By Lynette Hazelton From The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia—Take an onion, Jonathan Deutsch explained. Spend some time with it, thinking carefully what you could do with it. Or with fish bones. Or broccoli stems. “Think about the potentiality of every item,” Deutsch said. This is not a culinary Zen exercise. It’s a start to handling your…

Food history professor Alberto Grandi made some polarizing claims in a recent interview, saying many Italian dishes are actually more American in heritage. Grandi, who teaches at the University of Parma in Italy, told the Financial Times that he had been questioning the authenticity of certain “Made in Italy” dishes for years, specifically naming pizza, carbonara and…

By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh–When it comes to apples, only a handful of states do it better than Pennsylvania. Last year alone, the commonwealth produced a whopping 556 million pounds of fruit, in thousands of orchards dedicated to some 100 varieties ranging from heirloom favorites, including Golden Delicious and Northern Spy, to newer cultivars such as…

As hard as it may be to imagine any state fair, carnival, theme park or baseball game without the classic corn dog, there was a time society functioned without this classic snack. You can trace America’s anything-on-a-stick obsession back to July 5, 1927, when a U.S. inventor named Stanley S. Jenkins filed a patent for a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus.” Jenkins…

By Mary Ann Anderson From Tribune News Service At some time or another, you’ve probably been on a date at Red Lobster. Maybe it was your first date long ago or your last one over the weekend. Red Lobster can be romantic. The presentation is always nice, the seafood delectable, and those scrumptious signature biscuits…

Breakfast is truly a national treasure, but the meal beloved by many Americans has changed a lot over the years in terms of cost. From chowing down on a plate of bacon and eggs to devouring a New York-style bagel, breakfast 50 years ago may look similar, but it cost a lot less. While the 1970s…

As much fun as we have eating eggs in all kinds of different ways, it can be just as much fun to decorate them for Easter. Among other food traditions, the celebration of Easter is closely associated with the dying and painting of eggs as well as hunting for them or rolling them across a lawn. But…

In the lead-up to Easter, you have likely crossed your fair share of hot cross buns. For those unfamiliar with this Good Friday treat, traditional hot cross buns are filled with spices and fruits, both candied and plain, and topped with an iced or incised cross. But where was this tradition born? Food historians argue the small…

Considering its ubiquitous nature at restaurants and in homes throughout North America, it may come as a surprise (or not) that original recipes for this 19th-century Russian dish didn’t include mushrooms or egg noodles. Or even Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup. I know, right? Ground beef? Not exactly. While beef stroganoff and its manifestations have…

I’m a big fan of Chinese food. I’m also a fan of fortune cookies, and I generally grab a handful when I pick up an order. My husband and I generally save these little crisp, sweet, folded morsels until the end of the meal and then share our ‘fortunes’ with one another. I thought his…