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Continue reading →: How to Enjoy Caviar: A Side-by-Side Education I Did for Myself (And Now You)
It was New Year’s Eve and I had lined up five tins of caviar on the kitchen counter like a very serious person who had made a very questionable decision with their grocery budget. No party, no occasion beyond the date on the calendar. Just a set of small mother-of-pearl…
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Continue reading →: How to Make a Crepe: Patience Is Key
The first time I tried to order crepes in France, I walked into a sit-down restaurant and asked the waiter if they served crepes there. He looked at me the way you look at someone who has just asked for ketchup at a wine bar. He pulled the towel from…
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Continue reading →: Pan-Italy: How to Make Carbonara Without Scrambling the Eggs
Carbonara found me in Rome on a Tuesday, in a trattoria with no menu posted outside and four tables inside. I had been walking for three hours. The bowl that arrived was the color of sunlight on plaster: pale gold, glossy, with a serious amount of black pepper sitting on…
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Continue reading →: The Pan That Makes the Omelette
There’s a scene in The Bear where Carmen stands over a burner, making dish after dish in a small carbon steel pan, hundreds of times, until the motion becomes automatic. It’s not dramatic. Nobody applauds. The point is that perfection, whether a silky French roll or a glossy Japanese omurice, doesn’t come…
