Food
Bovinova!
Anyone can cook a whole hog, it’s not as daunting a task as it may seem. In the South, that kind of cooking happens every weekend. Whole hog BBQ is usually done in support of a big event such as a birthday party, church gathering or a fundraiser for a local charity. But if one … Continue reading
Flours for Amy
I love the aroma of butter and flour, eggs and sugar, gently mixed together then properly baked. These four simple ingredients offer so much possibility, especially in the hands of my wife. Breads and biscuits, cookies and cakes, scented with vanilla bean or cinnamon, orange or chocolate. As a young culinary student she tempted me … Continue reading
“Mr. Ready’s Coming!”
For a cook, there’s something very endearing about a cookbook that contains a recipe that begins with, “For 1,000 pounds of pork…” For a modern chef that would translate into 12 eighty-pound cases of pork butts. And that my friends, is a lot of pork. From Rivets and Rails, Recipes of a Railroad Boarding … Continue reading
Random Facts
As requested by my friend and fellow author, KJ Waters. I’ve had one ambulance ride and they didn’t even turn on the lights or sirens. I can remember pulling a chair up to the kitchen counter to help Mom cook. If there’s nasty weather (tornado watch/warning) in the evening’s forecast, I’ll go to bed … Continue reading
Bits of Glass
I recently picked up one of my favorite books from my childhood, Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress. It’s a highly researched and detailed account of the brave American airmen that flew B-17 bombers during World War 2. I can remember devouring that book in fifth grade and hoping that one day I would also be … Continue reading
Breakfast Anyone?
Breakfast. I love cooking breakfast. Muffins, pancakes, waffles with Vermont maple syrup, quiches, yogurt and fresh fruit parfaits, freshly squeezed orange and apple juice, fruit smoothies, bacon and eggs, buttermilk biscuits, scrambled eggs with cheese and herbs; I could keep going but I think you get the idea. My kids used to happily sit … Continue reading
“Are You Scared?” Part 1 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
The bedside pump softly gurgles as it pushes oxygen through fresh water. White noise, it’s rain softly falling on a tin roof or the gentle whoosh of seawater on a sandy shore. Just the accompaniment for a dying man. Phil draws a breath through the clear tube and reaches to his nose, adjusts the tubes … Continue reading
Coffee Cans and Bacon Fat
Paul Fehribach isn’t interested in coffee that comes in a can but he certainly knows how to use a coffee can. At Big Jones, his bustling Chicago homage to traditional Southern cuisine, he is recreating the type of homestead cooking that his great-grandmother pioneered at her family farmstead along the Buffalo Trace. “She used to … Continue reading
From Brooklyn to Bourbon
As a kid growing up in south Louisiana our little town celebrated a smoked pork sausage with a three day fair, the Andouille Festival. We would grill it, fry it, put it on a stick, toss it into jambalaya and gumbo and even award a local beauty with the title of Miss Andouille Festival. Small … Continue reading
A Tour of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Ham
We spent this past weekend in Chattanooga, TN visiting a very good friend of Amy’s and on the way back we stopped at Benton’s Country Ham in Madisonville, TN. Benton’s is perhaps the most famous, most sought after bacon and country ham producer in the United States. Their pork is featured at the finest and … Continue reading
