Author Archives: Michael Ruhlman

The Hidden Health Hazards of Lettuce

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 8, 2012

Lettuce: The Silent Killer/photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

I know what it was that set me off today. A random article, out of the blue, I shouldn't even have read it. It referred to great food cooked with rendered fat as “early-grave food heaven.” Why do people say stupid things like this? Because the media bombards us with the simplistic message that Fat Is Bad For You, and it pisses me off. Why? Because it's not true.  Fat is good for you.  Fat is good for your body.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Fat doesn’t make you fat, EATING TOO MUCH MAKES YOU FAT! Eating every morsel of your mile high Cheesecake Factory plate is what makes you fat.  Eating a whole bag of Doritos is what makes you fat.  Eating when you’re ...

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Posted in Article, Food Politics, food science, Rant | Tagged , , , , , | 74 Comments

Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 6, 2012

Israeli couscous with butternut/Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

I almost never "do" recipes. I've written a book that if anything is an anti-recipe book. I set out on this culinary journey in part because, as I wrote in Making of a Chef, I sensed that recipes were nothing more than a tease, that the real cooking lay beneath the recipes. This is not to say that recipes are bad. Say you made a really killer stir-fry and wanted to be able to do it over and over, or you wanted your best friend to give it a try, you'd want to follow a recipe. If you want to recreate a dish, you need a recipe. I could probably make a decent oatmeal raisin cookie just by figuring it out, but I'd feel better at least glancing ...

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Posted in aromatics, Recipes, sidedishes, Technique, Vegetables | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Eastern North Carolina BBQ

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 2, 2012

Pulled pork sandwich, from Ruhlman's Twenty. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

With these last few posts on cooking for groups, it occurred to me that I should post one of my go-to, fabulously easy, always-gets-raves main course that serves a lot of people.  East Carolina barbecue, called pulled pork here up north. When I arrived at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, from Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1980s I knew the word barbecue to be a verb. You did it on a grill. As a noun, it meant a gathering to eat food cooked on a grill—it was something you had, something you invited neighbors to. But on the drive back from a place called Jugtown (to get there we’d gone through a town called Whynot, with a church named after the town; loved that), we stopped at what looked ...

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Posted in american regional cuisine, Books, Main Courses, Recipes, Sandwiches, sauce | Tagged , , , | 54 Comments

How To Cook For Sixteen (and not stress)

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 31, 2012

Lobster tails were cooked at 140˚F/60˚C for one hour; claws were boiled on stove top; bodies saved for stock that would become a lobster bisque two days later

The mission was this. Make nine great dinners for a big group, but create menues simple enough so that I could get a morning's worth of work in (ie justify 10 days in Key West) and not freak out at 4 pm. One of the first issues is what to cook food in, the vessels. So a valuable tool was the above Lexan tub which I borrowed from my friendly neighborhood restaurant, Fire (thanks Doug!); the immersion circulator was a huge help (I need to do a post on what lessons from this device that apply to home kitchens without one). I also had two huge pots for ...

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Posted in Appetizers, Food Adventure, grilling, Main Courses, outdoor cooking | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Cooking On the Road (Tools I Traveled With)

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 27, 2012

An array of tools I didn't want to be without when I arrived in an unfamiliar kitchen.

If you're on the road and will be cooking in unfamiliar kitchens, what are the essentials you cannot afford to be without? Thomas Keller once told me he always brought three things, kosher salt, string, and his pepper mill.  Everything else, a restaurant kitchen was likely to have. But what about when you're traveling to a rental house, as I did last week. A rental house you count on providing you with one crappy non-stick pan, a small plastic cutting board, a cheap pot just big enough to cook a box of spaghetti in, and an array of dull and serrated knives. Donna photographed the tools I brought with me to Key West to cook 9 consecutive dinners for 16 people.  A ...

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Posted in Technique, Tools, Travel | Tagged , , | 44 Comments

Stress Free Key West Menu 2012

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 25, 2012

Beef short rib, cooked sous vide 48 hours at 140F/60C, finished on grill. Photo by Donna

It requires a certain amount of stress to cook for a lot of people. Otherwise you won’t get it done. Too much work, and therefore too much focus and efficiency to both get everything done and also enjoy yourself. You’ve got to like this very peculiar kind of stress.  Or like the release that inevitably follows. And it’s not the same kind of release as it is for the guy who, when asked why he’s banging his head against the wall, responds, “Because it feels so good when I stop.”  But it’s close. You’ve just got to have that kind of love-the-pressure, love-the-release to cook for a lot of people night after night. If you do, you can make ...

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Posted in Food Adventure, Technique, Tips, Travel | Tagged , , , | 29 Comments

Waiting For Donna

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 23, 2012

All photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Race week in Key West is a massive boondoggle for me.  I wake, look out at the water, drink coffee, write until noon, personal writing, then head to the house where I cook for 12 to 16 people every night. I straighten the kitchen, throw away a few forgotten red plastic cups with limes floating in them, make a list, do some shopping, prep what can be done ahead (make some sauces, or a stock, pick and blanch green veg).  Then I go back to my room at The Galleon, condos right on the docks, and have some coffee and write and re-write some more. The boys return from being on the water and I put ...

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Posted in Food Adventure, Food Culture, Food Writing, Travel, Writing | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Key West—Gone Fishin’

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 19, 2012

Surf and turf for 17, last night

Working in the morning and cooking in the afternoon, and no time to post! Been having fun cooking nightly for a houseload of hungry sailors on a generous budget. Last night was steak and lobster and smashed potatoes and salad. Cooking mussels tonight, then wahoo (never cooked before, it will be interesting), saffron rice cooked in lobster stock (that I made this afternoon), asparagus, salad, and grilled baguettes.  As they are true to the sailing culture, the crew go in for liquid desserts which makes it easy for the cook! I also brought the Polyscience immersion circulator, it came in handy for the surf and turf last night. We worked together to get the lobsters all done expediently. I killed them first, Doug Moose separated the bodies and dropped them in ...

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Posted in Food Adventure, Seafood | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

An Amazing Response to Staple Meals

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 16, 2012

A weeknight braise of chicken in red wine, coq au vin, photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Wow, what an amazing glimpse into what people are eating.  A lot of stir fries, a lot of curries, pastas, pot roasts, and eggs, American and international.  There are so many ideas in the previous post I feel like I should do something with them, make them more accessible. Of course, people who read this blog are people who care about food and who love to cook already. My goal has always been to encourage people who don’t cook, to know that cooking is not as difficult as people too often think it is.  All these great suggestions are more proof of this. Thank you all for reading and posting and sharing your meals. I’m currently in Key west cooking for a ...

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Posted in american regional cuisine, Chicken, Main Courses | 20 Comments

Ruhlman’s Twenty Giveaway!
What’s Your Best Staple Meal?

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 11, 2012

A roast chicken that has been brined, notice shiny skin. Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

[Update 1/16: Winners have been chosen; their dishes are at the bottom of this post.] Two and a half years ago, I wrote a post on staple meals because I’m fascinated by what people eat at home when they don’t want to think about what to make, what their go-to, middle-of-the-week meal is, because they are invariably quick, efficient, economical, and well, good enough to eat once a week forever. (I think they also tell us a lot about who we are). The woman who has been cutting my hair for 12 years, three kids 16 and younger, husband not always at home, an “I don’t have a lot of time” mom. She makes chicken legs on a small rotisserie, and will do ...

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Posted in Books, Chicken, From Scratch, Giveaway, Kitchen Tips | Tagged , | 606 Comments

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