Even if you rarely cook, chances are that you do on special holidays. Whether it’s a dish to share for a Memorial Day picnic or your once-a-year perfectly roasted turkey for Thanksgiving, here are articles related to holidays and holiday cooking that you may find helpful. You’ll also find some articles exploring the history of holidays and how other cultures celebrate.
Mashed Potatoes Frequently Asked Questions Should I peel the potatoes before cooking? This is purely a personal preference. I peel my potatoes first, but I also know people who leave the peels on and then peel them after they are cooked. This sounds like more work than I want to do, but it is an […]
Now Let’s Consider A Few Options When Mashing Potatoes Choosing the Right Potato to Mash A potato is basically a package that contains starch, sugar and water along with some nutrients, especially in the skins. But, there are many different varieties of potato, and they differ in the proportions of each component. Most cookbooks tell […]
How to Make the Simplest Christmas Crack This Holiday My wife arrived home with holiday glee in her eyes with tales of an incredible Christmas treat prepared by her boss that she just had to immediately recreate for our family and friends. She could barely set down the bags of ingredients she just purchased for […]
How to Make Waffles from Leftover Stuffing This year we cooked way more food than everyone could eat so there were a lot of leftovers even after sending everyone home with a doggie bag. One of those leftovers was stuffing, some that was cooked with the turkey and some that was cooked separately in a […]
What’s That Turkey Dinner Going to Cost in 2017? Well, not as much as last year if you buy all the same things in the same amounts as you did last year according to the Farm Bureau’s 2017 Survey. In fact, this is the lowest cost in 5 years. For the last few years […]
All I Want For Christmas in 2016 Each year I make a wish list of cool toys for the kitchen that I would love to find under the tree Christmas morning. It’s sort of my Dear Santa letter that I send this time of year. I’m not sure Santa is checking out The Reluctant Gourmet, […]
The Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner in 2016 Is Back Under $50 The price of a Thanksgiving meal according to The American Farm Bureau Federation is now less than $5 per person. Before you get too excited, last year it was $5.01 per person so not much of a decline but I’ll take it. Every year […]
All I Want For Christmas 2015 Every year at this time I make a Wish List of some of the cool gadgets and kitchenware I would like Santa to put under our Christmas tree and hope my wife reads this post. There are so many exciting new products on the market I would like to […]
The 2015 Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner Tops $50 Once again the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is going up but not by much and for different reasons. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s informal price survey of classic items for a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people is up about 70 cents from last year to […]
Looking For That Unique Gift For Your Favorite Cook? It’s that time of year again when you urgently try to find the perfect gift for that someone special who loves to cook but they have every gadget imaginable. Well, The Reluctant Gourmet is hear to help you find something new and different this year if […]
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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 […]
