Many restaurants are fiercely protective of their recipes. The rationale, I guess, is that if you knew how to make that outrageous duck confit poutine or that sublime gingerbread Twinkie with… [Continue Reading]
Soup in Summer and a President’s Fall
Last month, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered announced the “Taste of Summer” contest, an invitation to listeners to submit their favorite summer recipes and the great stories behind them…. [Continue Reading]
Nuts to the flabby guys
If you attended grade school in the United States in the early to mid-1960s, the term “chicken fat” may hold a special, indelible, perhaps excruciating meaning to you. If you… [Continue Reading]
Watch Your Temper
When you find yourself far from the food you love, you make do — or you make it yourself. Over the years, Chef Sin and I have lived in and visited… [Continue Reading]
Mother Mary, Come to Me
For the first 20 years of my imbibing career, I used only one recipe book: Cocktails, a spiral-bound guide self-published in 1984 by my friend Michael Brunelle. An artist and… [Continue Reading]
Put that carcass to work!
It was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey hash! Turkey a la king! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE!… [Continue Reading]
Bird on a Fire
How did the homeliest bird on the continent become not only our country’s holiday feast favorite but also the home cook’s equivalent of the Hope Diamond? But there it is…. [Continue Reading]
Rule of Thumb via Rhyming Couplet
“Vinaigrette? Remember, hon: The ratio is three-to-one.” — Chef Sin
Wise up, will ya?
Kat House, our favorite WineWise expert (and yes, that is her name), is offering several holiday-themed classes this month. You will learn. And have fun.
An Anchovy Haiku
Salty, pungent, sharp Anchovies bring on bad breath Offense is worth it Yeah, I know, don’t quit my day (prose-writing) job, right? But anchovies are one of those foods that… [Continue Reading]