Food & Nutrition

What I Learned About Aperol and How to Make a Great Aperol Spritz I had to learn about Aperol and how to make a spritz from my oldest daughter while we were on vacation in Italy in the Tuscany region. But, thinking back, I may have learned a little too much about this addictive concoction of Aperol, Prosecco, and sparkling water. This has been a hot drink with my daughter and her friends for quite a while. Not sure how I missed it, but I"m glad someone finally told me about it and showed me how to make one. Just What Is Aperol Aperol is an Italian aperitif made from a secret blend of herbs, roots, and fruit. It is known for its bright orange color and sweet and bitter flavor. Aperol is often used in cocktails, particularly the popular Aperol Spritz, which is made ...

After a lunch of mulligatawny soup and roast mutton on a wintry New Year’s Day in 1900, Miss Frank E. Buttolph struck upon a novel idea. “I stopped in the Columbia Restaurant for lunch and thought it might be interesting to file a bill of fare at the library,” Buttolph wrote in a letter dated February 14, noting the restaurant that was located in Manhattan’s Union Square. “A week later the thought occurred, why not preserve others?” Buttolph — whose given name was Frances but who preferred to be addressed as Frank — was already an avid collector of postcards with pictures of lighthouses. Preserving menus suited her penchant for collecting unique and colorful ephemera.  Soon after, the idiosyncratic Buttolph petitioned the New York Public Library...

The King of Cheese Parmesan cheese is a hard, nutty cheese made from cow's milk and is native to Italy. It is a versatile cheese used in various dishes and is known for its sharp, salty flavor and granular texture. A Little History The origins of Parmesan cheese can be traced back to the 13th century when it was first made in Italy's Parma and Reggio Emilia regions. The cheese was originally made by monks who used it as a way to preserve milk, and it quickly gained popularity due to its rich, nutty flavor and granular texture. Over the centuries, the production of Parmesan cheese has evolved and become more refined. In the 19th century, the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese consortium was formed, which established strict guidelines for producing Parmesan cheese and helped ensure...

Did you know Orzo Salad is a pasta dish? In our house, orzo is huge. A macaroni product that cooks in minutes and is an excellent addition to salads, soups, and side dishes. For those unfamiliar with orzo, it is pasta that looks like a large grain of rice. My youngest daughter likes to cook up a batch, add a little salt and butter and enjoy it for lunch. Simple, no fuzz, and a start to her culinary education. Orzo - A Blank Canvas I think of orzo as a blank canvas to create wonderful salad recipes like my Seafood Orzo Salad or Carrot Orzo Salad. Start with a box or bag of cooked orzo, let it cool down to room temperature, add some vegetables, proteins, herbs, and spices and create your own master recipe. This is a basic orzo recipe. Think of it as your starting point. ...

I'm Not Sure How Many Cowboys Eat This Caviar My oldest daughter turned me on to Cowboy Caviar or Vegan Caviar as she calls it. I never heard of it but when I did a search I was shocked at how popular the dish is. Especially on TikTok. Most of the recipes I've seen online include black-eyed peas and black beans but my daughter's had neither. That's what I like about this concept, you can add just about anything you want or have lying around in the kitchen or refrigerator. In fact, at the end of the recipe, I'll post a version of Cowboy Caviar.  I guess if you make your own you can call it anything you want but let's look at where it first came from and how it obtained its name. Why Cowboy Caviar? Cowboy caviar, also known as Texas caviar, is a type of d...

Saffron - One of the Most Expensive Spices in the World Saffron is a spice that is made from the dried stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower. It is native to Southwest Asia and has been used for centuries in cooking, medicine, and dyeing. Saffron is known for its distinctive, deep red color and its unique, slightly sweet, and slightly bitter flavor. It is considered one of the most expensive spices in the world due to the labor-intensive process of harvesting it. The Crocus sativus flower only blooms for a few weeks each year, and it takes around 75,000 flowers to produce just one pound of saffron. The flowers must be hand-picked and the stigmas must be carefully separated from the rest of the flower, making saffron one of the most labor-intensive crops in the world. Despit...

Let's look at what foods taste like. When it comes to describing the taste of different foods, there are countless words and phrases that can be used. From sweet and savory to tangy and spicy, the range of flavors that can be found in the world of food is truly remarkable. I wanted to first look at different tastes including sweetness, savory, tartness, salty, spicy, bitter, and smokiness. Then I'll look at some common ingredients and see what they taste like. Sweetness One of the most common and universally loved flavors is sweetness. Sweetness is often associated with desserts and other sugary treats, but it can also be found in many fruits, vegetables, and even some meats. Sweetness can be described in many different ways, from rich and indulgent to light and refreshing...

Tomato Paste - Tomato Sauce- What's the Difference I am often asked, what is the difference between tomato sauce and tomato paste? It is entirely understandable if you do not cook with tomato paste much. I'll try to break down what they are, how they are used individually, and how they are often used together.  Tomato Sauce Tomato sauce is complicated. There are so many variations of tomato sauce depending on what country you live in, what region in that country, and even what town or city you are in.  It can be prepared with meats and vegetables or without. The spices used to make tomato sauce can run the gamut. If you look at 1,000 different cookbooks with tomato sauce recipes, you'd probably come up with 1,000 different recipes.  I have a post called How Do Celebrity ...

A Simple Ragu Sauce That's Got a Good Kick My wife found this spicy ragu sauce recipe in the NY Times. We were surprised by the spiciness of the dish but enjoyed it immensely. What is Ragu? By definition, a ragu is a sauce made with ground meat, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and a few other ingredients depending on who's preparing it. Ragu's are typically cooked "low and slow," meaning at low temperature for a long time. This ragu takes less time, about 45 minutes, and still has the slow-cooked flavor because of the spices added to the dish. Let's Look at the Ingredients Meat Choices - we used ground beef as the recipe suggests, but you can substitute ground pork or ground turkey if you have some leftovers from Thanksgiving. Italian sausage meat works too, but I would s...

A Pie for The Pastry Dough Haters In 1926, Monroe Boston Strause invented the chiffon pie. The wholesale pie baker saw pie slipping in favor as advancements in home oven technology enabled bakers to make better cakes, and he felt an urgent need to innovate what he believed to be the quintessentially American dessert. Tired of heavy cream pies, he utilized whipped egg whites to lighten a traditional custard into an airy, ethereal pie filling, paired with a crispy, buttery new type of crust made from graham crackers instead of traditional pastry. Chiffon became a hit, and Strause became known as the “Pie King,” but it was his graham cracker crust that truly went down in baking history.  Ingeniou...