Having already submitted strong opinions about a variety of sandwiches, it should be of no surprise that I have a certain mindset when it comes to the BLT. The beauty of this classic sandwich is that it is unassailably straightforward: bread, mayo, bacon, lettuce, tomato. One night a few years ago, I came home to […]
When June rolls around, I am often filled with a longing for the summers of my youth, spent swimming at the nearby pool, riding my bike, or reading a book. Today I watch the kids I know, in homes where I work, or those of friends and family, grow healthy and sun kissed and worn out […]
When I was a kid I was always made to dress up for occasions that seemed entirely without cause for any formality, like going shopping downtown or a meal with my grandparents. I resented such efforts vehemently, partially because I didn’t understand how a dressed-up Maggie made any difference to the shoppers at Elder-Beerman’s or […]
Here in San Francisco, we require functioning furnaces throughout the summer months, when fog and gusty winds surround the hills of the city and make for some cool weeks. While our temperatures certainly aren’t freezing, they do mean that despite the abundance of tomatoes, sweet corn, wax beans, and fresh stone fruit of all kinds, […]
Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise: cassoulet is merely another version of what we in America call baked beans. And like baked beans, cassoulet is a humble dish at heart: beans simmered and then baked with odd bits of pork, maybe a piece of mutton, likely some duck. A few sausages never hurt anything. Don’t […]
There are those among us who like brussels sprouts, a fact that has confounded me for some time. I was certain that these hideous vegetables were beyond redemption and put on earth to torture kids who were required to clean their plates. Eventually I began to regard them with a little less disdain. Friends ordered them in restaurants or […]
There are as many opinions in the world about hamburgers as there are people who eat them. No doubt you’ll disagree with my own favorite, but that is as it should be. We are each as unique as the burgers we eat. My father’s secret recipe involves horseradish and red wine. My friend Gideon’s burgers […]
Yesterday I opened a can of navy beans and was greeted by a strong, cheesy smell. This followed the spray of carbonation that zinged out when I began opening the can—a sure warning sign. But the smell! It was unmistakeably wrong. When I looked at the beans, their liquid was creamy white, not clear. I […]
Much has been made about the idea of “aging” chocolate chip cookie dough. A NYT article highlighting this very thing swept the web a few years back, and this practice has since become the new trend in the world of chocolate chip cookies. I made their sited Jacques Torres recipe, even using the prescribed cake […]
Cabbage is a modest vegetable with a long history of keeping people fed. China, India and Russia are its top producers, though Russians are off the charts in their 44-pound per-person consumption of this vegetable. (Americans consume only about 8-1/2 pounds per person.) In the U.S. men apparently eat 25% more cabbage than women do, […]
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