‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ A Review

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[Warning: ahead there be spoilers. If you haven't seen Star Trek Into Darkness yet, and if you don't want to know plot details, save this review for after you leave the theater. It will, I hope, explain why it is that you feel so cheated.]

Walking out after my showing of Star Trek Into Darkness I found myself eavesdropping on a couple, a man and a woman who looked just about old enough to remember the original series on television. I hardly know anything about Star Trek, the woman was saying, turning to her partner, and I’ve never been much of a fan. But I really liked this movie! When can we go see it again?

This is an understandable sentiment, and I have a lot of sympathy for it. Continue reading →

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart

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Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart

Strawberries and rhubarb are a classic combination. They’re sweet and sour, bright and luxurious, irresistible as dessert, or as jam, or in just about any other context that I can rattle off. David Lebovitz recently extolled their virtue, cooked together with sweet wine and honey, as a compote.* And in the rhubarb entry of The Flavor Bible, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg place strawberries in bold caps with an asterisk, signifying that this is one of those “Holy Grail” pairings that are the most highly recommended by the greatest number of experts.

But then, you don’t need some fancy book to tell you that. One needs only look at the critical mass of strawberry-rhubarb pie recipes out there (a quick Google search yields more than four million results) to figure out that this is one of the most beloved flavor combinations in world cuisine. Continue reading →

Off Topic, On ‘Star Trek’

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Off Topic, On Star Trek

I recognize that this is way far afield of what I usually write about, and I assure you that we’ll be getting back to the month of rhubarb very soon, but I wanted to point this out to all of you. It is Matthew Yglesias’s rankings of Star Trek stuff — films, series, episodes, villains, and crew members — from best to worst (or in some cases, from best to tenth best).

I point to it because I love Trek. With all my heart, I do. It’s been a topic of academic research for me. I’ve written about it here and here. And in a drawer somewhere, I have an article about Deep Space Nine as a critique of colonialism that I’d love to get published somewhere scholarly. Continue reading →

Rhubarb-Vanilla Jam Pictorial

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Rhubarb Jam Pictorial

You may consider this, dear readers, act two in the three-act May drama that I’ve come to think of as rhubarb-stravaganza. The tragedy, or perhaps the ecstasy, of being interested in seasonal cooking is that when the window opens for an ingredient — especially if it’s a relatively short window — one must take advantage.

The rhubarb window is open, folks. And here I am, milking it for all it’s worth. Continue reading →

Vanilla Ice Cream with Rhubarb Compote

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Vanilla Ice Cream with Rhubarb Compote

Here are two things about rhubarb that you might not know, that you might find interesting, but that might put you off of using that red, tart, delicious celery lookalike:

Thing one is that the use of rhubarb as food is a relatively recent innovation, dating back in Europe only to the seventeenth century, according to the Wikipedia. Until then, rhubarb was used medicinally — as a laxative. Apparently, in Europe, in China, in the Middle East, and elsewhere, if you went to the doctor complaining of being stopped up, a strong dose of rhubarb was the cure. Continue reading →

The Twice Cooked Guide to Shortcrust Pastry

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Twice Cooked Guide to Shortcrust Pastry

It has begun, dear friends, to seem a bit absurd to me that every time I make a pie, tart, or pasty for the blog, I provide instructions for making shortcrust pastry all anew. As I browse back through the last few months’ entries, this habit, it seems to me, is responsible for taking up quite a lot of space.

And so I thought to myself this morning — I thought: why not write a shortcrust primer, instead? Why not work up a master recipe that will recount my shortcrust technique, its major variations, and maybe offer just a couple of tips for making it work? Continue reading →

Miniature Corn Scones

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Miniature Corn Scones

It feels like it’s been forever since I made a post, here. Forever. And many, many miles. When I last put fingers to keyboard, the saurian hulks of gourmet food trucks dotted my neighborhood’s landscape. There was music in the air. And from underfoot, children and darting drunkards threatened to lurch and leap out into traffic.

Since then, I’ve had a birthday, a concert, a road trip, and a stay in a hotel. I’ve had a protracted bout of the flu (complete with fever, chills, and a full set of aches). Continue reading →

Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival, 2013

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Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival

It’s been a little while since I’ve made a post that’s primarily an excuse to show you photos. But this past Saturday was the Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival. And excavating my camera and a couple of rolls of last year’s unexposed film from a growing layer of domestic sediment (and in the process, hopelessly disturbing the nascent fossil record that is my house) I decided to head down there to see what’s what. Continue reading →

Steamed Artichokes with Garlic-Tarragon Mayonnaise

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Steamed Artichokes with Garlic-Tarragon Mayonnaise

When I was a child, steamed artichokes were my very favorite vegetable. Bitter and creamy, almost meaty at their heart, you could give childhood me an artichoke and a little puddle of butter, stand back, and watch in amazement as I picked it clean of all the parts you can possibly eat.

My mother made them on a fairly regular basis. Steamed artichokes were easy and could be done a day ahead. And my own partiality for them aside, both she and my father would devour them with visible pleasure, and sometimes go back for more. Continue reading →

Rabbit Pie

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Rabbit Pie

I’ve been sitting on this recipe for almost a week, now, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because I haven’t quite been able to figure out how to make it work for this space.

Here’s the problem: last week, with Easter close at hand, with Elizabeth’s post about carrot soup newly live, and with my recent enthusiasm for savory pastry, I made the decision that my next post here at Twice Cooked was going to have to be a rabbit pie. It appealed to my sense of impropriety — a rabbit for Easter! — and it appealed to my sense of propriety, too — a classic early-spring meal, timed just right for the early spring. Continue reading →