The Chopping Block Cooking Blog | Cooking Techniques

Choosing, Understanding and Making the Most of a Recipe

Have you ever looked up a recipe online and ended up buying $70 worth of ingredients to make it? It's so common these days with the millions of recipes available on the internet. Although some ...

How to Make Homemade Mexican-Style Chorizo

I love chorizo, and I am honestly baffled when I meet someone who doesn’t. When I ask people what they don’t like about chorizo, they often say it is because it is greasy. I’ll admit it can be ...

Don't Waste Food, Preserve It

Food waste is a huge issue in our society, and can be a huge issue for your pocketbook. Finding out what to do with those leftover veggies or extra filet of salmon can sometimes be difficult for home ...

How to Make it through Winter: A Guide to Making your own French Fries

I rarely eat French fries. When I go out to eat somewhere that most people would typically order fries, say to get burgers, I’ll almost always forgo the fries, or if the burger comes with them, I ...

What’s the Difference between Stock, Broth and Bone Broth?

One of the questions that seems to perplex both culinary professionals, avid and novice cooks alike is: “What’s the difference between broth and bone broth?” For most of the 22 years The Chopping ...

6 Things You Didn’t Know About Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

Arguably the most important meal you’ll eat this year is rapidly approaching. Turkey Day. The Gobble Feast. Thanksgiving. Every year, Thanksgiving becomes a friendlier holiday to me, especially when ...

How to Make Fresh Cranberry Juice

My friend and colleague Liz Songer recently brought me the most beautiful gift of two giant bags of fresh cranberries from her annual trip to Hayward, Wisconsin. She usually takes her trip to ...

A Little “Peppering” of Knowledge

Extremes of spice, in food, around the world are baffling. Whether you like a little cracked black pepper on your eggs in the morning, or you pop pickled jalapenos like they are marshmallows with ...

How to Cook Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms

I'm in mushroom ecstasy as this is a banner year on my property in Michigan for wild mushrooms! My Hen of the Woods mushrooms have returned in abundance so I have been busy cooking and preserving ...

Pears: The Other Fall Fruit

I have always loved the in-between seasons of Spring and Fall. Everything is changing, from the weather to what we wear. I don’t know about you, but I love getting out my “sweater weather” clothes – ...