Peter Glatz

Springfield

Columnist at Illinois Times

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Articles

Red peas and red drinks

2 weeks ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

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Spring on a plate

1 month ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

Having spent the past winter in semi-hibernation, I've returned to my job as a chef at Caprae Restaurant at Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign. I am once again living in my converted school bus next to the goat barn. I hadn't planned on being here again. Last fall, I declared, as I have for the last three years, that I was finally ready to retire.
Crabcakes that actually taste like crab

1 month ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

On the reality TV show Kitchen Nightmares, renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay visited struggling restaurants as a troubleshooter and tried to turn them around. Ramsay would often order crabcakes because they are a simple dish that could be a reliable indicator of a restaurant's food quality and cooking standards. He could tell if the restaurant sourced the best quality ingredients or went after the lowest price.
Baking soda hacks

1 month ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

Our little house has a smallish kitchen, but thankfully it has a door that opens to a staircase leading to a dry basement, which I've turned into a giant pantry. My wife recently questioned why I keep the baking soda in the cabinet next to the stove instead of in the basement pantry with the other baking supplies. I explained that, just like the kosher salt, I keep it handy because I use it so often in my cooking.
Miso soup for the soul

2 months ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

Miso has been on my mind a lot lately. I just taught a fermentation class at Lincoln Land Community College and demonstrated how to make miso. Then, this week, I read that astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully made miso in space. So today's column will be all about miso and its most well-known application, miso soup.
Shrimp and grits

2 months ago | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

In the American South, there's an old saying: "We go together like shrimp and grits." Shrimp and grits is a classic Southern dish now found on many menus across the U.S. Its origins are rooted in the Gullah Geechee culture of the coastal Carolinas. The Gullah are descendants of enslaved Africans. Shrimp and grits was a humble dish made with readily available ingredients.
Korean fried chicken

Mar 20, 2025 | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

My wife is not a picky eater but she's very choosy about chicken wings. She used to love the wings served at Cafe Brio, and she was crushed when the downtown Springfield restaurant closed in 2016. Since then, whenever she orders wings, she'll invariably say: "They're just not as good as Brio's!"We spent the first winter of the pandemic "sheltering-in-place" at an RV park in Florida. Vaccines hadn't been released yet, so we were keeping to ourselves.
Puttin’ on the Ritz

Mar 6, 2025 | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

"First, you brine a nice piece of fish and refrigerate it overnight. Then, you coat the fish with mayonnaise and crushed Ritz crackers and broil it. You'll have a piece of fish like you've never had before!"This advice didn't come from a TikTok influencer or a recipe from the back of a cracker box ...
Orange marmalade

Feb 20, 2025 | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

The citrus season is in full swing in the southern U.S., and I just returned from our annual Florida vacation with two 15-pound mesh bags of oranges and satsumas. Rather than letting them languish and grow old in my overcrowded refrigerator, I do what I always do when I've overbought produce: preserve it! This week, steamy citrus vapors are filling my kitchen, and jars of golden, amber and tawny marmalade are filling my pantry shelves for the year ahead.
Before the iconic horseshoe

Feb 6, 2025 | illinoistimes.com | Peter Glatz

The horseshoe is to Springfield what a cheesesteak is to Philadelphia, Italian beef is to Chicago, hot chicken is to Nashville and a muffuletta is to New Orleans – regional dishes that have achieved iconic status. In my travels, whenever I mention that I'm from Springfield, people will either remark: "Home of the Simpsons" (not true) or "Birthplace of the horseshoe" (absolutely true).