CHEWING THE FAT

This must be the place…          “Food Truck Wars” on the Food Network have given a face to America’s passion for street food and pop-up food destinations.  Most of what you see on Television are high tech trucks that would give an…

First Issue of Gourmet, January 1941          How we still miss Gourmet!  Some of my earliest childhood memories are listening to my father reading aloud as he and my mother ate vicariously at Gourmet’s table.  The magazine first appeared in 1941.  The United States entered…

         Winter weekends are just made for hearty soups, especially on those days when you are dodging snowflakes or stuck indoors because the weather’s just too cold.  So when I found myself shut in during the Great Blizzard of ’13, I pulled out the cookbooks…

Judging from the popularity of James Beard’s recipe for Roast Beef Hash, which has had 3801 pageviews, and that of Ina Garten’s Chicken Hash at 682, Hash has a special place on the tables of our readers.   It certainly is at our house.  Unfortunately, one of…

         Today is another milestone in the life of Chewing the Fat. This is our first guest post!  It’s not, however, the first appearance of its authors, my dear “cousins”, Sir John and Lady Martha Stracey.  The bakers among you likely swooned…

         Grits are about as southern as my Aunt Charlotte. She hailed from Huntsville, Alabama and yet never lost a syllable of her Southern accent despite living in Canada for decades.  But for all her southernism, Aunt Charlotte never introduced us to grits. That happy…

         Beef prices have escalated this year to the point where a perfectly ordinary New York Strip is 15.99 a lb.  Filet Mignon? 29.99. Last week, I even noted that our favorite neighborhood bistro’s Steak Frites has diminished in size and risen $4.00 in price.…

Sara Jenkins as photographed by New York Magazine          There’s almost no end to what people are putting on pasta these days. The most recent issue of Bon Appetit has 7 entirely new takes on pasta sauces and a couple of pastas that are new…

Chef Michael Ponzio of Chicago’s Rosebud on Rush          When I saw a special for Veal Short Ribs at 4.99 a lb, it was like discovering a new protein!  I’d never even heard of the cut and never seen it on a restaurant menu.  I…

          We should all eat more fish.  Further down the page you’ll find a list of eight reasons why. But there seem to be an equal number of reasons people do not.  I was talking to my friend Barbara, an Ohio native,…

Confession Time:  Those vegetables that look like potatoes? They are potatoes served alongside the dish the night before. Since I didn’t get a photograph then, this picture was taken the next day with the leftovers potatoes added to the stew.          When we entertain, I…

Julia Child with her “Coq”          Cold winter nights are made for eating Coq au Vin.  And on a cold winter afternoon, the aroma of this great French classic cooking fills the kitchen with comfort.   A “Coq” is French for rooster and there lies the…

         A few months ago, my friend Peter told me about Optical 88, an optical shop in the heart of Chinatown, at 116 Mott Street (Tel: 212-343-1947).  I am all for money saving and he raved about the service and the prices.  I looked on…

         There are few dishes that are better to have on hand than lasagna. Over the years, we’ve all suffered through terrible versions of lasagna–people making the stuff with cottage cheese or ricotta, throwing in chunks of sausage instead of a proper meat sauce, jarred…