If you’re a regular at Heartwood Provisions, you might remember smoked sugar from our s’mores back in the day. There, Chef Varin Keokitvon used smoked sugar in the near taffy-like marshmallow puff. Today, Chef Varin is more likely to use his homemade smoked sugar for baking or for pastry presentations. DIY: How to Smoke Sugar…

As a rule, in Chef Varin Keokitvon’s Heartwood Provisions kitchen inventiveness rules and nothing goes to waste. Even when he could be buying ingredients in bulk, he’d rather DIY. That includes using cream to make his own thick, creamy, tangy crème fraîche from scratch. After he has whipped up a batch—which typically takes three to…

It’s the annual Negroni Week and bartenders across the United States are shaking up gin, campari, and vermouth—and giving back. The week long event, which runs June 4th to the 10th, uses cocktailing to raise money for a range of nonprofits. Since launching in 2013, Negroni Week has raised nearly $1.5 million dollars for charity….

Recently, beverage director Amanda Reed was thinking spring drinking and Beaujolais—the light, red-fruited, gamay from France—came to mind. If the flavors of fresh strawberries and earthy mushrooms work so beautifully in those wines, she imagined they’d work well in a cocktail too. So, she added some grassy rhum agricole and savory fennel and a fresh…

Each year after the ball drops in Time Square, fireworks finish bursting in the sky, and the dust settles, Americans begin avowing change. They resolve to lose weight, to learn something new, to save money, and live life to the fullest. To all of these we have a solution: Start smoking. We aren’t talking cigarettes…

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…