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.Continue reading
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.Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
David Gremmels and Cary Bryant could be considered the accidental cheese makers.
Three years ago they were scouting for blue cheese Continue reading
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.Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
A few years ago the Italian coffee company Lavazza hired the world’s leading molecular gastronomist, Ferran Adrìa, to come up with coffee you can eat. Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
Nostalgia is not one of my weaknesses, but whenever I pick up a bunch of fresh sage this time of year it takes me back big time. I grew up in Arizona, and in my mind eons later it seems as if one scent was always in the air there. Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
Summer is supposed to be the mindless season, with nothing deeper to contemplate than the instant gratification of barbecues and ice cream. But something is different this year. America is getting serious about eating.Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
Stand facing the average newsstand lately and it’s hard not to think American food magazines are speeding downhill in a Rachael Ray sled, with Paula Deen pushing.Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
When the retired carabiniere wedged next to me on the plane to Venice would not stop talking about the wild asparagus he forages in springtime, I figured I was on my way to the Easter promised land. Continue reading
Los Angeles Times
If you happen to have just bought the best salad spinner on the planet, here’s some bad news: At the giant International Home & Housewares Show beginning Sunday in Chicago, OXO International is introducing one that is even better — and so gorgeous you could actually serve from it.Continue reading