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 […]

Some soups require a lengthy list of ingredients and plenty of time on the back burner—they are worth preparing in a big batch so you can freeze a couple of quarts for another day. Leek and potato, however, does not need this sort of commitment. It’s an uncomplicated, almost austere, farmhouse soup that makes the […]

Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. Both terms are far more cheerful and indicative of tomorrow’s excesses than the term “Shrove Tuesday,” from the word shrive, meaning “confess.” The only thing I feel like confessing the day before Ash Wednesday is that I prefer cane syrup or sorghum—something with a little whang to it—to maple syrup on […]

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 […]

A great pan gravy is not difficult to make, but attention must be paid, and at the last minute, too. That’s why so many examples of this noble subset of the sauce realm are truly god-awful. I know this for a fact, because I feel compelled to order gravy if I see it on a […]

Many people believe that the Thanksgiving bird is merely the means to an end: gravy. I don’t count myself among them—I enjoy the flavor of roast turkey, both white meat and dark—but there’s no arguing about the fact that you can never ever have too much rich, velvety gravy. It gives the entire meal a […]

Most Saturdays, you’ll find me on the prowl for ingredients to turn into a dish with staying power, one that improves in flavor when made in advance and that will get us through part of a hectic week. In August, you might find an eggplant tian on our table (leftovers can be worked into pasta or provide […]

October is a swing month. The trees are reluctantly turning red and orange and yellow. Kitchen gardeners are sowing fast-growing radishes and lettuces while simultaneously harvesting pumpkins and cauliflower. Even when the weather is fine, there’s an edge to the air, a sharpness, when you take a deep breath. October, with its fat-bellied letters, is […]

There were all sorts of things I meant to do this past weekend, but life took a turn. Plump, glossy sour cherries just appeared at the Greenmarket, and I had to seize the moment: They are perhaps the season’s most fleeting treasure, and I’d heard that our region’s cool, cloudy spring had resulted in a small […]