Recipes and cooking notes

Test Drive: Meathead's Nashville Hot Chicken

Meathead's Nashville hot chicken: pounded, dry-brined tenders, a shallow fry, and hot oil loaded with cayenne, habanero and scotch bonnet.

Easy 20-Minute Refrigerator Dill Pickles

My 20-minute refrigerator dill pickles: cucumbers in a hot vinegar brine with garlic, peppercorns, mustard powder and dill. Ready in two days.

Test Drive: Meathead's Pulled Pork, First Cook on the Offset

My first cook on the offset: Meathead's pulled pork, a 12 lb butt cut in two, Memphis Dust, oak at about 300°F, and foil through the stall.

Beautifully Braised Oxtail and Short Rib Pasta

Serious Eats' red wine braise with seared oxtail for flavour and short ribs for the meat, cooked low for hours, then tossed with pasta and parmesan.

Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta with Vermouth

Serious Eats' garlic butter shrimp pasta: shrimp brined with salt and baking soda, a vermouth deglaze, and lemon and parsley. Easy last-minute dinner.

A Simple Must Try: Fermented Hot Sauce

My Thai chili, onion, garlic, and ginger hot-sauce experiment, with notes on wet brine, blended mash, flavour, and corrected storage guidance.

Slightly Spicy Chicken Adobo

Filipino chicken adobo with a little heat: coarse-ground pepper bloomed in oil, chilli flakes, and the sauce cooked down until syrupy. Serve over rice.

Homemade Green Cholula Style Hot Sauce

Green Cholula-style hot sauce from a kilo of jalapeños: softened with onion, simmered, and blended with vinegar. Not the hottest, but great on everything.

Cole's Crispy Crunchy Roasted Potatoes

My go-to roasted potatoes: an even dice, garlic and chilli-infused olive oil, and enough room on the pan that they roast crispy instead of steaming.

Joël Robuchon's Michelin Starred Pommes Purée (Mashed Potatoes)

Joël Robuchon's pommes purée at home: four ingredients, potatoes boiled in their skins and riced, then cold butter and milk. Next time I'd rice them twice.

There Will Be No Leftovers; Potatoes Au Gratin

Potatoes au gratin layered with onion and a gruyère and cheddar sauce, baked covered, then uncovered to crust. Four of us, 1.4 kg (3 lb), no leftovers.

Coles Non Competition Barbecue Chicken Thighs

Meathead's competition chicken, simplified: dry-brined thighs with my rub and a stock injection, cooked in butter on the barbecue, then sauced and crisped.

Louisiana Style BBQ Sauce - Spicy, Tangy, Sweet, Delicious

Meathead's Louisiana-style barbecue sauce: roasted peppers and garlic blended with Tabasco, molasses, vinegar, and ketchup. Spicy, tangy, not too sweet.

Penne alla Vodka - Millennial's Most Popular TikTok Pasta

The TikTok-famous penne alla vodka: tomato paste cooked until it darkens, vodka to lift the fond, and tempered cream so the sauce doesn't split.

Great Gumbo Using Paul Prudhomme's Delightful Recipe

Paul Prudhomme's chicken and sausage gumbo: fried chicken, a roux taken nearly black, and the holy trinity, simmered an hour. Deep flavour, long finish.

Deep, Flavourful, Rich, Bone Broth or Stock - The Basis of Many Great Dishes

How I make beef or chicken stock: roast the bones with freezer veggie scraps, deglaze, and simmer until it sets like Jell-O in the fridge. Hard to mess up.

Simple, Delicious, Mustard, Brown Sugar, and Honey Glazed Ham

A store-bought ham, scored and basted every 15 minutes with a mustard, brown sugar, and honey glaze with cloves, garlic, and cinnamon. Best ham I've made.

Absolute Best Chili Recipe Around

Oh Sweet Basil's award-winning chili, made on the stove instead of the Instant Pot, with about 8x the hot peppers, optional bacon, and a three-hour simmer.

Get Back to Basics with Classic Ragù alla Bolognese

Ragù alla Bolognese from Rachael Ray's base: beef and pork, a red wine deglaze, and milk for a smoother sauce, with the pasta finished right in the pot.

Cole's Non-Traditional Classic Caesar Recipe

My Caesar: more Worcestershire, less horseradish, Clamato Pickled Bean, and a paprika spice rim. Includes the full rim-blend batch and one-drink recipe.

Delightful Marinara Sauce for Pizza, Pasta, and Everything In-between

A simple marinara for pizza and pasta: onions, a whole bulb of garlic, a wine deglaze, and canned tomatoes simmered up to an hour. I'd add more onion.

Dry Brined Ribeye Cooked Like a Caveman

A 2-inch dry-brined ribeye, reverse seared in the oven, then seared caveman-style right on the Big Green Egg coals. What worked and what I'd change.

Cole's Cacio e Pepe - Simple, Traditional, Delicious

Cacio e pepe with three ingredients: toasted black pepper, pasta, and cheese (parmesan stood in for pecorino). The trick is emulsifying with pasta water.

Flank Steak With Arden's Amazing Asian Inspired Chile Pepper Marinade

Flank steak marinated for 24 hours in my uncle Arden's lime, fish sauce, chilli, garlic, and ginger marinade, then seared hot on the Big Green Egg.

Cole's Deliciously Patented Pickled Red Onion

My quick fridge pickle for red onion and jalapeño: 50/50 vinegar and water with garlic, peppercorns, and mustard powder. Ready in two days; lasts a month.

Best Beef Stew

Beef stew from The Daring Gourmet: chuck browned in batches, deglazed with red wine, and simmered with potatoes, carrots, and celery. Great reheated.

Scallion and Blistered Tomato Tagliatelle

A farmers market summer pasta: tagliatelle with bacon, fresh garlic, scallions, homemade stock, and cherry tomatoes on the vine blistered in the oven.

Recipe by Delish. My changes are in the notes.

Lacto Fermented Kosher Dill Pickles

My first lacto-fermented dill pickle attempt, inspired by Kenji, with garlic, dill, and corrected brine notes. The final taste test is still missing.