The churro man tries to get ahead in the slow lane

El Churrero -- the Churro Man -- sidesteps tamale carts, squeezes between bumpers and beggars, working 24 lanes of idling vehicles.

He walks through shimmering exhaust clouds, hawking sombreros teetering atop his head and sweets held aloft in a blue basket. His churros are warm and moist. "Churros here," he yells. "If they're not hot, you don't pay."

Deciderio Mauricio Cantera first waded into the sea of traffic at the gateway to California in 1968 and set eyes on the bored and the hungry as they waited, fidgeted and honked, inching toward the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

This isn't a traffic jam, thought Mauricio. This is a swap meet on wheels.

To American border crossers, the ragtag knots of vendors have long evoked wonder, pity and annoyance -- symbols of disorder and desperation at the shabby entrance to the developing world.

But there's much more to it than that. Read the rest of Mauricio's story here, in this special report from the border:

Photo: Deciderio Mauricio Cantera moves through traffic at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Baking really needs the baker's attention

Most bakers know that if they're about to tackle a complicated cake, it's a smart idea to turn to Rose Levy Beranbaum, whose patient directions and baking-science acumen can make even the toughest cake manageable. So for a story about her new cookbook, "Rose's Heavenly Cakes," I thought I'd try some of the simpler recipes to see what difference all of her research makes for those cakes that are almost second nature to many home cooks.

Just because it was an easier cake, however, didn't mean I could pay so little attention.

It was a weeknight. Our two teenagers needed help with (or nagging about, depending on your perspective) homework, and we had half a dozen friends coming to dinner so we could talk about how our kids might prepare for the SATs. So with half an eye and a wandering mind, I set out to make Beranbaum's English gingerbread cake.

The first glitch should have been a warning to slow down -- I destroyed two pages of the beautiful book by spilling corn syrup on them. But I soldiered on and put the baking pan in the oven and set the timer. Ten minutes later, I saw that the two eggs and the 2/3 cup of milk were still sitting on my counter.

After I screamed and then decided I had enough fruit for a fruit salad as an alternative dessert, I figured there was no harm in pulling the pan out of the oven and trying to fix the cake. I dumped the hot batter into a big bowl, whisked it hard to cool it and added the egg and milk. Back into the oven.

Though I'd certainly never feed it to Beranbaum, the result got eaten, the homework got done (mostly), and we decided on an SAT prep class. And I'll be making another gingerbread cake soon.

I called Beranbaum on Monday, and she thinks the reason I ended up with a cake at all was likely because it was the eggs I forgot. Had those been in the oven, they would have started to set and the cake would have been unredeemable.

And perhaps the gingerbread was more forgiving: "I don't know if you could get away with this with another cake."

"I love these mistakes," she very generously said, because they cause her to think about things from a new perspective. In fact, she said, her white chocolate buttercream recipe in the new book was the result of trying to make a dark chocolate cake with white chocolate; the lack of cocoa solids in the white chocolate meant the cake didn't set. "But I ended up with the most fantastic buttercream," Beranbaum said.

But generally, she said, multi-tasking and baking are poor partners.

What's your biggest kitchen mistake?

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Ben Fink

Enough pie to reach the sky in KCRW contest

Bring on the pie! And the pie ... and the pie. One hundred and fifty pies. Sour cream apple blueberry. Apple and more apple in every variation, including one with bacon and smoked paprika. Lots of pumpkin pies (no surprise in November). Maple sweet potato pie with pecan brittle topping. Chocolate banana cream pie. Savory duck pie.

Welcome to the KCRW-FM (89.9) "Good Food" show pie contest, an event inspired by host Evan Kleiman’s summer project of baking a pie (almost) every day. Kleiman, the emcee at Saturday's contest, wore a pie pin embroidered by her friend Jill Smolin. She introduced herself as "your pie god," to lots of cheers.

Chocolate chip cookies from 'Ad Hoc at Home'

It may take up to three days to make Thomas Keller's Catalan beef stew, a recipe from his newly published cookbook "Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes," written with Ad Hoc chef de cuisine Dave Cruz. But not all recipes require a five-hour confit of onions and tomatoes.

Some are in fact really easy. There are a few that I've already made more than once, such as the chocolate chip cookies (see below for the recipe).

This cookie is slightly thicker than my Platonic ideal of a chocolate chip cookie (crisp and thin with a still-chewy center, made partly with whole-grain flour and lots of really dark chocolate, and at the outer edge it should have wrinkles that form what sort of look like concentric circles ... ), but I digress. Let's just say this one grew on me.

I think part of the reason is that these are perfect cookies for ice cream sandwiches. That's how I've been eating them, inspired by photos of ice cream sandwiches in the dessert chapter of the book. They're crisp on the outside, and chewy and slightly dense on the inside so that they don't crumble or collapse when you bite into the ice cream sandwich. 

Food bloggers making more than tempting photos at benefit bake sale

Cathy Danh got it just right when she described the problem with food blogs.

"I look at food blogs, pretty much every day, and lots of them, and I’m always thinking, ‘I want to eat that,’ " said Danh, who writes at Gastronomy Blog.

So, she and Laurie Moore of the blog G-ma’s Bakery decided to make at least some of those alluring photos real and available to all comers. They have organized Eat My Blog, a monster bake sale to benefit the L.A. Regional Food Bank.

"It seeemed silly to have people make all that food and eat it without a cause," Danh said this morning.

So, people with a sweet tooth can head to the patio of Zeke’s Smokehouse from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 5, at the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica boulevards. Twenty-five kinds of treats are now on the menu – including some for vegans and those who can’t eat gluten. Also planned: classic whoopie pies, pumpkin swirl brownies, handmade macarons and black sesame cupcakes with matcha frosting. In addition to donating its patio, Zeke’s will also bake brownies.

Danh plans to bake rosemary apricot bars.

Among the blogs taking part are Eat. Sip. Chew., Eating L.A. and Delicious Coma.

Baked goods will sell for $1, $2 or $3. If other bakers want to take part, they can contact Danh at cathy37@gmail.com.

"It’s a way to connect with our readers in an intimate and real way," said Diana Hossfeld, author of the blog Diana Takes a Bite and a member of the Eat My Blog organizing committee.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank gets food to nearly 900 sites in L.A. County.

-- Mary MacVean

Eat My Blog logo designed by Laurie Moore. Dessert photo by Cathy Danh.

Culinary SOS: Your recipe requests, answered

Is it any surprise that Culinary SOS is one of the Food section's most popular features?

You ask for a recipe, and we do our best to go get it. (Sometimes, chefs don't like to share their best dishes. But luckily, many chefs are flattered when we ask and happy to help.) Times test kitchen manager Noelle Carter then adapts the recipe for the home cook. Above are the ginger molasses cookies from Model Bakery in St. Helena.

You can write to Culinary SOS at food@latimes.com or contact Noelle directly at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

In the meantime, here's a look at SOS requests that we've answered recently: 

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Bravo orders 'Top Chef' spin-off 'Just Desserts'

On the heels of news that Bravo has renewed "Top Chef Masters" for a second season comes word that the network has ordered another "Top Chef" spin-off, the sweet-centered "Just Desserts." Read more here.

Photo: The graham cracker chewy bars at Julienne's bakery in San Marino. Here's the recipe. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

 

We're not monkeying around: You'll definitely want to try these recipes

If you've tried only monkey bread made with the cannister biscuits, you might want to consider making it from scratch next time. Seriously! Check out these recipes. They're easy.

--Rene Lynch

Photo credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

 

The L.A. Times test kitchen: You snooze, you lose

Times test kitchen manager Noelle Carter is testing key lime recipes this week. And you know what that means, right?

Key lime pie!

I was out of the office when Noelle made the first pie. She decided to test it again, and I decided to make it my business to be there for the next one. At one point, I sidled up to the fridge to take a look at the pie in all its golden meringue glory. Noelle said she'd put it out just as soon as it finished setting up. So, I waited. And waited. And waited.

And then I made the mistake of getting on the phone for an interview.

And this is what I found when I walked back into the test kitchen.

-- Rene Lynch

KCRW's pie contest is Nov. 14; you still have time to perfect your recipe

 

Pumpkins, apples, even tomatoes and zucchini are all practically begging to get baked into pies at this time of year. To be honest, all year round there are fruits and vegetables -- and nuts and meats and other things, too -- that make wonderful pies.

If you are a pie baker, you may be used to showing off your crusts. Here's a chance to go pie-dish to pie-dish with other proud bakers: KCRW's "Good Food" is holding a pie contest on Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center. Nov. 8 is the deadline to register.

The four categories are: fruit and nut; cream, custard, chiffon and mousse; savory; and interpretive pie, one that "defies categorization." Judges include Campanile's Mark Peel and Russ Parsons, the Food editor at the Times.

The pie contest was a result of "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman's summer project. She set out to bake a pie a day, and says she's learned a great deal in the process about crusts and thickeners and fillings. She's made little Nutella "hand pies," chicken pot pies and all manner of fruit pies in recent weeks.

-- Mary MacVean

(Photos: Plum pie, top, and honey guava chiffon pie by Evan Kleiman.)