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 Chocolate & Zucchini
Clotilde Dusoulier
  
Tahiti Vanilla
Three days later, the parcel arrived, and I opened the vacuum-sealed half-pound package to reveal the most flamboyant beans of vanilla I've ever had the good fortune to touch and smell. Plump, waxy, and sappy-fresh, their astonishingly potent aroma lingered on my fingers long after I'd divided the bounty. And, just like yesterday, when I met and shook hands with Olivier Roellinger, I vowed not to wash my hands ever again.
Washington Post
Food & Dining
Taking It Slow
It's difficult enough for any new team to compete in the Super Bowl of Swine, which sends smoke wafting over downtown Memphis for three days every year. There are rules (written and unwritten) and traditions aplenty in this 30-year-old contest, which drew 125,000 spectators to one of the cradles of American barbecue culture. But it takes sheer guts to fly over from a part of the world where this way of cooking is fledgling at best and to try to speak the complicated language of barbecue with a French, Estonian or Norwegian accent. To then try as the Belgians did to win the whole-hog contest using the antithesis of barbecue - and a mere six hours - is like soccer star David Beckham jumping onto the field with the Patriots and the Giants and attempting to head a football pass.
Passionate Cook
Johanna Wagner
Mojito Cheesecakes
Of course, I am a bit of a light-weight and drink them very weak, but that doesn't distract from the flavour too much and the pleasure lasts for longer. In fact, this incarnation of mojitos in cheesecake format can do entirely without the alcohol... I found them in an issue of delicious magazine and there's a fabulous line-up of summer recipes by Tom Aikens - sticky pork ribs, tuna teriyaki burgers and for dessert: mojito cheesecake. What a wonderful grown-up menu for a garden party!
Vinography
Alder Yarrow
How Much Longer Must French Wine Suffer?
What is it going to take before winemakers are free to make the best wine they can; before Burgundy can suggest it's wine is feminine without legal action; before a journalist can say that wine makes you feel good without risking the wrath of some government censor? France needs another revolution. And America probably does too. To corrupt a little Shakespeare: "First thing we do, let's kill all the lobbyists."
Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer
Kahlúa Brownies
So I had a bottle of Kahlúa sitting about collecting dust and figured that it needed to be put to decent use. Now, I'm all for a decent cocktail, but really, I try not to make a habit of breaking out the shaker in the middle of the day. That being said, one must be creative and incorporate neglected liquor in other ways. Now I prefer my coffee with enough chocolate to kill a racehorse, so is it any surprise that I poured a small amount into a batch of brownies? I think not.
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Splendid Table
American Public Media
Terrior
All those people talking about a wine's "terroir", meaning the place the grapes come from. Can we really taste it? We get the scientific last word from Harold McGee author of the seminal On Food and Cooking. Jane and Michael Stern are at Woodyard Bar-B-Que in Kansas City, KS, and novelist Nicole Mones tell us about the time in Chinese culinary history which she used as a framework for her latest novel, The Last Chinese Chef.
Cooks Illustrated
Current Issue
In This Issue
New York Times Magazine
Style Section
Eat, Memory: Pot Luck
Around 1979, when I was a child living in Russia, my teacher once assigned our class an essay: if a Magi promised to grant you a single wish, what would you ask for? I considered her words and nodded. I did worry about the cold war and the arms race and the stockpiles of nuclear warheads everywhere. We learned about these things during weekly political-awareness sessions, and we did feel frightened. Yes, world peace would have been very nice - but what I still really wanted was a magic pot that could produce any food I fantasized about. And since in Russia at that time the variety of available food was very limited, my magic pot would have a lot of work to do.
Traveler's Lunchbox
Melissa Kronenthal
Second-Place Scampi
Manuel was convinced we should go somewhere else (which is pretty much his standard response where drunk Austrians are concerned), but I stuck to my guns; I was convinced we would regret it if we did. So we returned in an hour and the same waiter, seeing our look of despair when we realized the sailors hadn't even finished their main courses yet, cleared off a small service table near the door and told us that if we didn't mind the draft we could eat there. So hungry we probably would have sat on the floor if asked, we agreed.
David Lebovitz
David Lebovitz
Le Jules Verne
One of my dining companions ordered a cappuccino after dessert and the waiter jokingly replied, "Sorry, the coffee machine is closed." When he came back with her coffee, I asked why it wasn't in a paper cup, like a cappuccino is supposed to be served in. My joke was met with a frosty silence. It wasn't until I turned around and realized it was a different waiter, who from the expression on his face, made it obvious he didn't get, or appreciate, my humor. Gulp. But when I told the Maître d'hôtel that the butter was astoundingly good, he came back with a handwritten note with the name of the person who made it along with describing to us how the butter was made.
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Smitten Kitchen
Deb Smitten
Semolina Dumpling Soup
We didn't find one restaurant in Prague or Vienna that didn't have some version of a beef consomme soup on the menu–all extremely dark and abundantly flavorful. I found this a great relief, as soup was a wonderful way to offset the heaviness of available cuisine, and also absurdly delicious, as I never knew that simple brothy soups could be so tasty.
Orangette
Molly Wizenberg
Happy to Report
But that is all behind us now. I am officially on board. Anyway, I don't know how anyone could resist the ruddy charm of this book - its recipes, its down-to-earth voice, or its lush, atmospheric photographs. I am generally pretty iffy on big television personalities, but Jamie is hard to dislike. He's messy, bed-headed, and endearingly foul-mouthed, and his recipes actually work. Also, I would like to steal his seat at the table in the photograph on pages 108 and 109. I don't think he would mind. And while we're at it, I would like to be adopted by the old lady on page 268. I'll bet she makes the best polenta.
The Minimalist
Mark Bittman - New York Times
Oven Adds Flavor When the Grill Can't
Sadly, the broiler is not an exact replacement for the grill, because even the most powerful ones never become as hot as a grill fire. Unlike a grill, by the time a broiler browns something nicely, it's cooked all the way through, even overcooked. For example, it is difficult - impossible? - for a broiler to sear a hamburger while keeping the inside rare. But if the interior is already cooked through, and a little more heat won't hurt it, then the broiler becomes as effective as the grill. This is what you wind up with by braising meat first, then finishing it over high heat. It's a pretty nifty method that works equally well on the broiler or on the grill, producing delicious, super-tender meat with a nice external crisp. Even if it rains.
French Laundry at Home
Carol Blymire
"Head to Toe" - Part One (Pig's Feet)
I don't think it's a big secret that I've been dreading this dish. When I first started this project, I had no idea I'd even make it this far, and now that I've survived deveining foie gras and cutting the faces off soft-shell crabs, and eaten an oyster without passing out in a pool of my own vomit, this dish was inevitable. I've been putting it off long enough. Time to face one of my biggest culinary fears head on ("apply directly to the forehead") and just do it. What's the worst that could happen?
101 Cookbooks
Heidi Swanson
Macaroon Cherry Tart Recipe
Last week I watched the paint melt off the walls in my kitchen. Other than a spending a couple days in an overheated kitchen, pulling together the food was fun, and a welcome change for me. I mean, you see how I typically cook - for two (with lots of leftovers!). I made lots of different things for the party and it was tough for me to decide which recipe to share with you first. This macaroon cherry tart won out. For those of you who think tarts are too fussy - as far as tart-making is concerned, this is about as unfussy as they get.
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