Content about Corn
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March 3, 2009
My wife has been bugging me for months now to make tamales, and it's always been the next project, the one I'll do after I finish whatever I'm doing at the moment. When that time comes I've usually forgotten about them and have moved onto something else. Truthfully, I didn't see much of a rush. I love tamales, but I can indulge in them whenever I'd like around my neighborhood. The possibilities are endless: I can...
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May 16, 2008
It's a tale of the old and the new. Of the high and the low. It's Wild Turkey and Maker's Mark, two bourbons I love, but couldn't be more different from each other. The Turkey is a high rye bourbon made to grip your taste buds and warm your insides, while smooth and seductive Maker's Mark is the gentleman's choice, somewhat conservative and much more expensive. Feeling guilty that I hadn't visited these two landmarks the...
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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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March 4, 2008
Corn tortillas are my comfort food. I use them as carrying cases for simple, satisfying meals and I use them a lot. They are a mainstay on my lazy Sunday breakfasts and always around when it’s time for a feast.
Part of that comfort factor comes from having them in my fridge at all times. While not as resilient as Twinkies, they can hold up for a time if properly wrapped in the fridge. Best part, if...
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The other day I was watching Iron Chef and Lidia Bastianich was a judge on the show. I'd never seen her in this role, and, frankly, it was scary. The woman is a strange blend of passion and unsmiling seriousness. Generally people who love food are laid back and groovy, and enthusiasm is usually tempered with a good dollop of sheepish self-consciousness: "I know I'm obsessed, and it makes me a dork, but I'm so excited I...
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April 1, 2007
Is there anything my cast iron skillet can't do? Whether it's steaks, peppers, or even pizza, the big hunk of metal is good for most of my high heat needs. But for bread? I'd never really done that before. Neither, for that matter, had I ever really wanted to make cornbread before.
I have no real love of this southern staple. I don't really have any fond memories of it as a child. I'm certainly...
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December 18, 2006
Ah, the avocado. I'm not sure where it can't be used--sandwiches, tacos, burritos, soups, or salads. The last, particularly, has been of interest lately, as it adds some healthy heftiness (is that a real thing?) to any otherwise wimpy salad. But not content to merely place it in my salads, I wondered what it might be like on it.
But I was worried it might go too far. When it comes to the salads, nothing ruins more than a...
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October 30, 2006
I had no idea. Abby and I are staring at this picture of skirt steak with string beans with mouths agape, salivating over the chance to make this fine meal, when we notice that nowhere in the ingredients are those beans listed. We double check, and then wonder what it was exactly that we were looking at. All they they had was something called haricot verts. "I'm not sure what that is," I blabbered out trying to...
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October 27, 2006
First off, a language lesson: refried beans are not fried twice. It's understandable that most people, myself included until I started writing this, assume a literal translation of the word "refried" and, employing razor-sharp detective skills, deduce that the beans are fried, let rest, and then fried again.
But the word refried is actually an approximation of the Spanish word refrito, meaning "over-fried." The prefix re- in Spanish is a...
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September 13, 2006
Hot Dogs are the universally pretty-tasty food. From middle school to college cafeteria dining, the fair ladies in hairnets have always had quite a hard time messing up the basic formula: buy from distributor, boil or steam, place in bun and send the smiling kids off to the condiments line to fight over packets of pickle relish, and who has to end up with the dijon mustard once the packets of preferable classic yellow are gone. Then that kid...
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And like that, it's over. Summer's stronghold has disappeared. The days no longer top out in the 90's, the sweat only beads down my face around noon, and that funk has actually started to lose it's grip on the 14th Street Station. Last week I only walked on the side of the street completely covered in shadow, and now I can walk wherever I choose. Really, I'm not sad.
But I just got a grill, a real small grill. So I...
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August 18, 2006
We christened him Kurt and set about trying in vain to keep him alive. The ride back from Fairway was not long, but we needed some wine, and the car was quite stuffy and hot. Blake, strangely, began developing an affection for the creature, and cared for him so deeply he wouldn't leave him in the car alone. So we carried him into our liquor store, LeNell's, and asked the owners what wine would best go with him. And with two...
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August 11, 2006
Both Nick and I are from the Midwest, proud of our work ethic and nice disposition, and find ourselves a rare breed out here in New York City. I'm not really sure what the conception is--rural, uneducated, whatever--but most people have no idea what exactly goes on in middle of this vast nation, and just assume that most of it is comprised entirely of corn.
Here is an example.
The other day we were at a friend's parent's house, a big,...
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April 4, 2006
Possibly the easiest corn chowder recipe on the planet
A warm comfort food that, in this case, is remarkably easy to make. Generally chowder is thick and hearty with bacon and potatoes and thick creamy base, but this version instead goes for elegant. It’s almost (but not) too thin, almost silky, surprisingly tasty considering the lack of any complicated seasoning.
By Blake Royer
On a Sunday afternoon, corn chowder is the idea. A soup both hearty and light, filling and...
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All content copyright Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer.
