My Mission Statement

This blog is my attempt to discover and replicate the food eaten throughout the world. This will include: histories, experiments, op-rants, science, recipes, and hopefully some good writing and discussion.

I am a big believer of good food with, forgive me for a lack of better words, soul. I shy away from food trends (re:goji berries, infused sugar) in dire need of substance, because I just don’t appreciate smoke up my ass – it only adds to the gas.

My focus is the concurrent flux of any and/or all of the following attributes in cuisine: culture, geographical and political climate, socioeconomics, tradition.

I walk the line between smug San Francisco foodie and squatting brisket noodle slurper. Between the ferry terminal and the civic center fish market. Between assembling and stewing. Between truffle salt and fish sauce, smoked salmon and bacalhau. Ultimately, I am a lover of all above mentioned and most in between.

I try and get as close to the food as possible because, for me, cooking is a both a ritual and scientific experimentation (I was a chemistry major). I love the act of taking a day to collect ingredients and coax out their pungent flavors in the kitchen like others have done before. I don’t even mind waiting for things to ferment, leaven, cure, pickle, or freeze. My approach may result in long drawn out processes; however, my plan is to learn and study until one day these things become effortless.

I document these cooking missions because I realize that, as my mother says, more is more. The more notes and reviews and suggestions there are, the better we can get.

I thank my roommates for putting up with my fanaticism in the kitchen and in the refrigerator. Also their willingness to guinea pig the food.

I wish I had started this blog earlier so I could feature my past successes: coffee and ancho chile braised short ribs, pozole, meatballs, char siu, chile verde, albondigas al almendras, miso chicken claypot to name a few.