The Chopping Block Cooking & Wine Blog

Max

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.

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 ...

Cooking from a Market in Normandy

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 Pâte à Choux

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 ...

Wake Up Shake up

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 ...

Take a Hike

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 ...

The Internet Has a Croissant Problem

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 ...

Pink Drink or Sultry Summer Strawberry Solution

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 ...

Worthwhile Herbs With Which You May Be Unfamiliar

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 ...

Butchering Beef Revisited: Old Meat

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. ...

Very Good Masa Harina, and a Simple Tortilla Technique

Hey folks, have you ever tasted the difference between a typical grocery store corn tortilla, and one made fresh in your kitchen? If you live in Chicago then maybe you haven’t, because why would you? ...

Recipes	Ingredients
Cooking Techniques	Cookbooks & Tools
Food News	Local Spots
Travel	Wine
Vegetarian	Gluten-Free
Kids	Baking & Pastry
Boot Camp	Retail

Max

Recent Posts

The Whole Fish Trilogy: Books to Level-Up Your Seafood Game

Cooking from a Market in Normandy

Gluten Free Pâte à Choux

Wake Up Shake up

Take a Hike

The Internet Has a Croissant Problem

Pink Drink or Sultry Summer Strawberry Solution

Worthwhile Herbs With Which You May Be Unfamiliar

Butchering Beef Revisited: Old Meat

Very Good Masa Harina, and a Simple Tortilla Technique

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