Clik here to view.
Serrano Cracklins
When faced with the question this past fall of what I would do with a bacon rind, I used some to enrich a pot of beans and used a batch of fresh skin, nipple-on no less, to do the same for meatballs....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queso de Pescado
I am going to say it. I do not like cooking fish. I barely like eating cooked fish, but I really, truly, honestly dislike cooking fish. Unlike most things that I don’t like to do, I do not feel like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pork Skin Noodles
A few weeks ago, Chris Cosentino, a meat hero of mine, stopped through Chicago doing publicity for his book. His book is wonderful, focussing more on vegetables than I would have expected, and shows...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cochon Au Lait
After over seven months preparing, early October brought my first marathon. Without going into too much detail, it went well, very well for a first marathon, but coming out on the other side, I knew...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cornbread Stuffed Suckling Pig
In the conceptual phase of Christmas Eve dinner, this was supposed to be a traditional suckling porchetta (not just the loin wrapped in the belly, but the whole beast rolled) and it was supposed to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Steak and Kidney Pop Tarts
St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty serious holiday for my family and not in the “green beer and pass out before it is dark” kind of serious either. Every year, I tell myself that we will just grab some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beef Tongue and Caper Sausage
Chef Mark Mendez runs the kitchen at his West Loop restaurant Vera. It is no secret that Vera is one of my favorite restaurants in town. Food is simple without being simple. Complex flavors and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tare Glazed Chicken Feet
Most parents I know talk about their kids (at least a little – maybe a little too much at times, amirite?) and, when their kids are not around, they talk about their favorite moments which may be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Backbone Stew
After being disappointed by several new highly regarded, cheffy cookbooks over the winter, I decided to pull in the reins a little and look to some of the classic teaching cookbooks – I mean, I could...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Menudo
My favorite foods are often ones which dot the front of your shirt in ruddy brown or red and when cooled in a deli container become a block of gelatinized broth. Think pozole, pho, tonkotsu, backbone...
View Article
