Seeking to foster a renewed interest in home culinary arts among experienced home cooks.
This is not a website for food phobics or wellness hypochondriacs.
Haven’t and won’t post for awhile until I get settled into an independent living retirement community. It’s a large apartment in a retired military service affiliated non-profit facility located in Loudoun County, Virginia, about 25 minutes from my home of 38 years in Mclean. Not excited about the move but age is a reality, so …
Shrimp Scampi with Deli Sautéed SpinachMy shrimp scampi recipe was posted years ago. But I always thought something was a bit off about it. I finally figured out that it was the Worchester Sauce. Worchester Sauce and shrimp are not flavor pals, so I’ve taken it out.This recipe below is tried and true but I …
PAELLA A LA MCLEAN Serves 8• 7 cups chicken stock or broth (low salt)• BG satchel (parsley stems, pepper corns, thyme and bay leaves)• 2 lbs small mussels• 2 oz white wine• 1.5 lbs sea bass or monkfish, cut to serving size• 20 medium shrimp• ½ lb squid , cut …
Think of a drizzle as a liquid garnish. Something distinct added at the last minute to the top of a dish to impart a contrasting taste of richness, sweetness or depth. Here we have the usual liquors, maple syrup and ice cream syrups and less usual–high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and aged balsamic …
The menu:2 10-12 pound turkeysChicken stock (for gravy, stuffings and carrots) Day ahead gravy (your recipe, my stock)Cranberries with roasted jalapenosTwo stuffingsMashed potatoes (your recipe)Glazed CarrotsBrussels sprouts with bacon lardons or Spicy sproutsPies and Gelatos CHICKEN STOCK If you worked for French or Italian chefs in high-end kitchens, they had you made stocks a couple …
Farmed salmon is good and inexpensive. Here, seasoned with Cajun Seasoning from The Spice House and stir fry veggies from Trader Joe’s–all done in the wok with EVOO. Thaw the veggies and season the salmon fillet, then toss and stir fry the veggies at high heat in the wok until done-about five minutes. Remove the …
The origin and the essential ingredients of cioppino (chuh-PEE-noh) remain obscure even after reading Thorne, McClane, Herbst and others in the bibliography. For sure, it aint La Bouillabaisse De LAtlantique, but rather an unpretentious fish stew, resident of San Francisco, with probable origins in the galleys of fishing boats operating out of San Diego, Monterrey …
Dig out your old best cookbook(s), go to the index and you will find, for sure, an entry for apricot-glazed pork, or ham or something. I haven’t done it in years. Thought of it though and so bought a jar of apricot jam to give it new try. I thawed out a vacuum-sealed piece of …
Kenji Lopez-Alt raves about black vinegar in his book The Wok, where he says that black vinegar is “hands down my favorite vinegar . . . because of its long aging process and the flavor from the gradual addition of rice hulls, it achieves a complex, almost balsamic-like flavor. . . it makes a wonderful …
Turn the knob up or down on a gas burner and the flame and temperature changes immediately and you can continue controlled cooking on it. Not so on an electric burner where a knob change has no effect, as the burner stays too hot or cold for a minute or more. That’s why gas is …
Dat’l Do-It mild hot sauce–a favorite One serving left of sword fish but a lot of fresh pineapple chunks lead one to the other. Most pineapple sauces go Asian and call for teriyaki sauce, dark sugar and soy sauce. Instead, I started out with Dat’l Do-It, which is made in Florida with datil peppers. I’ve …
In 2015, Kenji Lopez-Alt published The Food Lab, arguably the best and most comprehensive science-heavy cookbook since the five-volume Modernist Cuisine came out in 2005. I’ve read both tomes cover-to-cover and they have confirmed most but changed some of my cooking techniques. Now Kenji has done it again with The Wok. I love cooking with …
Save for my popcorn popper and double boiler, these two so called universal lids are all I have, the rest, seven or eight, have been tossed as unneeded. It’s fine if a new pot or pan you’re looking at comes with a matching lid, but don’t pay for one. Buy a universal lid instead. Al …
Not much experience with glass cooktops other than to notice that they never look clean. This little bottle of cleaner was on the stove when I moved in, so I assumed it was part of the GE Profile stove package, since all the kitchen appliances were newly installed. This stuff really cleans when generously applied …
I have a taco salad maybe twice a month. And of course, I make it with iceberg lettuce. Never seen a recipe that called for any other kind. So, I sliced some shallots and cherry tomatoes, shredded the cheddar and then reached into the fridge only to discover that there was no iceberg lettuce hiding …
Today’s cars are computer chips with wheels. Even when parked, there is usually something running in the background. Leave it parked for a week and the battery is run down but will recharge if you drive it for a while. Leave it for three weeks while on travel or because of some dreaded post-op scenario …
Dyson is best known for their vacuum cleaners, but they make other expensive stuff including air purifiers. Pictured is their Model TP-09, which is a beautiful, compact, well-designed and engineered smart air purifier. Just set it to AUTO and it sits there 24/7 purring and filtering until it senses odors and spins up. However, I’ve …
