I've made CI's brownie recipe (previous issue - not sure if it is identical to this month's recipe) and they were heavenly. The recipe was for an 8 x 8 pan. I doubled the recipe exactly and put it in a 9 x 13 pan. I made a few batches for my girls' birthday to take to school. The best one was when I allowed the edges to brown a bit because it gives a great crunch. The center was cooked. Kari

I have the book...but I found the recipe online...saves my poor typing! I compared the recipes and found just one difference, in the amount of EVO called for. FRENCH POTATO SALAD From: America's Test Kitchen Live! by Cook's Illustrated If fresh chervil isn't available, substitute an additional 1/2 tablespoon of minced parsley and an additional 1/2 teaspoon of minced tarragon. For best flavor, serve the salad warm, but to make ahead, follow the recipe through step 2, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Before serving, bring the salad to room temperature, then add the shallot and herbs. Serves 4 to 6 Ingredients  2 pounds (about 6 medium or 18 small) red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices  2 tablespoons salt  1 medium garlic clove, peeled and threaded on a skewer  1 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar  2 teaspoons Dijon mustard  1/4 cup olive oil (2 Tablespoons called for in "The Best Light Recipe Cookbook")  1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper  1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)  1 tablespoon minced fresh chervil leaves  1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves  1 tablespoon minced fresh chives  1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon leaves Directions 1. Place the potatoes, 6 cups cold water, and the salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium. Lower the skewered garlic into the simmering water and blanch, about 45 seconds. Immediately run the garlic under cold tap water to stop the cooking process; remove the garlic from the skewer and set aside. Simmer the potatoes, uncovered, until tender but still firm (a thin-bladed paring knife can be slipped into and out of the center of a potato slice with no resistance), about 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Arrange the hot potatoes close together in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. 2. Press the garlic through a garlic press or mince by hand. Whisk the garlic, reserved potato cooking water, vinegar, mustard, oil, and pepper together in a small bowl until combined. Drizzle the dressing evenly over the warm potato slices; let stand 10 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, toss the shallot and herbs gently together in a small bowl. Transfer the potatoes to a large serving bowl. Add the shallot-herb mixture and mix lightly with a rubber spatula to combine. Serve immediately. Variations FRENCH POTATO SALAD WITH ARUGULA, ROQUEFORT, AND WALNUTS Follow the recipe for French Potato Salad, omitting the herbs and tossing the dressed potatoes with 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse, 4 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled, and 1 small bunch arugula, washed, dried, stemmed, and torn into bite-sized pieces (about 3 cups), along with the minced shallot in step 3. Nancy

Ditto on Vermouth (mom used it long before Julia Child popularized it for cooking) I also keep Sherry, Madiera or Port on hand to add when the recipe or marinade requires it. Unsweetened grape juice, actually the must is called Verjus. It's not as easy to locate, but a good sub for some recipes. I also keep a variety of vinegars on hand including fig, balsamic (white & red), orange & other fruits, rice vinegar, red & white wine vinegar and the more common white & cider vinegar. Another idea for cooking wines is to buy those half bottles which have screw tops and keep easily in the fridge between uses.

Semi-sweet is NOT the same as bittersweet, at least in the West Coast where artisanal chocolatiers hold sway with chocolates that go upwards of $85/lb. Bittersweet is becoming the "gourmet chocolate of choice" in America but not elsewhere, where sweet dark and extra dark mostly rule. The reason chocolate sweetness varies all over the place is that the US government's FDA standard mandates the cacao content and milk/fat percentages for different chocolate types, but NOT the sugar amount. So, if Hershey's wanted to label their semi-sweet chips as bittersweet chips, they are breaking no laws because the entire category of "Bittersweet" covers anything that isn't Unsweetened, Sweet, Milk Chocolate, or White Chocolate. The reason one needs to be careful is that the Bittersweet category has the widest range of cacao solids allowed: anything from 35% to 99% cacao solids by weight. Obviously, baking with a chocolate that has 40% cacao solids is going to be very different than using one that has 80% or 90% cacao solids. Chocolate is "heavy" in texture and the more you use, the harder it is to get the texture of your dish to "lift up" and become light/fluffy rather than fudgy/solid. So in reality, most semi-sweet runs about 50% sugar. Most bittersweet runs about 35% sugar. Gourmet bittersweet can be much, much less sweet than that. The vanilla in almost all commercial chocolates, BTW, heavily masks cacao "terroir" flavor, with lecithin and sometimes paraffin used to give lesser quality chocolates the 'smoothness' of the expensive conching process. Info above was taken from the Ghirardelli website, linked below: Here is a link that might be useful: What goes into which chocolate type