Cooking Articles

Pass the Salt, Please

Salt has had a long and fascinating history in world civilization. Prized for its food seasoning and preservation properties, it was also used for metal working, tanning animal hides, and in making soaps,...

The Shopping Cart Blues, Or: Don't Buggy My Basket

The other day I thought I might go to the supermarket for a steak. I also decided to replenish my detergents, soaps, my cache of spring water and soda, and other various items that require the use of a...

The Secret Is In The Sauce

Winter calls for hearty foods: braised lamb shanks, beef stew, cassoulet. Those are well and good dishes for a long Saturday of cooking or when prepared by someone else in a restaurant. On a weeknight,...

Chocolate Primer 101

I thought I'd put on my teacher-chef's toque and give you a little lesson on the basics of chocolate. I know it's a favorite topic for so so many of you out there. So listen up! Take notes and feel...

Mulling Over Some Warm Beverages

Well it finally happened—winter has blown into town and made its presence known. Given the recent balmy sixty-plus degree January weather, I was beginning to think we wouldn’t have a winter at all...

Dried Fruits to Sweeten Cold Winter Meals

Late January is just far enough removed from autumn apples and summer berries to give one a hankering for something fruity and delicious. Just in time, citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit begin...

A New Kind of Nugget

If you are a parent in this day and age, then you know how ubiquitous chicken nuggets and tenders can be. They’re on most every kid’s restaurant menu and at every fast food place, school lunches,...

Pre-Game Day Game Plan

It is the Saturday before the Super Bowl and you head to the grocery store to do some pre-game shopping. Thinking you are ahead of the game with your Saturday morning shopping trip, you are shocked when...

The Modern Way to Stock Your Pantry

One of those chores that seem to take up a lot of time each week is shopping for food for my family. But this morning while on my big weekly grocery shopping trip, I got to thinking, there has got to...

Super Bowl? It's Puff Pastry Time!

Football fans are fun to feed. They’re a hearty crowd. They’re usually not picky. And there are so many suggestions and articles in every newspaper and magazine at this time of the year. Chili....

Rice Is Nice

… “In January it’s so nice while slipping on the sliding ice to sip hot chicken soup with rice. Sipping once sipping twice sipping chicken soup with rice” … Not only does it have...

Making the Most of Leftovers

Okay, I’ll admit it: We love leftovers. And while some of the most popular leftovers center around the Thanksgiving feast, leftovers are a daily part and parcel of any household where each meal’s...

Southern Washday Sustenance

I first visited New Orleans during fall break from my sophomore year at Belhaven College, in Jackson, Mississippi. I had come to Jackson from California just a few weeks before, and was definitely still...

Super Bowl Snackin'

Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. It’s a great time to invite your friends over for a causal get together and indulge in some heavy duty snacking as you cheer your favorite team onto victory....

Chocolate Primer 102: Be Temperamental!

Last week we discussed the different types of chocolate, their properties and what they're used for. This time, I thought we'd go over the several methods of tempering chocolate. As previously mentioned,...

Civil rights. It’s something so many of us take for granted each and every day. Today, January 15, is the only federal holiday in the United States that commemorates an African American. Dr. Martin...