Boston Cream Pie

Most commercial Boston Cream Pies leave a lot to be desired. They are made with shortening, artificial vanilla flavoring, and who knows what is in those too-sweet chocolate glazes?

While most cookbooks claim that Boston Cream Pie is traditionally made with spongecake, I hail from New England and am here to tell you this is not so. I checked my The All New Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fanny Merrit Farmer (10th edition, copyright 1959, published by Bantam in 1965) and she uses a regular butter cake. The Yankee Magazine website has a Boston Cream Pie recipe with an almost identical cake recipe except it is made with shortening. (To be fair, they have four Boston Cream Pie recipes; one uses a sponge cake and two of them, including the one from the Parker House--which claims to have served it since opening, if not invented it--use rum in the filling, which is an unnecessary rarification. But then again, they are now the Omni Parker House and therefore part of a chain..........)

Well enough run-on sentences. On to the recipe.
(This recipe makes my personal Hundred Best Recipes List, even though the list isn't finished.)

Boston Cream Pie

Vanilla pastry cream (make first)

1 cup half-and half or whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
small pinch salt
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 Tbsp (4 1/2 tsp) cornstarch
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat the half-and-half or milk, 3 Tbsp of the sugar, and the salt in the top of a double boiler (or in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat) until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until thoroughly combined, then whisk in the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch and continue whisking until the mixture is creamy and thick, about 30 seconds.

3. When the half-and-half/milk mixture is at a full simmer, gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture, then return to the pan and whisk contantly until the mixture is thick (coats a spoon even when the spoon is removed). Off the heat, whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, and then the vanilla.

4. At this point, you can strain the mixture if you like. Place plastic wrap right on the surface (to prevent a skin from forming) and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Cake

1/2 cups cake flourk like Swansdown or Softasilk
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Butter, line with parchment or wax paper, and butter again two 8" round cake pans.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar, vanilla, and egg.

5. With beaters on low, beat in 1/2 cup of the flour mixture, then 1/4 cup of the milk.

6. Beat in another 1/2 cup of the flour mixture, and another 1/4 cup milk. Add the remaining flour and beat to blend.

7. Spoon into the pans. Eyeball so they have approximately equal amounts of cake batter or weigh the two pans.

8. Bake approximately 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans to finish cooling on cake racks.

Chocolate Frosting

1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
2 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. In the top of a small double-boiler or in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the chocolate with the butter and the mild. Let cool to lukewarm, then transfer to a mixing bowl.

2. Add half the sugar and the vanilla, and beat until the sugar is incorporated. Add the second half of the sugar and beat it in, too. Use immediately.

Assembling the cake

Trim the tops of both cake layers, if necessary, so they are flat. Brush the crumbs off of one of the cake layers, and put it on a cake plate. Spread the pastry cream on the layer, stopping 1/4" to 1/2" from the edge. Put the second layer on top of the pastry cream, bottom side up. Frost with the chocolate frosting all the way to the edge of the top layer, letting some run over.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
none

(even though the post heading gives some date in January, I didn't post this until 10 February. Blogspot has some quirks.)

Oil and Vinegar Coleslaw

I got a request for a mayonaise-free coleslaw the other day. (BTW, Maria, I told you it had poppy seeds, but I misremembered. It was celery seeds. Although I can't see why you couldn't use poppy seeds if you want. . . .)

Celery Seed Dressing

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1 to 2 tsp celery seed
1 tbsp grated onion (or 1 tsp dried onion flakes)
1 cup oil
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Put the sugar, salt, mustard, celery seed, onion, and half the oil and vinegar in a blender. Blend until the seeds are uniformly distributed. Slowly add the rest of the oil, and then the vinegar, blending thoroughly.

Notes:
Pour as much as you like over shredded cabbage and carrots. Use the kind in the bag; I do.

This makes a lot of dressing. Save the rest in the refrigerator.

You can make this with an egg beater or hand mixer, but the blender is better. Just shaking it up in a jar doesn't distribute the sugar as well, and it separates faster.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Do not use generic "vegetable oil"; use canola or another identified one-ingredient oil like safflower or "light" olive oil.

Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan has come full circle. Originally made with mornay sauce (bechamel or white sauce with cheese in it), over the years it turned into something you dumped canned chicken, frozen broccoli and a can of cream-of-something-soup into.

Well. We don't eat cream-of-something soup anymore because it usually has soy. I don't like frozen broccoli because the stems are tough and the crowns are mushy. So, let's go with a standard recipe and cut down on some of the butter and cheese to reduce the fat. The classic cheeses to use are half gruyere and half parmesan, but you can use anything you have on hand. We like sharp cheddar.

Chicken Divan
Serves 4

4 cups broccoli
4 tsp butter
1/4 cup minced onion or shallot (optional)
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken broth (or water)
1 tsp chicken bouillon powder or 1 cube
1 cup milk
2 oz shredded cheese (1/2 cup)
10 oz sliced, cooked chicken
Cooked noodles, rice, or toast

1. Steam the broccoli--let the water in the steamer come to a rolling boil, then steam the broccoli for 8 or 9 minutes, covered.

2. While the broccoli is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Saute the optional onions until they are soft but not browning at the edges. (If you don't want to do this, add 1 tsp minced dried onion later with the chicken bouillon.)

3. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and stir. Add the chicken broth or water all at once and stir until smooth. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly, until it is all incorporated and smooth. Heat until just bubbly.

4. Add the chicken bouillon and shredded cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted. Add the chicken and stir to coat with sauce.

5. Dish out the rice, noodles, or toast on 4 plates or shallow soup dishes. Divide up the broccoli over this. Ladle the chicken and sauce over all.

Note: If you are really energetic you can poach your own chicken for this. I simmer chicken breasts with some celery leaves, a couple of baby carrots, several grinds of pepper, and a bay leaf. When it is done, I simmer the broth down to concentrate it and use in the recipe.

No-soy considerations:
Check the chicken bouillon for soy.
If serving over toast, check the bread for soy or soy oil.

Obesity and Processed Foods

Today in the Washington Post, on page 2 of the Outlook section in a column called Outspoken, David Kessler, the former head of the Food and Drug Adminstration, talks about the connection between processed food and obesity. Also today, in the New York Times Magazine, is an article called Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch. It is about: the movie Julie and Julia, the disconnect between TV food shows and cooking. . . and the connection between processed food and obesity.

The NYT article quotes Harry Belzer, "a veteran food-marketing researcher". In answer to a question on how to "undo the damage that the modern diet of industrially prepared food has done to our health", he says,

"Easy. You want Americans to eat less? I have the diet for you. It's short, and it's simple. Here's my diet plan: Cook it yourself. That's it. Eat anything you want -- just as long as you're willing to cook it yourself."

Looking at the soy allergy in a glass-half-full kind of way, I say we're way ahead of the rest of America on this one. We have to cook a lot of our foods from scratch and we don't eat out much. I won't say I couldn't lose (ahem) a few pounds, but I still eat processed foods. Granted I had to hunt them down in Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and among the gazillions of foods on the regular grocery store aisles, but I eat crackers, breakfast cereal, cheesy-poofs and the like.

Maybe I'll stop.