cooking

One of the first things I noticed at the 2017  Winter Fancy Food Show were delicious tasting marshmallows . There have been �gourmet� marshmallows in the past, but frankly, I haven't been very impressed with them. The ones I tried this year were much better. There were three brands that stood out.  Smashmallow has very unique flavors like Root Beer Float, Strawberries & Cream, Meyer Lemon Chia Seed and Roasted Coconut Pineapple. Dandies offers all natural vegan marshmallows with a very light fluffy texture in vanilla, vanilla peppermint and pumpkin. Another discovery was Madyson�s Marshmallows . They offer various flavors but also marshmallows stuffed with chocolate and peanut butter chips. I can only imagine how good they would be toasted over an open fire!  Moroccan spice is nothing new, but it does seem to be showing up in new ways�as a flavoring for popcorn, crackers, chips and peanut butter. I didn�t try each of these but I found them interesting as a develop...

The Winter Fancy Food Show always showcases new products but also new flavors and flavor combinations. The combination of sweet and heat has been around for a while, but I saw it in new and different ways this year. Here are some of the most compelling things I tried. A couple of citrus and chili combinations stood out. Just Jan�s  offered Tangerine Sriracha . I�m not a huge Sriracha fan, I find it generally to be a little one dimensional. But this product was layered with a bright tang. Orange cayenne offered a kick to the flavor Tropic Wonder from  Revive Kombucha , a somewhat less puckery brand of the fermented beverage.  Oregon Growers always offers luscious flavors, though still in development, marionberry habanero jam is a winner. Another favorite of mine is The Preservatory based in British Columbia. In the past they have offered Heirloom Tomato with Chile and fruit jams with peppercorn. This year was the tangy and fresh Yellow Plum, Turmeric and Chile preserve...

I can�t seem to get enough crab this season. Dungeness crab is only about $7 a pound or so at local markets. I think I�m starting to get better at removing it from the shells; it�s a tedious job but worth the effort. Rather than dousing it in drawn butter, I have been tossing it with pasta and folding it into omelets. I was inspired to make crab omelets after frequently seeing crab versions of Eggs Benedict. Omelets are much easier and less fussy. With the exception of shrimp and feta, I tend to shy away from seafood and cheese. But I find that crab actually pairs pretty well with mild cheeses. If you�ve ever had a crab melt or hot crab dip, you know what I mean. I particularly like combining crab with a little bit of cream cheese. It adds richness and a velvety texture and it extends the flavor of the crab.  I prefer my omelets to be extremely tender. The key is cooking the eggs over low heat, very gently. I use a non-stick pan and plenty of butter. Chives or green onions are a n...

I�m pretty sure the first time I had caviar was at a wedding. It was years before I ate it again. I was in the lobby of an opera house in Budapest during intermission. There I encountered an incredible spread of elegant hors d'oeuvres, many topped with Russian caviar. I drank a Soviet version of Champagne and felt very posh. It left a more memorable impression than hearing Carmen sung in Hungarian! According to the dictionary, caviar is the processed salted roe of large fish, typically sturgeon. Sturgeon take 10 years to reach reproductive age and are in danger of extinction in the wild. While Russian caviar is most well-known, I�m going to focus on American caviar since it is more sustainable, readily available and less expensive. American caviar was once a huge industry. In the early 19th century caviar was harvested so heavily in the United States that sturgeon almost disappeared completely.  Recently American caviar has made a return. Today sturgeon are farmed by companies like...

Are you still shopping? That's ok! I've got a few recommendations for things I really like. I hope you will too... 1. For the cook who has everything A torch�but not just any torch, a propane high heat Bernzomatic torch . Why? It�s way more powerful than those little dinky butane torches and it is a fun tool. I�ve been experimenting with vegetables, fish, even a crust of sugar on a slice of lemon. It�s just a way cool thing to have. It�s the perfect tool for getting the skin off peppers, cooking the best steak ever or putting the slightest char on raw fish. Maybe this is the year I make Baked Alaska! Under $50 and you can get it online but better to purchase in-store and get the propane at the same time.  2. For families and DIY enthusiasts The Global Grub tamale kit . I�ve written about this before but I�m telling you again because this is such a quality product. You will quite honestly make the best tameles of your life from this kit and you can fill them with anything...

I have a confession to make. I don't always test recipes from cookbooks I review or even recommend. Why? Because I don't generally follow recipes. I use cookbooks for inspiration, learning techniques or great flavor combinations. I don't get hung up on instructions because there are so many variables I can't control (stove, oven and cookware for example).  Of course when it comes to baking or cooking a cuisine I am less familiar with, I do follow the directions as closely as I can. Which brings me to three new cookbooks covering Chinese cuisine.  Many Chinese cookbooks in English focus on recipes from Chinese food as it is cooked outside of China. But three new cookbooks take a deeper dive into the regional cuisine of China. Two of the books look at all of China while the third concentrates on the cuisine of the Jiangnan region. Each book provides varying degree of context about the regions. Dong Po Pork, left to right: All Under Heaven, Land of Rice & Fish, China I...

Author Matt Goulding is in love with Spain, and it shows. It�s where he has a home with his Spanish wife and where he has the perfect �insider/outsider� status to dig deep. A James Beard award winning food and travel writer, it�s easy to get seduced by his prose, as he covers a mix of food, people and places. He�s genuinely enthusiastic which almost always makes for a good subject and a great book.  In Grape Olive Pig , Goulding takes readers all over Spain. But it�s anything but a typical trip. In addition to stories, he uses graphics and lists to take his experience and turn it into tips for the would be traveler. In each location he tells the stories of the locals�from chefs to shepherds and a few family members too. In Salamanca it�s about processing pigs, in Valencia it�s the story of rice, in Cadiz it�s about tuna. Each story is personal, told with history and details that pull you in. It�s a new kind of travel guide packed with both plenty of practical information and yet, a...