A gray day and a gray-ish Dining Section at the Gray Lady.
A Food Crusader's Alarm Is Supersized: An interview with Eric Schlosser, whose 2001 best-seller, Fast Food Nation, has been made into a film and is heading to Cannes.
First Came the Smoker, Then the Ingredients: Melissa Clark spends some time with the chef Iacopo Falai, of Falai on the Lower East Side, who loves a good kitchen gadget. He offers a recipe for Steamed Sole with Smoked Trout Consomm, which might help justify the purchase of a smoker.
Fresh Fennel in Cahoots: The Minimalist makes a Roast Chicken with Fennel "The idea was that the fennel would lend its flavor to the chicken, the chicken would lend its juices to the fennel and the creation would need little else."
PLUS...
Going to Bat for a Much-Maligned Grape: Eric Asimov hears out Chris Phelps of Swanson Vineyards, who is trying to make the case that merlot has been unfairly maligned, thanks in part to the film "Sideways."
I think the best food-related article this week was actually in the travel section, a juicy piece about the mango season in India:
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/travel/10mumbailetter.html?pagewanted=all
I wonder when those newly legal imports will begin...
the above the fold photo of smoking a vanilla bean into a wine glass put me off the whole section
in Science Times yesterday there was an interesting article about aggression, testosterone, taste buds, and chili sauce.
Oh, man -- Faith is so right. That mango article was the best. I'm hungry again just remembering it.
good article, thanks for the heads up, guido.
gotta watch out for any habaneros in the drinks!