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The Origin of the Bûche de Noël
I was recently contacted by a journalist from Saveur about the origins of bûche de Noël, the “traditional” French Christmas dessert. (For the article and a recipe, see Gabriella Gershenson, “A Slice...
View ArticlePunch
Finally, as some approximation of winter settles in here in New York, I am reminded of visiting Vienna in its pre-Christmas cheer a couple of years back. I was doing research for Sweet Invention,...
View ArticleIn Praise of Sugar
Health obsessions come and go. You will recall the successive demonization of fat, cholesterol, trans-fats and the great anti-carb crusade. The last of these caused perfectly rational people to...
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A Thousand Years of Sugar Sculpture
One question that food historians just can’t resolve is just how much Arabic influence there is on medieval European food. Some have argued that medieval cuisine is little better than a distant echo...
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Weird Macarons in Brittany
I happened to be in the little Breton town of Quiberon last week. The town itself is a pleasant enough resort perched at the extreme end of a peninsula that juts into the Atlantic. The local...
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