Sophisticated cooks know how to make magic with compound butters.

Many casual cooks discovered the joy of strawberry butter at restaurant brunches, and learned how easy it is to make at home (here’s more about compound butter, also called flavored butter and finishing butter).

Epicurean Butter is a terrific line that makes anyone an instantly-better cook. But before we get to it, a seasonal message:

Now that it’s holiday season, go for holiday flavors: brandy, cranberry, hazelnut, pecan, pumpkin spice, sage, and so on. We have a variety of recipe variations below, but we’ll start with one that few people can resist: Cranberry Orange Butter.
 
COMPOUND BUTTER: SWEET OR SAVORY

Sweet compound butters are delicious on breakfast foods: bagels, muffins, toast, pancakes, waffles etc. They also are delicious on crackers or biscuits for snacks or with a tea break.

Savory compound butters are used to give flavor to proteins and vegetables, and to make quick pan sauces.

All compound butters can be made in advance and kept in the fridge, rolled into a log and covered with plastic wrap. This is what professional chefs do. When they’re needed, you simply cut off what you need.

The following recipe, by Baked Bree, was sent to us by Go Bold With Butter.

Also check out Bree’s Cranberry Walnut Pie, another seasonal treat.
 
RECIPE: CRANBERRY COMPOUND BUTTER

You can make this ahead and store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Make extra to bring to family and friends.

You can also make our version, Cranberry Maple Butter, with maple syrup. The recipe is with the variations below.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

[1] Cranberry butter, a sweet spread for the holidays. [2] Use the leftover cranberries to create eye-catching flower vases and tea candle holders (both photos courtesy Baked Bree).

2. TRANSFER to a small serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before serving.
 
Variations

 
MORE FLAVORED BUTTER RECIPES

[3] Epicurean Butter: We have several different flavors in our fridge right now. [4] Organic Cocoa Coconut Butter won the top prize in its category at this year’s Fancy Food Show (photos courtesy Deli Market News). [5] Beyond sophisticated uses, simply spread savory compound butter on bread and vegetables (photo courtesy Kraft).

TOP PICK: EPICUREAN BUTTER

We have long been enamored of Epicurean Butter, a line of compound butters created by a professional chef for the home cook.

The flavors cater to both classic and contemporary cuisine, with butters in savory and sweet flavors.

The home cook is now empowered to finish and present meals like a fine chef, just by taking the lid off the tub of butter. People who think they have modest cooking talents should not be surprised to hear applause at the table—just by adding a pat to a grilled protein or making a quick pan sauce simpy by deglazing the pan.

Not to mention, serving the butters as gourmet bread spreads.

The company makes an assortment of flavors:

 
A few of these makes a great gift for a cook.
 
Yummy With The Bread Basket Or A Glass Of Wine

In addition to topping savory foods, savory compound butters can be used as a bread spread at the dinner table or with drinks.

We especially enjoy serving them as an easy hors d’oeuvre with aperitifs, spread on thin slices of baguette or fancy crackers and topped with a garnish (capers, chopped fresh herbs, olive or peppadew half, etc.).

You can pre-spread the bread or crackers and serve them on a tray; or place the butter(s) in a ramekin in the middle of the bread/crackers and let people spread their own.

that finishing and compound butters are what often take a normal at-home meal up to restaurant quality. Available in 3.5 oz. tubs and some in the newly introduced 1 oz. single-serve packets, these butters are all rBST-free

Head to EpicureanButter.com for more information.

The Idaho Potato Commission develops many delicious potato recipes, incorporating trending food flavors into conventional preparations (harissa, sriracha), as well as new concepts like this one:

French fries as a salad garnish.

“The crisp flavors of a Greek salad harmonize effortlessly with seasoned fries, while a cool, tangy tzatziki sauce extends the Mediterranean theme,” they say.

The fries themselves are more Greek than “French”: They’re seasoned with Greek spices.

For a bit of food fun, here’s the recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: GREEK SALAD WITH GREEK “FRENCH” FRIES & TZATZIKI SAUCE

Ingredients
 
For The Fries

 
For The Salad Dressing

 
For The Salad

 
For The Tzatziki Sauce

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, toss together all the french fry ingredients. Place the fries on a baking sheet and cook for 40 minutes, flipping once halfway through cooking. Meanwhile…

2. MAKE the salad dressing: Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.

3. COMBINE the salad ingredients in a large bowl, pour on the dressing and toss. Cover and place in the fridge while fries finish baking.

4. COMBINE the tzatziki sauce ingredients.

[2] Classic Greek Salad from The Maiden Lane Restaurant | NYC).

[3] Creative plating from Stix Restaurant | NYC.

[4] Very creative plating: a vertical Greek Salad from Death Ave | NYC.

Here’s the current selection of dozens of bundt pan designs. [1] Classic bundt served with bourbon pecan sauce (photo courtesy Spice Islands). [2] Pumpkin cake in the Elegant Party Bundt pan. [3] Gingerbread Cake in the Elegant Party Bundt. [5] Orange Bourbon Cake in the Heritage Bundt Pan ( (photos [3], [4] and [5] courtesy King Arthur Flour).[4] Red Velvet cake in the Stained Glass Bundt (photo courtesy Nordicware). [6] Maple Leaf Pan for cakelets or muffins (photo courtesy Nordicware)

Although a classic bundt pan (photo [1] is always lovely, Nordicware, inventor of the bundt pan, produces many elegant bundt pan designs, plus charming seasonal designs. We can’t help ourselves: Every couple of years, we buy another one.

This year it’s the Turkey Bundt Pan (how could we resist). Last year it was the Elegant Party Bundt (photo [2]): The flutes are narrower, creating smaller slices with no fuss. We’ve come to prefer it to the Classic Bundt Pan.

Fall themes include:

 
We looked at the entire selection, and found these styles to be fall-appropriate, including Chanukah and Christmas:

 
HOLIDAY BUNDT RECIPES

These recipes are from King Arthur Flour, the source for the finest baking ingredients and recipes.

Be sure to read the tips from customers who have made the recipes (scroll to the bottom of each page).

 
In the words of The Great British Baking Show: Ready, Set, Bake!

RECIPE: GINGERBREAD BUNDT CAKE

This recipe from King Arthur Flour fills a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan.

Ingredients For The Cake

 
Ingredients For The Glaze

 
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*Blend your own: 2-1/2 teaspoons ginger, 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cloves and 1/2 teaspoon allspice.
__________________
 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 10- to 12-cup bundt pan.

2. WHISK together the flour, gingerbread spice, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. BEAT beat together the butter and sugar in a separate bowl, until fluffy.

4. ADD the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the molasses.

5. ADD the flour mixture in three additions alternately with the water, starting and ending with the flour. Mix just until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.

7. MAKE the glaze by stirring together the water spice and sugar. Set aside.

8. REMOVE the cake from the oven, cool it in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Brush the cake with the glaze, and allow it to cool completely before serving.

It started with a special cake pan, the Kugelhopf, from Vienna; but let’s begin a century later, with the modern bundt pan.

The History Of The Bundt Pan

The Bundt pan was created in 1950 by H. David Dahlquist, the founder of Minneapolis-based Nordic Ware, a manufacturer of kitchenware products. He did so at the request of Rose Joshua and Fannie Schanfield, members of the Minneapolis chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s service organization.

According to an article in the Fall 2005 issue of Generations, the newsletter of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, Fannie remembers a Hadassah luncheon when Rose lamented the quality of light and fluffy American-style cakes, and longed for the rich, dense cakes of her European childhood. These, however, required a special type of of pan—one with a hole in the center that allowed heat to penetrate heavy cake batter from all sides.

With this type of form, a heavier batter could be baked without leaving under-baked dough in the center. Fannie’s husband arranged a meeting with Dahlquist, and Rose joined her to show Rose’s mother’s ceramic kugelhopf cake pan. This became the prototype for the Bundt pan (a contemporary aluminum version of the kugelhopf is shown in the photo at the right).

Dahlquist modified the design by introducing folds in the fluted edges, and fashioned the pan out of aluminum. Some months later, a dozen Nordic Ware factory “seconds” were delivered to Hadassah member Mary Juster’s home, and Hadassah sold the pans to members for $4.00 each.
 
The History Of The Kugelhopf

The original kugelhopf, a Viennese specialty, is a sweet yeast-bread similar to brioche and panettone; the traditional version usually contains yeast, raisins or currants and is topped by a snowy layer of powdered sugar. It was a favorite of the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette (yes, that Marie Antoinette).

Over the years, denser cakes were baked in the same fluted molds. The original molds were earthenware; later molds were made of glass or metal. The name kugelhopf derives from the German word Kugel, meaning round or ball (“Kugelkopf,” with a “k,” means “spherical head”), although the actual kugelhopf somewhat resembles a pleated hat like a turban or toque.

How The Bundt Got Its Name

[7] The Kugelhopf [8] became the Bundt, [9] which engendered many different designs, like this Vintage Star limited edition (photos [7] and [9] courtesy Nordicware, photo [8] courtesy King Arthur Flour.

In 1960, the Good Housekeeping Cookbook showed a pound cake baked in a Bundt pan; that feature turned the Bundt into the number-one selling cake pan in America. But it was the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off, where the Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe baked in a Bundt won second place, that launched America’s love for Bundt cakes.

While many Americans spell Bundt with a capital “B,” which is the correct German spelling, for the sake of consistency with English names (e.g. angel food cake, apple pie), we’ve decided to use the small “b.” The exception is with recipe names, e.g. Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake.
 
__________________
†In the 1903 Milwaukee Settlement Cookbook, “Bundt form” is found on page 319 in the following text (under BUNDT KUCHEN, No. 2): “Grease Bundt form (a heavy round fluted pan with tube in center) well, and flour lightly. Cream butter and sugar well, add beaten yolks and beat, then the raised mixture and the rest of the flour, and lastly the beaten whites. Pour in pan, let rise until very light, and bake until well done and brown in a moderately hot oven, about forty-five minutes.” (Read details of the Settlement Cookbook source material). The Settlement Cookbook, first published in 1901 in Milwaukee to raise funds for the Settlement House for immigrants, is considered to be the most successful fund-raising cookbook in American history. It is still in print; the 1976 edition was named to the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.

[1] and [2] Roast the whole stalk of Brussels sprouts and serve with a lemon-garlic dip (photos courtesy Nutmeg Nanny).

Meet this year’s classy crucifers: Brussel Sprouts “Bone In”, the brainchild of the ever-innovative Chef Eric LeVine who provides the clever name (the conventional name is “on the stalk”).

This is a nifty way to enjoy Brussels sprouts as an appetizer or first course. Chef Eric serves the roasted stalk of sprouts with a lemon-garlic mayonnaise. The recipe is below,

You can also make classic aïoli (garlic mayonnaise) or buy it. You can also use a different flavored mayo: curry, lemon sriracha, etc.

Our favorite brand of flavored mayonnaise is Ojai Cook, a two-time NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. It’s also one of our favorite house gifts and stocking stuffers.

You can buy Ojai Cook online. The basic product is Lemonaise—lemon-accented-mayonnaise—but all variations are equally delicious:

CAN YOU EAT BRUSSELS SPROUTS STALKS?

Yes, with a lot of elbow grease. Unlike broccoli and cauliflower stalks, brussels stalks are very tough and fibrous. You need a cleaver to cut through them. You can, however, easily eat the stems that attach the sprouts to the stalk.

If you want to try it:

 
Or, simply enjoy the engaging presentation of cooled sprouts on the stalk, before turning it into mulch.
 
By the way:

We adapted Chef Eric’s recipe with one from Nutmeg Nanny.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
For The Dip

 
________________
*If you don’t want to roast the garlic, you can use raw garlic: 2 minced cloves per cup of mayonnaise.
 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Rinse the stalk and the sprouts.

2. MIX the oil, salt and pepper and brush or sprinkle the seasoned oil over the sprouts. Place on a baking sheet or in a shallow pan and roast for 45 minutes until slightly soft and browned on the outside. Rotate the stalk one-third of the way every 15 minutes to ensure equal cooking. Check the small sprouts with a cake tester or toothpick. When the small ones seem soft (but not mush), the larger ones will be al dente. Explain this when serving, since people have different preferences.

[3] Buy brussels sprouts on the stalk—they taste fresher.

4. REMOVE from the oven and placer on a serving platter. Serve with a dip and scissors to cut sprouts from the stalk. You can just pull them right off the stalk, but some people may want a utensil.
  

[2] Three different ways to serve ramen (photo © Kabuki Japanese Restaurants

3] Ramen soup with yuba, called “tofu skin” in English. It’s a by-product of soy milk production (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog.

[[4] Tonkatsu ramen soup, with sliced roast pork. Here’s the recipe (photo © from Williams Sonoma).

[5] Buy ready-made soup base, like this pho from Nona Lim (photo © Nona Lim).

America’s favorite soup is chicken noodle. Is that why so many people love ramen soup, the Japanese noodle version? (Ramen is the name of the Chinese-style wheat noodles in the soup.) Both versions are comfort food and hearty main courses. Instant ramen soup is helpful in a pinch, but it’s laden with so much salt. There’s much more salt in the little silver seasoning packets than is good for you.

One label we checked had 1434mg of sodium which is 60% of your Daily Value of salt; and if you eat the whole package (two servings), you’ve exceeded your Daily Value.

So here’s an easy solution: Make your own ramen soup. It’s easy, and you can make as large a batch as you like. It’s also a great catch-all for leftover pasta, meats, and veggies.

Just follow this recipe template: Choose Your Base Buy beef, chicken, or vegetable broth or stock, preferably low sodium. If you like to make your own stock, by all means, use it. If you find yourself with pork bones, make pork stock.

April 4th is National Ramen Day.
 
 
> There are more ramen recipes below.

> The history of ramen noodles.

> The history of noodles.
 
 
 
RECIPE: 10 MINUTE RAMEN SOUP

Ingredients For 2-3 Servings

 
Optional Toppings

This recipe specifies green onions and soft boiled eggs, but you can switch them out or add other toppings. Look in the fridge, look in the cupboards.

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the broth, adding 1 cup water to dilute slightly. When it boils, add the noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the greens and scallions and simmer for another 3-5 minutes, until greens are bright and tender but still have texture.

2. BOIL a small pot of water, then add the eggs and simmer for 7 minutes and 20 seconds. Remove from the water and place in an ice bath; peel when cold.

3. LADLE out bowls of noodles and broth. Halve the eggs and add two halves to each bowl. Top with a handful of fresh herbs and serve.
 
 
MORE RAMEN SOUP RECIPES

 
 
NONA LIM SOUPS

We were heartbroken when our beloved pho soup starters—beer, chicken, and vegetable—were discontinued by Pacific Natural Foods.

Thank goodness Nona Lim stepped in to create fine Asian broths (and soup cups, too).

She developed the line as a healing, nutrient-dense, non-inflammatory meal program made with fresh, plant-rich, whole food ingredients and clean preparations made from scratch. We’re happy to be eating food that is all of these things; and even happier that the flavors are fabulous.

Check out the website and find the retailer nearest to you.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF RAMEN NOODLES

Although we think of it as Japanese, ramen soup is a dish of Chinese wheat noodles in meat broth—chicken or pork—with toppings that originated in China. It is believed that “ramen” is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word lamian, meaning “hand-pulled noodles” (as opposed to noodles that are sliced with a knife).

It differs from native Japanese noodle soup dishes, in that until ramen appeared, Japanese broth was based on either vegetables or seafood (and these broths continue to be used as a base for ramen soup).

While some ramen dishes began to appear in Japan in the late 1600s, they didn’t become widespread until the Meiji Era (1868 through 1912), when Japan moved from being an isolated feudal society to a modern nation.

Foreign relations and the introduction of meat-based American and European cuisines led to increased production of meat, and played a large role in the growing popularity of ramen.

The growth of ramen dishes continued after World War II, but remained a special-occasion meal that required going out to a restaurant. The broth could take days of simmering, requiring time beyond what most housewives could spare.

Restaurant ramen is considered fine cuisine; soup recipes and methods of preparation are closely-guarded secrets.

Almost every locality or prefecture in Japan created its own variation of the dish, served at restaurants (the different types of ramen by region).

Beyond regional variations, innovative Japanese chefs continue to push the boundaries of ramen cuisine. Innovation is the name of the game. Curry ramen, invented in the Hokkaido region, became a national favorite, as has ramen based on the Chinese dish of shrimp in chili sauce.

Non-Japanese ingredients such as black pepper and butter have also found their way into recipes. What’s next is anyone’s guess—or what your creative thinking adds to the bowl. (BLT? Jalapeño?)

Instant Ramen

In 1958, instant noodles† were invented by Momofuku Ando, founder, and chairman of Nissin Foods. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to make this dish simply by adding boiling water.

Of course, the instant version is a pale shadow of laboriously-made restaurant ramen soup. But exported, Ando’s ramen soup packages soon became a pop culture sensation across the globe.

Cheap, flavorful, and filling, they were salvation to people with limited funds, including college students.

To avoid the sodium overload, toss the seasoning packet and add your own seasonings: red pepper flakes, curry, herbs, whatever.

Instead of salt, use low sodium soy sauce.
 
 
RAMEN IN JAPAN PRE- AND POST- WORLD WAR II
________________

*Japanese 7 Spice, shichimi togarashi, is a popular seasoning for soup, rice and other dishes. It’s a blend of black and/or white sesame seeds, dried nori seaweed, hot red pepper, ginger, orange peel, and other ingredients such as hemp seed, poppyseed, and white pepper. You can blend your own or buy it.

†The first instant noodles were ramen, but now include soba, udon, etc.

[7] The ramen that captivated America with “oodles of noodles” (photo © Nissin Foods).