Bill Retherford

Neither a trained chef or culinary expert but a true lover of food including the history, background and even the science behind what makes a great dish. With twelve years as a manufacturing consultant specializing in food processing, I have a unique perspective on how much of the food we purchase is created. Being fortunate to have travel extensively for work and pleasure provides me with ample opportunities to experience new foods and regional variations on a regular basis. I have an obsession for Reubens and will select a reuben sandwich without consideration of anything else on the menu if available.

Most commented posts

  1. Oven Baking Sausage: Quick, Easy and Minimal Mess — 32 comments
  2. Homemade Peach Liqueur, Capturing the Essence of Summer — 28 comments
  3. Easy To Make Homemade Wild Grape Jam — 27 comments
  4. MacGyver’s Fat Separator, Simple Way to Make Homemade Gravy — 22 comments
  5. Homemade Garden Grape Jam, Welch’s Take Note! — 13 comments

Author's posts

May 26

Homemade Dried Apricot Liqueur, A Sun Kissed Gift from the Gods

Homemade Dried Apricot Liqueur

The third homemade liqueur that I ever attempted was using Dried Apricots. It was at a point where I was more interested making any type of homemade liqueur in the kitchen and there was no local fresh fruit in season. The result was something between a kiss from the sun and a gift from the …

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May 25

Hot Italian Sausage Recipe

Freshly Made Homemade Hot Italian Sausage

Aside from the fact that there are more then just Hot and Sweet Italian Sausages available, these two varieties of Italian sausages are types that most of us are most familiar. Whether simmering in a marinara sauce, cooked with peppers and onions or grilled outdoors the flavors and aromas from Italian sausage really is hard …

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May 24

The Food of a Younger Land – Book Review

The Food of a Younger Land - Mark Kurlansky

I recently finished reading Mark Kurlansky’s book The Food of a Younger Land and could not help but be amazed how much the food in the United States has changed in 80 years. All who attended school in the United States were taught about the massive federal government efforts in the 1930’s to create stability …

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May 23

Date Shake, Check One Off Of The Bucket List

Date Palm - Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

As I was driving CA-86 North towards Indio, CA with the Salton Sea to the east, I was thinking back to when I had first learned of the Date Shake?  If my memory serves me correctly, it was Anthony Boudain’s Travel Channel show No Reservations episode U.S. Southwest where he had tried a Date Shake. …

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May 21

Healthy Fruit Leather Made In The Kitchen

Strips of Peach Fruit Leather

Fruit Leather, Fruit Roll Ups, Fruit Rolls and Fruit Skin are just a few of the names used for fruit that has been pureed and then dried into a sheet. The difference between what is mass produced, commercially available and what can be made at home is literally the difference between night and day. This …

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