Ben Cooks Everything

The pork CSA that I signed up for with Jen has been a great success, if there have been a few curveballs (some overly salty ham and a still-untouched tub of cooking lard). The salami was one of the best things so far. It’s rustic, and it tastes like real meat. It made great sandwiches but I came close to letting it spoil. Which was what led me to make a salami frittata.

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Hello everybody! Welcome to the new home of Ben Cooks Everything. I’ve moved the site from the blogspot address to my own domain, hence the new look and feel of the site. The story remains the same: I’m cooking every recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. The site is still a work in progress, so please feel free to email me with any feedback, or just leave it in the comments.  Many thanks to Jennie Sardo for helping me get set up over here, and continuing to answer as may inane questions as I can lob her way.  Thanks also to Kyle Kabel for the banner design and other site customization.
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Corn! It’s great. No one’s denying that. But you can do a lot more with it than simply boiling or grilling it. When I saw this post on Emily Gould’s tumblr, I knew I had to try David Chang’s recipe for Roasted Sweet Summer Corn, originally served at Noodle Bar. Luckily it is in the Momofuku cookbook, so I was able to recreate it with a certain amount of accuracy (though I fudged a couple steps). (more…)

This is the time of year when the market is so full of incredible produce that you have to do almost nothing to it to make an incredible meal. Take this gazpacho: the tomatoes at market are so delicious right now, so bursting with juice and flavor and color, that it needed barely any of the seasoning called for in the recipe, just a dash of vinegar and black pepper to bring out the vibrant heirloom tomatoes I got from Eckerton Hill Farm recently. (more…)

One of my favorite dishes for tomato season, which is glorious full swing here in New York, is Pamela Sherrid’s Summer Pasta, which I have been making since I read about it in 2007 in a Times article by Amanda Hesser. (more…)

Have you guys been following the slog (a combination of ‘salon’ and ‘blog,’ oh brother) over at the recently relaunched bittman.com? It’s quite good, kind of like the blog that I always hoped the now defunct Bitten blog at the NYTimes site would be. In addition to regular posts from the man himself, there’s a rotating cast of bloggers writing about recipes, cooking methods, politics of food, and everything in between. Included in this stable is Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out In NY and lately of Lunch at Sixpoint, who recently wrote about making herb butter, the best way (after pesto) of preserving fresh herbs in your freezer. (more…)

Remember last year when I went to New Hampshire with Melanie to stay with her mother and aunt? No? Well, it happened. Mel’s mom Donna made an incredible brisket, and I made a couple salads from How to Cook Everything, and it was just one of the most relaxing weekends and delicious meals of my life. Last weekend we returned, and on Saturday night Donna turned the kitchen, and the grill, over to the kids. (more…)

When my friend Jen asked me a few months ago if I wanted to go in on a CSA share from the Piggery, a pork farm near Ithaca, NY, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Weekly deliveries of pork, charcuterie, bacon, cooking lard,* and who knows what else? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. (more…)

Last night on The Real World, while some dumb kids said really stupid things to one another, the BEST THING EVER HAPPENED. (more…)

Just a quick note to let you all know that I was interviewed for this week’s Last Chance Foods segment on WNYC’s All Things Considered. I chatted with Amy Eddings about July 4th, the patriotism of eating locally and what’s in season at the market, as well as a red, white and blue recipe for Queso Fresco Salsa with Blue Corn Chips (I made it for taco night here). You can see the writeup of the segment on WNYC’s Culture page here, and listen to the piece tonight on WNYC, 93.9 FM or AM 820 if you’re in the greater New York area, or on WNYC’s live web stream here (I’m told it should air at about 5:40pm). The audio from the piece should be up on the website after it airs this evening.

Patriotic Eating: Beyond Red, White and Blueberries [wnyc culture]