Author: Ben Starr
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I’m on the shortlist for the Best Job in the World!
I’m walking on air today, because it was just announced that I’m on the shortlist for the Best Job in the World! Honestly, I already thought I had the best job in the world…I spend my days cooking, gardening, brewing beer and wine, traveling, and sharing these experiences with my amazing fans all over the…
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Ben’s Infamous Butter Pecan Ice Cream
This ice cream is NOT good for you. Let’s just get that out of the way at the beginning. It contains so many calories and so much saturated fat that you should only indulge in it once a year. That said, this ice cream is legendary. If you’re not familiar with the flavor “Butter Pecan”…
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Easter FRANK…a Tale of Texas Foraging
After my seemingly endless blog about the underground restaurant FRANK that I run with my bestie Jennie Kelley from season 2 of MasterChef, I though I’d be done writing about FRANK for awhile. However, our Easter seatings in March were so incredibly epic and special, and so many of you have requested the story behind…
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Dandelion “Honey”
Either you love dandelions, or you hate them. If you hate them, it’s probably because you spend so much time trying to rid your lawn of them. If you love them, it’s because the big, soft, bright yellow blossoms and supremely blow-able puff balls bring you back to childhood. Or perhaps you’re one of the…
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Nimble Chef…my latest project
For the past year I’ve been working secretly on a really cool project with Iron Chef Cat Cora and the team that created her iPad app Cat’s Kitchen. And since the project was officially announced yesterday, now I can share it with all of you!!! It’s a revolutionary app called Nimble Chef, and it takes…
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Multi Grain Sweet Potato Muffins
We don’t eat enough sweet potatoes in this country. And when we do, they usually are slathered in sugar, butter, marshmallows, and maple syrup. (*gag*) What a horrific way to ruin a healthy, delicious food! (No offense to those of you who adore sweet potato casserole.) I had a few sweet potatoes left over in…
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Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
I’m no fan of chain restaurants. And I am happy to announce that I’ve NEVER eaten at a Red Lobster. But any time Red Lobster surfaces in conversation, I’m always puzzled by the response that I universally hear from people who have eaten there. “ZOMG, their cheddar biscuits are SO GOOD!” It’s like Olive Garden…
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All About FRANK
“Just who is this FRANK character and why does Ben Starr spend so much time with him?” That’s a rough translation of an email I got from a delightful Italian fan last week. Then I realized, many of you are intrigued with this FRANK thing I’ve got going on with my bestie from MasterChef Jennie…
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How to Convert a Refrigerator for Curing Meat or Aging Cheese
WARNING: Working with electricity is dangerous. This article will teach you several ways to convert a refrigerator into a chamber for curing meat or for aging cheese. (The same principles can be used to convert a refrigerator into a lagering chamber for making homebrew lager beer, or converting a chest freezer into a kegerator.) If…
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Utah Series: Midway and the Heber Valley, part 1
Utah is like an entire continent in one state. Never, in all my travels around the world, have I discovered a place so dramatically varied in climate and geology in such a comparatively small space. And while I tend to focus on wilderness spots in my Utah writings…(and Utah has no shortage of wilderness)…in this…