I am tardy. Once again. In part because, over the past few weeks, my culinary focus has shifted away from recipes that are easily translated in words and pictures, and toward a massive experiment in — lacto-fermentation. My friend (and urban forager extraordinaire) Hana got me onto it when I visited with her last month. […]
Pedagogical duties have left me less than my usual loquacious self, so I will let the images do most of the talking. This week’s experiment is baked cheese — Brie or Camembert — with fresh fruit and nuts. A classic, it has been on my radar — obviously — forever. I’ve only just begun making […]
I have a confession to make: in the past, my attitude toward folks who make liqueurs has sometimes edged more toward smug tolerance than genuine appreciation. Look at my science, I hear them exclaim to me, grinning enthusiastically. Then they put specimen jars full of off-colored liquid in my hands and encourage me to breath […]
A Dolley Madison cake, I told my friend Linda. That’s what I want to make you for your birthday. That’s what it’s called? That’s what I call it. It’s a historical recipe — supposedly her favorite when she was First Lady. It’s a sponge. With caramel icing. No chocolate, then? Linda sounded disappointed. Then: But […]
I am aware, just so you know, that way back in the archives, back in my pre-historic Livejournal days, there once lived a post about tomato sauce. I am aware that embedded deep within that post is another recipe for an oven-based marinara. But I would suggest that it is possible — just possible — […]
I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not for folks without backyard gardens. But tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all in the same family. So are potatoes — and belladonna. They’re all nightshades. What makes this interesting is that all but that last variety — the belladonna — are New World plants.* They […]
Thing one: I’d like to reassert my position that rosemary is a really excellent dessert flavor. And that it’s a terrible shame that it is not more used in that capacity. Thing two: I’d like to revise my position on summer. It’s still the most miserable time of the year here in Philadelphia, with the […]
I am given to understand that there are some people out there for whom chicken liver is not a treat. This, I must say, I do not understand. You see — I grew up in what you might call a liver household. By which I mean: I grew up with a Jewish mother who made […]
I have run it by my vociferous (and largely self-appointed) editors. And they all seem to agree: my traditional basil pesto isn’t entirely traditional. They seem to feel, perhaps rightly, that the addition of Thai fish sauce and nutritional yeast flakes place it outside the historical scope of Italian cuisine. And they seem to think […]
Welcome to self-congratulation-ville, population — me. That’s right, friends. This post marks number one hundred for Twice Cooked. And it marks just about (though not quite) one year of blogging about food, politics, and whatever else it is you find on this sight. So — celebratory pigs! I’d like to thank you all (dear readers!) […]