Cuisine

There were peanut shells on the floor as we walked in. Everywhere we went in Baltimore in the 90s, well in public houses to be more precise, there were peanuts strewn across the creaky wood. Some, I’m sure, falling into the cracks of the trap doors behind the bars. We were told that they were there to soak up the spilled beer as the night wore on and we bought that. It became the norm if you were a Balti-morean (supplant –moron if you are in fact a Pittsburgh fan) and it was comforting as you made your rounds throughout town. East, west, north or south…it didn’t seem to matter. The peanut shells crunched under your shoes or sandals and they stood for something — the more shells, the better the establishment. As is the case in every town, some places are good at food and drink, and others should just stick to one or the other. Try as we might to discern the obvious, there were always variances. However, when it came to the stalwart pubs, you always knew w...

When I tried to research Roli-Boli online, a closed restaurant in New Jersey topped the list. Beyond that, franchise opportunities abounded, albeit I could only imagine that they might indeed be for the eponymous defunct project. No, the only Roli-Boli that I had ever heard of is that made by my mother-in-law for family gatherings and special days. It might be a Baltimore thing for all that I know, but it is delicious all the same. A Roli-Boli is a fruit pie made without the pie pan, so as you can imagine an impromptu rim of aluminum foil could be in fashion as the filling oozes from the crispy-cooked crust. You do not need to have the rim but it doesn’t hurt. My mother-in-law traditionally makes blueberry Roli-Boli but as black cherries were available, cherry it was. As my youngest and I pitted the cherries, it looked like a blood-bath reminiscent of working with beet juice (that’s about as tasteful as I can make it. It looked gruesome). With cherry stains to last for a...

Independence Day.  July 4th.  Known by many names, the true reason for the 4th of July is to celebrate the birth of our nation through the sacrifice of those who believed in liberty. Liberty and BBQs?  That’s for the history books to decide.   While Memorial Day kicks off the official BBQ season, the 4th of July acts as a convenient addition to the series of serious eats.  And that’s why I am going back to barbecued ribs; they never get old. I know that last year I wrote about barbecuing ribs by way of a moist-heat method and I still stand by the questionable tried and true method for the beginning step in that previous recipe. But one of the first things that I was taught in the early eighties was that there was more than one way to skin a cat, and ribs to be more precise. Among the task of making the perfect rack of ribs is the tiring task of removing the skin from the back of the ribs, not necessary but still preferable. Yet another is to go ...

Alas, the halcyon days of summer are officially in our midst. It is quite a feeling to know that there is such a warm spell upon us. Of course, many who complain about the cold of winter are now griping about the humidity, heat and clamminess of the skin, but so it goes. As I have mentioned before, there are two truths about summer. One: summer is the perfect time for grilling. Two: nothing you throw on the grill has to be difficult. Sometimes the simplest of ingredients go a long way in satiating our most primal of desires – sustenance.  Sure, you could argue that sustenance is not a desire but rather a necessity, and while I agree with this notion, I would be remiss in my duties as a food writer if I told you to eat for the sake of eating. How drab that would be. A gorgeous amuse bouche or tapa is one made with grilled figs, bleu cheese and a gastrique of balsamic. I’ll explain that in a bit. The sweet and sour are beautiful counterpoints and with a simple garnish...

Escoffier once wrote and often preached that the greatest dishes are very simple. It is this maxim that guides modern cuisine well after a century of this tenet’s existence. This is not to say that everything is easy, just simple. Let me explain. If you take a small grouping of fresh and lovely ingredients, your dish should be fresh and lovely. If you take aforementioned ingredients and slather with pomegranate molasses and beet juice, with a smidge of bonito flakes and wakame, the original freshness and vitality are gone and you are left with an amalgamation of strange and unique flavors. For years in my early career, I was like many chefs, convoluting dishes in the guise of sophistication, only to realize later that I was doing nothing more than masking the true flavors of any given dish. This is a message that I try to get through to my junior culinarians on a daily basis. Does it sink in? Well, as the saying goes, I can teach all day, but the student’s learning is so...

I remember writing about a trip to Mexico while serving in the Marines. It was but a short journey of harrowing roads and fearless and seemingly senseless drivers to any given destination to the South. As I think back on a trip to the Las Playas bull arena one day, I still can’t be sure as to whether I was more pleased to leave the event after three fights and witnessing the unprofessional and unsanitary slaughter of a couple of the victims, or to arrive at the fights alive and in one piece. This question still plagues me. The end of the short story from years ago was that I ate a rare burger the following night knowing full well that if I did not, I would never eat a rare piece of beef again. Reminiscent of an old and fairly bad movie, “Gross Anatomy,” where most of the med students couldn’t bring themselves to pick the roasted chicken carcasses on their tray immediately after their first anatomy class, so I envisioned myself on that fateful day. With Lady ...

I am reminiscing on the New Year’s article on breaking down the beef tenderloin and despite the spotty weather I am determined to grill something.  Wiping the pollen off of the grill lid and scraping down the bars, shamefully left soiled since last winter, I prepare my fiery flame thrower for the first session of the season. With some leftover tomatoes and some greens (I believe that I have written about the latter an uncountable number of times in the past), an easy and delicious topping of frizzled onions brings the entire dish together. While there is something to be said for the primarily vegetable and vegetarian dishes that I have covered in the past six weeks, there is even more to be said for the glorious steak as we enter the season of white-hot rod charring, aka summer. With produce stands slowly and surely wiping the sleep of a long winter’s nap from their eyes, Delmarva is once again reminding us of the panacea at hand so close to our doors.  With mo...

There an old saying to the effect that the tools don’t make the cook.  And while for the most part I agree with this, it is simply too obvious that the proper tools can make anyone’s job much easier. Nowhere is this truer than in the kitchen.  As I have been rambling about for seven years, a dull knife won’t cut it, pun intended.  Cheap pots and pans, while fitting the price point of many people, will tend to be more of a burden than they are worth after time. When you graduate to the more price-intensive brands such as Master’s Collection, All-Clad or Spring, you are graduating to tools that you will be able to hand down to your children.  Then, if they don’t cook, they can at least fetch a premium for them on eBay, so whichever the case, it’s a win-win scenario. Such is the case with our Vitamix Blender.  Known throughout the restaurant industry as the workhorse of better chefs, these machines are beasts, to say the leas...

I’m training for a 12-mile mud run in mid-November in New Jersey, The Tough Mudder. Our team, Team Rickshaw, is raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project.  The run includes mud pits (very cold), icy cold water and mild electrocution, but it’s all in the name of helping those who serve us best but come home severely injured. As such, I have a new change of menu, but I’m not going to force that upon the children as of yet.  For now, it’s just Mum and Dad cutting out certain things and eating a bit differently than before.  And it has been a long road to get to this point. As we all know, when we try to figure out what is ‘best’ for our bodies, there are myriad options as well as a veritable army of proponents for any given diet, nutrition plan, exercise program and new miracle cure.  And for each and every army, there is a reactionary force of detractors; as you can imagine, it leads to great confusion. However, no matter the...

Intimidation in the kitchen could very well be the primary reason that many people shy away from cooking from scratch. I can’t blame anyone for that. As a culture, we have shied away from what used to be the central nervous system of a home. After many studies from top universities, the prevalent thought is that the family table, a dying attribute of modern society, is experiencing resurgence. Eating with your family is critical, especially when there are young children involved. But then it’s not just the eating portion, is it? It’s the discussion that should be taking place as you eat. And it’s definitely not “eat your broccoli or you don’t get dessert.” It lies in more of the discussion of day-to-day life. As much as we adults might hate to admit it, it’s tough to be a kid. It was tough when I was a kid, and now the extra burdens of video games and technological gadgets (which are outmoded the moment they hit the store shelf) and so...