Category Archives: Cooking

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

New Years Taste Test: Tomato Pie

We have long wanted to do a recipe test for Utica-style tomato pie. With New Years upon us, we realized a suitable competitor to Utica pie would be Sfincione, a Sicilian street food that is especially popular when the calendar … Continue reading

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Last minute kitchen gifts

If you have Amazon Prime, there’s still time to order some last minute kitchen gifts for the chef or gourmand who, like you and me, has become obsessed with Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty and all things Sichuan: Lao Gan … Continue reading

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The secret to baking with steam in a home oven … at last!

I have previously written of my attempts to steam baguettes in a home oven. Steam produces nice “ears” and a glossy, caramelized crust similar to what you’d get from a professional bakery. You can closely replicate the effect for batards … Continue reading

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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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