How-To (DIY stuff)
On Making Homemade Pasta
Making pasta at home is a soothing process I find utterly absorbing: knead, roll, cut, fill, shape. Pasta-making has become a journey for me, with endless combinations of flours and ingredients.
Preservation Recipes
Preserved Lemons
Preserved lemons are not just the province of Morocco. Methods of preserving or pickling lemons exist wherever they are grown, including 19th century America.
Foraging
Acorn Cake and Acorns Around the World
One of the first questions I had as I began researching acorns years ago was what do other groups do…
Fish
How to Make Caviar
Caviar has always had a hold on me. It is a mysterious ingredient, almost otherworldy; the individual eggs look like jewels…
Foraging
Experiments with Madrone Bark Tea
Not much about cooking excites me more than experimenting with a new ingredient. I get especially jazzed when that ingredient…
Foraging
How to Cure Green Olives
Brining olives is the oldest way to cure olives, especially green ones. What follows are instructions and troubleshooting on how…
How-To (DIY stuff)
How to Make Tomato Paste
How to make your own tomato paste, Sicilian style. Patience is needed, but if you have it, you'll be rewarded.
How-To (DIY stuff)
The Courage to Cook with Borage
Not everyone knows that the borage plant is edible. So are borage flowers. Most people barely even know what borage…
How-To (DIY stuff)
Drying Tomatoes Without an Oven
“Oh my Gawd, it’s like an oven out here!” This is a not-uncommon refrain heard in Sacramento in summer. Well,…
How-To (DIY stuff)
How to Make Chicory Coffee from Scratch
For a time, my favorite coffee was New Orleans style, where the coffee is cut with roasted, ground chicory root.…
How-To (DIY stuff)
Wild Salsify Lives Everywhere
I see salsify. It’s everywhere. And I didn’t know it was salsify. Until now. We have had wild salsify root…
How-To (DIY stuff)
How to Make Paprika at Home
Why bother making homemade paprika? Fair question. After all, the Spanish and Hungarians are better at it than we ever…
