CHICAGO — Do you like your Italian beef dry and sweet? Dipped and hot? Or perhaps wet, hot and sweet? Ordering the beloved Chicago sandwich is not unlike the drill at a coffee shop; there’s a language to know, a culture to understand, decisions to make. The city has several famous foods to its name,…
In many countries the observance of Christmas stretches into January, culminating on Epiphany, Jan. 6, when Jesus Christ was said to have been revealed to the world through the agency of the Magi, the three kings. In France, the day has been commemorated for centuries with a delicious puff pastry cake filled with frangipane in…
The start of a new year is as good a time as any to consult “52 Shabbats,” a cookbook that features a year of Friday night dinners. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) would be the most appropriate kickoff — that’s where the book begins its seasonal chapters — but it was not published until…
Add braided loopy lorighittas, compact ridged ciccioneddos and twisted andarinos to your catalog of pastas. These traditional shapes from Sardinia, handmade using mildly nutty-tasting Sardinian wheat, are now available from Bona Furtuna, an importer of Italian food products. With their twists, turns and ridges, they are tailor-made to grab sauce and maintain their al dente…
Zoe Adjonyoh, whose background is Ghanaian and Irish, is a London-based writer, chef and activist who is on a mission to broaden the acceptance of African food. She sells spices and other items on Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, which is also the title of her new book. Its recent publication is the springboard for a virtual…
With the rise of the Omicron variant and people more wary of public gatherings, home cooking is back on the front burner. The MoMA Design Store is selling a useful and versatile ceramic baking dish that can be used on the top of the stove, on a grill, in the oven or microwave. The size…
Contrary to popular belief, Susie Essman is nothing like her Curb Your Enthusiasm character (who, not-so-coincidentally, is also named Susie). Equal parts brash and outspoken, with a penchant for bad-mouthing Larry David, Susie Greene has graduated from supporting character to fan favorite over the show’s 21 years in existence, not least because of her garish…
A long and circuitous route has finally brought Gran Luchito’s chipotle paste to the United States. Though it’s made in Mexico City, it has been sold first in England, then in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia for the past nine years, and only arrived stateside this fall. The dense, jammy condiment packs smoky…
We don’t ordinarily get too deeply into the details of making wine, but we will with our next subject, orange wines, also known as amber wines or skin-contact whites. The phrase “orange wine” was unknown 20 years ago, but the style and the techniques for producing the wines stretch back thousands of years. Essentially, orange…
At the same time, California cabernet can be legitimately criticized. Too much is made, often from areas not suited to cabernet, for one thing. A lot of cabernet, both inexpensive and ultraexpensive, is overly manipulated, for another. As I do each month, I suggested three bottles for people to drink over the course of the…