It’s astonishingly quiet in Lanphier’s kitchen lab. But not actually silent. Students in the four kitchen cubicles are talking to each other. They’re also responding to questions fro]]> Who created it? When? Where? Who makes the best? What are acceptable ingredients? Which is most authentic?Whether it’s French ratatouille, Italian ragu Bolognese, Mississippi ribs or New York re]]> Untitled Document Arron Patton is hot. Really, really hot. So hot that just thinking about him makes me sweat. While the members of the Iraqi Parliament flee their respon]]> Untitled Document I firmly believe that every woman should have her own blowtorch. Men, too. Few things are more empowering than having that blue-white tongue of flame under your]]> It’s quirky — the good kind of quirky. Its eclectic assortment of edibles reflects, I suspect, the owners’ tastes as much as their customers’. And it’s been i]]> Even if you’re not involved or interested in child-rearing, chances are you’ve heard about Yale law professor Amy Chua’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and the firestorm of c]]> “Eat what you can, can what you can’t.”–Motto of Perennial Virant RestaurantWhat’s old is new again.  Chefs both haute and humble are making their own pickles, from ]]> I’ll never again be able to make some of the best things I’ve created in my kitchen. Not because they were complicated and/or expensive, although I’ve made a few of those, too. It&rs]]> What’s the new foodstuff that America’s best chefs are swooning over, and putting on their menus in an astonishing array of variations? It’s not some newly discovered sea creature. I]]> It’s a sure bet that every year around this time, I’ll be pulling Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Soups from my cookbook shelves. There’s just something so right about vegetable-ba]]> Untitled Document Have you ever eaten blackened fish? Blackened chicken? Blackened steak? Credit Paul Prudhomme, who invented the technique of blackening, an]]> "Stop the car!" my daughter Ashley exclaimed. I hit the brakes and anxiously looked around. We'd gone to see how high the creek on the other side of our road had risen after the ]]> Except for college and four years in Chicago when my husband was in dental school, I’ve always lived in the country. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s wonderful having our own w]]> I love giving edible Christmas gifts that are different from the usual cookie/candy/fruit basket options. The sauces below make wonderful and unusual gifts. But I don’t just give them away &ndas]]> It was our dining Bible when my husband was in dental school in Chicago: The Good But Cheap Chicago Restaurant Guide. Because of TGBCCRG, we ate out frequently, even with little money and a baby-then-]]> I’ve cooked thousands of dishes for countless people in my life; some professionally, some as a home cook. Almost all were well received. When catering dinner parties or when my cooking class st]]> It began with a call from a longtime friend, Sangamo Club general manager David Radwine. The Sangamo Club was hosting the 1995 Hope School Celebrity Chef Benefit. Rick Bayless, chef/owner of Chicago&r]]> Northerners have eaten it for years, too. But American Southerners eat more, and, moreover, celebrate and claim it as their own. It’s one of the iconic foods that defines the region, right up th]]>  The sweet-sour vinegary smell hit me as soon as I got off the school bus. I wrinkled my nose, wishing I could get back on the bus and go someplace – anyplace – else. Nana was making ]]> “They’re just not elegant anymore,” my mother sighed. Horseshoes? Elegant? Springfield’s iconic dish that almost inevitably appears on our pubs’ and casual eating establi]]>