Fractions in HTML and Unicode

Not a food post, but about computer issues relating to recipes.

I haven't been consistent about this, but sometimes I try to put vulgar fractions into recipes as individual characters, rather than digits separated by a "/". It looks better, but I wonder if everyone sees them correctly.

Only three vulgar fractions are in ISO-Latin-1, so they have their own HTML codes:

¼ (1/4, HTML ¼)
½ (1/2, HTML ½)
¾ (3/4, HTML ¾)

I assume those work fine for most people. Lots more are in Unicode, so they can be added directly, but I don't know how widely they are supported by browsers, operating systems, and font character sets. I wouldn't be surprised if they disappear for some people if they set their font differently. Like these:

⅓ (1/3)
⅔ (2/3)
⅕ (1/5)
⅖ (2/5)
⅗ (3/5)
⅘ (4/5)
⅙ (1/6)
⅚ (5/6)
⅛ (1/8)
⅜ (3/8)
⅝ (5/8)
⅞ (7/8)

Not all are common in recipes, but many are helpful. I use some of them, but I don't know how to enter them except by cut and paste, so they are here mostly for my reference.

Let me know if you get funny characters where fractions should be.

Eggs & Cake

For Saturday brunch today, Cardamom Coffee Cake from the original Moosewood Cookbook, and bacon and eggs baked in ramekins. The cake was as rich as the Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake we've made before, and it's a nice, easy way to make eggs.

Cardamom Coffee Cake

1 lb (4 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 c light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tbs cardamom
2 c sour cream (or yogurt or buttermilk)
¼ c light brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
½ c walnuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube or bundt pan.

In a LARGE mixing bowl, beat butter with 2 cups brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cardamom in a separate bowl.

Add the flour mixture, ⅓ of it at a time, to the butter mixture, alternating with the sour cream. Stir just enough to blend after each addition. Don't beat or otherwise overmix.

Combine ¼ cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts in a separate small bowl.

Spoon approximately ⅓ of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the nut mixture, then add another third of the batter. Cover with remaining nut mixture, then top with remaining batter. Lightly spread into place.

Bake approximately 1¼ hours or until a knife inserted all the way in comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Cool at least 30 minutes more before cutting into it. Enjoy!!

Serves 18

Chard Tart

This was one of our summer favorites that we never got around to blogging. We often need to use up extra greens when the veggies are coming in.

Swiss Chard and Herb Tart

Ingredients
1 pound Swiss chard, stems and ribs removed
1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon minced fresh oregano
⅛ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 17.3-ounce package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed

Preparation

Cook chard in large pot of boiling salted water until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain. Squeeze out liquid. Chop chard.Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; saut
ée 1 minute.

Add chard; sauté until excess liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Transfer chard mixture to large bowl. Cool slightly. Mix in ricotta and next 7 ingredients.Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 375°F. Roll out 1 pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 14-inch square. Transfer pastry to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim edges, leaving 1-inch overhang. Fill pastry with chard mixture. Lightly brush pastry overhang with pastry brush dipped into water. Roll out second pastry sheet to 13-inch square. Using tart pan as guide, trim pastry square to 10-inch round. Drape over filling. Seal edges and fold in.Bake until pastry is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove pan sides from tart. Transfer to platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

Add chard; sautée until excess liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Transfer chard mixture to large bowl. Cool slightly. Mix in ricotta and next 7 ingredients.Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 375°F. Roll out 1 pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 14-inch square. Transfer pastry to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim edges, leaving 1-inch overhang. Fill pastry with chard mixture. Lightly brush pastry overhang with pastry brush dipped into water. Roll out second pastry sheet to 13-inch square. Using tart pan as guide, trim pastry square to 10-inch round. Drape over filling. Seal edges and fold in.Bake until pastry is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove pan sides from tart. Transfer to platter. Cut into wedges and serve.