Month: May 2026

Chef Swanky answers some mail

It’s mailbag time! Chef Swanky has some followers with a few questions, and he agreed to take time out from creating delicious food to respond to them.

We picked three for him. Here he is, enlightening us on the mysteries of the culinary world.

What is a disher? It looks like a scoop. Is it the same thing or are they two different utensils?

A disher is a half-spherical kitchen tool with a mechanical leveler inside the bowl in which you either squeeze the handle or push the thumb trigger to release evenly whatever product was contained inside.

It’s an essential tool for making sure the same and equal portions of food, cookies, etc. come out the same size.

An ice cream scoop has a half spherical bowl as well, but is designed specifically to carve and portion in to frozen desserts such as ice cream, gelato, or sorbet.

Yes, you can use a disher for scooping out ice cream, but the reverse of using an ice cream scoop to portion out equally shaped cookies may not be feasible.

You had a recipe (the coconut macaroons) that called for cane syrup. Can I use the same syrup that I put on my pancakes or is cane syrup something different?

Cane syrup comes from evaporated sugarcane juice. (Note: the image here is sugarcane juice.)

It’s sometimes used to replace maple syrup, and it has a rich, robust, almost caramel flavor.

Usually macaroons use corn syrup, which comes from cornstarch and which is used to hold moisture in the product or to prevent crystallization of sugar, but I wanted the macaroons to have a type of caramelized flavor.

What is your favorite dish to make?

My favorite dessert to make is the Banana Foster, hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana.

It is a dessert in which you brown butter and saute a banana with brown sugar and cinnamon, then flambé it using rum, turning the buttery brown sugar rum into a sauce.

It is then topped with Vanilla Ice Cream drizzles with the sauce.

It’s a nice, delightful warming and cooling treat.

Got a question for the great Chef? Drop us a comment below, and we’ll pester Chef Swanky to impart some more wisdom.

Follow Chef Swanky here and on Instagram at chefswankyhw.

(All images from Dreamstime.com. Used with permission.)

Feed Your Body: best cookbook EVER!

The publication date on this cookbook is 1960, but the advice is timeless. And Peg Bracken’s delivery is hilarious.

Just the introduction had me giggling:

Some women, it is said, like to cook.

This book is not for them.

This book is for those of us who hate to, who have learned, through hard experience, that some activities become no less painful through repetition: childbearing, paying taxes, cooking. This book is for those of us who want to fold out big dishwater hands around a dry Martini instead of a wet flounder, come the end of a long day.

With the one exception being that I want to fold my hands around a flute or coupe of bubbly instead of anything that I’d have to cook, she’s spot on.

The book is filled with recipes that are both easy and tasty, all told in her witty and insightful style.

I don’t think it’s still in print, but you can find copies in thrift stores or on Amazon. That’s where I found mine, and I don’t care that it’s used. The seller who decided to part with it must have come into some money, at least enough to hire someone to come in and do the cooking.

26 in 26: May

[Note: I’m doing a 26-word post on the first day of each month of 2026. It’s an exercise in concision and precision, which every writer should attempt now and then. Also Note: This explanation is separate from the 26-word count. Also Note: I’ve posted a haiku, and this post will be measured in syllables — 26 syllables. To make the syllable count, I’ve included a headline for the haiku.]

To Everything There Is A Season

Winter falls behind
Spring edges into summer
May makes time stand still