Rustic Parsley & Orzo Soup (E.W.), Creamy Chocolate Pudding (C.I.), Lebanese-Style Green Beans (Saveur)

Surprising pleasures of the table revealed by preparation of foolproof recipes, but which are disguised, at first read, by a thematic focus on health and nutrition.

A behind-the-scenes look at recipe development, also known as “The Making of . . . ,” approach, that delves into the whys and hows of how food works.

Vicarious travel, through stories both personal and cultural, to home kitchens, food carts, markets, and restaurants close to home and far flung, and vicarious enjoyment of the foods produced therein, with accompanying recipes as an added benefit.

These descriptions are how I think of the three magazines that DCCC just finished reading, cooking from, and comparing: Eating Well, Cook’s Illustrated, and Saveur. Each is so different, revealing the very different ways in which food can be approached and experienced. Whereas the staff at a magazine decides a theme in order to carve out a niche in the market, most of us probably approach food in all of these ways, and more, simultaneously.

Doing a magazine comparison, particularly of magazines as different as these, stimulates a great deal of self-food-assessment, if you’re prone to (more…)

Green Curry Soup (Bowl made by Anne Coneys)

I love greens of all sorts and, though I’ve prepared them in many different ways, I most often fall back on the foolproof preparation of braising them. Fine and dandy, but I was beginning to bore myself, not least my boyfriend Mike who isn’t as greens crazy as I am.

Then I saw Anna Thomas’s story “The Soup for Life” in the current issue of Eating Well, one of the food magazines DCCC is currently reading and cooking from. Thomas loves greens, too, and has found an ingenious way to use them—as the basis of wholesome and flavorful soups. On one gray, blustery day she found herself in need of dropping a few pounds but also wanting to create something comforting and delicious to eat. The result? (more…)