Mouthing Off

Riverhead Books

Talking with Rosie Schaap, it becomes increasingly evident that any good bar would want her as a regular. She’s easy going, funny, smart and genuinely interested in other people, and for the most part, she orders whiskey on the rocks—a no-fuss drink. In fact, Schaap, the Drinks Columnist for the New York Times Magazine, has become a regular at several bars around the world in her day, something that she writes about in her phenomenal new memoir, Drinking with Men.

Schaap is an expert storyteller. She takes readers from her days following the Grateful Dead through love affairs to working as a minister after the September 11 tragedy, with the bars she frequents and the friends she’s made in them playing a pivotal role in her daily life. For a book that’s purportedly about drinking, it’s intriguing how little of it touches on actual drinks. It’s the neighborhood bars Schaap inhabits that become their own little worlds–like Grogan’s pub in Dublin where everyone knows the words to the same bar tunes, or The Man of Kent in Hoosick Falls, NY, loved by many a biker on Route 7 or the (now closed) Liquor Store in Manhattan’s Tribeca.

Schaap misses Liquor Store most. “I just loved the mix of people there,” she tells F&W. “You just felt that everyone was happy to see each other and perfectly relaxed. It was a very simple unadorned place but it was a beautiful corner bar and the light was really special in late afternoon just before it turned into evening. That was really the most beautiful time there.”

While Schaap mostly chronicles her time as a patron, on Tuesdays she can usually be found bartending at South in Brooklyn’s Park Slope. “There is a lot more responsibility behind the bar, but I still feel as curious about people when I’m serving them as I do when I’m just sitting on the civilian side talking,” she says.

She won't be there tonight. Schaap is doing a reading at 2A in the East Village at 8 p.m.–and then will be off to Chicago, San Francisco and Boston over the next couple weeks on a book tour.

Photo © Stephanie Meyer.

Crème brûlée is a walking cliché, and like offering a Caesar salad recipe, it’s almost embarrassing to show you this one. But this creamy, rich dessert is the perfect love letter. And you should know how to make a great custard (plus, it’s always fun to use a blowtorch in the kitchen). I made crème brûlée for dessert the first time I cooked for my wife when we had just started dating, and it worked out perfectly in every way. SEE RECIPE »

See More of Andrew Zimmern’s Kitchen Adventures

Photo © David Malosh/ Art © James Maikowski.

Boxed candies can be supremely delicious and sexy. But to impress the truly chocolate-obsessed Valentine on Thursday—and provide shopping alternatives for stumped procrastinators—Momofuku Milk Bar’s sugar mastermind, Christina Tosi, reveals some of the more creative ways to enjoy chocolate.

1. Pair with fruits and vegetables. “Chocolate is a great way to hide the ‘healthy’ in your next tomato cake, beet, celery root or potato concoction, or zucchini bread!”

2. Serve with cheese. “Dark chocolate is great with any grassy cheese, and a great surprise on a cheese platter. You can even make a killer fudge sauce/spread with some grassy goat milk, to sit on your next cheese platter.”

3. Burn it. “Did you know that burning white chocolate slowly makes the most delicious, sweet brown butter bits?” Now you do.

4. Eat it on toast. “Or in toast! With passion fruit curd and a cup of coffee.”

5. Smoke it. “My first run in with this was working as a pastry cook for Sam Mason and chef Wylie Dufresne at WD-50 in New York. We turned smoked chocolate into a killer ice cream.”

Follow writer Jasmin Sun on Twitter @jasminsun.

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These crispy, sweet-and-spicy pork spareribs are a
hundred times better than Chinese takeout char siu ribs,
and they’re a good example of what’s so
great about using a pressure cooker.
© Christina Holmes

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

By now I probably sound like a broken record, and I’m not afraid to shout it out, but I love my pressure cooker! Tough cuts, like ribs, need a long time to get tender, but literally 15 minutes at pressure and these ribs are almost falling off the bone.

Char Siu Spareribs, those sticky, chewy ribs from Chinese restaurants, though delicious, frighten me with their nuclear-reactor-red food coloring. Mine hit all of the high points without the scary DNA-altering potential. I cut them into three-rib sections, marinate them in a mixture of hoisin, honey, ginger, soy and garlic, then pressure cook them for 15 minutes. Next the ribs get brushed with honey and broiled until browned and shiny. While they’re broiling, I boil the cooking liquid down to a sticky, spicy sauce to serve on the side. Maybe it’s faster than take out. Who knows? But it definitely is better and safer. SEE RECIPE »

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Sea salt-cultured butter.
© Becky Luigart-Stayner, Sunny House Studio
Courtesy of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery

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

I love just about everything from the Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery—from their fat-free fromage blanc to the rich and luxurious crème fraîche, and all the cheeses from the plain goat cheese logs to the exquisite aged Cremont and Coupole.

Now, they’ve added a new flavor to their line of butterfat-rich cultured butters: maple and sea salt. It will be your new go-to slather. Its three-in-one goodness is perfect on a toasted baguette or a biscuit, and also on pancakes, French toast and waffles for sure. I’ve also used it for sautéing apples and pears, in a pan sauce for pork tenderloin, and for finishing off roasted butternut squash and brussels sprouts.

Related: F&W's 100 Best Recipes: Cheese
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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. »

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup from F&W's Grace Parisi; © Stephanie Foley

The flu is still wreaking havoc across the country. If you’ve already high-fived the wrong person and come down with the flu, there are ways to make yourself better. One is to get out your soup spoon and dig into a bowl of supremely satisfying soup. Here, fantastic soups across America.>>

Sazerac Interpreted Courtesy of Restaurant R'Evolution

With Mardi Gras approaching on February 12, cocktail obsessives can honor the holiday by trying a new variation on New Orleans’s famous Sazerac. The basic recipe features rye whiskey, Peychaud’s bitters and sugar, stirred and strained into a cold (but ice-free) rocks glass rinsed with absinthe. At French Quarter newcomer Restaurant R’evolution, wine and spirits director Molly Wismeier makes a Sazerac with brandy. MORE »

Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère and Egg. Photo © Johnny Miller

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of F&W’s Best New Chef awards, one of our biggest stars shares one of her most requested recipes.

A.O.C., Suzanne Goin’s beloved Los Angeles wine bar, serves dishes that are meant to be shared. An exception is her big, buttery open-face sandwich of brioche covered with melted Gruyère and piled high with lemony greens and prosciutto; a sunny-side-up egg is draped on top. “This is the dish everyone hoards,” says Goin. “We serve it with a big steak knife, but it gets sloppy to share. Or that’s what people say, anyway, so it can be all theirs.” The recipe—which Goin calls the love child of a frisée salad and a croque-monsieur—has been on the menu at A.O.C. since opening day in December 2002. “People post on my Facebook page about it,” she says. The brioche is key. In fact, at A.O.C.’s new location, there’s a wood-burning oven so Goin can continue hand-making the loaves. SEE RECIPE »

A.O.C. (new location): 8700 W. Third St., Los Angeles; aocwinebar.com; 310-859-9859.

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Illustration by Kathryn Rathke.

Winter is here. This means you should buy wine in large amounts, not because you’re drinking more, but because going outside—especially if you live in the Northeast—just isn’t pleasant. Five great bottles to buy by the case.>>