The closest Manhattan comes to a village green is the farmers market at Union Square, and the chance to catch up with friends is part of the pleasure of shopping there. One of the Saturday morning regulars is Roy Finamore, a longtime cookbook editor, author, food stylist, and all-around good egg. This week, he delivered his […]

The James Beard Foundation’s 2012 cookbook of the year, Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, by Nathan Mvhrvold with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet, comprises six volumes and 2,438 pages. Even though its list price of $625 signifies an investment (of book-shelf real estate as well as moolah), it seems reasonable when you consider […]

I wrote about deviled chicken just a couple of weeks ago, but never mind: There is no better hors d’oeuvre for Easter or other springtime celebration than deviled, or stuffed, eggs. I am exceedingly fond of them, especially those made by our good friend Rick Ellis. A food stylist and culinary historian who crafted the […]

I am not an ambitious seafood cook. I would rather keep it simple and fast, which is why I don’t often turn to actual recipes for inspiration. Last week, though, when I was pruning a bookshelf—a donation to the Housing Works Bookstore was in the offing—I came across Leslie Revsin’s Great Fish, Quick: Delicious Dinners […]

Most innovative concepts are really very simple, and this one is no exception: Exploring the intrinsic beauty found in fresh fruits and vegetables encourages children to make smart food choices that also happen to be delicious. That’s what the community of professional artists known as Studio in a School thinks, at any rate. For 35 years, the […]

Better than a box of chocolates. That’s what I thought, at any rate, when I found the dried egg fettuccine in the kitchen cupboard. DeCecco smartly packages theirs in a box, which protects the nests of delicate golden noodles from getting crushed in the pantry supplies. Tucked away in the back of the cabinet, this […]

My obsession with rye bread began when I was a little girl. My grandmother would help me make dainty sandwiches on pieces of cocktail rye and cut them just so. I served them with tea on the lawn to a motley collection of dolls and stuffed animals. Other offerings included corn-silk or asparagus-frond spaghetti and […]

The death of the great documentary photographer Eve Arnold on January 4 was not exactly unexpected—she was 99, after all—but it caught many people up short, including me. Eve’s outsize stamina and spirit as well as her matchless ability to “record the essence of a subject in the 125th of a second,” as she put […]

Pears are full of intrigue. Because they are usually rock-hard when you buy them, it’s difficult to gauge when they’ll be ready to eat and whether they’ll ultimately reward you with sweet, meltingly tender flesh. It’s no wonder that many shoppers pass them over for apples, which are immediately gratifying. But some things, as we well […]

The pecans above may look small and pale, almost drab. But I’d give anything if I could offer you some to taste. A plump, deeply grooved variety called Elliott, they are rich and buttery. Sweet. They have finesse. Most importantly, they are new-crop pecans—that is, just harvested—and their fresh, pure flavor is a world apart […]