To Brine or not Brine, That is The Question
If brining was all I had to think about I would be one very happy man. Unfortunately, it’s not, but brining (i.e cooking) makes me think of meats and seafood that are succulent and tasty. It does take a little forethought. The home-cook just has to think in advance about what they want to cook. […]
Read MorePantry Preferences: Plainly Preferred
As a home cook, I choose my recipes very carefully. I want them to be simple. I don’t need to have toasted fennel seeds, combined with homemade harissa, needing to stir the pot every 30 minutes to make sure the reduction is only reduced by a quarter. I’m sure most of us look at recipes […]
Read MoreLettuce Eat Lettuce, Then Lettuce Talk About Sex (Kidding about the second part!)
Lettuce is one of those funny foods that I don’t think anyone really thinks about. There was a time when it was just diet food, especially the much maligned iceberg. Iceberg is not the most nutritious,but it’s so edible and fun. You can use it in place of taco shells, make cole slaw, use it […]
Read MoreOmelettes or Omelets
I watched the new Lasse Hallstrom film “100 Hundred Foot Journey” with Helen Mirren…and it made me want to make an omelette. The movie is about a young Indian man who has a way with food. He’s creating sumptuous meals from his traditional Indian background but wants to expand into European haute food. And one […]
Read MoreCooking Cauliflower: A Culinary Chef d’Ouevre
In my mind, cauliflower never ranked on the culinary wheel. There were more interesting vegetables to eat and cook. It wasn’t until I was on one of my frequent Napa Valley trips and dined at Ubuntu that I discovered how delicious cauliflower could be. At that time, Chef Jeremy Fox created a dish that put the […]
Read MoreHow to NOT Make a Cabbage Patch Dull
My friend Mark is a homecook like me but he loves to make complicated Moroccan food. The dishes that are thirteen thousand ingredients and counting. I do not. I want my food and cooking. It’s not that I don’t think that dishes with a lot of ingredients aren’t tasty; on the contrary, I find them […]
Read MoreMaking Bread: Unfortunately, not the Green Kind…but Tasty.
I love simplicity.”Keep it simple”, I say to myself constantly. (I try remembering that phrase in everything I do.) I’ve realized that when something becomes too complicated akin to putting together a piece of furniture from Ikea, I believe it’s either not meant to be or you need to stop, look at the process and […]
Read MoreAn Embarrassing Confessional: Whipped Cream
During the seventies, which is when I was growing up, it was difficult to be single mother in the workforce. Alas, I didn’t grow up eating a lot of home-cooked meals such as Alice prepared for the Brady family. It was usually stuff opened from a can and heated such as Campbell’s beans with boiled […]
Read MoreMiami’s Cuban Food Recreation in Los Angeles
I don’t know a lot about Cuban food. I do know that much of originated from the Canary Islands and Spain, just like most of Latin America. With that said, Nick wanted to make something called “mojo” (prounounced “mo-ho” not “mo-jo” which is an Austin Powers act, just to be clear). It’s a very popular […]
Read MoreThe Humble “Crumble” or Just a “Crisp”
I have written many times that my mother wasn’t really a cook. She was a working, single mother and it wasn’t really in her repertoire to cook. Occasionally, she would make a meatloaf or the requisite holiday dinner but normally it was a sandwich, doughnuts, Kraft Mac & Cheese, possibly a can of Campbell’s Pork […]
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