Classic duck confit is a true labor of love. There is salting and curing, an overnight rest, a ton of store-bought duck fat (assuming you don’t have some lying around) and an eternity spent in an oven. Of course, to all of this I say “Yum!” But also: “What if I … didn’t?” I know…
TOMBALL, Tex. — Syed Raza and his wife, Jeanne Chilson-Raza, prefer not to use the word slaughterhouse. And Hira Halal Meat, their business in this small city an hour’s drive north of Houston, looks more like a petting zoo than an abattoir. An artistically carved granite rock greets visitors at the entrance. Palm trees and…
Here are a couple of goat cheeses from Barn First Creamery, a small farm in Westfield, Vt., that have uncommon depth and flavor. The farm’s owners — Merlin Backus, who is originally from Westfield, and Rebecca Velasquez, the cheesemaker — started the project in 2013 and now have 30 goats. Most of their cheeses are…
Don’t call them women’s beers, but Talea, the fledgling New York brewing company, is founded by women: two former home brewers and business executives, Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland, a Navy veteran. They saw space in the market for easy-drinking beers, perhaps to replace that glass of rosé. Their first is Sun Up — a…
Ichiran, the ramen chain founded in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1960, is known not just for the quality of its tonkotsu broth, but also for its individual booths, allowing for sequestered slurping. That goes for one that just opened in the Times Square area at 152 West 49th Street. But now you can also slurp in…
The Cronut may have competition. As soon as Fabrique, a Swedish bakery chain, opened its first American branch, in the meatpacking district late last month, there were lines of people wanting traditional cardamom buns, similar to a cinnamon bun but with a more floral fragrance. “It was the best opening we ever had,” said Charlotta…
Seventeen years ago, when she was in her thirties, Cindy and her female partner decided they wanted to have children. The couple spent hours pouring over sperm donor profiles, finally settling on an anonymous man with a clean medical record and few health issues in his family. He was an anonymous donor, and they knew…
REEDS BEACH, N.J. — On a recent spring day at this remote beach, hundreds of shorebirds flapped frantically beneath a net trapping them on the sand. Dozens of volunteers rushed to disentangle the birds and place them gently in covered crates. On a nearby sand dune, teams of scientists and volunteers attached metal leg bands,…
