Fried chicken, whether it’s Southern, Japanese, or Korean, is one of my favourite foods of all time. Put simply, it would be on the menu for my last meal. It’s one of those dishes that strikes the perfect balance between flavor, texture and richness. The only downside about a really great
fried chicken (calories aside), is that it takes about a day to make.

Karaage (唐揚げ), also known as Tatsutaage (竜田揚げ), is the Japanese version of fried chicken. Pronounced kah-rah-ah-geh, the name literally means “Tang fried” (Tang as in the Chinese dynasty). Like Gyoza and Ramen, Karaage is an example of Wafu-Chuka (Chinese-style Japanese) cuisine, whereby dumplings, noodles, or in this case fried chicken, was adapted from the Chinese culinary repertoire and turned into something uniquely Japanese.

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One of the biggest challenges of coming up with original recipes is trying to name them. I’d about given up on this one thinking I’d just call it something unflattering like “fried tenderized steak with tomato and olive sauce”, but thankfully Twitter came to my rescue with lots of suggestions.

One suggestion that came through was “Chicken Fried Steak Puttanesca”, another was “Bistec Milanesa a la Veracruzana”. Since this is really a chicken fried steak with the sauce from Huachinango a la Veracruzana on top, marrying the two suggestions made perfect sense.

Head over to PBS Food for the full post.

Cravings are a weird thing. Like little goblins, these self-destructive compulsions clamber up from the bowels of human nature, despite our best efforts to suppress them. I usually pride myself in avoiding packaged and processed foods, but there are times when I can’t help but succumb to a craving for something fast and fried. The other day, I was strolling the aisles of my local grocery store minding my own business, when a craving for Coconut Shrimp lept forth into my consciousness.

At times like these, most people would hop into their SUV and drive to the nearest Outback Steakhouse to pick up a platter of Gold Coast Coconut Shrimp. Unfortunately I have neither an SUV or an Outback nearby, and so I was left to my own devices to come up with something to appease my inner demon. Shredded dried coconut and jumbo shrimp in hand, I headed home to see what I could concoct.

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Last week I ordered a new kitchen torch. Not one of those oversized lighters that are sometimes passed off as a torch, but a bonafide, screw-onto-a-can-of-butane-and-melt-stuff-in-a-flash blow torch.

The morning my torch showed up, I happend to have soaked some stale bread in in egg, milk and maple syrup the night before. The overnight soak gives the French toast a custardy interior and fries up in butter with a crusty exterior. Given its similar make up to a crème brûlée, and my burning desire to fire up my new toy, I dusted on some sugar and torched away. My conclusions?

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If Japan had burly roughnecks and lumberjacks, Nikujaga (肉じゃが) would be their meal. It’s a real work horse of the Japanese home kitchen and quite literally translates to “meat and potatoes”. Being high in energy, low on prep time and very tasty, it’s no surprise why.

Nikujaga is one of those dishes that anyone could wing without a recipe once you know the gist of what it’s supposed to taste like. The beef can be anything from ground chuck to short ribs; just make sure you use a cut with enough fat, otherwise the meat will get dried out. As the name implies, you need to add potatoes, but I also like to add carrots and onions for color and flavor. Beyond that you can add pretty much whatever you want.

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What do a fish-monger, produce stand and my fruit bowl have in common? They all contributed ingredients that inspired this Escabeche. Pan-fried Tai (sea bream), spring onions, and red bell peppers pickled in Meyer lemon juice, this is a quick simple dish that tastes even better than it looks. Check out the full recipe over at PBS Food.

One of the biggest criticisms I hear about French food is that it’s complicated. While there are certainly dishes in the French repertoire that take a lot of work, Sole Meunière is not one of them. Taking a whole fifteen minutes from start to finish, it makes for a perfect weeknight meal.

Another common observation is that French food is heavy. I won’t lie to you, with three tablespoons of butter in it, Meunière is not a light sauce, however the bright flavors of the lemon let the browned butter work its wonders without feeling like you just ate two and half cubic inches of butter.

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This week over at PBS Food, I have a great recipe for blood orange glazed carrots. Beyond gorgeous color, using blood orange juice (instead of regular orange juice) also imparts more acidity and a hint of bitterness that works great with the carrots. Read the full post on PBS

Cooking inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes a stroll through a verdant farmers market on a warm spring day sets the gears of creativity in motion. Other times, it’s a six pound bag of Costco chicken, a half-full bottle of Côtes du Rhône, and some odds-and-ends lurking in the dark recesses of my fridge. A rummage through the deli drawer revealed a loosely wrapped package containing the remains of slab of pancetta, and the vegetable drawer coughed up some button mushrooms that had seen better days. It didn’t take an English -> French dictionary to figure out I had the makings for Coq au Vin.

Yes, technically the Coq in Coq au Vin means “rooster”, but the last time I checked, my local grocer wasn’t in the business of selling tough old cocks. If you want to be a purist though, by all means, go bag yourself a rooster. The tough connective tissue breaks down while cooking, and the well-exercised meat is definitely more flavorful than a chicken that’s spent it’s whole life cooped up.

The other half of the name, au Vin, literally means “in wine” and I honestly can’t think of a better marriage of ingredients, especially with a little bacon, onions and mushrooms thrown into the mix!

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It’s been a long cold winter and my body’s been aching to eat something vibrant and green. It’s still a bit early for spring vegetables, but Tabouleh is a verdant salad you can put together with vegetables and herbs that are available all year.

While it’s a simple salad to prepare with very few ingredients, here are a few key points that separate a great tabouleh from bowl of rabbit food.

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Stroganoff is one of those dishes that’s probably eaten more frequently in other countries than the one it originated in. A simple dish with ingredients that can be found almost anywhere, it’s global popularity is not surprising. In my post this week on PBS, I make my version of Beef Stroganoff, which lands somewhere between the Russian classic and the version I grew up eating in America. Click here for the recipe.

Since Thomas Jefferson first brought it to the United States, Macaroni and Cheese has grown to become one of America’s national dishes. When Kraft Foods introduced their boxed mac and cheese in the 1930′s it was an instant hit as it was cheap, filling, and quick to make. But if you’ve ever tried to make macaroni and cheese from scratch you know it’s anything but quick. The process usually involves making a roux, which then goes into making a sauce, which is then mixed with the macaroni before it’s baked in the oven.

I’m not a huge fan of baking mac and cheese because it makes the pasta mushy on the inside and chewy on top. Also, the dairy solids and fat in the cheese tend to separate in the oven leaving you with a greasy mess. For me, the only redeeming part about an oven baked mac and cheese is the crispy bread crumb topping.

That’s why I set out to make a macaroni and cheese that still has the crispy topping but can be made in around the time it takes to prepare the kind the comes out of a blue cardboard box. To accomplish this, I decided to do two things. The first was to the simplify the cheese sauce. The second was to pan fry the bread crumbs in butter so you don’t need to bake the whole thing.

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Spring is in the air, and it won’t be long before the Le Creuset gets put away and the salad bowls come out. Before I totally get into warm weather mode though, I wanted to have a last hurrah with a piece of meat that was rich and tender from hours on the stove. This week over at Fresh Tastes, I did just that with a hunk of lamb, some spices, and pomegranate molasses. Head over to PBS for the post.

Ebi Chili (エビチリ) is a Chinese-style Japanese dish created by Chen Kenmin in the 1950′s. Chen, originally from the Sichuan province in China emigrated to Japan, opening Shisen Hanten (Sichuan Restaurant) in 1958. He later went on to introduce Chinese dishes to households all over Japan through TV appearances on NHK.

While there were many Chinese restaurants in Japan before Shisen Hanten, Chen abandoned traditional recipes in favor of new interpretations suited to Japanese tastes. Some might call his actions traitorous, but he’s widely regarded as the father of Japanese style Sichuan cuisine, popularizing such favorites as Mapo Tofu and Ebi Chili.

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I realize I’m dating myself a little here (and giving you a glimpse into my maturity level), but whenever I hear the word Piccata, I can’t help but lift my shirt over my head, raise my hands in the air and quote the great philosopher Beavis: “I am Cornholio, I need Piccata for my bung-hole!”.

That along with a bad Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Chicken Piccata experience, and it’s no surprise, that it hasn’t been high on my list of dishes to post. Thankfully, you guys are awesome and send me dishes you want to learn how to make.

I was feeling a bit uninspired at the time, and started scanning through my list of reader requests. After a long winter of braised and stewed dishes, a quick chicken dish with the bright sunny flavors of lemon and capers sounded perfect.

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