If I’ve ever questioned why I subscribe to your newsletter (believe me I haven’t!) this was so fun to read. I made my first dutch baby with my now 10 year old grandson and we make them often, now for two grandsons when we have sleepovers! We are always in awe every time we bake one!
And add on spelling bee…..love and now an obsession with Wordle too.
I just pulled out your cinnamon butter muffins to make for an upcoming ski trip with family.
This edition gave me so much joy! Thank you Susan! ❤️
Not sure this is the right place to comment about original recipes. I found that very interesting and over the years I have seen things over and over and rewritten in books and articles. I always wondered what happens when writers are sued for copying recipes. I do believe some have won those cases, or so I read. Was it true that Barbara Tropp won her case when her recipes were taken from her Chinese cook book? Or what about the no knead bread that is so wonderful and wildly popular that was written about in the NYT? I have a book that was written 10 years before that about no knead bread. Don't they "own" it? Should the NYT say they got the idea from it?
Hi Rocky- Yes this is a great place to comment. The Priya Krishna article address a lot of these issues. It rarely happens, since recipes cant be copyrighted. Copying can only be proven when it is copied word for word, which may have been the case with Barbara Tropp so many years ago. I believe it was my former boss, Martha Stewart who was accused of plagiarizing her recipes in her first book (long before my time there!). I dont know how it turned out, but it may have been a cease and desist because i think later editions of the book were changed. What I found most surprising about the comments for this piece were that many people believe that people like me simply "compile" existing recipes into a book, which is not at all the case! If you read the early newsletter post linked in today's post about cinnamon butter muffins, I trace the genealogy of one particular recipe that many have claimed as their own.
Thanks for responding because now you put a bug in my ear. Gee that makes me sound old huh? I could not open the Priya article not being a subscriber of the NYT. So I did not read it. But I did go and hunt thru my many boxes of files/articles and recipes to look for that old muffin recipe. Have not made it in years, but your article has made me want to make yours and compare it. Anyhoo, the one I have a copy of is called French Breakfast Puffs and btw, its word for word from Betty Crocker page 48 in my old book I got in like 1972 or so. Maybe they swapped out butter for the shortening. And then I found a handout I got at a cooking class taken in the 70's -80's (maybe?) It's not dated. It was a Cooking with Class, Inc. class given by Janeen Sarlin in NY. In her food processor class she made guess what? French Breakfast Puffs, again word for word from good old Betty.
I believe that you as a professional, do not compile recipes and really test and retest to get a recipe the way you want to present it. But as you know there are many blogs out there and I read a lot of them that do just that. Or they make it from a book, then photograph it many times and put it out there. I am deleting more and more of them. Or they make the same recipe from 4 different books and then "judge" them as to which is their favorite. Like the "best" chocolate chip cookie. Well its not my favorite.. They are doing it over and over and also writing about "the newest way to cut up a cauliflower" when it is in fact the way many people have done it for years- including my grandmother.
Interesting how you traced that muffin recipe, its a great post. Xo
Sorry! I didn't realize the NYT article was paywalled- but I should have! Yes, if you read the comments in my post, Marion Cunningham also called them French Breakfast puffs, and a friend sent me a handout from her grade school home ec class! It truly is a great and simple recipe! Maybe you have a clipping from the Barbara Tropp controversy! I'm dating myself too since I ate at China Moon Cafe back in the day (her restaurant in SF)
Ah yes the Breakfast book! Yes I know it well. Years ago, when I was cooking for early photo shoots or other catering brunch jobs I made Marion's muffins often. Her ginger muffins were the most favorite, the raw apple ones were also a hit. One shoot was for a china company that was taken in a friends beautiful old Victorian house. In some of the shots they used the muffins to fill the plates. They were supposed to be to for the staff to eat. Years later I was in Macy's or Bloomingdales in the china dept. and they had brochures put out to advertise the china and surprise! The muffins were in the photos.
And sadly I never got to eat at China Moon Cafe, I heard it was great. Xo
If I’ve ever questioned why I subscribe to your newsletter (believe me I haven’t!) this was so fun to read. I made my first dutch baby with my now 10 year old grandson and we make them often, now for two grandsons when we have sleepovers! We are always in awe every time we bake one!
And add on spelling bee…..love and now an obsession with Wordle too.
I just pulled out your cinnamon butter muffins to make for an upcoming ski trip with family.
This edition gave me so much joy! Thank you Susan! ❤️
Aw thanks Maur! It means so much to hear from you! Have a great ski trip!
I just returned here to let you know that I am now a big Dutch baby fan because of this post here that I read last year. Thanks for this, Susan!
Not sure this is the right place to comment about original recipes. I found that very interesting and over the years I have seen things over and over and rewritten in books and articles. I always wondered what happens when writers are sued for copying recipes. I do believe some have won those cases, or so I read. Was it true that Barbara Tropp won her case when her recipes were taken from her Chinese cook book? Or what about the no knead bread that is so wonderful and wildly popular that was written about in the NYT? I have a book that was written 10 years before that about no knead bread. Don't they "own" it? Should the NYT say they got the idea from it?
Hi Rocky- Yes this is a great place to comment. The Priya Krishna article address a lot of these issues. It rarely happens, since recipes cant be copyrighted. Copying can only be proven when it is copied word for word, which may have been the case with Barbara Tropp so many years ago. I believe it was my former boss, Martha Stewart who was accused of plagiarizing her recipes in her first book (long before my time there!). I dont know how it turned out, but it may have been a cease and desist because i think later editions of the book were changed. What I found most surprising about the comments for this piece were that many people believe that people like me simply "compile" existing recipes into a book, which is not at all the case! If you read the early newsletter post linked in today's post about cinnamon butter muffins, I trace the genealogy of one particular recipe that many have claimed as their own.
Thanks for responding because now you put a bug in my ear. Gee that makes me sound old huh? I could not open the Priya article not being a subscriber of the NYT. So I did not read it. But I did go and hunt thru my many boxes of files/articles and recipes to look for that old muffin recipe. Have not made it in years, but your article has made me want to make yours and compare it. Anyhoo, the one I have a copy of is called French Breakfast Puffs and btw, its word for word from Betty Crocker page 48 in my old book I got in like 1972 or so. Maybe they swapped out butter for the shortening. And then I found a handout I got at a cooking class taken in the 70's -80's (maybe?) It's not dated. It was a Cooking with Class, Inc. class given by Janeen Sarlin in NY. In her food processor class she made guess what? French Breakfast Puffs, again word for word from good old Betty.
I believe that you as a professional, do not compile recipes and really test and retest to get a recipe the way you want to present it. But as you know there are many blogs out there and I read a lot of them that do just that. Or they make it from a book, then photograph it many times and put it out there. I am deleting more and more of them. Or they make the same recipe from 4 different books and then "judge" them as to which is their favorite. Like the "best" chocolate chip cookie. Well its not my favorite.. They are doing it over and over and also writing about "the newest way to cut up a cauliflower" when it is in fact the way many people have done it for years- including my grandmother.
Interesting how you traced that muffin recipe, its a great post. Xo
Sorry! I didn't realize the NYT article was paywalled- but I should have! Yes, if you read the comments in my post, Marion Cunningham also called them French Breakfast puffs, and a friend sent me a handout from her grade school home ec class! It truly is a great and simple recipe! Maybe you have a clipping from the Barbara Tropp controversy! I'm dating myself too since I ate at China Moon Cafe back in the day (her restaurant in SF)
Ah yes the Breakfast book! Yes I know it well. Years ago, when I was cooking for early photo shoots or other catering brunch jobs I made Marion's muffins often. Her ginger muffins were the most favorite, the raw apple ones were also a hit. One shoot was for a china company that was taken in a friends beautiful old Victorian house. In some of the shots they used the muffins to fill the plates. They were supposed to be to for the staff to eat. Years later I was in Macy's or Bloomingdales in the china dept. and they had brochures put out to advertise the china and surprise! The muffins were in the photos.
And sadly I never got to eat at China Moon Cafe, I heard it was great. Xo