*this is not a sponsored post- I’m just in luuuuurrrrvvvve.

It is extremely rare that I endorse products on this blog, much less single-use kitchen gadgets. Generally speaking, things like pizza scissors, corn de-silkers and kiwi fruit de-bruisers are meant more for candidates of the Darwin Awards than the James Beard Awards. So when I say that if you like to make filled pasta at all you MUST go to ebay right now and bid on one of these strange little (really inexpensive) contraptions that will ship to you directly from the Ukraine, you really ought to consider this a game of Salty Seattle Says.  And I say do it, so hop to it. Here are some reasons why: Read more

If you know me at all by now, you know that I love turning classics into cornets. I did it a few months ago with eggs benedict and just recently with sea urchin and squid ink, which isn’t really a classic, but it made for a classically good cornet nonetheless. This time I decided to tackle buckwheat blini, crème fraiche and caviar- the staid staple of the Russian cocktail party set. Aside from learning which parts of my forearm are perpetually destined to stick to the oven door when forming cornets, I also learned that blini is plural for blintz. I had always assumed they were two different things, despite them looking similar on the page, so I was happy to glean that little knowledge nugget. Blini and crepes are very similar, however the primary difference is that blini tend to be yeasted whereas crepes are not. While various flours are used to make blini all over the world (and especially in Central and Eastern Europe), Russians often use buckwheat. Read more

*This is a post for consideration in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice recipe competition. If you like to get all crazy El Bulli-style, you should check out both the contest and the book HERE.

If necessity is the mother of invention, luxury must be the father of reinvention, no? There is the argument- why mess with a good thing? But I say, why not when there is the possibility to create a truly great thing. French fries and ketchup are good. Poutine is great. Your first time was good, your 50th time (complete with curled toes) was great. Passable Eggs Benedict are good. Even really, really good. But these Eggs Benedict are as stratospheric as that time you did it in the hot springs with the guy who was really into Kamasutra. Isn’t that the kind of greatness we should aspire to in the kitchen? Read more