Max is a self-taught cook who has been in the restaurant industry for seven years. He got his start cooking and running kitchens in Boston, and Dartmouth, Massachusetts, before moving to Providence, Rhode Island, and ending up in Chicago. Though he has had some success in restaurants, earning a James Beard Award nomination, and winning a Starchefs Rising Star award, He is now glad to be taking a step back from the kitchen to be able to connect with the passionate home cooks that come to learn at The Chopping Block.
Recent Posts
Venison: From Field to Freezer
I want to state right at the top that this post is going to have graphic images and descriptions of whole animal (deer) butchery. From right after slaughter in the field all the way through hanging, ...
The Whole Fish Trilogy: Books to Level-Up Your Seafood Game
I grew up in a small town in upstate New York that didn’t have much access to seafood in general, and I don’t think I’d be exaggerating to say virtually no access to truly good seafood at all. I ...
I think a lot of times when chefs travel they long to visit local markets and see what kind of excellent produce can be had in an area they don’t usually get to source from. Often times, however,—at ...
Gluten free baking has been on my mind a lot recently. Not because I’m gluten free myself. Personally I believe gluten is a miracle protein with attributes so close to magic that all the powers of ...
Okay, everybody I’ve got some really good news. Despite what all of the displays at grocery stores, hardware stores, big box retailers, and drug store chains have been peddling for the last two to ...
There has been a slow uptick in the last 15 years or so in people interested in finding wild edibles in the landscape around them. From my perspective, this stems from the trend of featuring wild ...
Our vast planet is home to many breads, all of them excellent. This is not to say, of course, that every loaf or example of bread is excellent. No, to be sure there are loaves of bread that I have ...
We’ve come to the point in summer where strawberries are on the wane. This is always a melancholy time of year for me because in my opinion strawberries are one of the greatest treats that warm ...
Herbs are among the most important ingredients in cooking. Choosing the right varieties and amounts of herbs for a particular dish can mean the difference between a meal that’s just okay, and one ...
If you read my previous post on breaking down a forequarter of beef you may recall that we put some pieces into a ramshackle dry aging chamber so that they could age for a bit before we cut them. ...
