“I swear, I’m done with turkey! It’s always overcooked and dry, or undercooked and rubbery. Next Christmas we’ll have beef roast or chicken – anything but turkey!” Those words were astonishing coming from my New Zealand friend, Bill Boeyen. He’s a retired hotelier/chef who spent a lifetime behind the stove, in his day cooking for […]
Food & Drink
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Pasfield House Egg Strata
These recipes in the Illinois Bed and Breakfast Cookbook were contributed by Tony Leone, proprieter of the Pasfield House. Other Pasfield House recipes appear in every one of the cookbook’s categories. Running a B&B sounds appealing to me except the part about regularly rising before dawn to prepare guest breakfasts. Leone has a solution: He […]
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Asparagi alla Stimpirata
These recipes in the Illinois Bed and Breakfast Cookbook were contributed by Tony Leone, proprieter of the Pasfield House. Other Pasfield House recipes appear in every one of the cookbook’s categories. Running a B&B sounds appealing to me except the part about regularly rising before dawn to prepare guest breakfasts. Leone has a solution: He […]
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Getting away close to home
Whether it’s spring when they’re carpeted with wildflowers, the fall when maples form a golden canopy overhead, or winter when snow blankets the ground and frosts the trees; whenever I take a walk in the woods across from our house, I’m struck by the fact that people travel far distances to experience such beauty and […]
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These Cajuns add seasoning to life in central Illinois
By the time you read this, I’ll be back down by the bayou. There’s a pretty good chance I’ll be eating oysters harvested that morning, or shrimp and crabs from the Gulf of Mexico, only a few miles south. Then again I might be eating tangy gumbo z’herbes, made of greens and onions and thickened […]
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Soileau’s Dirty Rice
Dirty Rice is a Cajun classic. If you’re fond of chicken livers, you’ll love this dish. The livers are essential for truly authentic Dirty Rice, however I have seen versions that substitute finely ground hamburger for some or all of the livers. 1 pound chicken livers, rinsed and drained pound smoked sausage, ground or very […]
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Soileau’s Chili
5-7 quart pot 2 lbs. 80/20 lean ground beef 1 large onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced Entire package Soileau’s Chili Seasoning 2 8oz. cans tomato sauce 16 oz. water (add more if needed) 1 can cooked black beans, or beans of your choice (optional) 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. butter Melt butter in […]
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Cranberry sherbet
After my husband’s mother died the year after we were married, he said he’d like to find or make cranberry sorbet, something she’d always made for Thanksgiving. It had always been one of Peter’s favorite parts of the meal, but now it would also be a way of remembering her. In those pre-Internet days, we […]
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In memoriam: Gourmet magazine, 1941-2009
I’ve heard it said that an alcoholic always remembers her first drink. I don’t remember mine. But I can recall with crystal clarity my first Gourmet magazine. It was in a Kroger grocery store in Champaign, I stopped dead by the periodical rack, my eyes drawn to a beautiful magazine cover: a brass knocker festooned […]
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Single-handed cooking
“Some people say the kitchen is where they clear their heads; for me, it’s where I face my demons.” J.J. Goode I’m not a big believer in precognition, but if I’d been looking. I might have seen warning signs. I was reading a novel about a jockey who’d become a private detective after losing his […]
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Caramel smoked bacon
This Serious Barbeque recipe is seriously decadent and seriously delicious. Lang recommends using non-stick Silpats (silicone baking mats) to line the pans; but once they’ve been used for smoking, they’re no good for other baking, so I substituted parchment paper. c. firmly packed light brown sugar c. water 1 T. whole coriander seeds, coarsely crushed […]
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Sausage without fear
Saxe’s quip is still commonly used, though less elegantly phrased — and not just about lawmaking. We wince, shrug, and say, “You know, it’s like making sausage….” Everyone understands that the rest is better left unsaid. Sausage-making is almost as old as civilization itself; there are sausage recipes that date back thousands of years. And […]
