• 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…

  • Eid-Al-Adha (The Sacrificial Feast)

    Eid-Al-Adha (The Sacrificial Feast)

    [We all know the big American food holiday that’s fast approaching–most food blogs, magazines and TV shows are going crazy over it–but there’s another food holiday that’s fast approaching too, a holiday that I didn’t know anything about until last year when I decided to work on a book proposal about religion and food called…

  • A Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

    A Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

    In case you haven’t noticed, food blogs, food magazines, food networks and the like love Thanksgiving. They love it because, for once, the nation is intent on cooking dinner. For 364 days out of the year, that’s mostly not the case–what with fast food and frozen dinners and all the other instant options at our…

  • Pot Roast

    Pot Roast

    When I think pot roast, I think Americana, I think 50s sitcoms and a beleaguered housewife who intones: “Oh, darn it, I burnt the pot roast!” It’s not a dish that I ate much growing up, eating–as we did–most of our meals out. My first real pot roast memory, actually, comes from Atlanta. I ordered…

  • Steam-Scrambled Eggs

    Steam-Scrambled Eggs

    Those of you with cappuccino makers, may I have your attention? I have a weekend project for you. When you make your scrambled eggs this weekend, instead of melting butter in a pan, beating the eggs with a fork, plopping them into the foamy fat and stirring them round and round, why not find inspiration…

  • Lunch with Lidia Bastianich (and my dad)

    Lunch with Lidia Bastianich (and my dad)

    It’s my fault, really. My parents were in town and my mom asked me, early in the week, if I’d babysit my dad for lunch on Tuesday while she met some of her friends. I said, “Sure.” Then, the day before, I received a confirmation e-mail from Lidia Bastianich’s publicist reminding me of a lunch…

  • Pork on Fire (The Spiciest Dish in New York?)

    Pork on Fire (The Spiciest Dish in New York?)

    On Friday, I sent out the following e-mail to my pork-eating friends: Dear Friends, Today I was reading the New Yorker profile of the only food critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, Jonathan Gold. In it he says of a spicy Thai food dish: “It was glowing, practically incandescent. You bite into it and every…

  • Michael Symon’s Spicy Tomato & Blue Cheese Soup

    Michael Symon’s Spicy Tomato & Blue Cheese Soup

    At the end of yesterday’s video podcast with Michael Symon, you may have heard me sheepishly express doubt about adding blue cheese to tomato soup. For some reason, I thought the result would be grainy and gloppy and just kind of gross. Instead, this tomato soup was absolutely the best tomato soup I’ve ever had–and…

  • Gina DePalma’s Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

    Gina DePalma’s Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

    There’s a transitional moment that comes every year when zucchini goes from being a summer ingredient to being a fall ingredient. It’s still growing — it just arrived in my CSA and it’s October — and the question is: what can you do with it that doesn’t feel too summery? Enter the late, great Gina…

  • Momofuku’s Ginger Scallion Noodles

    Momofuku’s Ginger Scallion Noodles

    Bow down before me, mortals, it’s time to face facts. David Chang is one of the most celebrated, important chefs in New York, right? Right. His cooking is hardcore and bad-ass isn’t it? It is. So what does it mean that a mere amateur like me, a tiny speck on the giant tapestry of New…

Food Person Book Cover