Lisa on August 31st, 2009

Corned beef has nothing to do with corn — at least, not the kind of corn we usually think of.  Peppercorns don’t have anything to do with corn, either.  And it turns out that pink peppercorns don’t have anything to do with corn OR pepper.  How’s that for a “huh”? A “corn” in old-time (or [...]

Continue reading about When a Peppercorn is not a Corn … or a Pepper

Lisa on December 20th, 2008

Who doesn’t love cream soups?  The home-made kind, that is.  (Canned cream soups are usually more filler than substance.)  Here’s a way to make cream soups that are velvety and rich without the actual cream.  The trick is purposely mis-using a starch to thicken the soup.  (Go here to learn more about starches.)  In this [...]

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Lisa on December 15th, 2008

Have you ever boiled a potato and helplessly watched it fall apart? Or wanted rice to clump together for the sake of eating it with chopsticks and then had to chase individual grains around your plate? Odds are, you picked the wrong type of starch for your dish. In the case of rice, short-grain and [...]

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Lisa on September 29th, 2008

Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture. Her name eventually became associated with the single food that provides more energy for human beings than any other crop: grain. Unfortunately, today’s commercially-made cereals are often a far cry from their old-world roots. Just take a look at the labels–most cereal is made of sugars and “grains” [...]

Continue reading about Skip the Cereal Aisle–Make Your Own!