Flaxseed Crackers - Meet the “Flackers”

I usually try new recipes, or techniques because they sound delicious, or unusual, but once in a while I’ll try something just because it sounds impossible, and that was the case with these flaxseed crackers. I heard that if you mix flaxseeds with an equal amount of water, let it hydrate, spread it thin, and bake it in a low oven, you’ll get light, crispy, and surprisingly...

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Sweet Potato Biscuits – Before or After

I originally planned for these sweet potato biscuits to be this year’s Thanksgiving leftover recipe, but they came out so well, I decided to upgrade them, and I’m now officially suggesting you make these as one of the centerpieces for your feast. The downside of that plan is that you’ll have to share them with your guests. Adding things like mashed sweet potatoes can cause...

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Peposo dell'Impruneta - Making Bad Beef Better Since Before Columbus

Some recipes have amusing, or romantic stories for how they came to be, but this peposo isn’t one of them, unless you consider making bad quality beef taste better by covering it in black pepper, amusing or romantic. As the story goes, the workers who made terracotta tiles in the city of Impruneta, would place this stew into clay pots, and leave it their still-hot kilns overnight,...

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Caldo Verde – My Green Soup Redux

Caldo verde is many things: simple to make, inexpensive, nutritious, famously delicious, and beyond comforting. What it isn’t, however, is Spanish. I learned that after posting a version of this soup 10 years ago, when I tagged it as “Spanish Cuisine,” and a few very “passionate” Portuguese viewers let me know, in no uncertain terms, that was not accurate. This soup...

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Pork Saltimbocca – Jumps in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands

You have to give it to the Italians when it comes to naming recipes, and this pork saltimbocca is a perfect example. By now, you’ve probably heard that “saltimbocca” means “jumps in the mouth,” which makes perfect sense if you’ve had it before. Maybe we should start doing this to American recipes? For example, we could rename Buffalo Chicken Wings, “Order More Beer Bones.”...

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“Code Red” Cheese Spread and a Hot Pepper Challenge for ALS

I was halfway through production on this “code red” cheese spread, when I heard that Andrew from “Binging with Babish” had tagged me for his Hot Pepper Challenge for ALS. What are the odds? Anyway, I happily accepted his challenge, although, as you’ll see from this video, I took the coward’s way out, and used the almost already completed pepper spread, instead of eating whole...

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Chicken Little – The Sky is Not Falling

Armed with nothing more than a sharp boning knife, and some patience, pretty much anyone can make this visually impressive, “chicken little.” At least that’s what I’m calling it, for lack of a better name. In the business, this is sometimes referred to as an individual chicken ballotine, which really doesn’t have much of a ring to it. I was thinking of going with “pear...

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