I find any time of the year is perfect for grilling. Lucky for me, I have my grill strategically placed so I can get to it anytime of the year. I guess not having access to a grill for many many years while living in NYC, I feel compelled to grill whenever I can. Check […]
How to Make a Great Beef Stew Being a novice home-cook, I still use my cookbooks and cooking magazines to generate ideas and learn techniques and that’s how I approach most recipes including this one for stew. First, I look up the dish in several cookbooks and read about the essential ingredients and what cooking techniques are involved. You’d […]
What to Do with Leftover Beef and Vegetables? A few weeks ago I went to visit my sister and folks in New Jersey. My sister Gail was cooking up a pot of soup for lunch that smelled pretty good. She had a lot of leftovers from the week including some leftover London Broil that she […]
What to Do With Leftover Grilled Steak When I was a kid we didn’t go out for dinner very often. Maybe on our birthdays we’d get to pick our favorite restaurant (about three choices) and usually ended up at our local Chinese restaurant. But there was this one time my dad took us to a […]
Dutch Oven Cooking Last weekend we fired up our outdoor wood-burning oven for a party where we cooked 26 pizzas for a bunch of friends. I love cooking in the oven but it takes about 1 ½ hours to get the temperature up to the 700°F to 800°F necessary for proper cooking. Once hot, the […]
Leftover Short Ribs This is the perfect time of year to prepare braised short ribs in you Dutch oven or handy crock pot. The cooking magazines are filled with recipes for short ribs and there is no shortage of variations available. I have a recipe for Crock Pot Short Ribs as well as one for […]
How to Fix a Doughy Tasting Beef Stew Here’s a quick post today in response to a question I received from Dave. He asks: I made a lovely beef stew, removed meat and veg, made a flour/water slurry to thicken gravy. When we ate it you got a doughy taste. how to fix please. Dave, […]
Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. Buy me a steak and cheese sandwich snack, I don’t care if I never get back This weekend I took my wife, daughter and her friend to watch the Phillies take on the Oakland A’s. Our hometown Phillies did not win, but […]
“What’s This Here Sauce” As a home cook who has never been to culinary school and has been teaching myself to cook for as long as I’ve been posting on the Internet, I am always thrilled to learn something new from my professional chef friends. It is why I started The Reluctant Gourmet web site […]
Incredible Asian Flavored Short Ribs I served this incredibly delicious and easy to prepare dish on Friday night with friends looking for an excuse to open some spectacular wines that needed to be drunk. Any excuse will do. The original recipe comes from an article about slow cookers by Mark Bittman where he says about […]
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More
How to Make the Best Beef Wellington This Beef Wellington recipe has become a tradition in our house. We prepare it every couple of years for Christmas and made it again this year. If I’m lucky, we will have it next year and the year after that. My wife originally found a recipe in Fine […]
Christmas Standing Rib Roast Thanksgiving is a holiday in which turkey really shines. Many of you would rather not deal with another turkey just four weeks after Thanksgiving. Some of you might still have some frozen leftovers. The Christmas meal is a celebratory meal, and as such, celebration food is a natural at the Christmas […]
How to Bake A Ham For Christmas
Baked Christmas Ham Recipe Would you like to serve a wonderfully flavorful and juicy ham for the holidays? Here’s a can’t-go-wrong recipe that will have your guests asking for seconds, and for a plate of leftovers, as well. Be sure to read about the history of serving ham on Christmas and the various types of […]
