Hitting the (Thai) Sauce

By Sandy Hu

When Lynn cooks, the whole house smells mouthwateringly fragrant. Garlic, chiles and fresh herbs comingle, creating irresistible aromas as inviting as a Thai restaurant. Lynn, my new daughter-in-law, is from Thailand. She’s not a trained cook, but she has an instinctive sense of how to put ingredients together to make delicious Thai meals.

When we made kalua pig after returning from our Hawaiian vacation this summer, Lynn contributed a sprightly Thai dipping sauce that added zest, turning classic Hawaiian into Polynesian-Southeast Asian fusion.

Click to read more ...

A Pan Sauce for All Seasons

By Katie Barreira

What’s turkey without gravy? You would never chuck the succulent pan juices from a holiday roast, so why waste them any other time of year? A quick pan sauce is the easiest way to class-up a simple weeknight meal.

One of my biggest testing pet peeves is when a recipe calls for searing a protein (chicken, fish, steak…most especially steak) and then abandons the pan, never to be mentioned again. One can only assume that all those caramelized bits of flavor and schmaltzy fats are being fed to the kitchen sink.

Click to read more ...