Goodbye for Now from Special Fork

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

On January 1, 2009, my son Dave and I launched Special Fork. We envisioned connecting home cooks like you to recipes and tips, to help with meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking. We wanted you to be able to access this information wherever you may happen to be—in the workplace, at the bus stop or in the kitchen.

The delivery system would utilize exciting new technology: the smartphone. When the iPad was launched a year later, we included tablets.

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Upcycle Brown Packing Paper with DIY Potato Stamps

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

At this time of year, Special Fork goes on a holiday hiatus and we leave you with a food-related craft idea.

This year, we’re making gift wrap paper from throwaway items and potatoes.

I don’t know about you, but I buy a lot from Amazon these days, and while I love the convenience of armchair shopping, I hate the waste that comes with the cartons and brown paper that accompany each shipment.

I have tried to be creative to use some of the cartons as toys—I made a house for my granddaughter with a large one, and a train engine that she could “drive.” Next, I plan to make a puppet theater. I haven’t been able to upcycle more than that.

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A Gift from your Kitchen: Boozy Fruit

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

When I was 24 and living in New York City, my friend Ruth gave me a jar of rumtopf at Christmas. I had never tasted anything so delightfully ambrosial and I asked for the recipe.

Rumtopf is a German way of preserving fresh fruit with sugar and rum that macerates over months. When I tried it, my fruit spoiled and I was so disappointed, I never made it again. It wasn’t the recipe—I was an inexperienced cook and I surely did something wrong.

Still, fruit and alcohol go well together for the holidays, and this Christmas, looking for an easy hostess gift, I thought about another boozy combination: dried plums and brandy. When I worked for the PR agency that represented the California Dried Plum Board years ago, we developed several recipes that combined dried plums with Armagnac, a classic French pairing.

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Pho: The Long Goodbye to the Thanksgiving Turkey

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

What did you do with the Thanksgiving turkey carcass? If you still have yours, try what I did: make delicious faux pho. But you have to make this noodle soup today.

According to USDA, avoid consuming leftovers that have been left in the refrigerator for longer than 3 or 4 days (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, to be exact).

I call this “faux” pho because it takes all sorts of liberties atypical of the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup, using turkey instead of beef or chicken, skipping the charring of onions and ginger, and ending up without the characteristic, clear broth.

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Getting Ready for T-Day

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Steve is finished with most of the food shopping and I’ve completed some of my early prep—making pie dough, baking cornbread, and cubing white bread for the stuffing, according to my Thanksgiving game plan. We’re in good shape.

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