Throughout November and December, there are many holidays observed. I wanted to focus on one holiday in particular: Hanukkah. This year, Hanukkah is observed at or after sundown November 28-December 6. Though I hold no allegiance to any religion, I am nevertheless interested in, and respect, the symbolism and reverence food holds in cultural and religious identities. “You can learn culture while eating” as it’s said in “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook.” Being an Anthony Bourdain disciple, this spoke to me. If there is one thing we can all agree on, food is good and it should be shared. Continue reading “Read The Recipe! Vol. 3: Hanukkah”

Bolognese

I started this blog post with the intention of focusing on pasta dishes. I have a small amount of experience making fresh pasta and wanted to expand on that for this post. While deciding between “Mastering Pasta” by Marc Vetri or “Flour + Water” by Thomas McNoughton, my interest was piqued by a Bolognese recipe in “Mastering Pasta.” I fell into a rabbit hole, researching the thousands (okay, maybe it was dozens) of variations on this one idea. For example, just in my personal cookbook collection I found no fewer than six different recipes.

I know, you’re thinking, “But, Jason, it’s just a meat sauce, like you’d put on spaghetti. You know, spaghetti sauce. A company was even named after the Italian term for meat sauce. Of course there are many varieties, this is not worthy of a blog post.” I am taking the stance that Bolognese is so much more than, and so much better than, what we think of as spaghetti sauce. Continue reading “Read The Recipe! Vol. 2”