Oh my gosh! I first had chimney cakes from a food truck out of Davenport, Iowa. Now I can just go to Long Island City!
@Chris P. Beycon There are so many things I want to say, but I'm going to wait to see how this column plays out.
Hi Chris P. Beycon. This brings back memories of my kitchen internships. I'm guessing you're in culinary school or a recent grad. I remember being scared of everything. It takes time to build confidence. You'll eventually get there. You'll develop a wicked sense of urgency, and find you can mince a quart of shallots in no time at all. Today's debut column was entertaining and funny. As a former newspaper reporter turned line cook, I think some people might wonder did you intend to write about your kitchen experience before you got hired? Is your goal to be a food writer? But as someone who writes, I understand sometimes the experience is so compelling that you can't help but write about it. That said, I want to read the next installment.
Awesome photos! I miss Korea. I definitely want to explore more of the peninsula.
Thanks for writing the post! I definitely want to check it out!
Thanks for the idea! I have never pickled tomatoes before.
As a former newspaper reporter who went to The French Culinary Institute, I can relate to Lauren Shockey's career path. But as a line cook, I was disappointed in the premise of the book. Yes, it's great that she went to different places and worked at famous restaurants, but she only worked at each restaurant for 3 months, AND she was merely a stage/unpaid intern. Although she was a dedicated worker, each situation was temporary. If Shockey had worked a year at each restaurant going from appetizers to grill to fish station, then I would have gotten a better picture of what it's really like to work at these restaurants.
I really love your column. Each post is its own entity, a saga that was doled out in perfect portions every week. I wouldn't be surprised if your next career is being a writer.
@Brianne L. You're welcome! We're from the same town! I love going to the People's Food Co-op and Hackberry's when I'm visiting my folks.
I had never tried the VandeRueben on Raisin until last weekend. I was actually surprised by how good it was. Somehow the combination works. It's why it's a local favorite in the Quad-Cities.
I've been wondering what to do with all the rhubarb I see at farmers' markets. Thanks for the idea!
I liked Alton Brown's show because he explained why something cooked the way it did. He's been doing Good Eats for a very long time. It's not surprising that he wants to move on. I don't think everyone thinks Alton is a culinary god. But he definitely knows his stuff.
Hannah, your post makes me really want to visit Philly and eat at your restaurant!
Hi Kayla, I'm not sure how often you check your blog's email address, but I sent you an email. I used to be an intern for SE and I compiled a list of all past "In Season" topics, which would probably help you (unless you already have a list.
Thanks for reminding me to go to New Leaf! I've been meaning to go.
Thanks for the guide!
@serasyl No. The cost is $75-$100 plus service.
P.S. Thanks for reviewing the book! It reminds me that I should pick it up.
I have not read the book. But Ben Ryder Howe's mother-in-law is probably very much like my Korean father. My husband, who is Caucasian, could probably relate to Howe because my husband also had to get used to my father's stubbornness and irrational logic. But we do not live with my parents.
@Katie Potato; Sunja's uses green cabbage instead of Napa cabbage.
@piccola Vegetarian kimchi isn't as hard to find as you think. I was surprised a few brands were vegetarian after looking at the ingredients on the packaging. Chongga, King's Spicy Kimchi and Sunja's are vegetarian.
That sounds really good right now.
@Kanger Sometimes I've gone into Han Ah Reum (H mart) in K-town and seen "No MSG" stickers on Tobagi Whole Cabbage Head Kimchi that is sold in large containers. But you're right, the already cut cabbage kimchi that is sold in jars does contain MSG.
@vavinco I really think you should read SE's column by Leslie Kelly called "Critic turned Cook." She used to be a restaurant critic who lost her job and began working at restaurants. After a while, she admitted that age was one of her reasons for quitting the restaurant life. Here's her last column:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/09/closing-the-book-on-critic-turned-cook.html
There are so many pros and cons to going to culinary school or going straight to work in a restaurant. If you go to culinary school like I'm doing now, you get to learn the basics all in one place in a short period of time, and you can take advantage of all the career connections the school offers. The downside is the cost. It might take you a very long time to pay off your loans.
If you work at a restaurant, you don't have to pay the high tuition, but you have to be willing to work for very little pay. Even if you work at a restaurant right away, it doesn't mean you'll learn how to cook a medium-rare steak; you might be stuck making sandwiches. You need to find places that are willing to teach you. I met a pastry chef who didn't go to culinary school and learned a lot from chefs in Paris. Her desserts were amazing.
For someone like me, I knew I would combine writing and food, and I don't regret my decision to pay a lot of money to go to school. I'm pretty happy interning at Serious Eats, while I'm going to The French Culinary Institute. I have classmates who have worked in restaurants for many years, but are now at culinary school because they believe a degree will help them move up. However, they are between 22 and 30 years old.
I agree with others that you should stage or trail at a restaurant before you enroll in school. But before you do that, you need to get a good set of knives, learn basic knife skills from how-to videos and learn how to sharpen your new knives. If you come to a restaurant with dull knives, you are toast. Be hard on yourself. How realistic are your dreams to become a world-class chef? What do you really want to get out of culinary school, and what other culinary careers would you consider doing?
I had the Melt Bakery Thick Mint at a restaurant in my neighborhood, which has the ice cream sandwiches on the menu. It was lovely.
When I asked my mom for her recipe for cabbage kimchi, she e-mailed a link to a website. I asked again and she e-mailed ingredient amounts, letting me figure out the rest. After a few tries, I made kimchi I wouldn't mind smelling for a long time.
Inspired by Rick Bayless, I marinaded a whole chicken with achiote, seeds ground into a paste and commonly used in the Yucatan region of Mexico.
Pasta I cooked up when I didn't want to spend any extra money.
Trying to go meatless for one day. It's easy with a hearty breakfast.
Potato chorizo tacos with avocado salsa.
You can't just eat one taco, especially tacos with spicy, crumbly sausage.
A traditional Korean soup made of rice cakes and beef, garnished with egg strips and crushed seaweed.
A meal for fall used with the first apples of the season.
Roasting tomatoes, jalapenos, onions and garlic adds something deeper to this salsa.
Pineapple fried rice with ham, shrimp, egg strips and peas all in a pineapple shell.
A long day of work only means one reward in the end—Cuban sandwiches from Los Hornitos Bakery.
The dessert has a faint cinnamon flavor joined with the tartness of the strawberry.
I didn't realize how sweet Rainier cherries were until recently. Now, I can't stop eating them.
Sliced strawberries on top of a mascarpone-whipped cream filling— all in a pie.
Japanese chashu gets its name from the bright red Chinese barbecued pork known as char siu—you know, the stuff you see hanging in windows or stuffed into steamed bao?—and it probably came to Japan from China around the same time that ramen itself did. But like ramen, it's undergone some major alterations over the centuries. Unlike char siu, which is made by painting slices of pork shoulder with a thick, sweet marinade and roasting it, Japanese chashu is a simmered dish made with pork belly. The question: What separates the bad chashu from the good, the good chashu from the great, and how do we recreate the best at home? More
The challenge? Figure out how to make world-class tonkotsu ramen right in my own kitchen. It took over 40 pounds of bones and over 200 hours of collective simmering time to do it, but I cracked the code. More
Kürtőskalács, or chimney cakes, are traditional Hungarian pastries that originated in Transylvania. Anna, chef and owner of Chimney Cake, has brought this tasty treat to Long Island City in New York's Queens, with a store that opened in late 2011. The cakes are made with long strips of dough that are then wrapped around wooden molds; originally, the chimney cakes were cooked in a fireplace, but at Anna's cafe they are place inside a vertical oven that slowly turns each cake 'til it's done. More
We visited Jin twice and made return visits to both Ippudo and Momofuku Noodle Bar (two of the most popular ramen joints in the city, and according to our own rankings, contenders for the best ramen in NYC) in order to see how this newcomer would stack up. And how was it? Awesome. More
Kenji's monthlong Vegan Experience has come to an end. Over the course of that animal-product-free month, he shared many vegan recipes with us. And whether you're vegan or not, you have to admit, these soups, sandwiches, and shoot even a vegan Frito pie (!), looked pretty darn delicious. Here's a roundup of all 28 of his vegan recipes. More
We write about restaurants all over the city. But sometimes, you don't want to travel for food; you want the best eats right in your neighborhood. So we're having the Serious Eats staff share where they eat around their own 'hoods. Today? Serious Eats Managing Editor J. Kenji Lopez-Alt on Morningside Heights. More
Editor's note: We write about restaurants all over the city. But sometimes, you don't want to travel for food; you want the best eats right in your neighborhood. Over the next few weeks, we'll have the Serious Eats staff share where they eat around their own 'hoods. First up? Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine! More
The newly opened New York Mart on Mott Street is like the Eataly of Chinatown. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But it's a crazily impressive food destination. Inside this mega-supermarket, there's a huge array of Chinese and Asian goods, along with American products—along with butchers and fish and live frogs, a bakery and steam tables and a rotisserie, a huge produce selection and a bigger frozen section. More
Late summer and its joyous glut of tomatoes is a bittersweet time for a canner. Tomatoes signal the end of summer fruit and bring with them the knowledge that the growing season is nearing its end. However, there's just so darn much that can be done with tomatoes that the possibilities make this preserver positively giddy. More
Hand-pulled noodles are dramatic to watch being made. Starting with one cylindrical rope of dough, a noodle maker pulls and tug on that rope and folds it over his fingers, weaving his hands back and forth as if playing an accordion, each time stretching out the dough so that before long all ten of his fingers hold up progressively thinner strands of one singular, unbroken string of dough. The chewy texture and slightly irregular shape of a hand-pulled noodles keeps each strand interesting and fun to eat. So we checked out five hand-pulled noodle joints in Manhattan's Chinatown, looking for the best the neighborhood had to offer. More
We know from Photograzing, from your blogs, and from your comments that Serious Eaters are serious bakers. And over on Slice, we've loved watching My Pie Monday, where we get to take a peek at the amazing pizzas coming out of your ovens every week. So over here on our sweet corner of the site, get ready for Share Your Sweets. More
There are less than a handful of reasons to hang around Jerome Avenue at the low 180s any time of day—that is, unless you've got a hankering for spicy stews. Home to an exploding population of Ghanaians that is the largest in the States, the Bronx has, in recent years, started to gain traction as a destination for honest, cheap West African food. Though the community is centered on the Melrose-Webster Avenue track, Ebe Ye Yie, just steps from the 183rd 4-train stop, is not far off the beaten track of plantains and palm oil. And it's very much worth the diversion. More
Rhubarb season is finally here! I don't know about you, but I can never get enough of its sweet-tart flavor and gorgeous rosy hue. This raspberry-rhubarb jam is incredibly easy to make thanks to a secret ingredient: a packet of raspberry Jell-O. Best of all, it's a freezer jam, which means you don't have to bother with sterilizing the jars or processing them in a hot water bath. More
The Himalayan Yak's staff was very attentive to my daughter and smilingly guided us through the long menu. The restaurant is large and comfortable (they also have live music Friday through Monday) and a good place to introduce kids to Himalayan fare at very reasonable prices (the highest priced item on the menu are prawns at $12.99). More
In honor of Serious Eats New York Bakery Week, I've rounded up ten of my current favorite bakery desserts in the city. It's a mix of old and new—some of that have only recently made an appearance on our city's wonderful bakery scene, and others that I've Sugar Rush'ed in the past. You'll find classic uptown pastry shops, standout sweets from tea parlors, and much more. More
I'm not one for suspense, so I'll give it up right away: Zabb Elee has easily the best Isan Thai food in Manhattan. A couple weeks back, Serious Eats Drinks editor Maggie mentioned that Le Da Nang, the East village Thai spot, had just been converted to a Manhattan branch of Zabb Elee, a popular Queens Isan Thai restaurant. Preliminary reports of takeout seemed promising. About a week later, I received a hastily written email from Harold Dieterle, Chef at Kin Shop, and authority on Thai cuisine—and his recommendation meant that we just had to visit. More
When I first learned how scallion pancakes are made, I was floored. Whoah, ancient Chinese secret! was what ran through my head. It took me several years to realize that conceptually, the method is almost identical to that of making puff pastry, croissants, or any number of laminated pastries, which makes scallion pancakes a perfect subject for exploring in this week's Food Lab. More
Crisp, with a steaming hot center and dipped into a sweet sauce, egg rolls are a study in contrasting textures and flavors. More
Of all the foods off the A1 through A24 section of your local Chinese takeout menu, fried dumplings (that's Peking ravioli to you Bostonians) are perhaps the ones that benefit most from some home treatment. Unless you're really lucky, takeout dumplings are thick-skinned and greasy, any crunch having left them in the long steamy bike ride from the kitchen to your door. More
Ribs are central to barbecue, but they're also part of cuisine traditions all over the globe. The SE team wanted to stop and appreciate all the ribs out there, from Pinnekjøtt in Norway to Cantonese char siu spare ribs to baby-backs (I want my...). Here are the international highlights. As it turns out, the world is boned. More
Opened back in November, Court Street Grocers is making some of the best sandwiches we've had recently (and we are sandwich crazies)—plus you can wash them down with tough-to-find-in-NYC regional sodas. Like Cheerwine, for which they drive down to North Carolina to pick up crates of the real cane-sugar version. The fridge also stocks cans of Vernors ginger ale, glass bottles of Bubble Up, and Kombucha. More
A pig's foot is so well-composed. Think about all those little bones in the foot, all that cartilage, all those tendons and all that meat bundled up in skin. I think of each foot as curated package of pig, an indispensable tool in the cook's arsenal. In fact, I wrap my trotters individually in plastic wrap to keep in my freezer. That way, I'm never more than a pig's foot away from the perfect soup or stew. A pig's foot is so well-composed. Think about all those little bones in the foot and all that cartilage in the joints. Not to mention the tendons and the meat, and everything bundled up in skin. I think of each foot as curated package of pig, an indispensable tool in the cook's arsenal. In fact, I wrap my trotters individually in plastic wrap to keep in my freezer. That way, I'm never more than a pig's foot away from the perfect soup or stew. More
We asked Michael Nagrant, our normal Chicago go-to guy, to handle this week's Serious Eats City Guide. From deep-dish pizza to the best taqueria and meatiest Eastern European butcher, Michael tells how a missionary of the delicious should visit Chicago. As always, chime in with agreement, or feel free to alert us to any Chicago eats we've overlooked. More
Between the upcoming election and the financial crisis, all eyes right now are on Washington, D.C., making this the perfect time to scope out the city’s best eats. In the latest installment of Serious Eats City Guides, we check in with food writer Jane Black at the Washington Post for her top picks in the nation’s capital. More
We've updated our Serious Eats City Guide Los Angeles to include even more delicious bites in the City of Angels, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times' S. Irene Virbila. Best Bargain Lunch Photograph from In Praise of Sardines on Flickr Loteria Grill is a retro Mexico City-style taco stand with zesty soft tacos, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros and aquas frescas in the Los Angeles Farmers' Market at Fairfax and Third Street. For a down-home taco truck experience, check El Matador, which stays open past midnight.... More
@sarar I think it's obvious why Chris P. Beycon is apprenticing in a restaurant. She wants to learn how to cook. The thing about working in a restaurant is eventually you improve no matter how much you suck in the beginning. As for confidence-> not everyone gains confidence at the same pace. I understand how Chris feels because I remember being a scared intern in a restaurant.