What can I say…it happens. If any of you have been inconvenienced by these print peccadillos, I offer my humble apology and these amendments. Oh! And look at it this way: we’ll fix all this stuff in the second printing so if your book has the errors, you’ve got a collector’s item! (Download a PDF version to print out and keep inside the cookbook for ease.)
Page X: (The big hardware shot) I didn’t give numbers to or write up anything concerning three items that I thought were just too common to mention. Bad Alton.
- There’s a shot of a perfect beaker (clear, plastic, triangular vessel), which is my favorite tool for measuring liquids.
- There’s a “disher” (lunch lady scoopy thingy), which I use for dosing out cookie batter and doughs.
- And then there’s a pair of needle-nose pliers, which I use for pulling out fish bones and light electrical work…but that’s another book.
Stainless Steel Ruler in Equipment Section on Page XIII: “Just measure its depth then check periodically” is repeated twice. Yes. We know.
Always Perfect Oatmeal on Page 4: So, from the comments I’m getting via the interwebs, my always “perfect” oatmeal isn’t quite perfect for everyone. Some of you feel there’s too much salt. I kinda like it that way, but luckily you can adjust the salt as you like down to say…to 4 grams, or 3/4 teaspoons of kosher salt for the two servings. Then if you feel it needs a bit more you can add it at the table.
Candied Orange Peel on Page 42: So when I included a procedure for candied orange peel to be used in the Amaranth Wafer recipe in my book, EveryDayCook, I didn’t have a lot of space and so the procedure had to be abbreviated…a lot. And it wasn’t given nearly the attention it was due. Some of you have had trouble with it, and once I went back and gave it a fresh look, I can see why. It’s badly written…simple as that. Click here for a new recipe and procedure.
BBQ Potato Chips on Page 54: The potatoes for these chips should be cut closer to 1/16 of an inch rather than 1/8. I actually use a ceramic slicer made by Kyocera, which has 4 settings including one for 2mm cuts, which is what’s used here.
Beale St. Cheeseburger on Page 64: The correct amount of cheese should be 5 ounces (1 1/4 ounces per burger).
Chicken Parmesan Meatballs on Page 76: The ingredient list calls for one batch of the sauce from the Spaghetti recipe. That’s not a mistake, but I realize that some folks may want to build this dish with sauce from another recipe or from a (eeek) bottle. In that case an actual measurement would be helpful and I didn’t give one. Although the sauce comes out a bit different every time, you should end up with 2 1/2 cups. You can go up to 3, but above that things get out of hand.
Butterscotch Puddin’ on Page 91: I received a tweet where someone had an issue with the sugar clumping in the this recipe. Butterscotch is tricky because in order to create a real depth of flavor you need to dissolve the dark brown sugar into the butter and allow that fat to brown a bit. Here’s the tricky part: sugar doesn’t dissolve in fat, it dissolves in water. Now butter is typically around 15 percent water and dark brown sugar has a surprisingly high moisture content. Together, there is enough water for the sugar to dissolve. But if you cook the butter for even a few minutes after it starts bubbling, you’ll actually evaporate out enough water to prevent the sugar from dissolving. Using old/dry brown sugar can also be an issue. It turns out the lady that tweeted at me used a very high fat European butter so that was the issue. If you want to use a high fat butter, play it safe by adding a teaspoon or two of water to the butter right at the top of the recipe.
- One more note regarding the Kindle version of this recipe: It is missing the 1 ounce cornstarch from the ingredient list, but lists the use in step 3. The book version is fine.
Weeknight Spaghetti on Page 139: The “1 Tablespoon” of kosher salt mentioned in the ingredient list is meant to go in the pasta water (from Cold Water Pasta Method found on XXVII).
Pumpkin Cheesecake on Page 145: The Pumpkin Cheesecake cooks at 300ºF. There is no change in temperature.
General’s Fried Chicken on page 164: The mixture of black pepper, sumac, cayenne pepper and garlic powder adds up to 6 teaspoons, not 8 teaspoons as I say in the instructions. So the amounts are right…it’s my simple addition that’s not.
Chuan’r on Page 187: At the bottom of the recipe, the Chinese character didn’t print properly and is shown as Đ when it should be 串.
Cider House Fondue on Page 191: The proper amount of half and half should be 84 grams (approximately 3 ounces), NOT 84 ounces, which would be a very milky soup indeed.
Download a PDF copy of these corrections by clicking here: Alton Brown’s Corrections and Clarifications PDF
