Let me start by saying: This was not a scientific experiment. This was one little mouse in her kitchen with 2 pots and 8 lbs. of short ribs.

If you want science, check out Cook’s Illustrated exhaustive test. (Nitpickers, please pick nits over there.)

When it comes to cast iron, to a lot of people, there’s Le Creuset and Staub, then there’s everybody else. They’re the Rolls Royce and Bentley of cast iron cookery. Of course, they also both come with hefty (think $200+ in many cases) price tags.

So when a couple of folks asked me recently what kind of cast iron they should buy, I wasn’t sure what to say.

Dutch oven love

I love my Le Creuset dutch oven. It’s actually the only one I’ve ever had. I picked it up on a super sale at Marshall’s maybe 15 years ago for well under $100. (Get the same pot today on Amazon.com for $279. Yikes, right?)

That said, it felt totally irresponsible to recommend that anyone go drop almost three hundred bucks on a pot, when a less expensive brand would do just as well.

Or would it?

And so I decided to test a few for myself.

Over the last few years, a handful of more economical dutch ovens have cropped up at stores like Target. They’re colorful and enameled and every bit as heavy as my Le Creuset. Lodge, my favorite maker of non-enameled cast iron skillets, happens to be one of them.

So, I e-mailed Lodge to see if they’d be game for a comparison. Less than a week later, two shiny, new Lodge pots—one green, one blue—arrived on my doorstep. (Thank you, Lodge!)

The recipe

I wanted to test the pots by cooking something that I’ve made a zillion times before in my Le Creuset, so I’d be able to tell just how the Lodge model compared. I picked short ribs, something I make probably 2 dozen+ times every fall & winter. I followed a slight variation on my Guinness-Braised Short Ribs.

Now, cooking short ribs is one of those ineffable acts of culinary magic.

I mean, start with meat that’s tough as nails. Simmer it slowly in a covered pot for a few hours. The low, slow cooking breaks down all that tough, fibrous fat and tissue. And…voila! Succulent, moist, fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your mouth meat + velvety broth that just might be the pinnacle of comfort food.

I’ve been braising short ribs for years, and it never ceases to impress me.

I got 8 lbs of ribs, and planned to cook 4 lbs. in each pot.

The Reigning Champion

In one corner, we have my big red pot, a 7 quart Le Creuset. She’s a tried-and-true kitchen veteran with 15 years of service.

Aside from a little discoloration on the interior enamel and a few exterior scratches, she performs just as valiantly as they day I brought her home. I love her dearly. We’ve been through thick and thin together. I’ve lugged her from apartment to apartment all through my 20s and early 30s. She’s cooked for happy and not-so-happy occasions. There’s just something so nice about a big, heavy pot bubbling away on the stove.

Am I overly sentimental? Without a doubt. Would I save Big Red if my house were on fire? I might think about it for half a sec. Regardless, it’s hard to imagine that another pot could perform as well.

The Contenders

Now, Lodge was kind enough to send me two pots. One was a 6-quart green pot from their L series.

(So pretty, right?)

I’m a sucker for little design details, and love the stainless accents on the handles and the swirly handle on the lid.

You can get her in Apple Green on Amazon.com for about $84. The same model in Liberty Blue goes for about $65.

The other was a 7.5 quart pot in Caribbean Blue from their Lodge Color series. This baby is just about $90 on Amazon.

This one has a more traditional dutch oven design, like my Le Creuset.

The Match Up

I decided to pit the blue model against my Le Creuset. Both are cast iron. Both are enameled. Both have domed lids with heat-resistant handles. Not exact duplicates, but close enough for my purposes. (After all, I’m making short ribs here, not splitting the atom.)

In case you’re (rightly) thinking I might be biased towards my Le Creuset, I had a team of testers ready to sample and compare my short ribs, including the Barking Sous Chef (who you can see presiding over the proceedings in the background below).

The test

With my kitchen full of cast iron, I hit the butcher to pick up the ribs. Eight pounds of meat later, I was ready to start cooking.

The first part of braising short ribs is to sear them in oil, which creates a ton of flavor.

I got the oil nice and hot in both pots, then added the meat (in batches…crowd a hot pot, and your meat will steam, not sear).

I got a good, brown sear from both pots in the same amount of time.

I flipped the ribs and got consistent results from both pots on all sides.

When the meat was seared on all sides, I added it all back to the pots (remember, I seared in batches)…

…then dumped in the Guinness.

I turned the heat to high to bring the liquid to a boil. Both pots started to bubble at about the same time.

Once they reached a boil, I added in the rest of the ingredients, then knocked the heat way down (so the liquid would just hold a simmer), and covered them.

Heat Resistant Handles

After about an hour on the stove, I peeked under the lids. The Lodge handle was actually cooler to the touch than my Le Creuset. One point for Lodge.

The finished ribs

I cooked the ribs for just a hair under 3 hours.

The pots really were virtually identical. The ribs from each were tender, with the meat falling off the bone.

There was about the same amount of liquid left in each pot.

We had a small party to feed a handful of our hungriest, carnivorous friends, and all agreed: Both batches of ribs were absolutely delicious, and folks couldn’t tell the difference between those cooked in the Le Creuset vs. the Lodge.

My verdict

In the end, the Lodge performed just as well as my tried-and-true Le Creuset. I highly recommend the Lodge pot. It did the same work that my Le Creuset did, at a fraction of the cost. If we had a money tree in the backyard, I’d have cabinets full of Le Creuset and the like. However, until then, if I needed new cast iron now, I wouldn’t think twice: I’d definitely go for a Lodge.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not retiring Big Red. Let’s just say that she has a new baby brother, and he fits in really well with the family.

*Please note that Lodge donated the pots for this post. My opinions, however, are strictly my own. The Lodge pot really did perform just as well as the Le Creuset. I don’t endorse anything I can’t get behind 100%.

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It’s easier than you might think to make potato chips at home. These particular chips are skin-on, thicker than usual, asian-spiced crunchy bliss. And? They take about 10 minutes to make.

The short version of this recipe goes like this: Slice. Fry. Sprinkle. Inhale. Read on for detailed instructions.

You only need a one or two potatoes to serve four people as a side. I like to dust my chips with hand-mixed Asian 5-Spice salt. They make a totally great accompaniment to burgers—or a pan-roasted sirloin.

How thick should you cut your potato chips?

I like them a little bit thicker than a standard potato chip. I also like to leave the skin on the potato. If you prefer, though, peel the potatoes before slicing.

I’m really good with a knife, and some of mine still came out uneven. You want them to be the same thickness so they all cook evenly.

Generally speaking, I like to cut the potatoes so that they’re a little on the thicker side, but they’re still thin enough to see through. Too thick = floppy chips.

All that said, I’d recommend using a mandoline to cut these. Or a food processor fitted with a thin slicing disk. Trust me. It will save you time and hassle.

How to buy a mandoline

If you haven’t seen one before, a mandoline is a hand-operated machine that you use to uniformly and precisely slice firm foods (fruits, veggies, etc.).

The blade is housed in the body of the mandoline, and you slide the food over it to make your cuts. You can adjust the height of the blade to change the thickness of the slices.

Mandolines usually fold up, and come with a nifty little guard to hold the food so you don’t slice your fingertips off. (I’ve done that before. Use the guard. It’s not worth the risk.) For more info on how they work, check out this in-depth description of the different parts.

Now, a high-quality French mandoline is a beautiful—but pricey—thing. I’m talking about one of these babies, the Bron Original Stainless Steel Mandoline, which will run you just under $200.

There are a bunch of in-between models, too.

If you don’t want to spend a ton of money, you can pick up a Japanese beniriner for about $20.

It’s missing some of the bells and whistles of the French model above (folding legs, etc.), but it delivers where it counts—i.e. it’s compact and sharp. It accomplishes most of the basic cuts for a lot less money.

I’ve had one of these for years. I picked it up in Boston’s Chinatown, and it’s been indespensible to me. I highly recommend it.

Alrighty. To the hot oil!

Rustic 5-Spice Potato Chips

1-2 large russet potatoes
canola oil for frying
1 tsp. five-spice powder
1 tsp. kosher salt

Serves 2-4 as a snack

Slice and rinse the potatoes

Grab your potato(es). Scrub them. Peel them if you like.

Slice them into thin rounds.

If you have the time, soak them in ice cold water for about an hour to leach out some of the starch. (Less starch = crispier chip.)

If you don’t, put them in a colander or strainer and give them a good, long rinse under cold, running water.

Shake them around under the water to get them good and wet.

Pat them dry with paper towels. You want to get as much water off them as possible. (Water splatters when it hits hot oil, and nobody likes a grease burn.)

Make the Five-Spice Salt

Do this before you make the chips. You’ll want to season the chips when they’re hot out of the oil—which is when the seasoning will stick best.

Put the salt and five spice powder in a small bowl. Whisk together to combine until relatively uniform. Set aside.

Fry the potato chips

Line a baking sheet with a few paper towels. Set a rack on top. Set it aside.

Put about 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Set it on the stove over high heat. Heat the oil to about 380 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer handy.

If you don’t, heat the oil until the surface shimmers, then start testing it. Dip (carefully!) the edge of a potato slice into the hot oil. If bubbles start to form furiously and immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry. If not, wait a minute or two, then test again.

When your oil is hot enough, add a handful of potato slices to the pot.

Stir them around with a skimmer or slotted spoon, so they fry on both sides.

Pull them out of the oil with your skimmer or slotted spoon when they’re light brown and crisp. This should take about 2 minutes, depending on how thick your chips are.

Season the potato chips

Transfer the hot chips to your prepared rack. Sprinkle with five-spice salt to taste.

Repeat with the rest of the potato slices until you’ve fried them all.

Enjoy!

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So the other day, I posted a few pictures of my springerle cookie mold on our Facebook fan page. (Come join us!) Here it is. It’s an impressively heavy thing.

A lot of folks were interested, so I figured I’d write a little about cookie molds, their history, and include a shopping guide so you can get one (or three) for your very own.

‘Tis the season, right?

I preface this by saying: I am not a springerle expert. I do however, have a ton of fun playing with my cookie mold, as you can see by the untraditional chocolate shortbread cookies in these pictures.

For this post, I was messing around with leftover chocolate shortbread dough from the tarts I brought to Bon Appetit’s Holiday Bake-Off Party.

What are springerle cookies and where did they come from?

Springerle are pretty German cookies that are usually made around Christmas. Some of the oldest springerle molds are actually traced back to the 14th century.

In Old German, “springerle” means “little jumper” or “little knight”, which refers to how the cookies poof up in the oven. (Some folks hold that many of the early molds depicted a springing horse.)

Through history, springerle molds have been carved with all sorts of images—from animals to biblical scenes to everyday life. They’ve been used to celebrate weddings and births, served as decorations, and were even exchanged like holiday cards.

Raw dough

Baked

What do they taste like?

Traditional springerle cookies are flavored with anise oil and anise seeds.

They’re hard when they come out of the oven, but soften up if you keep them covered. They’re a little like biscotti and are great for dunking.

Wait. How the heck do you pronounce “springerle”?

Ha! Excellent question. OK. Put on your best German accent, and repeat after me: SHPRING-uhr-lee.

(Say that three times fast and try not to giggle.)

How to make springerle cookies

To make springerle cookies, a simple, stiff cookie dough is embossed using ornate molds and rolling pins that are carved out of wood or resin.

To do this, roll out your cookie dough, firmly press the mold (facing down) onto the dough, then carefully remove it.

And…presto! Your dough should have an impressive, raised picture on it. (Sorry, that’s much more exciting when I do it in person, with a flourish of flour, after a glass or two of wine.)

Cut the cookies apart carefully (or not so carefully, as you see in my example below).

Alternately, you can also roll the dough onto the mold, then peel the dough off. You stand a better chance of ripping the dough this way, though.

Connie Meisinger from House on the Hill gives a really good overview of how to make them here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

My springerle mold

Springerle molds are like little works of folk art. And like good cast iron, they’re the kind of thing that you pass down to your favorite family members and friends. (Don’t believe me? Check out the stories behind these fabulous, antique molds.)

I bought my mold at Sur La Table years ago, on sale.

They actually still sell the same one (the Vignette Springerle Mold below), plus a handful of other beautiful molds.

This is the springerle mold I have

For traditional, anise-scented springerle cookies, you let the dough dry overnight to cure a little and help preserve the details on the image.

It’s probably not proper, but I use my cookie molds with a lot of different kinds of dough, and just omit the over-night drying period. Any relatively stiff dough usually works well.

That’s chocolate shortbread dough in the pictures, which was a little on the sticky side, but still worked out just fine.

A recipe for springerle cookies

Springerele cookies are easy to make.

They only have a handful of ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, some kind of leavener (hartshorn is traditional, but baking powder is commonly used), flavored oil (anise is traditional), and anise seeds.

I’ll track down my mom’s recipe and will do a step-by-step walk through for you. For now, Martha Stewart has a great recipe here.

Springerle Cookie Mold Shopping Guide

A word of warning: Springerle molds aren’t the cheapest things in the world, especially as far as baking implements are concerned.

The great thing about springerle molds is that they’re so pretty, you can use them as decorations. When I’m not using my big cookie mold, I display it in my china cabinet (along with my growing collection of wishbones, but that’s a story for another day).

Here are some of the prettiest molds I’ve seen lately.

House on the Hill Tannenbaum Springerle Mold

Menagerie Rolling Pin

Winter Sleigh Springerle Cookie Mold

British Isles Springerle Kit

Floral-Motif Springerle Cookie Mold

Springerle Rolling Pin

Pine Cone Springerle Mold

Other springerle resources

• House on the Hill Cookie Molds
• The Springerle Baker
• The Springerle House

Four other ways to make picture cookies

There’s more than one way to put a picture on a cookie. Take a peek!

1. Shortbread molds
Shortbread molds are different than springerle molds in that the cookies are typically baked in the mold, then cut apart afterwards.

This Nordic Ware Snowflake Shortbread Pan is pretty.

Nordic Ware also makes a non-snowflake version.

This Chicago Metallic 12 Days of Christmas Cookie Mold is also kinda cool, especially if you have kids.

2. Cookie Stamps
You can also achieve the same embossed effect with cookie stamps, which work just like a regular ink stamp to press an image onto the dough.

3. Chinese moon cookie molds
Traditionally used to make cookies to celebrate the harvest moon festival, moon cookie molds work well for a variety of stiff doughs.

4. Gingerbread molds

I don’t have one of these pans, but they’re definitely on my list of things to pick up before the holidays.

Cast Iron Gingerbread Snowman Cookie Mold

Cast Iron Gingerbread Boy & Girl Mold

Small Gingerbread Cookie Mold from Taste of Home

Happy baking!

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Now, I know that I’m treading on hallowed ground for some, discussing how to make espresso.

Like beer and good wine, espresso is one of those things that folks are very particular about. (Espresso afficionados out there, please be kind!)

I’m not an expert barista—or a super fussy coffee person—by a long shot. I’m just a girl who likes a strong cup of coffee. I drink my coffee and espresso black. And as long as I start with a quality ground espresso, I’m generally very happy.

This how I make espresso at home. (In fact, it’s how I made the espresso that went into my Gentlemen’s Brownies.)

It doesn’t yield quite the same brew that you get from a professional machine or coffeeshop, but this is the way that a lot of us know espresso: Made at home, by an aunt or a grandmother, on the stove, using what’s traditionally known as a moka pot.

I love my trusty stovetop espresso maker. I’ve had it for years and it never fails to make delicious espresso. Mine is made by Bialetti and looks like this:

The Moka Pot: What does it do and how do you use it?

This little guy is basically a stovetop percolator designed especially for espresso.

Simply fill the bottom with cold water, fill the filter with ground espresso, and set it on the stove to boil and bubble away. As the water heats, it’s forced up through the ground espresso in the filter, and into the empty pot above.

Stovetop espresso makers generally don’t make enough pressure to produce a thick, top layer of crema—that mocha-colored, foamy emulsion that you see at cafes. For homemade, that’s just fine with me. It’s still a mighty fine, strong cup of coffee.

One thing to note about this kind of pot. Depending on how hard your water is, this type of pot can develop a mineral buildup on the inside. Italian specialty stores sell little tablets meant specifically for getting that deposit off.

If you make your espresso differently, I’d love to what you do. (Do you only use spring water? What’s your favorite brand of espresso?)

Here’s my method.

A step-by-step guide to making espresso on the stove

Disassemble your pot. It’ll come in 3 pieces: the bottom chamber that holds the water (left), the filter basket that holds the ground espresso (center) and the top part which holds the brewed espresso (right).

Fill the bottom part with cold water.

Don’t fill it past the steam valve (that little round brass thingie):

Next, nestle the filter basket into its place on the bottom of the pot.

Fill the filter basket with ground espresso.

Fill it right to the top, then smooth the espresso down so it’s fairly level.

Set the top of the espresso pot on the body and screw it tightly into place.

Set the pot on the stove over high-ish heat. Because it’s a smaller pot, I turn the heat up high enough so that the gas flames cover the bottom of the pot, but don’t lick up the sides.

Keep the lid closed. (I opened mine a few times to snap these pics.) It will take a few minutes for your water to get hot enough to start brewing the espresso.

After a few minutes, the espresso will start to pour out of the center of the pot.

It will trickle out at first.

And then pick up in speed and volume.

When your pot is a little less than halfway brewed, it should be pretty much gushing.

Peek a little if you like, but do keep the lid closed as it brews. Once it gets going, the pot fills up very quickly and can spit, sputter and let off a fair amount of steam.

How to Make Espresso on the Stove: How do you know when the espresso is done?

Good question. Use your ears—then your eyes.

When the espresso is brewing, you’ll hear it bubbling and splashing about in the top of the pot. When those happy sounds taper off, lift the lid and take a peek. If the espresso has stopped pouring out of the center, your pot is done. It’s really that simple. Remove the pot from the heat immediately.

How to Make Espresso on the Stove: Serve and enjoy!

Now, what you do next depends entirely on how you want to serve your espresso. You can pour steamed milk into it for a cappuccino. You could add hot water to it for a cafe americano (one of my favorite things to do).

Or, you can serve it straight in demitasse cups.

Enjoy!

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Both of these pans retail for $80, are on sale for $29.99 (that’s $50 off!). Not bad, especially since they’re made by Cuisinart and are constructed from heavy-duty 18/10 stainless steel. Both also come with lids.

1. Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Multi-Purpose Pot with Glass Cover—$29.99

What a great all-purpose pot. And it has a tight-fitting lid, which is always a bonus.

2. Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Medium Dome Cover—$29.99

I love, love, love these types of everyday pans. They’re just so versatile.

Check your list and check it twice

These prices were accurate as of 8:45 this morning. The really good deals on Amazon don’t always last, so check the pricing if/when you order.

Happy shopping!

Here are some of the best discounts and sales I’ve found this week.

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Copyright 2008-2009 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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