Three-Cup Chicken
A few weeks ago the IK attended a literary event sponsored by the San Francisco Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. There numerous Bay Area authors–and a few non-Bay Area folk–gathered to meet, greet, and share nibbles the authors had prepared from their cookbooks, conveniently for sale on nearby tables. Said event…
Kitchen Note: Holiday Shopping. Flourless Chocolate Cake.
December 1 and the madness has begun. Well, we knew that, didn’t we? That the madness was well underway? (Technically, December 2 now.) The questions is this: what with Brexit and the looming inauguration of persons no better equipped to be president than the IK is to perform neurosurgery (there’s a…
Quail with Israeli Couscous
As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I developed a sense that meaning itself was resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs, a technique for witholding whatever it was I thought or believed behind an increasingly impenetrable polish….
Kitchen Note: Pickled Lemons. Picked Garlic. Migraines.
So, if you’re American, on American soil, chances are good you’ve come through Thanksgiving. Congratulations. So, this migraine. There are migraines, and migraines. If you are a migraineur, you’re like, if she’s typing, it cannot be that bad. And you’re right: some migraines, it’s puke your way to the ER,…
Salsa Meatloaf with Tequila Canned Beans
“There is nothing like a visitor from another continent to confuse you about your own homeland…One night an Indian friend came to dinner…He asked me to help him figure out American cooking, at which point I drew a blank. He said: “I would like to cook some American dishes, but…
Rick Bayless’s Tomatillo Braised Pork Loin
No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non-American. The Ecuadorian, Mexican, Dominican, and Salvadorian cooks I’ve worked with over the years make most CIA-educated white boys look like clumsy, sniveling little punks. Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential Dishwashers are God’s…
Kitchen Note: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
On October 24th I wrote: After a terrible year marked by personal ill health, widespread international suffering, and the loss of numerous beloved public figures, we at the IK are weary. We intend to have a little fun over the holidays, which will be spent à deux. To this end,…
Paula Wolfert’s Lamb Tagine
Wait a minute! Weren’t we here already? Indeed we were, just about a year ago to the day. But the recipes are different–Lamb Tagine With Preserved Lemon hails from Claudia Roden’s marvelous Book Of Middle Eastern Food. Today’s tagine comes from another seminal cookbook, Paula Wolfert’s Couscous And Other Good Food From Morocco. Fifty…
Mini Brownies
Granted, “Mini Brownies” lacks the alliterative ring of “brownie bites,” a name already popularly in use. Other names were batted around only to be shot down by the IK’s other half: no to Brownie Buttons. No to Brownie Bits. By the time “Wee Brownies” rolled around, visions of miniature Stonehenges…
Kitchen Note: The Return Of The IK
Never, ever, tempt the tooth fairy by publicly announcing how very well you feel post-oral-surgery. The past two weeks–three weeks?– are a blur. Suffice to say the Insufficient Kitchen turned into the Insufficient Sickroom, with your hostess lurching blindly from bed to dentist and back again. One CT scan, a…