THE COOKBOOK TEST #0065: ITALIAN SNACKING, PART 2

INSTALLMENT #0065 (PAID) THE HOLIDAY WALL / PANNEKOEKEN, ITALIAN-STYLE / SEMI-FUNCTIONAL AMARETTI

Dear Subscribers,

I work from home and report only to myself (and those of you, of course, who are underwriting this project and Heavy Table.) Despite this, I find that ever December, my ability to focus wanes considerably, and I become an increasingly sluggish and unreliable employee (again, of myself, and of my beloved paying subscribers.)

I think of myself as an unstoppable, nuclear-powered wordsmith, but I am in reality merely just a man.

A man with gifts to wrap, and cats to appreciate. A man with episodes of The Repair Shop to watch, and brunches to plan. A man with a surprisingly active holiday-driven social life. A man who, at the moment, would definitely rather power through a large mug of tea and some abbey cake than do anything as organized as writing about food.

To cut to the chase: moderate your expectations for the December content of THE COOKBOOK TEST. Will you get a new email every Sunday morning? You shall. Will it be full-blast, full-length, full-intensity deliciousness? It could be! But we're playing it by ear. Week by week. And I fully plan to nap my way through most of Dec. 20-31, so please set your expectations accordingly.

Come January, I hope to play with the format a bit. Maybe even dabble in some new media or channels? I don't know, I'd like to shake things up in 2025. If you've got requests, shout 'em out.

In the meantime: we return to ITALIAN SNACKING, a book whose contents I love almost as much as I love its title.

at your service,

James

ITALIAN SNACKING
BY ANNA FRANCESE GASS
UNION SQUARE AND CO. | 2024 | $35

In my effort to more fully explore and inhabit the cozy confines of Italian Snacking, I pitted myself against a recipe that was both surprisingly familiar and bracingly different.

One of my favorite breakfasts to make is apple pannekoeken, a big eggy fluffy oven pancake that features apples pre-sautéed in applejack or brandy. It's a hell of a presentation piece, as it puffs up way above the top of the pan, and egg plus apple plus cinnamon (plus maple syrup, in our house) makes for a really delicious first bite of the day.

So when I discovered Italian Snacking's recipe for Kaiserschmarren ("Orange Scented Pancake with Blueberry Jam") I was hooked right away. Like pannekoeken, lots of eggs, and a fluffy quality to it.

Unlike pannekoeken, the eggs get separated, and the whites get whipped to stiff peaks to provide structure and lightness to the dish. Plus: rather than an apple theme, this thing uses raisins, orange zest and juice, and orange liqueur to engineer its flavor train.