Salmon with Lentils

 June 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2023

I learned about this classic French preparation, Saumon Aux Lentilles,  on a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen on TV. Salmon is our favorite fish and this recipe seemed to provide a new and easy method to prepare it. In addition, the lentils, which we had heretofore only had in soup, seemed a good pairing for the fish, so this recipe made it onto my list of things to try.

I made a few modifications to the ingredients: I cooked two rather than four salmon filets, used green lentils in place of French du Puy lentils (hard to find), and replaced sherry vinegar with red wine vinegar. 

First the lentils were prepared. Onion, celery, and carrot were diced fine and cooked with salt in olive oil until softened. Minced garlic, tomato paste, dried thyme, and pepper were added and cooked. Water and lentils were stirred into the mixture and simmered until the lentils were tender. Just before serving vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil were stirred into the lentils. The lentil preparation, mostly hands off, took about 70 minutes. 

The salmon was brined for 15 minutes then patted dry with paper towels. It was placed, skin-side down, in a cold non-stick skillet that had been sprinkled with salt and pepper. Additional salt and pepper were sprinkled on the top of the salmon and the skillet was heated on medium-high. The salmon was cooked until the skin started to brown and the bottom ¼-inch turned opaque. The salmon was carefully turned over and cooked to 125°. It took about 15 minutes to cook the salmon. The total time to prepare lentils and salmon was about 85 minutes.

We both liked this dish. This simple method of cooking the salmon ensured that the flavor of the fish was preeminent with no distractions from a sauce or glaze. We also liked the lentils and can imagine fixing them again to go with other entreés. They provide a a strong earthy accompaniment to the rich salmon. For leftovers the lentils were simply reheated while cooking two new salmon filets.

Blueberry Pie

 May 2025

Recipe from The Perfect Pie, Americas's Test Kitchen, 2019, page 30; also available online

This pie was inspired by a bad blueberry pie that I purchased at Whole Foods. Since it is blueberry season I thought some store-bought pie would be good but I was wrong. The crust was unremarkable and the pie lacked any real blueberry flavor. The filling was dominated by the flavor of nutmeg rather than blueberries. I'm glad I only bought half a pie.

For our homemade blueberry pie the crust was made using the all-butter crust recipe (page 320 of The Perfect Pie) which I have written about before. It took 45 minutes to prepare the crust which was divided into two halves each of which was  chilled in the refrigerator for two hours. After warming for about 10 minutes, the first portion of dough was rolled out,  fitted into a 9" pie plate, and refrigerated. The second portion was rolled into a 12" circle, 1¼" circles were cut from it (to allow steam to escape), and also refrigerated. 

Half of the blueberries, 3 cups, were mashed in a saucepan and cooked over medium heat until the mixture was reduced to about 1½ cups. It was then set aside to cool. A peeled Granny Smith apple was grated and a towel used to squeeze out most of the water. The dry grated apple was placed in a large bowl and mixed with sugar, ground instant tapioca (ground using a mortar and pestle), lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, the cooked blueberries, and the remaining 3 cups of whole berries. The berry mixture was poured into the prepared pie plate and chunks of butter were scattered over the surface. The top crust was added in the usual way and brushed with an egg wash. The pie was baked in a pre-heated 400° oven for 25 minutes then another 55 minutes at 375°. Total time was 45 minutes for the dough plus 2 hours chilling and 70 minutes to prepare the filling. Total time from start to taking the pie out of the oven was about 5½ hours, much of it hands off, and not counting the subsequent cooling time.

We enjoyed this pie. It had a great blueberry flavor and the crust was light and buttery. Making this pie was a project, though. It took most of a day to make, created a lot of dirty dishes, and the berries, in particular, were not cheap to buy. It would be worth making again but it's not a dessert to make on a regular basis, but perhaps just when blueberries are in season.

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes for Two

 May 2025

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen, Season 25, Episode "Spring Dinner for Two"

I have not found an accompaniment for fresh strawberries that I was totally happy with. My mother would serve them with biscuits; I think she made them with Bisquik. So I was happy to try this recipe after seeing it on a recent ATK TV show. It was introduced as an update of an old ATK recipe which has been pared down for two people because the biscuits do not keep well, so it could be a good fit for the two of us.

We picked berries ourselves, mostly for jam but also to make this shortcake, so they were perfectly ripe and very fresh. Two cups of berries was divided: ¾ cup was mashed and the remainder sliced. The prepared berries were mixed with just 5 teaspoons of sugar and set aside.

For the biscuits, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined using a food processor. Chilled butter was scattered over the flour mixture and pulsed to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. The flour mixture was transferred to a bowl. Half and half (which I made with a 2:1 mixture of milk to heavy cream) and an egg were whisked together then stirred into the flour mixture with a spatula forming a uniform, sticky dough. The dough was divided into two portions which were shaped into rounds about 2½-inches in diameter and an inch thick, painted with lightly beaten egg white, and sprinkled with sugar. These were baked in a 425° oven then allowed to cool for 15 minutes. Between starting and serving these took an hour to make.

These are delicious biscuits! They were tender, still slightly warm when served, with a sweet, crispy crust. I'd say that I've found my favorite recipe for biscuits to have with strawberries. The biscuits, though, were too large, the recipe could make half as many biscuits which would serve us well. They also take a fair amount of time. We usually have our dessert a few hours after dinner so having to spend that evening time in the kitchen is less than ideal.

Spice-Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

May 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2025

The magazine article had recipes for barbecue spice-roasted chicken and curry-roasted chicken. We like dark-meat poultry and this recipe looked easy to carry out, appropriate for a weeknight, and would make easy to reheat leftovers for a second meal. We chose the more familiar-sounding barbecue recipe.

Each of the recipes included instructions and ingredients for an easy to make dipping sauce but we skipped it this time. I cooked 5 drumsticks, 1.3 pounds, about half of what the recipe specified, but I made the full spice recipe. A spice rub was made by mixing kosher salt, brown sugar, pepper, coriander, cumin, granulated garlic (substituting for garlic powder), onion powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper (just ⅛ teaspoon). The spices were bloomed to bring out their flavors by mixing with warm tap water then, after a few minutes of hydration, vegetable oil to make a loose slurry. The drumsticks were patted dry with paper towels, rolled in the spice slurry, then placed on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet that had been lined with aluminum foil. The chicken was baked in a 350° oven to an internal temperature of 180° then broiled for a few minutes to brown the drumsticks. Total time, mostly roasting, was 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this very flavorful chicken. The spices added a lot of flavor but not too much. The chicken was tender and juicy and the skin crisp. This is a dish to make again, perhaps with the curry spice mixture.

Dollywood-Style Cinnamon Bread

April 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2024 

I have never been to Dollywood but I've read that their cinnamon bread is very popular. Since I don't have a go-to cinnamon bread recipe I thought I should give it a try using the ATK version. Cinnamon bread is not something I make very often, though, partly because there is a very good version (available even on Amazon) from a San Jose bakery. Looking back through the blog there are some other possibilities that I have tried such as Amish Cinnamon Bread and Cinnamon Swirl Bread that I should try again. 

For the dough, flour and yeast were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Warm water was added to the flour mixture and, using the dough hook, mixed until no dry flour remained. After the dough rested for 15 minutes melted butter, sugar, and salt were added and the dough kneaded on the mixer. The sticky, wet dough was rested until doubled in volume. While the dough rested a sugar coating was made by mixing brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. The dough was patted into a 8x4-inch rectangle and cut into 5 equal rectangles. These were each coated in melted butter, rolled in the sugar mixture, and placed in a loaf pan. After rising until puffy the loaf was baked for about 30 minutes. While still hot a mixture of melted butter and  the sugar mixture were combined and brushed onto the warm loaf. I did not add the optional sugar glaze. Total time was about 4 hours, about 2½ hours was hands off. 

This bread is very rich with a lot of cinnamon and butter. There is no need to toast it or to add additional butter as it is already very buttery. It's a little messy to eat with the butter cinnamon mixture on the top and sides of most slices. There is nothing wrong with this decadent bread but I think I prefer some of the other breakfast breads that I have had. It was fun trying, though.

Fresh Salmon Burgers

April 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2024

Our favorite fish to have for dinner is salmon and we usually use a recipe for double-glazed salmon with the maple and liquid smoke glaze. Frozen salmon filets are kept on hand and the ingredients for this glaze are all pantry staples. The salmon is good to eat and easy to prepare. Nonetheless it would be good to find another way to prepare salmon to provide some variety. Thus I was interested in this recipe for salmon burgers from a recent edition of Cook's Illustrated. (And in another recent salmon cakes recipe from Americas's Test Kitchen TV show which I intend to try soon.)

Four salmon filets were skinned resulting in 1 pound of salmon; the recipe is for 1¼ pounds, so close enough. These were cut into ¾-inch pieces which were par-frozen and coarsely chopped, with salt, in the food processor. The chopped salmon was mixed in a bowl with a mixture of panko bread crumbs, fresh parsley, mayonnaise, lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard, and pepper. The salmon mixture was divided into four portions which were shaped into 3½-inch patties on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan. These were then placed in an unheated nonstick skillet and cooked over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes per side. After resting on the parchment for 5 minutes they were served. Total time was about 1 hour. 

The burgers were served on homemade slider buns with ketchup or mayonnaise, eschewing the sriracha mayonnaise condiment in the recipe. The burgers were juicy and tasty with a strong salmon flavor with the other flavors providing complimentary background notes. They were a little crumby and we found them to be too large, both for the buns and for our stomachs. When we had them as leftovers we divided a burger in half and this worked out well. We could also try them without the buns. We will want to try the other salmon burger recipe but this one may become a regular for us. 

Chocolate Biscotti

 April 2025

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

I first made almond biscotti almost 10 years ago and I enjoyed them so much that I have made them many times in the last decade. From time to time I've looked for a comparable recipe for a chocolate version with no luck, until recently when I saw their preparation demonstrated on the TV show Julia at Home. 

The two biscotti recipes are very similar. Some of the flour in the almond biscotti recipe was replaced with unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-processed) plus expresso powder and the almond extract was omitted. The almonds were chopped in a food processor with some of them being processed into a fine flour. To this almond flour the AP flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt were added and pulsed in the food processor to combine. Setting the flour mixture aside in a bowl, eggs were processed for 3 minutes then, with the processor running, sugar was slowly added followed by melted butter and vanilla. The egg mixture was transferred to a bowl and half of the flour mixture was gently folded in. Then the remaining flour and chopped nuts were folded in. The slightly sticky dough was divided and shaped into two 8x3-inch loaves, brushed with egg white, and baked. After the loaves had cooled they were carefully cut into ½-inch slices, on a bias, and the slices were baked again on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet, flipping them halfway through baking. I didn't time how long it took to make these biscotti but it was probably about 2 hours.

One of the beauties of the original recipe is the texture of the biscotti. They are hard and crisp but not teeth-shattering hard. This is also true for the chocolate version. Both types of biscotti are enjoyable to eat and taste great. It is good to now have a choice of two biscottis to make when the urge hits. The chocolate biscotti can also be made with hazelnuts and I would like to try that some day.

Fried Chicken for Two

 March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2014

I was attracted to this recipe because it promised fried chicken with less oil than other recipes. Dealing with large quantities of used cooking oil is one of the reasons for not deep frying chicken, or other foods, at home. I have tried several recipes for making fried chicken at home, some with and some without the oil-mess problem. Why not try another.

I used frozen buttermilk; after thawing it was whisked as the components had separated. The resulting buttermilk was not as thick as it had been originally. Four bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed and seasoned with salt and pepper. Flour, baking powder, garlic powder, dried thyme, cayenne, salt, and pepper were combined in a shallow dish. A little buttermilk was added to the flour mixture and rubbed with fingers to form shaggy pieces. Buttermilk was also placed in a separate shallow dish. The chicken pieces were dipped in the buttermilk, dredged in the seasoned flour, placed on a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet, and chilled in the refrigerator for a little over half an hour. Vegetable oil was added to a non-stick, 10" skillet to a depth of ½ inch and heated over medium heat to 350°. The chicken was added skin-side down, covered, and fried until deep golden brown. The cover was removed from the pan, the chicken turned over, and fried to an internal temperature of 175°. Two smaller pieces were done sooner than the two larger pieces. During cooking the burner was adjusted several times to maintain an oil temperature around 300°. The finished chicken rested on paper towels for about five minutes. Total time, including 30+ minutes chilling, was 1 hour 20 minutes.

This is good fried chicken. The coating is crisp without being tough, adheres well to the chicken, and tastes good. The chicken is not too salty or too spicy and is well seasoned with a nice hint of garlic. This recipe provided two meals for the two of us. However the oil did overflow the pan when the chicken and lid were added. If I make this again I might try our other 10" skillet or perhaps use a little less oil. Cleanup was easier because of the availability of an empty oil bottle: I could ladle the used oil into the bottle and then discard it.

M&M Cookies

March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, December 2020

I've had M&M cookies but I've never made them myself. They are similar to chewy, buttery chocolate chip cookies, which I make on a regular basis, with M&M's in place of chocolate chips the most obvious  difference. A recent episode of the Cook's Country TV show inspired me to make them myself. As a bit of a bonus the dough is made by hand, no mixer.

I used plain, dark chocolate M&M's because that's what we stock in our cupboard for snacking and for trail mix. Flour, salt, and baking soda were whisked together in a bowl. In a larger bowl melted unsalted butter was whisked with brown sugar and granulated sugar. An egg plus a yolk and vanilla were whisked into the butter mixture until fully combined. Half of the flour mixture was gently stirred into the butter mixture followed by the second half of the flour mixture and the M&M's. The dough was portioned onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet using a #30 scoop. (This is my favorite size for making cookies, the recipe specifies somewhat larger cookies.) I put 8 scoops of dough on the half sheet pan then flattened them to ½-inch disks. These were baked in a hot oven, 425°, for about 8 minutes.  The recipe made 28 cookies in about 65 minutes.

The cookies are blond with a crispy exterior and chewy interior. When I first ate them I thought they were a little bland, perhaps I was unconsciously comparing them to brown butter chocolate chip cookies. They are not very sweet putting a premium on the butter and chocolate flavors. As I've eaten more of them I have grown to like them more and more. These colorful cookies are worth baking again.

Glazed All-beef Meatloaf

 March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2006

I have tried several different recipes for meatloaf and written about them in this blog. For the last several years my go-to recipe was quick mini-meatloaf. Not only is the size of this dish convenient but it is easy to make and good to eat. I don't know what drew my attention to this older all-beef recipe, perhaps because it was an ATK Staff Selection for their 25th year, but I added it to my list of meatloaf experiments.

Monterey Jack cheese was grated on the medium holes of a box grater, spread on a plate, and placed in the freezer. Freezing prevents it from clumping. A rimmed baking sheet was lined with aluminum foil then a cooling rack was put inside. A perforated 10"x6" piece of foil was placed in the center of the rack. Finely chopped onion and celery were cooked in butter until they started to brown. Minced garlic, fresh thyme, and paprika were added and cooked for a minute then some V8 (in place of tomato juice) was added. This onion mixture was moved to a small bowl. Chicken broth and eggs were whisked in a large bowl then sprinkled with gelatin and let stand to bloom the gelatin. Soy sauce, Dijon mustard, crushed saltine crackers, minced fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and the onion mix were stirred into the egg mixture. The frozen cheese was crumbled into the mixture then ground beef was added (I used 1 pound 93% lean plus 1 pound 85% lean.) and mixed by hand. The meat mixture was transferred onto the foil rectangle on the cooling rack, smoothed with a wet spatula, and baked for about an hour in a 375° oven until the center of the meatloaf was 135°–140°.

While the meatloaf baked a glaze was made by cooking together ketchup, hot pepper sauce (as usual I used half the recipe amount), ground coriander, cider vinegar, and light brown sugar until thickened. Half of the glaze was spread on the meatloaf and broiled until bubbly. The last half of the glaze was then added and broiled again. It took 70 minutes to prepare the meat loaf for baking and a total of 2 hours 40 minutes from start to table.

This meatloaf was bit of a project to make though the ingredients were all pantry staples and nothing was difficult to do. We enjoyed eating it both the day it was made and as leftovers. It is tasty and has a nice tender texture, nothing like a burger, say, due in some part to the inclusion of gelatin in the all-beef mixture. The glaze is well balanced and not too spicy so its flavor did not overwhelm the meat loaf. This meat loaf should keep well in the refrigerator or the freezer and will provide us with many dinners.

French Onion Soup

March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, February 2020

I like having French Onion Soup in restaurants but I have little experience making it myself and I haven't tried it from a can. About ten years ago I made a version of this soup which came out well but I don't think I've made it since then. After seeing a newer recipe demonstrated on TV I was tempted into trying it again.

Four pounds of onion (four largish onions) were sliced thin and placed into a Dutch oven with melted butter, sugar, and salt then covered and cooked for about 20 minutes with occasional stirring. The cover was removed and cooking continued to evaporate most of the liquid that had been released from the onions and to start to caramelize them. With the liquid gone the cooking continued for an additional 30 minutes, with occasional stirring and scraping the bottom of the Dutch oven, until the onions were a uniform caramel color. A cup of red wine was stirred into the onions and cooked until almost entirely evaporated. Beef broth (we use Better Than Bouillon concentrate to make broth), fresh thyme sprigs, bay leaves, salt, and pepper were added and the mixture simmered for another 30 minutes. (During this time croutons were made from a store-bought baguette, olive oil, salt, and pepper.)  Because we don't have oven-safe soup bowls, two portions of the soup were transferred into a Corningware dish then sprinkled with grated Gruyère cheese, croutons, more Gruyère, and some grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. This was baked in a 500° oven to melt the cheese then transferred to soup bowls for serving. Total time 2 hours 40 minutes; while much of this time was hands off the soup required frequent visits to stir the onions and adjust the burner temperature. We should get about four dinners from this recipe.

We enjoyed this soup. It was not hard to make but because of the time taken to cook the onions it is a bit of a project. Because the final step of melting the cheese was not done in the serving bowls the croutons  were mixed in with the soup, becoming soggy, and the melted cheese was more dispersed through the soup than it would be otherwise, but these are minor complaints. Served with salad it makes a good cold-weather dinner.

Note: The notes in the recipe described a method for adding the cheese and croutons for bowls that are not oven safe. I tried this for some of the leftover soup and it worked well, better than toasting the croutons and cheese in a different bowl than used for eating. A mound of croutons is made on a baking sheet then covered with grated cheeses. This is placed under the broiler for 2-3 minutes then transferred with a spatula to a bowl of hot soup.

Cold-start Pan-seared Chicken Breasts

March 2025

 Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2024

I have used the cold-start method for steak and for pork chops. This straightforward technique is my go-to method for cooking steak. So when a recipe was published using this technique for chicken breasts I immediately want to try it. 

The recipe is for chicken breast plus a mustard and caraway pan sauce. A boneless, skinless chicken breast was pounded to about ½-inch thick, brushed with vegetable oil, and sprinkled with kosher salt. It was placed in a cold nonstick skillet then cooked over high heat (8 on our stove) for 2 minutes. The breast was flipped and cooked for another 2 minutes.  The heat was reduced to medium (4) and the meat was flipped every 2 minutes until the internal temperature read 155°. It was rested under a loose foil tent for 10 minutes. While the chicken rested the pan sauce was made. Chopped shallot was cooked on medium heat in olive oil until lightly golden. Chicken broth was added and simmered on medium-high heat to reduce it to about 2 tablespoons. Cream and chicken juices were stirred in and reduced slightly. Dijon mustard and ground (mortar and pestle) caraway seeds were stirred into the sauce. Total time to make this dish was about 45 minutes.

This is a good chicken dish. Cooking the chicken this way couldn't be much easier. The sauce, which was also easy to make, tasted good and it was a good accompaniment to what is a lean and rather bland protein. We shared one chicken breast and had enough sauce left over for another. It was quick enough for a weeknight meal. The web site also has a recipe for a cherry and rosemary pan sauce and I could see using barbecue sauce, too.

Pasta alla Vodka

March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2024

I have a vague memory of once making penne alla vodka. There are several America's Test Kitchen recipes for this dish backing up this memory. However, I could not find an entry for it in this blog so I have nothing in writing to jog my memory of the effort.  A recent issue of Cook's Illustrated brought this to mind with a new recipe. It looked appealing so I gave it a go. 

The pasta (rigatoni) and sauce are prepared separately then brought together in the last step of the recipe. The only modificationI made to the ingredients was a nod to our dislike of spicy food, using half the red pepper flakes, just ⅛ teaspoon. After preparing the ingredients, chopped pancetta and red pepper flakes were cooked in a Dutch oven. Minced garlic was added and cooked followed by tomato paste. Vodka was added to the mixture and cooked until most of the liquid was gone. (I did not remove the Dutch oven from the heat, as described in the recipe, as I was using an electric stove with no open flame.) Passata (an uncooked tomato puree found at the supermarket), cream, salt, and pepper were stirred in and simmered about 10 minutes. A little more vodka was stirred into the sauce then the cooked rigatoni was mixed in  along with a small amount of pasta cooking water to adjust the consistency.  The pasta was served with grated Parmesan cheese. Total time was about one hour; this could have been reduced some by cooking the pasta sooner.

This is a good dish, pretty easy to make and taking only an hour. We should get at least four meals from this preparation. It was not spicy and so could have been okay with the full ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes. The sauce is velvety, it adheres well to the pasta, and the acidic nature of the tomatoes is muted by the cream. It was good as a leftover, reheated in the microwave, though perhaps a little dry. According to the recipe the vodka enhances the flavors of the other ingredients without adding any flavor of its own.

Fresh Corn Chowder

January 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 83

In the cooler months we like homemade soup for dinner. I have made corn chowder before using a family recipe but this time I decided to try an ATK recipe. Among other things it uses fresh corn, which is not easy to come by in the winter. But the supermarket had some packages of ears of corn that I could use. While they are probably not very fresh their availability made this dish possible.

The recipe specifies 10 ears of corn. The packages I bought had 4 smallish ears of corn each and I bought 2. The kernels were cut off 3 of these and the remainder were grated on the large holes of a box grater. Finely chopped bacon was cooked in a Dutch oven until crisp. One finely chopped onion was added and cooked until softened then 2 cloves of minced garlic were added and cooked until fragrant. Flour was sprinkled over the mixture and cooked for a few minutes. Chicken broth and whole milk were stirred in slowly. Cubes of red potato, bay leaves, thyme, and the grated corn were added and the chowder brought to a simmer. When the potatoes were almost tender the corn kernels and cream were added and cooked until the corn kernels were tender. Finally, minced parsley was added along with salt and pepper to taste.  Total time was around 100 minutes.

The chowder is good. I can't compare it with the family recipe chowder as it has been a while since I've had the latter. The kernels of corn provide sweet, slightly crunchy bits that are enjoyable to eat. Overall, though, the chowder could have had more corn flavor, probably a combination of not enough corn plus lack of freshness. Making this chowder in the summer with fresh corn should improve it. While we don't usually have soup in the summer this recipe might provide some inspiration to change that pattern.

Peanut Brittle

 January 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, December 2024

I don't have much experience making candy. However, during the holidays, my wife, Diane, often makes several batches of nut brittle. She uses a family recipe that relies on a microwave oven to cook the candy. I enjoy eating the brittle, especially peanut brittle, so I was interested in trying the ATK recipe published recently in Cook's Country.

I made one ingredient substitution, using salted Cocktail Peanuts in place of salted dry-roasted peanuts. Getting all of the ingredients and needed hardware ready in advance was very helpful. Water and butter were cooked in a large saucepan until the butter was melted. Sugar and light corn syrup were added to the middle of the pan then stirred to moisten the sugar. This was brought to a boil and heated, without stirring, to a temperature of 300°. The heat was reduced and the mixture cooked until it reached 325°. Peanuts, which had been warmed in a 350° oven so the candy would not be cooled too much, were stirred into the mixture. Off heat, baking soda was stirred in; unfortunately it did not foam as expected. Working quickly as the candy hardens quickly, the candy was poured onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper sprayed with oil then immediately sprinkled with sea salt. After one hour to cool, the brittle was broken into pieces and stored in a sealed container. Total time, not counting the cooling, was one hour. 

The candy taste good but was hard rather than brittle. It could still be bitten and eaten but it did not have the expected consistency characterized by small holes throughout. This is because of the lack of foaming when the baking soda was added, something I was expecting from watching Diane make brittle. I suspect the baking soda was too old, it was well past the date printed on the box. I will have to try again with some newer baking soda, once I eat up this batch!

February 2025

I made this again with a fresh box of baking soda and using slated dry-roasted peanuts. The texture of the candy was a little better, a little lighter than with the old box of baking soda. The type of peanuts didn't make a significant difference.