Category Archive: Cooking


Authentic Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Posted by Chad on June 30th, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  3 Comments

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is my favorite pasta dish. It’s basically just noodles with fat and cheese, so what’s not to like? When done right, it’s the cheapest gourmet meal you’ll ever have. The problem is, almost no one does it right.

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Calibrating An Instant-Read Thermometer

Posted by Chad on June 23rd, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Housewares, Tools  •  1 Comment

An instant-read thermometer is indispensable in the kitchen and at the grill. Unfortunately, they’re often wrong. I discovered that recently when I slightly overcooked a small rack of lamb. Something had knocked my thermometer out of alignment, causing it be be off by a whopping 12 degrees. Luckily, it only takes a minute to recalibrate.

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Homemade Basil Pesto

Posted by Chad on June 22nd, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  1 Comment

We make pestos pretty frequently, but that’s mostly because the herbs in our garden need to be trimmed occasionally. I made one the other day to dress some lamb. It always surprises me when people are impressed by homemade pesto. It literally takes two minutes to make.

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Cheap & Easy Pasta With Clam Sauce

Posted by Chad on June 21st, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  No Comments

I’m usually a stickler for fresh ingredients, but sometimes the prepackaged stuff is just easier. For my clam sauce, I like to use cans of minced clams. I sometimes eat these directly out of the can as a snack. It’s weird, I know, but I was never really a potato chip kind of guy. My mother always kept junk food in the house for my sisters, but she bought wild rice, minced clams and mac & cheese for me.

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Fried Meatballs With Mushroom-Burgundy Gravy

Posted by Chad on June 20th, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  4 Comments

Sometimes I find myself in the mood for some good old-fashioned, unhealthy comfort food, Brady Bunch style. I didn’t have enough vegetables to make Alice’s famous meatloaf, so I decided to make some big meatballs, flatten them into patties, and fry them. And since I abhor the solid ketchup “crust” that people put on meatloaf, I decided to make a pan sauce instead.

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Beach Reading, 2010

Posted by Chad on June 19th, 2010  •  Filed under Books, Cooking  •  No Comments

I’ve always been more of a people-watcher than a beach reader. Before our recent vacation, I planned to listen to a lot of Bob Dylan and flip through some magazines between my frequent bouts of stir-craziness. I brought two books to the beach in case I got the itch to read something longer than a few paragraphs. One was Purple Cow, an advertising/marketing book. The other was Frank Stitt’s Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill, a very large and heavy coffee table book. Purple Cow was pretty good, but I was on vacation to get away from work. Oddly enough, I read Frank Stitt’s cookbook cover to cover.

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Savory, Glazed Greens

Posted by Chad on June 16th, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  No Comments

There are a thousand recipes for greens out there, and I’ve tried a lot of them. They’re all pretty good, but some are more complicated and don’t offer much of a reward for your hard work. I’ve come to rely on a relatively simple recipe that makes sweet and spicy greens with a mild, savory glaze.

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Perfect Pork Chops

Posted by Chad on June 15th, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Grilling, Recipes  •  No Comments

Over the years, I’ve tried countless marinades, rubs and cooking styles to bring out the best flavor in pork chops. I’ve finally settled on the best recipe, which oddly enough is one of the easiest. When done this way, they come out sweet and tender. Most importantly, they taste like juicy pork chops, not like salty fruit juice.

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Another Tip About No-Knead Bread Baking

Posted by Chad on June 4th, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Housewares  •  1 Comment

One of the reasons my no-knead bread recipe is so successful is the pot it’s baked in. The heavy cast iron traps heat and moisture like an old-world brick oven, causing the bread to develop great texture and a hard crust. To create the perfect baking environment, the pot must be preheated in a 425-475° oven for about a half hour. For whatever reason (fashion, I presume), all the manufacturers of dutch ovens seem to be mimicking Le Ceuset. And since Le Creuset uses a plastic handle that’s only rated to around 375°, so does everyone else. I removed the cheap, plastic handle and replaced it with a solid bronze drawer knob I had laying around the workshop. You can see it in the background here.

You know what all the ladies say; you’re not a real man until you’ve tricked out your overpriced, cast iron dutch oven. But if you one of those people who cares more about style than substance, you can pony up an additional $14 to Le Creuset for a stainless steel replacement knob that “can withstand any oven temperature.”

Three-Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

Posted by Chad on June 2nd, 2010  •  Filed under Cooking, Recipes  •  1 Comment

Remember how I said I was trying to cook healthier dishes at home? This isn’t one of them.

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