Recipe

We’ve reached an odd place with pumpkin-spice flavored products. It’s a flavor that’s become absurdly ubiquitous during the months of October and November. It’s not just the notorious Starbucks’ lattes, but also the Pringles and the beef jerky and the Peeps. Clearly, the flavor is popular, but it has also become, in recent years, a perennial object …

A few years ago, bartenders went crazy for barrel-aging cocktails. The idea is simple: make a large batch of a cocktail, put it in a barrel (preferably one that’s been used for aging bourbon or wine) and let the cocktail age, mellow, oxidize a bit, and take on the flavor of the wood. It’s basically …

Most Wednesdays during the growing season I go to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. It is, of course, where I shop for fruits and vegetables. But I also like to go to the free chef demonstrations that the market hosts. Because these take place on Wednesday mornings, the crowd tends to be mostly retirees, …

I love salted caramel. You love salted caramel. We all love salted caramel. Or most of us do anyway. It’s getting to the point where it’s unusual to see the word caramel not preceded by some salty adjective. But what if you could take that rich, creamy dark salted caramel and add some notes of umami? …

It may not seem like it, what with all the cakes and cookies and bars and brownies and pots de creme and cocktails, but I spend a lot of time thinking about wellness. I haven’t always been that way. I was a habitual lunch-skipper in high school (who occasionally pooled fries with friends). I subsisted mostly on grilled cheese for …

I spent the entirety of the week before last in a baking marathon. These brown butter apple almond cakes were just one of five different desserts plus a two-tier cake I made. I was tasked with creating and producing a dessert buffet for our friends’ Traci and Dan’s wedding. Traci loves good food and is …