Cooking Tips & Tricks
What is togarashi?
If you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant, specifically one that serves ramen or soups, you might notice a small shaker bottle on the table with bright red flakes inside of it. This little capsule packs a spicy and citrusy powder called togarashi. So what...
Some notes on marinara sauce
Some of you may know that I grew up in New Jersey with a family of Italian American heritage. With this background something that you learn, or at least have an understanding of, is marinara sauce. I never had someone to pass a recipe down to me, but I can tell you...
Santoku vs Bunka knives: What’s the difference?
If you've been reading these long enough you know my philosophy with knives; Get a good chef's knife, get a paring knife, get a bread knife. This will cover 95% of what you'll need to do in a kitchen. Everything you add after will simply do the jobs of these knives,...
What is galangal?
At HIP we recently made a yellow Thai curry. The base is a curry paste which includes garlic, lemongrass, salt, shallot, galangal, dried red chili, coriander seed, kefir lime peel, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, and nutmeg. While most of these...
Diced tomatoes: did you know?
Did you know that canned, diced tomatoes are treated so they actually hold their shape longer? I know this might seem obvious, but diced tomatoes aren't just....well...diced tomatoes. They're actually diced tomatoes with calcium chloride and citric acid added to them...
What are dangmyeon?
Taking a deep dive in the Korean pantry, today we'll discuss dangmyeon. These translucent noodles are at the center of japchae, a dish that also features stir fried vegetables and strong notes of garlic and sesame. This is something I always keep in my back pocket as...
Onion. Celery. Green bell pepper.
This "Holy Trinity" is the mirepoix of Louisiana Cajun and Creole cooking. So how did we get here? The French settlers of the region came with their mirepoix of carrot, onion and celery. Chances are, while both the carrot and bell pepper were capable of being grown in...
What is a marionberry?
This last weekend I was driving to Montana for a hockey tournament when I saw a sign on the side of the road for "the best marionberry milkshake." While I didn't stop and try it, the sign grabbed my attention and made me dig a little deeper into what a marionberry is....
Who is the Alfredo in Alfredo sauce?
Lifting the cloche on another piece of food history, this week we discuss the origins of Alfredo sauce. At first glance this sauce may beg the question, "is this sauce even Italian?" Noodles with butter and cheese? Sure, but it's a far cry from the ubiquitous...
What is ham? Is it pork?
We're going back to our butchery class to answer the question, what is ham? I can tell you that growing up, a lot of the families I knew would have ham on Easter, and I can also tell you that most would have ham without knowing the reasoning behind it. Ham is pork...
