Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 146

Carrot Cake

My friend Cole Escola had a birthday recently and to celebrate I decided to cook him and his friend Jeffery Self a birthday dinner. You may know Jeffery and Cole as stars of their own show on LOGO, "Jeffery & Cole Casserole." To honor their show, I once made them a casserole; now, for his birthday, I decided to make Cole two more C dishes (ones that he requested): chiili & carrot cake.

Before we get to the food, though, I'd just like to point out that Cole has been posting a...

Gingerbread Rockettes

Thanks to A.G. reader Chris Monsos for the idea for this month's new banner, a festive foodie tribute to the great Radio City Music Hall spectacular (with me getting kicked in the butt by a piece of gingerbread). Also, of course, a hat tip to Justin for getting those Rockettes kicking and a big salute to Lindy Groening for another brilliant illustration. In fact, I'm now proud to announce something that's been a long time coming: a banner gallery where you can view all of Lindy's previous ban...

Our Town

This is not a theater blog, it's a food blog. So why, on this Friday morning, am I writing a post about "Our Town"? Specifically, the production on Barrow Street in the West Village directed by David Cromer? All I will say, here in this first paragraph, is that if you live in New York and you want to see something beautiful and powerful, an emotionally-charged and totally un-cheesy interpretation of a classic American play, rush downtown and behold this lovely, surprising and deeply...

Lard Pie Crust (from Flying Pigs Farm)

I never know if I'm stealing an Edible Manhattan when I remove it from a coffee shop or store. Usually there's a price on top of it, but they're stacked up next to The Onion and the Onion's free, right? So I'm either wanted by New York City police or I'm perfectly within my rights to pilfer a copy each month.

And this month I'm glad I did it, because it was in the pages of a pilfered Edible Manhattan that I learned about the lard pie crust from Flying Pigs Farm.

I realize that ...

How To Make Fried Chicken

The undisputed master of fried chicken here in New York City is Chef Charles Gabriel of Rack n' Soul and now Charles' Country Pan Fried Chicken (there's a big article about it in today's New York Times.) Chef Gabriel is such a master, it was an absolute privilege this summer to stand at his side in his Harlem kitchen watching him pan fry chicken the way it's been done in his family for generations. What follows is our latest Food2 video, which not only gives you the recipe for Chef Gabriel's ...

Sunday Gravy

The thing about Thanksgiving is that people have expectations. They expect some kind of squash soup, they expect turkey, of course, and stuffing and taters (mashed and sweet) and all kinds of pies for dessert. Maybe that's why I don't like cooking it: the element of surprise is fairly limited ("Oooh look, he put cranberries in the stuffing!") and even if you half-ass it, people will still enjoy themselves as long as there's plenty of wine. Where's the fun in that? Where's the challenge...

Feast

Here's an appropriate video for those of you preparing to feast tomorrow; it's a montage of scenes from great food movies ("Big Night," "Like Water For Chocolate," "Goodfellas," etc) created by Matt Zoller Seitz:

That Thanksgiving scene from "Avalon" fueled a running punchline in my family; every Thanksgiving my dad would say, in a thick Yiddish accent, "You cut the toikey?" My mom would say it too. And thus I hope you all have fun cutting your toikeys tomorrow.

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Eid-Al-Adha (The Sacrificial Feast)

[We all know the big American food holiday that's fast approaching--most food blogs, magazines and TV shows are going crazy over it--but there's another food holiday that's fast approaching too, a holiday that I didn't know anything about until last year when I decided to work on a book proposal about religion and food called "Food of the Gods." The book, unfortunately, never got off the ground, but this sample chapter is something that I'm really proud of and eager to share. So, pull up a...

A Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

In case you haven't noticed, food blogs, food magazines, food networks and the like love Thanksgiving. They love it because, for once, the nation is intent on cooking dinner. For 364 days out of the year, that's mostly not the case--what with fast food and frozen dinners and all the other instant options at our fingertips. But Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is something you've gotta cook. That is, unless you're me.

Me, I prefer cooking those other 364 days out of the year. It's not ...

Ordering in from Otto

As a New York based food blogger, I often make an effort to vary my posts so that those of you not in New York--which, I imagine, is actually the large majority of you--can feel like I'm speaking to you too.

But this post, despite its New York specificity, has what I imagine is universal appeal--mostly because of a chef that I've loved and admired for as long as I've been interested in cooking. That chef is Mario Batali.

Mario's show "Molto Mario" was the show, along with...