Some items you see, you just know they signal the impending doom of the universe. Our most recent sighting, here at the Chile Underground, involves toast. But not just any toast: Oh no, we’re talking truly, uhh, divine cauterized crusts…

Me thinks you seem skeptical. Well [...]

Jess only has a few days before she has to be back on campus, so she’s in a hurry. Today, for instance, she had a doctor’s appointment, she needed to get her car inspected, and she had to drive over 170 miles. Oh, and she [...]

1. Kitchen Experiments: Sometimes They Turn Out All Right This entry is part of a series, RdJ» Early in...

Here’s a quick, summery bread recipe that uses beer. (Yes, I’m on a beer-cooking kick. You’ll just have to suffer.) It’s easy to make, and I think it’s ideal for cutting into crouton-sized pieces and dipping into olive oil:

1 1/4 cups lager beer (I suggest Paulaner, [...]

1. Recipe du Jour: Pulled Pork and Waffles This entry is part of a series, RdJ» Some of...
2. Recipe du Jour Marathon, First Post: Christine’s Hamburger Pie This entry is part of a series, RdJ Marathon» ,...

Some of you may know of the great Southern comfort-food dish, Chicken and Waffles. (It’s actually German/Dutch in origin!) If not, I bet many of you know about pulled pork, as barbeque or in sandwiches. It’s not required that this meat be “barbeque style” with sauce, [...]

Not too long back I found myself in a part of town I hadn’t visited in a couple of years. I had a half hour to kill, so I drove around the area to see what all had changed, and maybe what had stayed the [...]

The house didn’t sell, Paula Jo got a new job nearby, and my job down south ended. Those three “strikes” indicated to us that maybe we didn’t need to move anywhere. There was just one teensy, tiny problem, hardly worth mentioning:

All our stuff was already moved. [...]

Sometimes you just want something a little different with your Cajun or Creole food. I mean, You Can’t Have Rice With Every Meal, can you? (Well, if you’re in Louisiana, maybe you can.) With that in mind, I offer this recipe from a great chef (and honorary Cajun), Emeril Lagasse:

Caramelized Onion Focaccia

I first saw [...]

Pizza may have come from almost anywhere in the Old World, it appears. Many cultures have had flat breads for centuries, and putting other food on a flat, edible surface is a natural step to take. The first documented pizza seems to be from about 1889, although it was made in a place called [...]

Stews and soups make up a goodly part of the Irish diet. Given how tasty they all are, I can see why! However, after a while they begin to seem “all the same,” especially the beef stews.

One way to avoid “suicide by sameness” on the stews is to look for specialties at some of [...]

Irish agriculture has pretty much all gone mechanized these days, but for many decades the ploughman was an integral component of food production there. Probably longer than in the U.S., where we adopt new ways more quickly, and we have more social wealth to support that.

Working with a horse and plough is mighty hungry-making, [...]