Have you ever walked into an international grocery store or an Asian grocery store and were overwhelmed by the number of different sauces, pastes, or vinegars, or the different types and brands?
One of my absolute favorite types of cuisine overall is any type of Asian food. More specifically, I love Japanese ingredients and flavor profiles. Japan is well known for sushi and Ramen but the ...
A pear perfectly poached in red wine is one of the most elegant desserts I can think of. Top it off with a little Crème Anglaise and you have elevated the lowly pear into something almost regal. I’m ...
It’s time for another round of my favorite series: Love it or hate it! What foods do you love that no one else does? What foods do you have a deep distain for? This is a hot topic in all of my ...
The world of cooking fats and oils (which are one and the same) can be as simplistic or as complex as you make it. Utilizing fat for cooking has many advantages, but overuse of fats can make a dish ...
We all have that one food whether from our childhood or a bad dining experience that we just can’t stand. It could be a texture issue, a smell, how it was presented, or just a preconceived notion ...
Vanilla has become very expensive in the past few years due to vanilla beans being difficult to grow. This flowering plant is incredibly labor intensive. Climate change plays a huge role in these ...
I talk a lot to students about the importance of using fresh spices. So many people have little plastic jars of ground spices in their pantries that could be half a decade old or older. At that age, ...
Well it's not ‘new’ exactly, but it's an uncommon fruit you may not have run into before. And not exactly ‘just’ since it was first described in western sources by Phillip Franz von Siebold and ...
Most of our hands-on cooking classes at The Chopping Block focus on preparing several dishes which result in a delicious meal that our guests enjoy at the end of class. However, one question that we ...
