Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:31:26 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Adina Steiman :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Adina+Steiman istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/healthy-eating-revitalized/58191/ Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST With summer under way, most people are thinking about slimming down a bit. Yogurt and carrot sticks might be part of the plan — French food is probably not. But cookbook author Patricia Wells would beg to differ. In her new book, "Vegetable Harvest" (William Morrow, 324 pages, $34.95), Ms. Wells explores a healthier approach to la cuisine Française. "Vegetable Harvest" offers a happy marriage between traditional French cooking and healthful eating. After living in France for more than 25 years... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/chef-in-a-can/54110/ Wed, 9 May 2007 00:00:00 EST You'd think that a book with a title like "A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals With Ingredients From Jars, Cans, Bags, and Boxes" (Knopf, 264 pages, $29.95) would be about liberation — freedom from hours of being chained to the stove. Instead, it starts off with a guilty conscience. "I realize that for many people, preparing a dish of pasta that takes advantage of jarred tomato sauce … might not seem like a big deal, but for me, it was a total anomaly. Some might even say a fall from... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/le-souffl-without-le-struggle/48977/ Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Fearless home cooks, the kind that whip up cassoulet or steak béarnaise without breaking a sweat, still get hot under the collar at the thought of making a fancy French dessert. It's only natural. When visions of tricky spun-sugar baskets, temperamental soufflés, and stubborn pâte brisée dance in your head, it just seems easier to bake an apple crumble or buy some ice cream instead. Maybe that's why Kate Zuckerman, who has been pastry chef at Chanterelle restaurant for the last six years, chose... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/its-hard-work-but-someone-has-to-taste-it/47273/ Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST SAN FRANCISCO — At first glance, walking through the 32nd annual Fancy Food Show in San Francisco seems like paradise on Earth. More than 1,100 vendors of the newest food products from around the world vie for the attention of more than 16,000 retailers, chefs, food buyers, and journalists, plying them with free samples and smooth sales pitches. The Fancy Food Show runs three times a year, in New York City during the summer, on the West Coast during the winter, and in Chicago in the spring, and... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/four-star-guide-to-one-pot-cooking/46820/ Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST At his four-star Restaurant Daniel, Daniel Boulud can offer diners the finest peekytoe crab and foie gras terrine. But alas, he can't serve them oxtail on the bone. "There's not another part of the cow that concentrates as much flavor as the tail, and that is what makes oxtail so delicious," Mr. Boulud laments in "Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine" (Ecco Press, 288 pages, $32.50). Fortunately, in his new cookbook, Mr. Boulud gets to let his hair down, so to speak — offering... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/up-close-personal-in-philadelphia/46344/ Tue, 9 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST PHILADELPHIA — For much of America, the Metropolitan Opera's broadcasting of select Saturday afternoon performances meant getting a dose of culture at (or near) a mall. In suburban Philadelphia, the sold-out showing of "I Puritani" at the AMC Theatre in Neshaminy Mall was packed with a crowd of opera lovers of a certain age — and the boxes of popcorn were notably absent. No need for opera glasses here. With a big screen, audience members seemed to relish the close-up view of the production... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/cozy-food-from-an-anti-trend-restaurant/46044/ Wed, 3 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Slice up some zucchini. Sauté it with olive oil and almonds, and top it off with pecorino cheese. Is this a quick pan-to-fork-to-mouth dish for a weeknight dinner at home? A simple recipe scribbled on the back of an index card at the farmers' market? Nope. It's a specialty at the Red Cat, a smart but cozy restaurant in west Chelsea where the food harks back to a James Dean sort of cool: It looks good without trying too hard. The Red Cat isn't the sort of place to poach its veal sous-vide or... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/best-cookbooks-of-the-year/45732/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST It's easy to come down with a case of the cookbook blues. After all, hundreds of cookbooks are published every year, and it's easy to assume all the good ideas have already been taken. When you see one too many slow-cooker cookbooks, it's tempting to wonder: Is there anything new under the sun? I'm happy to report that there is. From a beautiful book issued by one of the best bakeries in the country to an important collection of Southern recipes written by a pair of spectacular writers, these... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/contessa-in-her-palace/44677/ Wed, 6 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST So what kind of home does a Barefoot Contessa live in? In the first pages of Ina Garten's newest cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa at Home" (Clarkson Potter, 256 pages, $35), you get to find out. Before the recipes even begin, there are plenty of photographs of Ms. Garten's impressive East Hampton estate. That is no surprise: Ina Garten's allure has always been as much about her poshness as her turkey lasagna. But perhaps posh is out of style these days. After all, when it comes to food celebrities... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/joy-of-silly-cooking/43104/ Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Hospitality is a forgotten art, we always hear. We hapless home cooks need guidance in order to do it right. But perhaps the answer is not in the Food Network stars, but in ourselves. The best evenings aren't the ones in which we simply pretend to be someone richer, smarter, and with impeccable taste in porcelain egg cups. At its best, entertaining at home can be wonderfully liberating, a chance to break rules established by the food magazines and the snazzy fusion restaurants, a heartfelt mix... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/flour-power/42270/ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The road to hellishly bad food is often paved with good intentions. Take brown-rice sushi. Sure, it's healthy, but the whole-grain flavor mercilessly bullies the fish — if blindfolded, it would be hard to say you were eating anything more than a mouthful of cold brown rice. Most whole-grain baked goods are similarly damned. I'd rather skip breakfast than eat a whole-wheat Danish from a health-conscious bakery. But since white flour has been pushed into the same Axis of Evil as fettuccine... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/all-that-jazz/40894/ Wed, 4 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Improvisational chefs are enviable for the same reasons as jazz musicians — both can improvise effortlessly and simply wait for the applause that follows. When faced with the luscious bounty of a farmer's market, or the blank canvas of an organic chicken, they bebop their way to a meal that makes the most of their ingredients, often in wildly creative, unexpected ways.. For most home cooks, though, that kind of improvisation can often seem as unattainable as pulling off a Miles Davis solo. When... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/reinventing-the-repertoire/39527/ Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST People always tell you to follow your instincts in cooking. But best guesses can easily become bad habits. For years, I added vegetables to my barley soups too early, overcooking them into a mushy mess. A friend of mine always stirred sour cream into her guacamole, and then wondered why her husband thought guacamole was awful. Sometimes we need to return to cookbooks to get simple dishes right. Call it reinventing the wheel, or simply improving it. When it comes to the perennial question of... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/home-cooking-from-italy-harlem/37608/ Wed, 9 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST The sandwich started out as a simple notion: two slices of bread with a few tasty ingredients in between. But nowadays, at least in America, sandwiches are often far too big for their britches. They've become larger (corned beef on rye, I'm looking at you) and the fillings more and more elaborate. Pesto chicken with balsamic onions and fig jam might sound interesting, but who wants to eat it for lunch? Italian sandwiches, by comparison, seem as minimalist and classic as an Armani suit. I'm not... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/case-for-meat-potatoes/36290/ Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST Imagine a trip to a health-food restaurant where the menu lists real cheeseburgers, carrots tossed with melted butter, Ceasar salad with plenty of raw eggs and anchovies, and a rich coconut cream pie (complete with lard crust) for dessert. Even the most nutrient-savvy person would have to blink in shock. Has Atkins risen from the dead? Not quite. But in "Real Food" (Bloomsbury USA, $23.95), former Greenmarket director Nina Planck asserts that we need just these kinds of foods to keep us healthy... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/everything-old-is-new-again-2006-07-12/35883/ Wed, 12 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST As the cookbook category gets bigger and bigger, one must ask the obvious question: When does redundancy begin to set in? Is there really anything new under the sun? And if there is, do we really need it? Will anything actually help us get dinner on the table, or is it more gastronomic escapism? Two books just published seem to beg that question more than most. "Kitchen Sense: More Than 600 Recipes To Make You a Great Home Cook" (Clarkson Potter, $35), by Mitchell Davis, is an... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/stars-stripes-meet-burgers-beer/35334/ Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST What's more American than apple pie, more liberating than Independence Day, and more explosive than Fourth of July fireworks? The answer: a good burger. The great American burger can create a sense of pride in the most unpatriotic of citizens. No other country has captured the poetry of ground beef like the U.S. of A. Sure, the French might have steak hache - but they deny themselves the primal joy of eating it with their hands. The Lebanese might have their kibbeh, but the rich spices usually... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/stalking-the-soup-dumpling/35192/ Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Once upon a time, I foolishly considered myself a soup dumpling expert. After all, I had tracked down terrific versions at a select group of Chinatown restaurants, and could devour those explosively juicy snacks without burning my lips or staining my shirt. Then I visited Shanghai, where soup dumplings aren't just an occasional snack. They're a city-wide fetish, and I had much to learn. Like a ship in a bottle, soup dumplings, or shao long bao, miraculously trap scalding-hot broth and a pork or... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/fathers-day-feast/34410/ Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Traditionally, Father's Day is the occasion when we give our dads things they don't really need, from cufflinks to anti-gravity recliners from the Sharper Image catalog. The same goes for Father's Day dinner. Does Dad really need a dose of New York strip at the local steakhouse? Instead, opt for a homemade meal that nourishes the heart instead of endangering it. That doesn't mean a punishing dinner of salt-free, fat-free cooking. Though heart disease is the no. 1 killer of American men (and... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/crawfish-with-a-kick/34028/ Wed, 7 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST If I didn't know any better, I'd have sworn I was in New Orleans. I was up to my elbows in juicy, spicy crawfish, shelling them onto the table as I listened to the companiable chatter around me. But no. I was on a rumbling old train to Shanghai from Suzhou. I've always connected crawfish with New Orleans. These mini-lobsters are the king of bayou country, thriving wild in the Atchafalaya Basin and farmed in freshwater ponds of Louisiana. I've eaten softshell versions deep-fried at the Praline... Adina Steiman http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/fast-fruity/31228/ Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST The natives were restless. Six friends were crowded around my table, finishing their roast chicken and bread salad, and I realized I had neglected to make dessert. I ran through the ingredients I had in the kitchen. Eggs and milk, of course, and a couple of boxes of berries. Flour and sugar, too. There wasn't enough time to bake a cake, and a crumble didn't seem fancy enough. Of course, I thought. Clafoutis. I threw eggs, flour, sugar, milk, and vanilla in the blender and whirred. The batter... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/truth-about-our-food-supply/30833/ Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Food innovations these days tend to be fun, if unnecessary, improvements on proven winners. Flat pretzels, pre-peeled mini-carrots, and flash-frozen croissants are not exactly great leaps forward in the quest for human survival. The innovations that do fall into that category are far less flashy. Among them is the discovery in 1909 by the German-Jewish chemist Fritz Haber of how to "fix" nitrogen molecules. It led to death - in the form of explosives and poison gases used in World War II - and... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/cookbook-that-bridges-a-big-divide/30854/ Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST In art and in life, there have been plenty of famous rivalries. Montague versus Capulet. Microsoft versus Apple. The Jets versus the Sharks. It's not really different in the world of cookbooks, but here, the West Side Story is the perennial battle between simple home cooking and complicated restaurantstyle recipes. In "Geoffrey Zakarian's Town/ Country" (Clarkson Potter, $37.50), chef Geoffrey Zakarian waves the olive branch. He aims to cover all the bases, offering a fancy "town" recipe and a... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/at-this-hunters-table-its-finders-eaters/30024/ Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST Balancing precariously on a rickety ladder, gripping a concrete support beneath a bridge, a hunter named Steven Rinella is trying to scavenge pigeon eggs from a nest. Sounds like the opposite of high-class dining, right? Wrong. Mr. Rinella was actually just gathering one more ingredient for a three-day, 45-course feast from Escoffier's late 19thcentury cookbook, "Le Guide Culinaire." Most of us wouldn't imagine a hunter messing about with high-end French food, but there's a hidden connection... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/fresh-batch-of-cookbooks/29580/ Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST When it comes to cookbooks, spring is harvest time. After the holidays, publishers hoard their best books until the sun starts shining and people start getting hungry for new ideas. Here's a quick preview of the cream of the crop. "MY LIFE IN FRANCE" BY JULIA CHILD AND ALEX PRUD'HOMME (KNOPF, $25.95) Yep, a new book from the now-departed, ever-beloved Julia. In the last two years of her life, she collaborated with her nephew to write a charming account of the most pivotal period in her life... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/sour-desserts-of-the-season/29587/ Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST Like an alarm clock, the first warm day of spring wakes us up from winter hibernation. Time to banish mittens and sweaters! Away with stews and gratins! In the blink of an eye, we stop craving dishes that comfort - and start longing for food that's as fresh as baby leaves of grass. Think spring cleaning for your tongue. So if you want to celebrate spring, desserts that are (gasp!) slightly sour are just right. Pucker-inducing flavors enliven much more than chocolate, caramel, and mango. In... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/from-the-freezer-a-taste-of-spring/29593/ Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST Sometimes, good things do come in small packages. Small, rectangular, frozen packages, to be specific. Take frozen peas. At first glance, they seem like a mere facsimile of farm-fresh ones, a convenient substitute for people who lack the patience (or the porch) necessary to shell peas. But though it's hard to imagine reaching into the freezer for a vegetable now that it's officially spring, permit me to plead my case. When it comes to peas, youthful vigor is key. Problem is, fresh peas are... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/size-doesnt-matter/29123/ Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST New Yorkers are all too familiar with cramped kitchens, but Justin Spring can truly be called an expert. He grew up spending weekends in a real galley kitchen - one located on a sailboat on the Gulf Coast. Now, he's written "The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook" (Broadway, $12.95), a smart, savvy guide to cooking under Lilliputian circumstances. Many New York chefs are in the same boat, so to speak. Professional kitchens need to turn out consistent, often complex dishes with precision timing. It's... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/bitter-ends/27613/ Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST Children tend to separate food into a few simple categories. Sweet and salty foods are tasty, and even sour foods can be okay (witness lemon drops). But bitter foods are just a no-go. Brussels sprouts are plain gross, and forget about arugula and endive. Palates, though, improve over time. And tastes we weren't ready for become more interesting later in life. Like cigars, coffee, and cognac, the enjoyment of bitter greens is one of the privileges of adulthood. It's a major discovery when you... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/spoonful-of-science/27222/ Wed, 8 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST McDonald's collaborates with food scientists to make their french fries crispier. Frito-Lay commissions research into flavor enhancers to ensure "you can't eat just one." But fine cooking has always held itself apart from the sterile world of test tubes, lab coats, and verifiable data. Until now. A new branch of food science called molecular gastronomy has become a growing influence on restaurants, debunking age-old assumptions about cooking and revealing new insights about flavor. Herve This... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/smoky-heat/26841/ Wed, 1 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST Chipotle chiles crop up in the unlikeliest places these days. They add smoke and heat to chutneys, mashed potatoes, and even cream sauces. But like a maestro that reserves his best performance for his hometown, chipotles still work best in Mexican-influenced recipes - the same food that everyone craves on Super Bowl Sunday. Chipotle chiles are nothing more than smoked, dried jalapenos, but they manage to have a deep, rich flavor, almost like super spicy barbecue sauce. And like that condiment... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/rebirth-of-joe/26047/ Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST A bowl of stew might be more nourishing. A bacon cheeseburger might be more satisfying. But huddling over a cup of coffee still ranks as one of the most comforting consolations of the winter season. And when that cup of coffee is truly exceptional, its pleasures can rank alongside the very best wine and chocolate. But just how exceptional a cup of joe can you get in New York? We've never been more surrounded by coffee than we are now: Not only is Starbucks on every block, but it is now rivaled... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/its-all-in-the-kraut/25291/ Wed, 4 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST A hot dog a day might keep the doctor away this cold and flu season - if the hot dog is covered in sauerkraut, that is. According to a BBC report, when scientists in Korea fed an extract of kimchi, the Korean version of sauerkraut, to 13 chickens infected with avian flu, 11 of them recovered a week later. If the humble fermented cabbage can cure avian flu, what can it do for the common cold? Even if it's not a cure-all, sauerkraut offers plenty of ways to add a bite of prevention to wintertime... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/champagne-for-dinner-soup-for-breakfast/25040/ Wed, 28 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST New Year's Eve is the time for popping corks and clinking glasses, but all too often, you have to pay the piper the next morning. Still, there's no need to spend New Year's Day with a hangover. Just turn to that wintertime classic: soup. Soup has long been famous for its restorative properties, and it's uniquely suited to salve a hangover. The abundance of liquid rehydrates the body, helping to flush the system and relieve headaches caused by dehydration. Vegetables replenish vitamins and often... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/for-christmas-chocolate-reigns-supreme/24779/ Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST Christmas cookies are usually more fun to decorate than to eat. But there is one holiday dessert that can satisfy both your flair for creativity and your sweet tooth: Buche de Noel. Loosely translated as "Christmas log," the dessert is a symbol of the holiday season that harks back to the Yule logs of pagan times. The typically chocolate cakes - which fill Parisian pastry-shop windows at this time of year - are adorned with fanciful decorations like perfectly piped meringue mushrooms, festive... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/daring-to-delve-deeper-2005s-best-cookbooks/24457/ Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST This year has seen the triumph of the 30-minute meal: Rachael Ray's name now sells magazines, in addition to piles of cookbooks. But despite the popularity of the quick and the easy, this year has also seen a terrific crop of renegade food books that move beyond the issue of convenience and broaden our views about food. "El Bulli" (Ecco, $220), the enormous book by Spain's famous culinary impresario Ferran Adria, is the most dramatic example. The English edition is enormous, expensive, and... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/well-traveled-eaters/24116/ Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST In the world of intrepid, globe-trotting food writers, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid deserve special kudos. You won't find many other writers journeying to the southern tip of India to view the full moon at winter solstice and enjoy Indian dosas - or spending nine days building a tandoori oven from scratch with a Rajasthani woman. Mr. Alford and Ms. Duguid have gathered a lifetime of experiences across four decades of travel and tasting in Asia, and in their new book, they focus on their... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/baking-books-big-and-small/23488/ Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST Martha Stewart knows how to turn lemons into lemonade - and, reportedly, prison grown crab apples into jelly. Perhaps it's only fitting, then, that her first cookbook after her stint behind bars focuses on the world of sweet treats. "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook" (Clarkson Potter, $40) is a remarkably accessible baking guide from a kinder, gentler Martha. Think comfy polo shirt rather than a starched button-down. With more than 200 recipes for everything from cakes and cookies to pies and... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/homestyle-thanksgiving/23141/ Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST The Stuffing By Adina Steiman When it comes to the important matter of Thanksgiving stuffing, there are two main factions.The loyalists serve their trademark stuffing year after year, confident in its superiority. The revolutionaries bounce from one stuffing to another, spurred on by magazine spreads and new cookbooks. I used to be a stuffing revolutionary - not because I am fickle, but because I hadn't found a stuffing I could call my own. That was before my grandmother made her Ritz cracker... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/hungry-reader/22773/ Wed, 9 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST Wandering through a produce aisle or a farmer's market is not always a rapturous experience. Too many choices can lead to paralysis rather than inspiration. Just what is that strange striped zucchini good for? And what do I do with a lemon cucumber? Barbara Kafka's new cookbook can save you. The veteran author of dozens of cookbooks, including the groundbreaking "Roasting" and "Soup: A Way of Life," Ms. Kafka has a reassuring ability to separate the wheat from the chaff - and the frisee from... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/jack-o-lanterns-need-not-apply/22066/ Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST They say style is often valued over substance. If that's true, the pumpkin is just one more fashion victim - particularly in this country. The pumpkin owes its popularity more to its charming exterior than its contents, and with good reason. The watery, stringy flesh of most supermarket pumpkins hardly whets the appetite. When the urge for nutty, sweet smoothness strikes, we usually turn to the usual suspects: sweet potatoes and butternut or acorn squash. Overseas, though, the pumpkin is eaten... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/chefs-come-marching/21358/ Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST It's official: New Orleans is cooking again. In the French Quarter, chefs are reopening their restaurants with simplified menus, stripped-down crews, and plenty of passion. The challenges are legion, but New Orleans's beloved local cuisine - gumbo, shrimp remoulade, muffalettas, beignets, and pecan pralines - is steadily making its way back to the table. "People ask me how I can be so upbeat," Cajun-cuisine legend Paul Prudhomme said. "But why cry over things that already happened? I just want... Adina Steiman http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/how-to-and-how-not/21029/ Wed, 5 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST Most cooks have at least one moment in the kitchen of utter disgrace. Mine happened in cooking school, when I knocked my head against a fuse box and slowly crumpled to the ground as a fellow student spilled a bowl of crepine (caul fat) all over my torso. Of course, I had to get right up and cook for three straight hours, my trousers clinging and sticking to my legs all the while. But compared to the disasters in "Don't Try This at Home" (Bloomsbury, $24.95), that's child's play. Take the... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/from-cocoa-to-confit-lessons-in-luxury/20697/ Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST On the surface, Michael Recchiuti's new book "Chocolate Obsession" (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $35) seems to have about as much in common with Paula Wolfert's reissue of her 1982 classic, "The Cooking of Southwest France" (Wiley, $37.50) as, well, cocoa and cassoulet. Mr. Recchiuti is a modern chocolatier working in the new wave style. Ms. Wolfert is a traditional French food expert, digging up the very best recipes of a particular region. But they are kindred spirits in their insightful approach... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/julie-julia-cesare-too/20320/ Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Cookbooks pop up like toadstools these days - more than 1,000 are published every year. But as our libraries grow and our palates broaden, how do we decide what to cook? For Julie Powell, a 29-year-old secretary in Queens, the choice was fearsome in its simplicity. In 2003, she decided to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year, while chronicling her travails on her blog. Now she has converted the tale of her adventures into book form: "Julie... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/bees-knees/19981/ Wed, 14 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Honey is usually relegated to a pantry shelf, brought out on occasion to enjoy in a cup of tea. Once a year, though, honey gets its due. The upcoming Jewish New Year is a great excuse to explore the wide world of this golden nectar. It's traditional to enjoy some honey during Rosh Hashana to express the hope that the coming year will be sweet. But honey is more than a source of mere sweetness. These days, artisanal honeys have nuanced flavors and varied textures, and hail from picturesque... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/from-crust-to-crumbs/19644/ Wed, 7 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Like a guest who has overstayed his welcome, summer is rushed out the door right about now. Sweaters and woolen skirts are in shop windows, while casseroles and crumbles grace the covers of food magazines. But I'm not quite ready to cook for blustery fall. While the it's still warm outside, I'd rather pull my dessert out of the refrigerator than the oven. Which dessert? The almost-forgotten summertime treat: an icebox pie. By definition, an icebox pie is simply any pie that's been chilled... ADINA STEIMAN http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/beyond-the-wonka-bar/19079/ Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST As a child attending boarding school in England, Roald Dahl displayed culinary discernment at a young age. When Cadbury's distributed boxes of test chocolate to Dahl's class, he assessed one variety as "too subtle for the common palate." The experience later inspired Dahl to write his 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," but that book was not the most food-focused of his writings. In 1990, the last year of his life, Dahl wrote "Memories With Food at Gipsy House" with his wife...