All this fermentation business seems to be going to my head. It used to be, when I would triage our incoming CSA bundle, I would think to myself: What gets eaten raw? What am I going to cook? And what scraps are going to end up in the compost? Now, I think: What can I […]
I am tardy. Once again. In part because, over the past few weeks, my culinary focus has shifted away from recipes that are easily translated in words and pictures, and toward a massive experiment in — lacto-fermentation. My friend (and urban forager extraordinaire) Hana got me onto it when I visited with her last month. […]
Pedagogical duties have left me less than my usual loquacious self, so I will let the images do most of the talking. This week’s experiment is baked cheese — Brie or Camembert — with fresh fruit and nuts. A classic, it has been on my radar — obviously — forever. I’ve only just begun making […]
I have a confession to make: in the past, my attitude toward folks who make liqueurs has sometimes edged more toward smug tolerance than genuine appreciation. Look at my science, I hear them exclaim to me, grinning enthusiastically. Then they put specimen jars full of off-colored liquid in my hands and encourage me to breath […]
Note: the images in this post are best viewed large. And there are more illustrative images over on my flickr. So I got a new toy. It arrived in the mail, I’ve had a little time to play with it, and now I’m itching to talk about it. It’s not a kitchen toy — although […]
A Dolley Madison cake, I told my friend Linda. That’s what I want to make you for your birthday. That’s what it’s called? That’s what I call it. It’s a historical recipe — supposedly her favorite when she was First Lady. It’s a sponge. With caramel icing. No chocolate, then? Linda sounded disappointed. Then: But […]
I am aware, just so you know, that way back in the archives, back in my pre-historic Livejournal days, there once lived a post about tomato sauce. I am aware that embedded deep within that post is another recipe for an oven-based marinara. But I would suggest that it is possible — just possible — […]
I have not, you’ll notice, written anything here yet about Missouri Senate candidate and giant Daniel Tosh fan (I can only assume) Todd Akin — mostly because I find myself so viscerally repulsed by this story. I don’t want to reproduce the vileness that rocketed his campaign against Claire McCaskill from obscure-national-joke status to object […]
I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not for folks without backyard gardens. But tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all in the same family. So are potatoes — and belladonna. They’re all nightshades. What makes this interesting is that all but that last variety — the belladonna — are New World plants.* They […]
Thing one: I’d like to reassert my position that rosemary is a really excellent dessert flavor. And that it’s a terrible shame that it is not more used in that capacity. Thing two: I’d like to revise my position on summer. It’s still the most miserable time of the year here in Philadelphia, with the […]