Five mushrooms, five dinners, one variable: water content
Five mushroom main dish recipes built on one variable: water content. Cremini, oyster, maitake, shiitake and king trumpet, each with the method it needs.
13 min read
Burgoo once fed a hundred people at a time
A kentucky burgoo recipe scaled down to a Dutch oven: three meats, the four vegetables that are not optional, and eight hours that do the actual work.
13 min read
One is a soup and one is not
Goulash vs porkolt: one is a soup and one is a stew. The paprika grades, the onion ratio, and the moment the pot leaves the heat before the paprika goes in.
13 min read
Shawarma in a skillet with no spit and no overnight marinade
Skillet chicken shawarma in 30 minutes: the spice ratio, a 15 minute marinade on thin sliced thigh, the sear that fakes the crust, and a garlic sauce.
13 min read
Butternut, delicata, and kabocha want different partners on the plate
What goes with butternut squash, delicata and kabocha: nine pairings that hold up, three repeated every autumn that fail, and the reason behind each one.
13 min read
Six winter greens that are not kale
Six types of winter greens compared: escarole, mustard, tatsoi, broccoli rabe, chard and turnip tops, with bitterness, cook time and the fat each needs.
13 min read
Appalachian stack cake needs a night in the pantry
An apple stack cake recipe from the southern mountains: six thin sorghum layers, a dried apple filling, and the overnight rest that makes it one cake.
13 min read
Kale, potato, chourico, and twenty minutes of actual work
A caldo verde recipe from northern Portugal: the hair-thin greens, the potato that thickens without flour, and why the sausage is browned in a separate pan.
13 min read
Steam the couscous over the stew, not in a separate pot
A quick couscous dinner steamed over a chickpea and squash stew instead of boiled: the colander setup, two steamings, and the grain that never clumps.
13 min read
Cinnamon belongs at dinner in Morocco, Mexico, and Greece
How cinnamon in savory dishes works in Moroccan, Mexican and Greek cooking: cassia against Ceylon, the dose that reads as depth, three dishes to start.
13 min read