Walk into any Jerk shop in Crown Heights and you'll be overwhelmed with savory scents. Now, you might have opened that door planning to purchase the namesake dish, but let me point your nose in another direction. See that sultry, bubbling, brown tray? That's stew chicken, and I think you should give it a try. Brewed from the devilish flavors that make the Caribbean so intoxicating (lime, allspice, sugar), it is the sort of thing you never knew you needed in the depths of winter.
Though I am a popcorn fanatic, caramel corn was not in my rotation until last year. Salty, sweet, and crunchy, this snack satisfies me in a dangerous way. I have to remove the bowl from my side after a few handfuls, otherwise I risk falling into the abyss of total consumption. And trust me, though it seems wise at the time, finishing the entire batch of caramel corn in one sitting is not pretty.
Sugar presents us with some of the more accessible chemistry in the kitchen, and peanut brittle is an excellent example. Toss some baking soda into the bubbling caramel and let the carbon dioxide do the heavy lifting.
Against my mother's will I used to choose this airy, caramel confection when we were taken to the candy shop as kids. She will eternally favor truffles, the grand nexus of chocolate. But I like a bit of hardened texture in my confections, and this treat could not be more satisfying. Caramel seafoam is the adult equivalent of a teething biscuit. It presses against your teeth as you bite into the brittle caramel, rewarding you with sweetness for the task of chewing.
