Is it “hellified” hot any where else in the country? I’m sitting here in Dallas, Georgia thinking about the time I went to Louisiana and my grandmother had these lovely plump figs falling off her fig tree. I had never tasted a fresh fig off the tree and it was amazing. She talked about fig jam and the like. My daughter turned up her nose, but what do children really know, their delicate little palates are just so under developed.

Soon figs will be at the farmers market and I’m treating myself to some good old fashioned fig ice cream from a recipe I located in this little cookbook titled Favorite New Orleans Recipes I purchased in New Orleans more than 25 years ago.

Here is my modified version of Fig Ice Cream Recipe for those who can already get figs!

If you are not familiar with making homemade ice cream, tread slowly.

4 cups fresh whole figs, peeled

1 cup superfine sugar (don’t use granulated)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 large egg yolks

2 cups whole milk, scalded (don’t substitute anything else)

2 cups whipping cream or heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla, (Ronald Reginald is best)

In a large bowl beat the sugar, salt and egg yolks until light yellow.

In a double boiler, pour in the egg mixture and slowly add the milk, beating with a wire whisk until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Remove the double boiler pot from the water and cool for about 10 minutes.

Strain the mixture.

Add heavy cream and vanilla.

Carefully fold in the peeled fig pulp, keep it as whole as possible.

Freeze using a 2 quart hand turned ice cream freezer or electric ice cream freezer.

You should get just under 2 quarts of ice cream.

Want to learn more about figs? click here

Recently a LinkedIn member asked what cookbook would you recommend to a friend if you had the opportunity? I thought about it for a second and could only come up with one, namely Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book. Okay, can you tell I’m a baby boomer.

Look, it’s one of the few books that has tried and true recipes and foods I’m  relatively familiar with. I have come to the conclusion that many of the cookbooks that are out today are just garbage. There I said it! Yep, garbage.

Celebs are in business to make money, not provide deliciously divine recipes so they really don’t count. Think about it, it takes days, sometime weeks to perfect a recipe and then all of a sudden one of those Food TV Network celebs has not only come out with a cookbook but a magazine filled with more recipes. Really? I guess if I had a slew of CIA grads busy trying this or that I could do it too.

No jealousy here, just wondering what it’s all for? You know, the pretty pictures of food that makes your want to drool, digital photography and a good food stylist can do wonders.

So if you would recommend a book to your BFF what would it be?

” We write with trepidation. How shall we tell our fellow Americans that our palates have been ravaged, that our food is awful, and that our most respected authorities on cookery are poseurs?”

John L. Hess & Karen Hess, 1977

The summer of 2010 is strolling along and for the next 365 days I’d like to take a peek into food and flavor, spices, herbs all the little secrets that make food taste divine including the idea of farm fresh when ever possible.

Recently I have found myself becoming sick and tired of being sick and tired of chain restaurants that supply god awful food. The quality of what we are eating is getting worse and although few will say it, the taste is just plain lousy. If you live in a major city flooded with superior eateries, wonderful, but if you are in mainstream America, you may find yourself surrounded by fast food, regional chain restaurants and little else.

The few mom and pop places that are featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives are just that, few and far between. What would it take to re-educate the American palate and brain so that what we  enjoy is not only delicious but healthy, or is that an oxymoron?

Once upon a time there was a little child who loved his mother very much. Mom and dad worked very hard to provide “little man” with everything he needed and most of the things he wanted. One day it was discovered that mom was going to have a baby; twins to be exact. This made “little man” very happy. When the babies arrived home, a very interesting thing happened. Mom decided to stay home with the babies until they got bigger. This made “little man” really, really happy. He had his Mom and sister and brother home when he arrived from school each day.

One day “little man” explained to his teacher that he was just so happy his Mom was home with the babies because she now prepares a “feast.” The child went on to say, “Mom is cooking us dinner at home, she made a chicken in-the-oven, and green bean casserole, rolls, and a pie and we are so happy.”

So why was the child so happy? This little story is true and was provided by a teacher in a public school system in the south. It was reported that most of the children in the school eat out for dinner every night, rarely getting a home cooked meal. And we wonder why our children are obese, diabetes is on the rise and our little ones suffer from all sorts of allergies, headaches and insomnia?

I will continue to say it until I am blue in the face. Get back to the basics! Get back to the basics! Get back to the basics! Please parents, understand that it starts with you. Don’t talk about how busy you are, just learn a few great recipes or better yet take a cooking class.

Did you see the movie Twilight? Remember the Collins family all together cooking for Bella; and they didn’t even eat human food. Okay, I probably shouldn’t have gone there, but you know what I mean!

Here we are again, almost a year later and another cookie has been selected as the $1 Million Grand Prize-winning recipe. I am the first to say congratulation to Sue Compton, Delanco, New Jersey. The cookie looks sweet and delicious and I am sure there will be lots of bakers rushing to make these little jewels over the coming months.

I am still waiting however for Pillsbury to step up to the plate and have a good old fashioned Pillsbury Bake-Off that requires good old fashioned baking skills; no pre-packaged dough or mix, just flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, chocolate morsels, you know really good chocolate and the like. Is that too much to ask? I’m a baby-boomer and I remember a time when we did not “dumb” down the skills of the American baker. I guess this is about all we can expect since removing home economics/cooking from the middle schools.

What will it take to get back to the basics? Maybe a better questions is do we want to get back there or just continue the path we’re on and make cooking and baking as simple as popping a can? A Pillsbury can that is…