... a spirited celebration of regional food and culinary craft, season by season, with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley
James (AKA MauiJim) has always hated hash with a passion. “That awful, mushy stuff,” as he puts it. “Tastes just like dog food smells,” is another of his customary remarks when the hash subject is broached. This man doesn’t mince words. And he knows what he likes.
MauiJim has been whining for chicken for weeks. WHINING! LIKE A BIG FAT BABY! Since a day or so after he ate all of the last batch of LunaCafe’s Spicy Fried Chicken, in fact.
If my BBQ ribs have a “secret ingredient,” it’s definitely the brining process. I confirmed this for myself yesterday. I was in a rush to launch this post and thus decided not to brine the ribs. I mean, really, whose going to notice?
I have been frying chicken since I was 8 years old. My Kentucky born and raised Dad taught me his recipe for basic southern-style fried chicken, which I assume he learned from his mother, my Grandma Maisie.
I almost never cook pork these days without brining it first. The difference in the finished texture and even the flavor is dramatic. Brined pork is fork tender and juicy, no matter how lean the cut, and evenly seasoned all the way through.
A cursory review of the web will tell you, if you don’t know already, that everyone thinks their meatloaf (or their Mom’s meatloaf) is the best meatloaf in this or any other world. Actually, I have to agree. I have loved every homemade meatloaf I have ever eaten. When I’m eating it, it’s definitely the Best. Add spicy gravy or sweet, sticky ketchup glaze and a perfect mash of potatoes, and I am in Heaven!
This slowly simmered, rich meat sauce, originally from Bologna, Italy, is an important culinary building block. It can be used as a sauce for fresh pappardelle, tagliatelle, or other wide, ribbon-shaped egg pasta; as a component of a layered lasagne; as a topping for polenta; and in numerous other ways.
This dish evokes the country-style cooking of countless generations of women feeding their families on the bounty of their own farms and surrounding countryside. As is often the case with foods found growing together in the same region, apples and hazelnuts have a happy affinity for one another. Add a creamy mustard sauce to the mix, along with a succulent chicken, and you have a sensational meal.
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