Oven-baked, country-style Chinese Pork “Ribs”

A variety of Chinese and not-so-Chinese ingredients create a flavorful marinade for oven-baked pork ribs that aren’t ribs at all. Recipe below.

CALL IT CLEVER BUTCHERING, CALL IT GENIUS MARKETING, CALL IT BOTH. In the 1960s, Clifford G. Bowes took a section of pork that was hard to sell, cut it into meaty/fatty riblike slabs and dubbed it country-style ribs. Bowes, “one of the country’s top meat men and a meat consultant from Chicago,” according to a Chicago Tribune article from 1978, had hit a meat home run. Soon, butchers were using pork shoulder and the blade just behind the shoulder to keep up with the demand for country-style “ribs”—which are actually not ribs at all. Continue reading “Oven-baked, country-style Chinese Pork “Ribs”” →

Appreciating an icon: Pimento Cheese

Pimento cheese, a versatile, easy-to-make appetizer/spread/sandwich filling/burger topping/etcetera, is rightly enjoying a moment. One taste and you’ll see why. Recipe below.

People talk about pimento cheese like it’s always been around—as if it’s been a fixture of Southern life since time immemorial. Not so. The “caviar of the South” actually originated in New York state around 1910. Continue reading “Appreciating an icon: Pimento Cheese” →

Four Kimchi recipes, traditional and otherwise

Savory, crunchy and often spicy, kimchi—fermented vegetables (most often Napa cabbage)—is the Korean national dish. Here are four recipes for cooking with it.

Last week’s recipe for Dak Kalbi, Korean barbecued chicken, has had us thinking about kimchi all week. Sadly, we don’t have any in the fridge right now. But when we do, here are some ways we cook with it. Continue reading “Four Kimchi recipes, traditional and otherwise” →

Dak Kalbi: Korean for Barbecued Chicken

Chicken thighs are marinated with soy sauce, mirin, fresh ginger, garlic, kiwi and other flavorings, then pan roasted for this take on Dak Kalbi, Korean barbecued chicken. recipe below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]acos just always seem to lead to good things. This weekend, we had an uncharacteristically lazy Sunday, running a few errands and doing some shopping along Michigan Avenue. When we finished, I remarked that we were close to Del Seoul, the Korean taco joint in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Well, three miles as the Camry flies, close enough. As always, we had a wonderful lunch there. And I found the inspiration for this week’s recipe. Continue reading “Dak Kalbi: Korean for Barbecued Chicken” →

Put an egg on it: old school Whiskey Sour with Egg White

The classic whiskey sour cocktail has many variations. This one includes an egg white for a frothy head and a velvety mouthfeel. Recipe below.

FOR A COUPLE OF WINE LOVERS, Marion and I have been totally smitten by the craft cocktail scene that, happily, just doesn’t seem to quit. In countless bars and restaurants, we’ve puzzled over cryptic descriptions of inventively named drinks with housemade bitters, small batch spirits and surprising botanicals; challenged willing bartenders to create something using a particular liquor and hitting vaguely described flavor notes; and enjoyed the theatrics of the process—at Curio in Columbus, Ohio, a bartender flexed an orange peel and ignited the oil spraying from the skin. But old school drinks persist for a reason: sometimes you just want a drink. Not a shot and a beer, but something classic without being overthought—something a good bartender makes from muscle memory. Continue reading “Put an egg on it: old school Whiskey Sour with Egg White” →