On the Need to Know

I never thought I did an especially good job of leading my students at The Culinary Institute of America to understand that knowing why food behaves in the ways that it does when we manipulate it, is just as important as knowing how to cook. I think at best I probably reinforced the belief [...]

Deep Thought: Best thing is no thing

I usually don’t pay much attention to bumper stickers. Most of them seem to express ideas I don’t want to care about: someone’s favorite band; the place or pet they “HEART;” the politician they think is going to make life demonstrably different and, increasingly, vulgar assertions that in more polite times were only [...]

Time Must Have a Stop (I wish)

Getting older has it’s advantages. If you haven’t ruined your nervous system with drink or drugs, the accumulated experience of years of interacting with thousands makes it easier to see the truth behind the lie and the absence of evidence behind the statement of conviction. False friends are easier to spot and if you [...]

Drowning Man Survives, Finds Chicken Wing Prices Still High

I lost my writing mojo a couple of weeks ago following the death of close friend. I’m usually pretty resilient in the face of heartbreak but as my friend Michael Ruhlman wrote in a recent email “sometimes life drops a ceiling beam on your head” and there is nothing you can do until consciousness [...]

My Big Adventure at The Culinary Insitute of America

Behind the concierge’s desk in the entry hall of the Escoffier Restaurant at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY is a photograph of the brigade de cuisine of the Hotel Pierre in New York City as it was at the hotel’s grand opening in 1930 . In the front [...]

My Big Adventure at The Culinary Insitute of America

Behind the concierge’s desk in the entry hall of the Escoffier Restaurant at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY is a photograph of the brigade de cuisine of the Hotel Pierre in New York City as it was at the hotel’s grand opening in 1930 . In the front [...]

The Sublime and the Ridiculous

Sublime is the meat from a bull that we butchered today and ridiculous is the bread. Both can be seen in the slideshow below.
The last time I saw anything the color of this meat was in 1980. It was in a small church in the Ticino of Switzerland whose apse was fronted by Doric columns [...]

A Meditation

On The Pernicious Effects of Using Bread Starterfor Leaveningon Quantitative Baking Process Skills
I baked my first loaf of bread when I was sixteen years old. But disallowing for the occasional loaves of brioche, rolls and baguettes that I made over my years of working in restaurants and banquet/catering establishments, I did not [...]

A Meditation

On The Pernicious Effects of Using Bread Starterfor Leaveningon Quantitative Baking Process Skills
I baked my first loaf of bread when I was sixteen years old. But disallowing for the occasional loaves of brioche, rolls and baguettes that I made over my years of working in restaurants and banquet/catering establishments, I did not [...]

Deep Thought: Mise en place

I think that if there is any one thing that distinguishes a happy cook from one who is constantly frazzled (of course there is no one thing) it is in manner in which we approach the act of cooking. A contented cook makes sure that everything is put into place before [...]