Cooking with Bruce and Mark

For years we've heard that we have to ditch our wooden cutting boards and buy plastic ones. Maybe you're already done that. Plastic was supposed to be more sanitary. You can put it in the dishwasher. Well, true, you can put it in the dishwasher and you have to wash wooden and bamboo boards by hand. But that's about it. They both can retain bacteria but if you properly wash them they're both safe. So why choose one over the other? Plastic is convenient - you CAN put it in the dishwasher. And wood? Well it's stylish, old school, and it feel great when you cut on it with a knife. So choose which ever you like and don't worry that one is cleaner than the other. 

Even back in chef school we were taught that we throw a handful of salt in the pot of water to make the water boil at higher temperature so the pasta cooks faster. WRONG. A handful of salt in a pot of water barely effects the boiling point of that water. What the salt does is make that pasta taste better. The same goes for stews, soups, and what ever you're cooking on the stove. So use salt, but use it because you like the flavor, but because you think you're cheating the cooking gods into making your water boil any hotter. 

Dried fruit pie. It doesn't sound too appetizing. But it's a true holiday treat, best served with vanilla ice cream or a vanilla sauce.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We developed this recipe for our compendium cookbook, THE ULTIMATE COOKBOOK, which you can find here.

Inspired by the rich fruity sweetness of mincemeat but without the suet (or beef fat), our version uses a ton of dried fruit, a smattering of winter spices, and the flakiest crust you've ever tasted.

It's a lot easier than it sounds and this recipe will become your family's favorite for years to come.

Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough offer you a lighter, easy meal. It's a great main course after heavy holiday cooking. Or after weekend guests have finally decamped.

A pressure cooker makes this stew so fast. It also blends the flavors in a marvelous balance. We got a little cross-cultural with flavors from North African, the Middle East, and India, all blended together to create a fabulous stew that takes under ten minutes in the pressure cooker. You can use an electric or a stovetop model and get dinner on the table in no time.

We were both raised being told we had to drink 8 tall glasses of water every day. And we both had to pee all the time. In the movies, in school, at our friends' houses. Too much. Enough already. Do we really need to drink 1/2 gallon of water every day. Maybe, but maybe not. We get water from a lot of other places than say, water. We get it from coffee, tea, sodas, fruits, veggies, even a burger has water. So why were we told we had to drink so much? It was a misguided way to get kids to stop drinking so much coke. Drink water instead and you won't be as thirsty for coke. But the truth is we do need to drink water but not necessarily 64 oz a day. More if you live in hot climates, less if you live where it's cool and damp. More if you're larger, less if your smaller. So drink water. Drink it because you like it. Drink it because you're thirsty. But don't drink 64oz a day because some doctor in 1974 told your grandmother that you should. 

In most of the episodes of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK, Mark Scarbrough, the writer in our team, cooks while Bruce Weinstein, the chef, watches and critiques. But in this episode, Mark, the goy, teaches Bruce how to make eggnog, the most Christian of all your holiday beverages.

Eggnog is actually quite simple to make. There's no cooking, just a lot of whisking. Plus, a lot of milk, a lot of cream, a lot of sugar, and a lot--and we mean a lot--of brandy, rum, and bourbon.

And you have to get started a little before the holidays. The stuff needs time to ripen in your fridge. You'd best get going if the holidays are coming.

Listen in and find out how to make the easiest and most delicious holiday eggnog.

After writing over 30 cookbooks, we know a thing or two about how to describe what's going on in the kitchen. And it drives us nuts to read recipes that offer up instructions that just don't make sense. De-bone the chicken? Hmm, do you de-peel and apple? Nope? Then you don't de-bone a chicken, de-pit an olive, or de-peel and banana. You simply bone, pit, or peel them.  But there are more and we'll offer you up a laugh filled episode as we take down these culinary recipe cliches.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. A long time ago--over ten years ago!--we wrote THE ULTIMATE BROWNIE BOOK. We love all things brownie but we never considered making brownies in a turbo blender like a VitaMix or a BlendTec.

In this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK, Mark's going to make easy, gluten-free, fudgy brownies using only the turbo blender and the oven. It's simple, quick, and so delicious, particularly with (gluten-free? or vegan?) vanilla ice cream.

Listen in, copy down the recipe, and never deprive yourself again of this chocolate deliciousness again, whether you're gluten-free or just a lover of fudgy brownies.

It was so common in the movies of the 40s and 50s for someone to be served coffee to sober them up fast that we all as a society believed it to be true. Get drunk. Drink Coffee. Drive home. Not cool. The only thing that sobers you up is time. Time for your liver to process the alcohol in your blood, to degrade it and remove if from your circulation so that you can think clearly and react quickly once again. Coffee, on the other hand, is full of caffeine which is a stimulant. IT makes you feel more alert, but in fact you're still drink with all that comes along with that; bad decision making, slow response time, and perhaps dancing around wth a lamp shade on your head. The trouble is you're more alert so you think you can do anything, like drive home. So actually, coffee and drinking is a bad combination. If someone you know is drunk and wants to drive, stop them. Don't give them coffee. Give them a large glass of water, to help with alcohol's dehydrating nature, a couple of aspirin and let them sleep it off on your couch. 

Bundt cake? We're going old school with this cranberry walnut one that's got pumpkin in the mix.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. If you don't know, Bruce is the chef and Mark, the writer. Mark doesn't cook much, what with two books published a year, plus the ones ghost-written for celebrities. (Shhhh . . . confidentiality agreements.)

Mark is back in the kitchen with cranberry walnut pumpkin Bundt cake. Bruce is watching, helping, judging, and making color commentary on this autumnal dessert.

In this recipe, Mark uses pumpkin that Bruce has already roasted, seeded, drained, and collected. But you can use canned pumpkin and the cake will turn out just as tasty.

Other incredible ingredients include dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, diced candied orange peel, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Listen in as Mark cooks. Then get in your kitchen and bake this cake!