Category Archives: Cooking

Here you’ll find everything about cooking that isn’t actually a recipe. Tips, techniques, gripes, whatever.

Cheap non-stick cookware… is it any good?

Every household has a running kitchen battle, and ours is non-stick cookware. My wife considers it an abomination. It’s a cheat, plus surely the coating will come off and kill you. I like it on occasion. A non-stick skillet is … Continue reading

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Chasing Khachapuri

Did you know that the Soviet Union once shut off electricity to what is now Georgia, plunging the region into stone age darkness for 14 years? Or that the country’s current leader is an oligarch who has built an enormous … Continue reading

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Food for Thought: Land of Plenty

Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop has just come back into stock at Amazon after being unavailable for several months and costing as much as $100 on the used market. This is fantastic news and I recommend you grab a … Continue reading

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The travails and triumphs of a Thermador Professional range owner

UPDATE: a little more than two years after this post was written, our Thermador went to the big kitchen in the sky. See this post to meet the replacement. A couple of years ago we moved into a house with … Continue reading

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How do I know when my steak is done?

The other day I had a tour of Trowbridge Farm, a cow-calf operation in the Hudson Valley, courtesy of Yelp and the New York Beef Council. At the end of the tour Beef Council President Jean O’Toole gave us a … Continue reading

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Taste Test: La San Marzano Marinara Sauce

Exhibitors who serve pasta are always a top attraction at the Fancy Food Show. After all the snacking, it’s good to get some real food in your gut. But these booths are not so great for actual product sampling because … Continue reading

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Taste test: La San Marzano canned tomatoes

After the Summer Fancy Food Show, the folks at La Regina di San Marzano sent me some product for testing. First up was this 28-oz can of Diced Tomatoes, which excited me because I hoped to replicate the yearly taste-off … Continue reading

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Mike’s Hot Honey

In the Fancy Food Show’s Front Burner pitch competition, the “expert” judges choose Mike’s Hot Honey over No Evil’s Comrade Cluck. This irked me no end because how hard is it to mix two ingredients, chili and honey? But I … Continue reading

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Best way to cook and peel a hard boiled egg

You’ll get lots of suggestions when you google “best way to peel a hardboiled egg” but this method actually works. Thanks to Laura at the Momables website. To cook, place eggs in a saucepan sufficient to hold them all without … Continue reading

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Our favorite rotten foods

The other night I cooked up a tragic, inedible version of Gluten-Free Paleo Eggplant Parmigiana. I returned from a trip and discovered some eggplants that were clearly past their prime. They smelled okay, but the flesh was grey and had … Continue reading

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