If we’re being honest, besides leftover sandwiches the next day, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner is the stuffing. How do you make Thanksgiving stuffing even better? Add brioche. And ginger. And bacon!
If we’re lucky enough to have you joining us for our Thanksgiving dinner this year, this is the stuffing that will be on your table. But if you can’t join us, enjoy the recipe below so you can have a little piece of us with you this holiday season!
Ingredients from Chef MacAlpine
10 thick slices of brioche, cubed with the crust on
1 cup finely minced yellow onion
1 cup small diced celery
3 tbsp minced ginger
10 strips unsmoked bacon, sliced
2 cups chicken stock
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp allspice
Zest of one lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Spread the cubed bread in one layer on a baking sheet and bake until the outsides are nice and toasted. Set aside.
Render the bacon in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat until crisp.
Add the onion, celery, ginger and allspice and cook over medium low heat until the vegetables are soft.
Pour in the chicken stock and scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, bring to a simmer
Add the butter to the liquid and whisk to combine
Place the toasted bread in a large bowl and pour the bacon, onion, celery, spices, and chicken stock over top
Add lemon zest, and season with salt and pepper to taste
If stuffing a bird, proceed as planned.
If cooking separately, spread in an uncovered casserole and cook for 35-45 minutes at 325 degrees
Just over the Charles River in Cambridge, Curio Spice Co. specializes in directly sourced, sustainably produced spices from around the world. By forging relationships personally with farmers, Curio is able to highlight incredible flavor and quality in their blends & spices. Highlighting local, their supeq spice features 100% New England sourced ingredients loaded with umami flavor! “Supec” comes from a local Algonquian dialect meaning “ocean”.
Curio Spice Co. is a Boston-based company specializing in sustainably sourced, freshly ground spices from around the world. Founded in 2015 by Claire Cheney, the company is dedicated to supporting small farms and promoting fair trade practices. Curio Spice Co. is known for its high-quality, unique spice blends that are crafted in-house, often inspired by global culinary traditions.
Their shop offers a wide range of whole spices, blends, and limited-edition collections, with a focus on organic and wild-harvested ingredients. They also provide educational resources such as spice workshops and recipes to help customers explore the vibrant world of flavors. Curio’s mission revolves around environmental stewardship, culinary creativity, and community engagement, making it a go-to destination for chefs and home cooks alike!
Based just across the Charles River in Cambridge, MEM Tea has been sourcing whole leaf teas for nearly 30 years. To this day, MEM focuses on importing the most delicious teas possible while coming up with delightful and harmonious blends. Served in large, convenient, pyramid tea bags, all of our lobby teas are whole leaf teas, letting the full range of the tea’s flavor to come forth, while also being convenient to brew! In contrast to typical teabags, which are filled with tea “dust” and broken pieces of tea leaves, whole leaf teas have more nuanced & deeper flavors and may require a little more time to steep. We also have tins of MEM Tea available for purchase to bring home with you right in our Mercantile.
Looking for a hot tip to mix up your mornings? Try MEM Tea over ice – truly delicious!
We are very excited to bring a fully local experience to your morning beverages as MEM Tea joins Share Coffee Roasters down in our lobby each morning. With both of our coffee & tea options, we’re bringing a truly high end café experience right to you in our lobby!
Back Bay Watch Company is a Boston-based luxury watch brand known for its elegant, minimalist designs inspired by the city’s rich history and timeless style. Founded by David Wakin, a local entrepreneur, the company focuses on creating high-quality, affordable timepieces that blend classic craftsmanship with modern aesthetics. The brand takes its name from Boston’s iconic Back Bay neighborhood, reflecting its commitment to sophistication and tradition.
Each watch is designed with meticulous attention to detail, featuring premium materials such as stainless steel, sapphire crystal, and genuine leather straps. Back Bay Watch Company is proud of its local roots and aims to deliver an accessible luxury experience to customers who appreciate both style and substance. The company often emphasizes its dedication to quality, ensuring that their watches are durable and versatile, suitable for both casual and formal wear.
As we approach the centenary of Judy Garland’s birth on June 10, we thought we might reflect back on one of our favorite hotel guests!
Happy 100th birthday Judy!
The Lenox has long prided itself on exemplary service, which has attracted many luminaries over the years. One of our favorites, Hollywood legend Judy Garland, first fell in love with The Lenox in 1939 while on a promotional tour for MGM. The legendary singer would return to the same suite throughout her life, including stays in 1961 when she appeared at the Boston Garden in front of a sell-out audience and in 1965 when she called the suite home for over three months.
August 31, 1967 was a milestone for Judy. She played to the single biggest audience in her career when over 100,000 people attended her concert at The Boston Common, sponsored by Knickerbocker Beer. At the end of the concert, the mayor of Boston, John F. Collins, reached up and gave Judy a silver bowl in honor of the occasion, saying ‘Judy, we’ve taken you into our hearts; I think that is the sentiment of all of us. God bless you.”
The Lenox created the Judy Garland Suite (room 423) which features the room’s original fireplace and mirror, and channels the opulence of old Hollywood glamour. The suite is lavishly designed with 650 square feet of apartment-style space, paying homage to the musical icon through its plush design. It features an oversized relaxation area with two velvet couches, a pillow-top king-sized bed, upholstered walls, and a vintage crystal chandelier.
My daughter, Olivia, discovered Brown and Coconut at a holiday market (pre-COVID of course!) and fell in love with their products. While living in Boston, sisters Letisha and Zeena started Brown and Coconut as a lifestyle blog in 2013. A few years later in 2016, they started looking for skincare products that threaded the fine line between affordability and being good for their skin.
After failing to find what they were looking for, they developed their own range of holistic, with plant-based products to treat their acne. After identifying the ingredients they found effective in healing their skin, they began crafting entirely unique formulas. Countless hours of research, cosmetic chemist expertise, trial, and error led to the creation of their line of plant-based powerhouse products that not only do what they say they do, but that feel incredible to use.
After recent appearances on Chronicle and a segment on Dining Playbook, the sisters have been hard at work keeping up with the demand of online orders! A true family affair, Brown & Coconut’s headquarters is based right in their home in Boston-area. They’ve come a long way since they made their debut at their first-ever local pop-up event in Massachusetts, but what has not changed is their love for making luxurious botanical skin care that you simply can’t wait to come home to. You can pick some up right in our lobby or our online Mercantile.
Tucked on the western edge of the rolling landscape of the Green Mountain National Forest sits one of our Mercantile Partners, maple syrup makers, Republic of Vermont. Founded by husband & wife team Annina & Ethan, Republic of Vermont works to produce raw honey and maple syrup stamped with the character of their home. They both grew up in Vermont and shared a dream of honoring agricultural traditions and raising their family close to the land, but weren’t always on this path. After starting a backyard hobby of beekeeping and maple syrup taping, they quit their jobs and dove in headfirst.
The Green Mountain area of central Vermont is abundant with gorgeous hiking trails, quaint farmstands, and camping spots. Should you be visiting in warmer months, you absolutely need to stop by the Goshen Blueberry Management Area, a preserved section of wilderness right near Republic of Vermont replete with roughly 200 acres of wild blueberries, free for the picking. Just keep your eyes peeled for feasting black bears!
In the Spring of 2018, we invited Kelsey Montague and her sister Courtney to the hotel to create the beautiful Marathon mural you can read about below. We were lucky enough to have them back to create another iconic mural in our Exeter Street “nook”! If you happen to be in the neighborhood, stop by and snap a pic with our colorful balloons!
Have you ever heard of the Nashville Wings? I’m guessing that many of you have and if you haven’t, look them up and you will see thousands of photos of people posing with a 20 foot tall street mural! These amazing wings were created by street artist, Kelsey Montague who is well known all over the globe for her beautiful, interactive murals. Kelsey and her sister/business partner, Courtney travel all around the world creating unique pieces on blank canvases that allow communities to be involved in the process.
Kelsey’s work inspired so many of us on the Lenox Team that we decided we wanted her to create a piece for this year’s Boston Marathon, the finish line is right near the hotel. With the Lenox being just steps from the finish line, we felt that one of her #whatliftsyou murals would be perfect to embody the spirit of Boston and the runners! The #whatliftsyou hashtag encourages people to not only take a photo, but to also openly share what is most important to them in their lives.
We were elated when Kelsey and Courtney agreed to travel to Boston and create a unique piece for us! These sisters are such a fun, genuine and inspiring duo (check out their Instagram) and it was a joy having them with us over the last three days! Watching the artistic process on this 13’x13’ black canvas was absolutely incredible. There are so many subtle touches of the city and marathon incorporated into this mural but you really have to look close. The neighborhood watched the progress over the last couple of days and when it was completed yesterday around 5PM, there was an immediate buzz!
“To me this piece is all about the power, strength and the passion of Bostonians. All my pieces invite a person in to become a ‘living work of art’ but I wanted this piece to take it one step further and to honor the strength of the resilient Bostonian spirit.” –Kelsey Montague
Be sure to learn more about The Montague Sisters here and check out the photos below of our Boston Marathon #whatliftsyou mural! Most importantly, if you are in Boston, come by the Lenox on Exeter Street and see it in person – you will not be disappointed!
When Maura walked through our doors in April of 1976, she had no clue on how she was about to impact the history of the Lenox Hotel. Just after a move up from the Carolina’s and looking for a job, little did she or we know that Maura would keep at it for the next 45 years. Not hours before she cold-called at The Lenox, the housekeeping manager at the time had just had to let go of two housekeepers. Upon hearing that Maura had previous housekeeping experience, she asked if Maura could start the next day. What luck!
What else was going on in 1976? Gerald Ford was President. The S&P 500 was little over 101. A gallon of gas was 59 cents. And Maura and the other housekeepers started at $2.63/hour. Things have changed just a little since!
After 45 years, Maura decided that it was time to retire. What better time to do it than during Housekeeping Week, the week where we particularly celebrate the incredible team that keeps our hotel sparkling! During her speech at her celebration lunch, Maura joked that she has only been written up twice in 45 years, a pretty good record by any count! A staunch advocate for her fellow employees, Maura was deeply involved in employee relations during her decades at The Lenox. Our hotel won’t be the same without her here daily, but it certainly is changed for the better since she serendipitously walked through our doors 45 years ago.
Looking for a little taste of City Bar at home? We’ve got you covered! A true City Bar classic, the Cool Hand Cuke is sure to take you right back to cozy nights in our lobby bar.
Ingredients
Ice
2 oz cucumber vodka
Several blackberries
Lemon
Prosecco or champagne
Technique
Muddle the blackberries in a cocktail shaker. Add 2 oz of cucumber vodka and a squeeze of lemon. Add ice and shake to chill. Strain into a martini glass, top with bubbles, and enjoy!
Built by a man who counted Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor among his friends, The Lenox Hotel came on the scene at the turn of the 20th century with great fanfare. The year was 1900. Boston, along with New York, was the financial center of America and had already staked its claim as the nation’s intellectual and medical capital. The ruling class, known as the Boston Brahmins, was facing off politically with the Irish Catholics. A budding startup known as American League was birthing its baseball franchise on Huntington Avenue Grounds. And a ‘rags-to-riches’ hotel impresario known as Lucius Boomer had just erected Boston’s tallest building — a $1.1 million, 11-story Beaux-Arts hotel, which he would name for Lady Sarah Lennox, wife of King George, III.
Explore our storied past through these vintage postcards and images!
The Saunders family actually points to the year 1940 as the beginning of what has become a continuous involvement in the hospitality industry for well over sixty years. In that year, Irving Saunders, a very successful real estate entrepreneur at the time, purchased a small hotel across from the former Metropolitan Theater (now The Wang Center). That hotel was the Broadway Hotel and for the next twenty-five years, Irving Saunders served as President until it was taken by eminent domain by the City of Boston to make way for Elliot Norton Park in Boston’s Theater District. From these beginnings, a family’s passion for hospitality was born!
THE COPLEY SQUARE HOTEL
The success of the Broadway coupled with Irving Saunders’ flair for the hotel business led to the purchase of the Copley Square Hotel in 1948. In fact, the Copley Square Hotel was one of the first hotels in the nation to lease space to a restaurant operator – Café Budapest, a Boston institution. The Saunders family sold the property in 2006.
THE LENOX
In 1963, the Saunders family expanded its hotel interests in Boston with the purchase of a minor interest in The Lenox Hotel, which was operated by the Saunders Hotel Group through 1996 at which time the family acquired full ownership of the property through a friendly buy-out. The Lenox continues to be the flagship property of the Saunders Hotel Group.
THE BOSTON PARK PLAZA HOTEL & TOWERS
In 1976, in an event that would come to shape both SHG and the Boston lodging industry in significant ways, Roger Saunders and his family purchased the abandoned Statler Hilton Hotel and reopened it as The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, the first hotel ever to reopen in Boston after having once been shut down.
During the twenty-year period that followed the acquisition and re-opening of the Boston Park Plaza, Roger Saunders’ commitment has come to involve his entire family and has resulted in the emergence of one of the most respected independent hotel management companies in the country, competing in a city full of international hospitality conglomerates. When Roger Saunders stepped back in January of 1990 and passed the responsibilities of President of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel to his son, Gary, the day-to-day control of the company officially passed to the third generation. The Saunders family sold the property in 1996.
We’re going to let you in on a little family secret of ours – our house granola recipe! A staff and regular favorite, we have made all our granola in-house for many years now, and want you to be able to enjoy a little piece of our home in yours!
Ingredients
21 oz quick oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp maple syrup
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 almond extract
1/4 cup dried apricots, diced
1/4 cup dried currants
Chef MacAlpine’s Method
Preheat oven to 325*F
Combine all of the ingredients except for the dried fruits in a large mixer
Divide and spread evenly between two greased sheet pans
Bake for one hour, stirring granola every 15 or 30 minutes. Less stirring leads to larger chunks.
When cool, stir in dried fruits
Sprinkle atop your favorite yogurt, or enjoy as-is!
Diamond Jim’s became a sing-along piano bar in 1961 but it really came into its own in 1969. Gladys Troupin was hired as a pianist that year, she was 72 at the time! Seemingly overnight she turned Diamond Jim’s, then a cramped cocktail lounge next to the popular Delmonico’s restaurant, into a do-it-yourself cabaret.
During the 1970’s, seasoned and aspiring vocalists from all over the East Coast awaited turns to perform for Miss Gladys Troupin at the piano. Renowned for her audacious hats and elegant attire, Miss Troupin was a beloved Boston personality for more than forty years and had been engaged to marry the American composer George Gershwin before his sudden death.
“Lily Tomlin, Yul Brynner, Jay Leno, Ali MacGraw – everybody came to see her,” said Roger Saunders, one of the owners of the Lenox. “Towards the end of her life, her fans used to walk her home to her apartment at the Prudential Center, they cared about her so much.”
By 1977 there were 46 singing regulars known as “Troupin’s Troupe”. She passed away in 1987 of cancer, yet played just ten days before her death. Ellen White, who had originated the sing-along format at Diamond Jim’s 20 years earlier, returned in 1981 at the ripe old age of 69! After she retired, Mark Andersen took over from White in 1989, a protégé of Glady’s and credited for reviving Troupin’s Troupe.
Ms. White reigned over the piano bar till 1997 when it closed its doors to become Anago restaurant, as part of a $20 million hotel renovation. Boston’s favorite place to sing-a-long and compare notes held a farewell salute during its final month of operation in June of 1997 featuring past talent such as Mark Anderson, Ellen White, and John O’Neil.
Patrons still inquire about the legendary Diamond Jim’s so it was inevitable that we reprise the keys one more time! In March of 2015 we hosted a Diamond Jim’s reunion weekend and former regular John Mansfield led the festivities.
Stay “tuned”, Diamond Jim’s Piano Bar may resurface again!
Located inside the Island Creek Oyster campus, the Saltery headquarters looks out over the Duxbury Bay, the very waters that they slowly turn into perfectly crystalized fleur de sel. Fleur de sel is French for flower of salt and is more typically known for its origins in Brittany. SalterieOne takes highly filtered saltwater, reduces it, then sets it into heated pans, allowing a salt crust to slowly form. As this crust forms, it is scraped off by hand and further dried, producing the quintessentially flaky and pyramid shaped salt crystals that is fleur de sel.
Lily, founder of SalterieOne, used to harvest the seawater by hand, carrying buckets up from the shore to then laboriously be filtered before being turned into pure salt. Things have gotten a little fancier since, with a pipe literally connecting their salt production facility to the Duxbury Bay itself so both transport and filtering are automatic.
Unlike almost all salts you’ll find in your local grocery store, the fleur de sel from SalterieOne is simply pure sea salt and minerals, right from the sea, with no additives like anticaking agents or other chemicals you might wish to avoid. That purity of ingredients comes through in the taste as well, with a saltier tasting punch per pinch than regular table salt! SalterieOne also makes delicious salty seasoning blends, with four blends inspired by the seasons.
Next time you’re in our lobby, be sure to check out their salt jars – perfect for gifting to a loved one (or yourself)!
In 1966 owner and then General Manager, Roger Saunders hired set designers from England to create an exact replica of a British pub, which was then shipped, piece-by-piece, from Liverpool, England and installed in The Lenox at the Olde London Pub & Grille, now Sólás Irish Pub.
For the opening event Mr. Saunders leased a vintage Rolls Royce and parked it on Boylston Street to attract passers by. A frantic hotel guest came out of the hotel in search of a cab to the Symphony of which she was running late to. She approached Mr. Saunders thinking he was a cab driver and demanded he take her immediately to Symphony Hall. Being the gracious host he is, he grabbed the keys and off they went! Want to learn more about The Lenox Hotel History? Check out the restaurant’s history here.
On May 8, 2009 The Lenox Hotel, honored its longest running employee –Jimmy Fisher– with a special dedication ceremony. The Saunders’ family patriarch Roger Saunders unveiled the “Jimmy Fisher Suite” as a tribute to the then 84-year-old bellman who was as much a fixture and as recognizable as The Lenox’s iconic, red rooftop sign.
Since February 21, 1949, more than six decades ago, Mr. Fisher has stood curbside greeting guests at the epicenter of historic Copley Square. From quirky encounters (as shared above in his hand-written account) to brushes with fame, Jimmy Fisher has literally witnessed a slice of Beantown history pass through The Lenox’s doors. The Saunders Family was proud to bestow the highest honor of Mr. Fisher for his loyal service The Lenox and the community at large. Read Jimmy’s tribute in the Boston Herald here.
Roger Saunders offered a personal tribute: “Jimmy Fisher after 60 years as a Lenox bellman greeted each day and each guest with a sparkle in his eye and a spring to his step. The Saunders family has operated the hotel for over 50 years and Jimmy’s hospitality and enthusiasm throughout our ownership is memorable to travelers from around the world. Always a class act, he is a Lenox legend.”
After COVID-19 postponed their dream wedding, Kim & Chris searched to find a venue for a much smaller wedding ceremony on their originally planned date. Now that I know a bit more about Chris, I am not surprised at all that he reached out to The Lenox without Kim’s knowledge. You see, when Chris proposed to Kim, he had lined an entire dock with candles and rose petals along with letters that spelled out “MARRY ME”! He had also put together a journal with entries documenting all the adventures they had shared over their first year of dating. So, when I tell you that Chris reached out to The Lenox as a surprise for Kim, it is just another adorable romantic gesture on a very long list.
Honestly, when Chris told me how Kim was a Nurse and all she had gone through, I was a bit emotional and knew that we had to make this work and was excited to make their intimate wedding ceremony a reality! Once we confirmed their date available, he let Kim in on the surprise and she was so happy and even crying tears of joy! They came in a few days later to do a walk through of the space and plan out some logistics. They would invite their immediate families for a small wedding ceremony in our gilded Dome Room venue followed by a dinner in our private dining space in Solas!
July 12th came and while it was a bit on the hot side (89 degrees!) it was a picture-perfect day! The sky was crystal blue with a few clouds making it look like the newlyweds were floating on the city during their rooftop photos. Madison Floral provided stunning arrangements full of lush white roses and eucalyptus to frame the aisle. Candles and rose pedals were positioned along the sides of ivory aisle runner adding that perfect touch of elegance. Their vows were beautifully sweet and shared with only close family.
After they exchanged vows, Kim & Chris exited the Dome Room were followed by their family to celebrate! In the meantime, we moved a few things around in the Dome Room to create a dance floor outlines with the rose pedals and floral arrangements. The Newlyweds and their family were welcomed back into the Dome Room and shared their first dance followed by parent dances. I’ve seen hundreds of weddings, but I must say that there is something very powerful and touching to see the emotion in every single guest during these special moments. There truly is something magical about an intimate wedding.
Family photos followed the parent dances and then everyone was invited to a private dining area in Solas the Irish Pub. While their family enjoyed refreshing libations and appetizers, Kim and Chris walked around the Back Bay to take some photos with their amazing photographer, Heather Chick. Everyone enjoyed a three-course plated dinner in the laid-back atmosphere that Solas is known for. They ended the evening by cutting the adorable two-tiered wedding cake from Montilio’s Bakery! Kim and Chris, you are perfect together and I feel so lucky that I met you and The Lenox was able to be a part of your wedding day!
Now that we’re all spending a lot more time inside, these two recipes have been seeing a lot of use in my home. One is an all-purpose hamburger/hot dog bun that I stumbled upon out of necessity with grocery store shortages, but will now forever be our go-to because it’s so easy and tasty! The other is a chocolate chip cookie recipe that has recently become our favorite and makes use of the quarantine sourdough so many people are getting into.
You might think me a little particular, but I have three kitchen scales, and I use one or more of them daily. I just weigh everything from coffee beans to ingredients for baking. It’s easier, more accurate, and cleaner than dealing with multiple bowls, measuring cups and spoons. Anyway, I’ve included volumetric measurements along with weights in case you’re not ready to switch. But really, you should get a scale!
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
It seems with yeast shortages everyone’s getting into making sourdough bread! If you’re now maintaining a sourdough starter, one painful part is tossing unused starter as you feed it, especially with flour so hard to come by right now. Instead of throwing unused starter out, start saving it up in a separate bowl in your fridge! You can use discarded starter that isn’t strong enough to make bread for so many things – from crackers to pancakes to my favorite, sourdough chocolate chip cookies.
Recipe
283g (2.5 sticks) softened butter
283g (1 1/3 cups) brown sugar
227g (1 cup + 2.5 tbsp) white sugar
200g (~ ¾) cup starter
88g (5) egg yolks
8g (2 tsp) vanilla
400g (3 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
67g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) whole wheat flour
8g (2.5 tsp) baking soda
7g (1.5 tsp) baking powder
11g (1 tsp) Kosher salt
283g (1 ½ cups) chocolate chips
Instructions
Cream the butter, sugars, and salt until fluffy and combined
Add sourdough starter & egg yolks and mix until just combined
In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, and baking powder, whisking to combine
Add flour mixture to creamed butter, mix until just combined
Add chocolate chips and mix to distribute
If you have the patience and fortitude, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest it in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Your taste buds will thank you for the even tastier cookies, sort of like a stew that rests overnight. If you can’t wait, I understand. Either way continue to step 7.
Preheat oven to 375* F
Scoop into 20 large cookie dough balls, fitting 6 on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. You want the tops of the cookies to be just golden. Err on the side of under-baked rather than over!
Cool cookies on a rack
All-Purpose Buns
When I stopped by the grocery store a couple weeks ago, the only thing left in the meat department was a 12lb pork shoulder. Perfect! We love pulled pork. The problem was that the store was out of hamburger buns for pulled pork sandwiches. Luckily, it turns out that hamburger buns are both super easy to make and incredibly delicious when made from scratch – if you’re lucky enough to have yeast and flour on hand.
Recipe
170g – 227g (¾ – 1 cup) warm water (not hot!)
28g (2 tbsp) softened butter
1 large egg
418g (3 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
50g (¼) cup sugar
8g (1 ½ tsp) Kosher salt
9g (2 ½ tsp) instant yeast
Instructions
Mix and knead all ingredients until you form a soft and smooth dough. If your home is humid, hold back on some of the water, if it’s dry, use it all. The dough should not be sticky when smooth, so add a little flour if it is, or add a little water if it’s not coming together
Cover and let rise until doubled, usually 1-2 hours depending on the room temperature
Turn out the dough onto the counter and shape into 8 round balls. Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten to about 3 inches across. Here you have two options. Either cover and let them proof at room temperature for about an hour until puffy, or cover and put in the fridge overnight. Proofed overnight, the buns will be tastier!
Preheat oven to 375* F
Right before baking, brush with melted butter.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.
Brush again with melted butter right when the buns come out of the oven.
Going green in new ways requires thinking outside outside the box, or in this case the hive! As a part of the community, we constantly strive to find new ways to reduce our impact on the environment. In the spring of 2013, we invited 120,000 new long-term guests to our rooftop – our very own colony of bees – and they’ve come back every year since!
In our 7th year of hosting these guests, we have recently relocated them to our roof from their winter housing and they are getting acclimated and ready to harvest some delicious rooftop honey. “The interface between honey bees and an urban environment (population, infrastructure and flora) is a fascinating lens through which to look at our alteration of natural environments and how powerfully nature pushes back”, says our Beekeeper Dean Stiglitz of Golden Rule Honey in Leominster MA.
The bees that buzz on our rooftop forage at a distance of up to three miles for flower and plant nectar, returning for turndown service each night. They get the royal treatment: Dean travels to the hotel every Monday morning in season to tend to the bees and act as their personal concierge, making sure the bees are happy and thriving.
With our hives doubling the number of bees by summer’s end, we will have an abundance of honey themed items in our hotel restaurants and lounges. Executive Chef Sean MacAlpine uses the honey that we harvest from our hives in a number of dishes at our restaurant, City Table. The cocktail curators at City Bar also shake it up for some of their signature cocktails, the honey-infused Mexican Monk and The Sweet Boy.
Our Lenox Lobby Mercantile also sells the honey so you can try at home in your favorite recipes!
I love ribs. Let’s skip over the background about how during self-isolation we all have more time to cook/bake/create and get right to the “meat” of this post! This is by no means the definitive written word on ribs. If there were a Library of Congress on slow cooking meats, this entry would likely not make the cut. I don’t have a ton of outdoor space so I can’t really justify a full-fledged smoker. I’m going to tell you my method for making pretty tasty ribs in an oven and a small Weber grill. So lets call this recipe “Ribs For The Smoker Deficient” and anybody from Texas will probably click away right now.
I went with a rack of St. Louis pork ribs mostly because that is what the store had. I start by making a dry rub to apply to the rack. Nothing too special here, so I’d recommend using whatever you have around the house or even a pre-mixed rub.
For mine I went with an equal-ish parts combo of the following:
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Dark Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Cayenne
Brown Sugar
Mustard Powder
Whenever I do this it tends to change based on my whims and what I have in the cupboard. I mix that up and rub down the rack generously. Then in a bowl I mix up some water, apple cider vinegar and if I have any of the dry rub left throw it in there as well. Place the ribs in a roasting pan with a rack to keep the meat off the bottom of the pan. Pour the vinegar mixture in to get coverage on the pan but not so high that it is touching the ribs. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 275 degrees. I did this for just over 3 hours but I’m sure if you have the patience for longer, you won’t be disappointed!
About an hour before I was ready to take the ribs out of the oven, I got my Weber grill going. Nothing fancy, just your standard Weber charcoal grill. I started the charcoal in a small pile to one side of the barrel to get some heat going.
Side note #1: At this point I’m outside and I’ve thus cracked a beer. On this occasion I’m drinking a Sip of Sunshine made by Lawson’s Finest Liquids. Drink Vermont Beer!
Using the air vents, I’m trying to get the heat to stay around 300 degrees in the grill. It takes a bit of playing with to get a steady temp which might take some time. Finicking with a grill and drinking beer is part of the reason to endeavor this operation anyway! Once I have the temp correct, I throw a few hickory chips on the flame to get some smoky flavors going. Then I take the ribs from the oven and put them on the grill, on the off-heat side. Try to save the liquid at the bottom of the roasting pan and brush the ribs on the grill with that mixture from time to time.
I cooked these ribs off heat, mopping occasionally, in the Weber for another 2 and ½ hours. I feel like that is enough time to take in the smoke from the hickory chips. That’s it. Cut them up using a cleaver or heavy knife and serve. I ate this batch with a simple potato salad and some dressed greens.
Side note #2: The cleaver I have is great and I want to give a shout out to the Wok Shop in San Fran where I ordered it from. This place is awesome and might be worth another post altogether!
And while we are at it, here are a couple of my favorite ribs in the Boston area. In case you don’t have a full day to make these or you just want the professionals to take over!
Smoke Shop – I like the one in Kendall Square but there are a few other locations. They do it right! Lots of great BBQ options including half and full racks. Plus, the bar area awesome, opening out into a courtyard. Worth a stop for sure.
Redbones – A standby in Somerville’s Davis Square, this place is still cranking out awesome BBQ and boasts one of the area’s best beer lists. They offer baby back, St. Louis, Memphis, and even Texas style beef ribs. They have a few bar style seats towards the back of the dining room that look right into the kitchen – my personal favorite spot.
Enjoy!
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