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I met my first quail at dinner in the Chez Panisse restaurant back in the 1970s. When the diminutive whole braised game bird was set in front of me, little legs splayed all to heaven in my direction, I commented: “Well, aren’t these indecent little birds!” Quail are a real gourmet treat.  They are easy […]

Some times during editing a book, our favorite recipes get cut by the ol’ editor. We live with the decision for the betterment of the book, but often not happily. One such cut was the grain mixture SooFoo®, a grain mixture we adore. SooFoo® (not related to the Foo Fighters heavy metal rock n’ roll […]

Here’s an easy method for clarifying butter that yields more than the traditional saucepan method does and with less fuss, the method developed by the cooking genius of Alice Medrich. The butter is cut into several chunks and melted it in a narrow glass container in the microwave, without stirring. After it rises once or […]

When asked about a bread that typifies Muslim Northern India and Afghanistan, naan, which is also the generic word for bread in those areas, is the first one that comes to mind. It is also trendy; every Pacific Rim restaurant offers it because of it’s buttery flavor and moist texture. The long oval breads are baked in […]

It seems like burgers are in vogue. Teheheheh. Summer BBQ and usually there are a few burgers on the grill. Beef, turkey, bison, lamb, crab, salmon, portobellos, even meatloaf mix. There are even an astounding library of cookbooks just on burgers now. A burger for every day of the year. There was this recipe on […]

The electric rice cooker is one of the hottest home kitchen appliances on the market today.  American cooks, accustomed to stove-top cooking, have up to now been slow to take to this method of cooking rice to their hearts, but many cooks around the world find the rice cooker an essential commonplace appliance for everyday meal preparation. […]