A variety of savory and sweet ideas for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Irene Ritter, a Chicago native and alumna of Loyola University's Lake Shore campus, now shares an isolated mountain retreat in Oregon's scenic Columbia Gorge with her husband and two Siamese cats.
For 14 years, Irene has worked as a Portland freelance journalist, public-relations consultant and graphic artist, Her food and lifestyle stories have appeared in The Oregonian, Country Woman and other national publications.
A tradition of baking has been shared in her mother's family for generations, starting with her great-grandfather, Franco Conti, who established bakeries throughout Sicily in the late 19th century.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
What is a Cobbler? New Englanders sometimes refer to them as grunts or slumps. But most people know them as cobblers. Not only are there different names for this all-American dessert, cooks also argue about what truly makes a cobbler a cobbler.
One battle among cobbler lovers rages over crust. Should crusts be made of biscuit, pastry, crumbled cookie dough or cake batter? Should they line the bottoms or tops of fruit; or be latticed or shaped like cobblestones?
There's even more confusion over shape. Should cobblers be rectangular or round?And how do you define cobbler when there are so many variations?instead of coming up with a clear-cut definition of a cobbler, I would like to challenge cooks to make up a few of their own.
Let's start by expanding the notion of cobblers to include savory brunch and dinner options. Thus, a variety of ingredients may be introduced into a basic biscuit recipe-like nuts, coconut and cream cheese for dessert crusts; or herbs, cheeses, sour cream, chopped onions, poppy seeds and rye flour for brunch or dinner crusts.
Though we're breathing new life into cobblers, we can't ignore a cobbler's humble beginnings as a Colonial American breakfast dish. So, in step with the early settlers' virtues of practical home economics, many of the recipes are quick and easy to prepare with fresh ingredients.
How Cobblers Were Named
Some food experts claim a shoe-cobbler's wife created the dish, while others suggest a cobbler may once have been a tall, iced drink of wine, rum or whiskey and sugar. To date, the most plausible answer is that cobblers were named after cobblestones. Picture a fruit, meat or vegetable filling covered with mounds of crust. Doesn't it bring to mind a cobblestone alley straight out of a medieval fairy tale?
Cobbler Crusts
As for cobbler dough, there are two schools of thought. Many chefs consider pastry or pie crust-made without baking powder-to be true cobbler crust. Though, there's nothing wrong with good pastry dough, The Cobbler Crusade adheres to the more traditional practice of beginning with a basic biscuit crust. Then a host of other ingredients can be added to complement or vary textures.
For example, eggs tend to turn dough a bit like batter, yielding a cake-like consistency to the biscuit. Baking with brown sugar strongly signals the aroma and flavor of molasses. Granulated sugar, cornmeal and chopped pecans create crunchy textures. Combining white and whole-wheat flours or rolled oats and raisins renders a substantial, hearty crust; while heavy creams, sour cream and buttermilk are best for buttery, shortcake biscuits.
Copyright © 2000 Fisher Books. All rights reserved.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "must have" for your cook book collection!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Cobbler Crusade: Bringing An Old-fashioned Dish To Modern Cooks (Paperback)
Recipies easy to follow, all that I've tried have been fantastic. I like the fact each cobbler has a custom cobbler topping. My friends keep borrowing my copy, so I ordered 6 copies today, 2 copies of which will be gifts.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cobbler Crusade Cook Bood,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Cobbler Crusade: Bringing An Old-fashioned Dish To Modern Cooks (Paperback)
It is about fruit cobblers and so much more...some terrific savory cobblers as well. All recipes are fail proof and easy to prepare.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
New Englanders sometimes refer to them as grunts or slumps. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
shortcake crust, drop fresh peaches, cobblestone effect, crunchy cookie crust, combine crust ingredients, cookie dough forms, crumble dough, handheld electric mixer set, swirl ingredients, cooled cookie crust, lowfat vanilla yogurt, stiff dough forms, cup quick rolled oats, cobbler crust, cornbread crust, spoon dough, biscuit crust, dough clings, drizzle melted butter, peach filling, lowfat milk, cup melted butter, greased baking pan, margarine over medium heat, halve peaches Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Marinara Sauce New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
New Englanders sometimes refer to them as grunts or slumps. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
shortcake crust, drop fresh peaches, cobblestone effect, crunchy cookie crust, combine crust ingredients, cookie dough forms, crumble dough, handheld electric mixer set, swirl ingredients, cooled cookie crust, lowfat vanilla yogurt, stiff dough forms, cup quick rolled oats, cobbler crust, cornbread crust, spoon dough, biscuit crust, dough clings, drizzle melted butter, peach filling, lowfat milk, cup melted butter, greased baking pan, margarine over medium heat, halve peaches Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Marinara Sauce New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
