One of my favorite sandwiches when we go out to eat is the French Dip, basically a thinly shaved roast beef sandwich with melted Swiss cheese, grilled onions on a French roll (baguette) and served with a rich dipping sauce. The old Sloan’s Restaurant made the best ever and Timberwood Grill now makes a very good French Dip. I was thinking about going to Timberwood and ordering just such a … [Read more...]

I’m a sucker for rubs. I have a cabinet full. Each time I walk down the spice aisle at the grocery store, I stop and inspect – forever seeking that perfect rub for my various meat dishes. After much trial and lot of error, I have arrived at the conclusion that Sauer’s makes the best rubs in the business. The C. F. Sauer Company is local, with headquarters in Richmond. Founded in 1887, they’ve … [Read more...]

  I wanted to offer this recipe mainly in order to be able to brag a little. Last week I caught a 20-inch flounder aboard “The Gamecock” with Capt. Ham (my son-in-law). It was one of the largest flounder I’ve ever caught. We were fishing out of  Wise Point near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on the Eastern Shore. We put in at Wise Point ramp, back in the creeks and did floats on a … [Read more...]

  Chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad. Then repeat. Chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad. When it comes to salads for sandwiches, I have been in a rut. Chicken, egg, tuna. Not that there’s anything wrong with those three. They make great sandwiches, but I was bored. How about ham salad? I have had ham salad before that was gross – like cat food. Surely I could do better, and I think … [Read more...]

This cooking tip bears repeating. Don’t boil eggs, steam them. My son Jimmie told me several months ago that if you steamed eggs, rather than boiling them for hard boiled eggs, the shells slipped right off. I accused him of using two-week old eggs, with shells that always come off easily. Nope. He said it made no difference. I tried it and it worked - once. Could have been luck. I tried it … [Read more...]

I do a little cooking for a family with three young kids. They are always on the go and they enjoy finger food – especially sweets – cookies and the like. Recently I saw a recipe called Apple Cups that looked interesting and I tried it. It was delicious, the kids loved it and it was amazingly easy to put together. You might consider a batch of Apple Cups for a picnic or event this summer. They … [Read more...]

  When squash comes in, it really comes in. Four yellow squash plants will produce enough to feed the Washington Redskins defensive line, with enough leftovers for the special teams. You pick two and by the time you get to the house, three have taken their place. It is a prodigious garden vegetable. Fortunately, I love yellow squash , which I think has a better flavor and is more versatile … [Read more...]

  Anytime I eat Italian, I look for veal on the menu. I love veal, but my wife Nancy?  Not so much. She once lived on a cattle farm and remembers the mother cows in mourning for their lost calves after the trucks came to take them away. I tried to explain that those calves weren’t to be used as veal calves, but as steers where they would graze in lush pastures, grow to a half-ton and then … [Read more...]

We were having our good friends Wayne and Elva Ferguson over for a Sunday brunch. Nancy asked that I fix some “Blueberry Stuff”, my version of a Blueberry Cobbler, only with enough butter to clog about 6 feet of arteries. I was going to fix a Quiche Lorraine, but two baked dishes? Maybe not. But how about grits? They go with anything, but I needed a meat of some sort and some eggs. I decided to … [Read more...]