I made the kids my mother’s recipe for salmon croquettes yesterday afternoon. Well, I thought I was making it for the kids. Turns out, only one likes them, but it was apparently enough for my mother to shlep two cans (that’s right, cans) of salmon from the States. While I was making them, I said to myself, “Why am I calling them croquettes? These are salmon burgers.” But then, they lacked the meatiness and density of a burger, which led me to a much longer mental discourse on why I would call a burger a burger and why I would call a croquette a croquette? And which was right?

So what’s the difference? I’m not entirely sure. Why am I even thinking about this?

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Over the years I’ve had several different kitchen scales. The first one I remember was a cheap spring-driven one that almost never got used. It sat on the shelf with the glasses, and sometimes we used it to weigh letters (like emails on paper; you remember those).

My current kitchen scale is a fairly inexpensive electronic scale. But it does an amazing job of making sure that I’m giving you recipes that are easily replicated and scalable. It’s usually only the small stuff (1/4 tsp. black pepper, etc.) that I resort to volumetric measurements. (If you have trouble with amounts when you have to multiply by 20, let me know.) (more…)

There is one cookbook on my shelf that I’ve had for years which is quickly becoming my go-to book for never fail recipes, which surprises me because I have many other cookbooks that are either more specialized or more comprehensive. This recipe is adapted from that book – which I will write about at a future date – and proofed using my foolproof proof box.

Oh. My. Gawd.

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A sourdough starter is one of those things that always seems like a good idea, and recipes that use them sound and look delicious. The problem is you never have one around when you need it, and when you have the time to think about it, it always seems to be too much trouble.

What crap.

You need five things for a starter. Go get them now. Right now.

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