INGREDIENTS   You can use any vegetables you like in this recipe.  I shoot for either a nice color combination or, in order to clean out the fridge, I’ll use just what I have on hand. I have written “more or less” on some of the ingredients.  This is to allow for personal preferences with […]

After a week of undertaking exhaustive research of the poultry industry of Thailand, I have arrived at two conclusions.  First, there are a lot of chickens and eggs in Thailand.  Second, I would rather cook and eat chicken and eggs than read about them.   I had already surmised my first conclusion more than twenty […]

  The automobile has always been a symbol of progress, status and prosperity.  That is usually the way it is with anything that is rare and expensive.  It’s difficult to believe, however, that chickens were once held in a similar lofty esteem—at least as a food source.  Equally astounding is that both cars and chickens […]

Not everyone has a supply of any kind of fresh broth or stock hanging around in his or her refrigerator—not even professional chefs.  I simplify many of my recipes for the home chef by recommending either prepared broths or stocks or, preferably, using concentrated flavor bases.  What they lack in flavor and authenticity they make […]

This sauce has all of the components that I look for in a recipe: It’s simple, quick-to-make, flexible and delicious…especially on grilled steak.   I recommend refrigerating this sauce for an hour or so before serving it.  This allows all of the fresh ingredients a little time to “marry”.  It will stay good in the […]

I was a Cub Scout for a brief period in my childhood.  I was a complete failure at it.  My lack of success in this noble organization stemmed from both an early burgeoning of rebelliousness and a sense that I had been gypped.   I felt gypped because I thought I was going to learn how […]

The only drawbacks of this sauce are that you have to peel a lot of garlic and its aroma while cooking is very strong.  Make sure you have plenty of ventilation in your kitchen.  We’re talking exhaust fans and/or opened windows.  A little of this sauce goes a long way and it should yield over […]

This is a multi-purpose marinade and it compliments the recipe after this one, a garlic sauce.  It is great as a pre-seasoning for grilled steaks, chicken, pork, duck and firm-fleshed fish such as swordfish, shark or mahi-mahi. It can also be used as an additive—in small amounts—to season other sauces.  It keeps in the fridge, […]

I use a lot of garlic in my recipes.  I mean, a lot of garlic.  Having owned a restaurant for 12 years and, prior to that, working as a cook for almost 28 years, I don’t think that I peeled a single clove of garlic, at least not that I remember or care to remember.  […]

The picture of the pie on this and my previous blog entry is not the “exploding pie”.  Rather, it is how the exploding pie would have looked if I hadn’t screwed it up.  It was an aesthetic failure and, simply, a god-awful mess because I was careless.  You can’t be careless when you cook.  I […]