How I Taught My Brother To Cook

Improvisational Tuscan-Provençal Cookery (and other good stuff to eat)

Welcome to our "improv" cooking network. We'll share ideas about simple Italian, Tuscan, Provençal, French and "American peasant" cuisines.

Recipes, recipes, recipes!

You want recipe ideas? Use the search function on this page that says "Search Social Network" at the upper right corner (for example searching for "chicken" turned up over 30 ideas). Or just click here for hundreds of photos and ideas for creative dishes we've created. Improvisational cooking is what we're about - so our photos give you a picture of what we made, and a few ideas of how we did it. The rest is up to you - that's improv! If you need a tutorial, buy our book.




Blog Posts

John Barrows

"Injun" food

Posted by John Barrows on November 22, 2009 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

John Barrows

Food, Inc.

Posted by John Barrows on November 18, 2009 at 7:28am — 1 Comment

Patrick

How To Watch A TV Cooking Show

Posted by Patrick on November 8, 2009 at 12:07pm — 7 Comments

John Barrows

What, me worry? (about what I eat)

Posted by John Barrows on November 1, 2009 at 2:29pm — 1 Comment

John Barrows

So you think you know pasta?

Posted by John Barrows on October 14, 2009 at 11:27am — 2 Comments

Patrick

Bake Sale Ban

Posted by Patrick on October 14, 2009 at 8:29am — 6 Comments

Laura

LES FROMAGES DE FRANCE

Posted by Laura on September 18, 2009 at 2:12am — 60 Comments

John Barrows

The Sicilian "pie"

Posted by John Barrows on September 16, 2009 at 5:20pm — 2 Comments

John Barrows

It's A Dog's Life

Posted by John Barrows on September 8, 2009 at 8:47pm — 2 Comments

 

Recipe Of The Week: WILD MUSHROOM, KALE, ONION, AND CHEESE "BRIOCHE"


Try this simple idea, and play with the ingredients if you like. The concept is the key. Click here for the details.

This Is The Home of the Famous "Pane di Napoleone"!

This is the home of "Pane di Napoleone" the new, refined version of the no-knead bread dough. Requires no fancy expensive cookware. An unbeatable basic recipe for classic Italian bread, pizza, and almost any other bread that requires a yeast bread dough.

WITH JUST A LITTLE MODIFICATION YOU CAN MAKE SOME FARMHOUSE BREADWOW!
Check out the Pane di Napoleone Bread Collection from members

JOIN THE SITE - "How I Taught My Brother to Cook". It's all about improvising with food. Whatta ya' got ta lose? Break outa the pack!



Johnny Gets interviewed by the Oregonian Newspaper

Read the Story in The Oregonian

Take a look at our pizza world with creations from us AND members. Add your own too!
Visit the
PIZZA PAGE!

What's our damn book about?

Respect your food. Play with it too

How many recipes do you have on your kitchen shelf, if you add up all your cookbooks? Ten thousand? Probably more! You like to cook, but searching for a recipe that matches your mood and your pantry has become a chore. It’s time to leave rote instructions behind and unleash the confidence to improvise, and discover a style all your own.

Brothers Patrick and John Barrows want you to think more about your food, but not to stress over it. Taking cues from the peasant cuisines of the North of Italy and the South of France, their approach is fresh, simple and honest. Local in-season vegetables, the kind of meat that’s handed over the counter by an expert in an apron instead of shrink-wrapped, fresh eggs for hand-made pasta-- these home cooks show that the more you embrace a palette of basic high-quality ingredients, the more you and your family will enjoy what you’re putting in your mouths, and realize that convenience foods aren’t saving you time or money, and might be sapping your soul.

“How I Taught My Brother To Cook” is part family memoir, part cookbook and part raucous sibling rivalry. Most of all it’s a story of two men’s journey: to embrace their family roots in rural Italy and upstate New York, put good food on their family’s tables, and avoid the anxiety over diet fad and fashion that afflicts most Americans. Weaving a dialogue in recipes and techniques, the brothers take a “lowfalutin’” approach, though they rarely agree on whose approach is the more unpretentious. Bring your own opinion to the countertop conversation, and your memories of what your own grandparents and parents and favorite aunt fed you, and renew your joy in food.”

 
 

About

John Barrows John Barrows created this Ning Network.

Buy our book now.


Visit "the Road Kill Cafe" - our virtual diner PLUS Visit Uncle Claude's Victory Garden

Latest Activity

typically, toast points are served with a soft-boiled egg with it's top lopped off and sitting in an egg cup. with the pointy ends of the toast, one can dunk his or her toast into the egg yolk. get the "point"?
2 hours ago
To understand the "toast point" controversy, go here. Johnny is into toast points. As a matter of fact he is known regionally as Mr. Toast Point. An envious position for anyone deep in toast point tradition and preparation.
5 hours ago
that's just Patrick's attempt at humor
9 hours ago
just no-knead dough bread toasted !
17 hours ago
the concept is the same, but the puff pastry is lighter in texture (but richer - a batch of puff pastry is made with 4 cups of flour and 3 sticks of butter). Lots of folding and rolling - I bet a pasta roller would work!
yesterday
Yeah, boy! Go get'emm Mahatma Johnny Gandhi.
yesterday
LOOK JOHNNY!!!!!..................TOAST POINTS!!!!
yesterday
Actually, Laura has a good idea here. Instead of using the typical dough for a calzone, the puff pastry would probably work very well. I think I will do a little experimenting. Of course, puff pastry does not want to become part of you DAILY diet ...
yesterday
ah, yes - duck fat!
on Monday
We ate our last one two weeks ago (that we brought back from Paris last year).
on Monday
I know its a little early for it but I couldn't resist !
on Monday
Laura added a photo
on Monday
Looks like a calzone pizza but it's not I know. You can add what ever you like in your brioche, it works ! Eaten with a salad ...
on Monday
Ah potatoes ! what a story ! and so many ways to cook them. When I cook "pommes de terre sarladaises" (named from Sarlat in the Périgord) I Boil them first and then I put potatoes slices in a pan to make them brown with parsley, garlic, salt, pepp...
on Monday
Brian : congratulations ! Any dough you used, your baguettes are very beautifull. The crust has to be crispy but not thick, with a nice honey brown color ! As you know guys, I make my bread and don't buy it anymore for several months now. I use th...
on Monday
She's beautifull ! Coca, one of my 2 cats share my breakfast each morning ! He likes goat cheese very much ...
on Monday
John Barrows added a blog post
No, the term "Injun" is not a racial slur. The English wire-jawed rulers of India pronounced the word "Indian" as "Injun". Indian cooking (in this case vegetarian cuisine of the south) is a great example of a regional cuisine, and the simplicity ...
on Sunday
Roll out a sheet of puff pastry (hard to make but easy to buy) and cut in two. On one half, layer sauteed onions, garlic, fresh thyme, braised kale, sauteed wild mushrooms (I used chanterelles) and some shredded cheese (Fontina in this case). Seal...
on Sunday
John Barrows added a photo
on Sunday
I would go with your recipe but over night 1st rise, knead, 2 hour 2nd rise, knead. Rest. Form into length. Rest for 1 hour. Put slits in. Bake, covered. ( when I say "rest", I mean the dough, not you)
November 19

Badge

Loading…
 

© 2009   Created by John Barrows on Ning.   Create a Ning Network!

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy  |  Terms of Service