Nothing against dear old cousin Candy Corn, but even with a few weeks left until Halloween night, all of those “variety” candy packs lined up at the grocery store are starting to look pretty much the same. Time for some fresh calabaza (pumpkin squash) and camote (sweet potato) candy from La Zamorana.
Continue Reading...There are a handful of cookbook authors — Diana Kennedy (hyper local Mexican cuisine), Maida Heatter (home baking), Paula Wolfert (Moroccan cuisine) — whose personal obsession not only with cooking, but truly with a culinary culture, is so focused, so resolute, that when they finally release another cookbook, there really isn’t much to review. Cookbooks like Wolfert’s latest,The Food of Morocco.
Continue Reading...Crusty and Crunchy. And sometimes, Cold. When it comes to leftovers, the three Cs get the highest rankings in this fridge’s kingdom. Leftover rice toasted in an iron skillet until it gets a fantastic nutty crust; a slice of cold meatloaf sandwiched on anything soft (and preferably homemade), then topped with sweet ketchup or tangy mustard, depending on the mood of the day. And then there’s the frozen homemade cookie side of things, which by its very leftover nature is Crusty, Crunchy and Cold all at once.
Continue Reading...When a cookbook is re-issued these days, it often means it was a recent raging sales success, has been revamped for a different continent, or is now being offered in a new language. But when it’s been twenty years, as is the case with “Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking” it’s usually the recipes that make a re-issue worth a second look. Here, the recipes appear largely untouched. A good thing, as this is an excellent, and timeless, cookbook.
Continue Reading...Chocolate and God(ess) references. Yeah, a who-knows-how-old cliche. But with Valerie Gordon, it’s arguably still an apt description. Or maybe it was just that lingerie comment I couldn’t resist.
“People describe [receiving chocolate] as the same excitement as receiving a gift of very expensive lingerie or jewelry,” she says. And that emotive rush is not limited to the ladies. “I’ve definitely seen men have the same response.”
Continue Reading...Large-scale, photo-driven books tend to conjure images of Impressionist landscapes and Sierra Club-worthy polar bears. Pretty, but also pretty boring after the initial flip-through. But very occasionally, there is a large-scale book that is the rare exception, a book like Menu Design in America: A Visual and Culinary History of Graphic Styles and Design, 1850-1985 with as much thought-provoking brawn as stunning artistic inspiration.
Continue Reading...If you happen to be in the general vicinity of Newcastle, England in the coming weeks (lucky you), the Newcastle Library has a photography exhibition titled Eat History on view through October 22nd. Well, how about that?!
According to the library’s website, “Eat History features over 70 photographs from the library’s local studies collection which looks at what we ate, where we ate, how we cooked and from where we got our food.”
Continue Reading...Almond flour: Grind almonds, and you have almond flour. Easy enough. But then there’s that homemade jam predicament.
In measured doses, making homemade jam (and nut flour) is a quick margin doddle, a fun dinner work-hour diversion. Or at least if you ditch the canning part (full disclosure: I love making jams, but hate canning them, so I simply stash them in the fridge for a month). But “easy and quick” doesn’t mean that strawberry-rhubarb number actually happens. Which gets us back to almond flour.
Continue Reading...I’m not a big fan of the idea of “behind-the-scenes” photos. By nature, there is the indication that you are about to witness something fantastically illicit. Trust me, these are not. Nor are these photos at all glamorous. Or good. They’re simply a few snapshots that I took — using my really bad camera, while I was focused on ideas not images — when I was in the kitchen during one of Roberto Cortez’s CR8 dinners.
Continue Reading...Hit your semi-specialty “local” national grocer these days (yeah, Whole Foods and friends), and you can pretty much declare your local condiment duties done. But step away from the fancy Artisinal LA packaging, and you can get straight down to tasting. Finding top notch, locally sourced pantry ingredients simply involves digging (it’s fun!) in the aisles of your tiny neighborhood market. Which is exactly where I found my best hidden dinner gem… these “Zeta” lavash chips from Araz-Z.
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