David Tanis became my hero when I read that he would rather eat a couple of honestly fried eggs in a roadside greasy spoon than sit through a five-course fusion fiasco in an overpriced uptown dining room. I couldn’t agree more. What’s more disappointing than ordering a meal that sounds delicious on the menu, but [...]
There is something very satisfying about baking. Success requires a combination of skill, luck, timing and attention to detail. You never quite know for sure if the time and effort you put in will pay off until the finished recipe has come together. When it does, it feels great, and makes even the most gargantuan [...]
This incredibly fragrant spice paste, from The Bon Appétit Cookbook, can be used in curries and soups of all kinds, and is especially good with shrimp and pork. It freezes well, but has special power when it’s fresh.
This past fourth-of-July weekend was our fifth consecutive one in Ogunquit, Maine. The house where we stay has a fully-equipped kitchen with a gas stove, a screened-in dining veranda with a view to the woods, a barbecue, and a slightly salty evening breeze.
Given that the house is usually filled with men made ravenous by the [...]
We have the very good fortune of living next to Krishanu Dasgupta, a generous and amusing neighbour, and a truly fabulous cook. Our kitchens and balconies mirror each other across an interior courtyard, and since we are both always in our kitchens, we see each other all the time.
I’ve never been a real fan of lobster, or of Chardonnay. The lobster dinners I’ve had all rank high in my greatest-meals-of-all time list, but this status is only merited by the excellent company, natural settings, and exceptional wines that have accompanied these meals. I don’t like hot animal guts, squirtiness at dinner, or having to [...]
This is our favourite thing to make for a pot luck barbecue. It goes with just about anything you can think of grilling, especially red snapper.
This spice rub was inspired by a New Mexican rubbed pork tenderloin with bourbon-ancho sauce we tasted at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in NYC. The main difference is the addition of coffee, which lends depth and texture to the spices.
We’ve been eating this for breakfast, lunch, and supper, with a poached egg or two on top. It cries out for Béarnaise sauce, which unfortunately moves it from the ‘simple and good’ category into the ‘complicated and good’ category. Or the ‘complicated and disappointing’ one, if your sauce splits, like mine always does. And the [...]
We brought some smoked salts back from a trip to Napa Valley a couple of years ago – an ivory-coloured salt smoked with barrels used for aging Chardonnay, and a dark brown salt smoked with Washington alder wood.
The brown salt smells distinctly like a campfire, and is incredibly mouth-watering, like those sour candies rolled [...]