Nice Butcher – “Miss, what sort of chorizo do you want – Spanish, Mexican or Portuguese?” Me – to self ”Oh gosh, I have to choose? Geeze, I thought ordering the sausage would be the easy part of this dish. What are the differences? How do I find out what I need without sounding...
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Smoking foods adds tastes and aroma to foods that to quote Emerile, “takes it up a notch”. I’ll confess – I love just about anything smoked, and as I live in an apartment, smoking foods is sometimes the closest I can get to my version of a barbecue. Discovering foods to smoke, and even...
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See for yourself… April Fools’ Day, or All Fool’s Day is celebrated in many countries on April 1 with practical jokes played family members, colleagues, and neighbors. The origin of April Fools’ Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, as opposed to adopting...
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As a child, I had an overwhelming curiosity about the (H)mong*. For the life of me, I could not figure out why, of all the places in the world they chose to resettle, they picked Minnesota. Frankly, I was a bit dumbfounded by this choice. Nothing against Minnesota, I still am a Minnesota girl...
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I love to travel and frequently collect cookbooks from my destinations. However, sometimes I get into trouble when a recipe calls for ingredients and I have no idea of the American equivalent. Sugar is one ingredient that I’ve had this problem with frequently, so I decided to investigate the differences. I suspect part of...
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Imagine you are Zhu Yuanzhang living in the 14th century, and are of the Han tribe of China. You are tired of living under an oppressive Mongolian overload of the Yuan Dynasty, and desperate to overthrow this ruler. You hatch upon a brilliant plot to unite your people to rise against the conquerers. You...
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In British cuisine, the word curry started out as a generic term to describe what the British Army encountered a mixture of spices or spiced sauces, sauteed vegetables and meats, basically applied to about any savory Indian dishes. Along the way “curry” became a specific term for dishes created for the British in India....
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When you think of curry, which country or region comes to mind? India Thailand Caribbean Japan China Britian Any of the above, and indeed many other countries would be correct, and you would still be thinking in the right direction if your mind wandered to Germany or South Africa and a host of other...
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I’d been cooking with fish sauce for a while and knew well its potency and pungency, but until I broke a bottle and liberally doused myself and had to suffer through folks quickly backpeddling to give me “breathing space” did I really get it – this stuff is strong – really, really, strong! No wonder the Vietnamese...
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When I first discovered San Francisco’s Japantown, I was in awe. I thought it was such a fascinating place, and it reminded me of those snow globes – a miniature of Japanese culture, and in my adopted city at that, what a happy coincidence. Part of the appeal for me, was that Japan was...
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