Soy Sauce: A Primer on the Types, Functions and Flavors of the Quintessential Condiment

One thing that tends to shock newcomers to Asian cooking is the seemingly endless array of soy sauces on the shelves of the local Asian market. Which ones to buy? What are they all used for? Are they all different, or the same, or what? And most often: Why are there so many? And then, […]

Navajo Fry Bread

Some say that fry bread came from the time when about 8,000 of the Navajo people were imprisoned at Fort Summer, New Mexico during the nineteenth century. It is said that the Navajos were just given wheat flour and lard to eat–two commodities that were quite foreign to their bean and corn-based diets. Others say […]

Our Kitchens, Our Selves

Being a personal chef was a really fun, but sometimes, very weird gig. It was fun, in that I got to meet quite a few very interesting people, and I cooked a lot of dishes I would never otherwise have cooked. It was weird, in that I got to go into people’s homes, and get […]

The Pantry Evolves

A little more than a month ago, I posted about my pantry and how disorganized and messy it was. A bunch of kind folks commented to let me know that my pantry wasn’t that godawful and I should really not worry overmuch about it. But, you know, due to a genetic flaw from the Bavarian […]

Peppercorns, Ginger, Soy and Sugar: A Meditation

Some evenings, the simpler the dish, the better. Tonight is one of those times: too tired after being struck forcibly with a bit of unsettling news, I did not really want to cook, but I must. The lurching miasma in the pit of my belly insists that it be so. Into the kitchen I walk […]

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