Food Features

There are many things that I grow well on my rambling little homestead but sadly, rhubarb just isn’t one of them. Even my green-thumbed great-grandfather who lived here before me had trouble getting a rhubarb plant to take hold. It’s not that rhubarb is a particularly difficult plant to cultivate – I know many people […]

On the reality TV show Kitchen Nightmares, renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay visited struggling restaurants as a troubleshooter and tried to turn them around. Ramsay would often order crabcakes because they are a simple dish that could be a reliable indicator of a restaurant’s food quality and cooking standards. He could tell if the restaurant […]

It seems like only days ago that I was gingerly plucking a single leaf from each little lettuce seedling in my garden, hoping to gather enough to put a salad on the dinner table. Since then they’ve rapidly grown into generous, lush plants, each large enough to make a meal on its own. I don’t […]

Our little house has a smallish kitchen, but thankfully it has a door that opens to a staircase leading to a dry basement, which I’ve turned into a giant pantry. My wife recently questioned why I keep the baking soda in the cabinet next to the stove instead of in the basement pantry with the […]

Erbazzone is essentially a rustic tart filled with savory greens and cheese, with variations found throughout the gastronomically rich region of Emilio-Romagna in northern Italy. A celebration of early spring produce, similar dishes such as Greece’s famous spanakopita can be found throughout Italy and the Mediterranean with varying types of vegetables and herbs, cheese and […]

Miso has been on my mind a lot lately. I just taught a fermentation class at Lincoln Land Community College and demonstrated how to make miso. Then, this week, I read that astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully made miso in space. So today’s column will be all about miso and its most well-known […]

For better or worse, travel and snacking seem inextricably linked, at least in my family. The selection and preparation of munchies for the road is its own sort of fun. Normal dietary standards are effectively abandoned in favor of everyone’s favorite “sometimes foods” such as sugary cereals and spicy chips. In the past these have […]

In the American South, there’s an old saying: “We go together like shrimp and grits.” Shrimp and grits is a classic Southern dish now found on many menus across the U.S. Its origins are rooted in the Gullah Geechee culture of the coastal Carolinas. The Gullah are descendants of enslaved Africans. Shrimp and grits was […]

To most Midwesterners, the idea of canned fish doesn’t exactly give off a luxe, cosmopolitan vibe. Beyond tuna salad and salmon cakes, the segment doesn’t get much attention. That’s beginning to change, however, as more folks discover the Iberian delicacy known as conservas. This category of tinned or canned seafood is wildly popular throughout Spain […]

My wife is not a picky eater but she’s very choosy about chicken wings. She used to love the wings served at Cafe Brio, and she was crushed when the downtown Springfield restaurant closed in 2016. Since then, whenever she orders wings, she’ll invariably say: “They’re just not as good as Brio’s!” We spent the […]

The seeds I planted in salvaged takeout containers back in mid-February are about a half an inch tall now. Lined up along the south-facing wall of my garage, the verdant little lettuce and cabbage seedlings serve as a harbinger of good meals to come. Yet even with such a head start on nature, it will […]

“First, you brine a nice piece of fish and refrigerate it overnight. Then, you coat the fish with mayonnaise and crushed Ritz crackers and broil it. You’ll have a piece of fish like you’ve never had before!” This advice didn’t come from a TikTok influencer or a recipe from the back of a cracker box […]