Couscous is not a grain, as you might think, but a semolina paste. In fact, couscous is made from the same wheat semolina flour used to make commercial spaghetti.
Couscous originated in the Maghreb, today’s North Africa, and owes its origins to the Berbers, an indigenous people of the region. The Saracen conquest of Europe in the 7th and 8th Centuries is believed to have introduced the dish to the Western world.
Owing to its origins, couscous is often served …
Miso is a fermented, soybean paste, dating back to seventh century Japan.
Miso begins with a grain, usually rice or barley, which is then inoculated with mold spores. These molded grains, koji, are combined with soybeans and sea salt, and then pakced into wooden barrels, where the mixture ferments for anywhere from three months to three years. Indeed, the various types of miso owe their differences to the length of the fermentation period. The fermentation temperature, the proportion of koji to soybean, and the type of grain also influence the miso product.
Rice miso (kome miso), barley miso (mugi miso), and soybean miso (hatcho miso) form the three basic categories of miso. These groups …
This is one of the first recipes I learned to make on my own. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s versatile, and, naturally, it’s good. Try these potatoes as a side to miso glazed halibut….
Miso shiru, or miso soup, is a staple of Japanese cuisine. The soup is touted for its health benefits, much the same way chicken soup or matzoh ball soup is here in the West. The health benefits come from the active cultures contained in the miso – which is why you should look for unpasteurized miso, and avoid allowing the miso to boil.
Miso soup can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and usually …
Unlike most of her recipes, Ina Garten jokes, this one does not start with a pound of butter. And yet, her lemon yogurt cake is no worse for the wear. In fact, I’ve made this recipe countless times without ever growing tired of it. And because it’s so good and so easy to make, it’s become my recipe of choice for pot-lucks and parties.
Over time, I have made my own small changes…
Bananas Foster is a New Orleans original.
The dish was originally created in 1951, by Chef Paul Blangé of Brennan’s Restaurant. Owen Edward Brennan, the owner, had challenged his chef to create a dish that would highlight bananas. At the time, New Orleans was the principal port of entry for Latin America’s banana crop. The recipe also served as the feature article for Holiday Magazine, which had asked Brennan for a recipe to accompany an article about the restaurant.
Bananas Foster is named for Richard Foster, who …
Not every great recipe requires seven steps and several stopwatches. Cheese grits are one such example.
Grits are crushed kernels of dried corn. The dried kernels are crushed between millstones and the resulting fragments are sorted according to density. The dense shards are grits, and the lighter shards are cornmeal. Polenta is an even finer grind of yellow corn, with all the particles of flour later removed. These stone-ground grits can be made from either white corn or yellow corn, with little difference in taste between the respective varieties.
Stone-grounds grits are coarser than …
To create the perfect soufflé, it helps to understand the science behind it.
Egg whites are made entirely of protein, while egg yolks contain a mixture of both protein and fat. When you beat egg whites, you are mixing air into the mixture, and the protein from the egg whites forms a skin around the air bubbles. As the soufflé bakes, the heat causes the air captured in the egg whites to expand, creating the puff. When the soufflé comes out of the oven and begins to cool, the air contracts and the soufflé begins to deflate.
Simply put, the rise and fall of your soufflé comes down to the egg whites.
With this in mind,…
Homemade chicken stock is so much better than anything you might buy in the store. Use it for making couscous, rice, risotto, and …
I started this food blog nearly a month and a half ago. Yet, in all that time, I never made anything for dinner. That is, there no were entrée posts. Until now.
A whole roasted chicken offers something for everyone. There’s a beautiful center item for the table, …