David Leite's Blog, page 9
April 28, 2018
Homemade Maple-Espresso Bacon
This homemade bacon is made with pork belly and cured with maple syrup, espresso, brown sugar, and black pepper. It’s then smoked to perfection.
Homemade bacon direct from my backyard using my Bradley Smoker, 2014
Honestly, I’m at a loss for words–hard for me, the kid who was nicknamed “Chatty Cathy” through all 12 years of school. How can I begin to tell you how phenomenally easy it is to make your own...
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March 10, 2018
Corned Beef Hash-It-Out
This corned beef hash, made of potatoes, onion, butter, and corned beef, turns leftovers into lusciousness any time of day.
Originally published March 12, 2013.
As part of his wooing ritual way back in 1994, The One lured me up to his country house, in Barryville, New York, one weekend. The blush was very much on the rose back then. It was a time when I learned something new about my inamorato almost daily—such as how, on Saturdays,...
February 9, 2018
Someone’s in the Kitchen with Ina
Ina Garten's lemon chicken recipe, made with lemons and croutons, is quick, easy, and our favorite Barefoot Contessa roast chicken.
Originally published February 14, 2013
Just about everyone who cooks has a Julia Child story. How she inspired them, how she entertained them, even how she got them pregnant! When it comes to Julia worship, people practically fainted in her presence with religious fervor. My own Julia story, yet to be revealed,...
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February 4, 2018
Forever and Completely
This Hershey's chocolate cake recipe is an old-fashioned classic that will never, ever disappoint.
When I Fall In LoveA long-term relationship has a lot in common with cleaning out a closet. Over the years, you learn what’s worth keeping and what can be tossed. In my nearly two decades with The One, we’ve often cleared the emotional and interpersonal closets of our lives, each time reshaping the sum of us. For example,...
February 2, 2018
A Gay Man’s Super Bowl
“Looking forward to the Super Bowl?” a male friend asked recently, not with without a little snigger. He’s the kind of guy who finds burping as punctuation to his words to be inordinately funny. I also suspect he’s fond of manscaping. But since we’ve never gone swimming together–I’ll only go in the water if I’m swathed in fabric, much like the saris old women wear while bathing in the...
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January 16, 2018
Tales of a Supertaster
Originally published January 9, 2006
Being a supertaster was the last thing on my mind when my dentist said, “Don’t eat anything for the next few hours,” snapping off a pair of latex gloves and dropping them into the trash. “You could bite your cheek or tongue. Could be nasty.” I’d been white-knuckling it in the chair for almost an hour because I had to get a filling regrouted. Owing to a pain threshold of...
December 25, 2017
The Ho of Christmas Morning
The One and I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, so we got up early to make a video. Why we didn’t think to do this last week, when we weren’t rushed, I’ll never know. But at least you can see the snowfall through the windows on this white Christmas.
And if you’re curious as to the recipes we’re making for our Christmas dinner, here they are:
December 20, 2017
The Goose of Christmas Past
Originally...
November 11, 2017
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....
November 10, 2017
Thickest Part of the Thigh, Huh?
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 mark so spectacularly that, for a while, I left the protein-cooking part of the day in The One’s hands and I took up the...
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