Category Archives: food & cooking

Tea-Brined Five-Spice Roast Chicken

Posted on April 1, 2011 by David

You won’t find many overly specialized cookbooks in my collection. Entire volumes dedicated to one ingredient are inevitably packed with filler, or so many minor variations – inserted just to boost the recipe count – as to not matter. The … Continue reading →

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Pheasant and Pig’s Trotter PIe with Suet Crust

Posted on March 30, 2011 by David

Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to a cooking project; in this case it took over a year. I concluded my post about trotter gear by saying “There’s a pheasant pie I’m thinking about…” – this recipe … Continue reading →

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You and Me and Pernil

Posted on March 28, 2011 by David

I rarely buy meat from the supermarket, preferring instead to support a network of local suppliers. But I’m also not immune to a bargain, so when I saw a ten-pound pork shoulder at the Stop & Shop  for only ten … Continue reading →

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Saturday Meat-ing

Posted on March 26, 2011 by David

Another Saturday meat pickup, but also some news items: Ryan Adams of Nose to Tail at Home (a through-cooking of Fergus Henderson’s Nose to Tail: The Whole Beast), is currently more than halfway through a 24-hour cookathon to raise money for … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Soup

Posted on March 25, 2011 by David

Most major science fiction conventions have an art show, an area of the convention devoted to the display of artwork by the Artist Guest of Honor as well as other who hope to sell their work. I’m not a fan … Continue reading →

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Sous Vide on the Cheap

Posted on March 23, 2011 by David

My first experiment with extended-time constant low-temperature cooking – commonly referred to as sous vide – involved creating a “ghetto” rig out of a deep pot, a steamer basket, and a wire colander, all set over my stove’s simmering burner. … Continue reading →

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Vespers

Posted on March 21, 2011 by David

I used to be a Catholic altar boy, long enough ago that one Mass every Sunday was still recited in Latin. The ecclesiastical Latin I had to memorize back then has been more useful than I expected, first in my … Continue reading →

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Market Thaw

Posted on March 20, 2011 by David

The days are getting longer, the temperatures are above freezing, but the arrival of locally-grown green vegetables can’t come fast enough. We don’t have many alternatives here in New England, but even buying from organic farms in Florida feels like … Continue reading →

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Three Days of the Corned Beef

Posted on March 15, 2011 by David

Today is the deadline for the Charcutepalooza March challenge: brining. The apprentice challenge – brining a whole chicken or some pork chops – is something I’ve been doing for years, so I changed it up a bit and brined duck … Continue reading →

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Duck Variations: Salted Duck Legs, Green Beans, and Cornmeal Dumplings

Posted on March 10, 2011 by David

In the introduction to this recipe from The Whole Beast, Fergus Henderson warns: This is a dish you have to think about a week ahead. That’s what I was thinking as I unpacked my case of duck legs, so I … Continue reading →

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