Recipes by Hugh Amano

	Sour, or The Way I Feel After The Broncos' Last Game by Hugh Amano At this point, you've gotta know how important the sour taste is (note: when I say sour, think pleasantly tart as opposed to the battery acid sting of Sour Patch Kids). Just like the textural relief that crisp offers soft, or the more delicious culinary cousin of Icy Hot that is ma-la (numbing-hot) in Chinese cooking--even those first…	1 vote 635 views
	Try It, You'll Like It, or, How Did I Get Fatter In Japan? by Hugh Amano Copious pickled veg on offer in a little back alley bar off Ponto-chōOne doesn't think of Japan as a place you'd bring an extra 10 pounds back from. Wouldn't the modesty and humility in the culture be reflected in the cuisine? Of course it is--only not for me when visiting my family; they aim to keep the American boy plump and…	1 vote 590 views
	All Hail Cast Iron by Hugh Amano A friend asked me about cast iron and my seemingly unnatural love of it recently. Specifically, she asked me about "curing" or "seasoning" it, a question most common among folks who have cast iron but don't use it too much. Simply put, curing or seasoning cast iron simply refers to the application of a small amount of fat to the pot…	1 vote 681 views
	Soup and Bread, Year II: The Pork Dumpling Gang or, Get Ready for Some Run-On Sentences by Hugh Amano Soup and Bread, Year II: The Pork Dumpling Gang or, Get Ready for Some Run-On SentencesAs you most certainly know by now, I am an avid supporter of Martha Bayne's wonderfully un-little little project called Soup and Bread. It's free and all donations…	1 vote 1728 views
	Coltrane is Dumplings, or, Why I Don't Use Recipes by Hugh Amano Moving on, some readers have asked why I don't really include recipes in my writing, and I'd like to explain. Basically, the goal with my writing is to approach food from a more conceptual mindset. Believe me, I understand the recipe thing; I used to really need them to get me going, but over the years as I've advanced as a cook (in…	2 votes 1176 views
	My Field Trip, or Russell and Hugh: A Love Story by Hugh Amano Last week I took a great trip to Iowa, where I roasted that pork belly I was talking about last time, and returned home to Chicago victorious with several pounds of ham and bacon from a friend's home-raised pig named Russell. I met Russell as a baby piglet; he stood about 0'10" and weighed in at about 8 pounds. After an extremely…	2 votes 623 views
	Unemployment and The Human Response by Hugh Amano Unemployment and The Human ResponseFirst of all, sorry for the delay since my last post. Being unemployed is hard work once the weather gets real nice like it's been in Chicago. At any rate, I aim to write sooner than soon, but for right now, I wanted to go against my usual philosophy of not posting recipes and, well, post a recipe in…	2 votes 520 views
	Children as Activists, Meat Pie Mums, and Other Scary But Possibly Necessary Things by Hugh Amano Children as Activists, Meat Pie Mums, and Other Scary But Possibly Necessary ThingsBut fear not, this is not going to be a statistic-filled rant against processed food; I think I’ll leave the statistics out and just rant. Because when it comes down to…	2 votes 578 views
	Community, and, Do Compromised Ethics Really Count as Ethics At All? by Hugh Amano I got into a lengthy conversation with a good friend of mine who is also a cook the other day, as we sat by the lake with another friend eating, among other things, braised pork sandwiches from Ba Le on Argyle and Broadway. Ba Le, if you don't know,…	2 votes 617 views
	Puff Pastry, or, Isn't It About Time To Get Ready For Hibernation? by Hugh Amano A group of friends gathered at my place last Sunday to do the usual: talk about food and eat plenty of it, along with some nice wine, beer and cider. The catalyst for the get-together was to simply talk about a project we are all working on, but when…	2 votes 651 views