Monthly Archives: July 2011

How To Grill Corn

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: July 29, 2011

photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Corn is in and with the hot weather, there's no better way to cook corn than to grill it. People have asked me what's the best way to do it? There are two basic ways, depending on what you're after. Corn today is so sweet and tender, it only needs to be heated through, so your decision is really one about types of heat to use, high direct heat, which will brown the corn giving it a grilled flavor, or low temperature, steamed within its wet husk. I like both and the above corn which we ate after a day at the beach (sigh), used a little of both. I love the appearance because it tells you how it was cooked. If I want a really smoke roasted caramelized flavor, I'd shuck the ...

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Posted in outdoor cooking, Recipes, Tips, Vegetables | Tagged bbq, grilled corn, ice cream, lime, summer | Comments closed

Herb Garden & Drying Herbs

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: July 26, 2011

Tarragon, sage, marjoram, oregano, basil, thyme chives/photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

The herb garden has gone wild from the heat and rain showers. It's bursting with more herbs than I can handle or possibly use. It's like an herb party with too many rowdy guest showing up. So now is exactly the time to start cutting them back and letting them dry for winter cooking. This will both begin the supply of dried herbs and also encourage more growth during the next weeks of summer. Herbs are roughly divided into two categories, "hard" and "soft." The soft herbs are herbs with soft stems, such as parsley and tarragon. The soft herbs are best used fresh; they're fine dried, but they lose their magic, all the beguiling qualities that make them so powerful a la minute. The hard ...

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Posted in aromatics, Kitchen Tips, Seasonings and Spices, Technique | Tagged drying herbs, fresh herbs, gardening, herb garden, storing | Comments closed

Changing Eating Habits

By emilia | Published: July 25, 2011

Adjust the US diet and save billions of dollars in healthcare. Should we tax unhealthy food? via NYT.

Posted in Article, Food Politics | Tagged Eating Habits, Food Tax, Mark Bittman, new york times, obesity | Comments closed

Video: Butterbeer

By emilia | Published: July 25, 2011

Working Class Foodies brew up some Harry Potter magic by making some butterbeer, via Hungry Nation.

Posted in Article, Technique, Video | Tagged Butterbeer, Harry Potter, Hungry Nation, video, Working Class Foodies | Comments closed

She Cooks He Cleans

By emilia | Published: July 25, 2011

Bloggers Nancy & James create meals that follow the "caveman diet",via She Cooks He Cleans.

Posted in Article, Recipes | Tagged blog, She Cooks He Cleans | Comments closed

Friday Grilling: BBQ Short Ribs

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: July 22, 2011

Full meal on the grill/all photos by donna turner ruhlman

A few weeks ago, I made a full meal on the grill, grilled green beans, grilled vidalia onion, and some awesome grilled short ribs. The following are three recipes, techniques really, for making barbecued beef short ribs, cooking them start to finish on the grill, pre-cooking them and finishing them on the grill, and cooking them sous vide and finishing them on the grill. (If you don't have a wood or charcoal grill, I really don't recommend doing short ribs this way.) Use whatever your favorite barbecue sauce is, store bought or homemade. (I need to do a homemade barbecue sauce post! Anyone wants to make suggestions, feel free in comments.) I recommend the first method because it results in a deeply smokey flavor, ...

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Posted in Beef, Butchery, grilling, Main Courses, outdoor cooking, Recipes, Technique, Video | Tagged bbq, grill, short ribs, sous vide, video | Comments closed

Salt Sense

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: July 19, 2011

Bob del Grosso sent me the link to this article in Scientific American on salt by Melinda Wenner Moyer and I read it with a sense of finally. Increasing evidence that nobody really knows what they're talking about when they're talking about salt, except that it has different effects on different people. Given that its fundamental to our existence (without it we literally die) and that it helped to create both stable stationary societies and world travel (food preservation and therefore surplus in a community or on a ship), our main failure would be to undervalue its importance and power. It is powerfully good and useful; but also, anything so powerful can be used harmfully (as in our processed foods).