I like to make pies and have several pie cookbooks plus a binder of favorite pie recipes. Also, one summer I brought a pie a week to work so I have some pie credentials. My advice is find a crust recipe that works for you. The first crust recipe that I tried did not work then I tried Basic Flaky Crust from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s book, The Pie Bible, and it was great. I highly recommend this book for a new pie baker.

I prefer to use a rolling pin cover and pastry cloth so I do not add too much flour to my crust. Slip the rolling pin cover on and flour it lightly then lightly flour the pastry cloth. My secret shame is that I make my crust in my food processor.

I lived in a private dorm in Austin when I was in graduate school and every Asian woman living there had their own rice cooker so I figure that if they had one then I needed one. I bought mine at a thrift store and it works great and I would never cook rice in a pan ever.

I remember my mother cooking tongue a long time ago and vaguely recall her boiling it and then slicing it thinly and we had it on sandwiches. I liked it then and recently was thinking about trying to make it myself so now maybe I will.

I like my slow cooker and I learned two great tips from using some Cooks Illustrated recipes---always brown the meat before putting it in the crock pot and cook wine before adding it. Also, I have made and really like the Chicken Cacciatore recipe from Food Made Fast: Slow Cooker from Williams Sonoma. The crock pot doesn’t really reduce the work that is required to make dinner but it can be nice to come home to a warm dinner after a long day and all you have to do is serve it up.

I love my mandoline especially for slicing things really thin. I was luckily enough to find my Bron mandoline for cheap at the Goodwill.

Thank you! I’ve always sifted and have been amazed at how many people don’t sift. Certainly sifting is the easiest way to combine the flour, soda, salt, etc but it’s nice to know that it also creates a better crumb.

I ordered the bacon from Nueske’s and it was my contribution to a brunch this weekend. It is wonderful and I can’t wait to make some german potato salad with it.