Let us not forget the time when brussels sprouts were reviled. Before they were on every menu in the country, they were synonymous with chopped liver and dry white toast -- food pariahs. Now, of course, everyone loves them, especially larded with ...
Read MoreSeared Lotus over Broccoli Veloute
You've seen this scene before. In a French restaurant, perhaps sea bass over celery root veloute. In a Caribbean restaurant, pork over plantain. In an Italian restaurant, lamb shank over polenta. Et cetera. Well, those are boring and I hate spendi...
Read MorePan-fried Parsnip Petals & Asparagus Coins
Parsnips don't have the high-beam brightness of carrots, or even the easy blandness of potatoes. Asparagus causes that funny reaction that lettuce would never dare. I think it's fair to say Snow White would eat sunny vegetables, like tomatoes and ...
Read MoreFig & Port Black Bean Ice Cream
This ice cream won't make you lose your head, but you might come away dizzy. The trick is to mix this just enough, but not too much. Just enough for the black beans to release their heft, for the bananas to lend their velour, for the figs to pop ....
Read MorePlum-Buttered Almond Cherry Granola
Cherries and almonds share a chemical romance. Cherry seeds taste like almonds and -- whether you've realized it or not -- almonds taste like cherries. The bitter-almond compound, benzaldehyde, is an essential ingredient in artificial cherry flavo...
Read MoreA Rapturous, Southern-Inflected End
There are a lot of things I'd want for my last meal. Off the top of my head: prawn crackers, candied nuts, kettle corn, seaweed salad, braised rabbit, my Dad's pulled pork, eggplant and "ketchup shrimp", dim sum, bouillabaise, steamed artichokes, ...
Read MoreKiwi Cashew Breakfast Chaat
My friend Andrea first introduced me to chaat seven or so years ago, the night after the Harvard-Yale game. The day was exhausting from traveling, drinking, socializing and general shlepping. The chaat was a genie of a dish and gave me everything ...
Read MoreRosemary, Pear & Orange Blossom Sorbet
Somewhere in the ether, someone came up with the combination of pear and rosemary. Let us investigate. Pear = granulated, sweet, buttery. Rosemary = piney, eucalyptusy, savory. I can't quite put my finger on why these two flavors go together so we...
Read MoreRed Currant Buckwheat Crunch Bars
You know buckwheat in other preparations: cooked like rice in kasha varnishkes, milled into flour for soba, stuffed into pillows at MUJI. It wasn't until I was feeling peckish at Brooklyn Kitchen that I even thought to eat toasted buckwheat (I bro...
Read MoreManresa at James Beard LTD
Last night, I experienced Manresa on the penultimate night of the James Beard Foundation pop-up. I've been following Manresa for awhile, first through Pim's blog, then her tweets, then Manresa, David Kinch and John Paul Carmona separately. And now...
Read MoreRed Delicious & Peanut Butter Ice Cream // Kindergarten Throwback
So my Grandma gave me a couple mangoes, some chicken, and a Red Delicious apple. The mangoes and chicken were long gone, and we were left with this apple. But we also had Jonagolds, Winesaps, Mutsus...who wants to eat a Red Delicious? Even when I'...
Read MoreSzechuan Kirby Pickles // Forms of Hotness
Consider feelings of "hot." There's black pepper, which hits you in your sneeze spot in the roof of your nasal cavity. Red pepper flakes make you reach for water, milk, bread...anything to quench that feeling of "red-hot" (and it is definitely "re...
Read MoreKimchili (read that again)
I made my first batch of kimchili because I thought someone else made it first and I got jealous. Then I realized it just said "kimchi," so I went in for the kill! This pickled stew is a basso extension of kimchi's nose-prickling flavors. First I ...
Read MoreGreen Tea Madeleine // Moody Mother Beginnings
You know how sourdough bread gets its complexity from a "mother starter"? This is the mother the madeleine never knew it had. This winsome cake/cookie is adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Earl Grey Madeleine recipe in BAKING: From my Home to Yours. T...
Read MoreMother's Day Cake & Cuisine
A Duet cake from La Tulipe, a hazelnut dacquoise with hazelnut and citron mouuse. A svelte Ferrero Rocher vacationing on the Cape. Mom's Maxims on Food and Eating: Eat it while it's fresh. Don't use a whole napkin when a half-napkin will do. And c...
Read MoreThe Gold, the Strong, the Ugly Brow
Like that air hockey-basketball-foosball table. 3-in-1 fun. After all this crazy makeup, I feel like my regular face is so boring! This time, Linda used me for a lesson in editorial makeup. The students wanted to experiment with gold, and I wanted...
Read MoreShrimpy Eggplant & Wood Ear Mushroom // Home Alone Food
I was that person in the cafeteria. The one with the salmon salad, the prawn crackers, and the pomegranate for lunch. (ie: The Weird Girl.) Even though those mean-kid days are over, I still feel funny eating certain foods in front of others. But t...
Read MoreHoneyed Avocado Popcorn Ice Cream
Warning sign #1 your dessert is very rich: The lightest part is the Corn Cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar. This started with a frozen avocado. I thought it'd be too heavy as a straight ice cream, but yogurt was too sour. Bananas too assertive. So I t...
Read MoreOranges Suspended in Bourbon Gelatin
I first had a version of this plush, fresh dessert in Paris, in a crowded second floor dining room. People passed giant wicker cheese trays from table to table. There were red and white ch ecks involved. It was there I had my first whole grilled s...
Read MoreA Maniac for Makeup
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet / Are of imagination all compact. -- A Midsummer Night's Dream, V.I. I lust for makeup. I love how it can transform and fool. I love how colors are named the most bewitching, visceral words in the dictionary. A...
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