The eye-level eye-candy found in the food section of bookstores entices us to buy more cookbooks than we can ever use. Down at ankle-level, with only their sober spines showing, are the other food books. My favorites are the social, political and economic histories, which show us food embedded in particular times and places and, […]
David Auerbach
Posted inNews
Food
In the early ’80s, the food scene in the Triangle had started looking up: A Southern Season had gone from minuscule to massive, Wellspring Grocery was selling such exotic items as unshriveled garlic, and a real farmers’ market was thriving in Carrboro. If ingredients were becoming available, could cuisine be far behind? Yes and no. […]
Posted inGuides
Hospitality & Its Discontents
The dinner party, in literature, in the movies, and on TV does not enjoy a good press. Penelope’s dinner party ended rather badly at Odysseus’ tardy arrival; and, from Trollope on, novels have set scenes of social strain, arriviste anxiety, upper-class upsmanship, and generational discord at the dinner party table. William Dean Howells’ Rise of […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Grounds for Dismay
Coffee aficionados often compare coffee with wine. Both are agricultural products, grown worldwide. Their flavor is sensitive to both variety and terroir. Like wine, coffee can be enjoyed as a single-estate varietal or in a blend. As with wine, professionals participate in serious tastings (“cuppings” in the coffee world), complete with aspirating and spitting. But […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Having Your Turkey and Eating It, Too
With Thanksgiving just around the corner (you know, that far corner, just visible on a clear day), it’s time to talk about the pleasant conundrum of saving turkeys by killing and eating them. We eat across a narrow range of plant and animal species; within that slim range, thousands of once-plentiful varieties and breeds are […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A Guide to Leftover Turkey Potpie
My version evolved from the first potpie recipe I found, in Julia & More Company. That was for a rabbit and leek potpie. In the years since, I’ve changed everything but the crust, which is a buttermilk biscuit. A very large buttermilk biscuit, as the potpies fill lasagna pans. But, of course, you can substitute […]