Browsing: Food & Dining

When I first started seriously cooking, I thought that for something to be really good, it had to be complicated, using expensive ingredients, and probably be French as well. But now I know better. In fact, it is often the opposite. Simple is almost always better.

It’s almost Mardi Gras season, which means beautiful and delicious king cakes!

Now that the holidays are over, there is only one problem to overcome: what the heck are you going to do with all that leftover turkey?

 This year I have decided to make a Christmas gumbo. It a pretty simple recipe, and inexpensive, but it does take some time to get it right.

When the weather finally gets that late fall feel, and the holidays approach, my thoughts turn to serious comfort food. There is nothing wrong with a traditional ham or roast turkey, but there are a world of side options to choose from too.

Everyone has that go-to holiday drink, but it’s always nice to broaden your horizon and try something new this Christmas…

What a blessing that we live on the Gulf Coast and have such a wonderful abundance of seafood to choose from. I love boiled and fried shrimp, fish of all makes and models, raw oysters, fried and grilled, but my all-time favorite is crab cakes. 

Classic Italian marinara sauce, alla marinara, is made with fresh summer tomatoes or homemade canned tomatoes (pureed tomatoes) and is considered a light sauce.

But have you heard of Thanksgiving deviled eggs? Yes, you read that right. Deviled eggs with a Thanksgiving spin. Sumrall, MS native, Tiffany Murry, definitely has.

As we progress toward the end of fall, we are right on the heels of the Christmas season, and it…

Chicken and Dumplings is a great example of just how  good poor folks’ food can be. It’s food of necessity, made when there are no coins in your pocket and made with what you might have in a sparce pantry.

Alas! Holiday season is no longer upon us, friends. It is here. As the colors of the scenery, along with air change, our hearts may be filled with glee or melancholy (perhaps both).

French pot au feu and cassslutte come to mind as well, but perhaps the best example is French onion soup. When there is no stew meat to be had, nor a tough old chicken, a few onions, a left over bone to make stock from, can be turned into a wonderful, hearty soup, French onion soup. This soup dates from medieval times, but the modern version seems to have first been made in the mid-19th century.

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. From pies, to spiced lattes, to fun fragrances, pumpkin has been the theme for fall festivities. But when did it start? When did pumpkin become so popular for fall? And why on earth is pumpkin spice so popular? Keep reading to find out.

Cooking sous vide has been a popular cooking method in restaurant kitchens for quite a while now, but it just hasn’t caught on in home kitchens.

Over the years I have written countless stories about gumbo, perhaps the most emblematic dish to come from this part of the world.  It is composed of ingredients that represent many of the peoples who traveled through the Gulf South, some staying and some moving on.