How Can I Make Really Smooth & Creamy Carrot Soup? Good Questions

Q: Every time I make a pureed carrot soup, I can never get the nice creamy texture I'm looking for. I've tried everything: a blender, a food processor, an immersion blender. Fail. I've tried cooking the carrots forever to be sure they are soft enough. Fail. Any suggestions?

Sent by Lindsay

Editor: I have the best luck with an immersion blender. To make it truly creamy, I also find it needs some kind of cream, be it actual cream or something like coconut milk.

Readers, what suggestions do you have?

Next question?

Related: Soup's On! 7 Ways to Make Any Soup Creamier

(Image: Curried Carrot Soup/Leela Cyd Ross )

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Ken Albala's 5 Essentials for Home Cooks Expert Essentials

Ken Albala is the co-author of two of my favorite cookbooks, The Lost Art of Real Cooking and The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home. What I found in these books, and also with talking with him in person, is an overflowing enthusiasm and delight for the world of cookery. "This is what happens when you really love every food on earth," he confessed recently on his blog. Along with that enthusiasm comes a kind of bravery that I find very inspiring. Ken dives completely into his kitchen projects with a wild curiosity that is also grounded in his deep and thorough knowledge of the kitchen arts. Read on for a little more about Ken and his 5 suggestions for the home cook.

A professor of History at the University of the Pacific, Ken has an impressive resume:

Ken Albala is the author or editor of 16 books on food including Eating Right in the Renaissance; Food in Early Modern Europe; Cooking in Europe 1250-1650; The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe; Beans: A History (winner of the 2008 IACP Jane Grigson Award); and Pancake. He has also co-edited The Business of Food; Human Cuisine; Food and Faith and edited A Cultural History of Food: The Renaissance and The Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies. Albala was also editor of the Food Cultures Around the World series with 30 volumes in print, the 4-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia and is now series editor of AltaMira Studies in Food and Gastronomy for which he has written a textbook entitled Three World Cuisines: Italian, Chinese, Mexican (winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards best foreign cuisine book for the US). Albala is also co-editor of the journal Food Culture and Society and is editing a 3 volume encyclopedia on Food Issues for Sage. He has also co-authored two cookbooks: The Lost Art of Real Cooking and The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home.

Phew! Ken may be very learned in the kitchen arts and all his madcap enthusiasm aside, what you will find in his suggestions below is an honest practicality that is refreshing, useful, and above all, very encouraging.

Ken's 5 Essentials for the Home Cook

1. Loosen up. Just get in there! Don't be afraid to fail! You will find out what you know and what you don't know only by doing it, and you will learn this best by doing it over and over. Be careful about cooking too much from recipes, which Ken likens to always using a GPS when driving. You'll never learn how to cook for yourself if you don't improvise every now and then. Make it a routine to cook every day and remember that cooking and eating is pleasurable, that food is a source of pleasure.

2. Don't depend too much on electrical gadgets. Ken is not a fan of most modern cooking devices like food processors, juicers and the like. They're expensive, he says, they take up too much space and they mangle the food. (Like Yotam Ottolenghi, he recommends keeping food as close to its whole state as possible.) Get a good knife, keep it sharp, and use it, he says. It's much more enjoyable to slice up a carrot by hand rather than shove it into a food processor, which you also have to wash and dry afterwards. Ken teaches a lot of sausage-making classes where he teaches people how to chop meat with a knife. You have so much more control the texture that way, he says.

The three utensils that Ken uses the most are a good sharp knife, a set of tongs, and a metal off-set spatula. It's amazing how much cooking you can do with just those three things, he says.

3. Don't be afraid of bacteria. Of course some bacteria are dangerous, but many are really good for you and are even necessary. It's bacteria that turn milk to cheese, grapes to wine, and bread rise. Purchase fresh food, keep your chopping board clean, and cook your food sensibly (but not to death!). Industrial food has really failed us, says Ken. You will more likely to be poisoned by industrially-produced food than what goes on in your kitchen. To understand bacteria better you can certainly read the books of Sandor Katz or check out Ken's latest textbook, Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, which just one a prestigious award.

4. Keep your pantry really, really well stocked. Having a lot of staples around means you can walk into your kitchen with confidence and a sense of playfulness, says Ken. Play in your kitchen and remember that the process is as enjoyable as the end result! A well-stocked kitchen means you can try something different and that cooking dinner can become an interesting exploration.

Ken was very excited about a recent discovery he made when he decided to use ground chicken instead of ground beef for burgers. He cooked them slowly instead of searing them like beef and they turned out really well! You will fail on occasion, he acknowledges, but that's good. This is how you will learn. You have to be OK with saying 'so what' and trying again.

5. Don't be afraid of guts and whole animals. Guts are lovely! says Ken. And it's good to know your animal parts beyond the fillet. Ken admits that it's hard to find whole animals like fish with their heads on and whole chickens. It's a real shame, he says, that everything is prepackaged these days. (Try Asian markets, he suggests.) Learning how to cut up a whole chicken or clean a whole fish is an enormously useful skill and pretty easy once you learn how.

Bonus recommendation: Ken always has olive oil on hand, as well as a few kinds of salt (more for texture than for flavor) and a few kinds of pepper in different grinders. He also keeps a dish of odds and ends next to his stove for spontaneous additions. Right now he has some cardamon, 1/2 a nutmeg, a stick of cinnamon and a few cloves of garlic.

Thank you, Ken!

Reviews of Ken's books in The Kitchn:
The Lost Art of Real Cooking
The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home

More from Ken on the web:
Ken Albala's Food Rant
Ken's TEDx talk

Previous Expert Essentials

Preeti Mistry
Jodi Liano & Catherine Pantsios
Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
John Beaver
Deborah Madison
Andrea Nguyen

(Images: University of the Pacific)

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The Unexpected Trick That Makes the Crispiest, Tastiest Latkes Ever

With Hanukkah in its full swing, many a household is frying up some latkes. In the years of trying to get my hands on every latke recipe I could find, I've learned a few reliable techniques that turn out lacy, crispy, delectable latkes each and every time. And I'm here to show you how to get the same results in your own kitchen!

The Key: Starch Content
Use starchy potatoes like Russets: the starchier the potato, the crispier the latke. This is where Red Bliss potatoes, with their high moisture content, will most certainly disappoint. In my extensive latke research (read: What's the best thing about a good latke?), everyone selected crispiness as their number one desired latke quality.

The Method: Hand-Grating
Hand-grating (as opposed to using a food processor) on the coarse side of a grater works best. Honestly, I can't really tell you why, except that I found the strands from the food processor to be slightly too long and sometimes would get tangled up, resulting in a thickish latke middle.

For those who might think hand-grating is the pits: It took me less than a minute to grate one large potato. You can wear a Microplane glove and protect your hand, and the whole grating process will go very quickly. You can, of course, still use the grater blade of your food processor if you really dislike grating by hand or if you are feeding a lot of people.

The Trick! Lower the Water Content While Preserving the Starch
As you grate your potatoes, let them drop into a large bowl of ice water. Make sure there's enough ice in the water to keep from melting entirely for up to half an hour.

When you're finished grating, using your hands, remove the potatoes from the ice water (it helps if you're wearing thin latex gloves, otherwise the cold water really stings your hands) and squeeze them out over the bowl of water. Place the grated potatoes into a large colander lined with a kitchen towel. Gather the edges of the towel together and wring the potatoes (over the bowl of ice water) as much as possible. Set the potatoes aside and let the bowl of ice water stand, undisturbed, for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, the starch will accumulate at the bottom of the bowl and form a dense, white layer. Carefully, as not to pour off the starch, pour the water out until you are left with the starchy layer on the bottom. Using a spatula, transfer the remaining starch to the grated potatoes and combine. Proceed mixing your latkes as usual.

Why It Works
This method is different than just grating the potatoes and squeezing them in a towel, because that way a lot of starch gets lost in the water you squeeze out. Here's what you're doing here: letting the starch settle at the bottom of the bowl while squeezing out the water from the potatoes, then adding that starch back in. You've lowered the moisture level of the potatoes while preserving their full amount of starch and thus rewarding yourself with a crispier latke!

Have you ever tried this method? Do you have another way of making super-crispy latkes?

Related: Make Better Latkes: 3 Indispensable Tips

(Images: Olga Massov of Sassy Radish)

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How to Make Classic Rugelach Cookies Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Rugelach are buttery, flakey, and just the right amount of sweet.

There is no resisting rugelach, no matter how nubbly or imperfectly rolled. They're buttery, flakey, and just the right amount of sweet. You can fill them with anything from ground nuts and honey to peanut butter and chocolate the only real constant is using cream cheese to make a super-tender dough. Here's how you can make them at home.

I am a student of the Dorie Greenspan School of Rugelach. This means that I make my rugelach dough in a food processor rather than with a mixer or by hand. This makes an incredibly tender dough where the cream cheese and butter are cut into the flour rather than absorbed by it. If you don't have a food processor, though, no worries: take a look at the instructions for making rugelach by hand at the end of the recipe.

I like adding an egg yolk to my dough. It's not strictly necessary, but I like it for the extra richness and a guaranteed golden color in the oven. These are, after all, celebration cookies, so now is not the time to shy away from a decadent cookie.

Also as part of the Dorie Greenspan School, I prefer rugelach rolled individually into crescents rather than rolling the dough around the filling and then slicing them into pinwheels. This technique is a bit more labor-intensive, but I find the crescent shape to have a more satisfying bite and pleasing appearance.

I love making several different fillings for the ruglach and using a different one with each batch. I always make a classic honey-walnut filling, and chocolate is another favorite. If I have a really good summer jam in the cupboard, I'll fill a batch with a few spoonfuls straight from the jar. I've seen rugelach made with an amazing array of fillings, so you can really let your imagination go wild.

Like most classic recipes, there are lots of opinions about what constitutes a "true" rugelach. Do you have a favorite way of making them or a must-have filling?

How to Make Rugelach

Makes 64 cookies

What You Need

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (8 ounces) cold cream cheese, cubed
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 batch filling (see ideas below)
Powdered sugar

Equipment
Food processor
Rolling pin
Pizza cutter or sharp knife
Baking sheets
Parchment or non-stick baking sheet liners

Instructions

1. Combine the flour and salt. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times to mix.

2. Mix in the cream cheese and butter. Scatter the cubes of cream cheese and butter over the flour. Pulse 10 to 12 times until coarse crumbs form.

3. Mix in the yolk and vanilla. Whisk together the vanilla and yolk in a bowl, and the pour them over the butter-flour mixture. Run the processor continuously until the dough starts to clump together and form large curdlike pieces.

4. Refrigerate the dough. Turn the dough out onto the counter and gather the pieces into a ball. Divide into four portions and flatten each into 1-inch thick disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate the dough at least 2 hours or up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months (thaw in the refrigerator before using).

When ready to bake the rugelach, preheat the oven to 375F and prepare your fillings.

5. Roll out the dough. Sprinkle your work surface generously with powdered sugar. Take one disk of dough from the refrigerator and let it warm on the counter for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle the surface of the dough and the rolling pin with more powdered sugar. Roll the dough from the center out into a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Don't worry if a few cracks form near the edges. Use more powdered sugar as needed to prevent sticking.

6. Spread with filling. Spread the filling in a thin layer evenly over the surface of the dough. Make sure it goes right up to the edge of the dough.

7. Slice and roll the cookies. Slice the dough into 16 wedges, like a pizza, using a pizza cutter or sharp knife. Roll up each wedge, beginning at the wide outer edge and moving inward. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make sure the tip is tucked underneath.

8. Chill the cookies. Refrigerate cookies on the baking sheet, 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare remaining batches.

9. Bake the cookies. Bake the first tray of cookies until golden-brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool on the sheet, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack. Bake the remaining cookies.

Cookies will keep in an air-tight container at room temperature for about a week.

Ideas for Rugelach Fillings:

Nut Filling: In a food processor, grind 1 cup walnuts and 1 cup pecans until they break into tiny crumbs, 30 to 40 pulses. (Be careful of over-processing and making nut-butter.) Combine the ground nuts in a bowl with 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) melted butter, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Fruit and Jam Filling: Warm 1/4 cup marmalade, apricot jam or raspberry jam in the microwave until it liquefies. Stir in the 1 tablespoon sugar. Set aside to cool until no longer steaming, still liquidy. Pulse 2 cups (roughly 10 ounces) dried fruit, such as apricots, cranberries, cherries or currants, in a food processor until it breaks down into tiny pieces. To assemble, spread the jam onto the rugelach dough; sprinkle the dried fruit on top.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Filling: Warm 1/2 cup peanut butter in a microwave until it liquefies. Spread over the rugelach dough; sprinkle with 1 cup miniature chocolate chips.

Additional Notes:

Freezing Rugelach: The disks of dough can be frozen for up to three months; thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using. The shaped cookies can also be frozen for up to three months. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet, making sure they do not touch, and freeze until solid. Transfer to a freezer container for long term storage. Cookies can be baked straight from the freezer and may need an extra few minutes to bake.

Making Rugelach by Hand: If you don't have a food processor, just cut the cream cheese and the butter into the flour mixture using your finger tips or a pastry cutter, just as you would for pie crust. Sprinkle the yolk mixture over the top and fluff the dough with your fingers until it feels heavy and can hold together when pressed into a ball. Proceed with the rest of the recipe as instructed.

Halving This Recipe: Nix the egg yolk and cut the rest of the ingredients in half.

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(Images: Emma Christensen)

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