¶ Intro / Opening
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together with Bruce, we together have published 40 books. It's impossible to believe. Bruce has got two knitting books under his name, plus lots of knitting patterns on his own website. What is that? BruceWeinstein. net There you go. Lots of knitting patterns on his own site. I've got a memoir about my life in books. And then we've got, oh my gosh, three dozen cookbooks. And we're working on the next one, even as we speak.
But this is our podcast for that passion for food and cooking. And we've got a lot in it. We've got a one minute cooking tip, which I think sounds like the grossest thing I've ever heard, but we're going to let Bruce do it. And we're going to talk about fall apples. And. All of the things that you need to know to get the best apples this fall. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week. So let's get started.
¶ Our one-minute cooking tip: Refresh glazed donuts in a little butter in a skillet.
Our one minute cooking tips. Why do glazed yeast raised donuts go stale so quickly? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The next day?
What, what, what, what? They're leftover.
Yeah, well if you have leftover. This happens? You know something? With this tip, you may want to go buy some and keep them leftover because this is so good. Okay. So you take your stale donuts, right, and you melt them. butter in a nonstick skillet. You have to use a nonstick skillet.
How much butter? Two sticks? Four sticks? Sure. Come on.
A few tablespoons. I don't know, just a tablespoon or two.
Okay.
And you melt it till it's sizzling. You put your glazed doughnuts into that butter. You cook it like a minute. What you're trying to do is melt the sugar off the outside so it caramelizes and it becomes like a brulee crunch while the inside heats, creates steam and softens it. Do you flip Yeah, you turn it so that Both sides get a crunchy brulee outside, and the inside gets soft again.
This sounds so I'm picturing biting into it and squishing out butter in my mouth. That's what I'm picturing, but you're climbing
That's never bothered you before.
I know, I over butter toast like crazy, but you, I'm
They get crispy and crunchy. Yeah, because you're letting the sugar caramelize, and you're letting it get crispy crunchy. Oh my
Oh, well, all right. Um, someday try it and let us know what happens with it. Uh, I'm not going to try it, but you try it. I'm like that lady, everybody's so creative that tick tock and Instagram sensation where she keeps saying, I can't try this. I'm allergic to all these ingredients. Well, I can't try this. I'm allergic to donuts and butter, but Uh, okay,
then you are never going to get donuts and butter again that you're done.
Now, before we get to the second segment of this podcast, let me say that it would be great if you could rate this podcast and even give it a review. You can give it a rating on almost anything. Every platform, Podcaster, on Audible, on Spotify, all of them allow you to rate podcasts. And if, in fact, you could write a review on whatever platform you're on, even just NicePodcast, it's a great way to support our otherwise non supported and, uh, independent podcasts.
So, up next, Apple's, the great treat,
We live in the
¶ Let's talk about apples, the great fall treat.
Berkshires, and it's a beautiful part of the country, and there are so many.
Why don't you say where the Berkshires are? Because not everybody, somebody living in Western Nevada is not going to know
where
the Berkshires
are. No, they aren't. So please say where Berkshires are the mountain range on the western edge of Massachusetts. The same mountains run down into Connecticut, but once you cross the line in Connecticut, they call it the Litchfield Hills. Correct. So the Litchfield Hills and the Berkshire Mountains, which become the Green Mountains of Vermont, if you continue up, and there we go. That's where we live, and over here, there are amazing apple orchards within a quick ride of us.
We got Riskebrook Orchards, Bartlett's Orchards, Windy Hill. These places have the most beautiful apples and the beautiful orchards. I
love a trip up to Bartlett's, because I think Bartlett's has the best cider doughnuts. They're way up near Pittsfield. You're off doughnuts. Remember, you're allergic to doughnuts. No, no, those are cake doughnuts, so I'm good. Um, they're not glazed. So, uh, and we tried Riskebrook recently. That's actually Almost in our test, just over the border of the state line from our town. And, uh, that was amazing. Why we haven't been there in 18 years that we've lived here in the middle of nowhere.
So there's all kinds of varieties. You should just know that are available in orchards that are probably not available in your supermarket, although they're. Coming into some supermarkets, up markets, like Whole Foods and Erewhon, they're going to Erewhon's
going to be 20 an apple. Okay, whatever. They're
going to have I'm not going to get into the Erewhon debate. They're going to have, like, the Cox Orange Pippins, and That was George Washington's favorite. Greenings. Did you know that? No, I didn't. And they're going to have the Roxbury Russets, and all kinds of kind of what are now called heritage apple varieties, Spitzenbergs. Oh, I love
those. Those were Thomas Jefferson's favorite, too.
But what you Mr. History? Okay, so there's all kinds of apples that russets tend to have a rough exterior. So for example, Roxbury russets are kind of greenish golden, but then they have a rough texture in places around the skin like a almost like a russet potato. Yeah, kind of like that. And these apples have a much more complex flavor than Granny Smith's or Yellow Delicious or Red
Delicious. Yeah. And so Give up the ones you're used to and try something new. Look for them at your store. Look for something interesting. Or go to a farmer's market. You could do that too, but I mean, when we go, it's all about texture, right? Right. Mark and I both like hard and crunchy apples. I do. We like hard and crunchy food. Hard and crunchy more tart than sweet apples. Why eat, here's the thing, why eat anything if it doesn't crunch? Well, that has been my refrain my entire life.
If it doesn't crunch, I don't want it. I wanted to crack in my mouth.
Oh, there's so many vulgar things I could say right now and I'm editing them all out to say that you should go to an orchard and try picking your own. I can't even get it out. You should try picking your own, you know, giant bags of apples. Of course, they come in these 20 pound sacks at some farmers markets. But if you go to local orchards or smaller places, you can often find a few.
I. I actually find that we make one, maybe two trips to an orchard in New England and I have a hard time getting through the second trip to the orchard. Because you know, I mean, there's only so many apples you can eat and, but I will tell you that if you try apples from the orchard, you won't eat them. ever want to try other apples. An apple
right off the tree doesn't taste like any apple you've ever had, even if you are just going for a Honeycrisp or a Macintosh.
And there's so many things you can do with it. We should just say that we saw a video a few days ago of Kamala Harris and she was making a topping for pancakes. And Bruce kept saying, I wish I'd thought of that. So what
did she do? Bacon fried apples. So she chopped up like a pound of bacon in a skillet until it was brown. And then without draining anything, she tossed in a bunch of cubed, unpeeled apples. You know, she cored them, but then just cube them up, tossed those around until they were tender and they were getting a little caramelized, a little nutmeg. And then, uh, A little splash of bourbon and reduce that whole thing. And then she and a campaign worker sat and dumped that onto a pancake.
And I was like, Oh, that sounds so good.
Bacon, apples with bourbon on top of pancakes. Sounds pretty good. In fact, we've got a lot. Uh, recipes in the upcoming book, which we'll be telling you about, but it's, uh, this specific recipe that I'm going to talk about is a Greek traditional recipe, and I couldn't possibly say the Greek name for it, but it's apples that have been cooked and preserved in, uh, Mmm, can be a honey, can be a sugar syrup.
I think traditionally a honey syrup, but you can actually do it with just granulated white sugar.
Yeah, you put about two and a half cups of sugar and half to three quarts of a cup of water and just bring that to a simmer in a small pan and then you're going to add the sugar.
Two to three pounds of small apples that you've peeled and cored because you want them to fit in one layer in that pan, and then you can let that syrup simmer, turning those apples every five minutes or so until they are like glossade and candied and that syrup is reduced and thickened, and they are just these candied, preserved apples. We love them on yogurt. We do. I get, I want to say that when
we were recipe testing for this book, Bruce made these Greek preserved apples and there was a giant jar of them. I mean, like a, like a stock jar of them in the refrigerator. And I apportioned them out slowly because I didn't want them to go away because they were so delicious. And although I think by USDA guidelines, guidelines. You could keep it about a month. We probably kept ours three or four months. We did, and
neither of us got sick. So that was, you
know, again, about a month. It's about right for that, uh, really fabulous thing. And with a big dollop of Greek yogurt, it's just such a fine thing. I also love, uh, apples in salads, but not with lettuces. I mean, it's a little weird when I, uh, go to some chain restaurant and they've thrown a red delicious apple in a salad. It's a little bit disconcerting. No, I don't like it. But I like them in lentil salads, I like them in chopped salads with carrots and cucumbers and that kind of thing.
It's more
crunch. You're just talking about more things that are crunchy. Right. I love that. Apples chopped up and tossed with shaved and shredded up fennel. And then radishes and a little wine vinegar and olive oil.
You know how I am with fennel. It's like, it's a favorite thing, so. Yeah,
it's a, it grew on me over the years. I wasn't a big, because I don't, I don't like licorice, so. Come
on. And fennel doesn't taste like licorice, so you're reading good. Well, it does, too. It does not. Tastes like more licorice. Um, okay, no. So, roasted fennel is one of my favorite things, but again. No, roasted
licorice. As,
no. It does not taste like licorice. Okay,
if you think fennel tastes like licorice, We're gonna have a judging on this on our Facebook group. Go to our Facebook group. I'm gonna have a poll up. Who thinks it tastes like licorice it doesn't matter. I'm,
I'm the, I'm the half of this podcast, so I say it doesn't, and it doesn't. That's the end. Go away. So, I, I also love apples and radishes. And if you tie, you toss them together with olive oil and white wine vinegar. I think it makes this really great crunchy salad, especially if you add some, uh, chopped up nuts to it or even pomegranate seeds. Those are the kinds of salads I like. I like big crunchy salads with apples. It's just hard for me not to think about apples.
I sometimes throw them, especially this time of year, I'll throw one chopped apple in a big bowl. big chicken braise. I made a huge pot of braised celery root and I don't know what I put in there, sweet potatoes and celery root and parsnips. And I put all these root vegetables and I braised chicken because we had two friends on the same day who had pacemakers installed and I brought them food. And that's the kind of thing I would love to have thrown on the table. Uh, crunchy apple, in it, right
toward the end because it would sweeten it up a lot. Now that you say that, I'm making lentil soup for dinner, and I think I'm gonna put an apple in it. Yeah, wow. That'll be really good. And for me, just give me a good sour crunchy apple, and I'm gonna do like my dad did. I'm gonna core it out. I'm going to stuff it with crunchy peanut butter and I'm going to sit in front of the TV and eat my apple and peanut butter and that's going to make me very happy. I like that.
Just peanut butter and apple.
Well, I, I, I, I just ate an apple before we recorded this podcast with a cup of tea. So what can I tell you? It is a favorite thing. And when you go to your farmer's market or your up end market that's going to have many different things. different varieties of apples in it and better choices that you can try at this time of year. Let me say that you want to really be, uh, pretty judgmental about your apples. You want to make sure that they're not soft.
Um, when you pick up a small bag of them, they should smell like apples. If they smell like nothing, try again because they should have a very distinctly Don't waste your money on apples that don't smell like anything. That's why I won't eat a Red Delicious apple in February. Because it doesn't smell like anything.
Most fruit should smell like what it is before you eat it. If you want it to be good, it should smell good. It goes for fruit. It goes for dating. It goes for a lot of things in life.
What? What? It goes for dating? If you want
it to be good, it should smell good.
Oh! Well, that's true. We've been married 28 years and, uh, let me just say that, uh, it's one of the many reasons that if you drop dead tomorrow, I'm not going back on the dating market.
Because then not everybody smells good.
Oh, God. That's the grossest thing. We were talking so nicely about apples and you wrecked it. Okay,
so when you go to that apple orchard and you buy apples, they almost kill you. Always have cider. And the way they make cider is they grind up the apples and they put them in an apple press and they squeeze the juice out. And here's how you can make some apple cider at home. It's a little cooking, but it's really good. So fill a saucepan or a small stock pot halfway up with apple quarters. Leave the seeds, leave the skins, just cut them in quarters.
Then add one And if you want Orange, quartered, and put some fall spices in it. You know, a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, a little allspice, a nutmeg. Yes, you can use pumpkin spice blend if you want. Uh oh, uh oh, here we go. Now, now it's lit, as they say. Go on. Cover everything with water by two inches and bring it to a simmer, covered, for two hours. It's almost like you're making applesauce, right? But you're not. Then take the orange pieces out, uncover, another apple slice.
hour of simmering. And here's where instead of putting it through a food mill to have applesauce, you're going to put it in a fine mesh sieve or a jelly bag. And what comes out of it is cider.
Oh my gosh, a jelly bag. Only you, only my chef husband would think a jelly bag is something that's just routine in most people's lives.
Well, I like jelly bags. I think they're good. You can clarify anything I make. Clear gazpacho with a jelly bag.
You do, but it's so fussy. And so, uh, not anything I would do. Can you tell who's the writer in this pair? Uh, I wouldn't do anything like that because I just can't imagine it. But okay, there's how to make your own apple cider. Or you can just go to a farmer's market or the supermarket right now. by Apple cider because like it's everywhere right now. That's our whole talk about apples.
Let me just say, in case you don't know that we would love to hear from you and we can hear from you on our Facebook group. There is a Facebook group called cooking with Bruce and Mark. So, you know, check us out there, check out this episode there, and maybe we would like to hear your Apple story. Okay. As he's always traditional, what's making us happy.
¶ What's making us happy in food this week: chestnuts and rice + kimchi.
In food this week,
along with apples. The other thing that's fallen out of trees right now are chestnuts.
Oh, they are falling out of New England. Royans
farm market in Canaan, Connecticut. Shout out to you because you have chestnut trees that this year have produced the sweetest chestnuts. I have ever seen. They
are smaller because the drought, believe it or not, despite the nightmare flooding in the south here in New England, we're in a bit of a drought and our trees are not turning pretty colors. They're kind of turning yellow, brown and leaves are falling off because of the drought. So it's not a great year. And that means that chestnuts have been really small, but
they're
super sweet. I'm the first night that Bruce rose to chestnuts and we were sitting watching some show on TV and he was peeling chestnuts and handing them to me. Yes, I.
peel chestnuts for him. Yes, that is our marriage.
Um, I did well. Okay, anyway, I'm sitting there and he's peeling chestnuts and passing one or two to me as he's eating them too. I kept saying, are you sure you didn't put sugar on these? Are you sure? Cause they are so sweet. I just
scored the skin and I put them in a dish and put that dish in the air fryer at 350. 300 degrees for 30 minutes.
It's incredible. And I should say that what's making me happy in food this week is something that you might want to try. And it is something that I find so fundamentally comforting, it's hard to even talk about it. And that is rice, cooked rice plus kimchi. I find kimchi on rice to be one of the most comforting things around.
This is of course traditional in certain Asian cuisines, but last night, for example, Bruce grilled the chicken thighs, and I, um, we had a big pot of rice, and I slathered kimchi all over my rice, and ate it with my chicken thighs, and I just find kimchi and rice It
was good, I smashed it all up in my plate together. So super
satisfying, and so It's so super comforting. It's my great love of kimchi and it works particularly well with sweet rice. Not sweet rice as in sushi rice, but just the natural sweetness of rice itself. It's so delicious. Okay, so that's our podcast for this week and we thank you for being with us.
Every week we tell you what's making us happy in food. So please tell us what's making you happy in food this week at our Facebook group, Cooking with Bruce and Mark. We want to know what you're eating and how delicious it is. So share it with us there. And we'll be back next week for another episode of Cooking with Bruce and Mark.