Newark’s Portuguese Community Keeps Fires of Tradition Burning
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Frank Alexandre is so excited to make his point, he hip checks a table out of the way as he lurches toward the photograph on the wall. “Olhe! olhe!” he says, falling back into his native Portuguese. The picture, hanging in the Casa de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, a social club in the Ironbound section [...]
Wine Wonks, Watch Out
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Natalie MacLean’s online wine and food matcher make pairing as simple as clicking your mouse.
Vinho Verde Loves The New Portuguese Table
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A tasting of Portugal’s famous white wine–vinho verde–at NYC’s Astor Center was paired with food from David’s upcoming cookbook. The matches were magical.
What We’re Eating: Heirloom Beans
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Steve Sando, the emperor of beans, offers a cookbook that explains bean basics, offers recipes, and introduces us to the unusual and delicious.
From Paris, With Love
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Dorie Greenspan, baker, cookbook author, and Paris resident outlines a romantic tour de eating fo lovers of all things French for Valentine’s Day.
Love, Portuguese-Style
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The Portuguese have as many fado ballads, their famously gut wrenching street songs about broken love, as they do recipes for salt cod. Maybe more. On the surface it might appear that Portugal is a nation of perpetual melancholics, obsessed with the idea of unrequited desire and dried fish, but over time I’ve come to [...]
All Tatted Up
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The fun, great bites, and shenanigans that went into the book party of Johnny Iuzzini, Jean Georges’ pastry chef, held at Jacques Torres Chocolate.
New Year’s Revolution
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It happens, without fail—to me, to you, to everyone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a vegetarian or a flexitarian, a carnivore or an omnivore, or any crossbreed of the above: the month of January, for culinarily inclined people, nearly always starts with a great and honest endeavoring towards more healthful, conscious eating, which is also [...]
Home Port: The Douro Wine Region Calls Back its Far-Flung Citizens
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Even if the trees, with their flares of color, didn’t belie the late September weather, I’d know it’s harvest time in the Douro Valley, home of Portugal’s port production, because the only road kill I’ve seen strewn along perilous switchbacks and cliff-hanging straight-aways are bunches of mangled grapes. Ahead of me, the reason: a wheezing [...]
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
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One of the many things that boggles my mind is that as food bloggers become more proficient in their cooking skills–and technology get better, faster, and easier–the images of their dishes become shockingly good. I mean, perversely good. Take a look at smittenkitchen.com, 101 Cookbooks, or Cupcake Bakeshop. Some of those pictures are cookbook-worthy. And [...]
Why I Left Advertising
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David Leite is reminded why he left advertising after watching Burger King’s “Virgins” commercial.
The Best 20 Food Books from 2008 That Made the Cut
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Here are the best 20 cookbooks and food books of 2008 as compiled by Leite’s Culinaria.
No Country for New Turkeys
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Although food-crazed bloggers and over-ambitious chefs have turned out every conceivable variation of turkey, on Thanksgiving the familiar is what we want. Food history editor Gary Allen explains.
Tying Up Loose Thanksgiving Ends
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The food loop is a silicon tie that makes trussing turkeys–for dinners Thanksgiving or not–a cinch. David’s been a fan for years.
Thickest Part of the Thigh, huh?
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Even if you’re thermometrically challenged, this surefire technique for finding the thickest part of the turkey thigh resulting in perfectly roasted birds works every time.
Getting a Life: Las Vegas Plus Meat, Meat, Meat
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David Leite goes to Las Vegas and puts himself in the hands of chef Paul Bartolotta at the Wynn Hotel while closer to home he tries out NYC’s Porcao Restaurant.
Getting a Life: Tupper Lake
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Once I finished my book, I got a bit of my life back. So I decided to do a few things. Specifically: cook (non-Portuguese) meals, travel, and socialize. Three things that being chained to my desk like some medieval monk working on an illustrated manuscript has prevented me from doing.
To kick things off, I spent [...]
Huzzah, Huzzah! Finally, the Book Cover
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The cover art is finalized for The New Portuguese Table, and here’s your first sneak peek. The book will be available for pre-order in November 2008.
Hungry for Comfort Foods
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Food writer and cookbook author Diane Morgan extolls the virtues of cool-weather cooking and offers up her recipe for a soul-heartening beef borscht.
What We’re Eating: Fat
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Our pick this week: the demonized ingredient: fat. Jennifer McLagan’s eye-opening book covers all types of fats and their uses. The recipes are fantastic.
Alfajores: The Family Cookie
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Alfajores are a family staple in Ana Schwartzman’s home. No wonder: alfajores are shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate.
Crazy for Salt Cod
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Our food history editor, and sometime science guy, Gary Allen, helps a reader understand how to keep and care for salt cod.
Waiterly Conduct
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Food writer and humorist Jess Thomson recounts her hilarious and daunting visit to the mecca of molecular gastronomy in the States: Grant Achatz’s Alinea.
Mother and Son, Minding Peas and Cues
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Food writer Monica Bhide uses cooking and languages to bridge worlds and cultures to answer some of the difficult questions posed by her curious son, Jai.
Taking the Sting Out of Nettles
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When making a nettle-pecan pesto for pasta, writer Jess Thomson discovers that when handled properly stinging nettles don’t have to bite back.
