Ketchup is a simple sauce made of fruit, sugar, vinegar, and spices. But the fruit does not have to be tomatoes. Pick cherries to make a delicious ketchup! My favorite ketchup is made with cherries, specifically the tart Montmorency cherries. This year (unlike the last two years) is a fabulous year for cherries. Here is […]

Strawberries have arrived, which means it is time to make strawberry jam (followed by all the other fruits of summer: cherry, peach, gooseberry, and any other ripe fruit). Time for a jam session! Homemade fruit jam is simple to make: equal parts fruit and sugar plus one package of pectin for every 4 cups of chopped fruit. Place the […]

I love chicken-and-waffle restaurants. They combine the best part of breakfast and dinner: waffles with sweet syrup and salty fried chicken. Who needs bacon with your waffles if you can have crispy fried chicken? Chicken and waffles are a perfect Sunday food — breakfast or dinner or any time of the day. Waffle irons are […]

Over the transom came a recipe which I just had to try…because the first ingredient was a pound of butter. Reading further, the recipe instructs cooking the mushrooms for 6-8 hours in the said pound of butter. Wow. I did it and these mushrooms are indescribable. They are no mere fungi, but caramelized and intensely flavored. Want […]

I am not fickle over fickles; I absolutely love my new-found treat: a pickled fig. The fig season is just ending, but run to make these delectables. Why? Fickles are delicious on a roasted beet-poached egg salad or as a condiment with lamb, pork, or chicken or with any gooey cheese. I’m sure they would be fabulous […]

In honor of Norman Drey

Well, yes, because I accidentally did the experiment today. I made chocolate sauce and didn’t have quite enough of my favorite Valrhona chocolate. So I added a bar of supermarket-quality chocolate that I found in the cupboard. The result? The inferior chocolate never melted! Since real chocolate melts at body temperature, I shudder to think […]

ketchup recipe

More rain and now we have had twice the amount of rain as in a typical year. What does all this rain mean? Nothing has been planted this spring in our field of mud. The spring flowers look lush and marvelous, but the steady rain washes out the nectar in the flowers. The flowers need […]

smoked pork tenderloin, pear marmalade, spaetzle, angel food cake