Reviving Traditional Foods
Preserved lemons enhance the cooking of North Africa with their pronounced saltiness and a sourness that is oddly mellowed, rather than enhanced, through fermentation. Even with no other ingredients but salt and lemon, preserved lemons take on other unique and complex flavor profiles that can become even mint-like over time and after proper fermentation. While [...]
To drink beet kvass is to taste the blood of the earth - sweet and salty with a mineral-rich undertone that speaks of the soil itself. Beet kvass is an acquired taste, much like other fermented foods whose characteristic sourness can offend tame palates. In spite of – or perhaps because of – its briny [...]
I love kimchi, and I make kimchi at home a few times a year, usually in the autumn when Napa cabbage, hefty daikon radishes, carrots, garlic and chili peppers can all be found at the market in abundance. I buy them by the case, taking advantage of discounted prices – cabbage for 75 cents a [...]
Want an easy homemade yogurt? It doesn’t get easier than matsoni or the many other traditional yogurts that culture best at room temperature (think of villi, piima and filmjolk). Even if you’re so clumsy in the kitchen that you manage to burn water, you can make this simple, easy yogurt. Just whisk starter culture with [...]
Homemade sauerkraut, in all its funky humility, is a favorite food in our home – particularly in wintertime when fresh, local produce is a rare treat and we rely on what we’ve put by over the summer and autumn months. For us, this means lots of fermented foods and sauerkraut in particular. We grow cabbage [...]
Fermented hot chili sauce – explosive with heat and teeming with food enzymes, beneficial bacteria, vitamin C and carotene. Traditionally, all hot chili sauces were prepared through fermentation – and many of the world’s most renowned and well-loved sauces are still prepared through this time-honored technique of combining hot chilies with salt and allowing it [...]
Homemade horseradish found its way to our table this week, and it’s hot – painfully hot, pleasurably hot, perfectly hot. When fresh horseradish root appears at market, which is rarely, I fight my way to it – elbowing into the stand before the other Weston A Price Foundation and fermentation enthusiasts in my community can [...]
Allioli. Allioli. Allioli. I love how the vowels and lulling Ls roll off the tongue – softly and whimsically – almost like a child’s nonsense word. all-ee-oh-lee. It’s a melodic sound. Allioli is a Catalan version of classic aioli, and it differs fundamentally from Provençal aiolis in that it is made without egg yolk – offering just a combination of good quality olive oil, fragrant garlic and unrefined sea salt.
This version of french toast makes use of sourdough bread with its wonderful and rich tartness, pairing it against a sweetness provided by maple syrup. I find that grade B maple syrup offers a more complex flavor for a better price than grade A maple syrup, and recommend it in this and in other recipes (mmm … sprouted spelt shortbread.) Of course, one could omit maple syrup entirely from this recipe and serve it unsweetened, perhaps paired only with fruit and fresh cream for an equally charming breakfast.
Raw milk yogurt is a sort of holy grail for traditional foods enthusiasts, coupling the enzymatic and probiotic components of both fresh milk and fermentation in one glorious, creamy, lovely food. Served over baked oatmeal or soaked oatmeal porridge, on its own or as a basis for savory dipping sauces, a good yogurt can find [...]
Lovage Soup for Spring
Moroccan Preserved Lemons
campfire roast chicken with flowering onion and dill
Our Daily Bread: No-knead Sourdough
A Story of Recovery (and a Recipe for Grain-free Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting)
A Recipe for Beet Kvass: A Deeply Cleansing Tonic
What People Are Saying