From Scratch

I love trying new products and while I never hesitate to have a laugh over those I think are overpriced, useless or in the realm of more money than common sense, I’m also happy to share products that do what they promise and give me my money’s worth. That’s what we have today.
First up is […]

Recipes are not assembly manuals. Recipes are guides and suggestions for a process that is infinitely nuanced. Recipes are sheet music.
The quote is from Michael Ruhlman’s The Elements of Cooking and The New York Times calls them “Three of the most important sentences anyone reading about cookbooks may see this or any year.”
The Times’ special […]

After last season’s debacle, they ought to rename this show The Next Food Network Employee. And when it returns Sunday night, you and I will no longer have a say in the hiring. For Season 4, the FN judges, not the viewers, will choose the winner; viewers will only be able to vote for a weekly […]

It’s going from bad to worse, from dumb to so dumbed-down that culinary illiterates are likely to remain that way. It’s show biz, baby.
The Food Network announced a new slate of shows on Tuesday. The stated goal is to attract more young viewers and as many men as women. As long as they’re young, perhaps […]

You might have a kitchen cabinet like one of mine: under-counter, storing heavy things such as cast iron cookware, bulky things such as a lobster pot, and small things that don’t get used very often. My hand mixer fell into that latter category and it was tucked in the back, requiring me to move at […]

Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here. I just watched Episode 1 of Top Chef Chicago, Season 4, and I think we might be in store for a good season.
The days of caterers and culinary students competing seem to be over; nearly all the 16 contestants have some serious experience and some are working at […]

In the food section of today’s Washington Post, Jane Black test-drives the Knork and other new utensils, including a clever one called a ramen spoon, for eating foods with noodles and broth, and Curvware, an ergonomic take on the humble knife and fork. She gave all of them a test-drive and the increasingly multi-media Post allows us to watch. [embedded video]

The James Beard Foundation, celebrating its 20th anniversary, has compiled a list of 20 books it believes are essential to anyone’s culinary library. Most are cookbooks; The Food Lover’s Companion is an exception and is a reference I consult almost daily.
This presentation includes one of the judges, Charlotte Observer food editor Kathleen Purvis, who chairs […]

I love trying new products, even though I know some will disappoint me. It’s a bit like dating when you’re young and willing to wait for a new guy who promises to call to actually do so. Sometimes he calls in two or three days, other times you’re sitting by the phone a week later, checking to make […]

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Those seven words open In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a 2006 best-seller.
A simple manifesto, those words, but how difficult for millions in this era of vitamin-laced soft drinks. While it would seem we Americans are obsessed with nutrition, despite the […]

The New York Times Book Review’s annual lists of notable and gift-worthy books are out. While the list of notable cookbooks is available only online, the holiday section is both hard copy and at the website.
The notable books run the gamut from those by well-known chefs, such as Jamie Oliver, and specialty cooking, including vegetarian fare, […]

From Midtown to Downtown, restaurants owned by or associated with chefs we’ve come know from television are sprinkled around Manhattan like dots on a map. Actually, they are dots on a map now.
Gridskipper has published a handy and typically irreverant guide to those eateries, complete with opinionated commentaries. It’s obvious immediately that there would be […]

The new edition of Michelin’s Guide to New York City is out and Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio has lost the one-star rating for Craft, his flagship restaurant. But Gramercy Tavern, which he opened with a partner in 1994, enjoys one star, as do Mario Batali’s Babbo and Cafe Boulud (as in Daniel).
Two stars […]

New York Magazine has finally reviewed Perilla, the restaurant opened by Top Chef Season 1 winner, Harold Dieterle. Writer (and Grub Street blogger) Adam Platt says he put it off as long as possible, not wanting to eat the sort of food that seems to have become endemic to reality show cooking competitions.
Instead, he was surprised […]

Perhaps I don’t pay enough attention to commercials, but I was aware of a store brand of microwave steamer bags long before I knew about the national brands. It was about a year ago and I thought they were so clever, but I didn’t remember to buy any till recently.
The concept is the same as […]