lsanderson | Food! Glorious Food!

The Restaurant Service Charge Isn’t Going Anywhere
These added-on fees confuse diners and even employees, but more owners are relying on them to help make a tough business work.
By Priya Krishna

ROME DISPATCH
It’s May in Rome: A Time to Revere, and Fear, Fava Beans
Although favism, a blood disorder that can cause a violent reaction to fava beans, lurks throughout Italy, many Romans look forward to May, when the legumes are in season.
By Jason Horowitz

A GOOD APPETITE
Asparagus Season Is Here. Make It Count With These 3 Stellar Recipes.
Put those gorgeous stalks to work in a creamy pasta, a filling grain bowl and a bright, beautiful soup from Melissa Clark.
The wait is over for asparagus lovers. Credit...Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero.
By Melissa Clark

EAT
The Secret to Mastering Your Cocktail Order
Over time, one thing becomes clear: When it comes to finding your drink, the devil is often in the details.
By Eric Kim

Inside the Quest for Totally Transparent Cocktail Ice
After 14 years of research, the writer Camper English is putting everything he’s learned into his new guide for at-home bartenders, “The Ice Book.”
The writer Camper English has spent years testing the best ways to make clear cocktail ice.

That set off a series of ice experiments. He froze tap water. He froze distilled water. He let ice melt and refroze it, again and again. He froze water in airtight containers of various sizes and shapes, all in pursuit of the holy grail of see-through ice. But nothing worked; the ice was always cloudy.

Then, a breakthrough: He employed directional freezing, a process that mimics how lakes freeze, starting from the surface, where the cold air is, down to the lake bed. This pushes to the bottom the air and impurities in water, the things that cause ice to cloud, leaving clear ice on top.

Mr. English accomplished this natural phenomenon at home by filling a hard-sided, insulated cooler with water and placing it, lid off, in his freezer, essentially creating a tiny frozen lake. He then cut the block into smaller cubes using a bread knife, ice pick and mallet. Finally, success.

By Robert Simonson