The thing is, Mr. Rivera never had any intention of selling meat. A New York City native and barbecue aficionado, he became obsessed with a piquant sauce he tasted in 2009 at a Mets game. He set out to recreate it at home, a quest that led him to quit a secure job as an…
Beneath a row of fir trees River Shannon Aloia walks along a remote dirt road on national forest land, scanning the ground for morels. “Find it,” she commands her dog, Jasper. The search pays off for Ms. Aloia, an avid forager: She spies a solitary honey-colored morel, and plucks it. “Foraging changes your relationship with…
The James Beard Foundation handed out its coveted culinary awards Monday evening in Chicago, showcasing an eclectic collection of winners from a range of restaurants in cities and towns across America. Michael Rafidi, of the Arab-influenced Albi in Washington, D.C., was named outstanding chef. He dedicated his award “to Palestine and to all the Palestinian…
In this month’s column, the cookbook author Kenji López-Alt answers a question of his own: What’s the mathematically best way to cut an onion? I didn’t go to culinary school. My first real instructor was a book, specifically Jacques Pepin’s “La Technique.” In what feels like a precursor to today’s internet videos, it demonstrates every…
I’ve written a lot about salmon farming for The New York Times in recent years, and what I’ve learned about salmon’s sustainability has persuaded me to use wild Pacific salmon from Alaska whenever possible. I buy it frozen in individual vacuum-sealed portions and stash it in the freezer. Submerged in a bowl of warm water,…
Good morning. I once spent an excellent summer day cooking in a Montauk condominium with the Korean cooking star Maangchi, who had rented the place for a vacation but still found time to help me understand the intricacies of cheese buldak, or fire chicken. It’s a recipe that I love and that I commend to…
I will always, in any season, make a chicken-and-rice dish. It’s my favorite protein combined with my favorite carb, and I love it in any iteration: Hainanese chicken rice, arroz chaufa, arroz con pollo, iwuk edesi, chicken perloo, chicken cook-up rice, chicken doria, oyakodon. I don’t care if it’s hot outside; all are worth mopping…
To be media literate these days is to understand that no ranked list, whether it is the “100 Greatest Drummers of All Time” or the “35 Cutest Dog Breeds to Ever Exist,” should be taken too literally. We all know that the cuteness of the Maltipoo and the awesomeness of Keith Moon are matters of…
Good morning. You can make blackened chicken breasts (above) in your kitchen if you like, but really only if you have a good exhaust fan above your stove. If you don’t, you’ll be opening windows soon enough, and balancing on top of a chair to reach the shrieking smoke alarm. I prefer the outdoor method,…
The layered cake known as Death by Chocolate debuted as a special in 1982 at the Trellis, a polished American restaurant in Williamsburg, Va., and built a cult following long before a dessert could find instant fame on social media. It’s worth noting that those were pretty weird times for chocolate. Its pleasure was distorted,…