I recently purchased a medium-sized red cast iron fondue pot by Le Creuset. I think the cast iron pot made a big difference because there wasn’t even a little burning, which I have seen happen with steel fondue pots. You can always eat the cheese straight from the saucepan but the feeling isn’t the same and the cheese doesn’t stay quite as warm without the little flame.

While it is on the stove, the key is to keep things moving. Once it is in the fondue pot the key is simply to keep eating, then there is no danger of burning the cheese. I served two separate batches of fondue, that way the cheese stayed evenly melted and everyone got their fill. Read on… »

Photos by Scott Valentine

Fondue, the term, comes from the Latin fundare, to melt, and has found its way into the vocabularies of nearly every romance language. It is a winter tradition in the French-speaking part of Switzerland but it has adherents throughout the Alps. Eating fondue is a simple way to get warm and full and it’s relatively economical since it is made of cheese, the poor man’s meat. Unlike other foods, cheese often improves with age and can last many months. When the weather in the Alps turned cold, the cheese that had been made in the summer, even if it wasn’t in its prime, could be melted down into a delicious sauce. Even stale bread could be salvaged because of fondue—dipping anything into a hot bath of cheese can renew its life force. Read on… »

The Spooning tote (at right –>) is of course the best holiday gift around, and only $15 including shipping! Just click the Buy Now button! I’ll wait…OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I can introduce my second favorite tote, this fantastic Meat Mandala bag from Meatpaper. If you aren’t familiar, Meatpaper is a magazine all about that most charged and divisive foodstuff (what its website calls “the Hillary Clinton of the freezer aisle”). No, not mayo, meat! This tote (designed by Rebecca Macri, whose foodie designs are worth a gander) is a worthy partner to the Spooning tote, and I give all my readers permission to buy one. But, you have to buy me one too.

Photos by Michael Harlan Turkell

When Califia first approached me about writing for Spooning, I thought she would ask me to write about my company, Sixpoint Craft Ales, and the art and science of fermenting craft beer.  But, in subsequent conversations, we guided the intention towards a more general discussion of the phenomenon of fermentation itself, through the eyes of someone who works with it on both a craft and industrial level.

Of course, beer is not the only food product that is created by fermentation. Staples like bread, cheese, cured meats, pickled vegetables, miso, and countless other comestibles require fermentation. Each branch has its own techniques and nuances, but what I find interesting are the universal features of fermentation among all crafts. However, since beer is my primary discipline, I believe it merits special attention, so let us examine the art of fermenting beer under a microscope… Read on… »

It was my birthday this week, celebrated in style with recession-proof half-priced burgers and $1 happy-hour oysters at my neighborhood haunt, 68, here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. My friends know me well, so I got several edible gifties—a Bedford Cheese Shop gift certificate, a Momofuku feast, Jacques Torres chocolate-covered Cheerios, French macarons—and a book called Wet Cats, which is inedible but delightful nonetheless. I also learned that sometimes, blogging pays off. In a previous post, I drooled openly over the blue (make that “Caribbean blue”) Le Creuset that was the local Casserole Cook-Off’s first prize. Well, it turns out my friends actually read this, as they got me the beaut you see here, in mama and baby sizes. My first Le Creusets! I feel like I’ve made it. And I didn’t even have to prove my casserole skills first! Of course, now I will be making them lots of casseroles—starting perhaps with deer chili. (The baby pot will have a single serving of deerless chili, just for you Carrie!)