Free Range on Food: Staffers Solve Your Cooking Conundrums

Free Range on Food is a forum for discussion of all things culinary. You can share your thoughts on the latest Washington Post Food section, get suggestions from fellow cooks and food lovers, or swap old-fashioned recipes the new-fashioned way. They, along with special guest Michelle Singletary, were online Wednesday, May 6 at 1 p.m. ET.

Archive of past discussions

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Joe Yonan: Welcome, all, to today's chat! Hope you've saved up some good questions, cause we have good answers. (Well, we like to think that we do, but I guess only time will tell, won't it?) Today we have special guest Michelle Singletary, who writes the wildly popular Color of Money column but today in Food turns her attention to cooking for her family, the struggles and the benefits alike.

We'll have two giveaway books for our favorite posts today: In the keeping with Michelle's piece, there's "The Family Chef" by Jewels and Jill Elmore," and for the snackers out there, we have "100-Calorie Snack Cookbook" by Sally Sampson.

Let's get going!

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Silver Spring, Md.: So, I'm glad that Ms. Singletary is cooking with her family. And I understand that for some middle wave of women, not cooking was a big deal.

But making dinner at home is just not a new revolutionary idea! People did it for about 200,000 years (well, maybe indoor cooking is only 30,000 years old, but humans date back that far).

Michelle Singletary: So are you criticizing in a mocking way?

If so you missed the point. The piece wasn't just about me.

It was about a trend I've seen and that is backed up by academic research -- that a growing number of people (including women) are not cooking, are not learning basic skills, are eating out more.

For too many women, cooking is considered beneath them, old fashioned. I was addressing them.

So the point is we can't lose this art that brings families together!

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Centerville, Va.: Any reports on the new butcher shop in Centerville, WOW Fresh Meat?

Wondering if it is worth a visit since it's closer than The Organic Butcher!

Joe Yonan: I was just going to answer that we'd love to hear from chatters in Centreville about this, and then I noticed -- you live in C'ville! I haven't been there, but you should definitely take a chance and give us a report.

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5 egg yolks????: First, kudos to you for coming up with a no-cook Mom's Day dish (the crab salad) that sounds delicious. But what is up with all those yolks? And if they are optional, what does the dressing taste like without them? Seems like there would be a big difference between the yolk and the no-yolk dressing. Can I add a little mayo to replace some of that fat and creaminess?

washingtonpost.com: Crab Salad With Orange Dressing (The Washington Post, May 6, 2009)

Bonnie Benwick: Today we were trying to keep things simple. Without the yolks, the dressing's a little thin and tastes more like orange juice. It's enough flavor for the crab, though. WITH the yolks, it gets emulsified and creamier. Up to you. You could certainly add mayo or Greek-style yogurt instead for creaminess.

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Washington, D.C.: Noticed the cookbook awards. Is Mark Bittman's revised How to Cook Everything really all that different from the one he published ten years ago and that I still use several times a week?

Bonnie Benwick: He's funnier in it. Some recipes were retested and adapted.

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Washington, D.C.: I have felt over the past few months that the quality of the content of the Food section has declined, but today takes the cake. Who cares about an employee of another section of The Post and their eating habits? That warranted a front page article? (I don't think it warranted an article at all.) I think the Food section staff is getting really lazy if this is all the food news that they can come up with. Really? There's nothing interesting happening in the food world? How about the James Beard awards that happened two days ago?

Joe Yonan: Sorry to hear you feel that way, but I don't think you're reading very closely. (What? There were James Beard awards? What are those? Oh, you must mean the ones that we reported today on page F3, and had posted on our blog at 9 p.m. Monday? Or maybe you mean the one that we won, which was reported in the A section on Tuesday?) Of course Michelle's great piece (which is not about her eating habits as much as her call for women who think they don't need to cook to reconsider that) is not "all" the news we can come up with, which is why we also have Jane's profile of a Baltimore school official trying to make a difference, a fun read on the travails of sourdough, a profile of a newly price-sensitive sommelier and more.

Michelle Singletary: Ditto Joe.

And oh please with the sniping. You missed the whole point of the article.

I sit in a position to hear from a lot of people. I did a lot of research for this piece. There is an unfortunate decline in basic cooking skills. There is a decline in family meal time. There is an incline in the number of women who don't cook for their families.

Joe reached out to me to tell a story. I did. And lots and lots of folks got that story. Guess they took reading comprehension in school.

But here's just one note from a young single woman who e-mailed me:

Michelle,

Thank you for the column in today's Post, "If Big Mama Could See Me Now." As a young professional out on my own, I've put cooking on the back burner but realize I need to learn from my grandmother while she is still around. My grandmother is an AMAZING cook and still prepares our family holiday meals -- sadly even Mother's Day dinner. I know how important family meals have always been in my family and it is my hope that I can carry on that same tradition when I have a family of my own. Like your Big Mama, my grandmother does not write down her recipes. Your article has motivated me to begin paying attention to the way she prepares her special dishes. I am so blessed to still have my grandmother, and mother, around to learn from and I plan on taking advantage.

Thank you, again!

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Arlington, Va.: Joe, Jane, Dave, Bonnie, Tom, Jason, and everyone else at The Food Section,

I want to extend a big, huge CONGRATULATIONS for winning the 2009 James Beard Award this year. I really think that under Joe's stewardship, the section has gone from strength to strength, and all of you deserve to celebrate heartily and lustily for earning such huge, national recognition.

There has been so much talk about old-media this, and new-media that, but after all this nonsense pans out, people are ultimately going to want something interesting to READ. And that's exactly what you have been delivering, regardless of the format.

(And as a subject in Candy's article in this week's Post Magazine, with all the attention that has come with it, I can assure the readers here that "old media" is alive, well, and very, very powerful.)

Kind regards,

Don Rockwell

Joe Yonan: Don, you're a peach. Thanks much.

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CONGRATS!: I read on a food site that you won the Beard award for best food section in the galaxy! Congratulations! And how come it wasn't trumpeted on the front page or on the website or something? That's a great honor.

Joe Yonan: Aw, shucks. We're shy over here. It was in the A section on Tuesday, though!

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Baltimore, Md.: Concerning the health benefits of red wine, can the same benefits be gotten by using red wine vinegar?

Jane Black: I think this week the benefits of red wine are in question. But then, that will be different next week, right?

I actually don't know the answer to this...whether the process of making red wine vinegar eliminates the resveratrol or not. But I think the issue of quantity might make the question moot. It would be hard to take in as much vinegar as wine; after all you're not relaxing with a 6 oz glass after a long day.

Any one else have thoughts on this?

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In Search of Creaminess, Redux: I wrote in a while ago looking for ways to replace the creaminess of milk and cream in food now that dairy is verboten. Since then, coconut milk has come back to my attention. I've been making curries with it, and am wondering what else I might make. Something about the coconut milk fills the "creamy" need better than soy products.

Also, it's getting warm, here, and I'm staring longingly at the ice cream in the store.

Any further thoughts for me?

Jane Black: Coconut milk is so much more delicious. But it obviously has more fat than soy milk. Some other ideas: Use a little to braise greens. Add it to soups instead of cream. (I make a carrot cilantro soup with coconut milk which is good.) Or steam some mussels and lace the broth with a little coconut milk and lemongrass.

Also I did a quick search for coconut milk ice cream recipes and found this one for chocolate coconut milk ice cream which looks delicious.

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Arlington, Va. S.: I took some exception to the Michelle Singletary's assertion that it is "Mom's" role to be the nurturing meal giver and the indication late in her article that she was passing her kitchen skills to her daughters but not her son. I know it was more of a Style-type article, but still...

I'm a man and I personally love to cook. And while not married and with no children, it is my pleasure to feed myself, my friends, and my family when I get the opportunity. I find that it's a valuable skill to have for practical reasons and for social ones as well. I've dated women who cook not at all, worse, or better than me, and if I were to be lucky enough to marry and have children, I'm sure we would find a meal routine that works, but I suspect that providing nurturing meals wouldn't be affected by the sex of the cook.

I have a related conversation with co-workers or friends sometimes who insist that they'll learn how to cook when they get married/have kids. I always tell them that time to learn is when you're feeding yourself. Plus, I've never met a date who didn't appreciate a home-cooked meal, making it likelier to find that spouse.

Michelle Singletary: I appreciate your comments. But um...I said in the piece I was teaching my daughters and MY SON! In fact, the photos show me teaching MY SON. He loves to help me in the kitchen and I encourage that.

But I do believe it's vital my daughters learn because they will be mothers. They will have a role in their home no man can fulfill -- as mothers.

I will not back away from that belief. Somewhere in this culture that women can have it all we've gotten away from the idea that all should include to learning to feed your family with home-cooked meals. Yes, I'm a submitted woman. My husband is the head of my household. He sits at the head of our table.

We both bring home the bacon. I love to cook it for him and the kids.

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Boston: Today's food section is great. It's fun to see a recipe for sourdough pancakes, but I'm looking for good instructions for sourdough bread. The recipes I've had luck with include additional yeast and soda, which diminishes the sour taste. It also seems sourdough would be a natural for no-knead bread, but I can't find instructions for this. Can you please direct me to a good overall sourdough resource that leavens with just the sourdough?

Bonnie Benwick: Thanks Boston. There are several sourdough bread recipes in Nancy Baggett's new "Kneadlessly Simple" cookbook (Wiley). Check back in a bit and we'll see whether we can put one on the chat for you.

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Snipers be gone!: I never read the Food section and I read it today because of Michelle's article. So there you go.

Joe Yonan: There you go, indeed. I do often realize that appealing to everyone is impossible, so we try to have a mix of things in the section.

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Newton, Mass.: Posting early since I have to work during chat. Sourdough question. I lovingly spent several years nurturing a starter from air, water and flour. At some point, probably around 5-6 years ago I retired it to my freezer where it has remained ever since. Should I try to revive it? If yes, how??? I haven't been able to bring myself to throw it out.

Bonnie Benwick: Newton, I see plenty of references on the Web in which folks freeze their starters with good results. But Lisa Yockelson (one of our local maven bakers) says she'd advise "starting" fresh. I'd say that it's hard to maintain pristine freezer conditions for 5-6 years, in terms of temperature, freezer burn, air exposure, etc., so I agree with Lisa.

Of course, you could thaw it and see how it goes!

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Falls Church, Va.: I'm interested in the cooking classes offered by Lebanese Taverna. Any reviews, from the staff or the readers?

Jane Black: I'm going to kick this one out to readers. Anyone?

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Washington, D.C.: Congratulations on the James Beard award. It is well-deserved. I've been an avid reader of your section for years now, and I'm happy to report it only gets better. I'm particularly impressed by how you frequently develop interesting themes that are woven throughout various stories. I love the balance of stories about cooking, restaurants, drinks, and food science. The section is attractive and well-organized. Finally, I appreciate that you make yourselves available as a resource to us readers who hunger for more, through blogs, responding to email, and chats like this. Bravo.

Joe Yonan: Thanks very much. You make us blush!

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Burke, Va.: Those not learning to cook are going to regret it when they get older (like me) and have to watch things like salt and fat. The only way you can be sure that stuff isn't in your food (ever watch Emeril? He's Mr. Salt) is to cook it yourself.

Joe Yonan: This is one of the main reasons I cook so much for myself, because I want to control my food. Not necessarily the salt, sometimes the fat, but also things like where it comes from, how the meat is raised.

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Washington, D.C.: I aspire to roast a chicken that will blow my mind. I've tried a million recipes and every time it tastes like...a roasted chicken. With some herbs on top. Or maybe lemon, or garlic, or whatever, on top. My efforts are consistently, and spectacularly, unimpressive. And so I thought my prayers would be answered when I bought a fresh local chicken and followed the One Pot Chicken recipe from a few weeks ago. And it tasted like...a plain old roasted chicken. What is the trick to a delicious roasted bird? I want to wow myself.

P.S. The sweet potato hash from a few weeks ago is pure genius. We've had it every week since you ran the recipe and leftovers are fought for.

Bonnie Benwick: Well, let's start with what kind of chicken you're roasting. Is it the best you can find? Something organic and not too huge? Did you try this recipe: Gastronomer Roast Chicken and Potatoes? I roast a Sunday chicken three out of every five weekends a month and this one was a standout. Crisped skin all the way around because it sits directly on the oven rack, with drippings into the potatoes below. This will NOT work with a standard grocery store big roaster, I can tell you that.

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Washington, D.C.: There's a technique I often see in recipes (including one in today's Food section) that I'm unclear about: folding of whipped egg whites into batter. What exactly does this mean and what should the end result look like? Is this a one time action or does it involve multiple "folding" motions? Should the batter have "clumps" of white when I'm done folding or should it be more consistent? It's often these seemingly simple direction that, when you haven't had someone actually do it with you, end up being confusing. Thanks for any clarification.

Jane Black: When you fold whites into a batter you use a gentle scooping method. Pick up the batter on the bottom and "fold it" over the top. The idea is to gently mix in the egg whites so they don't lose their volume. (If you just stir vigorously, there's no point of whipping them in the first place.)

You don't want patches of white. It should be consistent. But fold until it's just so.

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Where to begin?: My husband is the one that cooks in our house. We have only been married for two years and he's not complaining at all and cooks quite well, but I'm starting to see how this division of labor is unsatisfying and potentially unsustainable once we have children.

I've never enjoyed cooking. I come from a long line of women who do not enjoy cooking. My grandmothers had cooks. My great-grandmother bought her daughter a dollhouse without a kitchen and when my granny asked about it she said "The dollhouse family goes across the street to the restaurant like we do." My mother cooked utilitarian meals to fulfill her duty to keep us nourished but had no joy in it. Where do I start? My husband is encouraging but I get defensive when he tries to "teach" me. I'm creative in so many other areas of my life, but have zero imagination when it comes to food. Ugh.

Michelle Singletary: Girl, I so feel you. I was the exact same way. Our backgrounds are different however. EVERY woman in my family cooked and well. Me. Just not interested. I wouldn't say I hated it but had no time for it. Loved to eat but hated the process, time, etc. of cooking. I did have an uncle who told me to marry a man who could cook or I would always be dong the cooking.

So I did. I married a man who could cook. And before the children we did sort of share in the cooking. But then, I don't know, I changed. I grew up. I realized that in a marriage and as a mother we have to do the things we don't like. I would rather read than clean the house. You get what I mean.

Both my husband and I work very demanding jobs but I began to see how he loved it when I tried different dishes. The kids loved it. I loved the way they responded even when I hated cooking.

I just see cooking as a woman as ministering to my family.

So for you I would start slow. Find a dish you like and try to make it. Or find a very easy, easy recipe. That's what I did and I made that one dish until my husband said, "enough."

Then I moved on to something else. I still don't try anything with too many ingredients. I get intimidated.

And let him teach you. Don't see it as he big man, you little woman. You are partners. He's sharing his skills.

But you know what? At least you are aware and willing now.

Try the Tex Mex recipe in today's paper. It's really easy.

But keep trying. By the time the kids come you will appreciate being able to serve them. Really. The look on their faces when they love something you make is priceless. And when they ask when you are going to make it again....well just wonderful. Makes all the times they get on your ever lasting nerves worth it.

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In my family: It was my DAD who had all the great heirloom recipes. This is about food, pleasure, frugality, nutrition, families, NOT women.

Joe Yonan: Of course!

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Silver Spring, Md.: No, not trying to make fun of you, Ms. Singletary. It's great that you have decided to cook with your family and I hope you keep doing it. It's never too late to start cooking, which at its best is both a pleasure and a responsibility.

And I realize the story isn't about you personally.

But I just don't understand why it's news that people cook at home. Maybe I missed some trend about not cooking at home. Or maybe I don't have a newspaper section to fill every week.

Jane Black: I know this was for Michelle but I feel I have to jump in. The fact that people have stopped cooking is most certainly a trend. According to the Restaurant Association, Americans now spend 48 percent of their food dollars in restaurants versus just 25 percent in 1995. Moreover, the money they spend in the grocery store is increasingly on convenience foods rather than ingredients.

Every once in a while I try to write a "trend" story about how people are cooking more. My last attempt was when the economy turned: I thought, surely now people will go back to cooking. Nope! NPD Food Analyst Harry Balzer just laughed at me. According to his research, even when money is tight, people find a way not to cook.

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Michelle's money advice: I often disagreed with much of your money advice. Not sure if it was your user-friendly tone in today's story or the editor, but the story about your family and how food and cooking brings you all together was great. I really wish when I was younger, I paid more attention to my great aunts, who were great cooks.

Every Sunday rain or shine, my family gathers at my house for dinner. One elder often states, "this is the highlight of my week..."

Michelle Singletary: Thanks. And it's okay to disagree with my money advice. It may not be for you. Maybe you have it together. But I am right because I test what I do money-wise and in the kitchen.

I work with individuals, couples, families and I know what I write is not the conventional wisdom. But you see where conventional wisdom got us.

So thank you. For reading even when you disagree.

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New Knife: Where would you go to shop for a new chef's knife? Assume you have these shops to choose from: Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, Sur la Table.

My blade is dinged, so I'm looking forward to shopping for a new model. However, it's been years, and I recall from the last time that "trying the knife on" was very helpful. That is, seeing how it felt to hold it and use it -- a good rocking/chopping motion is a must. FWIW, I've enjoyed my 8" Chef's Choice for many years now.

Joe Yonan: I would go to Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma, because I like how cooking-focused their service is. They both have good selections of knives -- SLT's might be a little bigger. Was just at one in NYC, and the knife selection was nice and broad, spanned Western and Eastern. Indeed, the most important thing is to find a place that will let you hold the knife.

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Rockville, Md.: Congratulations for your well-deserved James Beard award. I completely agree with the posting from Washington D.C., I just want to add that I believe the Food section greatly contributes to a better quality of life for me and many of my friends and coworkers.

Joe Yonan: Sniping aside, we do our best. Thanks.

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I did it! It worked!: Made yogurt at home in my slow cooker using info from your newsletter! It's a little off-putting to pour milk in a slow cooker and have yogurt 24 hours later, but wow. Tasty, cheap, fresh, preservative free.

Bonnie Benwick: We'll pass this along to Jennifer Huget, who included the recipe in the Lean & Fit newsletter she sends out from her Eat Drink and Be Healthy column in the Post's Health section.

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NoVa: Hello,

I find that I don't cook much for my husband and myself -- mostly just microwave the various Stouffer's found in the freezer. I guess that's the intermediate step between eating out all the time and actually making a homemade meal. I think, after reading Ms. Singletary's article, that I'm ready to make the jump. Stouffer's are boring after a while (not to mention fattening, too!).

Thank you.

Michelle Singletary: Good for you.

I did the same thing. Frozen foods, graduated to real live chopping, slicing, etc.

You can do it!!

And you know what? If that first try is terrible, so what. Try again.

I made pork chops recently and my 14 year old said, "Um, mom the chops were kind of dry."

Ouch!

Next time I made them they were so juicy the girl needed a bib!

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Arlington, Va.: Hi,

I just bought a sour dough starter, but I'm a bit confused on how to use it. I fed it and made a loaf of bread the day it arrived in the mail (bread was great!). Then I put it in the refrigerator. If I want to make bread in less than a week, can I just use the starter straight from the fridge? Or do I have to feed it again?

Thanks!

Jane Touzalin: The starter can't be used straight from the fridge; it'll be too cold and hungry. Here's how some people do it. The day before you plan to bake, bring the starter out of the refrigerator, give it a stir to mix in any liquid on the top and give it a few hours to come to room temperature. Then feed it according to the instructions that came with your starter (if there are none, try 1 cup of water, 1 cup of flour). Stir it, cover with a clean dish towel and let it sit at room temp (70 to 80 degrees) overnight or for at least 12 hours. Don't forget to hold some back for your next batch of bread, pancakes or whatever. Individual recipes also may have specific instructions for dealing with the starter. Good luck and have fun with it.

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Re: Silver Spring: The Food section can't win -- either someone's grousing that everything is chef-driven, or grousing that a story is too mundane. Breathe, people. It's nice to have a funny mom write about what we all have to do, encourage us to do more of it, and give us some simple, kid-tested recipes to help us achieve that goal. Thank you, Michelle. Girl, you rock.

Michelle Singletary: And you rock right back. I knew this piece would stir up stuff.

But I have a strong back. Got it from Big Mama. People don't like it when you are firm on an issue. They want you to be on the fence. Well I've never been a gray kind of woman.

At my core, my mission is to help. I wrote this piece for the women out there too scared to cook. I wrote it for the women who think cooking doesn't matter. I wrote it for those who aren't learning from the cooks in their house and who may forever lose those great family recipes. I wrote it for my children and my husband so that they know that I cared enough about them to get over my fear and hatred of cooking to serve them.

Jane Black: And I would just like to add my thanks to the chatter. Not that we can't take the grousing...that's why the newspaper industry pays the big bucks.

Joe Yonan: So, so big.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi!

Ah, bliss! Combine two of my favorite parts of the paper -- Michelle Singletary and the Food section.

I love the idea of passing on how to cook -- even if for some reason your children don't become parents, they have to eat, and being able to cook links you not only to your immediate past, but in the case of family heirloom recipes (like the sourdough) to a larger circle.

And ethnically -- sometimes that's the longest lasting tie people have to their heritage (for me, Ukrainian ancestors).

Thanks!

Michelle Singletary: Ah...so sweet. Thanks.

And you know you hit on a great point. This isn't just for immediate family. Singles got to eat too. So cook for each other because you build families among your friends, too.

I have a dear, dear single friend, wonderful writer, who just lost his job. One of the first things I said to him was that I wanted him to come over and let me cook for him.

There's comfort in cooking.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: To "New Knife": please check the latest issue of Consumer Reports; it has a great article about the subject.

Joe Yonan: Thanks!

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Suggestion for starting cook: Go to the farmer's market and pick some vegetables that look and smell beautiful. Talk to the farmers about how to prepare them. Then it's someone who really understands the food "teaching" you.

Bonnie Benwick: Nice.

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Columbia, Md.: Rangers, please help! Pork tenderloin has become my nemesis, and no matter how many times I try to make it, it always comes out dry and flavorless. Marinades, rubs, sauces -- nothing seems to help! Grilling is out since I'm in a condo. I'm ready to give up and admit defeat, but not before I ask you all for suggestions. Thank you!

Bonnie Benwick: How are you preparing it, Columbia? If you brown it in an ovenproof skillet, then transfer it to the oven to finish cooking (let's say at 350 or 375 degrees) and use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature (let's say 155 is tops; it'll rise a few degrees as the meat is resting. you let it rest for a bit before carving, right?), I don't think you can go wrong.

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Washington, D.C.: Michelle,

I appreciate your broader point that families that prepare meals and eat together can save money and nurture important family bonds. But can you speak to role of men and fathers in this process? I get that some women viewed cooking as something that held them back -- but isn't the solution to the original objection a greater sharing of these responsibilities?

Michelle Singletary: This is hard. We all want to do this equal thing all the time. Been married almost 18 years and there hardly any 50/50.

So yes, men should know how to cook for their families. Absolutely they are important to the family. But I believe that as the wife and mother I need to make sure good, healthy meals are made in my home (not to say we don't eat out and take in when things get crazy with our schedules).

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Philadelphia: One of the best things my parents did after making sure we knew the very basics of not hurting/poisoning ourselves or each other was to back off and let us experiment as we cooked. This was particularly useful in the teenage years when we knew more than our parents did about everything... Saturday lunches and baked treats would end up as interesting games at times as we tried to gross each other out with what we thought were weird combinations, but those experiments resulted in some good flavors (not always) and great family time (almost always).

If you are trying to get your kids into helping out, I would recommend trying to hunt down the Julia and Jacques series at your library if your PBS station doesn't air it. They generally would each make the same meal, but using their own techniques/preparations, and so is a great way to get across that there isn't just one "right" way to reach the end product. And they really seemed to enjoy cooking together.

Joe Yonan: Nice. Thanks.

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Burke, Va.: I already focus on trying to buy local, seasonal produce, and am trying to look ahead to the winter/spring when tomatoes will be a long distance memory. I am even more resolute in this after reading the article about the Florida tomato growers. To help in this end, I'm looking at oven drying tomatoes throughout the season, but the time, temperature, storage method, and storage time are all over the place when I looked on the Internet. Any help would be wonderful.

Joe Yonan: Try this recipe of mine for 12-Hour Tomatoes. The storage instructions say they last for a couple of weeks in the fridge, but I've found that if you top them with oil they'll stay fine for months in the fridge. (These aren't fully dried, but they're amazing).

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bok, bok, bok: The roast chicken and potatoes recipe looks amazing, but 890 calories per serving? Is there any way to bring the calories down, like skipping the butter?

Bonnie Benwick: More like skipping the skin. We had to account for all the chicken skin in the nutritionals.

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Wash, DC: I see you're giving away a cookbook for making 100-calorie snacks. Would you tell us, are any of these for dishes that can be served in large portions for a small calorie count, and if so, please share some of them with us! The 100 calorie desserts in the supermarket are teensy-weensy things. Although I am glad that Little Debbie now makes 100 calorie snack cakes, I do wish they were ... bigger.

Bonnie Benwick: Wash, did you see my blog post/review of Sally Sampson's cookbook? Cookbooks: 100 Calories, 250 Recipes. I'd say roughly a third of her recipes are for 4 to 6 servings.

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re coconut milk: Please post some recipes for using coconut milk in soup like the one you mentioned, and also in other non-curry dishes. I ate a delicious coconut milk cold rice salad at a brunch and have had no luck duplicating the dish at home. Thank you! And congrats on the award!

Jane Black: I don't have it here. It's the Indonesian carrot soup in the New England Soup Factory Cookbook. (Big plug for this book, though, truthfully I rarely follow this recipe exactly.) Just click on the link and then "look inside" the book. Search Indonesian Carrot soup.

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Fairfax City, Va.: My jaw almost dropped when I saw Michelle in the Food section this morning. I am a religious reader and subscriber to her suggestions and viewpoints in the business section. My husband adores her for her words, actually. So you can imagine our surprise when we saw her this morning sharing a viewpoint which we have also subscribed to for the longest time, or at least since we had children 7 years ago. My question to Michelle is, why do you think that we as women of a certain generation (I'm 37) were and are so proud to say that we don't cook? I used to wear the "I don't do cooking" badge so proudly and now realize how I actually shot myself in the foot. What do you think this is due to? Is it a result of some gender revolt? What were we thinking?

Michelle Singletary: Great question. I think for so long the women of our generation were told that we should be independent. Get a job. Count on NO MAN. We took that all to mean we shouldn't do some of the traditional things that held a family together and kept the house in peace -- cooking, cleaning, nurturing (even staying at home to raise kids).

I say that last point not to mean we shouldn't work but that somehow we stop valuing the women who chose to stay at home or the women who cook religiously for their families. We looked down on those skills as being, well, not modern.

I think we took the women's lib thing a bit too far.

I was just silly and stupid in the things I said before I got married and had kids. Cooking is such a great skill to have. And even if you don't want to be a "Top Chef"-type cook you should know some basics.

So I just wanted to let people know the mistakes I made and the regrets I have.

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Rockville, Md.: I'm curious as to how the Post staff arrives at its nutritional analysis of recipes. I'm on a sodium-restricted diet, so I always look at the sodium content of recipes.

Today's "Mango Salad with Ginger-Raisin Vinaigrette" calls for 1/8 t. of salt. According to the information on my box of Morton iodized salt, 1/4 t. of salt is equal to 590 mg of sodium. For ease of computation let's round this off to 600 mg. So, if 1/4 t. = 600 mg, then the 1/8 t. of salt called for in the recipe would contain half of that, or 300 mg. Since the recipe serves 6, then each serving would contain 50 mg (if you start with the 590 mg, that would still figure out as 49.166 mg).

However, your analysis says that each serving contains 37 mg of sodium. Now I realize that the difference between 50 and 37 isn't that big of a difference in sheer numbers, but if all your recipes contain misleading sodium information, that could be a big deal for those of us who watch our sodium intake.

So my question is: what is the base figure your computer uses for a 1/4 t. of salt?

Joe Yonan: When I first read your question, I assumed that the difference would be just between what Morton and our nutritional analysis program say for table salt, especially since the difference here is so small. And in fact, our program says 1/4 teaspoon is 580 mg. But thanks to you, we actually discovered that we entered the salt incorrectly, so we re-ran the analysis and came up with a total of 60 mg of sodium per serving for this recipe.

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For Michelle: Any ideas for getting kids to eat more fish? The only way they'll eat it is if I bread it and fry it in a little olive oil and I'm getting awfully tired of that.

Michelle Singletary: Oh, I so feel you on this. My son hates fish. Can't get him to eat it either. But I just keep trying. The girls like it.

Try catfish. I bake it in the oven, lightly coating it with breadcrumbs and he's managed to eat that. Salmon, too. Not much but a little bit.

And oh my goodness he actually tried and liked crab recently. We were all so shocked! I think it may have to do with the consistency of the meat.

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College Park: Maybe those snarking about Michelle's article never got to eat a home-cooked dinner around a dinner table and find out just what that adds. Michelle, don't you listen to them one little bit -- I loved the article! It's great to see an article that goes beyond just preparing food to the bigger issues of what it means to be a family. It brought back great memories of my family, with all six siblings, sitting around our huge dinner table EVERY night (rarely if ever did we eat out)... and my Mom was a great cook, and she passed that trait down to at least two of my sisters and myself, who consider it one of the most important things we can do as a mother. And it made me think of my Gram, too, who like Big Mama knew how to cook -- and in my Gram's case, bake wondrous things we all drooled for.

Michelle, maybe your next article can be about how much money one can save in a month by eating in vs. out! (maybe that would get some people's attention!)

Thanks, Food Section, for the great work!

Michelle Singletary: Thank you!

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Please address this scenario: Flooding causes a park to evacuate items from several historical buildings, the clean up is performed, and the evacuated items are placed back into their exhibit spaces. Whole event will likely take a few days. Let's say about fifty people will be involved at any given time and food will need to be available most of the time. What would you suggest for sandwiches, snacks, drinks, etc.? Thanks for your expertise.

Bonnie Benwick: Who's footing the bill or doing the food prep? Other than the obvious fresh fruit, cookies, drinks stuff you could manage, maybe you can lure a taco truck or other kind of food truck to pull up next to the park for several hours each of those days. Hot, fresh food's good for people who are working hard.

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Washington, D.C. salmon question: I once had a recipe for making salmon with vanilla extract. It was exquisitely wonderful. But I can't find the recipe anywhere. Can you think of one? I'm pretty sure it was baked in foil. Thanks in advance.

Bonnie Benwick: I'm temporarily stumped. Chatters?

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Bakers-Ville: Hi, I just wanted to comment on the nice article about sourdough pancakes today. I am an avid bread maker, who keeps a starter in his fridge. I have accidentally killed two of my starters over the years, and as a result have "harvested" my own wild yeast several times. If any of you are interested in it, there are a lot of easy ways to get started. The King Arthur Flour Website is a great source. I mostly make bread but the process can involve producing lots of extra starter, which I have used for both pancakes and waffles. The waffles this method makes are incredible -- crispy outsides, soft creamy interiors, and wonderful flavor.

Incidentally, the bread that I make with wild yeast is so superior to most commercial sourdoughs, which I think often have vitamin C added to up their sourness. Places like Marvelous Market or the Bread Line don't do that, of course, but nothing can compare to fresh from the oven homemade!

Joe Yonan: Now my stomach's rumbling.

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Pancakes: Hi, Foodies,

I love pancakes and especially used to love Aunt Jemima's buckwheat pancakes. The thing is, when I tried to make buckwheat pancakes from scratch, they were as dense as a soggy newspaper. Then I tried going half-and-half with buckwheat and white flour and they weren't tasty. So I'm wondering if you can tell me how to make tasty, light-ish buckwheat pancakes. Maybe there's some other ingredient I'm not thinking of? Or should I go back to the boxed mix? Thanks.

Jane Touzalin: Though I'm a pancake lover myself, I gotta admit that the buckwheat variety is not near the top of my list. So maybe other chatters have more experience with this one? I'm pretty sure most buckwheat pancake recipes do mix buckwheat with AP flour; otherwise, the result would be leaden, as you found out.

To make yours lighter, try separating the egg(s). Mix in the yolk with the other ingredients; use a beater to whip the whites to soft peaks, then fold very carefully into the rest of the batter.

Because the batter will have baking soda in it, don't let it sit around too long before you start ladling onto the griddle. Whatever you do, keep trying before you resort to a box!

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Knife: Cook's Illustrated consistently loves the Victorinox Chef's knife. It is only about $25 from a place like Amazon and compared favorably or better than knives from Gloval, Shun, and Wusthof.

Joe Yonan: That's right. I've recommended it myself. I still think you need to hold the knife before buying, but for a $25 investment, the risk is lower, that's for sure!

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Fairfax, Va.: Oh how I agree with your article! I enjoy cooking and my girls (now 5 and 12) work in the kitchen alongside me. I work full time days and my husband works nights. Having my younger help while the older is doing her homework keeps her occupied while allowing the older some uninterrupted time. She has memorized the ingredients for pumpkin pie as we make them a few times a month.

My older daughter and I cook together more on the weekends and during the summer; the older one has been responsible for one dinner a week since she was 10 (at her request). Planning the menu through cooking. I'm there to help if needed. I'll never forget how proud she was and how shocked my Mom was when, at 10, she cooked chicken and rice for grandma and grampa!

The important thing is to make it fun for them. I have learned not to freak at the dropped egg and other minor spills. They've learned that eggs break when dropped so be careful, and my older was the only Girl Scout in her troop who knew the conversions from t to T and cup to gallon! Best of all, along with the great bonding time, I've found our evenings are much calmer as the arguments don't have time to start when we're all having fun in the kitchen!

washingtonpost.com: If Big Mama Could See Me Now (The Washington Post, May 6, 2009)

Michelle Singletary: What a nice story. I'm working on a new book and my editor told me that she, too, let her kids plan a meal from beginning to end one day a week.

I'm going to try that. My young son and daughter will totally embrace that. My teen, well....

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Michelle, ignore that guy from Silver Spring: and yes, it sounds like a guy. You are right -- how many times do you see a celebrity, or a non celebrity, or one of those HGTV Househunters (or just professional women around D.C.) bragging about the stainless steeled/cherry cabineted/granite countertopped kitchen they have in their home that they use "to heat up leftovers" (giggle) and "I never cook." Sickening.

I once worked with a 23 year old young woman who didn't know how to make mashed potatoes -- so we 50-somethings told her. She came back the next day, mad at us -- we didn't tell her how long the potatoes took to cook. Seems she didn't cut them up, boiled them whole! Yikes! I don't know how her parents fed her growing up. Sad.

Joe Yonan: It's sad when anyone, male or female, doesn't learn to cook.

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Alexandria, Va.: Help me please? I have ground veal that I bought on sale and am not sure what to do with it but I have to use it tonight. I thought about burgers but also thought that was a bit of a cop-out and wasn't sure what seasoning to use with veal (as opposed to ground beef or turkey). Thank you!

Jane Black: And what is wrong with veal burgers? Yum.

A friend of mine had a bunch of us over for Sunday dinner this week. And he made four kinds of mini burgers, all from a book called "Build a Better Burger." The veal one (ok, half veal; half beef but you'll be fine with veal, I think) was mixed with breadcrumbs, pine nuts, a little cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne and dried rosemary. He stuffed them with mozzarella but you could melt a little on top or skip it together. Delicious.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I think watching those cooking shows is inspiring too. I still don't understand how their kitchens and fridges are all so clean and clutter free.

The Mexi-bake looks good. I'm going to suggest a variation from something we like.

I get a can of refried beans and stir them up so they're liquid, then use that as a layer. If you're stretching that across a bunch of hungry teens it adds filling, plus some protein and fiber.

washingtonpost.com: Easy Tex-Mex Bake (The Washington Post, May 6, 2009)

Michelle Singletary: Thanks. Good suggestion. Always looking for ways to stretch a meal.

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New York, N.Y.: Due to installation of a new elevator, I can no longer order food in (or I could, but it would mean doing the 10 flight walk a second time for the evening). After making dinner for two weeks, I'm amazed at how easy it is, but also how much I was relying on eating out even though I love to cook. I just figured after work it would be a pain and defaulted to sushi or Chinese. I live alone, so I also used to try to justify saying it was more expensive to cook for one. I found with good meal planning that isn't as true as I used to believe.

Joe Yonan: Welcome to my world!

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waste not, want not: I have almost a pint of cherry tomatoes that have gotten all wrinkly-withered but not rotten. Is there a good way to use them? Thanks in advance.

Bonnie Benwick: Take that wrinkling thing all the way, and roast them. 300 degrees, in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, for 50 to 60 minutes. You could use them for a salsa or on top of roasted fish or chicken.

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Burke, Va.: Your article reminded me that I really need to sit down with my mother and make sure we get the "family" recipes together somewhere. Just recently I asked her for a recipe that I could not find anywhere else, despite the use of Google. This is especially true for the cookie recipes -- my mother usually makes at least 8 kinds of cookies at Christmas -- which have been passed around on pieces of paper and stuck in cookbooks, but could be lost so easily.

Joe Yonan: Absolutely, this is such a worthwhile project. I wish I had one grandmother's blueberry pie recipe and another's recipes for chicken with rice and koufta.

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Washington, D.C: I can attest to the Victorinox knife. I got the 10" one for my birthday about a month ago and I love it. It's great for chopping, super sharp, and big. It's a little on the light side, but since it's so sharp (at least for now) that doesn't seem to matter. I like the handle too.

Joe Yonan: Nice!

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Lebanese Taverna: I have heard wonderful things about their cooking classes...

Joe Yonan: There's one vote!

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Williamsburg, Va.: Hi, Michelle. Thank you for sharing your memories of your Big Mama through your articles. This particular article could have been written by me and my sisters, but your Big Mama in the kitchen was our father in the kitchen. He was in the Army and one of his many passions was cooking. We were trained by him and my mother loved that he loved to cook. We are all grown and married with children now and our family celebrations are centered around remembering our father and all of the favorite recipes.

P.S.: I didn't boil my sweet potatoes the first time either!

Michelle Singletary: LOL.

I've heard from a lot of people who didn't boil their sweet potatoes. So glad it just wasn't me.

And let me say this. A lot of people are taking offense at the women need to cook thing. Seriously, this isn't about man bashing. I totally love that this person's dad did the cooking. My hubby and his fine self can cook like a pro.

It's not an all-or-nothing thing here folks. I was encouraging women. Encouraging women doesn't mean discouraging men.

Geesh!!!!!

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Kids and fish: I do this for fish and for chicken and everyone seems to like it:

Cut fish or chicken into strips about 1.5" x 5"

Dip the strip into rice flour or cornstarch, shake.

Dip into beaten egg white.

Dip into Panko crumbs and coat well. shake

Spray one side of the strip with PAM, lay onto a oven-proof wire rack. Spray other side with PAM.

Bake at about 425 for 10-12 min (time can vary based on size and type of protein -- essentially bake until done).

Michelle Singletary: That's close to what I do. Thanks for helping me out.

It really does work and less fat.

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coconut milk again: Please share your thoughts on light vs. whole coconut milk. I prefer light for home-made curry but assume it won't do for some dishes. Or will it? And how unhealthy is the whole-fat version?

Bonnie Benwick: I'm not sure unhealthy is the right way to think of it. People usually look for a way to reduce fat, and we've found in testing recipes that for curries and rice puddings the reduced-fat version of coconut milk works fine. Then again, others may disagree.

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Dry pork in Columbia again...: Bonnie, I generally sear it in a pan and then let it finish cooking in the oven. I took one out last week when the temperature reached 145 thinking the resting time would be enough to bring it up to temp and still leave it moist. Nope, still dry. What am I doing wrong? Could it just be the cut of meat I'm buying? I usually buy the packaged loins from Costco.

Bonnie Benwick: Hmm. I've bought those. Let's discuss over the phone. Call me. (202-334-7575 for the main Food line.)

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re buckwheat pancakes: I forgot the baking soda! No wonder they were yucky! Thanks!!

Joe Yonan: Aha!

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Palm Bay, Fla.: Hey Jane!

How about giving out that carrot/cilantro soup recipe?

Jane Black: See previous answer. You can sneak it out of the book on Amazon.

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Dupont Circle, D.C.: How come no one addresses men in the kitchen? My boyfriend doesn't know what he's doing at all so he defers to me. I can't make him cook, then he'll just say "let's go out." So that's why I don't cook. It keeps the playing field even.

Jane Black: Yes, but then you have to go out. And that's such a different experience. I think Michelle's point was that keeping it "fair" was important but it takes away from the pleasure of a family meal. If he defers to you, I'd encourage him to cook rather than standing on ceremony...

But then, that's Carolyn Hax territory.

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Philly: When you do sit down to bring together those family recipes, make sure you test them out together, or ask to see the other person's measuring devices -- sometimes the "cup" someone is talking about will be an actual drinking cup, etc. Or, as in my family's situation, sometimes it's the difference between European and American measuring devices.

Bonnie Benwick: Cup measuring differences ARE huge.

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Charm City, Md.: For Michelle: Although you described using your memories of watching your grandmother cook, do you also depend on cookbooks (and if so, which ones are your "go-to" favorites?) I guess that part of what I'm getting at is that in addition to the "won't or can't cook"/"cook all the time" dichotomy do you think there's a "gotta follow the recipe exactly"/"experiential divide"?

Michelle Singletary: Good question. I'm away from my kitchen so I don't have the names of all the cookbooks I use. But I grab a lot of those little cookbooks you see at the grocery checkout. In fact, I use them most of the time. I also download recipes from Internet. And of course the Post's food section. In fact I've had one Thanksgiving section they did for years. It's so beaten up.

But I stray from the recipes ALL the time. Like my son, I don't like spicy foods. So I will change recipes that call for hot, hot stuff. I add and take away. For example, with the Tex Mex recipe in today's paper, I add much more cilantro than the recipe calls for because I LOVE that herb.

So go for it. Do what you like. I do. Change things all the time.

Bonnie Benwick: To be clear, than the original recipe called for. The one that ran in Food today has Michelle's adaptations.

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Reston, Va.: I recently poached chicken breasts in coconut milk. I was using them in a Thai-inspired dish, so the flavor worked, but then I used the leftovers in chicken salad and it was fantastic. Moist, but without a really strong coconut flavor.

Bonnie Benwick: That's a good tip.

Jane Black: Great idea. If you add a little ginger to the poaching liquid that might add something too. Just a thought.

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Brine that Bird!: For the chatter with the blah chicken and the other with the dry pork. Brine! This adds flavor, moisture, and even if you accidentally overcook it will still taste great. Ruhlman has a great section on this subject in "Charcuterie."

Bonnie Benwick: Sure, that's a good way to go. He does love to brine, that Mr. Ruhlman.

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Preparing Thanksgiving the first time: My first turkey did not turn out as well as Ms. Singletary's, to put it mildly. I lived in a rental apartment with an old stove with no markings visible on the oven dial. I assumed they had worn off. Based on the years of cooking and baking I had done, I set the dial to what looked like 375.

I'd never heard of an oven that didn't self-regulate. This one didn't -- It kept getting hotter and hotter, unbeknownst to me. After cooking for what I thought was the correct amount of hours per pound, the turkey came out so wizened, it could not be cut with a knife.

Everyone was very kind about the inedible main dish, but really, sweet potatoes and green beans alone do not Thanksgiving make.

Michelle Singletary: You know I understand.

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Bosque Farms, N.M.: For Boston who wants to bake sourdough bread. I have been baking sourdough bread for 30 years from the same starter (or at least I've kept "feeding" the same starter since I received it 30 years ago). I would be happy to email Boston about my experiences if you want to share he/she is interested in communicating with a long-time sourdough baker.

You don't need to publish my email address as part of the chat but if it isn't too late, maybe you can help me make contact with Boston. spackslider@gmail.com Thanks.

Bonnie Benwick: Hey, see Jane Touzalin's post on our blog, and share with all of us... .

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Joe Yonan: Well, we're golden brown on both sides and definitely cooked through, so you know what that means: We're done. Thanks for the great questions (sniping included or not), and hope we helped.

Now for the giveaways: The chatter who asked about snacks in large quantities will get "100-Calorie Snack Cookbook." The chatter whose handle is "Where to begin?" and talked about how her husband cooks but she wants to, too, will get "The Family Chef." As a bonus, the Silver Spring chatter who came to the Food section's defense against "grousing" will get "Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and With Kids."

Until next week, happy cooking, eating and reading! And don't forget to read our daily blog.

Oh, I almost forgot -- book winners, send your mailing info to food@washpost.com.

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