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A Guy’s Gotta Eat!
My mother was a farm wife on a 400-acre farm in northern Illinois in the 1950s. She could feed a hungry crew during the harvest and could help in the fields, when necessary. This is the environment in which she…
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The Wide World of Curry
When most Americans think of Indian food, they usually think of well-known curry dishes such the chicken tikka masala pictured above – rich, creamy sauces, a variety of spices, served with naan bread. But in Britain, curries come in countless…
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Comfort Food in Another Language
Fall is the season for comfort food, that chow that stokes nostalgia for our childhood meals and home cooking. It’s the pot roasts and beef stews, fried chicken and ham and dumplings, and, of course, spaghetti and meatballs. Typically, they’re…
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The Nature of Flavor
In the 1950s, when dairies were small local operations, I could taste the slight difference of the milk when the dairy cows moved from the grasses of summer pasture to the grains and silage of the barn lot. Today, when…
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A Fruit Beyond Compear
Most food lovers agree that pears are among the most delicious of fruits. James Beard, for example, proclaims in American Cookery that no fruit rivals the Bartlett pear “except fine strawberries, perfect peaches, and Tilton apricots.” Beard, like many other…
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Pumpkins, Fall’s Golden Globes
On a lark, I bought a couple of pumpkin plants this spring and planted them in a raised bed. I forgot about them until a couple of weeks ago when I spied two telltale orange globes. It brought me back…
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Fall Vegetables from the Farmers’ Market for Easy Dinners
Now that Labor Day weekend is over and done, it’s back to work, back to school, and back to the other events that fill our social schedules in the evening. When it comes to dinner, we’re looking for something that’s…
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Can’t Get Enough of That Corn
It’s been a great season for corn here in the Northeast, and we’re right in middle of it (the season and the cornfields). I just can’t get enough of it. I developed that craving in the 1950s growing up in…
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From A to Zucchini
We’ve come to the point of maximum squash in the summer growing season. Neighbor gardeners are offering it for free, farmer’s markets are chocked with it, and prices at the supermarket are reaching seasonal lows. For me, a little zucchini…
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On Top of Old Smoky Meatloaf
As Labor Day approaches, I’m planning to smoke some meats for a cookout. I have a great smoker, and I’ve made a few smoked meals so far this summer, but this an especially good time of year to try something…
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The Tang of a Tomato
My tomato crop this year looks like a bumper harvest, and I’m thinking about how to consume all them all. Of course, I can freeze some of the Romas for use over the winter. But it still makes most sense…
