Idea Lab: Full English Breakfast from Scratch

Can you replicate the best English breakfast at home?

16th Mar 2010

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To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day.
- W. Somerset Maugham

I survived my half a year in England on a diet of boiled potatoes, canned peas, Heinz beans, and 99p egg and cress sandwiches I purchased from a convenient store. The dollar was nearly worthless next to the mighty pound at that time, and I hoarded what little cash I could for bus passes and the od...

Wednesday Links: Cocktail Videos and Grits for Northerners

27th Jan 2010

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Welcome to Wednesday Links. This is our weekly collection of four of the most interesting food links we've discovered in the past week. Enjoy!

Cocktail Techniques
Recently Gary Regan released his list of basic cocktail techniques, and the San Francisco Chronicle convinced Neyah White and Jackie Patterson to demonstrate them on camera. Of particularly note: how to correctly stir a cockt...

On Stewing Hens and Coq au Vin

16th Apr 2008

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A few months ago I was wandering the poultry aisle at my food coop looking at the bewildering number of options for a roasting chicken.  As the words free-range and humane--proclaimed on every package--began to lose their meaning, I came across a pile of frozen, gangly-looking birds with their long necks still intact.  The label, announcing this new product, read “Amish stewing hens.€..

Macaroni Gratin vs. Macaroni and Cheese

27th Feb 2007

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I’ve already done my public fawning over Thomas Keller’s cookbooks.  The absurd attention to details, the flowery short essays about “the importance of onion soup” in the philosophy of bistro cooking, the potential of preparing-ahead the “building blocks” of cooking (like soffrito and aioli ) that allow you to continue preparing uncomplicated dishes with simple, inspired combin...

Scaloppine Alla Marsala

3rd Jan 2007

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Happy New Year!  Those are the first words we've written in a long time here at the Paupered Chef because for all the holiday spirit, the roasts, the wine, and the interesting family rituals we could have informed you about, we decided to be lazy.  Unlike successful people, we took the break for exactly what it was, and waited until our respective families fed us until we couldn't stomach an...

An Unlikely Salad Concoction

28th Sep 2006

Raun_salad_5 I never have any idea what to put in a salad.  I know this much: make your own dressing, that's a given.  Mushrooms are a good bet, as they soak up all the flavor and end up being remarkably delicious.  Leaves: yes.  Good oilve oil and vinegar (or lemon / lime juice).  Salt, fresh pepper.  Avocado if you feel fancy.  Raw onions, just a bit, taste sweet when combined in with the vinegar....

School Days Thursday: The Mystery of Salisbury Steak

14th Sep 2006

Salisbury_steak_11 Besides meatloaf, it's the ultimate mystery meat.  Coated with a thick brown sauce and usually hard as a rock, Salisbury steak was the meal I most genuinely hated during my school years.  Its presence institgated the hoarding of dinner rolls and the unfortunate act of talking to girls, just so I could make off with one of their mini cobs of corn.  It was a tough day on the streets, and one I...