20 Friday, May 2, 1986
.....",
• Bloom so Bloom •
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Jewelers
Twelve Mile Rd.
S Southeast
outheast corner Northwestern
Come and let us remove your unwanted hair problem and improve your appearance.
Behind Gabe's Fruits
In The Mayfair Shops -
Near 12 Mile Rd. bet. Evergreen & Southfield
559-1969
bruce m. weiss
COOKING
Cooking Videos Trend
BY GLORIA KAUFER GREENE
Mon: Sat. 10-5:30
Thurs. 10-8:30
Appt. OnlyAsk For Shirlee or Debby.
353-1424
I
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Daily 10:00-5, Thurs. till 8
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352-8622
If attractively illustrated food
magazines and cookbooks tempt
you to try your hand at their
photographed dishes, then be
wary that cooking videos will
have you in the kitchen even be-
fore the tape has run its way
through.
I recently had the opportunity
to view one of the recent re-
leases in this medium. Entitled
Pasta: Beyond Primavera, it is
Volume One of the Video Menus
produced by Metropolitan Home
magazine. For comparison, I
also rented several cooking vid-
eos which feature such culinary
luminaries as Julia Child,
Madeleine Kamman and Craig
Claiborne.
With the Video Menus (or at
least the one I previewed), the
instruction, not the instructor, is
the main attraction. In fact,
throughout the entire tape, we
are never once shown the face of
the demonstrator. The camera
constantly focuses on her hands,
the food, and the equipment she
is using.
However, each step is exten-
sively explained using voice-
over narration, with the demon-
strator giving most of the in-
struction, and a male announcer
adding extra tidbits of informa-
tion.
The first time around it's in-
teresting and even fun to watch
Kammanas as she frustratingly
tries to deal with a mousse that
just won't budge from its mold,
see Claiborne as he repeatedly-
attempts to keep a piece of chic-
ken folded around a rice mix-
ture (and, one by one, picks up
three stray grains of rice from
the countertop) or watch Child
doing a rather rough job of
spreading whipped cream on a
cake.
For the most part, the impor-
tant techniques in the videos
are shown in "real time," acoid-
ing the confusion that can occur
when one scene moves too
quickly to the next step or to
the finished product.
Just about all cooking videos
come with recipe booklets or
cards; a problem if you rent
rather than buy the tapes, be-
cause the printed recipes are not
usually part of the rental pack-
age. With most of the tapes, the
ingredients are carefully dic-
tated while the chef cooks; how-
ever, Claiborne and Kamman
occasionally neglect to give
amounts, and Child .often refers
to recipes that appear only in
the booklet, but never on the
tape.
Once again, Pasta: Beyond
Primavera is exceptional in that
brief versions of all the recipes
are shown "printed" on the sc-
reen at the end of the tape.
All in all, I think that cooking
videos sre a marvelous way to
learn precise techniques and
special dishes. With prices that
range from $25 upwards, they
are definitely more expensive
than most cookbooks and have
far fewer recipes. However, the
cost is comparable to that of
many professional cooking
classes. And you can learn at
your own pace in your own
home.
The recipes below are adapted
from the recipe cards that come
with Pasta: Beyond Primavera, a
tape which demonstrates how to
make fresh pasta -- both by
hand and machine — and shows
how to use it in seven innova-
tive ways—Although every dish
is not suitable for the kosher
kitchen, they can be adapted
without too much difficulty.
To order Pasta: Beyond
Primavera, send $29.95 plus $2
postage and handling to: Video
Menus Inc., P.O. Box 10856, Des
- Moines, Iowa 50336, and specify
VHS or BETA format. :(Note:
The recipes are given in much
greater detail on the video tape.)
SPINACH GNOCCHI
(Serves 8 to 10)
3 lbs. spinach, trimmed
3 lbs. ricotta
% tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. salt
2 egg yolks
% cup grated Parmesan (or
similar) cheese
1% cups ungifted all-purpose
flour
Wash spinach and cool( in the
water that's clinging to its
leaves for 5 minutes. Cool and
squeeze out all moisture. Chop,
in a food processor and , scrape
into a bowl. Stir in ricotta, nut
.