“If it grows together, it goes together.” This is the wisdom passed to me by my grandfather when we were harvesting squash, green beans, and tomatoes from his garden over 20 years ago (probably even 30 years ago, actually, but who’s counting!). He was referring to the idea that produce […]
The CIA’s New York Campus: Rich in Food and History
On normal days I meet with my students in classrooms or gardens. I’m a Professor in Applied Food Studies at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and my students are interested in sustainability and culture as well as cooking. We recreate historical recipes like Aztec amaranth cookies, […]
Adventures in Home Winemaking
Or, How Grapes From a World-Famous Vineyard Ended Up In My Garage When I tell people my husband and I are garage winemakers, the first thing they say is, “So you have a vineyard?” Well, no. We do live in Napa, but our backyard is tiny. There wasn’t even room […]
The Easy Rules for Cooking Game
For generations raised on more conventional meats, seafood, and poultry, the hearty, robust taste of venison, quail, rabbit, and other game meats provides welcome new flavor experiences that remind us, almost subliminally, of the cuisines of our ancestors. Many home cooks think of game as exotic, yet it has always […]
Sensational Soups, No Recipe Required
Soup season has arrived, and this month, we’re going to shake things up a bit, with a formula that will help you create sensational soups all season long—without a recipe. Keep these three flavor components in mind, and you’ll be able turn any collection of ingredients into a restaurant-worthy soup. […]
The Perfect Cup of Tea
We may be a coffee-drinking society, but you can’t underestimate the impact of the millennia-old tradition of drinking tea. And just like coffee, tea can be enjoyed in hundreds (if not thousands!) of ways—yes, even as a latte! All tea comes from the same plant, the Cameliasinensis. The way the […]
Cardamom—Fall’s Forgotten Flavor
No longer content to follow the cycles of the moon and the stars, we now identify the changing of seasons with the emergence of the pumpkin spice latte. In thousands of years, they’ll find the recipe carved on a rock in New Hampshire. Made from a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, […]
Cook This Now to Eat Later
As the days get shorter and the to-do list grow longer, the winter brings a flurry of activities, homework, and year-end meetings. When your calendar is overwhelming, it is nice to be prepared with time-saving dinners made by a less-frazzled version of you. Here are some of our favorite make-ahead […]
Celebrate Apple Cider Donut Season with a Twist
And just like that, it is apple season! For those of us near our Hyde Park, New York campus, visiting our local apple orchards is an unmissable autumn tradition. Sure, you pick apples to bring home for snacks and pie, but most important is the season’s first apple cider donut. […]
Spike Your Seltzer
As the unofficial last weekend of summer, your Labor Day Weekend should be a celebration of all things summer. Song of the summer on loop, bottomless corn on the cob, and of course, the drink of summer 2021: the spiked seltzer. Canned hard seltzers in a can took over the […]
Kid-Friendly Lunch Recipe for Back to School
Back-to-school was always my favorite season. I was never a summer kid, and heading back to the classroom meant cooler weather, new Lisa Frank school supplies, and school friends! Since the day I learned how, I don’t think I have stopped talking. At home I had three older brothers who […]
There Is No Wrong Way to Enjoy a Peach
“I am thinking, of course, of the peach before I ate it.” Peach, D.H. Lawrence (1923). Romanticizing fruit is a task best left to the poets, who have better language for conveying what is inherently perfect about a ripe summer peach. That leaves the rest of us with the more […]