Author: CuisineWriter
English Cuisine
English food, at least the idea of it, has two very different sides in the imagination of the American culinary set. The first is the image of grey, boiled meat. In fact, boiled meat may well be the undeserved poster-boy of the loathed reputation for bland English food. The other side of British food, is […]
The Saffron Story
The Greek legend goes like this: a gorgeous mortal named Crocos fell hard for the nymph Smilax. Smilax rebuffed Crocos’ overtures and – poof! – Crocos became a lovely purple flower, Crocus sativus. Saffron is the dried stigmas of these flowers. Prized from Italy to China for its pungent flavor and rich color, the painstaking process […]
The Michelin Guide: Stars
The Michelin Guide awards restaurants between one and three stars, and they are coveted. Getting one, or one more, can create a legend; losing one can result in significant heartbreak. The Guide itself says that “certain establishments deserve to be brought to your attention” because of the quality of the cuisine served. Since the Michelin […]
Claude Troisgros
It never occurred to a young Claude Troisgros to question what he would be when he grew up. Cooking was in his blood. For three generations, the Troisgros family has provided France with some of its most innovative, most daring, and most renown chefs. Claude Troisgros’ grandfather Jean-Baptiste created an uproar in culinary circles when […]
A Short List of Menu Terms
A list of the most commonly used terms that you will most-often see in a menu. These terms are usually exact words or derivations from their originating country’s cuisine, so the country of origin is listed along with the term. Ahi Ahi is the Hawaiian name for yellowfin and bigeye tuna. Aioli (France) Aioli is […]
Chef Hierarchy
One upon a time, a customer simply had to eat what the Chef was cooking that day in any given restaurant. That all changed with the introduction of the Brigade System by Georges Auguste Escoffier. His experience as a French Army Chef led him to develop the Brigade system of chef hierarchy. This way he was […]
Italian Cuisine
Italian Cooking Although Italy is now a cohesive, boot-shaped country, that wasn’t always the case. Once, Italy was little more than a collection of city-states constantly warring with one another. These city-states shared few cultural traditions and no common language. That changed in 1861, when the Italy of today was formed. Even so, the people […]
On Tasting Olives and Oil
“….From the moment I first tasted it, olive oil won over my appetite. I can drink it from the bottle. But for the longest time I hated all but the blandest, the most buttery of olives. If I’ve persevered toward liking them, it was because my tongue knew that somewhere buried in that bitter flesh […]
Cinnamon
Cinnamon, the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree, was used by wealthy Romans as perfume and others as an aphrodisiac. During the rainy season, when the bark is pliable, it is harvested for cinnamon production. As the bark dries, it forms long quills that are either cut into sticks or ground into powder. Two […]
Growing a Lemon
A lemon tree is a subtropical plant, and in its natural habitat, its fruit is green and only slightly acidic. For lemons to develop their tart flavor and yellow color, the temperature must dip below 50 degrees F/10 degrees C but remain above freezing. (If temperatures drop below freezing mature lemons on a tree will […]