Empires, Cannibals, and Magic Fish Bones
Join us as we celebrate food, the dinner table, and quite likely empires, cannibals and magic fish bones!
Well, it’s been awhile since Thanksgiving, and in the last post I left everything hanging on the preparations; however, with the semester over, oral exams finished, and only the tabulation of judgment left, I can take some time to turn back the clock and review the gastronomic event that was November 27, 2014. I’ll narrate … Continue reading Reconstructing Thanksgiving with a Kir Normand.
Oh, Louis Léopold Boilly, you’ve captured the rapture of a gourmand! My turkey still swims in its brine and the duck thaws on the black granite counter, but what about the stuffing and side dishes? First off, thank you Bon Appétit for your Cornbread, Chorizo, Cherry and Pecan Stuffing recipe, which I’m adjusting to Cornbread, Chorizo, … Continue reading Vegetables, Wine, Whiskey, Hell and Smoke Alarms
The Thanksgiving Turkey has arrived! Last night Greenling delivered a Bourbon Red Heritage, Free Range Turkey from Richardson Farms. Now, that’s a turkey! Bearing reddish plumage and first bred in Bourbon County, Kentucky the Bourbon Red sat on many a Thanksgiving table from the last decades of the nineteenth century all the way to World … Continue reading There Will Be Thanksgiving!
Here is a description of a food class I’m offering this mid-winter session at The Honors College at the University of Houston. More news to come. While reading, I suggest you listen to the Presentation for The Mystery Sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Von Biber. What is a recipe? It’s an All in One complex system … Continue reading The Great Banquet: The Alchemy of Recipes
Above is vision of hell from an unknown Portuguese artist from the sixteenth century. I’m thinking the great Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton movie. Sometimes cooks, foodies, gastronomes, gourmands and everyone else may come off as a bit too celebratory, a bit too awed by food and the culinary world. Sometimes we need a reminder … Continue reading If The Foodie World Is A Family Drama, Then It May Look Like “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf.”
Above, the Fury of Achilles as painted by Coypel Charles-Antoine in 1737 captures the divine-infused killing spree the Greek hero embarks upon after his friend Patroclus is killed by Apollo, Euphorbus, and Hector. Quite appropriate for this post as Gabriela and I spent the week helping to create a midterm for three-hundred and fifteen Honors … Continue reading A Midterm, Two Ribeyes and Skeletor
It’s a scene out of Goethe’s Faust and a print by Jacob II de Gheyn (1600)–a witch’s kitchen. Lord knows what’s bubbling in the cauldron. It’s an old legend. A magician strives for all knowledge and power crafting a bargain with the Devil, and rules over the world for a few years, but then plummets … Continue reading Cooking: A Faustian Wager.
Francisco Goya’s still-life, A Butcher’s Counter. A sheep’s head and sides of mutton. Painted between 1810 and 1812. Painted during the ano del hambre in Madrid when thousands starved to death. This was the time of Napoleon’s invasion, time of Desastres de la Guerra. In our featured painting, protein is the key molecule, movement. In … Continue reading Protein Of The Soul
I’ve begun to read René Redzepi’s Work in Progress: Journal, Recipes and Snapshots. One thing true about the Great Forager is his abundant use of flowers: “A Light Stew of Broad Beans and Flowers,” “Spicy and Sweet Cucumber and Pickled Elderflowers,” “A Plateful of Flowers and Some Vinaigrette.” His titles read like poems–“Steamed Dandelion Leaves and … Continue reading Off The Menu
Down White Oak from Revival Market in the Houston Heights waits a trattoria-style dining experience combining fresh, local produce and engaging, delicious cooking–Coltivare. Mr. and Mrs. MagicFishBones arrive at six, greet another couple, and fortunately are able to sit immediately at one of the last available tables–right near the front window. Going out to dinner … Continue reading Coltivare–Pig Parts and Putrefaction Never Tasted So Good.
