A few weeks ago our friends Kate and Joel and their three girls came over for dinner. We were all vacationing on the same island together so the menu was as simple and fresh and kid-friendly as we could manage: asparagus salad (without eggs for the kids), campfire potatoes, and grilled chicken sandwiches with homemade slaw. Kate took one bite of her sandwich and, because she is a good guest, immediately started oohing and ahhing and inquiring about how we put the whole thing together. “This is perfect,” she said. “Just what I am in the mood for. Man!! And the slaw! Mmmm! How did you make it?”
I told her slaw is one of those things I don’t really have a recipe for. I just start whisking things together and keep adding more shredded cabbage and carrots until it looks about right.
“OK, fine, but what exactly are you whisking together?”
“It’s like I’m making any salad dressing. I’ll add a dollop of mayo to the bottom of a large bowl, then add some celery seed, some cider vinegar—-“
She crossed her arms in front of her face and looked away as though I had shined a bright light in her eyes. “OK, stop right there,” she said. “Page turner!”
“What…?” I was confused. (Were we talking about the can’t-put-it-down book Blood, Bones, and Butter again??)
“Cider vinegar?!?” She said. “I don’t know from cider vinegar. As soon as I see it in a recipe I’m turning the page.” Kate is a psychologist, but she has also has a side career as a Second City comedian, so sometimes it can be hard to tell when she’s kidding.
“That’s ridiculous,” I told her. “It’s cider vinegar. It’s right next to the balsamic vinegar in any supermarket.”
“I don’t care. The whole idea of it scares me. The whole idea of someone who knows how to use cider vinegar scares me. It’s like cream of tartar. I mean, what is that? What do you use it for? What kind of people buy cream of tartar?”
I started laughing until I realized that in our house, we totally have our own list of page turners — puff pastry, marjoram, anything deep-fried — and they’re all equally ridiculous. Marjoram is probably right next to mustard powder on the spice shelf, but whenever I see it in a recipe I assume the dish was meant for someone with exotic taste who knows exactly how to use it. Puff pastry, with all its layering and covering with wet towels, is just downright terrifying to someone for whom patience has never been a strong suit (or any suit at all, actually). And deep frying? Doesn’t that involve a special thermometer or something?
I think the ingredient with the world’s longest reign as premiere page-turner in my life is “yeast.” (Is there anything more alienating for a new parent than the phrase “Allow dough to rise 8 hours?”) But then Jim Lahey and his no-knead bread revolution came along (luckily right about the time the girls were old enough to allow for me to build “rise time” into my day) and one day in the supermarket I just did it. I picked up the Fleischmann’s Active Dry stuff and tried the famous bread recipe. Amazingly, it worked! Just like it had for the other 1 billion people in the world who had grabbed the yeast packets in their supermarkets and tried it before me.
So, Kate, the cider vinegar revolution starts today! Right here, right now with this not-even-a-little-bit-fancy dinner sandwich. And I’m declaring it Get Over Your Page Turner Ingredient Day for the rest of us, too, so if anyone has any good recipes that call for puff pastry, I’m all ears.
Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Classic Cole Slaw
Make our grilled chicken for people who hate grilled chicken and assemble sandwiches with whole wheat hamburger buns or potato rolls, then top with….
Old Fashioned Cole Slaw
In a large bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, 4 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise, ½ teaspoon celery seed, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Shred half a head of green cabbage (5 cups) as thinly as possible. (With a mandoline or the shredding disk of a food processor.) Add to the dressing and toss to combine. Serve right away.
Thanks for this slaw recipe! My page-turner ingredient is celery seed. Time to go to the store, because this sandwich looks delicious.
“double-boiler” scares the bejesus out of me
I love this post.
My page turner: Cornstarch. I can’t really explain why either. When I see “cornstarch” on an ingredients list, I pretty much discount that recipe. Also on my list, vanilla bean and fresh nutmeg. Seriously? Who ever has such things around the house? And I share your fear of puff pastry. Have you ever tried the mini phyllo shells they sell in the freezer section? They have the same swanky effect and are a lot easier to use.
Oh God, if your page turner is puff pastry, you’ve never tried this: http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2009/06/21/roasted-tomato-goat-cheese-tarte-tatin/
Please, please give it a shot. You’ll be converted.
my pageturner is anything that requires a candy thermometer…or hard-ball/soft-ball stage. eek! deep frying too, but that’s more a healthy thing – I eat enough fried foods in resturants that I don’t want to get into it at home!
My two page turners – anything with olives, and anything deep fried. Aside from the health issues, I never know what to do with all that oil once you’re done. I know you’re supposed to be able to strain it and reuse it or something like that, but it’s a lot easier to turn the page.
As far as olives, I’m really not that picky of an eater, but it’s hard to believe that they are really considered edible.
The other Meg and I not only share a name, but a page turner philosophy! I am also terrified of the whole “soft ball stage”, candy thermometer thing.
Other things that freak me out:
-any recipe involving mayo- the stuff makes me cringe
-anything that needs to be kneaded
-fish sauce
But Jenny, puff pastry is so good! I buy it from the store, so it’s one of those things that always gets me compliments with very minimal effort. (The thought of making puff pastry dough from scratch is intimidating, I agree.)
Here’s what you do: They sell it in the freezer section. You take it home, let it thaw for like an hour, cut it into squares, add filling, brush with egg and bake, and voila! Fancy-looking pastries with half an hour’s work. No wet towels or rolling pins involved. I personally fill it with prune filling for Christmas (traditional Finnish recipe) and with apples for turnovers in the summer and fall. Yummy and easy!
See this link for pictures of the Finnish Christmas pinwheel pastries: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/xmas9.htm Ignore the text – you’re not making either the dough or the filling at home since both are available in store – but the pictures show how to shape the pinwheels.
We make a super easy raspberry jam tart with frozen puff pastry from a long ago Bon Appetit recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raspberry-Jam-Tart-512
And my grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe will cure anybody of an aversion to cider vinegar. I guarantee it.: http://gotitma.blogspot.com/2010/09/grammys-chocolate-cake.html
Hilarious! My husband and I were *just* having this conversation last week when we finally ventured into the world of fried chicken. (What took us so long?!?!)
“Yeast” and any fancy thermometer (I’m looking at you “hard ball stage”) are my two biggest page turners. Also not a big fan of homemade pie crusts. But I’m turning it into a culinary bucket list for myself and deciding to make a list of all the things that scare me/turn me off a recipe and conquering them one by one.
Page turners: Creaming butter. (How do you know when it’s creamed?!) Chopping chocolate– that seems entirely too messy and time consuming. Come to think of it…I’m pretty scared of baking in general.
I agree with Meg on the FISH sauce. Cringe.
i’m surprised that i’m the first to say it, but if you want a shortcut for puff pastry almost every recipe that calls for it will recommend pepperidge farm’s frozen puff pastry. you thaw it, unfold it, and that’s about it. it works for savory or sweet dishes. my page-turners are usually asian ingredients – rice wine vinegar, clam sauce, sesame oil, etc. etc. i have a very white-bread pantry :\
ps, i <3 dals and check it eeeevery day. 🙂
fennel or caraway seeds. star anise too.
Sesame oil is a big page turner for me, but mostly because I don’t care for it. Also, 3 recipes I have read in the past week included kaffir lime leaves……definite page turner, as there is no way I will find them here.
This will help you get over your fear of puff pastry. Barefoot Contessa to the rescue again!
http://www.grouprecipes.com/66616/spinach-in-puff-pastry.html
Make it and you will be a hit at any brunch you go to. BC never disappoints – seriously, have you tried the lentil vegetable stew yet? Get on that!
My page turner is fennel seeds. I see those listed in a recipe (like your pork ragu which we made this weekend sans seeds) and I say to myself, “Who needs those seeds? Skip it!” I can never crush those little seeds of hate and furthermore I can’t taste them. I need to try them now that you have plenty of puff pastry recipes in your arsenal.
@Rachel L – don’t be scared of whole nutmeg that you grate fresh! if you like to bake, grating it fresh is SOOOOO much better than the already ground stuff. we have one of those micro-graters (there are many styles, ours is flat & has a handle but i’ve also seem them in the box-grater style) and just rub the little nut against it. you get the MOST flavorful lovely ground nutmeg out of it. then put the partially used piece back in the jar with the others, and stick it with the rest of your spices. (and don’t think i’m crazy – nutmeg is actually the only one i grate fresh. i would never mess with, say, cinnamon. so for nutmeg, it really is that easy!)
the no knead recipe totally changed my view of yeast as well!
If I have to use a blender or a food processor, I turn the page. I hate digging these appliances out from behind everything that I use more regularly and I HATE cleaning them!
Oh have no fear of puff pastry, it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy! Check this out, it’s FAB:
http://www.marthastewart.com/331747/ham-and-cheese-puff-tart
Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE THIS SITE???
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it.
Anything deep fried. I haven’t the patience or the desire for my home to smell of hot oil for 3 days
tarragon does it for me!
Interesting post and comments. Agree with candy thermometer being a page turner because I don’t own one (yet). Yeast was a page turner until this past year, when I finally got the hang of homemade pizza and discovered Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. Cornstarch and sesame oil are nearly daily staples in our household (I’m Asian) – funny to think that they’re page turners in other households! Agree that Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry is wonderful and so easy to use. Other page turners for me: Gorgonzola, lima beans, springform pan (never replaced my old one), any recipe with >1-1/2 sticks of butter.
“Deep fried” fo’ sho’! Also, ice box cookies. I like to make dough and roll from there!
Would you believe its dried beans. As in soaking them overnight and all that. Crazy, since it’s the simplest thing in the world to do!
As it happens I’m conquering my fear today (even before I read this!) Black beans and turkey chili for dinner..