Long before focaccia became dimpled, glossy, and perfumed with rosemary, it was simply bread baked by the fire. The word focaccia  descends from the Latin panis focacius , meaning hearth bread . The root word focus  refers to the hearth —the center of the home, the fire around which daily life revolved. This was not a decorative bread. It was practical, sustaining, and made with what was at hand: wheat flour, water, leaven, salt, and often a little oil or fat. The earliest wr

How to Spot Additives, Fillers, and Adulteration—and Why Ingredient Integrity Matters Walk down the spice aisle of any grocery store and you’ll see shelves of beautifully colored jars—reds vivid as sunsets, yellows bright as gold, and greens that promise freshness. But behind some of those colors is an uncomfortable truth: not all spices are what they appear to be. As someone who has spent decades working with spices—researching their histories, sourcing their ingredients, an

There was a time when spices were measured by the pinch not because cooks lacked generosity—but because spices were precious. Black pepper was locked in chests. Nutmeg traveled guarded routes. Herbs were dried carefully at the end of the growing season and used with intention through winter. Today, spices are more accessible, but food itself has become expensive again. Oils, butter, vegetables, proteins—none of it is cheap. And when seasoning is misused, the cost isn’t just f

How six cultures mark time, intention, and hope through food The turning of the year has always been more than a change on a calendar. Long before fireworks and countdown clocks, people marked the New Year through ritual meals—foods chosen not for indulgence, but for meaning. Across cultures, New Year dishes are rarely extravagant. They are symbolic. Beans swell. Noodles stretch. Bread is broken. Simple foods promise peace. Hardship is deliberately left behind. At the Heritag

Featuring French Countryside Seasoning By Michel McNeese, Oak City Spice Blends There is a particular feeling that comes the week after Thanksgiving, when the casserole dishes are finally washed, the table linens folded, and grocery stores—almost mischievously—mark down whole turkeys to prices that make even the most seasoned cook pause. This year, that moment found me staring at a 19-pound bird priced at just 29 cents a pound. A steal. A sign. An invitation. And so, even tho

Oak City Spice Blends — Heritage Table Series Introduction: A Cake for the Winter Sun In Scandinavia, winter is not simply a season; it is a geography of the spirit. Dawn stretches like a watercolor wash across the horizon, the sun appearing slowly—if at all—and kitchens become the brightest rooms in the house. The flavors that define this region are equally luminous: vanilla, orange, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom. They were once costly imports arriving by trade routes, b

Baklava has never belonged to one place. It is a dessert shaped by the hands of many cultures—Persian cooks perfuming nuts with rosewater, Greek bakers layering walnuts between sheets of dough as thin as parchment, Ottoman palace chefs stretching phyllo until it covered entire tabletops, and Armenian home kitchens filling their trays with warm spice and walnuts. Every region believed they made the best version, yet together they formed a culinary lineage that spans centuries.

By Oak City Spice Blends There are dishes that travel through centuries not because they are fancy, but because they are true. Honest. Practical. Comforting. They survive empires, borders, migrations, and the changes of taste and fashion because they meet a simple human desire: To transform ordinary ingredients into something extraordinary with a little heat and a little courage. For me, that first revelation happened in the most unexpected place — not in a culinary academy o

Why Stuffing a Chicken (Not a Turkey) May Be the Smartest Holiday Choice This Year Featuring Oak City Spice Blends: French Countryside, Eastern Mediterranean, and Raleigh Rub Historical Context Long before turkey became the American holiday symbol, European and Middle Eastern kitchens celebrated feasts with smaller birds : chickens, capons, and partridges. In medieval households, a stuffed chicken was an everyday luxury—roasted over an open hearth, filled with herbs, bread, g

Featuring Oak City Spice Blends: La Spezia, Wilde Garlek, Umami Fire, and Bountiful Bahia A Young Chef at the Cary Market Last night at the Cary night market, a young boy stopped at my Oak City Spice Blends table. He couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, but he carried himself with that unmistakable spark — the quiet confidence of someone who already knows what he loves. His mother stood beside him, smiling with the kind of pride that needs no words. We started talking ab

Featuring Oak City Spice Blends: Persian Advieh, Eastern Mediterranean, and Bountiful Bahia Pilaf is one of the oldest and most influential rice dishes in the world, a quiet traveler that moved along caravan routes, sailed through imperial kitchens, and adapted itself to the tastes and customs of dozens of cultures. It is a dish shaped by empire, migration, and trade — a culinary manuscript written not on parchment but in grains of rice. Today, we know pilaf as rice that is l

From Medieval Drippings to Modern Comfort - Featuring Oak City Spice Blends: Wilde Garlek & The Sweet One Historical Context The story of Yorkshire pudding begins long before the age of Sunday roasts and pub suppers — in the smoky hearths of medieval England, where thrift and invention defined the kitchen. As early as the 15th century, cooks made dripping pudding , a thin batter of flour, eggs, and milk poured beneath roasting meat to catch every precious drop of fat. The res

I first encountered mustard soup  decades ago at an East Kingdom Twelfth Night  event, deep in the bustle of a Society for Creative Anachronism feast hall. I still remember the hum of voices, the glint of pewter, and the air heavy with anticipation as Baron Salaamallah the Corpulent  presided over the kitchen like a benevolent alchemist. When the bowls of steaming golden soup emerged—thick and fragrant with mustard and cream—the room seemed to pause. Even then, I knew this wa

Few English breads carry as much story, romance, and simple delight as the Sally Lunn bun . Part brioche, part tea cake, part festive loaf, it has been on tables in Bath, England since the 17th century — and today, it graces mine here at Oak City Spice Blends, dressed in the warm notes of my 1st Day of Autumn  seasoning. A Little History The tale begins with Solange Luyon , a Huguenot refugee who fled France and settled in Bath around 1680. There, she is said to have sold her

I love this image so much—I think i nailed it LOL Balanced, bold, and endlessly versatile, Chinese Five Spice — known in Oak City Spice Blends as Ying Yang — is more than just a seasoning. It is philosophy, medicine, and flavor in perfect concert. Each pinch carries with it the ancient idea of harmony: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent, all united in one blend. From imperial kitchens to modern stir-fries, this seasoning has endured not because it is simple, but because

It was a hot July afternoon when the request came in: “Can we have chili for dinner?” Of course we can. Comfort knows no calendar. Some meals feel like a wool blanket. Hearty, familiar, slow-simmered with love and ladled into bowls so generously you half expect to see steam hearts floating above them. This chili—layered with tender chuck roast, spiced sausage, smoky ribbons of bacon, three types of beans, and the bold depth of Bountiful Bahia—was built for that kind of moment

Golden, melty, and just crisp enough around the edges, the Croque Monsieur is France’s answer to the eternal question: “What’s for lunch?” With its buttery bread, savory ham, and bubbling cheese, this iconic sandwich is more than a quick bite — it’s a slice of culinary history. And while it may seem simple, its layers of flavor (and cultural meaning) run deep. When Did the Croque Monsieur First Appear? The earliest known appearance of the Croque Monsieur  is traced back to a

Michel listening to sage advice Golden and crisp, sweet or savory, fritters are proof that sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. A humble batter, a bubbling pan of fat, and whatever ingredient was close at hand — that’s all it took. But this basic preparation carries a story that threads through centuries of kitchens, from medieval monasteries to Southern potlucks. Fritters are more than just food — they’re flavor, ingenuity, and survival wrapped in a crust. What Is the

Compound butter—flavored butter made by blending herbs, spices, or other ingredients into softened butter—is often thought of as a finishing flourish. A little pat that melts over steak or vegetables. But this seemingly simple preparation carries with it a long, rich history that spans centuries, continents, and culinary traditions. Like cookbooks, compound butter is a quiet keeper of cultural memory. What Is the Oldest Known Reference to Compound Butter? The roots of compoun

When you flip through a modern cookbook—full of glossy photos, ingredient lists, and step-by-step instructions—it's easy to forget that the concept of a cookbook has a long, winding history. For centuries, cooks passed down knowledge through memory, apprenticeship, and oral tradition. But as societies evolved, so did their desire to document the kitchen. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. What Is the Oldest Known Cookbook? The title of “oldest cookbook” goes to The Yale