From the category archives:

Recipes

Funions

June 18, 2009

I’ve been spending too much time making the best burger or a perfect roast chicken.  Maybe I should just chill out and not worry about a 450 pixel well lit piece of food porn.  I’ll take a couple of red onions and slice them about an eight of an inch thick.  Let ‘em cool out [...]

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Building the Best Burger

June 16, 2009

I’m beginning to wonder if burger joints are like condominiums percolating upwards in what will amount to a great burger bubble.  Five guys and Elevation burger were early adapters as Hell burger in Arlington and others continue to join an increasingly competitive environment.  I’m all for open markets and capitalism but the growth of the [...]

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Hollandaise Hopeful

June 8, 2009

Hollandaise is getting a bad rap with some home cooks.  Tales of broken sauces and ruined brunch menus have kept some of us at home from attempting what is really a simple technique.  Some printed recipes complicate things with unnecessary steps like clarified butter.  Clarifying butter will yeild a cleaner finished product, but it’s a [...]

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Mr. Mustard

May 20, 2009

Everyone’s got a favorite hot dog, and in my recent Post article I touch on some good ones around the beltway.  To be honest though it’s hard to beat Zweigles.  Natural casings are nothing new, but there’s just something about the way these things swell when cooked, and snap when bitten.  If you’re ever out [...]

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On Blanching Veg

May 19, 2009

It’s spring time, and I want my asparagus to be as green as the grass in my front yard.  The trick to a nice bright green finished product is to partly cook the asparagus in heavily salted water before shocking it in ice water.  This frigid bath sets the color as well as stops the [...]

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The Biscuit Machine

April 22, 2009

Repetition and experimentation.  You can follow one great recipe after another and  consistently turn out great food.  But when you make the same things again and again and you pay close attention, something else starts to happen.  Subtle variations perceived throughout the process lead to subtle variations in the end product.  When you make a [...]

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More Ramps

April 14, 2009

The last of my ramps have faded, and now I’m looking for a source for more. A recent comment alluded to bags for a buck in West Virginia. Though there was no indication of size, I’d wager they trump the small bunches available at markets around the District. Maybe this Saturday I’ll [...]

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Pizza Pizza

March 25, 2009

This picture is the perfect pie.  The dough’s construction  didn’t rely on a recipe, and was made with a stand mixer.  I oscillated between adding flour and water till the consistency was right, and then topped my perfect pie with provolone mozzarella spinach and roasted garlic.  I think I finished it with parm and some [...]

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Perfect Roast Chicken

February 24, 2009

Winter’s got a man down.   The cold is keeping me inside, I’m gettin’ no sun, and I’m borderline depressed.  February is always the toughest even though Spring is only weeks away.  The only way I know to get though the trough of winter is by filling my entire house with the smell of robust comfort [...]

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Morou’s Tortilla Soup

February 13, 2009

Metrocurean’s post about tortilla soup, reminded me of the version I watched Morou Ouattara prepare as a staff meal before a Friday night dinner service. What was most interesting was not the soup itself (even though it was awesome), but the method used to bring it to life. Other than the two [...]

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