As always, the Times did a great job of translating the Magazine spread to the web, with plenty of interactive tidbits and recipes to peruse.
We went looking for spring, Mark and I, down in Charleston, S.C., a stunning city, rich with history both sad and ecstatic, in a region that offers a tremendous bounty of fresh ingredients and regional flavors. We had the vague idea of a holiday feast for the season — one that was grand and nondenominational — that would help banish memories of winter. The hitch was that we had only about eight hours to shop and cook before a dozen people showed up to eat with us in a marvelous old house off the Battery.
At the end of the day, supper consisted of grilled leg of lamb prepared two ways, ham biscuits, braised carrots and parsnips, grits, rice pudding, stove-top shrimp, and plenty more. Bittman and Sifton narrate their day of shopping and prep, excited over the number of fresh ingredients the Holy City had at the ready. Beware: Best not to read on an empty stomach (or pantry).