The Chopping Block Cooking & Wine Blog

Shelley

Shelley has been teaching people to cook since she opened The Chopping Block in 1997. She spent 17 years as a professional chef, working in busy restaurants and private homes but realized her calling was to get other people to cook. Shelley’s unique concept of a recreational cooking school, gourmet kitchen store and private event business provides Chicago with over 300 cooking classes and private events each month. Shelley loves to garden and entertain for family and friends in her Lincoln Square home.

Just in Time for the Holidays: Mother Recipe for Cocktails

I don’t know about you, but I am so very thrilled at the comeback of handcrafted cocktails. There is something romantic and celebratory about a well-made cocktail, it adds an extra special something ...

How to Make Fresh Cranberry Juice

My friend and colleague Liz Songer recently brought me the most beautiful gift of two giant bags of fresh cranberries from her annual trip to Hayward, Wisconsin. She usually takes her trip to Hayward ...

How to Cook Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms

I'm in mushroom ecstasy as this is a banner year on my property in Michigan for wild mushrooms! My Hen of the Woods mushrooms have returned in abundance so I have been busy cooking and preserving ...

How to Brine

I am a somewhat recent convert to brining, considering my almost 40 years of professional cooking. I think it was about 10 years ago, brining started getting popular with home cooks as a technique to ...

Sumac Foraging and Preparation

First things first... no, we are not talking poison sumac! Secondly, it is extremely easy to tell the difference between poison sumac and Staghorn Sumac, Staghorn Sumac being the edible version. We ...

The Chopping Block's Herbs de Provence Salt

I have been growing a tremendous number of herbs in Michigan and experimenting with different preservation methods for them. It's been revelatory for me! Before I started drying my own herbs, I had ...

How to Grow Horseradish

I love the pungency of horseradish but have found that here in America, we limit ourselves in our culinary uses of it. I think some of these limits stem from the fact that we haven’t had a lot of ...

How to Cook with Pancetta

Now that you know how to make pancetta, I wanted to provide a few tips on cooking with it and recipes that highlight those techniques. Although pancetta is edible in the same way bacon is, its high ...

How to Make Pancetta

What is pancetta? Basically, it is the unsmoked Italian form of bacon. Bacon is almost always smoked and has a salty taste, but sometimes it has a sweet and/or peppery taste as well. Pancetta is also ...

Winter Squash Biscuits

I was recently in the mood to slow cook a spicy batch of chili on a cold Sunday afternoon. I wanted to cook and have the smell of savory food wafting through the house. Once the chili was in the ...

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Shelley

Recent Posts

Just in Time for the Holidays: Mother Recipe for Cocktails

How to Make Fresh Cranberry Juice

How to Cook Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms

How to Brine

Sumac Foraging and Preparation

The Chopping Block's Herbs de Provence Salt

How to Grow Horseradish

How to Cook with Pancetta

How to Make Pancetta

Winter Squash Biscuits

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