Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Author: Ben Starr

  • Elvis, Ohio

    So I just came back from a 5,000 mile roadtrip, and soon I’ll be blogging about it and sharing photos.  But I wanted to tell you about this little place I discovered called Elvis, Ohio.  I had never heard of it.  You probably haven’t either.  But this little town claims that Elvis was actually born…

  • About last night…

    So last night was Halloween.  As you can tell from previous blogs, this is my favorite night of the year, and my favorite thing to do is scare the ever loving crud out of trick-or-treaters of all ages.  We start it with ambiance…the yard was supremely creepy this year! We had dozens of Jack-o-Lanterns, we…

  • Happy Halloween!

    It’s Halloween!  My favorite day of the entire year.  I loved Halloween as a kid, but because our parents strictly forbade us from eating candy, we had to donate all our candy to the church food pantry each year.  Trick-or-treating was about the activity itself, not about the candy at the end.  (Though, I confess,…

  • Cast Iron

    Ah, cast iron cookware!  Other than earthen-ware cooking vessels, cast iron is one of the oldest and lowest-tech cooking vessels that still exists, and strangely enough…technology has YET to replicate a pot or pan that cooks better than cast iron.  When properly “seasoned” it is nonstick, without the need for harsh chemicals that go into…

  • Pumpkin Carving

    One of my biggest fans, Gregory Wright, has created this pumpkin carving stencil of me in my pumpkin hat to share with my fans.  I used the stencil today and carved a pumpkin that I was about to make pumpkin beer with, and it worked beautifully!  Some of the pieces are small and delicate…you definitely…

  • !!!OCTOBER!!!

    I admit it.  I’m an October junkie.  I can’t get enough of it.  October is the one month of the year when I come ALIVE!!! There’s something about the way the wind changes direction and starts to sound and feel a little uneasy, especially around sunset and at night.  Leaves start to change and fall,…

  • The State Fair of Texas

    So yesterday I experienced my very first State Fair of Texas, which is a bit silly since I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, and lived in the same city as the fair for 15 years. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve experienced my fair share of Fairs.  As a farm kid growing up, every year…

  • Butter: Salted vs Unsalted

    One of the most common questions I get is “Do I use salted or unsalted butter in your recipes?” I’d like to set the record straight about butter, and it’s incredibly simple: NEVER buy salted butter. The only application for salted butter is to spread it on something already prepared that you’re about to eat,…

  • Burning Man: The Temple

    Today I wanted to share with you an aspect of Burning Man that, to me, is the most significant feature of the event.  Each year since 2000, a “temple” has been built, generally from recycled materials and found objects.  The temple isn’t dedicated to any specific religion.  Its goal is to be a sacred space…

  • Meet Maggie!

    This is Maggie.  Maggie’s mom emailed me during the run of MasterChef and said to me, “You have stolen my child’s heart” and proceeded to explain that her daughter started taking cooking classes at age 3 and was an aspiring chef. I emailed them back, and Maggie herself responded thusly: “I did my science fair…