Content about Bill Buford
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April 24, 2008
Polenta is only water, salt, and cornmeal, unless a cook chooses, in the style of risotto, to finish with a knob of butter or a hill of Parmesan cheese. It is one those dishes so simple, its execution can be lackluster or transcendent, depending on who makes it. What happens when these three things are combined is anyone's guess. The result can be like cornbread blended with water, a soupy, leaden porridge--or it can be silky...
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January 24, 2008
From his memoir Heat
My favorite passages from Bill Buford's Heat are set in the Babbo kitchen, when he describes with fear and awe the wonder that is a busy restaurant kitchen at dinnertime-- tickets flying, steam vaporizing, oil popping. Orders arrive faster than they can be made; you are perpetually behind. The heat, of course, is unbearable-- like a shimmering wall when you enter the kitchen. Sweat pours down. Timing is everything. A mistakes can...
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June 1, 2006
Tackling the art of braising
When I got to the grocery store I had no idea what short ribs look like, so I simply asked for 2 pounds of them, and that amounted to 4 short ribs. Thankfully the butcher didn't look at me funny or say "They're right in front of you, bub" (which they were). They were only about 6 dollars a pound, amounting to 12 dollars of meat feeding four people. This was looking good. It was time to learn how to braise....
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All content copyright Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer.
