I’m not one to easily back down from an argument, especially when it comes to anything food-related. (Well, except about whether brownies should have nuts or not. That’s just something I just can’t get worked up about, as much as some people do.) Recently I was having a bit of a disagreement with someone particularly stubborn about the role of fat in cooking. I believe…
Did you know that (technically) there is no such thing as a Meyer lemon? Well, at least not as we know them. Officially, they haven’t existed for about fifty years, since a virus attacked the Meyer lemon trees and they were banned in the United States. In 1975, an Improved Meyer Lemon was introduced, whose plants were virus-free, and people began planting them in backyards…
I gave this recipe out a year or so ago on the site. But because it’s so easy to put together, I made it yet again last night, to have as a little nibble with some white wine before dinner. And we couldn’t eat it fast enough. (And almost didn’t have room for dinner.) It’s adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris. So for those…
I’ve been making these Fruitcake Bars more and more as the holidays approach. Not only are they incredibly simple to put together, unlike other fruitcakes, these really do taste great. They can be made up to a week in advance, which will undoubtedly help alleviate holiday stress. It’s from my archives but thought it worth sharing again since folks enjoyed them so much at a…
When I started this site back in 1999, I had forums, where people could chat and post messages about food and cooking. As the blog evolved, we had to say goodbye to it, but one question lingered: Is couscous pasta?
Every year I spend an inordinate amount of my time poaching fruit. It’s usually because I’m powerless to resist all the pears in baskets at my market, and buy far more than I need. Yes, much of my sweet bounty finds its way into sorbets, cakes, ice creams, and jams. But one of my favorite ways to keep those pears around a little longer is…
When I applied for my job at Chez Panisse, I’d just left a restaurant where the chef was, what we call in the business, a “screamer.” One of those chefs who flips out in the kitchen and yells indiscriminately. Contrary to what television might lead you to think, this isn’t a new phenomenon. I didn’t really yell all that much when I was a chef. But whenever…
Should you happen to see a ray of sunshine in Paris, if you follow it, chances are pretty good you’ll find someone sitting in a café, face-forward, basking in its warming rays. And although unofficial in most of the parks and public places, folks here also like to celebrate the arrival of any good weather with un picque-nique. Picnicking in Paris can be a dicey…
I once asked a restaurateur, who owns restaurants in European and in America, what he thought was the main difference between the food in American and the food in Europe. “Everything’s is sweeter,” he replied right away. I thought about it for a moment, and considering everyone’s got their panties in a knot about all the sweeteners that are dumped into everything from tomato sauce, bottled salad…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
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