Terroir of the Class: A Personal Experience at the CIA (of food, that is)

Terroir of the Class
A Personal Experience at the CIA (of food, that is)
By Dennis Myers
If Napa Valley is to be characterized as the New World Mecca of wine growing, then the prestigious Culinary Institute of America West Coast campus is the region’s seminary for food and wine studies.
Punctuated by the spires of the former Christian [...]

Pairing on Canvas: Merging Food, Wine and Art

Pairing on Canvas: Merging Food, Wine and Art
By Liz Goldner
At the turn of the last century, French artists and art lovers uninhibitedly imbibed in the pleasures of fine food, wine and art.
These incurable sybarites, including Monet, Renoir, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec, lived life to the hilt, creating Impressionist canvases throughout the day, cooking up a feast [...]

Party on a Dime: Fun, Frugal, and Fabulous

by Allison Robbins
What’s your fantasy of the perfect holiday party? Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Nobel laureate guests? Buff servants in harem pants serving exotic drinks? No matter how differently we see the particulars, there is a universal ideal to the dinner party fantasy: hosts and hostesses swirl at the center of the action, [...]

Recipe: Winter Feasts

Wine is a subjective beverage, which helps explain why many find the prospect of developing a deeper relationship with it daunting and mysterious. It does not need to elicit such anxiety. Food is nourishment, yes, but it also can function as art.  Wine is the nourishment for the mind and soul and helps conjure the [...]

Pairing Food and Wine: Winter Feasts

by Jonah Waldman

Pairing wine with food need not be overthought. When all else fails, fall back on the familiar and simple traditional rules because they still work well today:

Red wines with red meats
White wines with white meats
Local wines with regional foods

Of course, with the globalization of the culinary world and the widening availability of [...]

Recipe: James Beard’s persimmon bread

Calling for whiskey and squishy-ripe persimmons, this Beard classic is one of the best things I’ve ever made. Using a really tasty single malt may seem like a waste until you taste the results: !
– Editor

3½ cups sifted flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2½ cups sugar
1 cup melted unsalted butter, [...]

Microgreens: the caviar of greens

Intense: Smaller vegetables reliably deliver more flavor than larger ones. It’s the same with greens.
Various: Basil, beet, radish, arugula, kale, chives, chervil, broccoli, carrot, wasabi, pea, sunflower, dill, fennel, cilantro, chard, etc.
Beautiful: As if a still life came to life in chlorophyll—sprightly colors and textures like impressionistic paint strokes.
Versatile: Provide a bed for a warm [...]

Recipe: winter squash soup

French cooking exemplifies purity. Much like the notable Gallic restraint practiced with the grape by les vignerons, the French chef prioritizes the unadulterated purity of the vegetable. The following recipe foregrounds the rich flavor of its primary ingredient, winter squash.
At every turn, the holidays invite one to make this creamy soup. Pocket some squash from [...]

Recipe: potato pancakes (latkes)

The History of Food
The use of oil to prepare foods such as latkes for Hanukah feasts represents the story in the Torah of one-day’s volume of oil miraculously lasting eight nights.

INGREDIENTS
6 medium-sized potatoes
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 small onion
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. baking powder (optional)
3 Tbs. flour or matzoh meal
Garlic clove [...]