It’s one of my biggest fears, something that sometimes even keeps me awake at night: Writing recipes that are inaccurate, incomplete or incomprehensibly worded. When I started teaching cooking classes, I was determined to write accurate, easily understood recipes. Cooking involves all of the senses, not just taste. I knew what I meant when I […]
Julianne Glatz
Posted inFood & Drink
All hail, kale
Suddenly it seems as if kale is everywhere. The sturdy-leaved member of the Brassica vegetable family, which includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens and others, is showing up on restaurant menus, in cooking magazines and websites; actually in anything food-centric. Or not food-centric: It even made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s debut week hosting […]
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Flour power
For years I’ve been asked why I always specify unbleached all-purpose white flour in my recipes. And for years, my answer has been the same, “Yes, you can substitute bleached for unbleached flour. But why would you want to?” Today my answer is the same, with a minor exception. Growing up in an organic-centered household, […]
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Guinness goodness
A defining characteristic of stout beers, of which Guinness is arguably the best known, is a creamy head and extremely dark body caused by the addition of roasted barley. PHOTO BY BOB FILA/MCT Will ye be havin’ a pint or two of Guinness to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day come Monday? If so, you won’t be […]
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German feast
Sauerbraten with potato dumplings makes a yummy German feast. We served sauerbraten at our first dinner party as a married couple. But we didn’t know it would be so explosive, providing the evening’s entertainment, as well as its entrée. Peter had been talking about hosting the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign German club for months […]
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Cooking with beer
It’s one of the oldest beverages in the world – almost certainly the oldest alcoholic beverage. There are references to it in some of the earliest writings discovered in ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia. In its modern forms, beer has a range of flavors and complexities that can match and often even exceed wine. So why […]
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Cold days, warm desserts
Apple rolls or dumplings are a delicious variation on traditional apple dumplings. PHOTO BYJOSEPH COPLEY These are homey desserts, comforting sweets best served warm and perfect ways to counter end-of-winter blues. Two are cherished family recipes; the other a recent find. I stumbled upon this Armenian Orange Cake when I wrote about Microplane graters […]
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Cabin fever crazy
Timballo is made with a casing of fresh pasta filled with layers of pasta, hardboiled eggs, cheeses, meatballs, sausages and meat sauce. PHOTO BY MBARRIEAU VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG As I write this, the temperature is minus 1 degree. But the forecast high for Feb. 13, the day this Illinois Times comes out, is 41 degrees. That’s […]
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Luxury for little money
Truffles grow underground around certain trees. Dogs and pigs are used to sniff out their presence. PHOTO BY BETTINA HANSEN/MCT Sure, you can go out on Valentine’s Day – millions do. And if you have kids at home and can send them to their grandparents or to a movie with a babysitter, it’s probably the […]
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Making it from scratch
Dee and Vito Randazzo have owned Gallina’s in Capitol City Shopping Center for almost 30 years. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE “The Art of Hand-Tossed Pizza! The All New Hand-Tossed Pizza! Pizza Will Never Be the Same!” –Slogans from a national pizza chain’s newest ad campaign I thought of those slogans as I was sitting in […]
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Olive oil
Extra-virgin olive oil demand and consumption have risen steadily worldwide in recent years because of its health benefits and flavor for dressings, marinades and popularity for drizzling on bread. PHOTO BY DAN COYRO/MCT Consider the olive. The olive tree has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years, starting in the eastern Mediterranean. Trees can live […]
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Slow Food Film Festival
Have you ever seen a film so powerful, so mind-boggling, so eye-opening that you had the urge to rush out and grab total strangers off the street and insist they see it, too? To think that it should be a required topic of study in high schools? That was my reaction when I saw The […]
