HYPOTHESIS: A THREE-INGREDIENT WHISKED DRESSING. Experiment: Appropriate measures of olive oil, anchovy paste, and fresh lemon juice. Analysis: Something’s missing. Experiment #2: A dab of Dijon, a modicum of maple syrup. Conclusion: !!! Replication: You’re welcome.
Tag: cooking
Creations a la Chez Nealo.
Instant Equilibrium
A BIT PRICEY, BUT O! so worth it. Occasionally, and despite my usual decent breakfast (homebaked bran-ginger-date-pecan muffin, high-protein yogurt, and coffee), I am apt to suffer hypoglycemia while perambulating about Sonoma. (There was even the time a few months…
False Economy
SO THERE I WAS, PEEPING through the window of the Eureka, California post office, waiting for my elusive boss to enter her across-the-street cafe. The year was 1988 – a time of great personal upheaval, both good and bad. Through…
Where Are You Most You?
IN CARLOS CASTANEDA’S EPIC FANTASY, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, his titular shaman Don Juan Matus describes “places of power” — those locations where we can experience deep wisdom and indomitable purpose. No two are…
I’m In (Finally)
IT HAPPENED AS AN ALL-AT-ONCE thunderbolt moment that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s here and I can’t go back: I am now an enthusiastic and sincere convert. Yes, it’s true. Despite my longtime denials and aspersions, the undeniable fact has…
Blades Runner
THIS IS THE TALE OF a third-degree separation from two of the most prestigious knifemakers in Europe. In addition to regular sharpening and honing, home cooks are supposed to have their knives professionally sharpened once yearly. Thus, one recent Friday,…
Bonite a la Maison A.
ALBACORE GETS ALL THE PRESS when it comes to canned tuna, but skipjack is the preference ’round here due to its richer flavor. (Think of it as a “white meat / dark meat” thing.) And the preference for preparing an…
How to Cook Anything, in Four Easy Steps
1. COLLECT INGREDIENTS. 2. Combine. 3. Process. 4. Serve. (To paraphrase the sage Hillel, “The rest is dishwashing. Now go dry.”)
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Room
“DOESN’T IT MAKE YOU CLAUSTROPHOBIC to cook in such confinement?” asked a visitor to Prosatio Silban’s close-quartered galleywagon. “Less than you would think,” the beefy cook answered over the chop-chop-chop of mincing lizard-breast. “I actually find that it makes me…
Why I Love: My Dad
IT’S HIS CONTAGIOUS JOIE DE vivre. It’s his insistence that I watched Sgt. Bilko, Jack Benny and Ernie Kovacs reruns with him when I was a kid. It’s the skiing memories. (It’s also the memories of the Plymouth, New Hampshire…
5 Thoughts: Lessons Learned by an Autodidactic Home Cook
1. THE SMALLER THE KITCHEN, THE greater the discipline. And the organization. 2. Thrift rules. In other words, there are no such things as “leftovers” — only the beginnings of future meals. (Thank you, Tamar Adler, for this bit of…
Blow ‘Em Out
AS DETAILED IN A PREVIOUS post (c. 2010), every March my sister asks what I would like for my birthday (it’s on the 22d, BTW) and my answer is always the same: “I already have everything I need.” That said,…