How To Make Mushrooms en Papillote
Cooking en papillote – or in parchment paper – has long been a preferred method of steaming fish and vegetables, while also providing a semi-dramatic tableside presentation. At Langdon Hall, tucked away in the countryside of Cambridge, Ontario (about an hour from the Toronto airport), Chef Jonathan Gushue loves to cook this way, which locks in juices and keeps everything moist. He showed me how he makes a simple foraged mushroom dish this way, with the addition of some fresh mint.
Dosas from Mysore Woodlands
Chicago’s “Little India,” also known as Devon Avenue, stretches in a long, east-west line dissecting West Rogers Park. As you drive down the street, you’ll notice most of the restaurants offer food from the Northern regions of India – Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab being the most widely represented. Yet finding the wonderfully tropical, coconut-influenced flavors from the south – mainly Kerala – is more elusive. That’s why Mysore Woodlands stands out from the crowd. Read More
Lone Star Spirit Lives on in Algonquin
by Rebecca Zborowski
As a native of Texas, I spent my childhood exposed to incredible, authentic smokehouse barbeque. Moving to the Midwest only served to underline how uniquely succulent (and rare) Texas pit-cooking is. On a recent family outing, however, I discovered The Texan in Algonquin, about an hour northwest of the city.
Pumpkin Beer: Don’t Believe the Hype
by Rebecca Zborowski
Hapless Intern
I feel I should start this post by clarifying that nobody loves fall and all of the food and festivities surrounding it more than I do. I wanted to like pumpkin beer – no, I wanted to love it and look forward to it all year long. But after sampling three wildly different brews, I can’t, in good conscience, recommend it. For an autumnal drink, it’s better to stick with spiked ciders or harvest/Oktoberfest ales than the artificial, overpriced disappointment that is pumpkin beer.
How To Make Pickled Herring
I guess being Jewish in St. Cloud, Minnesota had something to do with it. Why else would my dad go to such lengths to bring home this odd-smelling fish in the small jar, serve it with Rye Krisps and call it a snack?
When you think about those two factors – Jewish and Minnesota – it’s a little easier to see how the seeds of my herring love affair were sown.
Moonshine Now Legal All Over The Country
Clear corn whiskey may not have the sex appeal of an aged bourbon or rye, but Chuck Miller is hoping to change some minds. The Master Distiller of Stillhouse Distillery, in Culpeper, Virginia, has been making the rounds as of late, promoting his Original MOONSHINE. It’s an 80-proof whiskey that was developed along with Adam Perry Lang, a well-known barbecue guru who founded Daisy May’s BBQ in New York City, and is now living in London, working with Jamie Oliver on his Barbecoa restaurants (full disclosure: Adam and I were fraternity brothers at UW, but that was 20 years ago, long before he became a chef). Read More
