Category Archives: food & cooking

It’s the start of a new season of Hell’s Kitchen, and already I have to remind myself that chef Gordon Ramsay is an accomplished cook and restaurateur, not just some ex-footballer who yells at slack-jawed “executive chefs” with delusions of … Continue reading →

At long last, we come to the dessert for the Fifth Annual Birthday Dinner. I knew that it would have to be something with components that I could prepare in advance, requiring only a final plating before service. I also … Continue reading →

It would be cool if you could figure out a way to use these,” said She Who Must Be Obeyed, dropping a package of sterile culture tubes on top of my Bouchon cookbook. I was still in the planning stages … Continue reading →

It was the day of the birthday dinner.  I had spent most of the previous evening lying awake trying to work out the best timing for all of the dishes and their components. Although the cauliflower panna cotta only required … Continue reading →

I saved working on the final cuts of pork — the saddles and racks — for last, for two reasons: they didn’t require multi-day preparation, and serious precision butchering was involved. Saddles: I started with the two saddles — the … Continue reading →

With the pork belly and rutabaga mostarda out of the way, I spent the rest of the evening preparing the pork leg and shoulder confit. I gathered my ingredients: two baby pork legs, two baby pork shoulders, sixty grams of … Continue reading →

I‘m back after a brief vacation from cooking, blogging, and blogging about cooking. When She Who Must Be Obeyed suggests that you take a break, you listen. Or else. This week’s posts will be devoted to the main course of … Continue reading →

The full name of this dish is is Soft-Boiled Egg with Green Asparagus and Crème Fraîche Aux Fines Herbes, but that won’t fit in the title field. This was the second course for the Fifth Annual Birthday Dinner, a recipe … Continue reading →