Gourmet Live Blog

Location: New York, New York

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
I think it was a pancake – a big, fluffy pancake. One of the picture books I loved the most as a child was a series called “Guri and Gura.” (The original is in Japanese but has been translated into several languages, including English.) In one of the books, Guri and Gura (a couple of field mice) find a huge egg. It’s so big they don’t know what to do with it, so they decide to make the biggest pancake ever. They go home and grab a big pan, flour, butter, milk, sugar, a bowl, an eggbeater, two aprons, matches, and a rucksack. The image of this big, yellow, fluffy pancake cooking in the middle of the forest, attracting all the animals nearby, caught my imagination and I kept on obsessing about huge pancakes. I think by the time I was 10 or 11, I was making pancakes for Sunday breakfast while my parents were asleep.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Hard question. Cheese, perhaps. Asian cuisines traditionally don’t use cheese, but otherwise, most dishes benefit from a bit of cheese in (or on) it. Cheese is great for baking as well, I can think of dozens of bread, cookie, and cake recipes using cheese. I could introduce various types of cheese – fresh, blue, smoked, goat, sheep, water buffalo – and probably by the end of the year I would start dabbling in cheese-making myself!

I will never eat:
Offal. I know there are many different recipes using various organs in European cuisines (not to mention Chinese,) but in Japan, organs are considered “unclean” parts of the animal and traditionally not eaten. Having grown up in a Japanese household, I stay away from organs. That said, I do occasionally eat chicken livers if they are cooked very well, but that was a recently-acquired taste for me.

We’ve all been there before: you ring the bell; the relatives open the door. “Happy Thanksgiving!” they cry, as all eyes turn toward the pumpkin pie you offer with outstretched arms. Faces fall, and you just know your hosts are thinking, Not another one! They graciously receive your pumpkin pie and place it among four others.

No one wants to be the fifth-pumpkin-pie guy. That’s why this year I’m reworking my Thanksgiving dessert repertoire. From straightforward to show-stopper, there are plenty of alternative desserts that taste just as sweet. For example, there’s Cranberry Walnut Tart, a trusty little number that comes together much like a pecan pie. Just press the crust into a fluted tart pan with removable bottom, pre-bake, and plop in the filling, a heady mix of brown sugar, corn syrup, cranberries and walnuts. The cranberries and nuts rise to the top during baking, offering tart and earthy counterpoints to the sticky sweet filling. For a more vibrant variation, try Cranberry Eggnog Tart (above), topped with slick cranberry jam. The truly ambitious can make a candied-orange and cranberry compote accompaniment.

What about chocolate? It’s often crowded out of a holiday pie lineup. Bring it back to the table in Twelve-Layer Mocha Cake. This cake is like an elegant cousin of tiramisù, dressed up for the holiday in its coffee and mocha buttercream best. With a chocolate curl on top, when it’s good it’s very, very good—and it can never be bad.

In my cookbook, a trifle is no simple thing. Why wait for Santa’s sleigh when you can enjoy a stunning Almond Sherry Christmas Trifle right away? The best part is you’ll be enjoying an apéritif on the couch while the turkey tenders run around like you-know-whats. This trifle is always best when made ahead, which gives the cake layers (and you) time to soak up the Sherry.

What are you bringing for Thanksgiving dessert?

Ashley Bartner of La Tavola Marche snapped this image of braided onions from this year’s bumper crop. Bartner and her husband, Jason, own and operate an organic farm, inn and cooking school in Piobbico, Italy. Hung by their braids in a cool well-ventilated place, the dried bulbs can keep for up to a year.

Location: Washington, D.C.

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
This is a tough one! I’ve been cooking since I was 7. I can’t remember the first thing I cooked, but I can remember the first thing that impressed my mom. I must have been 10 or 11 and I breaded some whiting in an egg wash, flour, and bread crumbs. I come from pretty meager beginnings, but I remember going to the dollar store and spending my allowance on dried parsley. I added the parsley to the bread crumbs before sautéing the fish. It was pretty fancy for my household and my mom actually thought that I bought it! After convincing her that I had actually made it, she ran and bragged to my nana about how good of a cook I was.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
I know, I know, it’s totally clichéd, but I’m going to say it anyway: chocolate. A close second would be onion, because literally everything savory that I make starts with onions.

I will never eat:
Raspberries. Yeah, I said it. Give me any berry but raspberries.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Another tough one! Ok … living: Junot Díaz, Assata Shakur, and Jack Kornfield; dead: the Buddha and the Kellogg Brothers.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Cereal, cheese and crackers, rice and beans. Not together.

Duck fat imparts a marvelous richness to everything from pan-fried potatoes to baked goods. Anything cooked with it just seems like a luxury, an indulgence. Whenever I visit my friend in Portland, Maine, we make a point of eating at a restaurant named for this luscious lipid. The menu is a paean to foods prepared with the eponymous ingredient, and we never fail to eat our fill of the excellent Belgian-style fries.

Cooking with duck fat can be daunting, but the effort is worthwhile. You can buy it from a specialty store or render your own at home. The first time I roasted a pair of whole ducks I was amazed by the amount of subcutaneous fat covering the breasts, which were truly well endowed.

You’ll need a large supply of duck fat to make Confit Duck Legs, a recipe calling for 35 ounces. Confit cookery requires that the duck be completely immersed in molten fat. When the dish cools the fat solidifies, preserving the flesh. This yields succulent duck with hints of garlic, nutmeg and thyme. The legs are great straight but best when crowning a cassoulet. Continue reading →

Soup simply soothes the soul. It often cures the common cold. All I need is a rounded cup and curved spoon to take the edge off a rainy day. When the weather turns cold, give me soup by the bowlful. Fragrant and filling, there’s no meal quite like it; of course it’s diverse, equally fitting as appetizer or entrée. To bisque and back, from broths to a hearty mélange approaching stew or ragù, here are a few soups to inspire you:

• October Evening Lentil Soup with Spinach (above) by Feed Me Phoebe is picture perfect as is, and works just as well with arugula or other hearty greens.
• Real Food. Good Food.’s Bean and Bacon Soup proves that everything’s better with bacon.
• Porcini powder adds umami to Miso Soup from Andrea’s Easy Vegan Cooking.
• Raw Food Chesham’s Spicy Thai Onion Squash Soup incorporates a panoply of flavors from Southeast Asia.
• Black beans, brown lentils, ground meat, tomatoes; cabbage, carrots, parsley, potatoes: Everything but the Kitchen Sink Soup from Bless this Mess lives up to its name.
• From Mel’s Kitchen Cafe,  Hearty Chicken Gnocchi Soup is a creamy, dreamy indulgence .

Photography student Chris Tonnesen elevates the hot dog to new artistic heights in this image of a Nordic Deerdog. Assembled by Tonnesen according to the specifications of John Michael Jensen, owner of John’s Hotdog Deli in Copenhagen, Denmark, this lovely link is topped with homemade hawthorn mustard, chanterelle remoulade, and lingonberry-red onion chutney.

Cardamom is precious: one of the three most expensive spices by weight, along with saffron and vanilla. Its aroma is distinct, yet hard to describe. It’s a little bit spicy, a touch citrusy, a slight bit sweet and anise-like—maybe. In concert with fellow warming spices cinnamon or nutmeg, it smells like Christmas to me, especially when brewed in Spiced Milk Tea. You’ll want to wrap your hands around a steaming glass, bend your head and drink in the intoxicating scent before taking a sip. A lactose-free version, just as heady, can be made with soy or almond milk.

Indigenous to India and popular in Scandinavia, cardamom may be yellow-green, white, or brown. The seeds can be separated from the pods; both components are assertive enough to flavor a braise. You can get the seeds pre-ground, which is what you’ll want if Cardamom Sour-Cream Waffles suit your fancy, but act fast. The seed loses its flavor much faster once liberated from the protective pod. Try the waffles for breakfast with tart fruit preserves, like lingonberry, as homage to Sweden.

This week I’m most excited to revisit Paul Grimes’s bold Lamb Spice Rub, featuring white cardamom pods toasted in a dry skillet. Coriander, cumin, yellow mustard, salt, ginger, hot pepper flakes and nutmeg round out a complex crew, creating the perfect complement to lean meat. And, of course, there’ll be cardamom for dessert. The ingredient is front and center in Cardamom Milk Pudding (above), a silken five-ingredient variation on muhallebi, a Middle Eastern delicacy.

What’s your favorite way to use cardamom?

October is National Pizza Month, so let’s deep dish. Whether classic Italian, Chicago- or New York-style, pizza brings pizzazz to parties, game nights, and those hungry times when you just can’t bear to turn on the oven. From pepperoni to pineapple, its toppings are limited only by its maker’s imagination; no adornment is too pie-in-the-sky. Once you find your favorite, it’s hard to stop at one slice (could this be the Domino’s effect?). No matter, as long as you’ve got the dough. Give pizza a place in your fall lineup with a recipe from these food blogs:

• Vegan Richa’s Almond Feta, Mushroom Pizza with Herbed Spelt Thin Crust (pictured above) rounds out with greens, olives and golden cherry tomatoes for a nutritious take on the classic fast food.
• Tandoori Tofu Vegan Pizza from Veggieful.com is another meatless treat.
• Kid-friendly, fun and festive, Easy Halloween Pizza by Within the Kitchen uses assorted cheeses to evoke pumpkins and ghosts.
• Use real butter’s Barbecue Chicken Pizza incorporates cheese, chicken, and cilantro for a smoky pie with Southwestern flair.
• Deep Dish Pizza with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon from Healthy. Delicious. counters the Brussels’ bitterness with sweet apple butter.
• Pepperoni Pizza Pull-Part Bread from Just a Taste is a creative twist on a classic pie.
• Pizza sticks around for dessert in Six Sisters’ Stuff’s Apple Pie Dessert Pizza.

Behold: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls from Valerie C. at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine. A mix of cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and well-shaken buttermilk is drizzled over these orange-hued beauties while they’re still warm. Vraiment magnifique.

Concord grapes arrived early this year, and I couldn’t be happier. Patience is a must: the longer on the vine, the sweeter the fruit; sunlight develops their sugars. Now they’re begging to be picked, burdening vines with tight clusters of purple-black orbs covered with bloom, the cloudy film on the surface of the skin.

Hardy and versatile, they’re as welcome in wines as in jellies and jams, a feat few cultivars can accomplish. Hats off to Ephraim Wales Bull, who won top honors at the 1853 Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition for developing these full-bodied beauties, named for the Massachusetts town where they first grew.

I like mine straight from the vine, but my friends look forward to the Concord Grape Sorbet (Sorbetto di Uva) that marks harvest time. It is the simplest Gourmet recipe I know, with only two ingredients: ripe, fragrant Concord grapes and superfine sugar. Pulverize the grapes in a blender or food processor, strain, stir in the sugar, chill and freeze. The glowing purple sorbet is pure Concord grape perfection.

This year I plan to expand my repertoire with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Tart, filled with homemade Concord grape jelly. This dessert dresses up those classic lunchbox flavors for a treat the whole family will love. I’m saving Wine Cake with Macerated Strawberries, featuring medium-dry Concord grape wine, for when the vines are bare, so I can enjoy my favorite grapes between seasons.

What will you do with your Concord grapes?

Cooler weather stimulates a taste for heartier fare, but it’s still warm enough for dining outdoors. Emily Hilliard of Nothing-in-the-House and photographer Stephanie Breijo packed this Tri-color Potato Galette for a picnic in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park. With caramelized onion, goat cheese and rosemary, the free-form tart is a vibrant introduction to autumn.