Category Archives: Eating

Here we celebrate the best kind of food enjoyment: eating somebody else’s cooking, whether it be in a fine dining establishment or a hole in the wall.

The burger rant (it’s all about the bun)

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Behold the perfect burger*, from Jack’s Burger House on Hillcrest in Dallas, TX. Notice how the meat is a thin yet cohesive layer that curves around a much thicker strata of condiments (sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, coarsely chopped onion and … Continue reading →

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Eating Local (ish) in Saratoga Springs, New York

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

When my family moved from San Francisco to upstate New York in 2008, we tried to ease the transition by visiting a few farms. It was disconcerting to meet farmers who drove from Washington County or Columbia County straight down … Continue reading →

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Uncle Steve’s Arribiata Sauce

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

I have a soft spot for celebrity pasta sauce. First, I think jarred sauce is pretty generic so most any attempt to dress it up is likely to yield positive results. Second, I totally buy the notion of the pressured … Continue reading →

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The truth about nitrites and “uncured” meat products

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Go to your local Whole Foods or other source of virtuous and carefully vetted nutrition, proceed to the deli or meat section, and you’re likely to find a label that says something like UNCURED DELI HAM NO NITRATES OR NITRITES … Continue reading →

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Hotel room kale salad

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

So I’m staying in a hotel room and needed to bring a dish to a potluck. The solution was a variation on my Wilted Kale Salad using the following improvisations: Step 1: purchased a 1 lb bag of chopped kale … Continue reading →

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From the floor at Winter Fancy Food Show 2015

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

It was easy to spot the hot trend at the Winter 2015 Fancy Food Show in San Francisco: high end ice cream/gelato/froyo in every imaginable configuration. There was coconut gelato (with coconut cream substituting for dairy as the thickener), agave … Continue reading →

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Last chance (really) to get Albany Wine Fest tickets

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

The 2015 Albany Food & Wine Festival is coming up this weekend, but don’t wait any longer to buy tickets. As of this moment EVERYTHING is SOLD OUT with the exception of the Friday Afternoon Grand Tasting. However, that’s my … Continue reading →

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What’s cooking at CES 2015 in Las Vegas

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

This is the year of the “internet of things” at the Consumer Electronics Show, but in two days prowling the aisles I did not see many things for the adventurous cook. An exception is the Anova sous vide cooker shown … Continue reading →

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Bonehead food idea of 2014 comes from Vermont Maple Syrup

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Everybody’s doing end of year “best of” lists so here’s mine. The award for the silliest food-related news of 2014 goes to… Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association. We’ll let them explain it in their own words: For years, Vermont maple … Continue reading →

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What happened to the carrot and onions in Julia Child’s boeuf bourguinon?

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Burnt My Fingers

I decided to make Julia Child’s boeuf bourguinon this weekend, following the recipe in my 1973 copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She’s got a nice technique for working the flour into meat: brown the meat first, then … Continue reading →

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