St. Louis has many culinary claims to fame, but few inspire as much local pride as gooey butter cake. The dessert began, so the story goes, with a happy accident in the 1930s at a German American bakery. A baker preparing coffee cake reversed the proportions of butter and flour in the topping, producing a […]
The julienne cut — slender matchstick strips — is a hallmark of French technique. To julienne potatoes for fries, you slice them into planks, then into sticks about an eighth‑inch square. When fried, these thin strips yield fries that are crisp on the outside and tender inside, with plenty of surface area to catch salt […]
In French, filet mignon means dainty fillet. The cut comes from the tenderloin of the cow — a muscle that does little work, resulting in an exceptionally tender piece of meat with fine grain and delicate flavor. In Europe the tenderloin has been prized for centuries; chefs often used it to make filet de boeuf […]
Prosecco is Italy’s answer to celebration. Made primarily from the Glera grape in the hilly vineyards of the Veneto and Friuli regions, this sparkling wine is light, aromatic and effervescent. The name derives from the village of Prosecco near Trieste, where the grape and wine were first recorded in Roman times. For centuries, locals made […]
An orange creamsicle embodies summer nostalgia. Beneath a thin shell of icy orange sherbet lies a core of smooth vanilla ice cream. Each lick delivers tangy citrus followed by creamy sweetness, and by the time you reach the stick, you may be covered in drips but content. The creamsicle’s origins trace back to a boy […]
In late summer the garden hums with life. If you pause and watch, you’ll see honey bees moving from flower to flower, their legs dusted with pollen, their translucent wings catching the light. Each bee visits thousands of blossoms in a single day, gathering nectar that will be transformed into honey back at the hive. […]
The contrast between tart lemon filling and airy, toasted meringue defines lemon meringue pie. Its history is a fusion of several culinary innovations. Lemon custards and tarts have been popular in Europe since the Middle Ages, when lemons brought back from the Middle East and North Africa were prized for their acidity and perfume. Meringue […]
Bratwurst, which translates loosely to finely chopped meat sausage, is as much a part of German food culture as beer and pretzels. The sausage dates back to at least the fourteenth century, when butchers in Franconia ground pork and veal with spices and stuffed the mixture into casings. Each region developed its own style: Nürnberger […]
Rum conjures images of sun‑drenched sugarcane fields, pirates and tiki cocktails. The spirit’s history is tied to the transatlantic slave trade and colonial plantations. In the seventeenth century, plantation workers in the Caribbean discovered that molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, could be fermented and distilled into a strong spirit. The liquor became known as […]
Custard is one of those simple pleasures that belies its sophistication. Made of milk or cream gently thickened with egg yolks and sweetened, it is both a technique and a dessert. The basic custard can be baked in a water bath as crème brûlée, stirred on the stove for pastry cream or ice cream base, […]
Eggplant, with its glossy purple skin and spongy flesh, has traveled a long way from its origins in India and Southeast Asia. The earliest written mention appears in the ancient Chinese agricultural treatise Qimin Yaoshu from the sixth century. Eggplants were cultivated in India, China and Burma long before they reached the Mediterranean. Arab traders […]
Pineapples are like the sun captured in a fruit — spiky on the outside, juicy and sweet inside, with a perfume that transports you to tropical shores. They originate in the lowlands of South America; indigenous peoples in what is now Paraguay and southern Brazil domesticated the plant and spread it throughout the continent and […]