"Brys Stephens" news and stories

Last week I mentioned that Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) is one of my favorite cold weather foods. I love the warm, anise-scented broth next to the cool crunch of the fresh bean sprouts and herbs. However, it's one of those dishes that I think of as restaurant-only. I've never attempted to make it, mostly because I know the broth is fairly labor-intensive.

The level of work that it required didn't scare away Brys from Cookthink (it appears that he rarely shies away from complex cooking projects, a trait that endears his blogging to me) and it looks like he created something tasty and close to authentic (except, where's the star anise? *). For those of you who have never made consommé, his narration and pictures will help you navigate those tricky waters.

Me, I'm just looking forward to the next time I can get down to South Philly for a steaming bowl of Pho.

*Even though I read Brys' post three times, I missed the star anise until a commenter pointed it out to me. My mistake!

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Two nights ago, I found myself on the phone with my mother, trying to describe how one cooks duck breast. I had been telling her about a dinner I had with friends on Saturday night and the amazingly scrumptious duck I had eaten. She admitted that the only time in her life she remembers eating duck was once, as a Chinese restaurant, about 25 years ago. She hadn't been impressed then and just stayed away. I talked her through the whole process, but I could just tell that she wasn't sold.

However, thanks to Brys over at Cookthink, there now exists a perfect picture tutorial to show you how to go about pan roasting a duck breast. It is concise, complete and totally hunger-inducing. So go forth and cook duck breast without fear!

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I must have sweet potatoes on the brain, because is the second post I'm writing this week that involves them. This time I haven't actually done the cooking, I'm simply salivating over the Sweet Potato Gnocchi that Brys made over at Cookthink this weekend.

I've never made gnocchi on my own. I've thought about it more than once, but always talked myself out of the idea because I'd heard from so many folks that it's really hard to get it right. This is why I'm doubly intrigued by this post, because Brys didn't even use a recipe, he just headed out and did it by feel (documenting each step as he went with some really lovely pictures). There are lots of things that I can cook by feel, but homemade pasta is not one of them. However, he makes it look so easy that I think I'm going to have to give it a go sometime soon.