http://www.emilykaiser.com/ en-us Emily Kaiser 2008-07-01T09:00:00-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000479.php FOOD ACROSS AMERICA: Salt Lake City, UT Salt Lake City is a sweet town—friendly, easygoing and fiercely fond of sugar. Food & Wine July 2008 479@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2008-07-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000475.php SUPERCHEFS' BEST WINE BAR RECIPES The next step in the evolution of the American wine bar: star chefs making great food. Three big international talents—Daniel Boulud, Tony Mantuano and Luke Mangan—divulge their tastiest recipes. Food & Wine April 2008 475@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2008-04-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000477.php MASTER COOK: Easy, Elegant Party Desserts Michel Richard of Washington, DC’s Citronelle is heartbroken when diners don’t leave room for dessert. Food & Wine April 2008 477@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2008-04-01T08:57:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000476.php WELL-BEING: Healthy Dishes That Won’t Weigh You Down Heavy meals and trapeze workouts don’t go so well together. Amateur aerialist Stéphane Vivier, a Napa winemaker, has mastered light, healthy cooking. Food & Wine April 2008 476@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2008-04-01T08:55:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000474.php MASTER COOK: Chefs' $30 Challenge Many chefs would sooner part with their sharpest knife than share the names of their suppliers; the first secret to good cooking, after all, is securing the finest ingredients. But during the past year, there’s been a surge of new market-restaurants, in which chefs sell the very ingredients they serve. The one drawback: These epicurean markets can be expensive. Food & Wine February 2008 474@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2008-02-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000473.php GIFTS WE LOVE TO GIVE: Meyer Lemon Marmalade F&W editors share their favorite recipes for irresistible homemade holiday gifts— and promise these presents won’t sit untouched on the shelf until next year Food & Wine December 2007 473@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-12-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000478.php BEST RESTAURANT DISHES OF 2007 Duck with Mustard Spaetzle, Hen of the Wood; Waterbury, VT. Food & Wine December 2007 478@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-12-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000472.php MASTER COOK: How to Cook with Wine Jean-Georges Vongerichten is talking to me on his iPhone. He's about to take off for Tokyo or Mexico City, it's not entirely clear which; he's speaking softly and the background noise makes it hard to hear him. But the chef's voice comes through clearly when he gets to the subject of cooking with wine. Food & Wine October 2007 472@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-10-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000471.php F&W ECO-EPICUREAN AWARDS: Revolution Foods Joining a growing movement led by Alice Waters and other culinary luminaries to bring healthier lunches to schools, California-based Revolution Foods is proving that better food does not have to cost more. Food & Wine August 2007 471@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-08-01T09:01:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000470.php F&W ECO-EPICUREAN AWARDS: Vivavi Furniture From a project that's converting lawns into vegetable gardens to a venture aimed at improving the quality of public-school lunches, the winners of F&W's first-ever Eco-Epicurean Awards are all busy making the world a better—and more delicious—place. Food & Wine August 2007 470@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-08-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000468.php CHEF'S PALETTE Graham Elliot Bowles—F&W Best New Chef, art lover and idea omnivore—reveals how his favorite paintings translate to the plate. Food & Wine July 2007 468@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-06-18T17:58:07-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000467.php FOOD ACROSS AMERICA: Burlington, VT In the past five years, there’s been a thrilling change in the American culinary landscape. Major metropolitan areas like New York and San Francisco no longer have a monopoly on innovative chefs, food artisans, mixologists and other talents. Now these men and women are as likely to turn up in smaller cities like Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; and Burlington, Vermont. Food & Wine June 2007 467@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-06-18T17:53:36-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000466.php NEW WINE SHOPS FOR FOODIES Silverlake Wine, Los Angeles, CA. If I was looking for a cool party in L.A. where I didn't need an invitation, I'd go straight to Silverlake Wine. Food & Wine April 2007 466@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2007-03-28T11:37:53-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000465.php GO WITH THE GRAIN CSA members can scratch another item off their grocery lists: grains. Gourmet November 2006 465@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-10-31T09:30:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000464.php FLOUR POWERS A Japanese comic book brings some kapow! to the culinary arts. Meet Kazuma Azuma, protagonist of Yakitate!! Japan, one of that country's most popular comic book series. In the opening panels, young Kazuma prepares to leave his family's rice farm to study baking in Tokyo, where he auditions for a job at a prestigious bakery. Struggling to further the cause of good bread in a country of rice lovers, Kazuma deploys his secret weapons: Hands of the Sun, preternaturally warm palms which create breads of superlative flavor and crumb. Saveur November 2006 464@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-10-31T09:15:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000463.php I LEFT MY FRIDGE IN SAN FRANCISCO: VERSE 2 Talking snacks with legendary baseball broadcaster Jon Miller, Voice of the San Francisco Giants. Edible San Francisco October 2006 463@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-10-31T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000461.php GOOD NOSE Louisa Belle can find TCA before you can At Cliff Lede Vineyards in the Napa Valley, winemaker Michelle Edwards can’t stop talking about her new apprentice, Louisa Belle. Edwards and Belle are collaborating on an unlikely experiment to eliminate “corked” wine. Belle—a native Californian with a sophisticated and highly acute sense of smell—can sniff out TCA-afflicted corks. She can’t say much about them, though: Louisa Belle is a dog. Saveur September 2006 461@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-08-16T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000462.php I LEFT MY FRIDGE IN SAN FRANCISCO What better way to get acquainted with some of the beloved residents of the City by the Bay than through the contents of their refrigerators? San Francisco Ballet star Muriel Maffre talks about how she savors the city's gustatory offerings. Edible San Francisco August 2006 462@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-08-15T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000460.php READING, WRITING & WINNOWING WHEAT Thanks to world-renowned chef Alice Waters, the kids in one California school went from eating fast-food lunches on a crumbling blacktop to growing and preparing their own fresh-food feasts. Could this idea help stave off a national obesity epidemic? Diabetes Forecast July 2006 460@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-07-19T15:29:32-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000459.php GOOGLE GRUB GOES LOCAL Their company may be known for its wide-reaching internet searches, but the employees at Google are going local for lunch. Gourmet July 2006 459@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-07-13T11:51:44-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000458.php GREENLEAF PRODUCE You’ll never see the name GreenLeaf on Bay Area menus. But for a surprising number of local chefs in search of the freshest produce and most exotic ingredients, seasonal cuisine would be impossible without the efforts of GreenLeaf Produce, one of the region’s preeminent produce distributors. Edible San Francisco May 2006 458@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-05-15T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000457.php ALLSTAR ORGANICS Forget Indiana Jones. Lewis and Clark? Could’ve been the name of a department store. If it’s adventurous explorers you’re after, you need to see Brown and Jacobson. The tomatoes, squash, melons and pumpkins the couple grow on just under 11 acres of farmland in Marin County are the fruits of true daring. Edible San Francisco February 2006 457@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2006-02-27T15:43:07-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000456.php THE RAW BAR Café Gratitude and the Alchemy of Flavor Café Gratitude in San Francisco could well be Cheers for the raw food set. Belly up to the sizeable bar and drown your sorrows in an organic beer, or a raw chocolate and almond milk smoothie. After you've come a few times, everybody may well know your name. Edible San Francisco October 2005 456@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-11-07T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000455.php NO STARVING ARTISTS The muse is well fed at Regina's table Through tortoiseshell glasses, Regina Maksutova's blue eyes focused on an orange shell filled with cranberry preserves as she positioned it next to a roast duckling, just so. "Tak, Emilechka, take it to the table," she instructed me in her lilting Russian accent. Saveur June 2005 455@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-06-29T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000450.php BUILDING A BETTER BREAD Hyattsville's Didier Rosada Makes Artisanal Loaves On an Industrial Scale In a Hyattsville warehouse with tall ceilings and plenty of light, an experiment has been quietly underway since April to bring more good bread to Washington. The Washington Post June 2005 450@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-06-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000452.php SALMON WITH HIGH MARKS Chef Michel Richard Takes Grilling To 3 New Levels Even salmon have a season, and this is it. Beginning in late April, wild salmon start trips upstream to lay their eggs, and from now through September, Pacific fishermen will keep busy pursuing the prized coho, king and Copper River varieties. Happily, wild salmon season coincides with Washington's pre-mosquito grilling season. But before condemning such prize catches to possibly rusty grills (and rusty grill cooks), we asked Michel Richard, one of Washington's four-star chefs, for help in kicking off the season. The Washington Post May 2005 452@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-05-11T08:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000448.php THE CLANDESTINE CHEF: Cooking for the CIA, Fred DeFilippo Enjoys A Free Hand -- But He Needs An Escort Fred DeFilippo was about to quit the cooking profession altogether when he got the call. After years of working in hotels and restaurants around upstate New York, the chef was tired of the long hours. He had heard of "fantasy 9-to-5 jobs" -- corporate work in which chefs got paid handsomely to cook lunch for top executives. He consulted his alma mater, the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. -- known in culinary circles as "the CIA" -- about such a position. Alumni office staff members thought DeFilippo would be perfect for a corporate job in Northern Virginia. They just didn't say which corporation. The Washington Post April 2005 448@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-04-13T13:06:24-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000447.php CHEF'S CHALLENGE: Frank Morales It's 1 a.m. at the 24-hour Giant in White Oak. The only customers: a construction crew, a few stragglers and Frank Morales, head chef of Zola in Washington's Penn Quarter. The Washington Post February 2005 447@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2005-02-16T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000446.php FERIAL FEASTING It was the end of a long Sunday. The morning had gone to housecleaning, the afternoon to laundry. I was dogtired and shiftless about cooking dinner. It was nearing six, and all we had in the fridge were two bits of cooked chicken breast. And I was in no mood for cold chicken. December 2004 446@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-12-20T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000445.php THE COUNT & I She was just out of college, with a vague fantasy about one day becoming a chef. Suddenly, this young American was living in a grand chateau, preparing just-killed duck for a bunch of French aristocrats. Gourmet Magazine December 2004 445@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-11-23T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000444.php LIFE OF THE PARTY:Want a Presidential Candidate to Come to Your Party? An Elvis Look-Alike? Call Jan Kearney Even in Washington, a town of second acts, this one is unusual: Idealistic schoolteacher leaves her job to become a mime. Twenty-five years later, she finds herself the owner of an internationally-recognized entertainment company. Washingtonian Magazine November 2004 444@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-10-27T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000443.php COOK SMARTER:The Organizing Rites of Mise en Place Will Reorient The Way You Bring A Meal Together When I was little, I so loved tuna noodles -- that comforting combination of macaroni, tuna and cheddar cheese -- that my mother taught me the recipe. Her first rule of cooking, besides no little fingers on the chopping boards, was to assemble everything ahead of time. That way, we wouldn't be halfway through a recipe before discovering we were out of a key ingredient. The Washington Post September 2004 443@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-09-01T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000442.php GOING PLACES:Small Farms That Sell Straight To You Sure, the label on that roaster at your supermarket says free-roaming, but how can you be sure your chick lived 100 percent uncooped? By going straight to the source -- and we don't mean a roadside stand. Less than an hour outside the District, you'll find small farms that will sell you eggs from hens pecking at the grass by your feet, berries only yards from where they grew, or even fresh, exotic meats like bison. The Washington Post July 2004 442@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-07-19T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000441.php THE EXPERT:Jennifer Roe A DC Maitre d' on the art of getting a reservation: "I started hosting in 1988, at the Occidental Restaurant. I'm a country girl from Ohio, so I was intimidated by the restaurant itself, not to mention all the famous customers. Sometimes I had trouble getting my work done, I was so starstruck. Now I have pictures on my wall at home of Quincy Jones and LL Cool J. I know people from all over D.C., and when I go home, I always have good stories." The Washington Post May 2004 441@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-05-09T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000421.php CHEFS WHO SALT EARLY IF NOT OFTEN Restaurant chefs and home cooks alike can now choose from a world of salt, including Hawaiian black lava salt, gray fleur de sel de Guérande from Brittany, Peruvian pink salt and a host of other varieties that have become available in the last few years. "Salt is the new olive oil," said Thomas Keller, the chef of the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., and the new Per Se in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan. The New York Times February 2004 421@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2004-02-25T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000417.php THE CHEF'S CHALLENGE: Susan McCreight Lindeborg Professional chefs are the world's greatest control freaks. Confronted with the hurdles of every restaurant day, chefs require exacting standards and an indefatigable will to get their way. But when they are taken out of their native environment, can their wills overcome the limits of normal life? Can they make something good yet cheap for a family dinner? "To do simple, straightforward food is the most difficult thing in the world," Susan McCreight Lindeborg said. "It's very hard for me to do home cooking. I don't ever give up on it, but I end up cooking in a restaurant style all the time." The Washington Post October 2003 417@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-10-29T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000416.php GATHERINGS: Decorate Your Own Doughnuts Mmm, doughnuts. Krispy Kreme is just down Route 1, but homemade ones are even closer. So surprise your friends with a little doughnut-decorating party. The Washington Post October 2003 416@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-10-05T09:00:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000401.php THE CHEF'S CHALLENGE: Kazuhiro Okochi In his quest to spend only $10 on a meal for a family of four, Kaz Okochi has found Virginia's least expensive celery. The Washington Post September 2003 401@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-09-10T10:46:33-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000359.php THE EXPERT: Kazuhiro Okochi Washington's premier sushi chef on how to judge the quality of supermarket sushi. The Washington Post August 2003 359@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-08-24T00:24:48-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000356.php THE EXPERT: Esther Lee Meet Washington's Asian-market super snack shopper: "They provide a nice change from your standard American junk food. Most of the stuff was inspired by American exports but tweaked to suit Asian tastes -- so the cuttlefish crackers taste a lot like Doritos, and the Yan Yan choco snacks are sort of like American cheese-and-cracker kits, only with sesame sticks and a chocolate spread that reminds me of Nutella." The Washington Post June 2003 356@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ The Washington Post 2003-06-15T09:48:29-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000355.php THE CHEF'S CHALLENGE: Mark Furstenberg The glazed carrots rest in the skillet on the stovetop, browned, sweet, soft. Individual apple tarts bake in the oven, heaps of buttered Granny Smith apples sliced and nested on flaky rounds of dough. But all is not well in the home kitchen of Mark Furstenberg. The Washington Post April 2003 355@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-04-09T11:23:00-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000315.php LIFE ON THE LINE On any given night in the kitchens of Washington's finer restaurants, a half-dozen bodies in white will be scurrying with sizzling hot pans from the stove to the counter and back. But neither the head chef -- whose name is on the menu -- nor his second in command, the sous chef, will be counted among them. These are the line cooks. When you go out to eat, these are the people who actually cook your food. "It doesn't matter what the chef does. It doesn't matter what the waiter does. When it comes to a restaurant's success," Joe Raffa, the sous-chef at Alexandria's Majestic Cafe, says bluntly. "Everything comes down to the line cook." The Washington Post February 2003 315@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2003-02-05T05:38:30-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000301.php GIZMOS, GADGETS, TOOLS AND TONGS Looking for the perfect gift for the cook in your life? Or a stocking stuffer for the culinary-minded colleague in your office? Wherever you turn, there are racks of tools and gadgets, perfect devices to whip up a sauce or zest a lemon. Which are the best? Seven local chefs share with us some of their favorite tools. The Washington Post December 2002 301@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2002-12-11T19:29:33-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000302.php WHERE TO BUY FRESH FISH How a home cook can find fish as good as that served by the best restaurants. Plus a guide to the best fish stores and advice on buying the freshest fish. Washingtonian September 2002 302@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2002-09-01T19:33:38-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000314.php EATING IN COMFORT A historic restaurant shuttered for more than twenty years, the Majestic Cafe in Alexandria, Virginia, is buzzing once again. Thanks to a $1 million renovation, the fifty-three-year-old establishment presents a hearty dose of Americana at its best. Town & Country September 2002 314@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2002-09-01T04:43:56-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000303.php TAKING THE CHEF'S CHALLENGE: Peter Pastan Restaurant chefs compete for all sorts of honors: James Beard awards, prized reviews, national ratings. When we dine out, we pay them many times more than what a home meal might cost, to enjoy food cooked by the best staffs using the best ingredients. Could these chefs make something great on a mere mortal budget? Alone, at home, with grocery store ingredients? Peter Pastan thinks so; Pastan has had it in his head that the only way to test a chef's ability is to see how he works at home. I have cooked at Pastan's restaurant, Obelisk at Dupont Circle, for two years. So I decided to take him up on his challenge. I gave him $10 to cook a meal for a family of four. The Washington Post June 2002 303@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2002-06-26T19:36:07-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000304.php BETTER BUTTER So the only way to have butter is to make it yourself. Where I work, we make about seven pounds of butter every day from fresh cream, two gallons of it, which we buy from a dairy in Delaware. Every morning, the first cook to arrive, as soon as she's got her apron on, puts two aprons over the Hobart mixer as a shroud to protect the rest of the kitchen from the showers of buttermilk which she is about to unleash. 304@http://www.emilykaiser.com/ Article 2001-10-01T19:37:24-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php Why do some peaches have fuzz? Unfortunately, we cannot ask the peaches themselves this question, so we can only speculate. Some think the fuzz protects peaches against insects and diseases, others guess it might shield against dehydration and sun. Most commercial growers know customers aren’t very fond of fuzz, and use brushers and washers to remove the stuff before it gets to market. If you like your peach fuzzy, shop at local farmers’ markets from farmers who leave the fuzz on. Questions & Answers 2005-05-16T21:16:20-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What's the difference between Turkish bay leaves and California bay leaves? They are different species of the laurel family. Turkish bay leaves, laurus nobilis, also known as Mediterranean bay leaves, or sweet bay, are the same variety the Ancient Greeks used to crown Olympic victors. Flat and oval shaped, they are prized culinarily for their sweet and mellow flavor. They now also cost more than their more plebian brethren. California bay leaves, umbellularia californica, are also known as mountain laurel, Oregon myrtle, and pepperwood. They are longer, skinnier, have a stronger flavor, and are more widely sold as bay leaves. Questions & Answers 2004-03-31T11:35:18-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php How long has this world been able to enjoy the nectarine? The origins of the nectarine are shrouded in marvelous mystery, but presumably this world has been able to enjoy the nectarine as long as it's savored its twin, the peach. The two are genetically identical in every other way but their fuzz. Fuzziness is genetically dominant trait, but nectarines can spring from peach trees just as peaches appear from nectarines. According to Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food, nectarines were not distinguished from their fuzzy brethren in language until medieval Frenchmen started calling them brugnons, which is still the modern frog term for les fruits qui ressemble à la pêche, avec une peau lisse. Englishmen came to call them nectarines, because they are good enough to serve as nectar, the food of the Gods. Nectarines were not cultivated commercially in the US until the mid-nineteenth century, but by some counts now outsell freestone peaches. For more on peaches, see below. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T14:04:16-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What is a cling peach? A cling peach, or clingstone, differs from the other type of peach, the freestone, in that its pit clings to the peach fruit, it does not sit loose.* Though cling peaches are more difficult to pit, they do have their advantages. The flesh of cling peaches has a nice golden yellow color, and holds up much better when heated. Cling peaches were first cultivated commercially in the US by a pair of farmers in California† looking to get rich selling canned fruit to hungry gold miners. Peach canning certainly became a lucrative business. The San Francisco Cannery was at one point the largest peach cannery in the nation. As described by the California Cling Peach Board, most cling peaches grown in the US today still get canned: sold whole, pureed in baby food, or chopped up in fruit cocktail. †It turns out that the first cling peach farmer, Joseph Phillips, may have had an interesting time on his migrations from Cornwall, England to Yuba City, California: his family's adventures, including an encounter with Wild Bill Hickman, Brigham Young’s notorious aide-de-camp, are described here. *If you are like me and enjoy the beautiful names of plant taxonomy, the peach, prunus persica, is a member of the rose family (along with apples, pears, almonds, and most berries). Genus prunus, family rosacaeae, order Rosales, class Magnoliopsida, division Magnophyta. The genus prunusare all fruits with a “drupe” structure, a kernel seed surrounded by fleshy fruit. (Other drupes include almonds, cherries, and plums). Almonds are the only pruni with edible kernels. Peach pits taste awful. Peaches were first domesticated in China, and later flourished in Persia, where it is thought Alexander the Great first encountered them and brought them to Greece. The Romans later introduced the peach to greater Western Europe, and the Spanish first took peaches to the Americas. According to Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food, (Oxford University Press, 1999), wild peach trees can still be found in China; most all peaches in the US are domesticated. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:19:12-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php I have heard that some European chefs use old mechanical typewriters for food preparation. For example by suspending thin strips of veal in front of the metal keys, and hammering them with a few sentences of a favourite poem, it is possible to tenderize the meat with great subtlety. The pastry of petit fours can be imprinted with tiny personal messages. And I am told many older Italians use the rubber roller and paper feed to make very thin sheets of lasagne. As you make the pasta, the ringing sound of the carriage return marks each tasty piece. Emily, have you ever typed on food? If so do you recommend it, and where can I acquire a suitable machine? Should I worry about the cleaning? While I would never want to say no to poetry, I would worry about the cleaning. I might suggest an old and out-of-tune piano instead. As a barbarian of sorts myself, I prefer whacking my meat with regular wooden mallets. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:18:12-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php Do you know of any delicious recipes containing flax? Muffins perhaps? I have never cooked with flax, though I understand from Jared Diamond's wonderful book Guns, Germs and Steel that flax (Linum usitatissimum) is one of the oldest domesticated crops, originally used to make linen. Flax is a fave amongst the low-carb crowds for its ... low carb count. Flaxseed oil, also known as linseed oil, is praised for its healthy qualities, rich with omega-3 fatty acids of the sort found in fish. The oil is very reactive to oxygen (and therefore also praised for its antioxidizing powers) but for that reason should not be used in cooking: the oil too quickly burns. I have not tried any of these, but there are some nice-looking recipes on this site for Sunshine Flax - Flax Grown on the Dakota Prairies. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:17:08-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php Are you the Emily Kaiser who grow up in Oklahoma or Illinois? I'm afraid I'm not. I'm one of the ones who grew up in Washington, DC. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:16:28-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What knives do you recommend? I love my Messermeister 10” chef’s knife, Sabatier paring knife, and Wusthof bread knife. And my Dick diamond sharpening steel. German knives like Messermeister or Wusthof have a slight curve to allow you to chop with a rocking motion. French knives like Sabatier have a flat edge, which some think gives you more force to each chop. I prefer German large knives and French small knives. I don’t like Wusthof chef’s knives, though: they are very hard and have a hilt, I think it’s called, that makes them hard to sharpen. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:15:44-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What kind of pots and pans do you like? I like my All-Clad saucepan because it retains heat so nicely, and my Calphalon sauté pan, because it can heat up and cool down quickly. For oatmeal and caramel, I use a nonstick Calphalon saucepan because it’s so easy to clean. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:14:55-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php I am unhappy with my career and dream of cooking professionally. Do you have any advice for how I might break into the cooking world? Since cooking is such a unique way of making a living, and because there are several paths you can take, I think it’s important to get a taste of your options (no pun intended) before taking a career-changing plunge, or debt-inducing trip to culinary school. Professional kitchens can be very welcoming to people with no experience who are willing to work hard. Call a chef you admire and ask if you can volunteer on your days off. Be ready to cut up dozens of lemons, or trim one hundred artichokes – in other words, to do some long-lasting, repetitive tasks – but work quietly and watch the other chefs while you work. You will learn a lot, and get a sense of working on your feet in small spaces. Every restaurant is different, so if you find the first one doesn’t work out, try another – maybe a smaller restaurant, or a large one attached to a hotel, or one that only serves dinner, or a catering company. If you are most interested in culinary school, ask if you can sit in on classes and talk to other culinary school grads to see if they thought the experience was worthwhile. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:14:13-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php Did you go to culinary school? No. I learned on the job, with lots of supplementary reading. I am a little prejudiced against them: I think they are a waste of money. And I’m afraid they make life miserable for a lot of cooks, persuading them to take out large tuition loans on the promise of becoming the next Emeril Lagasse or Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Did either of those guys go to culinary school? I’m not sure. So long as you have no delusions and it seems like the right thing for you, well, lots of people have had wonderful experiences. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:13:24-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php As a restaurant cook, how much can I expect to get paid? The industry average for line cooks is 8 to 12 dollars an hour, or twenty to thirty thousand a year before taxes. Head chefs earn on average thirty and sixty thousand dollars per year. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:12:49-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What are some of your favorite cookbooks? •On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee •Mastering the Art of French Cooking •Richard Olney's Simple French Food •Patience Gray's Honey From a Weed •Lindsay Shere's Chez Panisse Desserts •Appetite, by Nigel Slater Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:11:59-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php What are some of your favorite things to cook? Food. Anything fresh and in season. It’s a cliché but it really is much more fun to cook by the weather. Tired, out-of season produce is depressing. I savor it more when I know it’s only here for a little while – spare ribs in the summer time, stews in the winter time, peaches in August, good stuff like that. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:08:53-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php Do you have a specialty? The standard line is, “reservations,” or “sleep,” or something snide like that, because for some reason the question often annoys line cooks. I must admit I’m no exception: “goofing off,” “good food,” “macaroni and cheese,” I might say one of those. I guess menus have specials but I’ve not come across many cooks with specialties. Questions & Answers 2004-03-02T00:07:43-05:00 http://www.emilykaiser.com/faq.php You write of a cherry pitter on your website. Do you know of a cling-peach pitter? I do not. But I do know how you can make a homemade cherry pitter: using a wire cutter, trim off the outer loop of a large paper clip, leaving as much of the straight sides as possible. Skewer the ends into a wine cork, and you can use the loop to scoop out cherry pits. That probably needs a diagram but I hope makes some sense. For cling peaches, I use a paring knife. Questions & Answers 2003-08-12T17:11:18-05:00