Have you ever seen a recipe involving mushrooms that did not involve pre-cooking the mushrooms? This is usually done by sauteing the mushrooms over high heat with just a little oil and salt. Putting raw mushrooms on a pizza essentially ruins it. the mushrooms taste raw, because they mostly are, while the pizza is watery … Read more
Trahana is sometimes referred to as sort of a Greek pasta, and that is essentially what it is: a small granular pasta. While we mostly think of pasta as an Italian specialty, Greece has dozens of traditional pastas as well. For instance, Greece has something called nioki. Nope, it is not a relative of Italian gnocchi. It … Read more
Most people who like to cook and eat mussels believe that they are done cooking when the shells open. Furthermore, any mussels that don’t open cannot be eaten because the mussels were dead. You should always throw away unopened mussels! Is this true? Are closed mussels bad? Can you eat dead mussels? The truth is, … Read more
Forget what you think you know about Mexico’s national dish. It’s not the taco, and it’s definitely not those salty, fast-food monstrosities from Chipotle. The real crown belongs to mole, a sophisticated, soul-warming sauce that is far more refined and flavorful than its reputation suggests. While many guess the name comes from the Spanish word … Read more
There is something about the ice cream headache or brain freeze. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. It is nothing short of agonizing, and yet as kids, we would purposely ate our ice cream cones too fast to bring one on. And then we screamed, partly in pain and partly with the thrill of … Read more
Most people believe that Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy from China, thus bringing the concept of pasta with him. The great Venetian explorer/merchant is said to have discovered much during his fabled visits to China, and that without him, Italy would not have developed the pasta it is famed for today. To be … Read more