Mouthing Off

Chef Fredrik Berselius outside Aska, located inside Williamsburg's Kinfolk Studios. © Jasmin Sun

As one of the hallmarks of New Nordic cuisine, foraged ingredients are now trending in restaurants across America. But Swedish native Fredrik Berselius, chef at Aska in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has been eating wild produce since he was a kid growing up in Stockholm. This afternoon, as part of Brooklyn’s Food Book Fair (which runs through the weekend), Berselius will take part in the show-and-tell Food + Foraging panel. “There have been a couple of scares, where I’ve been like, ‘Uh-oh, was that not so good to eat?’ But usually I’m more concerned with running into mountain lions.” »

Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter restaurant in New York and Food Network fame recently stopped by F&W HQ to discuss her new (and first) cookbook Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook. One of the 100 recipes in the book is a simple method for making butter. While training at high-end French restaurants like Guy Savoy's La Butte Chaillot and New York’s Daniel, Guranaschelli used to put the delicious fat, and lots of it, in almost everything. But now she has a new philosophy for butter use—watch the clip to learn more.

Related: Alex Guarnaschelli Recipes

Courtesy of Spicy Village

Mainstream Chinese food is often synonymous with a cheap and greasy meal, convenient whenever the idea of preparing dinner seems unthinkable. For chefs, however, Chinese means comfort food. It’s fast, flavorful and best of all: open late. In honor of Chinese New Year on Sunday, F&W asked some of our favorite Chinese food-obsessed chefs and restaurateurs for step-by-step advice on how to find restaurants that are authentic and delicious. »

© Wendell T. Webber

F&W Executive Food Editor Tina Ujlaki applies her incredible cooking knowledge to explaining what to do with a variety of interesting ingredients.

For centuries, Southeast Asian cooks have relied on deeply savory fish sauce as a primary seasoning in many of their dishes. Here, in the past couple of years, fish sauce, like so many other uniquely ethnic ingredients, has wandered into the universal pantry and is now used as a seasoning in non-Asian dishes as well. Red Boat has been my favorite brand of fish sauce because it’s fresh tasting, vibrant and light, and unlike some brands, there’s actually nothing fishy about it. Now, Red Boat has teamed up with the artisans at Michigan-based Blis Foods: They start with Red Boat’s finest 40*N fish sauce, which has already spent a year aging in wooden barrels, and age it for another 17 months or so in proprietary bourbon barrels previously used to age Blis maple syrup. Between the smoke from bourbon and wood and the mellow sweetness from the maple, the fish sauce becomes a rich-tasting, deeply nuanced condiment that’s as delicious in aioli and vinaigrette as it is in the classic Vietnamese condiment called nuoc cham.

Here are some great ways to use it:

Pok Pok Fish Sauce Chicken Wings
Fish Sauce Caramel
Grilled Rib Eyes with Mushrooms and Fish Sauce

Related: How to Cook with Fish Sauce
Delicious Southeast Asian Recipes
More Chicken Wings Recipes

Christmas Cookie Gifts Tags © Seton Rossini.

F&W’s Seton Rossini applies her graphic design talents to the gorgeous dessert blog Pixel Whisk. Some of her entertaining showstoppers include cupcakes that so closely resemble adorable potted succulent plants that recipients might be tempted to water them, and DIY cake stands made from vintage plates and goblets. Here, she explains how to create clever edible gift tags using a delicious Food & Wine sugar cookie recipe flecked with lemon zest. As Seton says "These tasty Christmas cookies can double as gift tags, place settings or even ornaments! (Just keep your dogs and toddlers away from the tree or your ornaments will go missing.)"

To see how to transform cookies in just a few steps click through the slideshow

Related: Beautiful Gifts to Make or Buy
Gift Picks from Star Chefs
Holiday Inspiration Served Daily

© Kathryn Rathke

The truth about wine grapes is that they rarely have one name—Pinot Noir, for instance, may be Pinot Noir to you and me (and to the French), but to the Austrians it’s Blauburgunder, to the Italians it’s Pinot Nero and to the Croatians it’s either Burgundac Crni or Modra Klevanyka, though I’m a bit vague on why it’s sometimes one and sometimes the other. In any case, here’s a handy guide to some of the more common of wine’s identical twins »

© Brian M. Heiser

At Chicago’s Hoosier Mama Pie Company, former Trio pastry chef Paula Haney and her team make up to 600 pies a week, kneading dough nonstop for as much as an hour per day, and burning through literally a ton of flour in as little as eight weeks. But practice does make perfect, as Haney’s pies—like her Cherry-Berry Pie—come out superbly flaky and intensely flavorful. Here, Haney tips off home bakers to the many mistakes that can get in the way of pie perfection. 10 pitfalls to avoid when baking pie. »

Courtesy of Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc.

Here, F&W’s favorite home juicers and a lesson on building layers of flavor like a pro.

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© Kate Hazell

Fish sauce gives southeast Asian food its hallmark savory flavor. The best versions are fermented the traditional way, outside in the sun. Read more >