At Harvard, the Kitchen as Lab

Students at Harvard who are studying the science of cooking learn techniques from guest chefs who stop by, like Carles Tejedor from Barcelona, shown with Amy Rowat, a researcher.
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: October 19, 2010
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

IN a basement laboratory at Harvard, Ashley Prince read from the instructions as her lab partner, Allan Jean-Baptiste, poured fruit nectar into a pot.

“Heat it to 113,” Ms. Prince said.

Then Mr. Jean-Baptiste added a mix of sugar and pectin, and Ms. Prince whisked.

“So far, so good,” Ms. Prince said.

These Harvard students were making chewy fruit gelées for From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science, an undergraduate course that uses the kitchen to convey the basics of physics and chemistry, a most unusual Ivy League approach to science. More

Capturing Morocco in Its Sunny Pickle

By MARK BITTMAN
Published: October 15, 2010

PRESERVED lemons, a staple of Moroccan cooking, are pickles, and terrific ones. Made using the entire lemon — skin and all — they’re cured in their own juices, along with salt and sugar. Like most relishes, the recipe varies from cook to cook, so you might find garlic, shallot, bay leaves, coriander seeds, chili flakes or cinnamon sticks in a given batch. More

Unlocking the True Flavor of Mackerel

By MELISSA CLARK
Published: October 15, 2010

MACKEREL escabèche is one of those dishes I have always preferred to admire from afar. It’s traditionally prepared by pickling the fillets in vinegar, but I’ve never quite cottoned to its biting flavor. To me, it overwhelms the delicacy of a good fresh piece of fish. More

Rising Cost of Kimchi Alarms Koreans

Koreans buy napa cabbages subsidized by the government after waiting in line for about an hour at the Tongin market in Seoul.
By MARK McDONALD
Published: October 14, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea — Even in the middle of a loud and bustling outdoor market, her voice drops to a whisper when she agrees to reveal the two secret ingredients that make her kimchi so popular with her customers.

“Fermented-anchovy paste and pickled-prune sauce,” says Kim Gil-soo, looking warily, both ways, down the alley in front of her store, called Prosperity.

“I special-order the sauce from a certain place in the countryside,” she said, still whispering. “I’m quite well known for my kimchi.” More

Austrian Vineyards Are All in the Family

A bike ride along the Danube from Dürnstein to Weissenkirchen in Austria’s Wachau Valley, known for its wines.
By LAURIE LICO ALBANESE
Published: October 13, 2010

ON a July afternoon, lunch at the Denk Family vineyard’s heuriger — one of a number of hilltop village wine gardens in the Wachau Valley of Austria, about 50 miles west of Vienna — was served family style under a walnut tree overlooking the valley. My group had been cycling and sipping our way through local vineyards all morning; we were famished, and we were tipsy. We filled our plates with grilled meats and cold salads and washed everything down with more wine from the Denk vineyard. More

In Chinatown, Cupcakes Frosted and Savory

By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: October 19, 2010

If Michelin rated cupcake stores, Everything Frosted might qualify for an “exceptional, worth a special journey” for lovers of flavors like green tea, jasmine, red bean and black sesame. On tiny Mosco Street, it’s a tricky find, even by Chinatown standards. Instead of a storefront, it has just a hanging sign and a narrow flight of stairs up to a no-frills kitchen, office and counter where dozens of cupcakes with iced topknots are displayed. More

Punch, the Drink of Dickens, Redeemed

David Wondrich making cold punch at the JakeWalk, a bar he likes in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
By FRANK BRUNI
Published: October 14, 2010

Ask David Wondrich how he became so fascinated with punch — as in the liquid curse of many a holiday party, ladled out in portions too stinting to dull the pain of forced conversation and obligatory merriment — and suddenly you’re in England. In the middle of the 19th century. At Charles Dickens’s house. More