In Olia Hercules’ Mamushka: A Cookbook on Ukrainian and Eastern European cooking, there is a very enticing set of photographs and recipe for a large spiral filled with feta cheese. I have now made this twice, and have basically figured out what to do. When done right, the result is a flaky filled bread, like Read More …
I made this classic taco using my homemade chorizo ( Mexican Chorizo ). This recipe, which is adapted from Serious Eats, includes a couple of tricks to get the potato crispy (but not burned) on the outside and cooked on the inside (which can be a difficult combination). These tricks include parboiling the potato in Read More …
I like Mexican chorizo, but if you look at the package and see what is in the typical product (pork salivary glands, etc.) that puts me off a bit. Also, a lot of the commercial product is very fatty. So for both of these reasons, plus because it is fun and easy, I like Read More …
This is how we made the gravy in advance for the clan at Thanksgiving. Since I was going to be roasting turkeys in La Caja China, there would not be any drippings for use in the gravy, so we made it all in advance to reduce the stress of the big day. This was easy Read More …
This take on the French classic coq au vin has been a family favorite for many years. Brouilly is one of the Beaujolais Villages, but I tend to use whatever good red wine is on hand. A key step is to brown well the flour so that the final stew has a rich brown color. Read More …
This is the kind of warming flavorful dish which is the definition of comfort food, and which makes the whole house smell great while it cooks. A few years ago, the daughter of our choir director took a trip to Europe visiting Poland and Barcelona, and she commented when she returned s on how much Read More …
Lepinja is a Bosnian flatbread, which is rather like a thick pita without a pocket. In the Balkans, they are used for many purposes, especially as a bun for cevapcici, the cyclindrical skinless sausages which are to the Balkans what the hamburger is to the US. I had lepinja in a Houston restaurant called the Read More …
When I was young, onion dip from a package was very popular. In fact, it was pretty tasty, but making onion dip from scratch is a lot tastier and not much work. This recipe is adapted from Serious Eats, and includes a couple of tricks to get the onions really browned relatively quickly. Those Read More …
This sounds like a crazy idea, but when recommended by the Serious Eats website, I had to try it out. The basic idea is to heat an unopened package in a sous-vide device at 145 degrees between 8 and 48 hours to fully cook and tenderize the bacon, and then to briefly cook it in Read More …
Popular in the colonial era, making hams from a leg of lamb fell out of favor, so much that I had never heard of such a thing. An article in NPR discussed a revival of lamb ham, and mentioned that the well-known Edwards Smokehouse in Surrey has started making country hams from lamb. This Read More …