"Laws are like sausages: it is better not to see them being made."

I only came to appreciate this sentiment, attributed to the German statesman Otto von Bismarck, when I found myself in charcuterie class, faced with a quart container full of intestine and a bowl of ground meat, fat,...

Enrolling in culinary school turned out to be a prescient kind of life-style insurance. When the economy tanked, my friends and I started cooking. We found that, for a fraction of the price and with a little creativity, we could cook a three-course meal that would cost $45 per person...

Madness, they say, is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. I think of this every morning when I boot up my computer and scan a number of websites, in search of a job that will utilize the soft skills of the liberal arts grad. Consider the positions...

Like many others the world over, amidst the reality that physical, get-the-print-on-your-fingers newspapers are folding, I take a deep pleasure in receiving the Sunday New York Times each week, and reading it, cover to cover. Born in the mid-80s, I have grown up witnessing the rapid change of media consumption,...

I recently finished the second of two wine tasting seminars required of all culinary students, and came away with a startling realization: my taste buds are challenged. While other students detected notes of green apple and oak, warm vanilla and mango, all I could taste, from sip one, were hints...

I recently attended a demonstration at culinary school on sous-vide cooking, or cooking food "under pressure." I try to go to as many demonstrations as possible because I often learn odd tidbits of culinary information, perfectly suitable for cocktail conversation. For example, ye olde pubs used to heat up alcoholic...

According to French chefs, and articulated by Jacques Pépin in his classic cook book written with Julia Child, there are three reasons chefs turn (excuse me, tourne) vegetables: "The purpose of 'turning' vegetables is more than just aesthetic," explains Jacques in the margin of Cooking At Home. "This technique produces...

Before the molecular gastronomical wonders of Ferran Adria and El Bulli, before Grant Achatz and Alinea, before Wylie Dufresne and WD-50, there was Alex Redniss of Stamford, Connecticut, my very own first cousin, once-removed: the inventor of the powdered egg.

Years ago, perhaps during a discussion about the merits...

Full disclosure: I am neither a scientist nor a health freak. My primary sources of energy through most of college, where I studied esoteric social thinkers like Jurgen Habermas, were Haribo Gummy Bears and animal crackers from the vending machine. I leave it to others to lecture you on why...

Ever had the problem of biting into a piece of shot along with your Thanksgiving turkey?

Me neither.

Ever had the problem of ordering meat at a restaurant and having it come to you under seasoned?

Now we're talkin'.

The topic of hunting came up the...

To those (like myself) who spend the better part of their online time surfing the internet to find meaningless sources of entertainment, I recommend the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website, a virtual cornucopia of the bizarre that may interest New Yorkers. It includes "Death...

At dinner with friends this weekend, the conversation turned, inevitably, to food and food lovers. I had spent the first half of my meal slyly inspecting the vegetables in my salad to see if they were cut into perfect macedoine, and, now on my second drink, was simultaneously trying to...

No, this is not politics related, people. (You want some of that, get off the style page.) It's directed at all the cold, lifeless chickens sitting in grocery stores, nationwide.

This past weekend, I took my northern ass down to the south to attend Austin City Limits, a...

As I near the end of my first month of culinary school, I find myself facing a new hygiene problem: my hands constantly smell of garlic.

I emailed a Harvard-educated chemist-cum-consultant, and asked him why garlic makes your hands smell,...

1) A chef's uniform may not be the most flattering attire, but it's practical: Black-and-white checked pants with an elastic waistband make me look like a pear dressed up for Halloween as a picnic table, but they're durable. I wear a skull-cap, of sorts (one more thing Snoop and this...

I am a Millennial, born between 1980 and 1994, and therefore, according to a conspiracy of journalists, sociologists and assorted pundits, a spoiled, overachieving, techno-centric brat.

So to fly in the face of all that, I'm enrolling in culinary school.

Let's pull back a moment. I've been trying...