Fresh produce is easy to take for granted once it's in your kitchen, but every head of lettuce and pint of strawberries got there through a tight harvest window, a lot of hard physical work, and a chain of handoffs between the field and the store. Knowing how that chain works makes you a sharper shopper, and it gives you a real answer the next time a kid asks where dinner came from.
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- Written by: James Hills
Harvest season means something a little different depending on what part of the world, or the country, you happen to be in. Up north in Michigan, where Heather and I have a home, the weather has gotten a lot cooler, and once the apples are in, the work is done for a few months as the winter snows set in. In Mexico, cooler weather means a shift from apples and peaches to the winter produce that still grows in places like Sinaloa and Jalisco, the berries and vegetables that won't survive a Michigan or Wisconsin winter. These eight apple and harvest cocktails follow that same map.
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- Written by: James Hills
September is National Bourbon Heritage Month, but honestly, whiskey is at its best in the colder months that follow. It has a comfort feel that warms you up on a cold, crisp day, and it goes great with harvest favorites like pumpkins, apples, and the berries that make it through the first few cold nights. These fall whiskey cocktails came in from distillers, bartenders, and brands, along with five riffs on the same classics that trade whiskey for rum, brandy, or gin.
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- Written by: James Hills
Chicken thighs and summer squash on a skewer want hard, direct heat for a short window, which hardwood lump charcoal delivers better than the briquettes most of us learned on. I ran a batch over Bear Mountain lump on my Weber kettle with the lid off, and it came off the grate with a char a gas burner has never given me.
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- Written by: James Hills
Summer squash sauce is what I make when tomato sauce feels wrong and a cream sauce feels too heavy. Four or five yellow squash get cooked down in butter and olive oil, then blended with fresh basil, garlic, lemon, and parmesan into something light enough for a hot night and rich enough to carry a plate of pasta on its own. There is no cream in it anywhere, and it still comes out creamy.
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- Written by: James Hills
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