Posted in alcoholic drink, breadcrumbs, eastern europe, Europe, hearty, Meat, paprika, pigs, Poland, pork, Potato, slovakia on Apr 13th, 2013
“A smooth sea never a skilled mariner made.” – English proverb In the summer of 1997, two friends and I decided it would be a hoot to spend six weeks visiting a variety of countries that had recently emerged from behind the Iron Curtain. It turned out to be rather more of a hoot than [...]
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Posted in African, appetizer, castille, chile, Garlic, herbs, history, Meat, Mexican, Olive Oil, pepper, peppers, pimenton, pinchos, pork, racione, Spain, tapas, thyme, tradition, travel on Jun 6th, 2012
St. George, the patron saint of England, whose plucky, dragon-slaying derring-do is taken as emblematic of the English spirit, far from being a native of the British Isles, or for that matter, far from ever having come close to visiting them, was actually an adventurous squire of the modern-day country of Georgia who lived around [...]
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Posted in anchovies, butter, carrots, compound butter, France, French, French-ness, lamb, liver, Meat, offal, saute, squash, vegetables on Feb 9th, 2012
Rarely on time, and never on trend, we are perennially late to the party. Yes, we may have been blogging about offal since way before David Chang made it cool, but we have yet to purchase our first ironic message tee featuring butchery terminology or get our forearms inked with a selection of cutlery. This [...]
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Posted in ale, America, beans, beer, braised, British, carrots, Christmas, easy, England, family, holiday, holidays, Meat, onions, pork, Potato, rosemary, sauce, stew, tradition, travel, vinegar on Dec 20th, 2011
I often think that living in a small scruffy New York City apartment is akin to a pioneer life in a log cabin somewhere remote. Sure, the commute is easier, but the myriad quotidien affronts and man traps of a city existence certainly resemble the perils of life on the range.
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Posted in America, fennel, Garlic, ground meat, Italian, Meat, meatballs, rice, sausage, Tuscan, tuscany on Nov 2nd, 2011
I was recently introduced to an Australian with whom I had a number of interesting discussions (that is not meant as a joke). The first, an hour-long discussion of the age-old cricketing rivalry between England and his native land is of no concern here, but the second, a frank exchange of views about the quality [...]
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Posted in brains, breadcrumbs, cheese, fried, indulgent meal, Meat, offal, Restaurant Review, sauce, sformata, unhealthy on Aug 16th, 2011
Our good friend, of whom we have seen very little recently, but who persists as an unwitting gastronomic inspiration to us – Juan Camilo – struck again recently when we spied a mess of veal brains at our local butcher. [I'm not sure what the proper collective noun is for brains, but the term seems [...]
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Posted in alcaparrado, capers, chicharron, fried, guanciale, Italian, Italy, Meat, Naples, noodles, Pasta, pork, tomato, unhealthy on Jul 29th, 2011
Posted in America, Asturias, beans, cabrales, Chorizo, cocido, fabada, Garlic, history, Meat, morcilla, Olive Oil, paprika, pimenton, pork, saffron, tradition, travel on Mar 11th, 2011
Almost seven years ago I journeyed from Santillana del Mar to Santa Maria de Lebaña via San Vicente de la Barquera. So many saints, so much devotion, that it was little surprise to learn that beyond the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana and through the Picos de Europe lies the hallowed ground of Covadonga. [...]
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Posted in alcohol, appetizer, Autumn, baking, duck, Fall, France, French, game, gherkins, ground meat, liver, madeira, Meat, mustard, pastry, pork, rabbit, tradition, travel on Oct 26th, 2010
Every now and then I’ll sit through one of those “secrets of the ancient world” shows on the History Channel. You know, the ones in which they have modern experts try to “decode” how the pyramids or the hanging gardens of Babylon were constructed using graphics that make you feel like you’re watching B-roll from [...]
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Posted in African, allspice, bacon, braised, brown sugar, cabbage, carrots, diversity, fried, Garlic, gravy, Haitian, Meat, parsley, peppers, pork, Recipes, spicy, tradition on Oct 15th, 2010
“Griyo is madd good. If you have neva tasted it, you are missing a lot.” So much of what we think we know of Haiti is bad – from the massive human suffering and destruction caused by January’s earthquake, to decades of political and social unrest, to blood-curdling tales of voodoo curses and zombies – [...]
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Posted in chicken, Coco Lezzone, egg, Florence, Genoa, ham, herbs, holiday, Italian, Italy, Liguria, Meat, Olive Oil, pancetta, prosciutto, rabbit, travel, Tuscan, tuscany on Oct 3rd, 2010
In the very infancy of this blog, back when we had no appreciation for plating, lighting or anything else remotely aesthetic, my wife wrote about the first course of a truly memorable dinner we shared in the famous Florentine trattoria, Coco Lezzone. What she didn’t mention was that even though we were getting towards the end [...]
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Posted in blogging, butter, Fall, game, Garlic, Jim Harrison, Meat, mushrooms, poultry, truffles, walnuts on Sep 8th, 2010
“Once, at the Denver Airport, a bald girl in an orange dress told me I could be what I wanted.” – Jim Harrison, The Raw & The Cooked There’s an awful conceit abroad the interwebs these days that seems to be encouraging more people than it should to title themselves “freelance food writers”. Perhaps you’ve [...]
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