Category Archives: aromatics

A spice, herb, or vegetable that helps build flavor in a sauce, soup, stock, or any dish. Also includes mirepoix.

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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Also posted in Recipes, sidedishes, Technique, Vegetables | Tagged couscous, david lebovitz, lemon confit | 20 Comments

Giardiniera

By emilia | Published: January 30, 2012

Pickled vegetables are a great side dish you can make in the winter, via NYT.

Also posted in Appetizers, Article, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged giardiniera, new york times, pickled vegetables, recipe | Leave a comment

Love It or Hate It

By emilia | Published: January 23, 2012

A photo list of 10 foods that many either enjoy or detest, Via Huffington Post.

Also posted in Article, Food Culture | Tagged food you hate, foods you love, Huffington Post, photos | Leave a comment

Tuscan Bean Soup

By emilia | Published: January 16, 2012

Blogger Ree Drummond shares a great winter warming recipe for Tuscan bean soup, via The Pioneer Woman.

Also posted in Article, Recipes, Soups | Tagged soup, The Pioneer Woman, Tuscan Bean | Leave a comment

The Potassium Effect: Important Ratio

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 28, 2011

Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Yesterday the NYTimes covered an important health ratio: the amount of potassium relative to the amount salt you consume. While the article by long time health reporter, Jane Brody, leads with the obvious (excessive salt has proven to be a health risk, according to yet another major study), and the headline writer reinforce the obvious ("Sodium-Saturated Diet is a Threat for All"), the article recognizes that everything is about balance and notes the important role potassium-rich foods play in countering salt's negative effects. "The researchers found that while a diet hight in sodium—salt is the main source—increases your risk," Brody writes, "even more important is the ratio of sodium (harmful) to potassium (protective) in one's diet." This was pointed out to me this summer by Mark Bitterman, author of a great book called Click to Continue Reading

Also posted in Food Politics, Food Safety, food science, Seasonings and Spices | Tagged Mark Bitterman, salt | 23 Comments

Britta’s Glogg

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 23, 2011

Glogg was a staple of my childhood Christmases. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

I'd been looking for a long ago recipe card used by my parents titled "Britta's Glogg" to do a post about it (and because I hadn't made it in years). Then all of a sudden I start seeing recipes for mulled wine all over the place. I don't remember seeing any in years and then, two different ones from just in the NYTimes alone, one in the Sunday Magazine, another by writer Melissa Clark. It was not the drinking of the glogg that stays in the memory—it wasn't till later that I would actually have been drinking it—it was the aroma of it. I've recently become aware of how powerful the smells of food cooking in house are. They are a natural stress reliever. ...

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Also posted in Cocktails, Ethnic Cuisine, Holiday, Recipes | Tagged cocktails, glogg, holiday, mulled wine, recipe, warm drinks | 9 Comments

Christmas Dinner: The Grill/Roast Technique

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 21, 2011

Roast beef mise en place. Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

On Thanksgiving, I offered a roast/braise combination cooking technique for turkey. Interesting that I use a dual cooking technique for our traditional holiday Christmas meal as well. The Grill/Roast method, which I write about in Ruhlman's Twenty. I don’t think there’s a better way to cook a rack of beef (or a whole beef tenderloin) than this combination grill-roast method. It gives the meat great grilled flavor and allows you perfect control of temperatures and timing. I use the method in during holidays, to serve beef tenderloin sandwiches on a buffet or a rack of beef for a large group of people because I can grill the beef a day ahead if I want and then just finish it in the oven. Flavor the meat on ...

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Also posted in appearance, baking, Beef, Butchery, grilling, Holiday, outdoor cooking, Recipes, Technique | Tagged beef roast, Grilled, holiday, prime rib, roasted | 21 Comments

Do-over: Charleston, Eve, & Grits

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 13, 2011

Shrimp and grits. photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

One of hard things about writing books is that they are in constant flux and then they are permanent. Thanks to the organic nature of blogs, I can make amends. When I was at the Culinary Institute of America, one of my best and favorite teachers was Eve Felder, who taught Garde Manger. She was the Cheshire Cat of chefs, perched high on stacked stools, who taught us that "Cooking is alchemy, cooking is magic!" And she was right. Righter than I knew, in fact. I'm heading to her native city, Charleston, South Carolina, and so she's been on my mind. When I wanted to do a butter-poached shrimp for Ruhlman's Twenty, I naturally wanted to pair it with grits. Who did I call for grits finesse ...

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Also posted in american regional cuisine, Appetizers, chefs, Food Writing, From Scratch, Recipes, Seafood, Seasonings and Spices, sidedishes, Technique | Tagged Charleston, CIA, Eve Felder, shrimp and grits, South Carolina, twenty | 22 Comments

Thanksgiving Turkey: Roast/Braise Method

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: November 19, 2011

Turkey: The Roast/Braise Method. All photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

The two great turkey conundrums: 1) how to have juicy breast meat and tender dark meat and 2) how to serve it all hot to a lot of people. Answer: the roast/braise method. Last year, chatting with my neighbor, the excellent chef Doug Katz (Fire Food and Drink), described how he cooks the turkey in stock up to the drumstick so that the legs braise while the breast and skin cook in dry heat. Last year I tried it and it works brilliantly. Thank you, Doug. Doug posted his version on the restaurant's blog. I've simplified and added a couple steps to make it easier for perfect doneness. (Step-by-step pix below.) The basic idea is this: cook the turkey half submerged in flavorful liquid and lots ...

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Also posted in baking, Braise, From Scratch, Holiday, Kitchen Tips, Recipes, Technique | Tagged braise, holiday, roast, stock, thanksgiving, turkey | Comments closed

Turkey Gravy Recipe For Thanksgiving

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: November 18, 2011

Gravy is nothing more than flour-thickened stock/photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

People freak out about gravy. I don't know why. Gravy is easy as pie. Actually, a hell of a lot easier than pie. All it is, is a delicious, rich stock thickened with flour. In cooking school, they call it velouté, French for velvety. You take a great stock and give it a velvety texture. Flour-thickened sauces got a bad name when bad "French" restaurants served heavy terrible sauces. Properly prepared, flour-thickened sauces are light, flavorful, and refreshing. I prefer them to heavy reductions which, prepared thoughtlessly, are gluey with protein and make the tongue stick to the palate. The key is dispersing the flour uniformly through the sauce. We do this by combining the fat (butter, rendered chicken or turkey fat) so that the granules of ...

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Also posted in From Scratch, Holiday, Recipes, Technique | Tagged dressing, easy gravy, recipe, technique, thanksgiving, turkey, turkey gravy | Comments closed

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