The Chopping Block Cooking Blog

Classic Beef Stew – Know Your Meat

I am not sure Mother Nature has gotten the memo yet. It’s already March. I should be making spring-type dishes instead of beef stew! But I figured this would be a good a good opportunity to talk ...

Food Comics: Chocolate Truffles

We are pleased to introduce Food Comics from The Chopping Block where our resident Cartoonist Tom O'Brien illustrates his cooking adventures. Here, he shows us how to make chocolate truffles.

Why Wisconsin Goat Cheese is an Underrated Ingredient

Winter’s bitter chill practically begs for a melted-cheese dish, am I right? Defaults tend to be grilled-cheese sandwiches and pots of mac ‘n cheese—mostly because they are easy to whip up—but, ...

Happy New Year of the Pig

My husband & I lived in Beijing, China for three years in the late 1990s. We frequently talk about how, for us, it was the perfect time to be there as an expat. A lot of the old, traditional ways of ...

A Culinary Education in Just One Week?

Yes! The Chopping Block has made it possible to learn cooking techniques from the culinary world within the time frame of one week. Culinary Boot Camp 1 essentially takes a two-year professional ...

Chicken Soup is Always the Answer

I recently realized that I ask myself a laundry list of recurring questions every day:

Go with your Gut - Eat Pizza

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of research studies that demonstrate a link between our digestive tracts or our “guts” to overall health. We have growing evidence that we should ...

A Small yet Useful Kitchen Tool

I think we've all found ourselves in the situation of having random leftover vegetables in the refrigerator, such as one lone piece of zucchini or yellow squash that we don’t have any cooking plans ...

A Grown-Up Version of a Childhood Favorite: Buttered Noodles

Like many of you, I sometimes struggle to cook at home. It's easier to order out or heat up a frozen meal. But cooking for yourself can be just as convenient as ordering Postmates for the fifth night ...

Take Your Happiness Into Your Own Hands: Make Your Own Bagels

I’m not going to say it's impossible to find a good bagel in Chicago. That would be irresponsible. But they are few and far between (Sorry, Chicago; I respect you too much to lie), which means that ...