St. Julia’s Day 2012

August 17, 2012
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Wednesday would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. For this year’s St. Julia’s Day dinner (previous efforts here, here, and here), I wanted to pay tribute to what I used to call “god’s pantry”: her seemingly infinite supply of ingredients that were always on hand in her fridge, freezer, or cabinets. (If you’ve watched more than [...]

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When the Ice Cream Gets Weird, the Weird Turn Pro

August 6, 2012
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Much to my surprise, my post about prosciutto ice cream was featured in a Huffington Post article and slideshow about “weird” ice cream flavors. I am, of course, thrilled to be mentioned, but I’m having a hard time classifying any of the flavors featured as weird. The tomato-basil isn’t that different from my tomato sorbet, [...]

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Hosta la Vista

July 8, 2012
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My first fine dining experience happened when I was an ignorant 20-year-old. I had managed to save enough cash from my job as a server in my dorm’s dining hall to take my girlfriend (known from that year on as She Who Was Crazy) out for a fancy dinner. After some research I settled on [...]

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Dots Unusual

June 29, 2012
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Some of us are getting together to make ice cream with liquid nitrogen I have left over from one of the Harvard labs. Are you in?” How could I turn down an invitation like that? I’ve been dying to get my hands on some LN2 for months, ever since I found a recipe for Dippin’ [...]

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The Butchered Pig is Better Than the Supermarket Spew and Roasted Head Will Serve You More Than Tenderloin Will Do *

June 21, 2012
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She Who Must Be Obeyed, knowing that a tie or Sunday brunch wouldn’t cut it as Father’s Day gifts, bought me an early present: a pig butchery class presented by Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. I didn’t think I’d get any hands-on time with a knife and a pig (liability issues, I’m sure), but I knew [...]

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The Cake is a Lie

June 8, 2012
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The birthday cakes of my youth were simple affairs: you chose either chocolate or vanilla cake, and then either chocolate or vanilla frosting. The resulting four possible cakes were well within the skill set of any mom, although presentation values varied widely across households. We were always able to overlook non-parallel layers and patchy icing [...]

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Grand Foienale

May 29, 2012
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She Who Must Be Obeyed has never met a foie gras preparation she didn’t like. She’s had it on hot dogs, layered on a tart, served with brioche and apples, and even once as a smoked crème brulée. It wasn’t much of a stretch for me to consider adding a foie gras course to the birthday [...]

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Egging Me On

May 24, 2012
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The addition of this item to the menu for the seventh annual birthday dinner was the result of a phone call to She Who Must Be Obeyed. One of our guests, a regular attendee since the inaugural dinner, was unable to attend last year due to a family emergency. He called to assure us that he [...]

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A Boy and His Pig *

May 22, 2012
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A year after the Halloween party responsible for the world’s worst pumpkin pie, my housemates expressed a desire to host another party, “but this one should be a full dinner.” I offered to cook, asked for possible menu suggestions, but received no response. When we were just four days away from the hypothetical party, I [...]

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Son of Sam I Am

May 17, 2012
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I wanted to try a simpler menu for She Who Must Be Obeyed’s birthday dinner, especially after I remembered all of the work that went into last year’s affair. Still, I knew our guests would be expecting something with a modernist twist, which led to my unearthing this recipe that I had filed away last year. I [...]

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