baked Feta Makes Weeknight Vegetarian Cooking a Breeze
We’ve all been there: You’ve just arrived home, it’s late, and the thought of cooking dinner for yourself is the kind of activity that will haunt your nightmares. You could turn to delivery—but by the time the takeout is delivered it’ll invariably be cold and soggy. So why not rely on “Keeping It Simple,” a cookbook all about unfussy, one-pot weeknight cooking?
Related Reading: Make This Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili That Even Meat Eaters Will Love
Written by Yasmin Fahr, a food writer and recipe developer, “Keeping It Simple” is inspired by One-Pot Wonders, Yasmin’s one-pot cooking column for Serious Eats. The book is divided into a few sections—with chapters titled Oven to Table, Faster Than Delivery, and Salad for Dinner—and filled with 60 creative one-pot dishes, along with tips for kitchen shortcuts and techniques.
Weeknights will look a whole lot different once you get your hands on the book. A simple seared chicken is transformed into miso-ghee chicken paired with roasted radishes; packaged instant ramen gets an upgrade with Yasmin’s adult ramen soup, swimming with ground pork, enoki mushrooms, and a soft-boiled egg; and Sunday supper sauce no longer takes a full afternoon to make thanks to her recipe for less-than-an-hour beef ragu.
Ahead, find Yasmin’s recipe for baked feta with greens and lemon-tahini sauce, a vegetarian dish that even meat lovers will devour. Hunks of feta bake on a cookie tray atop a layer of kale and chickpeas until soft and golden brown, then drizzled with a tangy tahini dressing and a showering of pumpkin seeds. It’s vegetarian cooking at its most inventive and tasty—without having to rely on a bowl of pasta or simple salad.
Recipe excerpted with permission from Keeping It Simple by Yasmin Fahr, published by Hardie Grant Books February 2020, RRP $24.99 Flexibound.
Baked Feta with Greens and Lemon-Tahini Dressing
There aren’t many times when I think that feta can get better than it is in its natural state. It already adds a tangy creaminess to dishes, so it almost feels selfish to ask more of it. And yet, when you bake it, it transforms into something different – not better but, just as good. It becomes softer, both in texture and taste, and feels like a more gentle way to eat feta, if that makes sense. Plus, the leftovers are solid.
Recipe notes: If you are not into feta (we can talk about this later), try halloumi and cut it into small cubes. Halloumi is a brined cheese with a high melting point, which makes it easy to grill, fry or bake without it falling apart. The only downside is that if you let it cool too long, it gets rubbery in texture.
Leftover notes: The next day, mix leftovers with scrambled eggs or use on top of cooked grains with the dressing.
Baked Feta with Greens and Lemon-Tahini Dressing
Prep Time: 5 minutesCook Time: 20 minutesServes: 2-4
Ingredients
- 400 g (15 oz) tin chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
- 300 g (10 ½ oz) red or curly kale, or cavolo nero (lacinato kale), leaves removed from stems, cut or hand torn into 5 cm (2 in) pieces (about 3 packed cups)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 x 200 g (8 oz) blocks feta, preferably Bulgarian, halved horizontally to make 3 cm (1 in) thick pieces
- 30 g (1 oz/ ¼ cup) pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Juice of 3 lemons
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF/Gas 6) with a baking tray (sheet pan) inside.
- When the oven is ready, remove the baking tray and carefully add the chickpeas and kale, then toss with the oil, salt, pepper and spices, using a wooden spoon or your hands, making sure not to burn yourself. Spread the ingredients evenly, then create little pockets to nestle the feta into, making sure they have direct contact with the baking tray. Drizzle the feta with olive oil and pepper.
- Return to the oven and bake until feta has softened, the kale has browned in spots and the chickpeas become crisp with a darker brown hue – around 15–20 minutes. Mix the kale and chickpeas around with a wooden spoon halfway through and leave the feta as it is, but do keep an eye on it towards the end of cooking time so it doesn’t go from nice and crisp to burned. Add the pumpkin seeds during the last 5 minutes of cooking, when the kale has just started to crisp and become an intense green-brown.
- Meanwhile, in a small serving bowl, whisk together the tahini, extra-virgin olive oil, juice of 2 lemons and salt and pepper, adjusting the seasoning to taste. Remove the tray and squeeze the rest of the lemon juice on the greens and chickpeas. Divide between plates and serve with the dressing on the side.
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