An Irish Whiskey Returns to Its Roots

Starting in the late 18th century there were whiskey distilleries clustered in Dublin. By the 1960s they were gone. It’s a complicated story, but now Dublin distilling is in revival mode. Teeling Whiskey, opened in 1782 by Walter Teeling, was reestablished near its original location in 2012 by the brothers Jack and Stephen Teeling, descendants…

Chicken Parm, Form of a Sausage

Seemore Meats and Veggies, a company run by Cara Nicoletti, a fourth-generation butcher, fills its casings with a high proportion of vegetables to meat. It has just introduced a clever variety, chicken Parm. Each link delivers a flavor-packed mosaic of ground chicken, roasted tomatoes, cheese, bread crumbs and basil. Sear or grill them whole and…

A Bakery Crosses the East River

When Amy Chasen opened Sweet Generation, her cupcake-size bakery in the East Village in 2014, she wanted to include a program that benefited society. Sweet Generation RISE, with internships for 16- to 24-year-olds to learn skills needed for food service careers, was born (and not connected to several other organizations also called RISE). It received…

Grenache, or Garnacha: Same Grape, 3 Ways

How important is the choice of grape in determining the character of a wine? Extremely important, obviously. But it is far from the sole factor. Soil and bedrock, climate, farming methods, altitude and inclination, intent of the winemaker — all the elements of terroir can be just as important. Sometimes they can be even more…

What Yogurt Can Do for You

Good morning. I’m not sure why homemade yogurt (above) didn’t take off this year the way sourdough bread did, the way kombucha kind of did. As Melissa Clark demonstrates, it’s so simple to make, “and the payback is huge: a pot of tangy, silky yogurt made with ingredients you can control and personalized to your…

Annie’s Pledges to Purge a Class of Chemicals From Its Mac and Cheese

Nearly four years after traces of chemicals believed to cause health problems in children and reproductive issues in adults were found in mass-market macaroni and cheese packets, Annie’s Homegrown has begun working with its suppliers to eliminate the offending material from their food processing equipment. The presence of the chemicals, called ortho-phthalates, rattled consumers who…

Just Desserts

Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. This week we are doing something new: desserts. Last Friday I asked if this was something that would interest you, and I have never gotten so many emails. (If you’re feeling cheated and want your dinner recipes, take a look at these suggestions for some superb weeknight options…

The Activists Working to Remake the Food System

Today, activism exists at every point in the food supply chain: how it’s produced (unsustainable farming practices; unsafe working conditions and exploitation of undocumented immigrants and prison labor; abuse of animals), who gets to produce it and how it’s sold (racial disparities in lending and investment; the corporate advantage of scale; misrepresentation and erasure of…