The Cook’s Kitchen

Do you remember the Greek Mythology you studied in high school? Do you remember stories of Athena and Poseidon?  What about their fight to win over King Cecrops and the gods over the King’s established city? While the Ruler of the Sea brought forth water promising naval protection, the virgin goddess, Zeus’ daughter, created an […]

As the Organic Chef, organic beef farmer, nutritionist and organic consultant, one of the comments that I hear most often is that organics are too expensive. How can anyone afford to feed their family organically? My response is always “You’re not thinking pragmatically”.
There is a solution - the 80% solution.  There are ways to feed […]

When I saw cute kitchen products in an issue of O at Home magazine, I was on it like white on rice.  I mean, really, why not make cooking and your kitchen just a little more fun, right?
These little fellas are ergonomically designed, and a breeze to clean.  From Boston Warehouse, the Animalhouse kitchen products […]

Who is the budding chef?
It’s the person you know who likes to cook but is still learning basic techniques. This person will eventually appreciate the best of the best stuff, but for now, they just need a few good tools to help them get started.
What is a good present for the budding chef?
The budding chef […]

In the United states, we celebrate just about anything and everything.  In preparation for one of this months’ articles, I was looking over a few things that are celebrated in October.

Nationwide, October is Toilet Tank Repair Month.
National Chestnut Week is October 8th through the 14th.
And all day long on October 20th, Wewoka, Oklahoma hosts the Sorghum Day Festival.

The first […]

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are between 60 and 80 million cases of food-borne illnesses caused by Salmonella each year.  And according to statistics from the US Food and Drug Administration, nearly one-third of all food-borne illnesses start in the home.  Of those cases, 36% are due to cross contamination. 
I think I’m […]

August and September are the favorite months of the year for Chileheads.  That’s when the green chile harvest moves across the Southwest. If you live in that part of the country you have no doubt seen roadside stands, fields where you can pick-your-own, weekend festivals devoted to them and the very common chile trucks in […]

Soup isn’t something you normally associate with summer, but served cold or at room termperature, it can be a simple summer meal with a fresh baguette. Recently, I had 8 guests for dinner after working all day (what was I thinking?), and served appetizer portions of soup in tiny chinese tea cups. The look was […]

This post originally appeared on The Hampton Smoker

Cooks Illustrated have done their usually thorough head to head testing to determine which charcoal burns hottest. Let’s see what they found out…….
What’s the Hottest Charcoal?
Conventional wisdom dictates that hardwood (or “lump”) charcoal flames up fast and furious, while charcoal briquettes burn low and slow. For that reason, most of […]

Here’s a BBQ gadget I haven’t figured out yet. The BBQ Spinner. I like gadgets, I really do, but c’mon. It’s a spatula with what appears to be a spinner hubcap welded on for no apparent reason. I can’t imagine what this thing is like to clean.
From their website… “The burgers will be duly impressed […]