Damon Lee Fowler

On this day twelve years ago, the indomitable cooking teacher and cookbook author Marcella Hazan left us. That she did so on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels was no mere coincidence. She had a lot in common with that warrior angel, being a fierce and uncompromising defender of the principles of sound cooking—and not just of the kitchens of her native country, but of any kitchen.

A scientist by nature and training, she was possessed of an endless curiosity that was governed by one overruling standard: taste. How it was done, how it smelled, and how it looked when it landed on the table all mattered. But in the end, all those things served the one thing that really mattered to her, which was how it tasted when it landed on her tongue. Read More 

Last weekend, more than sixty members of my high school class gathered in the cool of a rainy upstate Carolina evening to celebrate the anniversary our graduation into adulthood. It was a welcome refreshment of the spirit, not only in the renewing of old friendships, but in the taste of distinctly autumnal weather afforded those of us who now live away from those hills.

The respite from our lowcountry heat made it easy to get into a fall mindset for the research and development of seasonal stew recipes for my regular newspaper column. But a bonus was that the combinations of flavors that came to the fore inevitably brought me back to a favorite recipe from a favorite kitchen of the past: Beef Soup Monticello. Read More