Small bites

On the road with an eye to good food

There's a lot of good food out there along the highways and byways of the United States. Whether you plan to tour the country this summer or not, you may profit from the research of food-loving explorers offered in these two well-stuffed paperbacks:

"Jane and Michael Stern's Roadfood" (Broadway, 2005, $18.95) is a revised and updated edition, the sixth, of the Sterns' popular coast-to-coast guide to eating places, first published in 1978.

This volume features some 600 places to get a bite, including barbecue joints, lobster shacks, ice cream parlors, highway diners, cafes, kitchens and restaurants, with regional maps to guide the hungry traveler. The writing is lively, conveys plenty of atmosphere and introduces character vignettes and quotes to give each review a personal flavor.

"The Cooking Ladies' Recipes From the Road" (Ten Speed Press, 2005, $17.95) by Phyllis Hinz and Lamont Mackay presents 100 recipes that the Canadian-born authors guarantee can be cooked in a recreational vehicle - from their own experience.

The two have traveled widely across North America in their own RV. Their book, a new edition of this combined travelogue and cookbook first published in 2003, tells stories from along the way, seasoned with a variety of places and people, illustrated with color photos - and paired with the recipes inspired by the travel.

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Top tips from a test kitchen

Parents magazine's food editors Fraya Berg and Jackie Plant share some tips for streamlining action around the kitchen in a feature in the magazine's June issue.

Here are nine ways they suggest to speed up food prep:

1. If you're adding vegetables to a pasta meal, just toss them into the pot of boiling noodles for the last four minutes of cooking time.

2. To grill big cuts of meat quickly, cut them in half. Two medium-size pieces cook faster than one large one, and small chunks threaded on skewers grill in no time flat.

3. Teakettles heat water to a boil fast; use one when making pasta. Heat one-third of the water in a pot, but bring the rest to a boil in a kettle, then pour it into the pot.

4. Forgot to take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften it up? Just microwave the carton for 10 to 15 seconds, and scooping will be a breeze.

5. Don't crowd the pan when frying or sauteing small pieces of meat or fish. It just slows the cooking process. Instead, use a large pan and cook meat in batches.

6. Poke a hole in the center of hamburger patties while shaping them. This shortens the cooking time, and the holes will disappear when the burgers have finished cooking.

7. Let the microwave speed up dinner: In covered bowls, pre-cook veggies for stir-fries and one-dish meals while the other ingredients are cooking in a pan on the stove.

8. Chicken breasts and turkey cutlets usually need 16 to 20 minutes to cook, but pounding them flat will cut that time in half. Place boneless breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or small saucepan, pound breasts to ¼-inch thickness.

9. For a super-fast fish dish, heat some oil with a few slices of fresh ginger or garlic in a saute pan over a medium flame. Stir for three minutes, then remove the ginger or garlic and cook the fish in the flavored oil.

Try these seven substitutions - instead of dashing out to the store, improvise with things you have on hand, Berg and Plant suggest.

1. Buttermilk: Pour one tablespoon lemon juice into a measuring cup; add milk to equal one cup; stir and let sit five minutes.

2. Cake Flour: Remove two tablespoons all-purpose flour from each cup; add two tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk in a bowl to fluff.

3. Chocolate: Combine threee tablespoons cocoa powder and one tablespoon butter or shortening to replace one ounce unsweetened baking chocolate.

4. Heavy Cream: Add 1/3 cup melted butter to ¾ cup milk. (Follow this for baking and cooking only, not for whipped cream.)

5. Wine: Pour two tablespoons wine vinegar into a measuring cup; add chicken broth until liquid equals ½ cup wine.

6. Fresh Herbs: Substitute one teaspoon dry herbs for one tablespoon fresh.

7. Diced Onion: Use one tablespoon dried minced onion for ¼ cup fresh chopped onion. (This substitution works for meatballs and meat loaf; it can't be used for sauteing.)

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Asparagus know-how and handling

Choose bright green asparagus with compact, firm tips and smooth, tender skin. Asparagus sizes include standard (5/16 inch thick) and jumbo (13/16 inch thick). The jumbo spears are usually just as tender as the thin ones. Tenderness relates to color; the greener the better - or for white asparagus, the whiter the better.

Until preparing it for the table, keep asparagus cool and moist. Handle asparagus spears like flowers. Trim the butt end of the spears, then refrigerate, upright, standing in an inch of water. Cover loosely with plastic, or wrap the cut ends in a paper towel and store in a plastic bag with the top of the bag left open. Stored this way, fresh asparagus keeps for two to three days in the refrigerator.

(Source: California Asparagus Commission)