"melissa clark" news and stories

Ever since friend pointed in me in the direction of Epicurious.com when I was looking for a Passover recipe several years ago, it's been one of my go-to websites for interesting recipes, food tips and the occasional article. They recently launched a redesign of their site, and it's not just the same old stuff dressed up in new HTML. There's a bunch of new features including a recipe bar search, new categories and my very favorite, a brand spanking new blog.

The Epi-log as they're calling it is staffed not only by the Epicurious editors, but also by a pretty nifty assortment of guest bloggers. They've got Amy Sherman from Cooking with Amy (food blogger makes good!), Rick Bayless (who really needs no introduction), food writing extraordinaire Melissa Clark, the grill man Michael Y. Park, wine expert Natalie MacLean and Neal Pollack, who bills himself as Writer, Food Lover, Dad (please read his post about how his son threw a temper tantrum because they were out of capers. It made me giggle audibly).

Melissa Clark can't resist bringing home bags of tomatoes from the farmers market this time of year. She offers up a tomato recipe for every night of the week (plus one to grow on) including Multi-colored Tomato Tartlets, Baked Stuffed Tomatoes with Goat Cheese Fondue and Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade.

Eric Asimov searches for a beer that can cool you down without leaving you feeling weighted by the heaviness of hops and too much alcohol. The winner? A Belgian Pale Ale.

An evangelical Christian and a Kosher meat packer work together to further humane and sustainable farming practices. Mark Bittman cooks the perfect steak and shares secrets of the dry rub.

Frank Bruni reviews Rayuela. You can learn to cook in Paris without spending your whole vacation in front of the stove. You can feel safe eating all the deep-fried Oreos you want at the Indiana State Fair, as they are now cooked in trans-fat free oil.