April 06, 2015
Spice Trends
Chiles are up. Celery salt is down....
October 17, 2014
How To Make Ceviche
Don't forget the love! [Thanks to John DiBartolo]...
June 09, 2014
Does Refrigeration Really Ruin Bread?
Daniel Gritzer, at Serious Eats, has done the research, and here it is....
February 19, 2014
So You Want To Be a Chef-Owner?
A cautionary tale from one of my favorite chefs, Dave Santos. Here is an interview about the trials and tribulations of surviving in NYC and here's a photo-essay that shows you the kind of hours Dave and his staff work....
March 27, 2012
Why Does Iced Coffee Cost More than Hot?
Turns out iced coffee really does cost more for the shop than hot coffee. Who knew?...
February 03, 2012
Serious Eats Doughnut Style Guide
Please don't read when hungry....
November 08, 2011
Cooking with Ted
Celebrity Chef Ted Allen Cooks His Favorite Pretentious Foodie Bullshit Meal...
June 26, 2011
It's Not the Water?
There is a persistent myth that it is the water that makes New York bagels and pizzas superior to other places. Slate's Explainer argues that, at least in the case of bagels, it just ain't true....
February 27, 2011
Mark Bittman on McDonald's New "Oatmeal"
Worth reading....
September 27, 2010
So You Want to Be a Chef?
Anthony Bourdain doesn't think so....
September 26, 2010
Falafel King
EMBED-Greatest Falafel Picker In The World - Watch more free videos...
August 31, 2010
An Eggscellent Egg-Tasting
Do organic or free-range eggs taste better than their lower-priced counterparts in the supermarket? A Serious Eats investigation yields fascinating results....
June 06, 2010
24 Hours at Alinea
A day in the life of this Chicago temple of molecular gastronomy....
May 12, 2010
A Reporter for the NY Times Gets Kicked Out of a Fancy Restaurant
"A dinner at Restaurant Marc Forgione raises the question, when a chef screams at his staff, is it O.K. to ask him to stop?" More than 300 people have responded to the blog post, and seem evenly divided over whether...
May 06, 2010
First Family and Barbecue
[Thanks to Blaine Greenfield]...
April 28, 2010
Chocolate Bread
Here's how to make it....
April 18, 2010
Edible Flags
Courtesy of Flavorwire: [Thanks to Jeremy Osner]...
March 09, 2010
Amnesty Cookies
Promise me Amnesty Cookies and I'll plead guilty to just about anything....
March 01, 2010
Dessert Tasting Menu
Gastronomy, one of my favorite L.A.-based food blogs, reports about an eight-course all-dessert tasting menu, but one that takes the diner from "cocktails" to "coffee." Ummm....
February 21, 2010
What is a Grape Nut?
Grape Nuts have fallen on hard times. Once the seventh best selling cereal in the U.S., it now "commands" a less than one-percent share of the market. In a Wall Street Journal article, Barry Newman contemplates not only the Imponderable...
February 19, 2010
Prune Whip!
Just one of 20 old recipes chosen by RFT that make us very happy to be living in 2010. [Thanks to Michael Feldman]...
November 24, 2009
Make Your Thanksgiving Gravy Today or Tomorrow
So says Michael Ruhlman....
October 18, 2009
The McDonald's Map
You are never more than 145 miles from a McDonald's if you happen to live in the U.S. Here's a map to prove it. [Thanks to Andrew Sullivan]...
September 26, 2009
30 Bucks a Week
That's the budget for two (admittedly, vegetarian) folks for one week's worth of meals. Included are not only recipes, but shopping stratagems and actual receipts. I just blew more than their budget on dinner last night. These two rock....
July 12, 2009
A Gourmet Goes to the Cheesecake Factory
May 06, 2009
How Fast Do You Eat?
This chart, from Economix's Catherine Rampell, shows a startling correlation between speedy eating and obesity. The French spend literally twice as long eating as Americans. And we like the Turks' style: they average almost 3 hours a day chowing...
April 29, 2009
The Grilled Cheese Invitational
My kind of festival! This was featured in a charming food blog, gas.tron.o.my...
April 11, 2009
Ubuntu
Do you think deprivation when contemplating a vegetarian meal? We think you'll reevaluate after seeing Jeff Zalaznick's photo-laden review of the vegetarian tasting menu at Ubuntu, in Napa, California....
April 08, 2009
Top 100 Independent Restaurants
Here's Restaurants and Institutions' 2009 list of the Top 100 independent restaurant food and beverage sales. As usual, New York and Las Vegas establishments dominate the list. I'm surprised how few of the top grossers I've been to (one in...
February 23, 2009
No Reservations!
Tonight, at 10:00 P.M. EST on the Travel Channel, Anthony Bourdain visits some of his favorite "Disappearing Manhattan" restaurants and food emporiums in New York, including my favorite, Russ & Daughter's on the Lower East Side....
February 10, 2009
Why Is Peanut Butter So Popular?
A short history of peanut butter....
January 08, 2009
What's in Your Pantry?
Mark Pittman argues that too many pantries are loaded with too expensive and too untasty ingredients. Mark Ruhlman adds an equally valuable post about what should be in your freezer....
December 02, 2008
Have Questions for a Sushi Chef?
Then bigtuna27 is here to help....
November 30, 2008
Black Friday at Boston Market
This is not an Abbott and Costello routine. This really happened to Mark Evanier....
November 24, 2008
To Brine Or Not To Brine
It's the time of year for turkey preparation anxiety. Harold McGee makes the case for avoiding the hassles of brining. He sold me when points out that brined turkeys make cruddy gravy....
November 18, 2008
Texas Barbecue
No reading could be more essential than Calvin Trillin's take on an obscure joint that was named best barbecue in the state by Texas Monthly....
November 02, 2008
Why We Vote
October 27, 2008
The Bradley Snack Effect
The Bradley Effect isn't just for elections any more....
October 13, 2008
Starbucks Goes Discount
USA Today outlines Starbucks's latest attempt to boost sales is an unlikely route: price. As the article elucidates, the strategy is three-pronged: 1. Lower prices on holiday gifts (those CDs that were $14.95 last Christmas will be $12.95 this year)...
October 01, 2008
Popcorn and Futility
A New York judge has decided that perfectly-popped popcorn is an unfulfillable fantasy....
September 21, 2008
Robert Steinberg, R.I.P.
If the name Robert Steinberg doesn't ring a bell, if you are a chocolate fancier, you'll recognize the last name of his business partner, John Scharffenberger. His friend, David Lebovitz, whose blog you should be reading, has written a lovely...
August 28, 2008
Let's All Move To Spain
La Tomatina Festival...
August 16, 2008
Cake Wrecks
You've got to have the sour with the sweet. [Thanks to John Di Bartolo]...
July 03, 2008
Why Don't Competitive Eaters Get Sick More Often?
They do, actually. Even the most famous....
June 29, 2008
How Much Is a Handful?
Some folks, including this amateur cook, are mystified by how vague some cookbooks are about quantities of ingredients to put into recipes. In his most recent blog post, cookbook writer extraordinaire David Lebovitz explains the dilemmas from the other side....
April 14, 2008
What the World Eats
Less than me, evidently. [Thanks to Susan Thomas]...
March 10, 2008
Nintendo Meets Iron Chef
My kind of video game....
February 24, 2008
I'm Alive...
and on vacation. I haven't spent so little time online in a long time. I've taken a bit of a break on the blog, but thought I'd share this story from the New York Times about the reaction of Japan...
February 14, 2008
A Valentine's Day Video
Nothing says Valentine's Day like a hedgehog eating a carrot. [Thanks to Andrew Sullivan]...
December 27, 2007
Fridgewatcher
We are what we eat....
December 26, 2007
The Most Expensive Drink at Starbucks
I've never been able to crack the single-digit barrier. But the price is only as limited as your imagination....
December 16, 2007
12 Birds in One
Turduckens? Ha! Turduckens are for sissies. [Thanks to Maria Barron]...
December 11, 2007
Edible Wikipiedia
Does it taste like chicken? [Thanks to Jeremy Osner]...
November 22, 2007
Let's Talk Turkey
Let us talk about the true meaning of Thanksgiving: stuffing our faces. In yesterday's New York Times, Julia Moskin addresses the age-old problem of how to carve the Thanksgiving turkey. The conclusion of the experts she consulted? Don't carve the...
Turkey Making You Sleepy?
Don't be so fast to blame the fowl....
November 06, 2007
Democrats Pin Hopes on Sushi
You are what you eat....
October 23, 2007
What's It Like To Eat at Hell's Kitchen?
James Hibberd, the excellent TV columnist, reports....
October 22, 2007
Top Ten Worst Nutritional Choices
The Center for Science in the Public Interest issues its best and worst list. There aren't any surprises on either list, really, except for quite how horrible some of the worst stuff really is. Read it and weep....
September 25, 2007
Free Popcorn
Well, sort of. Dale and Thomas, one of the best purveyors of "gourmet" popcorn is offering two bags for the reasonable shipping cost of $2.95. The deal includes some of D&T's most popular flavors, including Chocolate Chunk 'n Caramel, Butter...
September 14, 2007
No Need for Chocoholics Anonymous
According to a British researcher, you might like chocolate a lot. You might LOVE it. But you likely aren't addicted to chocolate....
August 08, 2007
McDonald's -- Kids Are Lovin' It!
By now, many of you have heard about the study that says that kids prefer the same food if wrapped in McDonald's packaging. Here's where it first appeared on the Web....
April 22, 2007
Suicide Food
Animals that desire to be eaten [Thanks to Michael Feldman]...
March 08, 2007
Waffle House Grill Cheat Sheet
Why you can get jelly with your french fries....
January 03, 2007
CSI: Chocolate
Here's a fascinating investigation into what is behind some of the most expensive chocolate in the world....
November 05, 2006
Why Can't You Buy Grape Ice Cream?
One of my favorite mysteries from Why Do Pirates Love Parrots? is a great Imponderable submitted by Michael Johnson of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We've got grape candy, grape juice, grape jelly, and grape Popsicles. But where is the grape ice...
October 21, 2006
Ummmmm, Pizza
Think it's easy to make a great pizza? It ain't. Just ask Jeff Verasano. Warning: Photos on this link will make you ravenous....
September 20, 2006
Espesso!
Just what we need. Another coffee product? Introducing Espesso. Right now, you can only find it in Chicago, but you can try to make it yourself....
September 15, 2006
Name the Cookie
Blogger extraordinaire Mark Evanier asks the immortal question: What is the name of this cookie? Any Imponderables reader have a clue? If so, email me....
August 19, 2006
Fresh Peach Pie
I'm about to buy a digital camera because I can't abide not being able to share with you a photo of the fresh peach pie at the illustrious Pie 'N Burger in Pasadena, California. Hope you will settle for...
August 17, 2006
Latte Art
What you don't get at Starbucks......
August 02, 2006
More of Bourdain on Lebanon
Anthony Bourdain is back, safe and sound from Beirut and he chatted with the Washington Post online. Find out what food Bourdain ate in Lebanon before the bombing, why he likes the Navy, and isn't so sanguine about the American...
July 18, 2006
Video Blog of the Day
You can keep your music videos. You can keep your porn. I want to watch a white guy eating foreign foods. [Thanks to Jim Cypher]...
July 16, 2006
Chicago Musings
I'm in Chicago for the national bridge tournament. I've played two days straight and have two more to go, and then I revert to eating seriously. Seriously, but not necessarily elegantly. Chicago is noted for its great Thai and Mexican...
July 06, 2006
Chew On This
There are many worse things to put in your mouth than ice (see below). If you want some gruesome details, here's a thread on my Web hangout, Chowhound (with spanking-new software after its purchase by CNet). Don't eat this immediately...
July 05, 2006
Celebrities Have To Eat, Too
Even if they are photographed doing so....
June 11, 2006
Chef Boyardee
In the City section of the New York Times, the F.Y.I. column answers questions with a New York slant. Today, an anonymous reader asks if it is true that Chef Boyardee once worked at the Plaza Hotel in New York....
June 06, 2006
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
I was a big fan of Bravo's Top Chef and look forward to Fox's Hell's Kitchen, which has a similar format with a little more hype and bombast. But if you want to have as good a glimpse into the...
June 04, 2006
Dining by Satellite
Wonder why that expensive restaurant owned by the celebrity chef that you watch on the Food Channel is disappointing? Mark Bittman explains why in today's New York Times Magazine [free registration may be required]....
May 30, 2006
Beyond Bumble Bee
The usual brands of canned tuna are still cheap, but more expensive imported tuna is infiltrating the supermarket aisles. Here's an alternative: Tuna Guys. For a little more than three bucks a can, you can buy just caught tuna...
January 30, 2006
Adventures in Eating
Nothing will make you obsess more about food than being on a diet. I've had a few cravings for a cheeseburger, but maybe this is the antidote....
January 29, 2006
Why I'm on a Diet
Another reason I need to lose weight is that I eat altogether too much at Kabab Cafe, a wonderful Egyptian restaurant in Astoria, Queens. Recently, author extraordinaire, Gennita Low came for a visit, along with her boyfriend, Steven Rossi....
January 23, 2006
What Day Is It?
The most important day of the year....
December 29, 2005
Why I'm Going on a Diet
That's easy. I'm too much like this guy: and because this year wasn't too different from last year. No Rulli this year, but I didn't starve....
October 18, 2005
Where Does the Caffeine Go?
In Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? (originally published as When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth?), I discussed what happens to the caffeine that's taken out of coffee. Now in a four minute photo-essay on the National Geographic site, you can see...
October 16, 2005
The 62-Pound Hamburger and Other Great Moments in Junk Food
The Junk Food Blog is devoted to chronicling the latest development in arterially-clogging and cavity-inducing foodstuffs. We were sent there by another cool site, Strange New Products, that let us know that the world is no longer without candy corn...
October 15, 2005
Good News from the Big Easy
Let the beignets begin!...
September 09, 2005
Accept No Substitutes!
That's funny. It doesn't taste like tiger....
September 08, 2005
Practically Edible
A post on Chowhound referred to Practically Edible, a wonderful site that boasts that it is the "Web's Biggest Food Encylopedia." And I'm not about to dispute the assertion. The entries are charmingly quirky. The original Chowhound poster enjoyed the...
August 26, 2005
Why I'm a Big Man (Part 2)
Sometimes the most exciting food discoveries are happy accidents. More than ten years ago, when roaming around the wine district of California, some friends and I stumbled upon a small store in Petaluma, Angelo's Specialties. We were on the hunt...
July 27, 2005
Multitasking of the Highest Magnitude
Combining two of my favorite things. It's not too early to prepare for April, 2006. [Thanks to Michael Feldman}...
May 31, 2005
I Ain't Nothin' But a Chowhound
Like a dog, I'm always thinking about when and where my next meal is coming from. I like to think I'm a bit more discriminating about what food I shovel in my mouth than the average canine. I've always been...
May 19, 2005
The Wait Is Over
The hamburger has finally gotten its due....
May 11, 2005
The Museum of Food Anomalies
My kind of museum....
March 07, 2005
Steve, Don't Eat It!
We've got to help Steve! He's suffering for us. Thanks to Jeremy Osner, major domo of Readin blog....
December 26, 2004
Why I'm a Big Man (Part One)
My friends and family know me too well. Most of the gifts I've received this holiday season have been edible. And so have most of the gifts I've given. I thought I'd share some of the best stuff that can...
December 16, 2004
Why It Tastes Like Chicken
Sort of...
November 25, 2004
The True Meaning of Thanksgiving
October 08, 2004
Food of the Week
I've been wending my way through aged Goudas, and this is one of my favorites -- Dutch Parrano. It tastes like 3 shots of Gouda with one shot of Parmigiano Reggiano -- nutty and buttery. It's soft enough to...
October 01, 2004
Food of the Week
Haagen-Dazs Black Walnut ice cream. It's a "Limited Edition" flavor, so it could disappear without a trace....
September 22, 2004
Street Food in New York City
One of the great pleasures of living in New York City is sampling the wonderful food served by outdoor carts and vendors. And the queen of all of them is the Arepa Lady, who sets up shop in Jackson Heights,...