Britain & Ireland
Afternoon tea, Marmite on toast, a big bang-up Irish fried breakfast. This is the Blighty and the Eire of nostalgia, Evelyn Waugh and poet John Betjeman, along with clotted cream, ginger beer, mature Cheddar - and Bird's Custard on your apple pie if you insist. It's all so comforting, and Nanny will let us have seconds if we're very good.
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I Slept in Queen Elizabeth's Bed; or How To Cook on A Cruise Ship - 21 Jul 2010
How do five chefs cook for 50 on a ship in a Force 8 gale and a kitchen the size of a shoe closet?
Read all about it - and whether I slept in the Queen of England's bed - in my latest piece for Dine and Cook. read more...
Arbroath smokies seduced me away... - 14 Jul 2010
I've been remiss, I confess, over eatWashington updates, distracted by travels in Scotland. Among people visited was Iain Spink who hot-smokes haddock over a whisky barrel in the proper tradition that produces the Arbroath smokie. Definitely not to be confused with the kipper (a cold-smoked herring), the Arbroath smokie even has its own equivalent of the Appelation Controllée distinction - a PGI award, for Protected Geographical Indication label – one of only 20 PGI foods in Britain.
Read all about it and salivate... read more...
Berries - ripe for picking - 24 Jun 2010
Berry picking is one of the highlights of summer, with different fruits following each other through the season, even the rare blackcurrants and gooseberries. read more...
Cream teas - a summer staple - 20 May 2010
The British love their afternoon tea in town. Cream teas are another passion and no tourist to Devon or Cornwall should leave without having had one. They're named for the fresh baked scones smothered in jam and a cream so yellow and thick you could hang tiles with it. The great debate between the two English counties is whether the cream or the jam goes down first.
Clotted cream, the ultra heat-treated, stiff white paste sold in glass jars here is no relation to the real McKoy which you can make yourself. read more...
Scones, the English way - 20 May 2010
Eat these scones warm from the oven. You won't recognize them: they've barely any relationship with those marginally edible rocks better suited to breaking windows sold in bakeries. read more...
A salty tale - salt explained - 19 May 2010
The salt debate is hotting up again with doctors concerned about its responsibility for any number of diseases from hyper-tension to obesity calling for salt consumption to be lowered. The FDA is planning legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in processed food.
But salt is probably the single ingredient to emphasize flavor inherent in meat, fish and vegetables. Where would chefs be without it? They throw fistfuls into boiling water before cooking.
Salt is like any other 'evil' ingredient such as butter: use it in moderation. It falls loosely into two categories, the salt you can cook with and the salt you 'finish' with, sprinkling it over the cooked food. For the finishing, buy the best you can afford. If you can't try before you buy, this list might help you define what will appeal to your palate. Because no two salts are the same. read more...
Afternoon tea in town - 12 May 2010
You can get afternoon tea all over the place in Washington, for grown-ups, for children, hungry people and for serious tea drinkers. read more...
Asparagus - just so much grass... - 28 Apr 2010
Asparagus, like tomatoes, are a vegetable that really should be eaten only in season and from a pick-your-own supplier. But outside France and England, there aren't too many of them. Still, when spring, it's proper season comes, make the most of it. For starters (forgive the pun), try Todd Gray's Equinox Restaurant recipe for asparagus soup. read more...
Cakes - to order or make beautiful - 10 Mar 2010
Baking cake for a celebration, cupcakes for school or work? Or need someone else to do it for you? Here's all you need to keep you in cake. read more...
Shepherd's pie - 27 Jan 2010
Wesley Morton's Shepherd's Pie - one of gastropub AGAINN's most popular dishes - is a good comfort food dish any time of year. read more...
Wesley Morton - chef of AGAINN - 27 Jan 2010
It's a little disconcerting for a Brit to be sitting at the bar of a bistro brasserie in Washington listening to its American chef enthuse about bangers-and-mash, cock-a-leekie, and the best kind of potato topping for a shepherd's pie. But a conversation with Wesley Morton, chef of the New York Ave NW gastropub AGAINN heads down those avenues with side trips into discussions of his favorite watering holes in London.
When he was hired to head the kitchen he and owner Mark Weiss agreed it was vital to spend time in the British capital to see what was happening in contemporary English kitchens for themselves. read more...
Potatoes - earthy delights - 27 Jan 2010
Potatoes get such a bad rap. But they're one of the world's most versatile and nutritious ingredients. Here are some spud, tatty and tater facts. read more...
New Year celebrations - something different & where to buy it - 21 Dec 2009
Want to spice up your New Year festivities? Try one of the traditions from another part of the world. read more...
Christmas - dreaming of a different one & where to buy the ingredients - 9 Dec 2009
"Christmas comes but once a year and when it comes it brings..." Uncle George (who'll take over the single malt whiskey if no-one stops him), Aunt Mavis (who's just decided to turn vegetarian), and all their dreadful children. It's enough to drive you crackers.
Give Christmas a new sparkle and celebrate someone else's - with Britain's Christmas crackers, Italy's Omino di Neve, Switzerland's Zimststerne, Jamaica's West Indian Black Cake and more... read more...
Mushrooms - fall favorites - 21 Oct 2009
As fall arrives in Russia, Poland, Germany, Italy and France, the woods rustle with mushroom hunters. Within days of a rainfall, the undergrowth will be popping with delicious free food. Take care, though, that you know what you're picking. I read a Russian news agency report when I was a Moscow correspondent that a particular mushroom was now officially edible, so long as you boiled it once, tossed away the water, boiled it again in a fresh supply, jettisoned that, then fried it in butter. Which by my reckoning made at least three very sick testers before they found the safe formula. read more...
Fish - fresh or not so fresh? - 14 Oct 2009
Once upon a time, fishmongers would cut fish to order from whole fish, so the customer could be sure, by the clarity of its eyes, the firmness of flesh and the color of its gills, of the freshness of the fish. Not any longer. Now that it's generally sold ready-filletted, you've only your nose to rely on. Use it. read more...
Apples - a Magnolia a day... - 2 Sep 2009
While some supermarkets are becoming a little more adventurous in their selection of apples, there are many more interesting varieties to be had than the Goldens and Granny Smiths out there. Thomas Jefferson could have told you that...
Here are some, with how they taste, and where to pick them. read more...
Desserts: Eton Mess - 26 Aug 2009
This aptly named Mess is an easy English recipe to make the most of strawberries. You get the stages ready ahead, to put together at the last minute. It's named after the posh private school of Princes and sons of parents with deep wallets near Windsor Castle - so convenient when Queen Granny wanted to visit William and Harry.
On the 'Fourth of June', a holiday with The Procession of Boats - the top crews row past in vintage wooden rowing boats (Brits find this kind of thing normal) - scholars and parents gather to celebrate the birthday of Eton's patron, King George III (the mad one - that's normal, too). Eton Mess is the pudding de rigueur. ('Pudding' is the posh English word for 'desserts' - a word that would never cross the lips of an old Etonian.) read more...
The Dairy Godmother - one of my favorites - 8 Jul 2009
President Obama may have taken his family for a scoop of frozen custard at The Dairy Godmother because he read my post on eatWashington. (I can dream, can't I?) At any rate, if you haven't followed in his footsteps yet, you should. This is the time of year when frozen custard beats regular ice cream hands down. Like it does at every other time of year... read more...
British markets - 24 Jun 2009
When cable TV broadcasts Wimbledon hosting the tennis championships, it's time for a British court-side tea of cucumber sandwiches, strawberries and cream. Which bring on British nostalgia. Missing Marmite? Pork pies? Or Bird's Custard? Need to lift the spirits with a nip of ginger wine? A little Land of Hope and Glory is just behind the doors of these markets. read more...
It may be sacrilege to say so, but I did have a moment's wonder at Julie Powell dedicating a whole year to cooking out Julia Childs. Life is surely too short. But I admired her staying power. Most cookbooks contain only a handful of recipes you actually want to tackle - though heaven forfend that I should level this criticism towards Mastering the Art of French Cookery.Anyway, here's someone who really slackened my jaw. Meet Todd Wilbur, who spends his time to trying to recreate food made by the industrial giants. He wants to cook Krispy Kremes just like the factory. He wants to clone Big Macs, Yoo Hoo chocolate drinks, and dozens more junk foods, to taste just like the real (or unreal) McKoy.
Papaya and lime - natural partners
Chew On This: The FDA - eggs on its face
Hey, mixologists! An organic whisky's coming!
Two women to watch
Monster ice cubes
Jelly - the jewel-like vogue dessert
Jelly - the new old dessert
My favorite markets - Wagshal's Delicatessen
Supermarkets bring the farm in
Chew On This: The water diet!
Gluten - what is it?
Chestnut flour products for the gluten intolerant
Chew On This: Eat dark chocolate twice a week!
Pea Vichyssoise
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