The fifth dimension
Metropolitan Home
In the age of molecular gastronomy, the whole language of cooking is changing fast. Tradition-flouting chefs are throwing around such terms as osmosis and desiccation and sous-vide, all of which are fine and kitchen-scientific. But the most important new word is actually as accessible to home cooks as it is to wizards of foam: Umami. Read the rest of this entry »
Old, and new again
Metropolitan Home
Fresh ricotta is the overlooked bonus from the great American cheese revolution over the last 20 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Wanted: cave manager
Los Angeles Times
Five years ago, it would be safe to say, not a soul in California woke up each morning to a to-do list starting with: Review a restaurant for Michelin. Read the rest of this entry »
Low, slow and succulent
Los Angeles Times
A new oven is being billed as the greatest invention since the discovery of fire itself. This high-tech contraption, seemingly a cross between a furnace and a microwave, allegedly can roast a whole rack of lamb in 6 1/2 minutes flat. Which sounds impressive if all you want is chops on the table in less time than you would need to set it. Read the rest of this entry »
The taste of things to come
Los Angeles Times
MILAN, Italy — Think of Italy, and wild and crazy exchanges of cooking ideas are not what come to mind first. This is a country where each and every region is a world apart; the Tuscans in the center might as well be on Mars for all the interaction with the Piemontese to the northwest.
Which makes the frenzy of Identità Golose (literally “greedy identity”) all the more extraordinary. Read the rest of this entry »
Our brilliant blues
Los Angeles Times
David Gremmels and Cary Bryant could be considered the accidental cheese makers.
Three years ago they were scouting for blue cheese Read the rest of this entry »
Soulmates: Pasta meets cheese
Los Angeles Times
Back in the last century, an Italian sommelier who became a friend spent a fair amount of time in my kitchen, much of it insisting that nearly every iconic American food was made not just first but better in the country of his birth. Apple pie? They had it at crostata. Grilled cheese? Mozzarella en carrozza was the Model A. Meatloaf? They call it polpettone. Read the rest of this entry »