Today marks another milestone on Chewing the Fat. It’s our 325th post and sometime in the very near future we will achieve our 300,000th page view.  Not bad for a couple of self-taught cooks who just love to bake and cook and have never had…

         Alright, I cheated little on this one.  The actual recipe is for something called “Pork Larb” but, when I first said that I was going to make a dish by that name, Andrew made a face and suggested that, for appetite appeal alone, I…

         My dear friend Yvonne introduced me to Gene Hovis.  Not that I ever met him in person.  Yvonne, who knows everyone, and I do mean everyone, introduced me to Gene via his wonderful Cookbook cum memoir, ‘Uptown Down Home’ which was published in 1987. …

        A stew for Spring may seem counter-intuitive but this one is quick and easy to prepare—to say nothing of how delicious it is. After starting with a quick sauté of diced pancetta and shallots,  I was quite surprised at how quickly the pork cooked…

Farmers Market Asparagus Spicy Pork with Asparagus and Chile West 66th Street and Broadway The Farmer’s Market in Richard Tucker Square         We live in a very urban setting in New York and it comes as somewhat a surprise to visitors that there’s a thriving Farmers…

Wednesday is the day New York foodies wait all week for. It’s Dining Out Day in the New York Times.  There’s a whole section to devour.  Restaurant Reviews, a column called “Off the Menu” which lists restaurant openings and closings along with chefs comings and…

There was a time when Pino Luongo was at the top of the food chain in New York’s restaurant world.   He arrived here from his native Italy in 1981.  And after a brief stint working for other people, he opened Il Cantinori (Tel: 212 673…

George Mendes outside Aldea         A while ago, we went to a then brand-new restaurant called “Aldea” at 31 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011 (Tel: 212-675-7223).  Its chef and owner, George Mendes, had the misfortune of opening at the precise moment Wall Street…

A while ago, one of my oldest and dearest friends, was writing an International Gluten-Free cookbook.  Michael’s question to me was what could he include that would be truly Canadian.   To me, the answer was very simple.  With apologies to the entire state of Vermont, anything…

        “The Joy of Cooking” was one of the first cookbooks I was ever aware of.  It, along with Boston Cooking School Cookbook (aka Fanny Farmer), the enormous Gourmet Cookbooks Volumes 1 and 2, and something called “The Encyclopedia of Canadian Cooking” (yes, Encyclopedia) formed…

        Whenever I get called for Jury Duty, I’m always delighted to use the midday break to try out the neighborhood restaurants.  Criminal court means visits to Chinatown and what’s left of Little Italy.  But Civil Court is bang up against Tribeca, ever a hotbed…

        If we lived in a more progressive country, Lauren Ready would be my sister-in-law.  Alas, we don’t and given that Lauren lives in the great state of Texas, where hell will freeze over before that happens, we never will have those comforting titles to…

Ever since my last trip to Hong Kong, where, on our last night there, we went to a Vietnamese Restaurant called “Pho Lemon” (25 Elgin St. Central, TEL: 2523-8272) I have wanted to cook Vietnamese food.  There’s likely nowhere on earth where you can find…

I love a good braise almost as much as I love a good Pork Chop.  And in a November ‘09 column in the New York Times, Melissa Clark put the two together to create this dish.  If you follow Melissa at all, you know she…