Document text
Cooks can't resist lure of catalog kitchens For weeks now, my children have been poring over the holiday catalogs that clog the mailbox, writing and revising Christmas lists that only a filthy-rich St. Nick could fill. I've tried to discourage this activity, of course. For one thing, there's not a chance that the Santa that visits our house will bring my son every pair of basketball shoes Michael Jordan ever endorsed. And there's not a prayer that Abercrombie & Fitch will open an outlet for my daughter in our den. For another thing, I don't like the idea of my kids being mindless consumers controlled by the dark forces of seasonal marketing. But when I start to lecture my young ones on the evils of commercial covetousness, they stop me mid-sentence with two words: Williams Sonoma. 'Tis the season for cooking catalogs, of course, and I'm no more immune than they are to the lure of stuff I like. If my kids are attracted by fruit-shaped cell phones and cool shoes, I am just as mesmerized by glossy pages of gleaming knives and $300 toasters in the kitchenware catalogs that arrive now daily. If I had the time, I could sit for hours, poring over pictures of stainless steel strainers and copper-bottomed pots that cost more than I make in a week. As it is, I sneak quick glimpses before bed, drifting to sleep while visions of All-Clad dance in my head. There is a practical purpose to this envy, of course. With the gift-giving (and getting) season close at hand, it's up to me to make sure my little list is updated with all the latest kitchen toys. It wouldn't do, would it, to ask for last year's potato ricer when there's a fancy new version to be bought? And I already have a nifty set of cast-iron popover pans. Neither Santa nor his designated elves should have much problem finding the gifts on my list this year. The universal law that requires everything to wear out at once has affected my most basic kitchen tools. I need a pastry blender that's not bent from when I used it to mash undercooked potatoes. I need a big ceramic mixing bowl to replace the one I dropped when the potatoes slipped out from under the pastry blender. I need a couple of new, solid wooden spoons -- the sturdy kind made in France -- to replace the one I cracked in half, believe it or not, while trying to stir those mashed potatoes. If you're an elf charged with filling some other cook's list, take heart. Not everyone has such basic desires. Judging from the wishes of a few fellow kitchen enthusiasts, good chefs are easy to please. Take my friend, Jim, for instance, whose A list for Santa includes nothing less than a whole new kitchen "with a gas range and grill, an island butcher block work area and plenty of space for pots, pans and spices." Barring that, Jim says he'll settle for a nice knife. Or how about my pal Carrie? She covets an entire set of the lovely new All-Clad Gold Standard Bakeware, the line that offers cookie sheets for $50 apiece and jelly roll pans for $110. "Well, I like to bake," she explains. Carol wants a gelato/sorbet machine from Williams Sonoma, the better to mix up chichi desserts from fruit purees. Other cooking colleagues are a bit more moderate in their desires. Kathleen swears by her Zyliss garlic press, the latest in a long line of well-used models. She also likes her hands-free cookbook holder and the "little stainless steel shakers with the mesh tops for powdered sugar." If Terry were suggesting good gifts for cooks, she'd vote for a porcelain ginger grater, the better to shred those juicy roots, a lemon zester, or a subscription to that Bible of kitchen technique: Cook's Illustrated magazine. How can a wise cook ensure Santa's favor? For starters, why not mix up the festive Cherry Almond Chews that appear below. Cherry Almond Chews 1 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 3/4 teaspoon almond extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour* 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups flaked coconut 3/4 cup chopped almonds or pecans, optional 1 16-ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and halved In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in almond extract. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in coconut and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Place a cherry half in the center of each. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Makes about 7 dozen cookies. Recipe from "Best of Country Cookies" from Taste of Home books. Send questions to A la carte, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501. Reach JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465 or by e-mail at [email protected] Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA