Talking Turkey: Please Don’t Kill The Bird Twice

Cooking turkey intimidates a lot of people.
I used to be the same way, and then I went to culinary school, and got over my fears of the giant bird.
I got over my fears not only because I learned a lot of useful stuff when it comes to successfully roasting large fowl, but also […]

What The Heck Is That?!

“Alas, poor Yorik, I knew him well?”
No, no, I am not holding a skull in my hand there–that is a giant puffball.
Which, for those who have never seen one, is a wild meadow mushroom, Calvatia gigantea. The one you see in my hand here is a not very large one–some of them can literally […]

Preserving the Beauty of Tomatillos For Winter

Tomatillos are a gorgeous fruit, and they are an integral ingredient to one of my favorite cooking sauces from North America–salsa verde. The fruit, which is encased in a papery husk like a leafy Chinese lantern made of mulberry paper, is often thought of as simply green in color, but the truth is, the hues […]

Yet Another Reason Why I Support Organic Agriculture: Malformed Frogs

I remember hearing on the news in 1995 that schoolchildren in Minnesota had found a great deal of seemingly mutated frogs whose hind legs were either completely missing, missing extremities, split or who had up to five back legs. I remember listening to the report, looking at the videos of the captured leopard frogs and […]

Preserving the Local Harvest: A General Introduction to Pressure Canning

This year’s Eat Local Challenge revolves around preserving the harvest, and like eating locally, this is something I do just as a natural course of events. When I told Morganna what the theme of this year’s challenge was, she said, “But what is the big deal–everyone knows about canning and freezing, don’t they?”
Well, in […]