Of all the things I inherited from my mother, including her special silver and the family china, the thing I cherish most is her waffle iron. It has no special […]
Recipe Box
THE CURE
Gravlax With Lemon, Mint, and Gin
Tender Scandinavian salmon seeks chewy New York bagel
I didn’t grow up eating salmon, although when we were kids, my grandfather did teach us how to smoke it. That was something he learned on his fishing trips to […]
THE KIDS COOK
Chili With Cornbread
A dinner that plays up the pleasure of beans (and butter!)
Here is something I am reminded of by the small cooks in my house: we all need more comfort food. Kids do not make obligatory salads. They follow their pleasure […]
BACKYARD PANTRY
Wild Cherry Cough Syrup
Collect native black cherry bark now for a homemade winter cold remedy
Earlier this summer, I discovered a wild cherry tree growing off my back porch. I noticed one variety, then a second, and learned from a friend and Cape Cod National […]
SUMMERTIME BLUES
Reviving a Smoked Bluefish Ritual
The delicate flavor of hard-earned summer leisure
TRURO — Like many men of his generation, my father was not much of a cook. He was good with burgers and steaks and made a fine tuna salad. But […]
KITCHEN TABLE
Big Easy Oysters
Wellfleet oysters make a New Orleans favorite even better
My friend Sophie’s mother, Lillian, was famous for her deceptively slow-paced, Southern-accented way of talking, and for her oyster patties. I never understood why these beautiful appetizers were called “patties.” […]
BAKEOFF
It’s Pie for Pi Day
We’re adopting Pi Day (March 14 = 3.14) as our own here at the P.I. with a pie recipe roundup. Everybody loves pie, we’re pretty sure. Here, local bakers offer […]
RECIPE BOX
Midnight Pasta
A simple dish you can be endlessly creative with
For a time in the 1990s I lived in San Diego — in the Windansea neighborhood in La Jolla, to be precise. I had known nothing about San Diego, but […]
RECIPE BOX
Recreating Iruña’s Pork Tenderloin Estofado
A Cambridge taste memory, brought back with some detective work
When I was in college in the 1990s, there was a restaurant in Harvard Square called Iruña — which is the Basque name for the city of Pamplona. A friend’s […]