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Sourdough English Muffins
It just doesn’t occur to people to make some things at home. English muffins are one of those things. But you should! They aren’t that hard, and unlike chocolate chip cookies, whom everyone in the world feels empowered to make at home, they are quite unusual which will make you feel Bad-A when you…
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Wild Sourdough Yeasted Waffles
Chemicals. Almost without fail, if you can figure out how to make a recipe without them, you will be rewarded by a cleaner and more nuanced flavor profile. It’s true that baking powder and baking soda are totally innocuous from a health point of view, but they leave a subtle metallic harshness to…
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Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter
You are a chicken. You think starting your own sourdough is too hard. You think only experts can do it. Not true! There is only one small thing that is the least bit challenging, and that is keeping your starter between 70 and 90º for a few days. Come on smarty. You can figure out how
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Aged Eggnog Cocktail
Eggnog is an old drink. I don’t mean old as is left out over-night. I mean old as in it’s been popular for 200 years. I recently made a version that is old in the other sense too. As in, it’s been in my basement for a month. A basic eggnog recipe is pretty simple
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Smoked Smashed Potatoes
Look. The point of this whole website is to post recipes that I like, so obviously I like everything on this website. But these potatoes are different. They changed me. They will change you. They may be the best recipe I’ve ever come up with. Do I sound confident? I do. Lets get started.
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Charred Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts are a controversial vegetable. Not just the taste either, the name confuses the hell out of people. So let’s clear something up. It isn’t “brussel sprouts”. It isn’t “brussel’s sprouts”. They are “brussels sprouts”. They are named after the city of Brussels. At least that is what I…
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Home Cured Bacon Without Nitrates
Let’s not kill anyone, shall we? Always a fine goal when making any tasty treat. The risk with this recipe is higher than most, (primarily because of botulism) so keep that in mind, along with the fact that I’m not a professional, and basically don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. There. If…
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Savory Oatmeal
We often had oatmeal for breakfast when I was a kid, and my mother would call up the stairs “sweet or savory?”, which meant we were supposed to choose which we wanted that day. We weren’t allowed both. Sweet meant milk, or cream (or both), with maple syrup, and sometimes fruit, raisins, cinnamon…
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Beets, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt
I just finished telling you why not to boil vegetables in my roast chard recipe. Now please enjoy this recipe for boiled beets. Wha? Everything I said in the linked post is true. Roast beats are delicious, and certainly more boldly flavored than these, but this recipe is about subtlety, texture…
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Roast Chard
Heat does interesting things to food. The hotter, the more interesting. That isn’t always a good thing, seeing smoke roiling off of your focaccia can ruin your day. But very often people shy away from using high heat, when really they should give it a chance. So often people will steam or (gasp)…
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Summertime Peach Shortcake in the Winter
Peach Shortcake is one of those wonderful late summer treats, cool, juicy slices of peach sort of drooling their sticky, sweet juices all over a great crunchy/soft short biscuit. Simple. Seasonal. Delicious. Of course, at the moment it is February and raining, but if I don’t get some sort of break…
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Marrons aux Mont Blanc, aka Monte Bianco, aka Chestnut Meringue
My Uncle Hall is a great baker and pastry chef. He makes a living doing it and everything. But before he switched careers and started prostituting his skills to the masses, our family had him and the fruits of his labor all to ourselves. As a child, one of my favorites appeared every year late
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Good Steak, Indoors
Go. Go read my post about Really Good Steak . Almost all of it applies to cooking great steak indoors too. If you don’t read that post, don’t blame me if you don’t understand why surface moisture is terrible for a good steak, you couldn’t tell a Maillard reaction from a Mallard, and why to cook
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Really Good Steak, Over Fire
Almost everyone sucks at making steak. Misinformation abounds. Fiascos are the norm. The worst thing is that most people are too polite/kind/naive to do anything but praise whatever horror show lands on their plate. The good news is that making great steak is only a little more difficult than…
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Dry Aged Beef at Home
Boo! Yes, very scary. For some reason dry aging beef has become this big scary ordeal, usually left to professionals and the insane. I am not a professional. But it is really so simple it is almost stupid. Oh. Please don’t sue me if it all goes horribly awry, I don’t really know what I’m
