Chef Varin will smoke just about anything—cola or caramel, fish, roe or fowl. In this installment of Smoke Signals he takes salmon to a whole new level when he goes for the eggs. Chef Varin: Fish roe is such a magical, unique food. With their tiny packages and their characteristic “pop!” these little eggs pack…

In 2011 Chef Varin was very fortunate to be selected for an ICEX Spain culinary scholarship, which allowed him to travel to Spain for nearly a year, learn about the cuisine, and work in two great restaurants—El Celler de Can Roca and Espai Sucre. It also allowed him to discover a great passion: jamon Iberico…

With its easygoing nature, panna cotta—Italian for “cooked cream”—makes for a spectacular holiday dessert. The essence of simplicity, it can be altered to suit any occasion—built savory with cauliflower and morels in spring, created to uplift with spices and citrus in winter, or made sweetly with vanilla and strawberries in summer. Panna cotta provides a…

Recreating the Red Ryder cocktail has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I came up with this recipe years ago for a holiday pairing dinner with cinnamon as the theme, and have made it for friends and family ever since. Not only is this cocktail seasonal and festive; it is also easy to make…

The stretch between roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie—the weeks between now and Thanksgiving—is ripe with opportunities to work with pumpkin. So, we tapped Chef Varin for a gourd-ish twist on desserts for the holiday season. He gave us an alternative to the standard pumpkin pie recipe: an effortless pumpkin cake. “As summer winds down and…