Food blogger lists cooking hits & misses on site

On her Web site, smittenkitchen.com, food blogger Deb Perelman describes her kitchen as "80 square feet of fourth-floor circa-1870 New York City walk-up tenement building joy with a skylight on top."

She has one stainless steel counter, a small gas stove, a carefully curated spice rack and a pantry full of wedding registry pots, pans and appliances.

From this tiny space, and usually after a day at the office (she's a technology reporter), Perelman cooks ambitious dinners, everything from hoisin-and-honey pork riblets to Julia Child's coq au vin.

Perelman, 31, grew up in central New Jersey, studied psychology at George Washington University, and now lives in Chelsea with her husband, Alex Perelman, an IT manager and part-time photographer for the blog, begun in 2006. Deb calls him her "food paparazzi."

Nearly all of Smitten Kitchen's recipes are gleaned from Deb's mother's home cooking repertoire, old issues of Gourmet magazine, The New York Times magazine and food section, and favorite cookbook authors. Perelman is not a trained cook, but most of the time she aces recipe after difficult recipe.

Her apple pie comes from America's Test Kitchen, but the mounded, lattice-topped beauty puts the pros to shame, and her pretzel rolls would be a hit at any bakery. Less successful recipes, such as a "flan flop" that never set, are documented with photographs and good humor. *