If bunches of celery tend to languish in your fridge (or you can't resist stocking up when it's on sale), do what Chowhounds recommend: Start cooking.
Celery braised in chicken stock is a great old-school side dish—BobB makes it a little more contemporary by adding fennel. Celery Victor (pictured) is another throwback. The stalks are briefly braised, then dressed with tarragon vinaigrette. Cream of celery soup is good hot or chilled, and it freezes well (Kater simmers celery in chicken stock with shallots, leeks, and celery root, then purées and finishes with a bit of cream). READ MORE
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on Sunday, January 20th, 2013
Moist, tender slow-roasted pork shoulder becomes irresistible when its skin is bronzed and crackly-crisp. Check out these five recipes Chowhounds swear by:
1. This simple Ultra-Crispy Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder is "all you'll ever need." – Baskerville READ MORE
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on Saturday, January 19th, 2013
You can't just stick hot soup in the freezer, and you certainly don't want to water it down by throwing ice cubes into the pot. What's the best way to cool down soups, stocks, and meat brines fast, so you can safely store them in the freezer?
Chowhound CindyJ recalls seeing so-called cooling paddles in restaurant supply stores—they're paddle-shaped plastic bottles you fill with water, freeze solid, then use to stir a hot liquid till it's cool enough to store. Only problem with that solution: You have to buy the cooling paddles. Here's how Chowhounds improvise quick-chill solutions. READ MORE
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on Friday, January 18th, 2013
What makes a great burger? Quality meat, the right bun, and carefully chosen toppings. The cooking style is important, too: A charcoal grill imparts flavor to both meat and toasted bun. And while fries aren't technically part of the deal, they can factor into a burger's overall ranking. Chowhounds who've eaten a lot of cheeseburgers, charburgers, and BBQ bacon deluxe burgers, came up with this shortlist perfect for any serious East Bay burger crawl: READ MORE
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on Friday, January 18th, 2013
Mighty Quinn's made its mark at Brooklyn's Smorgasburg, where barbecue fans have been lining up for its Texas- and Carolina-style smoked meats. Now it's ventured into the more treacherous waters of Manhattan real estate, in the former Vandaag space in the East Village. The first Chowhound dispatch reports fairly priced but under-flavored brisket and pulled pork—a cut below the competition at Fette Sau and Hill Country—but finds promise in the crew's hospitality and seriousness of purpose, as well as a killer side of sweet potato with maple and pecans. READ MORE
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on Friday, January 18th, 2013
Tagines—those teepee-shaped clay cooking vessels from Morocco that have lent their name to a whole category of North African stews—are now common in cookware shops. And while the new enameled metal tagines are fine to use on the stovetop, what about traditional clay tagines? On Chowhound, Kate Cortesi reports that she loves her clay tagine from Le Souk Ceramique, and has had good results using it in the oven. But on the stovetop, with a heat diffuser to keep from cracking the tagine from direct heat, she can't achieve a respectable simmer. So, she asks, is it safe to use her clay tagine directly over the flame? READ MORE
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on Thursday, January 17th, 2013
While good, authentic Chinese cooking has surfaced in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Dyker Heights hasn't been one of them. But on a short stretch of Fort Hamilton Parkway where Chinese groceries coexist with Italian bakeries and even the CVS drugstore has Chinese signs, a Cantonese restaurant called Sun Wong makes some of the city's best roast duck, Pan reports on Chowhound. READ MORE
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on Thursday, January 17th, 2013
In Paris a couple of years ago, an argument about the meaning of "vegetarian" nearly caused an international incident after I told a French friend that a vegetarian who was coming along to dine with us did not eat fish.
"Of course she eats fish," he insisted. "All vegetarians do." He muttered into the phone with the chef who was preparing our meal.
Later that evening, before the parade of dishes started, the chef stopped by to greet us.
"She eats fish, right?" he asked, pointing at our vegetarian friend. When she answered no, the chef looked annoyed. The pile of sautéed vegetables he sent out for her looked shabby next to our glossy roasts and jus-enriched side dishes. READ MORE
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on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
On the way back from a trek in Patagonia, jsetla was very impressed with the bowls at a tiny restaurant in Puerto Natales, Chile (pictured). The soups arrived boiling vigorously in their bowls, and continued to bubble at the table for a couple minutes more, but amazingly, the rims were cool enough to touch. The vessels in question were half an inch thick, jsetla tells Chowhound, and looked like wood but felt ceramic. What were they? READ MORE
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on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
