Bread and butter issues

"Make the bread, buy the butter." This injunction is the title of a delightful cookbook by Jennifer Reese which purports to advise cooks about what is worth the time and trouble to make from scratch and what is better left to the supermarket or carryout.

Reese begins with the dictum about bread and butter because though you can make your own butter, as Reese contends, there's little point in it unless you have a cow. It will cost you more and not be any better than store bought, especially compared to premium butter like Plugra.

Bread is a different matter. You're not likely to find great bread at the supermarket, yet, if you follow a streamlined no-knead recipe, bread is easy and cheap to make.

It's easier than you might think to whip up a batch of fluffy marshmallow mixture which can be spread in a pan and cut into individual pieces.Submitted by Tom Harte

There are other directives like this which, following Reese's lead, I'd like to propose.

Make the Peanut Butter, Buy the Jelly: These days you can buy truly premium jellies and preserves at the supermarket, which though not difficult to make, can be time consuming. Peanut butter (or almond butter or cashew butter for that matter) takes no time at all in a food processor and is healthier than most of what you find at the grocery store

Make the Sauce, Buy the Pasta: making spaghetti sauce is simple and tastier and healthier than the jarred stuff. Homemade pasta isn't hard to make either, in fact it's fun, but it's a mistake to assume it's always better than the packaged product. The Italians routinely and unapologetically use pasta secca (dried pasta). If it's properly cooked, it's just as good as freshly made.

Make the Cookies, Buy the Ice Cream: making ice cream is rewarding, except, perhaps, as has happened to me, when you burn out the motor on your machine by adding too many chocolate chips. However, it's not necessarily better or more innovative than the plethora of high-quality ice creams at the market or ice cream shop. But unless you shop exclusively at the renowned Levain Bakery in New York City, store-bought cookies are invariably not as good as what comes out of your oven, and few things are easier to make.

Homemade marshmallows like these might make you swear off store bought versions for good, and they are surprisingly easy to make.Submitted by Tom Harte

Make the Frosting, Buy a Cake Mix: cake mixes have come a long way since they were invented and there's no shame in using them, especially if cleverly doctored. Thus, a once popular tearoom in our region relied heavily on them. But you will never find on the shelf of your local grocer a can of frosting anywhere near worthy of even the shoddiest box or scratch cake. So use a mix, but always make your own frosting.

Make the Bagels, Buy the Cream Cheese: Bagels you buy from the grocer's freezer case constitute culinary sacrelige, but making them yourself is not that hard. (See my column from Sept. 16, 2021.) Buy the cream cheese, or, better yet, Italian mascarpone, Greek yogurt, French fromage blanc or German quark.

Make the Hot Chocolate — and the Marshmallows: It's not hard to make great hot chocolate, mixing the ingredients yourself. Compared to the stuff in a packet homemade will have better chocolate, less sugar and richer milk solids. (I like to use half and half myself.) Topping it with so-called jet puffs will produce an agreeable goo, but to further etherealize the beverage make your own marshmallows (or else substitute whipped cream). If you have a candy thermometer, marshmallows are actually easy to make.

Homemade marshmallows like these might make you swear off store bought versions for good, and they are surprisingly easy to make.Submitted by Tom Harte

Homemade Marshmallows

This recipe, adapted from the redoubtable Ina Garten, may surprise you, it's so easy.

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• Powdered sugar

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water and let sit in bowl of mixer fitted with whisk attachment until dissolved. Combine sugar, syrup, salt, and ½ cup water and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook until mixture reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat and slowly pour into gelatin mixing at low speed. Beat on high speed, around 15 minutes, until very thick. Pour into nonmetal 7-inch-by-11-inch baking dish generously dusted with powdered sugar. Dust top with additional powdered sugar and let stand overnight. Cut into squares and dust with additional powdered sugar.