Good morning, good readers. We’re hot on the trail of a certain cake, a restaurant soup and an end-of-tomato-season soup: cold-oven pound cake, The Cheesecake Factory’s cream of chicken soup and fresh tomato and (fresh) basil soup.
Diane Haidari asked for a broad spectrum of help in finding a certain cake recipe. “I would love any variation on this recipe. I had an aunt who would bake a cold-oven pound cake. It was so wonderfully dense in texture and thoroughly vanilla in aroma and taste. I do recall ‘a preheated oven, place cake inside, close oven, turn off heat.’ “
Sharon Beck wrote, “I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy Fare Exchange and have gotten many favorite recipes from there. I would like to find a recipe for Cream of Chicken Soup like they serve at The Cheesecake Factory … it has potatoes and other veggies in it … and is delicious.”
The final request came from an anonymous reader who has just tasted the best tomato basil soup of her life. She’s got the tomatoes and the basil, but she wants to invest in the best possible recipe for same.
Amy Fowler’s email bore this hopeful subject line: “Boat House Slaw.” And indeed she has a tip, but not the real thing. “I did ask a waitress at the restaurant what type of dressing they used. Apparently, all have been sworn to secrecy because all she would share with me was that it is a fish-stock base. Just thought I would share that with you in hopes someone may be able to come close to their recipe.” So come closer, experimental cooks. I don’t think I would have ever thought of fish stock as the secret ingredient in slaw, which is one of our favorite salads.