Breaking down the line last week, my phone buzzed with an alert. Rene Redzepi was streaming live from Noma on Periscope. Four times listed as "The Best Restaurant in the World" (2010,2011, 2012 & 2014), Copenhagen's Noma is famous for its modernist take on Nordic cuisine. In restaurant circles, Rene is also famous for his …
Nat Fuller, Tom Tully and Rhett’s Butler
In recent weeks, we've celebrated the name of a previously unsung Charleston hero: Nat Fuller. Unless you've been completely outside the loop, you've probably heard the story. Fuller, a former slave, was renowned for his hospitality and for hosting events even through the war and, at the time, the longest siege in military history. And …
Preserved Meyer Lemons
A Brief History of Georgetown Caviar
In March of 2012, my step son returned from Folly Beach with the firm held conviction that he had witnessed first hand the presence of a sea monster. It was, in truth, a dinosaur, or at least one of the closest living relatives- an Atlantic sturgeon. Sturgeon have evolved slowly in the 100 million years …
Tables of the Reconstruction
On Friday, I was excited to attend the latest meeting of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation at the Clemson Organic Research Station. Typical of the meetings I've attended in the past, much of the information was frankly over my head- I'm a cook, not a geneticist. But the mission of the CGRF seems to gear …
Sous Vide- Another Palmetto State First
Thank you Mr. Nathan Myhrvold and the Modernist Cuisine / Intellectual Ventures team for elucidating. I'm just throwing this out there: The great chefs of contemporary cuisine, those demi gods in their modernist temples of high gastronomy- Achatz, the Adrias, Aduriz, Blumenthal, Dufresne, Keller and Robuchon among many others, are all standing on the shoulders of three giants. Anderson, …
Phuong Vietnamese Restaurant
When I first returned to Charleston in 2011, one of my immediate misgivings was the lack of Vietnamese restaurants. Having lived here in the 90's, I was used to treks to Ashley Phosphate for Cha Gio (crispy spring rolls wrapped in lettuce cups with fresh herbs), Goi Cuon (fresh spring rolls wrapped in rice paper) …
Video: Mercado San Miguel
The Mercado San Miguel was featured in the Madrid episode of No Reservations. This was the first meal I ate in Spain. Galician percebes, or (gooseneck barnacles), elvers (baby eels), cockles (berbecheros) and of course the famous jamon Iberico Bellota (the black hooved, acorn fed ham from the Dehesa). If you should find yourself in …
Farmer’s Market Haul
A Soccarat for Grendel
Soccarat: the elusive and ethereal crust of rice that forms at the bottom of the paella pan. Impassioned fans of the dish will literally fight over this, much in the same way as the impassioned football fans of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. On the particular night in question, more than 16 years ago, we …