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Eat Like Ben
Originally published at wavesofgrain.co these posts offer simple recipe-free ways of cooking really great food!


Bitters for Breakfast
Endive is good late crop, not only for farmers, but also for kitchens. Getting ready for the first frost in the fall is always a rush. All those peppers and tomatoes still on the vine! All that heavy squash to lug into the barn! Any crop you can leave in the field and not even think about is like gold in the bank. Endive is cold hardy, and even if the outside leaves get discolored from freezing or desiccated from wind, inside there is still a beautiful beating heart waiting t

Ben Sargent
Dec 25, 20254 min read


The Last of the Keepers
Most of the keepers we’ve been selling at the coop over the winter came from two Longmont Farms: Rough & Ready Farm and Sunflower Farm ....

Ben Sargent
Mar 4, 20253 min read


Lemony Ricotta Pie
The round-bottomed wife tries to eat local as much as possible but at this time of year she begs for big earthenware bowls of Arizona...

Ben Sargent
Feb 16, 20252 min read


Lamb Fast and Lamb Slow
We meet people on market days that don’t eat lamb because they think lambs are babies. “Baby lambs” are the young animals they are...

Ben Sargent
Feb 11, 20252 min read


Wielding the Emergency Pumpernickel
In case of emergency, do not break glass! The round-bottomed wife is a bit of a chipmunk. Hearty food in small bundles disappear into her...

Ben Sargent
Feb 3, 20259 min read


Lion’s Teeth and the Bitter Greens of Spring
Sometime in early February, spring fever sets in. The sun-deprived wife pesters me to go out and hunt around between retreating patches...

Ben Sargent
Jan 29, 20253 min read


Stone In – The Envy of A French Tart
To relax in the evening, my wife watches films and TV series on her France channel – that is, when she’s not watching her German,...

Ben Sargent
Jan 20, 20254 min read


Eat Like Ben: Smoked Thor’s Hammer and Roadkill
Soma (pronounced “Shoma”, it’s a Hungarian name) wanted to smoke a Thor’s Hammer, which is a specially prepared beef shank. That’s because we were selling them at the markets all summer, telling our customers “It’s a novelty cut. Good in the smoker.” What Frank said. But we’d never actually smoked one. As we got down to the last Hammer in the freezer this fall, I could see Soma had his eye on it. Bone-in cuts often get a hole in the plastic, breaking the vacuum seal. He waite

Ben Sargent
Dec 22, 20242 min read


The Deep, Dark Secrets of Cider Syrup
Having grown up in New England, I remember making candy coated apples using a sticky caramel sauce. Worse, I recall eating store-bought...

Ben Sargent
Dec 19, 20244 min read


The Hunter and the Huntsman's Chicken
A few years back, we held a Valentine’s party where we invited guests to bring red food. Our contribution was the main dish, a set of...

Ben Sargent
Dec 2, 20242 min read


Wine and Apples
This time of year, we remember a tiny bodega, with one forlorn window on the street. Visible in the window was an electric crock pot with...

Ben Sargent
Dec 2, 20241 min read


Making Apple Pie with Rice Flour
Around our house, I am the pie-crust maker. We make our crusts out of organic white rice flour. Mary cannot have gluten and I can't...

Ben Sargent
Nov 27, 20242 min read


Suddenly Dinner
Some days I just don’t plan. Then, ravenous, I have to do food, fast. Last night I was lucky. I found ground meat thawing in the fridge....

Ben Sargent
Nov 25, 20241 min read


Mess o’ Greens, With Liripipe
The round-bottomed wife has been irritable for days. She got a project in her teeth like a puppy with a juicy marrow bone, only...

Ben Sargent
Nov 20, 20242 min read


Pickles and Brine with Eye of Newt
My estimable, round-bottomed wife is a bit of a kitchen witch. She keeps a half dozen large pots busy with all manner of things. Today,...

Ben Sargent
Nov 7, 20242 min read


Smoking the Trout
Originally published 31 October, 2024 My neighbor's dad knows many good streams here along the continental divide. He catches trout. When...

Ben Sargent
Oct 31, 20243 min read


Eat Like Ben
On Saturday while I headed to Denver to run a pop-up farm stand at Nurture Wellcare Marketplace, my wife Mary was rendering beef fat into...

Ben Sargent
Oct 24, 20242 min read
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