As at many food blogs, I write about what strikes me as interesting. Most often I’m interested in finding solutions that a non-professional like me could use for a problem that doesn’t appear to have any easy solution (or at least, doesn’t appear to have any easily found solution). It might involve a broad topic with many facets, like how to break down a whole salmon and use every part from nose to tail. It might be a fanciful subject, like a fun example of green eggs ‘n ham.

It might involve an ingredient or technique that’s readily available but not in a lot of people’s pantries, like xanthan or the buckwheat I used for the hazelnut loaves below. Or it might involve an unusual take about something ubiquitous, like why you should never again buy regular brown sugar, or turning balsamic vinegar into a fluid gel as in the masthead photo above.

My world has long been filled with cooking issues that I’m curious about. Have Pan is a place to explore them and learn what other cooks are thinking.