Pepper

Dairy Free, Dinner, Fall, Gluten Free, Side, Snack, Veggies, Winter

Black Pepper Fennel Pickle

My sister once called fennel a snooty vegetable and I have, ever since, been on a crusade to defend its good name. In this recipe the floral bulbs spend ample time in a bath of vinegar and pepper until they are suffused with a bracing flavor. Put this out on the table while you fix cocktails for your guests, it's the perfect accompaniment for a cold drink.

Dairy Free, Dinner, Fall, Gluten Free, Meat, Winter

Jamaican Stew Chicken

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.

Read, Winter, Fall

How do spices work?

It is now the time of year most firmly associated with dark spices. You know those of which I speak, the oily powders we keep hidden away through the summer only to find perpetually at our side as the days grow shorter. Cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and allspice; these are the spices that keep our hearts smoldering like coals through wind and snow. 

Breakfast, Dairy Free, Home & Family, Video

Home & Family: Hot Sauce Science

Chasing the high of another chili pepper? Ever wonder what makes us crave spicy food? The neurological science behind the pain in your tongue is fascinating, catch it all here!

Breakfast, Dairy Free, Dinner, Fall, Gluten Free, Home & Family, Read, Side, Spring, Veggies, Summer, Winter

CapsaiScience

Chili Peppers are not unique to one country or culture. Evidence of their cultivation dates back to 4,000 BC. But the love of hot foods is exclusive to humans. The rest of the animals on this planet either lack the neurological receptors to register hot food or they avoid peppers altogether, lumping them in with other poisonous plants. Why do we love them so much then?!