I was introduced to this Northern Indian chicken dish at a hole-in-wall restaurant in one of the sketchier parts of San Francisco and it totally blew me away. I had eaten Indian food before but had never tasted anything so bold, complex and yet mysterious at the same time. I’m at a loss to compare [...]
Posts under ‘Home Cooking’
Lamb’s Head Empanadas
This is kind of a funny thing to say, but this really is the perfect thing to make if you ever find yourself with both a lamb’s head and some lard at your disposal. Those of you that have been following this blog will realize that preparing something like this shouldn’t seem so far ‘out [...]
I ‘Heart’ Cast Iron
While it might not be as sleek, svelte, or even sexy as my trusty stainless steel skillet, lately I’ve been finding myself reaching for my 12″ cast iron skillet more than ever. Cast iron offers many advantages over stainless steel; it’s inexpensive (I could buy four of these for the price of one similarly sized [...]
Tamales Night!
I had never really given much thought to making tamales at home until one fateful day during culinary school when we covered the cuisine of the American Southwest (with its heavy influence from its neighbor to the South, Mexico). On this day, my partner and I were assigned to scratch-make tamales, the popular and portable [...]
Pastrami (AKA The Great Sunday Smokeout)
I can say with the utmost confidence that growing up in New York City, the nexus of the universe when it comes to Jewish delis, has made me somewhat of a (self-proclaimed) expert on all matters pastrami. A homemade version of this smoky and peppery staple of any decent NY-style sandwich shop has always eluded [...]
Shrimp and Grits
When the wife and I were in Portland, OR at the beginning of the year, we ate dinner at a very well-reviewed ‘Southern’ inspired restaurant called Screen Door. I ordered shrimp and grits for dinner that night and was served easily the best interpretation of that dish I’ve ever had; the shrimp were perfectly cooked [...]
White Bean Soup
My recent well-documented home trials and experiments leading up to my pork sliders project for culinary school yielded one especially handy byproduct – tons of great pork stock made from all of those pigs feet. This especially rich and gelatinous stock was just calling out to be used as the foundation for a white bean [...]
Stuffed Cabbage
Like many ‘traditional’ dishes, there are countless ways to prepare the Eastern European delicacy that is stuffed cabbage, with each home cook potentially claiming that their family recipe is the best version. Personally, I was never a huge fan of the dish until recently when I finally had a version that I liked (too bad [...]
Whole Wheat Bread
Traditionally, I’ve shied away from making my own bread. I’ve never really considered myself to be much of a baker and when the weekly grocery trip includes a stopover at a great produce market that also has their own excellent bakery on-site, I’ve never really felt the need to make my own bread. After taking [...]
Hot Truck at Home
From what I’ve read and seen on TV, it seems as though every major college or university has its preferred destination for late-night eating…that one special place where students that have been working late or out partying can get something to cheap, quick and incredibly satisfying to eat. With the Hot Truck, a campus fixture [...]
