Saveur

“Summer is another country,” someone smart once said to me. Where he came from winter seemed to last just shy of eternity and each day of summer was experienced as a brief, happy miracle. I like traveling to places that take their summers seriously,

First, look for their silvery eyes. And the murky holes where they nest, the way their legs sprawl out across the swaying seaweed as they swish from place to place. Danai Kyriaki, Greek zoologist, schoolteacher, and diver, is describing how to hunt a

“An octopus has three hearts, not one. Their hearts pump blood that is blue-green, using copper as the oxygen-carrying molecule instead of the iron which makes our blood red.” —P.G.S., Other Minds Q:After spending so much time observing octopuses and

The two cultures share a profound respect for the nuances of taste, and a near monastic attunement to quiet shifts in the seasons. The restaurant Bissoh can be found through a narrow door offRue Maufoux, a cobblestoned street traversing Beaune’s impo

CHARLES PHILIPPE AUGUSTE CAREY In the mid 19th century, the still-life genre had begun to shift from painting to photography. Props became less symbolic, more literal. In Carey’s Still Life with Waterfowl, which pictures meticulously hung birds, a sa

“Ten years ago, I didn’t know what a collard green was,” says Fred Razzaghi from behind the counter at Fred’s Country Kitchen in downtown Atlanta. Construction workers and courthouse lawyers are eating elbow to elbow, their lunch platters loaded up w

Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, Yewande Komolafe rarely cooked. But a?ter she moved to the States at age 16 and worked for 15 years in restaurant kitchens (Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta, New York’s Momofuku Milk Bar), she developed a newfound curiosity

Lettuces are lovely and herbs are essential, but they’re hardly the only foliage deployed in cooking. For centuries, European cheesemakers have aged their wares in deciduous tree leaves, and the oak’s naturally tannic greenery has acted as an antifun

When you think about it, ice cream is a miracle. You start with milk, one of the most chemically complex foods we eat. Add sugars to reduce its freezing point, and egg proteins and emulsifiers to obstruct ice crystals. Then you stick this gloppy stuf

A diver with his catch, Parastichopus californicus, the giant California sea cucumber commercially harvested in Alaska. Here, in the icy waters offthe state’s southeast coast, diving for cukes along the ocean floor is a risky profession. Hunter Mann-

Watching Laurent work with vegetables brings to mind tai chi. Central to the traditional Taoist martial art, which I’ve been practicing for a dozen years, is the notion of “movement with intention.” The goal, difficult to master, is to relax, to make

The word braai is recognized in each of South Africa’s 11 official languages. It can be used as a noun (“throw a braai”) or a verb (“braai a steak”). First, a coincidence: 1.8 million years ago, about 500 miles up from the southernmost tip of Africa,

Eating lobster can be an elegant affair, but the process of getting it to the plate is more of an adventure. Plan to do a little dirty work. I remember this as I buy a 9-pound sack, carry it home, and brace for what’s next—bringing the knife down har

WOMEN IN COBÁN MAKE TORTILLAS ON A FLAT, SMOOTH GRIDDLE CALLED A COMAL, A FIXTURE IN MAYA HOMES. IT’S GETTING CLOSE TO LUNCHTIME AT THE MARKET IN SAN JUAN LA LAGUNA when a vendor named Horacio tells me that I need to try some puchon-ik. San Juan is a

The summer I visited James Baldwin at his home in Provence he was working almost constantly, fine-tuning the manuscript that would become If Beale Street Could Talk. Most of our exchanges occurred around the table at lunch or dinner. It was 1973, and

The brothers keep the diners at Twins guessing by incorporating wild herbs and obscure-even-to- Russians ingredients into their playful dishes. It’s a chilly early summer’s day near Gribanovo, a village some 30 miles outside Moscow. A group of young

WAX ON Not all good things bees make come in bear-shaped bottles When a friend’s beekeeping dad sent us two frames of honeycomb from his family’s rural Pennsylvania property, the whole saveur team came running to snap photos and nibble on pieces. Bee

Kombu, a green kelp that’s sold in dried, leathery sheets, is a basic building block of Japanese dashi. We’ve been using it to make a full-bodied vegetarian stock (see “How to Think About Vegetables,” page 36) but hated the idea of throwing it out po

Left with a freezer full of ice cream from “Churn After Reading” (page 24), we decided to make something with it (rather than merely grab spoonfuls each time we walked by the fridge). Baked Alaska, a 19th-century American dessert of layered ice cream

The venison haunches were an afterthought, a pleasant surprise found among the elk, moose, and mule deer shanks donated for the osso buco. Rubbed in bear fat and basted with pickled ramp vinegar as they roasted over the flames, they made an ideal lat

BY ANYA VON BREMZEN Photographs by SIMON BAJADA It’s a chilly early summer’s day near Gribanovo, a village some 30 miles outside Moscow. A group of young Russians, plus one emigre journalist (me), are ambling through a lyrical meadow fit to inspire N

BY WYATT WILLIAMS “Ten years ago, I didn’t know what a collard green was,” says Fred Razzaghi from behind the counter at Fred’s Country Kitchen in downtown Atlanta. Construction workers and courthouse lawyers are eating elbow to elbow, their lunch pl

BY JON BONNÉ The two cultures share a profound respect for the nuances of taste, and a near monastic attunement to quiet shifts in the seasons. The restaurant Bissoh can be found through a narrow door offRue Maufoux, a cobblestoned street traversing

BY BRENDAN JONES PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATIEORLINSKY A diver with his catch, Parastichopus californicus, the giant California sea cucumber commercially harvested in Alaska. Here, in the icy waters offthe state’s southeast coast, diving for cukes along the o

By MAX FALKOWITZ Photographs by HEAMI LEE When you think about it, ice cream is a miracle. You start with milk, one of the most chemically complex foods we eat. Add sugars to reduce its freezing point, and egg proteins and emulsifiers to obstruct ice

STORY BY Mitchell Davis RECIPE BY Laurent Gras BYMitchell Watching Laurent work with vegetables brings to mind tai chi. Central to the traditional Taoist martial art, which I’ve been practicing for a dozen years, is the notion of “movement with inten

WAX ON Not all good things bees make come in bear-shaped bottles When a friend’s beekeeping dad sent us two frames of honeycomb from his family’s rural Pennsylvania property, the whole saveur team came running to snap photos and nibble on pieces. Bee

“Summer is another country,” someone smart once said to me. Where he came from winter seemed to last just shy of eternity and each day of summer was experienced as a brief, happy miracle. I like traveling to places that take their summers seriously,

CHARLES PHILIPPE AUGUSTE CAREY In the mid 19th century, the still-life genre had begun to shift from painting to photography. Props became less symbolic, more literal. In Carey’s Still Life with Waterfowl, which pictures meticulously hung birds, a sa

BY MARK BYRNE Photographs by CROOKES & JACKSON First, a coincidence: 1.8 million years ago, about 500 miles up from the southernmost tip of Africa, in a widemouthed cave dug into an eroded hillside, Homo erectus discovered barbecue. He’d been an ape,

BY KAT CRADDOCK • ILLUSTRATION BY PING ZHU Lettuces are lovely and herbs are essential, but they’re hardly the only foliage deployed in cooking. For centuries, European cheesemakers have aged their wares in deciduous tree leaves, and the oak’s natura

Left with a freezer full of ice cream from “Churn After Reading” (page 24), we decided to make something with it (rather than merely grab spoonfuls each time we walked by the fridge). Baked Alaska, a 19th-century American dessert of layered ice cream

Photograph by RYAN PFLUGER The summer I visited James Baldwin at his home in Provence he was working almost constantly, fine-tuning the manuscript that would become If Beale Street Could Talk. Most of our exchanges occurred around the table at lunch

Kombu, a green kelp that’s sold in dried, leathery sheets, is a basic building block of Japanese dashi. We’ve been using it to make a full-bodied vegetarian stock (see “How to Think About Vegetables,” page 36) but hated the idea of throwing it out po

PHOTOGRAPHS & STORY BY CHRISTOPHER BAGLEY IT’S GETTING CLOSE TO LUNCHTIME AT THE MARKET IN SAN JUAN LA LAGUNA when a vendor named Horacio tells me that I need to try some puchon-ik. San Juan is a quiet village of around 10,000 people in the highlands

Story by ANTHONY LICATA • Photograph by LYNN DONALDSON The venison haunches were an afterthought, a pleasant surprise found among the elk, moose, and mule deer shanks donated for the osso buco. Rubbed in bear fat and basted with pickled ramp vinegar

BY KATHERINE WHITTAKER First, look for their silvery eyes. And the murky holes where they nest, the way their legs sprawl out across the swaying seaweed as they swish from place to place. Danai Kyriaki, Greek zoologist, schoolteacher, and diver, is d

By Stacy Adimando Photographs by Marcus Nilsson Eating lobster can be an elegant affair, but the process of getting it to the plate is more of an adventure. Plan to do a little dirty work. I remember this as I buy a 9-pound sack, carry it home, and b