December 2009
18 posts
6 tags
My Take on Nan Young's Famous Potato Puffs
Holidays are good for two things: gifts and leftovers. Yeah, I said it. Materialistic? Maybe. I’m not completely downplaying the whole “family and friends” angle, or that small “good will toward your fellow man” bit. I’m just saying presents and food are the two factors that get us kid-on-Christmas-morning giddy around this time of year. One dish that...
7 tags
Stone Street Stuffed Tavern Burger Stuffed With...
Like a deceptive winter coat from Old Navy, this burger looked stylishly good on display, but when worn lacked the proper interior and left me unsatisfyingly cold. No, I didn’t actually wear the Stone Street Tavern’s Stuffed bleu cheese burger. And, I certainly did not enjoy it as much as my eyes told me I would. Served on a toasted english muffin and generous amounts of thick...
4 tags
Fried Porkchop Over Ramen Noodle Soup
Thin pork chops, breaded with (you guessed it) panko bread crumbs, oven fried to a delicious crisp. Sauteed onions, mushrooms, and romaine lettuce with garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I poured already boiling water into the pan to ghetto deglaze, letting it cook on high for a minute, then pouring back into the pot and bringing to a boil. I tossed in the noodles and cracked an egg over...
5 tags
Chicken Lasagna Roll Up
After making way too much noodles for a cheese lasagna I made days ago, I decided to put it to good use with the remainder of leftover breaded chicken I had. This incarnation (which will be revisited for a future italian/japanese hybrid in the upcoming days) will be dubbed chicken lasagna roll up. No, it’s not manicotti. Manicotti tubes are too small, and would pale in comparison to...
4 tags
Challenge: How Many Hot Dogs Can You Eat in 12...
A couple of months ago, I put together an idea that would get a bunch of our old friends together for some fun that didn’t involve dank bars, noisy clubs, or blackout evenings. What resulted was the “Challenge” series, with each event featuring some competitive eating feat that one of us would try and conquer. The first one (and most appropriate in my opinion) was modeled...
3 tags
Chicken Fried Rice
Not so much a ghetto gourmet entry, as fried rice made at home should be a potluck affair. I think I can safely speak for my chinese people: there’s almost nothing that can’t go into this. Day old leftovers work perfect in this dish, giving them new life and different flavors when mixing them together. I used breaded chicken, french cut string beans, chopped onions and baby...
3 tags
Tuna Cakes over Vermicelli with Oil and Garlic
Even though I have a crab cake taste, but live on a tuna fish budget, it doesn’t mean that Bumblebee can’t taste good. I mixed up some standard tuna salad, using a little less mayo than normal, and added some spicy brown mustard to taste. In a separate bowl, I mixed panko bread crumbs, white pepper, and sea salt, and coated golf ball sized tuna liberally. When properly layered, I...
3 tags
Sam's Journal - This Onmivore's Dilemma
[This is a guest post from Sam, our resident culinary challenger, who set out to try vegetarianism for an entire month. Read about the experience here!]
Hello Food Community,
My name is Samantha and I am here to blog about my most recent food bet. As Wes’ girlfriend and partner in food crime, I have been given this special platform and hope not to disappoint.
To give you a little...
8 tags
Ghetto Gourmet - The Saddest Pot Luck Leftover...
Taking a small step down from the bachelor’s fridge means an incredibly limited base meal, with unlimited amount of random condiments. In this case, I was pushing the boundaries on Thanksgiving leftovers and other one-off dishes, on top of having nothing of real substance as the main feature. What’s pictured above will hopefully be the last saddest lunch ever witnessed. Leftover...
4 tags
David Chang Speaks at Google Campus
Never one to keep his opinion to himself, Chef David Chang spoke as a featured guest at Google Campus in New York, waxing poetic on the state of the food industry, how he got into cooking, and his new book “Momofuku”. One thing he said early on hit home to my new found interest in food, and the way people I read and listen to follow the culinary world:
“I got out of the...
2 tags
Introducing Samantha Young, Resident Experimental...
This is Sam. She is my girlfriend. I love her very much.
And I love meat. I love chicken and ribs very much. The two share a common trait: I cannot live without them. This is why she must shoulder this journey alone.
Sam is going to abandon eating meat for an entire month. 30 days without steak and bacon, the number one and two of her favorite foods respectively. Over the weekend, we...
4 tags
Oven Fried Panko Breaded Chicken Breast with a...
I’ve had a box of Japanese panko bread crumbs sitting in my pantry for a couple of weeks that needed to be put to good use. With a perfectly good defrosted chicken breast sitting in my fridge, I went to work. Chicken went through a quick dry-wet-dry bath of flour, egg wash, and panko crumbs, and into a small pan with oil, already hot in a preheated 350 degree oven. I gave each side...
8 tags
NYC Cravings' Taiwanese Fried Chicken and Pork...
Let’s start you off with a little riddle: you are placed in the middle between two tables. On your left, a succulent chicken leg, perfectly fried crispy skin, juicy thigh and drum dark meat. On your right, a tender pork chop, thick, chewy, just the right amount of salt that gets your mouth gushing. The question .. which way do you go?
The correct answer: the NYC Craving’s truck...
3 tags
Zitironi and Cheese
I think it’s completely normal to be sitting on a couch one Saturday 10 AM, and get a hankering for mac and cheese from scratch. Everyone should leave the powdered blue box cheese in their childhood past, and try this out. I heated a cup or so of milk and a few tablespoons of butter in a small pot, and tossed in a few different hand shredded slices of cheese: provolone, american,...
5 tags
Porkchops and Onions Over Rice
A page out of mom’s cookbook, a simple pan sauteed dish. I browned the chops with a little salt and pepper, took off the heat to cut into strips. I tossed back in along with chopped onions, and poured on some soy and oyster sauce, and ketchup, which gives the dish a great sweetness. Pouring in a little water created a nice sauce which I cooked out to thicken it up without the need for...
7 tags
Oven-baked Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes
I put a good amount of the new organize dry spices and herbs I recently purchased to good use for this classic and easy meal. I cut along the bone on the thighs so the chicken would cook quicker. Seasoned with thyme, oregano, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. I gave them a quick hit in a non-stick pan, a few minutes on each side, which crisped up the skin, then oven baked. Sure, it’s...
5 tags
Thanksgiving in All its Picture Glory
Traditionally, Thanksgiving has always been an untraditional dining experience in my family. There’s always meats that make cameo appearances, a couple sides that you wouldn’t find in your old holiday picture book. Insert cliche Forrest Gump quote here.
What we have instead is an open buffet filled of assorted goodness, which highlights some year-round favorites like my...
4 tags
Coolio, the self-proclaimed "Ghetto Gourmet"?! Not...
It hasn’t been an industry secret that Coolio, of “Gangsta’s Paradise” fame and internet video chef, was coming out with a cookbook. I’ve actually enjoyed his bat-shit crazy demeanor while cooking up some delicious dishes like “Swashbucklin’ Shrimp” and “Cool-a-Cado”.
But damn it, Coolio: you’ve crossed the line.
Since my early...
