100 Quotes by Claire Saffitz

Criticism of a dish is not a criticism of the cook.

Can you braid three strands? Then you can make babkallah. The very idea of babkallah came about because the recipe avoids the complicating twisting technique that gives babka its signature swirl.

If you think about it, composed salads are like nachos (I'll explain). When you're eating a plate of nachos, it's always a bummer when you get to those naked, topping-less chips on the bottom of the pile. It's the same with salads. No one wants to find a naked leaf on the end of their fork.

People are always asking me baking questions - from strangers DMing me on Instagram, to friends I don't otherwise talk to anymore texting me, to my own mother and sister calling me on the phone demanding answers.

Hearty soups with relatively long cook times like minestrone, for example, are chock-full of aromatics and flavor-lending ingredients like bacon, onions, and garlic. These infuse the water with their flavor and produce a clean-tasting broth all on their own.

You must pre-bake the bottom crust of a custard pie, but this is a tricky step in the pie-making process. Without the presence of filling the crust can slump down into the plate as it bakes, necessitating pie weights to help keep its shape. Then, once you remove the weights to blind bake the crust, the bottom puffs.

No stuffing is complete without chopped onion and celery - they're the building blocks. If you want to deepen the flavor, consider adding leeks, sage, and/or hardy greens.

For baked goods where lightness is a prized attribute - almost all cakes, some cookies - it's important to start with room-temperature butter.

I don't like a too-perfect cake. You want people to know it came from your kitchen and not the cake case in the bakery aisle.