patrick.net

Tacos. Mainly because I can season to taste, use the best meat and choose my own fresh toppings.

With my wife, we grill the most greasy, grass-fed burgers augmented with pastured pork lard, bread crumbs, and (I know) soy sauce. On top of that, it's two slices of cheddar cheese and two slices of applewood smoked bacon. Toasted Kaiser roll with mayo and Stubb's barbecue sauce, topped with pickles, red onions, and lots of green leaf lettuce.The squirt of fat juices on the first bite is a bit of primal gustatory pleasure.

That being said - we don't get many repeat dinner guests. I don't think they realize - it's all GOOD fat.

Fudge and frostings.

American Chinese takeout.
Not to toot my own horn, but I'm becoming quite the Hopsing.

Chicken enchiladas Verdes. I make my own sauce by roasting tomatillos, poblanos, Anaheim and Serrano chilies, onion and garlic. Pull them all apart and chop in blender with cilantro, spinach and cumin. Chiles are cheap and wonderful to work with. Cook chicken breast in a pan in water and shred it. Mix with half the sauce and grated cheese, fill corn tortillas, layer in a pan and pour rest of sauce and more cheese over it and bake. Make it "suiza" by adding cream to the sauce if you want

Clams and oysters "gratinee" or something like it.
Clams marinara or something like it.
I had access to good raw materials at the time.
Bay scallops that I collected came out better than the usual restaurant dish.

Spaghetti with meatballs, Italian whore soup, gnocchi in shallots sauce, salmon, honey garlic chicken. Banana pancakes.

Did some green beans the other week my daughter said she liked, and at her age, don't get many compliments. The secret, butter, garlic salt, and fresh and organic. That last part is why our food tastes good. Has shit to do with our cooking, because culinary wizards, we are not.
I've never had steak as good as the ones I make at home, or fried chicken. I had some black roomates in college, credit goes to them for the chicken recipe. I've made some decent beef stew before(Bourdain's recipe).

Caesar Salad. I grew up where it was invented and have the recipe that replaced the original one by Caesar Cardini, when imported ingredients were too expensive because of the war.

Flour tortillas and pintos with home smoked pork neckbones

I can make a better burger than I can buy, but I don't think that's much.

I don't know why. It's not hard to make a burger at all, but man, anything you buy, it's pretty easy to beat that. The buns they sell have sugar in them, the toppings are low quality, even the condiments are awful.

I think anybody can make a better burger than they can buy honestly.

NuttBoxer says

Did some green beans the other week

Green beans are far superior when picked fresh from your own garden. For some reason, the ones I grew had much more flavor than any I have ever bought.

HeadSet says

NuttBoxer says

Did some green beans the other week

Green beans are far superior when picked fresh from your own garden. For some reason, the ones I grew had much more flavor than any I have ever bought.

I think this is because fruits and vegetables are picked before they are ripe and they ripen enroute which is not as good as vine ripened.

Any poached egg fans? I accidently came up with a new way to cook a soft poached egg that looks like a sunnyside up fried egg. Start with a small non stick saute pan...heat pan to med low. Crack egg into it and cook on low heat till the white starts to set. Once the white is starting to set, carefully add hot water to the pan along the edge..(.don't pour directly on the egg) until the water level covers the white but NOT the yolk...simmer a couple minutes until the egg white is completely set. Do not cover the pan with a lid. The yolk will still be a bright yellow color and the white will be completely cooked. Remove the egg using a slotted spatula so the water drains off. DONE
BTW, this is not a basted egg that is steamed with a lid on top.

I regularly shell, clean, cut, pound out, and cook my own ABOLONE. Nothing like it. I cant describe the flavor. My brain cannot replicate it. The taste only comes back the next time I eat it; and I say OMG there it is.....