August 2011
0 posts
Extreme From-Scratch Cooking Month
In 2009, Michael Pollan wrote an article that pissed me off. It was called Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, and was essentially about how nobody knows how to cook anymore, and soon cooking from scratch would be a quaint notion that rivalled quilting and dying of polio.
The article made me mad because of the notion that not only is “from-scratch” cooking on the decline, that it...
September 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Who has time to make mashed potatoes?
Now, I get the whole “I’m busy” argument for not cooking. I run a business, volunteer quite a bit, and am involved in a lot of things outside of word, so sometimes, at the end of the day, I realize that it’s easier to order pizza than make a meal.
The thing I don’t understand is the glut of products on the market that apparently are aimed at people who don’t...
July 2010
1 post
Vitaminwater Isn't Healthy →
Hmm… turns out that just calling something “healthy” doesn’t make it healthy. The shame of this is that I have smart, health conscious friends who drink this because they believed that it was a healthier alternative to pop.
This is food marketing at its worst, and I hope they’re made an example of.
April 2010
9 posts
Roasted Tomato Sauce
Toss seeded tomatoes with a chiffonade of basil, olive oil, balsamic and garlic. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 300 degrees F, and deglaze the pan with a dry red wine. Mash it up and serve over fresh pasta.
You really need fresh ripe tomatoes for this, or it will be mealy and unpleasant at best.
Hervé This's 10 elements of basic kitchen...
Salt dissolves in water.
Salt does not dissolve in oil.
Oil does not dissolve in water.
Water boils at 100 C (212 F).
Generally foods contain mostly water (or another fluid).
Foods without water or fluid are tough.
Some proteins (in eggs, meat, fish) coagulate.
Collagen dissolves in water at temperatures higher than 55 C (131 F).
Dishes are dispersed systems...
Eggs - Serious Business
There’s something I should come clean about. I’m obsessive about certain things, and if it gets in my brain, it itches like a mosquito bite until I perfect it, or at least until I get distracted by my next obsession.
Right now, that obsession is eggs. Not because I particularly like eggs (I like them fine, but this isn’t about cravings) but because they’re deceptively...
“A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.”
– Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
1 tag
Murderin' Lobsters
I have to admit, I’ve always been a bit squeamish about the idea of submerging a living creature into boiling water while it’s still alive, but I suspect I’m going to have to get over that this weekend. For some reason, I’ve been very much into soup as of late, and I’ve had a particular hankering to make lobster bisque. As a result of this craving, three poor...
