Food - Dr Paul

A cooling rack full of biscotti fresh from its second bake

This Biscotti Recipe Won 2nd Place at the Oregon State Fair

This is the biscotti recipe I used to win a 2nd place ribbon at the Oregon State Fair. Given there were several biscotti entries, I think it’s a solid bet. I was originally going to use the biscotti recipe from the excellent Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book, because they have done research...

A cheesecake with a slice taken out of it, and ribborns for "Best of Division" and "First Place" at the Oregon State Fair.

Excellent & Easy Slow Cooker Cheesecake

I entered this cheesecake in the Oregon State Fair and it won a Blue Ribbon and Best of Division! What’s not to like about a slow cooker cheesecake recipe that tastes like real cheesecake, is easy to make, and is almost impossible to mess up? It also has...

Liquor bottles coming off of an assembly line at a distillery.

Is It Okay to Use Cheap Liquor for Cooking?

I doubt anyone will be able to tell if the wine you used in your red meat sauce came from a $2.98 bottle of Trader Joe’s house brand or a $44 Domaine du Pelican Arbois Trois Cépages. But try using the cheapest bourbon for your pulled pork barbecue...

A bowl of fresh salad with these four ingredients below it: Olive Oil, Ginge, Tahini and Balsamic Vinegar.

Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing That Breaks All of the Rules

My starter recipe for Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing violates the number one rule of every recipe I’ve ever seen for this kind of salad dressing: it only has four ingredients. There’s nothing stopping you from adding honey, soy, lemon, garlic or God knows what. But ginger and tahini...

A whole Caribbean Rum Cake baked in a spiral bundt cake pan.

To Die For Caribbean Rum Bundt Cake

Unless you are trying to score with someone who is in AA, this cake should be at the top of your list of recipes to help you get laid. It will impress and amaze. I have made it five times and I wouldn’t consider another rum cake recipe—it’s...

Several ribbons that Dr. Paul won for baking at the county fair.

Not bad for one day of baking!

I decided to enter some of my favorite recipes in our county fair, but I only had one day to bake. So I started baking at 7:00 am and was at the fairgrounds by 5:00 pm. But at about 2 pm, the curd for my lemon meringue pie...

A bowl of chicen soop sitting over a rotisserie chicken fro Costco and the words "Chick Soup for the Bowl."

How to Make Respectable Chicken Soup from Costco Rotisserie Chicken

A few weeks ago, Costco was giving tastes of Campbell’s Simply Chicken Soup. It wasn’t half bad; at least it didn’t leave the chemical aftertaste in my mouth that some of the other Campbell’s chicken soups do. But when I was reading the ingredients on the can, I...

An image of a red apple sitting above a white background full of floating question marks.

Apple Butter: To Peel or Not to Peel?

In trying to find the best recipe for making apple butter, I discovered there are two opposing camps on whether the apples should be peeled or not peeled. Apples for apple butter are cooked for several hours on low, and then they’re zapped with an immersion blender or...

Banana Bread Bake Off Competition, And the Winner Is…

My experimental loaf of banana bread supercharged with ½ cup of home-made banana rum liqueur and an infusion of the juice from 5 bananas (reduced down to approximately a ¼ cup) just placed third at the Oregon State Fair. Given how many banana breads are entered in state...

Clip art of a screaching chicken next to a large thermometer.

How to Chill Hot Food without Getting Too Terribly Sick

I usually do an awful job of cooling hot food, and I used to be even worse about leaving meat in a bowl on the counter when I marinated it (who knew?). So I decided to do some research on how to correctly chill hot food. It seems...

Close up of a coconut cookie made from this recipe.

How to Make Coconut Cookies that Will Astound Your Friends and Family

Coconut cookies are my wife’s favorite type of cookie. So when she says the coconut cookies I make with this recipe are the best she’s ever tasted, you can be sure it’s a recipe you can rely on. I think it’s the coconut cookie version of brilliant. After...

SCAN THIS QR CODE WITH YOUR PHONE