Michael Ruhlman's Blog, page 78

How To Make Thanksgiving Gravy: It Starts with Turkey Stock!

If you're making Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday and want delicious turkey gravy, make a small batch of easy turkey stock this weekend.  If you have delicious stock on hand, gravy is just a little roux away.  We'll have ten at the table this year and I'm making a batch of stock this weekend from the [...]

Columbus, Ohio, Food

A year ago, I drove a couple hours south of Cleveland to a strip mall off Interstate 71 to film part of an episode of Bourdain's "No Reservations" heartland episode, at a stellar Japanese restaurant called Kihachi (google map it, look at all the parking lots and new housing developments). During the meal Bourdain, I [...]

Weekly Menu Planning: Be Organized

Alton Brown's voice was hoarse from three performances at Cleveland's Fabulous Food Show Saturday and from shouting in conversation to fans in the noisy I-X center. But the white Burgundy and clams with foie gras at Greenhouse Tavern that night were going a long way in soothing the chords and the soul. "I always say, [...]

Percolator re-Love

I am lucky enough to live in a town where the local hardware store carries replacement electrical cords for old fashioned percolators.  The fact that mine crackles when I plug it in means it's time to get to that store. And it reminded me of this post from nearly two years ago.  My love of [...]

Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet potato chips beat potato chips by a mile.  I hadn't cooked these in years, which is a real shame—so many missed opportunities for pleasure! Sweet potato chips are dense, flavorful, nutritious, and compulsively eatable. They all but jump into your hand without your being aware of it. I mean look at them.  Are they [...]

Holiday Cookie Challenge

Two important introductions today, the first is a contest, a Holiday Cookie Challenge (more about Gourmet's newly published book below).  And the second is an introduction to a culinary colleague who has begun helping me out, keeping me organized, preventing my brain from exploding all over my computer screen.  Emilia Juocys (pronounced YO-chess, Lithuanian background), [...]

Grass-Fed Beef, Part 2: Selling It

Doug Katz, chef-owner of one of the go-to restaurants on the east side of Cleveland, buys half a cow every two or three weeks from Aaron Miller, the farmer farmer profiled in the previous post. Doug believes in all the things Aaron and Melissa do—humane animal husbandry, local food, the elegance of grass fed beef—and [...]

Grass-Fed Beef Farmer, Aaron Miller:"It's all about the fat."

I've always wanted to like 100%-grass-fed beef, but it always made me a little sad.  With the first bite, there's promise but I always find it ultimately lacking the flavor and succulence of beef finished on grain. Having bought in wholly to Michael Pollan's argument in favor of the natural elegance of beef grown on [...]

Halloween 2010: The Last Walk

For the first time I can remember, Daylight Saving Time remained in effect on Halloween, so the sky was unusually bright.  We'd spent the afternoon at Thomas and Heather's across the street, eating pizza straight from the wood oven in their backyard, surrounded by our neighbors and their kids.  All the women were cold and [...]

Pickled Green Tomatoes!

I get green tomato pickles on my mind every time I walk past the tomatoes on the vine in my backyard these chilly days. I've been reading about pickles, too.  One of the best books I've found is Linda Ziedrich's The Joy of Pickling.  It's not only thorough, it's also very well written (I was [...]