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 Sugarbush Chronicles Part II: Osmosis Jones

When last we spoke, my friend Derek and I had just finished running the lines for our sugar bush, and had just started collecting sap. Since then there have been a number of developments. A few days ...

My Top Five Mexican Cookbooks

Whenever students ask me what my favorite regional cuisine is I always say that its impossible to choose a favorite because blah blah blah… but the real answer is Mexican food. Mexican food is ...

The Sugarbush Chronicles Part I

There are a lot of different sweeteners out there. Some are simply sweet with very little of their own flavor like granulated sugar, while others have a strong character and flavor of their own like ...

Rad Raclette Repast

It seems like all my blog posts in winter are about how you should take the opportunity to treat yourself during these dark gloomy months. If the weather can’t help raise your morale, then maybe a ...

Hor Fun is More Fun

The idea of making something at home that is normally bought ready-made from the store can be very romantic. Its nice to think that the extra freshness, and added “made with love” energy that comes ...

Do Yourself a Favor and Buy Fancy Chocolate

I definitely understand why people buy the cheapest, or maybe even more frequently, the second cheapest chocolate at the grocery store for baking. The price difference between that and the really ...

Five Great Pastry/Baking Books for Beginners

I’ve been getting some good traction on these book roundups, and maybe if I can make the case that the book collection can be routed into a productive outlet, I’ll be allowed to continue to purchase ...

Hand Pulled Noodles for Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is coming up fast, and though many cultures have and still do celebrate a lunar new year of some kind, in the U.S. it has largely become associated with Chinese culture and typically ...

Amazing Carbonara in Roughly 15 Minutes

Carbonara is one of my wife’s favorite pasta dishes, and I’m happy to make it for her whenever she requests it because unlike some of her other common requests it doesn’t take multiple days to ...

Top Ten Fancy Chef Books for the Fancy Cook in Your Life

If you’re one of those among us who celebrates one of the winter gift giving holidays that terminate near the end of December then by the time this post comes out you will technically still have some ...

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 Sugarbush Chronicles Part II: Osmosis Jones

My Top Five Mexican Cookbooks

The Sugarbush Chronicles Part I

Rad Raclette Repast

Hor Fun is More Fun

Do Yourself a Favor and Buy Fancy Chocolate

Five Great Pastry/Baking Books for Beginners

Hand Pulled Noodles for Lunar New Year

Amazing Carbonara in Roughly 15 Minutes

Top Ten Fancy Chef Books for the Fancy Cook in Your Life

Subscribe to Email Updates

Location

Awards

Recommended on

The Chopping Block accepts