• Last updated 1/18/12 by JustPJ

I am a cook.  Not a Chef, not a professional by any means, but a simple been cooking since I was a little girl, cook for home and family, supper on the table every day, at home cook.  There is nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I was very proud of the praise my family and friends often gave me on my homemade rolls, on the pound cake recipe which won me 2 blue ribbons at the local fairs, at the cinnamon buns which stopped people in their tracks when they had one, the eggplant parmesan that would bring my father and mother in law (God rest their soles) in a matter of... read more

• Last updated 8/3/10 by JustPJ

By Pam Grant      As professional and non-professional cooks, we all have one thing in common here in our Cheftalk community, we love to cook, or at the very least talk about cooking. Ok some of us just like to eat, but no matter the severity we are all tied together somehow by food. I would be willing to wager that many of us have another love in our lives besides food. The one thing that keeps you warm at night, greets you warmly when you come home at the end of the day, and waits anxiously to see what wonderful culinary masterpiece you will bestow upon them each... read more

• Last updated 8/2/10 by Nicko

Written by Pam Grant   DISCLAIMER: The preparation described below is a raw pack, pressure canning method of preserving meat. The newest versions of The Ball Canning Guide no longer recommend a raw pack method. For safety reasons, they recommend using a method which slightly precooks the meat prior to canning. After careful consideration, our family has opted to use the method we have used for years with a few changes in pressure canning times. If you plan to try canning meat, be advised that canning methods, cooking times, and preparations do change and you... read more

• Last updated 2/16/10 by JackBlack

I really believe that food likes and dislikes are ingrained in your memory and on your palate at an early age. The sense of taste and smell are supposed to carry a person's strongest memories. This undoubtedly is one of the reasons home-style meals and "comfort foods" are such big business today. It's "comforting" to recall times gone by when things were simpler, before faxes, e-mails, and wireless everything. Food can really transcend time, for however brief a period. A kitchen in the winter with steamed up windows, for example, gives me vivid memories of when I was a... read more

• Last updated 2/21/10 by Nicko

Written By Chef Peter Martin As foodies, we are very lucky that we live in today's world.  Never in the history of mankind have we had access to so many foods and cuisines.  It's not uncommon to eat Chinese food one night, Italian the next, and Mexican the following night.  Even in the smallest of towns you can find at least 1 or 2 of these more common ethnic cuisines.  In major metropolitan areas, the choices are even vaster, with choices ranging from Thai, Ethiopian and Peruvian to Russian, Japanese, and all manner of European cuisines.  Grocery stores have even... read more

• Last updated 8/2/10 by Nicko

Written by Pam Grant As we dive headlong into yet another holiday season I am brought back, as I am each year, to the memories of my childhood.   So many of those memories center around food.  I can fondly remember watching my mother while she spent hours rolling and cutting out gingerbread dough for cookies and gingerbread houses.  The smell of warm gingerbread filling the house, the knowledge that more wonderful, “special” things to eat would still be to follow such as touchiere pie, German chocolate cake and peanut butter fudge are some of my fondest holiday... read more

• Last updated 8/3/10 by WKHarmon

A classic way to enjoy figs is as preserves, and chefs throughout coastal South Carolina make them since the area has a prime climate for bumper fig crops. They start turning ripe in July, and the crop continues through August. Pastry Chef Tina Spaltro of the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, with encouragement from Executive Chef James Clark, figured out how to turn a lot of figs into delicious batch of sweetness. Making the preserves during the late summer of 2009, she says, was a spur-of-the-moment project that turned out well. "It was just a... read more

• Last updated 3/24/12 by Nicko

From an aspiring accountant in Bangkok to a professional pastry chef in San Francisco was an unexpected career path for me. In 2003, my husband and I moved to San Francisco where I continued studying accounting. After living in the U.S. for two and a half years, we decided to open a bed & breakfast in the Caribbean, which was my start in the food business. When we returned to San Francisco in 2007 I knew I could bake for a living, so I decided to take the baking and pastry program at California Culinary Academy. Since graduating, I've been fortunate enough to work... read more

• Last updated 12/6/11 by Nicko

Well, here it is November already (can you believe it?), and being a chef/food writer I feel compelled to offer the obligatory turkey article. And as I do, a quote comes to mind. Some years ago while attending a seminar at the New School in NYC one of the speakers was Nach Waxman, owner of the literary cookbook store, Kitchen Arts and Letters. When he sat down he gave the room a long sweeping look and then said, "We do not live in a recipe deprived society." He paused, and then repeated himself; insinuating that there are too many recipes for the same thing and... read more

• Last updated 11/9/11 by Nicko

There are only a few things in this world you can absolutely count on. Death and taxes are the two most familiar. Another one: Come this time of year, food forums will be covered up with discussions about Thanksgiving---the only American holiday whose sole purpose is gluttony. Cheftalk is, of course, no exception. In fact, the fun got started early this year, with a massive discussion about "traditional" foods (http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/food-cooking-questions-discussion/56677-thanksgiving-4.html). Tradition is a slippery concept. For most folks,... read more