David Leite's Blog, page 6
July 3, 2020
If It’s July Fourth, It Must Be Deborah’s
Fourth of July is a bit of a sad holiday for me. I’m reminded of my friend Deborah Murphy, who passed away far, far too young several years ago. It’s not that she died on the Fourth, or was born on the Fourth for that matter, but that she owned the Fourth. Entirely, consummately, possessively.
In my circle of friends, we’ve come to a hard-won détente about hosting holidays, and pity the man who tries to wrest them from us....
June 27, 2020
When a Bifana is More than a Sandwich
Growing up, I never heard the word bifanas. My family didn’t make them. We never ordered them those few times–so few I could count on one hand–we went to a restaurant. We never had them at the St. John of God’s summer fair. Suffice it to say that these flavor bombs, these sometimes-drippy, always-alluring Portuguese sandwiches of garlicky marinated pork slices never crossed my lips.
☞ MAKE THE RECIPE: Bifanas |...
March 20, 2020
Let’s Hygge Together!
Such a marvelously serpentine-looking word, isnt it? Interestingly, it doesnt sound at all like it looks. Its pronounced hoo-guh, but I always see higgy. Then I think jiggy. Then I think, well, all sorts of athletic bed gymnasticsso lets not go down that rabbit hole together, shall we? Especially as Im at my moms home helping her get set up, stocked up,...
January 26, 2020
The Garden of Him
[On Saturday, January 25th, David’s beloved dad, Manny, died after a tough battle with mesothelioma and congestive heart failure. All of us at LC are deeply saddened. To honor the man who taught David so much, we’re rerunning his Father’s Day essay about Papa Leite.–ed.]
My father is a good man. Just ask my mother. Actually, if you spend enough time with her, she’ll tell you anyway, blurting it out while watching TV...
November 17, 2019
Lost in the Atlantic: The Azores and Its Hearty Cuisine
I get all kinds of responses when I tell people where my family’s from. My favorite reply was uttered at a party by a young woman swathed in a gauzy, tie-dyed dress who was eating an alarming amount of hummus.”Oh, your family’s from the Azores?” she gushed. “You know, they’re the remains of the lost city of Atlantis. I lived there in a past life.”
Most people, regardless of what they think, know...
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MostNovember 11, 2019
Where is the Thickest Part of a Turkey Thigh?
For a long time, every year when it came to the interminable turkey-eating season—November to New Year’s Day—I stood there holding a meat thermometer, hands trembling, face twitching, wondering if this bird would be the one I actually cooked correctly. You see, it seemed no matter what I did, I missed the thickest part of the turkey thigh so spectacularly that, for a while, I left the protein-cooking part of the day in The...
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November 10, 2019
Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese
This pumpkin macaroni and cheese is easy and creamy and rich. What else would you expect from a skillet full of pasta, Cheddar, pumpkin, bacon, and sage? Comfort food at its most indulgent with a smidgen of conscience-appeasing healthfulness.
[image error]November 2, 2019
How to Buy a Thanksgiving Turkey
This month, millions of us will find ourselves standing, dazed and confused, at butcher shops, supermarkets, hoity-toity gourmet stores, and farmers markets, wondering how to buy a Thanksgiving turkey. Once again we’ll be confronted, as we are each November, with every conceivable type of turkey, each labeled with terms that may seem straightforward but in fact don’t always mean what you’d think. Fresh. Frozen....
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October 29, 2019
A Tale of Two Portuguese Stuffings
When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was part holiday, part carnival. We’d gather around the table and all the women (that’s not as sexist a remark as it may seem; it was the ’60s, after all) would become carnie barkers. Right after my grandfather finished grace, the air would explode with their babble—Hey, you, young man! How about you, little lady!—trying to coax you to step...
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WhenOctober 11, 2019
The Secret Behind Milk Mayonnaise
It’s the unlikeliest of couples. One thin and popular, the other fat and shunned. Each repelled by the other. But when senselessly beaten into a frenzied submission, oh, how they cave! These two frenemies suddenly give in and embrace one other, creating a more perfect union.
Sound like a bad episode of The Marriage Ref? Not surprising. When these culinary opposites—milk and oil—are thrown together, they act a lot like warring...
