Make your gravy extra special this Thanksgiving by getting cooking tips from Gravies of the Ancients, the "weekly magazine for the sauce enthusiast." Secrets of the Minoan gravysmiths and the lost gravies of the Incas can finally be yours. Watch the video after the jump.... More
"Usually I'm skeptical of celebrity-launched lines of anything, be they measuring cups or leggings." I know, I know. It’s so easy to make your own tomato sauce. I’ve heard everyone say it, from my mother to Rachael Ray. But the truth is, when I make spaghetti and tomato sauce, it’s the one night I take off from the kitchen. I don’t feel like doing anything but opening a box and a jar. And frankly, making tomato sauce may be easy, but making excellent tomato sauce is certainly and decidedly not. I believe strongly in jarred tomato sauce, if it's good. But I haven’t found my match on the supermarket shelves yet. I do love the pomodoro sauce from San Marzano,... More
Note: On Wednesdays, Andrea Lynn, senior editor of Chile Pepper magazine, drops by with Serious Heat. Photograph from thebittenword.com on Flickr I find that barbecue sauce partiality is heavily influence by how you were raised. So it's no surprise this Alabama gal craves pulled pork with that tangy white sauce of Big Bob Gibson's, famous in the Northern part of the state. There are other barbecue sauces I love, of course, but nothing transports me to my childhood like that mayo-like white sauce speckled with pepper. That is, until I recently tried Big Bob Gibson's Habanero Red Sauce for a round-up of favorite sauces in Chile Pepper's May issue. How can you improve upon a championship red flavor? Add a... More
Or, 'Still on a Sour Plum Streak' The Grocery Ninja leaves no aisle unexplored, no jar unopened, no produce untasted. Creep along with her below, and read her past market missions here. You know how most of us have culinary habits that we cleave to? Like my mom would disown me if I ever battered and fried really, really fresh fish—because it would be a "waste." The Chinese, you see, believe fish is best served steamed, a gentle cooking technique that is most unforgiving of mediocrity, with only the most impeccable specimens doing well. There's no hiding in steaming. It's like donning a spandex catsuit; flaws you never imagined break into a song and dance routine. So I tend to... More
Sheryl Cababa of Crispy Waffle visited the Canary Islands recently and shared her favorite culinary souvenir: The food preparation that most captured our attention was mojo. Not mojo like Austin Powers, but mojo-- pronounced 'mo-ho'-- as in a sauce. It is basically the Romesco sauce of the Canaries, and comes in different incarnations: red mojo (the most common), green mojo, goat cheese mojo, etc. It is apparently used on nearly everything, but most commonly found on papas arrugadas, or 'wrinkled potatoes'. These are small potatoes boiled in their skins in sea water then cooked dry until they gain a wrinkly appearance. Mojo is then poured on top and it is served as the most common tapa in the Canaries. I... More
