I know, I know. It’s a little late to be making hot pepper jelly, right? It’s almost Thanksgiving. We got a little busy, what with a vacation to New Orleans, winterizing our gardens and chicken coop, and a way-to-early snow fall and hard freeze. Read more ›
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of presenting and cooking at our local Linden Hills Farmer’s Market as part of their Chef Guru series, produced by Kitchen in the Market. The topic was what to do with the season’s abundance of corn, tomatoes and zucchini. My immediate thought was lacto-fermented vegetables which require no cooking at all. Read more ›
This year we celebrated the holidays with a proper holiday ham. The fresh pork leg came from a locally raised, pastured pig and was cured and smoked by yours truly. While there are lots of decent hams on the market, the satisfaction I get from curing my own ham with my own unique flavors makes processing my own pork well worth the effort. Read more ›
Acid cheeses are some of the easiest, quickest cheeses you can make at home, not to mention much less expensive and tasty than store-bought. Ricotta and mascapone cheese are both made with some kind of acid added to heated milk or cream, then strained.
What to have for Christmas dinner? Ah, the eternal question. It should be special, communal and hearty, but not so complicated that you can not enjoy the day. Ham is traditional fare in our family, but we were a small group this year and I already made ham for our Winter Solstice Party. Read more ›
It’s time to embrace Winter. The cool weather sends us indoors, the oven keeps the house nice and warm, and herbs and spices sent the air. This year I threw a party for the Winter Solstice to celebrate the longest night and the blessed return of the sun in the New Year. Since my friends have come to expect charcuterie at my parties, I cured an easy festive holiday ham for the table. Read more ›
My giant jar of Stout Beer Mustard finally ran out. Always one to try something new, I pondered what kind of mustard to make next. There are so many possibilities! But with the holidays around the corner and a jeweled bag of Wisconsin cranberries in the fridge, a festive mustard was in order. Could cranberries and mustard go together? The trick was to find the right balance between bitter, sour, sweet and salty. Read more ›
Bitters, this is your year. If you’ve looked in the liquor accessories aisle lately, bitters have exploded. There are lots of classica, like Angostura, Fernet-Branca or Peychauds, and a plethora of new and exciting varieties, like Xocolatl Mole from Bittermans, Cherry Bark Vanilla from Bittercube and Moroccan from Bitter End Bitters. Read more ›
I was not in charge of the Thanksgiving holiday dinner this year. That wonderful job was left up to my friends Christopher & Mehgan, who hosted a 30 person, friends and family gathering at their little house in South Minneapolis. Their table spanned the length of two rooms, plus a kid’s table. It was wonderful. My contribution to the Thanksgiving feast was sliced bresaola, tomato jam and goat cheese toasts, and apple tart. Read more ›