Ten years ago, when we all had faster metabolisms and fewer kids, the three of us worked together at Northern Brewer and started a web series titled Brewing TV. Because the internet is forever, you can still find those episodes. The topic was brewing, both home- and pro-. Chip’s friend Art (Abstract Artimus) recorded our … [ Read more]
Marc Heu’s Vanilla Saint Honoré recipe is the ultimate gauntlet for intrepid bakers
December 9, 2019 by
This recipe for Marc Heu’s elaborate, showstopping Vanilla Saint Honoré centerpiece is a masterclass in baking, assembly, and piping that’s complicated enough to make even Paul Hollywood break into a sweat. From an inverted puff pastry to a pate a choux cream puff with a perfect caramel glaze, this recipe is a crucible for intrepid … [ Read more]
Off the Map: Root River Stew
September 10, 2019 by
As much as I love the Boundary Waters, when I feel untethered, aimless, or uncertain, I know a dose of those moving waters in the southeastern corner of Minnesota can always take me to my best self and my original heart. I find no irony whatsoever in the fact that one of those places, located … [ Read more]
Hunter, Writer, Butcher, Cook: Jamie Carlson and Minnesota’s wild foods movement
September 24, 2018 by
Jamie Carlson’s idea of a perfect field snack is a raw antelope liver, taken directly from the freshly killed animal itself. “Raw antelope liver is the sweetest thing you’re ever going to have,” he says while tending a campfire at Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan. “Pull it out, rinse it off, put a little … [ Read more]
Food for Thought: A U of M partnership yields some exotic fruits
August 28, 2018 by
Across the country, campus dining tends to be where mediocre food comes to a bad end, ladled from plastic bags into heating vessels and then into troughs where it is consumed with a mixture of indifference and resentment. “Banquets” are sorry affairs, dominated by overcooked vegetables, cloying desserts, and rubber chicken entrees more appropriate to … [ Read more]
Cooking with Beth Dooley: Raspberry Pie Recipe
August 7, 2018 by
It’s raspberry season and the fruit is coming in splendidly. We’ll enjoy thimble sized berries now (first crop) for several weeks, and then again in the fall with the everbearing raspberries. They freeze beautifully and make marvelous jams. But nothing beats raspberry pie with rum-spiked ice cream. Raspberry Pie Makes one 9-inch pie or 2–4 … [ Read more]
Smoke and No Mirrors: The effort and integrity behind Northern Waters Smokehaus
May 30, 2018 by
I spent a couple decades in real estate, where I saw every kind of sales pitch, from the clumsiest—delivered by a transparently thirsty postgraduate sweating through the armpits of his big-boy sport coat—to the most sophisticatedly smooth. One thing I learned is that we are all selling something almost all of the time, even if it’s … [ Read more]
Go for Goat: Advocating for an under-appreciated protein with chef Alan Bergo
April 30, 2018 by
I will never forget the Barbacoa de Chivo at Tacqueria La Huasteca for the rest of my taco-eating life. The goat arrived steaming hot in a shade of brilliant crimson, with long strands of fibrous meat, cordlike, intertwining and trapping the braising juices. The very first bite decorated my white shirt with a streak of murder-victim … [ Read more]
Minnesota Spoon: West Indies Soul with Sharon Richards-Noel
January 30, 2018 by
The lunch menu at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul looks similar to any other high school’s—full of things like corn dogs and pizza, those few cafeteria staples that satisfy both the kids’ appetites and the state’s nutritional requirements. Except Wednesdays are different. Just before noon, the aroma of garlic, ginger, turmeric, … [ Read more]
Minnesota Spoon: Thomas Boemer’s expansive vision for cooking with fire goes beyond barbecue
December 28, 2017 by
Chef Thomas Boemer’s eyes are watering. He’s standing in front of an improvised outdoor kitchen, made up of a cinder block fire well, with a steel-mesh grate laid across it for a cooktop, and a two-course block wall stacked on top of that for a windbreak. It is so rough-hewn and brawny looking as to … [ Read more]
Cooking with Beth Dooley: Smoked Whitefish Cakes Recipe
December 15, 2017 by
Smoked fish cakes are a perfect marriage of convenience—yesterday’s leftover smoked fish from the holiday appetizer tray mixed with yesterday’s leftover baked or mashed potatoes. These cakes are far more than the sum of their parts. While many recipes call for eggs, cream, mayonnaise, flour, or breadcrumbs, I find that they’re heavy and dense. Keeping … [ Read more]
Minnesota Spoon: The culinary languages of Adam Eaton
November 27, 2017 by
Developing the dishes for a new restaurant menu is a little bit like giving birth. There is the initial joyful conception. There is a long and sometimes painful gestation period, and there is the final delivery into the world of something that is both part of its creator, and that will ultimately have to interact … [ Read more]
Recipe: Adam Eaton’s Moose Bolognese
November 27, 2017 by
This month, Minnesota Spoon’s Steve Hoffman gathered with some hungry friends at the home of Jon Wipfli to travel around the world with Adam Eaton. Eaton prepared foods of numerous styles and regions, but most notable was his recipe for Moose Bolognese. Read this month’s Minnesota Spoon story here. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”79944″ align=”right” info_text=”Advertisement” info_text_position=”above” font_color=”#6d6d6d” … [ Read more]
Cooking with Beth Dooley: Indian Spiced Potatoes & Spinach Recipe
November 22, 2017 by
Mildly spiced and buttery, this lush warming potato dish is brightened with bright green spinach. Use waxy potatoes (such as Yukon gold). Serve as a side dish to roast chicken or toss in chickpeas for a simple vegetarian meal. Indian Spiced Potatoes & Spinach Serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main Ingredients 1 … [ Read more]
Bran muffin recipe by Bellecour’s Kelsey McCreight
August 29, 2017 by
In this month’s Minnesota Spoon, Steve Hoffman spends an afternoon in the company of baking genius with Steve Horton of Baker’s Field, Diane Yang of Spoon & Stable, and Kelsey McCreight of Bellecour, during which he learns the flavor power of stone-ground, heritage grains. Here, Kelsey shares a taste of her baking acumen with this … [ Read more]
