Chili-Pineapple Margarita

  The inspiration for this spicy margarita came from a cocktail we had at Hartwood, a restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. Chef Eric Werner steeped habanero chilies in tequila for over 36 hours to add kick. We simplified, infusing simple syrup with the same flavors in under 20 minutes. You’ll have enough syrup for several batches […]

Sautéed Corn with Miso, Butter and Scallions

For this umami-filled, savory-sweet side dish, plump, tender kernels cut from ears of fresh sweet corn are the first choice, but out of season an equal amount of frozen corn kernels that have been thawed and patted dry will work; they’ll just take a few minutes longer to brown. The optional furikake garnish adds even […]

Santa Maria Style Pinquito Beans

Santa Maria pinquito beans are similar to your standard BBQ beans, but with a smoky-spicy profile — think TexMex flavors. Every recipe I’ve seen includes bacon, ham, tomatoes, and onions. After that, the choice of spices or other additions are up to you. I like to include fire-roasted poblano peppers in mine for little extra […]

Perfect Pulled Pork Recipe

  This pulled pork recipe is requested at every get-together we go to. It’s so fall-off-the-bone tender and packed with flavor you don’t even need BBQ sauce. It honestly makes the best pulled pork sandwich ever. Come see how easy it is to make this pulled pork oven recipe.

Oven-Roasted Barbecue Chicken

Many recipes for oven-barbecued chicken disappoint with soggy skin and little flavor, so our goals were clear. To fix the issue with the skin, we tried a handful of methods including air-drying and broiling, but in the end the best solution was simply to remove it before cooking. This left the meat exposed, making it […]

Grilled Chicken Satay

Malaysian chicken satay (satay ayam) features pieces of chicken coated in a deeply fragrant paste, skewered, and charred on the grill. This grilled chicken dish is deeply aromatic, gorgeously charred, fast to cook, and paired with a peanut sauce you’ll want to eat by the spoonful.

Sous Vide Vanilla Ice Cream

Before the freezing happens, an ice cream base often needs to be cooked. This cooking process denatures dairy proteins, which then capture free-roaming water in the base, resulting in smoother and less icy ice cream. Precise temperature control is important when cooking the base, especially with custard-based ice creams that include egg yolks. If the […]

Peach Galette

  Ripe summer peaches don't hold up well in the oven, so it's best to bake them as briefly as possible, which is why I prefer them as an open-faced pie—or galette, as the French would say. Without a pie plate to contend with, the crust bakes so quickly, the peach slices stay wonderfully tender, […]

Italian Cream Cake

Chockablock full of nuts and coconut, this gorgeous Southern layer cake isn’t as well known as it deserves to be. It’s time to spill its secrets.We loved the idea of loading this layer cake with coconut and pecans, but the added bulk spelled destruction for the tender crumb and didn’t enhance the flavor. Toasting the […]

Pan-Seared Strip Steaks

How do you pan-sear strip or rib eye without making a grease-splattered mess and setting off your smoke alarm? First, forget everything you know about steak cookery. Pan-searing strip or rib-eye steaks usually leads to a smoky, grease-splattered kitchen—but it doesn't have to. To devise a fast, mess-free method for achieving deeply seared, rosy meat, […]

Charred Cherry Tomatoes with Bell Peppers and Mozzarella

Sweetness and a kiss of char bring intrigue to this tasty salad at any time of the year. This recipe was inspired by one in acclaimed British chef April Bloomfield's cookbook, A Girl and Her Pig (2012). Compared to her recipe, which calls for roasting whole peppers and slow-roasting whole tomatoes before peeling them, ours […]

Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Cheesy Garlic Bread

Before there was Lone Star, Outback, or Ruth's Chris, a real rancher named Stuart Anderson was serving up huge cuts of delicious prime beef in his Seattle-based restaurant chain. The first Black Angus restaurant opened on April Fool's Day in 1964 and quickly became known for its huge, juicy cuts of prime rib.Early on, Stuart […]

Old-Fashioned Flaky Pie Crust

This easy pie dough has a recipe that pastry chefs tend to favor, but it doesn’t require any fancy ingredients, equipment, or training. Just smash some cold butter in a bowl of flour, stir in a bit of water, roll it out, and fold it over a few times. It’s essentially a streamlined blitz, making […]

Peaches and Cream Pie

The name made it sound delicious, but the historic recipes we tried didn’t pan out. Custard to the rescue. Time and again the juicy peaches wreaked watery havoc on our custardy pie filling. Roasting them on the upper-middle rack for about 45 minutes evaporated their excess liquid, and a dusting of granulated sugar encouraged a […]

Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken With Green Sauce

This Peruvian-style grilled chicken is a recipe I back-hacked from the awesome chicken and green sauce they serve at Pio Pio in NYC. The basics are simple: Butterflied chicken with a vinegar and spice rub gets slow-cooked on the grill, then quickly cooked directly over the coals to crisp the skin. It comes out tender […]

Smoky Rubbed Chicken Wings with Honey, Bourbon, and Molasses Sauce

I order chicken wings anytime I see them on a menu, and this recipe will make you realize just how incredible they can be. After a lot of trial and error, when I finally got the rub right I felt like I had unlocked a magic puzzle. There are a lot of ingredients in the […]