A reoccurring theme in all that I do is the importance of community – of recognizing the beauty in others and celebrating that beauty over the joy and comfort of a meal prepared as much for the soul as for the stomach. As a child and then a young man, I put little thought into…
Tag: #chef
A LATE SUMMER VEGAN FEAST
As a chef, I am asked to do many things related to food, and from time to time those things come with challenge and intrigue. This last month has been no different and, in fact, brought the particularly fun challenge of preparing a vegan feast for some guests we were entertaining here at the Culinary…
The Tradition of Kentucky Stack Cake
When I close my eyes, I can still hear my grandmother describe the taste of the spiced layers of her legendary stack cake. Virginia Price had a story to go along with everything in her life, and her stack cake was no exception. She called it a Kentucky stack cake and, as the story went,…
The (Bacon-Kissed) Taste of Summer
Today, sitting in my cabin office looking out onto the peach orchard, I was taken by the simple beauty of our Texas Hill Country oasis. I looked out at the fire pit just up from the rippling pond behind our store, canopied by the pines, and I began to imagine a beautiful picnic comprised completely…
SUMMERTIME RETRO ROAD TRIP
At this time of year, millions of American families hit the highway on vacation. And if some of us resemble the Griswalds in this seemingly timeless endeavor, that’s okay – because the Griswalds were invented to resemble us. Still, in our driving toward that one big destination where FUN can be had with a capital…
Getting Back to The Basics with Bread
By any reasonable accounting, the cash cost of baking your life’s first three baguettes may be about 17 cents. On the other hand, if you factor in your time and effort (especially if you do a 14-hour “pre-ferment” mysteriously known as a Poolish), the cost of those loaves might be $397. Yes, you can buy…
Easter Meals from Around the World
In both the Eastern and Western Christian traditions, there are many traditional foods of Easter – their flavors made all the more memorable by the central importance of this holiday. Still, there’s no absolute commandment that you have to stick with any of these traditional dishes. Falling year after year near the Jewish Passover, Easter…
MEXICO ON THE INSIDE
It would unwise for anyone to defame or dismiss the so-called Tex-Mex style of cooking in front of its millions of advocates, defenders, practitioners and passionate fans. Even the snobbiest culinary scholars should see in its intense gravies and undeniable multi-cultural goodness the same things that happen when French and German foods get together along…
When Pumpkin goes Beyond Pies & Lattes
You might not think of pumpkin at this time of year with anything but “pumpkin spice,” – or served in any form other than a latte or a pie. But we’ve been hard at work on a few recipes that will not only excite your taste buds but give a fresh flavor profile to your…
Make Ahead Meals
One of the telltale signs of school starting again is the way days suddenly don’t have enough hours anymore. And sadly, some families respond by existing entirely on fast food (a good idea for neither taste buds nor waistline) or on less-than-wonderful frozen dinners from the supermarket. We are not about prohibition around here: we…
Making Meals into Family Memories
With the natural change in rhythms that comes with the start of another school year, yet another change might be good for your family. It might be time to involve your kids, whatever their ages, in the process that produces dinner. The idea of “kids in the kitchen,” is not so much new as old…
The Burning Question: Charcoal or Propane?
Setting meat (or, once in a blue moon on a diet, vegetables) over an open fire has got to be the oldest form of cooking on earth – short of the animal of your choice getting fortuitously struck by lightning. The time-honored technique, which acquired its modern name “barbecue” when European started learning from the…