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Episode 70

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Published on:

3rd Mar 2025

WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: We're talking about developing a recipe!

We develop recipes for a living: over three dozen cookbooks, countless magazine and internet articles, and 20,000+ copywritten and published recipes. Here's a look inside what we do on an almost daily basis.

Let's face it: Most recipes are developed in an existing frame--a braise, a cake, a short crust, a roast, a pastry cream. You accept the frame, then begin to work inside it to create something new.

In this episode, we're going to take on the hypothetical of developing a trifle, a layered cake-and-custard dessert. We've also got a one-minute cooking tip. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:04] Our one-minute cooking tip: buy great butter for toast but supermarket butter for baking.

[03:21] How we develop a recipe. We're making up our own trifle, showing you the thought process and creativity it takes to create a new recipe.

[23:45] What’s making us happy in food this week? Ben & Jerry’s dairy-free Cherry Garcia and a kale salad with a nutritional yeast vinaigrette.

Transcript
Bruce:

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast

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Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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mark: And I am Mark Scarbrough, and

I am, yes, back on this podcast.

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My leg is officially out of a cast.

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It's out of a splint.

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Well, that was a long

time before the cast.

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It's Out even of the walking

boot, I am just now in an ankle

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brace and actually walking around.

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So I am back on the podcast with

Bruce and I'm glad to be here.

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In this episode of our podcast,

we're going to do what we always do.

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We're going to have a one minute cooking

tip, which you know, that we always

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give and never do in one minute anyway.

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When it does

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Bruce: this week.

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mark: Oh, maybe we're going to come.

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Up with a recipe.

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Well, not really, but we're going to

talk about how we come up with recipes.

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This is how we work at heart

and how we work to put together

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things to make recipes for the

many books that we have written.

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36 about to publish the 37th,

and we'll tell you what's making

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us happy in food this week.

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So let's get started.

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Bruce: our one minute cooking tips.

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Use great butter for your bread.

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Use standard store

brand butter for baking.

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mark: Oh.

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See how

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Bruce: fast that was?

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mark: Uh, I have no notes.

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No, no notes.

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Perfect.

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No, yes.

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I, I, by the way, I should tell you that,

um, I do love great butter for bread.

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And if you don't know and live in the U.

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S.

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or in Canada, you can get really

great butter like Kerrygold at Costco.

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You don't have to buy a lot of it.

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But.

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It is cheap, and you can freeze the pieces

that you don't use, which is what I do.

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Butter is

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Bruce: very freezable.

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People don't know that.

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mark: So I stock up at Costco for great

butter, and then we just watch store

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sales for just standard butter for baking.

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Bruce: And there's often 15,

20 pounds of it in our freezer

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when they Put it on sale.

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mark: Yep, exactly.

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And, um, yes, of course,

I use unsalted butter.

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There you go.

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Bruce: Um,

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mark: you should have

to use it for baking.

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And I even put it on my bread.

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Although, I will admit that

I salt the butter sometimes

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at night on a piece of bread.

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Bruce: Better that you should

choose how much salt goes on and

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the kind of salt, then let the

butter manufacturer do it for you.

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mark: So see, we didn't do it in a minute.

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There you are.

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OK, before we get to the next

segment of our podcast, let me

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say that we do have a newsletter.

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It hasn't come out in almost two

months because, well, the broken leg.

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But it's now going to

start coming out again.

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If you want to sign up for that

newsletter, you have to go to our

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website, either cookingwithbruceandmark.

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com or just bruceandmark.

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com.

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There's a form there to fill out.

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I know a couple of people have mentioned

this in the Facebook group and they say

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they want to be a part of the newsletter.

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I can't.

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I can't access you from the Facebook

group because I can't ask for your email

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address in a public forum like Facebook.

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It's not fair to you.

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You're going to get spammed to

death when your email appears there.

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So go to our website and there's a

form to fill out and you can then

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receive the newsletter that way.

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And that way I can also make sure that

your email is never captured by a third

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party for spamming and sales purposes.

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Okay, on to the next

segment of the podcast.

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How Do we come up with recipes?

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Bruce: Today we are going to talk

about how we develop a recipe and

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rather than say the process for a

book, I'm going to make it easier.

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Because when the book, it gets

really complicated because it has

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to fit into certain parameters and

it has to fit in a certain place.

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Place in the book and what's the

recipes on either side of it and

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there were so many Restrictions

placed on me in the kitchen.

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mark: I just say that we have written

a lot of books recently that you know

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They've appeared in Target and that

they're they're generated toward instant

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pots and air fryers and Bruce's Constant

complaint here that he's not voicing

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is my problem, the writer's problem,

which I'm always saying to him, can

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I get this ingredient at Walmart?

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Can I get this ingredient

at the Target Superstore?

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And he freaks out because of course

you really can't get preserved Asian

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black beans at your local Walmart.

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So, uh.

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Wow.

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He's talking about the

problems of cookbook writing.

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So,

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Bruce: let's talk about how we decide what

we're going to serve at a dinner party.

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And then, how do I actually create a dish?

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Because, if you know anything about

me at this point, you know I don't

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use recipes when I cook for fun.

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Right.

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When I cook for friends, when I make

dinner for us, I don't use recipes.

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I just, I know the techniques.

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I know how things work.

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I'm a professional at this.

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So how do I create something?

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To be fair, Mark, how many hundreds of

recipes have we come up with things like

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braised beef and stews in our career?

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Oh,

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mark: a lot.

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I mean, I can't even, I couldn't even,

I mean, we, we've way past the 20.

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So I couldn't even come up

with a number there of how many

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Bruce: braises there are.

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Well, we didn't invent braises.

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No.

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No.

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And we didn't invent pan roasted

chicken thighs or pasta sauces

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or sheet cakes or even puddings.

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No.

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mark: Just to say, can

I just stop and say?

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A lot of people don't know

this, but do you know that

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you can't copyright a recipe?

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You can't.

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You can't.

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You can't copyright the ingredient list

of a recipe, so if we come up with,

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let's say, pan roasted chicken thighs

with parsnips and chickpeas, I don't

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know, I'm making this up, we come up

with that, the ingredient list for that

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cannot be copyrighted, nor can the title.

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Because if you could, if you just think

about it through, if you could copyright

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that stuff, then somebody could copyright

the recipe for Toll House chocolate

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cookies or just chocolate chip cookies.

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And they could then claim chocolate

chip cookie is my copyright.

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And you may never make, you may never

make them without paying like that.

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Do you know that the Happy Birthday

to You song is under copyright?

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And so anytime anyone sings that

song in a paid medium, like a series,

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you gotta pay a royalty to it.

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So it's the same problem.

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You can't do that.

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They stop you from being able

to collect a royalty here.

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So there you go.

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You can't copyright a recipe

title or an ingredient list.

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Bruce: So basically, If you think about

every recipe that you've seen in a

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magazine, that you've seen in a cookbook,

that you've eaten in a restaurant,

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it's all a variation on a theme,

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mark: right?

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Mostly.

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Yeah, I mean, if you go really

high end with the molecular

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stuff, it's not Then they start

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Bruce: creating some new things.

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Sure, somebody did create the

idea of vinegar gel bubbles.

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Someone did create the idea of foam.

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Let's do a milk foam,

let's do a bacon fat foam.

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But now that we're doing those

things at home, we're just doing

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variations on that theme, right?

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Well, I

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mark: don't know how many

people are making baked foam

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at home, but okay, sure, yeah.

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Bruce: All it takes is maltodextrin.

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That is all it takes.

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And a hand blender, or

you know, a stick blender.

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mark: But yes, um, it, it, it, it, It is

variations on a theme, but that doesn't

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mean there's not originality out there.

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And in fact, originality

comes inside of the form.

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And let me just say before Bruce is

going to talk, I think about a trifle,

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Bruce: right?

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No, I'm talking about dessert.

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How do we think about it?

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Okay.

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So

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mark: before we talk about that, let

me just say that variations within

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a form is a long artistic tradition.

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I mean, let's face it.

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There are 5, 000 landscape paintings.

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There are hundreds of tragedies.

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Shakespeare wrote many.

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tragedies.

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And inside that form is where

the creativity takes place.

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So you paint a landscape or I'm

currently teaching a class on

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Henry James and Paul Cezanne.

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And Cezanne painted, gosh, literally

Hundreds of still life paintings of

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fruit and particularly apples on tables

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Bruce: falling off tables.

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Yes, they should be

falling off the tables.

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Somehow they're not.

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It's

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mark: this whole problem of perspective.

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Anyway, but you know, he says,

I didn't invent still life.

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Instead, he's taking this very

storied form of art and he's

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being creative inside of it.

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That's a.

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same thing we do in recipes.

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We take a storied technique, a

braise, or here we come, a trifle, and

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then we become creative inside out.

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Bruce: The art comes when those

variations are pitch perfect,

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balanced flavors, balanced textures.

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And it's a way to look at

something old that hasn't been

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looked at this way before.

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I, I would love to think that I am

to food what Cezanne was to art.

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Oh!

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I don't know that I'm ever

going to reach that, but

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mark: I strive.

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You're almost as crabby

as he was sometimes.

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But I

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Bruce: strive for it.

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Well, and I don't, I, well, he took a lot,

he did a lot of paintings of his wife.

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I don't know that, how does that

translate to what I, well, I've

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made a lot of meals for you.

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mark: Okay, sure.

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Okay.

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I still don't.

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really want to be Hortense

Cezanne, but okay, go on.

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So

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Bruce: we're going to have a dinner party.

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This is all hypothetical here.

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We're going to have a dinner party

and it's a thought experiment that

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I want to make a dessert and I

have in mind the idea of a trifle.

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So Mark, why don't you explain

what a classic trifle is?

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Well,

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mark: uh, uh, cause classic trifle

is a cake of some sort, often lady

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fingers, which is a cookie cake, but

a cake of some form that's usually

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soaked in some kind of distilled spirit,

and that's usually a brown spirit.

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Brandy, whiskey, it's usually a

brown distilled spirit of some sort.

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There's always a cream or a custard,

and then there's usually fruit of

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some kind, sometimes preserved or

sometimes fresh, and these things are

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all layered up, usually in a glass bowl

so you can see the layers, and then

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sometimes there's a topping of some

sort, whether it be whipped cream or

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meringue or something like that on top.

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Bruce: Okay, so one of the things that

I don't like, and I know Mark's not

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crazy about, is booze soaked cake.

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I don't like Babazo rum.

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I don't like those things.

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So I know that we're

going to do Can I say why?

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mark: Sure.

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Because I think it destroys the crumb.

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Because I think cake is all about the

textural crumb, and when you soak the

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cake in booze, you get a kind of gummy

consistency, and I just don't like it.

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It's not my favorite thing.

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And thus, oh, don't kill me.

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I really don't like tiramisu.

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It's okay.

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Listen, if I come to your house and you

make tiramisu, I'm going to eat it because

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of course I'm a pig and eat everything.

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But I, I, it's not my favorite thing.

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I'd rather have the cake has that

lovely crumbly texture to it.

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And

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Bruce: the same thing goes for

those British drizzle cakes where

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like a pound cake or a tea cake

comes out of the oven and they.

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pour over a syrup.

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The same thing.

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There are Greek semolina cakes

where honey syrup goes over them.

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I don't like it.

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mark: It's okay to me if it

doesn't soak all the way through.

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Like we have a cake in and

we're way off topic here.

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We have a cake in the vegetarian

dinner parties book that is a vegan

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chocolate ginger cake and we pour

a whiskey syrup over the top of it.

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But that whiskey syrup doesn't

soak very far into that.

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It's a Bundt cake actually

into that Bundt cake.

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And so it, it, It ke it keeps the

cake still with its own texture.

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It does.

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And that I, that's my problem.

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Mm-hmm.

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Is the internal texture people load up.

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I think about that classic dessert,

the eel diplomatico from Italy, and I

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think about how it's soaked up with rum

and I just, it gets a gummy texture.

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I don't

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Bruce: want, and you know, the

French Patisserie do the same thing.

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Most of those classic French cakes,

like the uh, casis buttercream

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cakes and the grandma Monet cakes.

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They brush each Genoise layer with liquor

before they put the buttercream in it.

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I know they do it.

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It keeps it fresher, longer.

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It keeps it moisture.

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Don't like it.

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So in this dessert, It's

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mark: like that.

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It soaks you up.

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Okay.

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Yeah, it's when it soaks

through brushing it.

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Okay,

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Bruce: but soaking

through, mm, mm, mm, mm.

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Okay, so we know we're not

going to be adding that

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component to my layered dessert.

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Now I do have to decide up front,

am I going to make this in a big

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bowl and serve it out in scoops, or

am I going to be a little fancier

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and make it in individual portions.

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mark: So

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Bruce: let me

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mark: stop.

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and say, Let me just stop you right there.

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So when you think about a recipe in

order to create it, and this goes for

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cookbooks or just for dinner parties,

you think almost first about how it's

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served, which is really, that's the

first thing you brought up after we

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Transcribed on about soaked cake.

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You talked about how it's served.

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Bruce: Absolutely.

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That will impact how I cook it.

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That will impact how I do it.

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If I'm going to be plating something,

I'm more likely to say, cut the pork

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belly into cubes before I braise them

in Asian spices because I could plate

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beautiful pieces as opposed to braising

a whole chunk and cutting it up because

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it won't look as nice on a plate.

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mark: And I would say that that's

the difference between you, a

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trained chef, and the rest of us.

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And that is, I would dare say most of

us don't think about what the final

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product will look like on a plate.

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And so, your ability to see that

in advance is what gives you a

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slightly different perspective on

all of this than most of us have.

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It

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Bruce: does.

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And if you've watched the TV show,

uh, Bear, about the restaurant No.

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You could, if you remember through

that, every time they were coming

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up new dishes, what were they doing?

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They were sketching, right?

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It was always before the ingredient

list came a sketch of a plate and

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what is this going to look like?

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And I think as a trained chef,

I was taught to think about

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how it's going to be presented.

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mark: Right.

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Because it is, this is really unfair

to say, but food is spectacle.

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It is theater.

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Yeah.

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If you're doing it, not on a Wednesday

night for yourself in front of the TV,

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but I mean, if you're going to really

go all out as we're going to go all

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out with a trifle, it is spectacular.

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Okay.

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So let's go back to the trifle.

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Okay.

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Bruce: So I'm going to be

doing this in individual bowls

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and I'll leave it at that.

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So now let's take apart the trifle.

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Mark said the first thing

that is in there is a cake.

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So I need to have some kind of cake

and I'm thinking about all of the

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sponge cakes and all the pound cakes

and all the things that are in.

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other books that we've done, Ladyfingers.

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Like, I know we have a beautiful

Victoria type sponge in our ultimate

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cookbook, but I looked at that

recipe and it's so full of eggs.

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I don't want this to be too eggy.

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And so then I thought, hmm, there's

another cake we've done that's a

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sponge in one of our other books,

that's a tres leches cake, but that's

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designed to be soaked with liquid.

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And we just said, we don't like liquid.

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mark: Yeah.

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I may make an exception for Trace

Litchis, only because, you know,

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I'm a dairy fiend and it is so much

milk and all of that poured over

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the cake that I kind of like it.

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But anyway, go ahead.

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So

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Bruce: I keep thinking, where am I going

to get a really good cake to start with?

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And the Amy's Bakery Cookbook, the

sweeter side of Amy's, has one of

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the best yellow cake layer cakes

for birthday cake we've ever tasted.

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They do.

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too rich and sweet for this.

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So I'm going to play with it.

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I'm going to try it.

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I'm going to use it with a little

less sugar, a little less butter.

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I'll probably separate the

eggs so I could beat the white

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separately and lighten it up a bit.

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And here's the trick rather than

baking it in round cake pans.

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I'm going to bake it in a flat sheet pan.

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It'll bake faster and I'll

have more of that lovely cake

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crust, which we both love.

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mark: Wow.

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And see, most of us could never

imagine all of those transformations

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to get to the cake that you want,

because it's too complicated.

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We just want to be given a

recipe and be told what to

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Bruce: do.

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Well, if this comes out great, you'll have

a recipe that'll go into one of our books

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or a newsletter or something like that.

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Okay.

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So

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mark: now the question

comes up about the custard.

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So.

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You have to have some kind of custard,

and it doesn't have to be vanilla,

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although it traditionally is, but you

have to have some kind of cream, um,

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that's, you can have creme diplomat.

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You want to explain what that is?

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Creme

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Bruce: diplomat is one of my favorite.

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Basically, it's creme pat, which

is creme patisserie, which is a

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very, very thick Pastry cream.

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You probably have watched

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mark: the British baking show.

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And so you probably know

all about creme pot.

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And if you

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Bruce: fold whipped cream into that, you

have creme diplomat, which is so lovely.

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It's whipped cream plus creme pot.

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And if you do some gelatin into that,

then you end up with a whole other thing.

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And you become, yeah, you get

all sorts of interesting cremes.

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You can get a scent on a ray cream.

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And

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mark: you know, my mom, my mom made.

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Trifles when I was a kid and,

uh, she just used, I'm going

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to tell you vanilla pudding.

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Not only did she use vanilla pudding,

she made vanilla pudding out of a box.

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She didn't use the instant no

cook vanilla pudding, but she just

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made the boxed vanilla pudding.

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And that's what she put between layers.

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:

And we use pound cake.

401

:

That's what mom is pound cake.

402

:

And vanilla pudding, and then I'll tell

you later what she also did to that.

403

:

Bruce: So once I perfect that cake,

and I actually may have to make it once

404

:

or twice the week before the dinner

party to make sure I get it right.

405

:

mark: And again, no

one else is doing that.

406

:

Go on.

407

:

And

408

:

Bruce: I'm thinking I am going to

go vanilla with the cream and I'm

409

:

thinking creme diplomat is Just the

texture I'm going to want, which

410

:

is my creme pat with whipped cream.

411

:

So now I have to figure out

what the flavor profile is.

412

:

Do I want to use peaches?

413

:

Do I want to use berries?

414

:

Do I want to use coffee?

415

:

Do I want to make this a salted caramel?

416

:

Do I want to make it a chocolate chip?

417

:

Mint trifle?

418

:

mark: Uh, let's see, you could make,

like, apple pie filling and add nuts

419

:

to it and cinnamon and cardamom.

420

:

You could add ginger to things, uh,

to create a ginger blueberry filling.

421

:

And don't forget curds,

lemon curd, grapefruit curd.

422

:

These are all possible fruit mixtures.

423

:

Curds are a little harder because they are

a consistency very similar to the cream.

424

:

So it gets harder.

425

:

You get.

426

:

Uh, not enough, uh, textural

difference between the two, but

427

:

it's not unthinkable to do it.

428

:

Bruce: And I'm thinking summer pudding.

429

:

I love summer pudding.

430

:

It's not the middle of summer now.

431

:

I mean, I just love it.

432

:

And yes, you use white bread

when you build a summer pudding.

433

:

mark: So if you don't know what

a summer pudding is, you take

434

:

basically, uh, well, a mixing bowl.

435

:

You, there are fancy molds, but you can

take a mixing bowl and you line it with.

436

:

What literally crust off white bread

and then you fill it with a cooked down

437

:

berry Not cooked down to jam consistency,

but a cooked down berry mixture and

438

:

you keep layering bread and this

Berry filling all the way to the top.

439

:

It usually has red currants often

has strawberries But you know, you

440

:

can actually add any summer fruit to

it Bruce has actually made a summer

441

:

pudding with plums and peaches,

a stone fruit, a summer pudding.

442

:

So you can actually go crazy with this

and vary it in all different ways.

443

:

But anyway, you, you layer the white

bread and after you've lined the tin with

444

:

white bread, you layer white bread and

this cooked down fruit mixture together.

445

:

All the way up to the top and then you

put it in the fridge and literally the

446

:

thing sets up and you can turn it upside

down and unmold it and cut it into slices

447

:

like cake, um, cut into wedges, like a,

448

:

Bruce: like a bundt cake.

449

:

It's a beautiful, yeah, purpley, bready

pudding and, and it's not cooked,

450

:

it's not baked, I mean, the jam and

the berries are cooked, but, uh,

451

:

mark: It's called summer pudding

because the Fruit comes in in the

452

:

summer, but also summer pudding, because

you don't have to turn your oven on.

453

:

Bruce: And also pudding, because

pudding in the UK is dessert.

454

:

I mean, what are we having

for pudding tonight?

455

:

You know, we could be having

apple pie for pudding.

456

:

I'll be grabbing ice cream.

457

:

Okay, go ahead.

458

:

Okay, so now I have the cake.

459

:

I have my creme diplomat.

460

:

I know I'm going to make a berry

mixture to drizzle in there.

461

:

And because the whipped cream is

already in the creme diplomat, I need

462

:

something else on top because I don't

want to be over whipped cream on this.

463

:

And I thought, Hmm, I've seen

people do meringues on top.

464

:

So I like that idea, but

they're always just white.

465

:

And I want to do a toasted meringue, like

you might do on a lemon meringue pie.

466

:

And because I'm not going to put

these individual bowls in the.

467

:

oven, I need to do the kind of

meringue I can hit with a blowtorch.

468

:

And that's an Italian meringue.

469

:

There are so many kinds of meringue.

470

:

I know.

471

:

mark: There are French

and Swiss and Italian.

472

:

Bruce: So what's an Italian meringue?

473

:

An Italian meringue is where you beat

egg whites till foamy and then you cook

474

:

a sugar syrup until it's at the soft

ball stage, about 148 degrees Fahrenheit.

475

:

And you drizzle that into the beaten.

476

:

Egg whites as they're being beaten and

you beat and beat and beat until it's cool

477

:

and it is so Creamy and smooth and shiny.

478

:

Yeah, it has some marshmallow fluff and

then I Cream consistency and I use a

479

:

star tip on a pastry bag and sometimes

I'd use different tips and I changed

480

:

the look, but I'm going to use a star

tip on this and I'm going to cover the

481

:

whole top of each individual one of these

trifles with stars of meringue and hit

482

:

them with a blowtorch so they're lightly

golden and that is what is going to be

483

:

for dessert at our next dinner party.

484

:

mark: In the end, the whole point

of this exercise, and I know we

485

:

went on forever about things, the

whole point was to say that, look,

486

:

here's the structure, a trifle.

487

:

And so how do you vary up a trifle

in order to create something new?

488

:

That is interesting and

interesting on the plate too.

489

:

This is a really wild idea

to individually do trifles.

490

:

Nobody ever does that.

491

:

Everybody always just puts it in

the big bowl, but this way, I think

492

:

Bruce wants to do it individually

because that way you don't get.

493

:

To put it crassly, a mound of goop on

your plate, which is a spoonful of goop

494

:

that comes out and goes on your plate.

495

:

That's

496

:

Bruce: not very nice.

497

:

No,

498

:

mark: it's not.

499

:

But again, most of us don't think about

that, what the end result of this thing

500

:

is going to look like when we eat it.

501

:

And that's because most of us are making

dinner on a Wednesday night, and we're

502

:

sitting in front of Netflix, or whatever,

and you know, we're not really worried

503

:

about what it looks like on the plate.

504

:

plate.

505

:

But I think that a chef's perspective is

much more what it looks like on the plate.

506

:

So of course, that was

his primary concern.

507

:

And then we have a structure and we

have to figure out what goes in it.

508

:

And honestly, this is

how we write cookbooks.

509

:

This is exactly the same

way we write cookbooks.

510

:

For example, we have a new

cookbook coming out this summer.

511

:

That is, we're going to talk

to you a lot more about this

512

:

ahead, but that is a lot about.

513

:

canning.

514

:

And there are certain techniques in

canning that are really standardized.

515

:

There are certain techniques in making

things that you can can, including,

516

:

and we're not just talking sweet

things, chili crisps and salsa matchas.

517

:

And those recipes are pretty set.

518

:

But you can also start to become

very creative in what's set.

519

:

We'll talk more about that when we talk

about salsa matchas and chili crisps.

520

:

That's a

521

:

Bruce: great way to explain

what we did in this new book.

522

:

Yeah,

523

:

mark: that that you have

a set way to do something.

524

:

There is a technique for

making a Chinese chili crisp.

525

:

A classic, classic Sichuan chili crisp.

526

:

Right.

527

:

But once you know the technique,

you can start to vary it endlessly

528

:

with flavor profiles and pull it

way away from anything Chinese

529

:

not to get too far into that book.

530

:

But Bruce has a salsa macha.

531

:

This is a traditional

Mexican salsa made with nuts.

532

:

And because you know it's

chilies and nuts, right?

533

:

And it's usually got a slightly sweet.

534

:

edge to salsa macha.

535

:

Not always, but usually

sometimes from dried fruit.

536

:

Bruce went crazy, and while we have a

standard salsa macha in the book, we

537

:

also have one with walnuts and maple

syrup in it, which is nothing to do

538

:

with Mexico at all, but it's taking that

basic technique and morphing it over

539

:

time into new things because you've got

this set form, but the creativity comes

540

:

inside the form, not outside the form.

541

:

Before we get to the last bit of this

podcast, which has gone on forever, but

542

:

before we get to the last bit of this

podcast, let me say it would be great if

543

:

you could rate or like this podcast, you

can find that rate or like button on any

544

:

platform that you're listening to it on.

545

:

Spotify just lets you rate it with stars.

546

:

Can we ask for five?

547

:

That would be great.

548

:

Uh, Apple and Podchaser and

others let you actually write a

549

:

review, which would be terrific.

550

:

It helps us with the NLA's because

as you know, we are otherwise.

551

:

unsupported by any commercial

advertising and choose to stay that way.

552

:

Okay.

553

:

Our final segment.

554

:

What's making us happy in food this week?

555

:

Bruce: For me, it's not something

I made or created, although I've

556

:

been doing a lot of that recently.

557

:

You know, it's Ben and Jerry's non

dairy cherries, Garcia ice cream.

558

:

We are in the store last night.

559

:

We went out for dinner.

560

:

I wanted a burger and a beer.

561

:

We went out.

562

:

I

563

:

mark: just want to Stop here and

say, you realize with a broken

564

:

leg, I went out to dinner.

565

:

My leg isn't broken anymore,

but this was a big deal.

566

:

This is the first time I've been at

dinner in yeah, eight, eight, eight weeks.

567

:

Bruce: And we had, I had, I had a

burger and a beer and fries and we

568

:

shared a nice salad and on the way home.

569

:

We stopped at a store because I

wanted ice cream and I love Ben

570

:

and Jerry's non dairy ice cream.

571

:

It's a, it's a cashew milk and an oat

milk base and the cherries Garcia with

572

:

the big chunks of cherries and chocolate.

573

:

It's really good.

574

:

So that's made me happy.

575

:

mark: Well, I guess what made me

happy is a being able to go out

576

:

to eat because I have not been

able to do that in eight weeks.

577

:

I went to an actual restaurant

and sat at an actual table, which

578

:

I want to tell you is just crazy.

579

:

I mean, I think I now.

580

:

somewhat understand what people feel

like post surgery when they're actually

581

:

out in the world, you realize how much

you've taken for granted, um, in your

582

:

life and how much you've done that

you just assume is natural and going

583

:

into this restaurant and walking in.

584

:

I walk very slowly right now, but walking

in and walking very slowly to the table.

585

:

Uh, it was just like this, uh,

almost revelatory experience.

586

:

I couldn't quite believe it.

587

:

But what I had at that

restaurant was really good.

588

:

We went to a local restaurant

and they served a kale salad,

589

:

raw kale with cauliflower.

590

:

But the big part of this was it was

really, really finely sliced cauliflower

591

:

in tiny little bits and pieces.

592

:

But what was really wild about this is the

dressing was made with nutritional yeast.

593

:

And so it had this kind of

cheesy, savory quality to it.

594

:

Bruce: They called it a

toasted yeast vinaigrette.

595

:

mark: Yeah, I guess they had

toasted the nutritional yeast.

596

:

It was so delicious.

597

:

I know, I had a curry after that

for my main course, and Bruce and I

598

:

split the salad, and as we left the

restaurant, I said, gosh, I wish I'd

599

:

just ordered that salad as my meal.

600

:

It was the fresh kale and the fresh

cauliflower, all raw, and then with

601

:

this toasted nutritional yeast,

vinaigrette and dried cranberries.

602

:

And it was so tasty.

603

:

It was ridiculously good.

604

:

It was fabulous.

605

:

I think we may have to try some

of that here at our house sometime

606

:

because I do love nutritional yeast.

607

:

Okay, that's the podcast for this week.

608

:

Thank you for joining us.

609

:

I'm glad to be back on the air.

610

:

I'm glad to actually be able

to get downstairs to the

611

:

podcast studio and do this.

612

:

Hey.

613

:

That's another thing.

614

:

I came down a set of stairs on my own.

615

:

Bruce: And not on your butt.

616

:

mark: Not on my butt.

617

:

I've been going up and down stairs

on my butt, which is really something

618

:

to see and really something to do.

619

:

But I came in here on my

own and I'm glad to be here.

620

:

Bruce: And I'm really glad you're

back too, because it's more

621

:

fun when we do this together.

622

:

And it is more fun for you listening, I'm

sure, when we are doing this together.

623

:

So thank you for listening.

624

:

And please subscribe so you

don't miss a single episode.

625

:

And let me also remind you to go to

our Facebook group, Cooking with Bruce

626

:

and Mark, and there you can find links

to all sorts of interesting things.

627

:

And each week, the question is posted.

628

:

What's making you happy in food this week?

629

:

Because we want to know, here

on Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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About the Podcast

Cooking with Bruce and Mark
Fantastic recipes, culinary science, a little judgment, hysterical banter, love and laughs--you know, life.
Join us, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, for weekly episodes all about food, cooking, recipes, and maybe a little marital strife on air. After writing thirty-six cookbooks, we've got countless opinions and ideas on ingredients, recipes, the nature of the cookbook-writing business, and much more. If you've got a passion for food, we also hope to up your game once and a while and to make you laugh most of the time. Come along for the ride! There's plenty of room!

About your host

Profile picture for Mark Scarbrough

Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!