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  • How To Roast a Leg of Lamb

    How To Roast a Leg of Lamb

    “Pete’s Dragon” is a movie I hadn’t seen since childhood. I remember being terrified of Shelly Winters, covered in all that mud, and bored by the Helen Reddy boyfriend-lost-at-sea subplot. But when my friend Chris Dufault stated recently that “Pete’s Dragon” is one of his favorite movies, I felt a sudden need to see it…

  • Meyer Lemon Chicken & Asparagus

    Meyer Lemon Chicken & Asparagus

    There are two dishes referenced in Kim Severson’s “Spoon Fed” that don’t have corresponding recipes: the first is a chicken stuffed with Meyer lemons, the other is something called a “Jewish muffin.” I haven’t had any luck parsing the mysteries of the Jewish muffin, but after an exchange on Twitter I was able to extract…

  • Bombay Chicken Curry

    Bombay Chicken Curry

    I’ve always been a very truthful food blogger and so I’m going to tell you the truth about the video you see above. Part One of the truth is this: the Bombay Chicken Curry that Chef Floyd Cardoz (chef at the celebrated New York City restaurant Tabla) made for us in the first half of…

  • White Lasagna

    When I get invited to dinner parties, these days, I pretty much make it a policy not to take pictures. This takes the pressure off the host or hostess, who may be nervous that their food blogging friend is scrutinizing every bite, preparing to skewer them for all the world to see on his food…

  • The Best Chili of Your Life

    The Best Chili of Your Life

    If Craig had his way, this post wouldn’t have this title. I just asked him, “Would you call the chili I made the other day the best of your life?” And he answered: “I don’t even think of it as chili because there weren’t any beans; just lots of meat and stuff. But it was…

  • The Best Meatloaf I’ve Ever Had

    It’s hard to get excited about meatloaf. That is, unless you’re standing in the kitchen at Craft in New York and Chef Damon Wise (Tom Colicchio’s right-hand man) is mixing together ground beef, pork, crisp shitakes (that taste like bacon), golden soffrito, soy sauce, fresh oregano and Parmesan cheese. The resulting meatloaf–which Chef Wise called…

  • Thomas Keller’s Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

    Thomas Keller’s Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

    Roasting a chicken is a very personal thing; those of us who are regular chicken roasters (and, in the winter, roasting a chicken is almost a weekly act for me) know what we like. For me, that’s a combination of fennel seeds, cayenne pepper, and kosher salt on the outside of the skin and thyme…

  • How To Make Fried Chicken

    The undisputed master of fried chicken here in New York City is Chef Charles Gabriel of Rack n’ Soul and now Charles’ Country Pan Fried Chicken (there’s a big article about it in today’s New York Times.) Chef Gabriel is such a master, it was an absolute privilege this summer to stand at his side…

  • Sunday Gravy

    Sunday Gravy

    The thing about Thanksgiving is that people have expectations. They expect some kind of squash soup, they expect turkey, of course, and stuffing and taters (mashed and sweet) and all kinds of pies for dessert. Maybe that’s why I don’t like cooking it: the element of surprise is fairly limited (“Oooh look, he put cranberries…

  • The Best Casserole Ever

    The Best Casserole Ever

    Hyperbole is a dangerous tool for food bloggers. Yes, it’s easy to call something “the best” this or “the most amazing” that but do it too often, and you start to lose credibility. “If everything’s the best,” you might think, “then what makes this one any more special?” Fair enough, ungentle reader, fair enough. But…