(Rich Hein~Chicago Sun-Times) Photo styling by Judith Dunbar Hines.

For people who love food, this is the best holiday of the year – completely focused on the food and the people surrounding the table.  For others, severe kitchen anxiety builds from now until Thursday.

Everyone talks about the turkey.  Debates go on about the best way, the newest ideas, the questions surrounding getting that bird done at just the right moment.   But really, it’s just a big bird.  You know how to roast a chicken, right?  Just remember this is like a chicken, only bigger.  Do whatever you usually do for a roast chicken, just cook it longer.  Arm yourself with a reliable thermometer, a roasting timetable, and a sturdy pan and you’re good to go. Continue reading →

We eat hundreds of meals every year, yet none is ever more controversial or stressful than the Thanksgiving Feast.

What started out to be a community affair to celebrate perseverance and triumph over impossibly hard conditions in a New World has become a contest of will and culinary prowess. Continue reading →

(Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times) Photo styling by Judith Dunbar Hines.

Cooks who prefer to use what is most local and most seasonal religiously watch the calendar and the farmers markets for certain products that have the briefest of seasons. We breathlessly wait for those first strawberries or rhubarb in the spring.

We rhapsodize about summer’s tomatoes, the perfect August peach — and then suddenly it is October and the markets begin to slim down or close. Continue reading →