pet peeve -- when recipes bomb . . .

Not only does some of her recipes don't work but some of the recipes in one of her book were copied right out of Joy Of Cooking....

The revenues she gets for her books still outweigh the cost of a lawsuit against her I guess...

One of the thing I do not like about Martha and her show and magazine is that I always have the feeling that whatever she does she does it for her not for the viewers or readers. She has a colorist over to clone the shade of her egg to paint her dining room. Watch Martha set her sewing closet. Watch Martha and a carpenter set up her new garden shed etc. Haven’t you notice it’s all about I. I prefer this or I want this etc.

Yup! "It's a good thing"...if it's for MARTHA! I'm tired of her lines... "Used the best ___ you can find." Sure, everybody can afford that! And what was that about raising your own chickens in your backyard? 'And here's what you do with your excess truffles.' Excess did you say??????????? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I take the good and leave the bad!

:rolleyes:

Oops, sorry! It's under Pastry and Baking, a thread called 'the quintessential brownie".. I think..

This recipe definitely comes from the dirtiest page in the cookbook. Chocolate fingerprints...

Brownies (severely adapted from James Beard's American Cookery)

1/2 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1-1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9x9 pan (8x8 if you're not using chips and nuts) with parchment so it overhangs, giving you a handle to pull the brownies out with.

Melt the butter and chocolate on 50% in the microwave or in a heavy pan on low. Stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, salt, nuts, and/or chips (if you are using them). Scrape into the prepared pan, and bake until no longer liquidy, ~30-35 minutes. It will not get as firm as a cake, so don't overcook.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Lift out of the pan by the paper tails, plop on a cutting board, and cut with a big knife.

Just Desserts is an interesting unauthorized biography of Martha Stewart some of you might want to look up.

Bakerbebe: You are sooo right! I've tried a few of her recipes and I can say with experience that they are terrible. One of the biggest complaints the anti-Martha campaign had against her was the fact that her recipes don't work. If you're looking for a REALLY good brownie recipe, there's a thread in the Recipe Exchange
superduperbrownies you will surely find something worthy of your expensive chocolate there! ;)

Sorry, I think you guys are totally missing it! Once upon a time when Martha was alone publishing books she didn't test her recipes as throughly as she should have. Quick Cook and Entertaining missed on a few baking recipes. But then I can list hundreds or more of the best baking books that have clunkers too. Every magazine out there fits that description, they all have clunkers! EACH and EVERYONE.

Perhaps you weren't working professionally when she first entered the market but she made a HUGE HUGE impact on food presentation the likes that no one in my working life time has. She took food off sliver trays and brought us into style, we now present food on trays garnished to FIT THE PARTY. Shes opened the door for creative work in this industry. BILLIONS and billions of dollars are being spent on parties in areas where they were rarely at best ever spent. Stores now carry fuller decortive lines of party supplies, party consultants and florists bring us more interesting requests for work instead of old Wilton era cakes of which we can charge more for too.

Her current work in baking is the BEST American work put out there. She's highlighting the best chefs in food and pastry and giving them credit on her show and in her magazines.

She doesn't dummy down anything in her magazine, she simplifies comlicated things and teaches details that other publications omit that educated people want to know about gardening or cooking. It isn't family circle magazine, it's for people who appereciate fine things and want to learn about them in detail.


The better baker you are the less false leads you follow. 99.99% of every baking recipe that requests a 450 degree oven throws up a red flag for me because ther are only a VERY VERY FEW items that are baked at that temp. Unforunately mis-prints happen, and they happen everywhere including the best cookbooks not just magazines.

I can list recipe after recipe published in her books and magazines that are gold! I know of no other American baker that I can list so many from!

i totally agree with W. DeBord.


martha has played a big role in cooking and baking for along time and she still does.

as a cook or baker, like w. debord was saying, you must use common since and if something doesnt sound right, then it is probobly not right. there are miss prints all the time in recipes but with a carefull eye, you can look through those miss prints and come out with a great dish.

her books are good... very good. she has good ideas and tricks that everyone can learn from. i dont trust what everyone says about a recipe... i just know when i read a recipe, i use common since. if something calls for a 450 oven, then i know that i should maybe turn it down a little or something like that.

I think Martha is the Madonna of home-ec': dubious talent but incredible business sense. Her best stuff, like Madonna, is borrowed.

I don’t doubt she had a impact on the way people see food. I do not doubt she has a good business sense and built herself a little empire. But Wendy you have to admit that everything she does is for her benefit and enjoyment. Martha wants to learn this and that so she gets the people who will teach her. Watch Martha getting her boat build etc. Plus she is so insecure and need constant reassurance. Don’t you like mind kids? These are my own eggs you know don’t they have a lovely colour? I could go and on.

Her little empire is built, if you ask me, on quicksand. Yes she went public a while back and sold lots of shares. I will never be one of her shareholder and here is why. Martha is what between 55 and 60? I don’t wish her ill but what would happen if she was to die or have a stroke tomorrow? Her whole empire is based on her and her image. There is no one who can take her place at a moment notice. No successor for now anyway. Her magazine could continue to be publish and it could still be successful but her TV show, radio show and newspaper column would be compromise. The price of her share would drop so fast.

Iza, you might be right but the complete opposite is also just as likely to happen: suddently Martha-this-and-that becomes even more valuable because she's no longer around and no one can criticize a dead woman's work anymore. The Magazine Martha Stewart Living will probably have to chage its name to plain old Martha Stewart to not sound like a distasteful joke, but it will continue to be produced. The magazine doesn't need her to exist, in fact I don't think it has ever really needed her. Who knows what shape her empire will take when she's gone? You raise an interesting topic however, one which I admit I hadn't considered until now...

I don’t doubt the magazine would stay on, as I stated in my previous post. The problem is the TV show and radio. I’m sure she’s not the one doing the bulk of the work but it’s her the viewer sees. But then maybe I’ve been wrong all along. I see things clearer now…


Imagine she goes missing they could always change the title to Where Is Martha Stewart Living. Do a kind of Where’s Waldo for grown up.


If she should die, she would corner a whole new market. Death by Martha Stewart. And why not she has cornered wedding and babies. Dying is clearly the next step. How to make a wreath for a coffin, what to serve and what to wear. Possibilities are endless.


With all the psychics that are surrounding us, she could run her empire from the other side. Imagine, how to make your stay in **** more comfortable. How I redecorated Heaven.


And she will be eternal and her empire will be safe. With our luck she’d find a way to reincarnate herself in just a few years. And then what? A new line of Martha’s clones? We could each own a Martha.

Scary!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Iza, maybe you can market these ideas to Martha herself!!

Anneke, dig that first smiley!!

Everyone realizes Martha isn't personally doing much of anything we read in her magazine or the craft she's making on tv, no shes running a business. She's created a brand, her name.

Look at all the famous fashion designers out there....many of their houses continue after the creater passes on and the name remains. Don't forget she has a daughter whom she features occasional decorating or recipes ideas from. Maybe she'll continue the empire? And if she does will you blame her?

As a former professional artist and a very creative person, I know that very little is orginial. Ideas come from others ideas...that's how creativity works. You see something you expound on that thought into your thought, then the next guy looks at your stuff and he reacts off of that, and so on. Look in your museums theres "movements/periods". Who created and patented impressionism, modern art, etc... so no other artist could work in that style? No one, you can't stop an idea or a style.

Look at the cover of O magazine, Rosie and Simple....there all knock offs of Martha.

Is she perfect, no. Is everyone else perfect, no.

Is there a real reason you knock her work? Is she really so different than a ton of other successful businesses before her?

Have you ever been into one of the restaurant that advertise Chinese & Italian food? You know the saying they can’t be good at everything. It’s that way with Martha; she can’t be good at everything. I don’t denied she built a great business and that she is very successful. Does that mean I can’t make fun of her once in a while? I do watch her TV show on occasion and even buy her magazine in December. I do think she has a tendency to go overboard once in a while. She’s wearing herself thin. Martha online, at Kmart, in newspaper, magazine television, radio, even sells flower now. Because she has done it all, does it mean that we can not make fun of her? Let the one who has never made fun of her cast the first stone….please do apply 14 karat gold leaf before casting it.

I did not mean for anyone to feel offended by my post Wendy. I am sorry if you were.

MaryeO,

Funny you should say that, because I just took my beautiful dovecote in to be dry-cleaned, because I poolishly spilled Pet Milk all over it!

[ August 02, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

Silly goose? Nah, I'm such an !




[ August 02, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

It's the bash Martha forum!!!

Martha Stewart vs real life


Martha's way #1: Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.
My way: Just **** the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake, you are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

Martha's way #2: Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle and you'll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time.
My way: Buy the precooked kind you nuke in the microwave for 30 seconds. The hard part is getting them out of the plastic bag.

Martha's way #3: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
My way: Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix and keep it in the pantry for up to a year.

Martha's way #4: To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard boiling.
My way: Who cares if they crack, aren't you going to take the shells off anyway?

Martha's way #5: To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.
My way: Sleep with the lemons in between the mattress and box springs.

Martha's way #6: To easily remove burnt-on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop.
My way: Eat at Chili's every night and avoid cooking.

Martha's way #7: Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.
My way: Feed your garbage disposal and there won't be any leftovers.

Martha's way #8: When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
My way: Go to the bakery. They'll even decorate it for you.

Martha's way #9: If you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix me up."
My way: If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too **** bad. My motto: I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.

Martha's way #10: Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
My way: Celery? Never heard of the stuff.

Martha's way #11: Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.
My way: The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust and so I don't do it.

Martha's way #12: Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.
My Way: Brown sugar is supposed to be "soft"?

Martha's way #13: When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn's natural sweetness.
My Way: The only kind of corn I buy comes in a can.

Martha's way #14: To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, but if it rises to the surface, throw it away.
My way: Eat, cook, or use the egg anyway. If you feel bad later, you will know it wasn't fresh.

Martha's way #15: Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
My way: Martha, dear, the only reason this works is because you can't rub a lime on your
forehead without getting lime juice in your eye, and then the problem isn't the headache anymore, it is because you are now blind.

Martha's way #16: Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
My way: Leftover wine?

Martha's way #17: If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
My way: Go ask the very cute neighbor to do it.

Martha's way #18: Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.
My way: Mashed potatoes will now be replacing the anti-bacterial soap in the handy dispenser next to my sink.

Martha's way #19: Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer. * Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china. * Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets. * Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes. * Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if
necessary).
My way: Put your jewelry, vases, and thermos in the toilet. Add some Alka-Seltzer and you have solved a whole bunch of problems at once.

My god what have I done! I've created a monster.


Nancy I am ashame of you!

Woooooo nancya, now that's giving her **** in a way I can totally agree with. Good rock solid points NO one can dispute. My hats off!

I have the feeling you have more and are being shy????????