Brown Sugar

Way back when, we wrote about a guy named Nick Fauchald who decided to do a series of small, single topic cookbooks. The idea was a big hit and we wrote about their very first book, Eggs by Ian Knauer.  Like many good ideas, the daily grind of such endeavors often get the better of the creator (hey, we used to post EVERY day!) but lucky for us Fauchald's Short Stack Series is still growing strong.

Here is one of our favorites, Brown Sugar by Libbie Summers.  We love Summers' books.  Sweet & Vicious is a go to baking book and we don't know why we never wrote about The Whole Hog Cookbook.  (It is a common problem here, we become convinced that we have written about cookbooks that we haven't.  We are working to rectify that oversight.)

Short Stack Editions are small, hand sewn cook booklets printed on electric-colored paper. Brown Sugar has internal pages of shocking pink! It is well balanced in terms of recipes, as most people think of brown sugar as a cookie ingredient, Summers offers up appetizers, vegetables, salads, main dishes and a dessert or two featuring that muddy sugar stuck in the back of the pantry.

Drag that bag out front! Better still, by a new bag if it was tucked way, way back in the corner. Yes, there are caramelized potatoes, brined salmon, and even cookies, but there is also a really cool drink or two.  Our favorite has a bit of alcohol in it.

The James Brown Sugar

1 1/4 ounce bourbon
3/4 ounce Cointreau
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Juice of 1 orange (about 2 ounces)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 ounce)
Dash Angostura bitters
Dash blood orange bitters
1 orange twist

Fill a pint-sized canning jar with ice and add all the ingredients except the orange twist. Screw on the lid and shake well. Remove the lid and twist the orange peel over a glass and drop into the drink. Add a straw and serve.

Rumor has it, the drink was christened by another name, but after a party-goer had a few and a few more, he began working the event as a business venture. The cocktail was renamed for the hardest working man in show biz!  Actually, a fitting cocktail for the hardest working Libbie Summers.

Looking for a quick gift, look no further that a Short Stack Edition.

Eggs

It is one of our favorite cookbook subjects: the incredible, edible egg.  Now this little book is a rare and cool treat.   We must digress....

Once upon a time a guy named Nick Fauchald decided to do a series of magazine/cookbooks and he headed to Kickstarter.  The idea was to create small, hand made cookbooks.   The idea was a big hit.

Volume One featured eggs; you had us at eggs....

Enter the writer of Eggs, one Ian Knauer.   Yes, you might look at Mr. Knauer and think:  hipster poser dude.   You would be wrong.  Knauer has serious food chops.  He was also raised on a farm.  An actual farm!  He wrote a fine cookbook about food from that farm entitled, The Farm, and we liked it very much.

Moving on... The Farm is now a PBS show.  (PBS is this really weird entity where each individual station picks and chooses what they air and, where I live, never really shows the programing that is getting the buzz which is a huge pain, but I digress again...) Do check your listing and best of luck.

Since the Holidays are upon us, we thought we would give a shout out to an eggy drink that is not a nog, but a fizz.

Strawberry Rhubarb Rum Fizz

2 fresh strawberries, hulled
2 ounces white or amber rum
1 ounce Aperol
1 ounce cream sherry
Angostura bitters
1 large egg white

Muddle the strawberries in a cocktail shaker.  Add enough ice to fill the shaker halfway, then add the rum, Aperol, sherry, bitters and egg white.  Shake until your hands are very cold, about 45 seconds.  Strain the fizz into a chilled coupe and serve.

Each little Short Stack has a witty cover and brightly colored pages.  Each booklet is hand stitched by folks with developmental disabilities, giving them a job.  Yes, there is a "but" coming on.
The bright and zippy paper often makes for lousy contrast.  Eggs is on a nice yolky colored paper, so the contrast is OK, but be forewarned, you may need a good light to read the recipes.

Grab up a set of Short Stack Editions here.

Follow Ian Knauer's The Farm here and you just might find a PBS channel to watch his show.