It’s hard to screw up a pork tenderloin, easily the most succulent and tender cuts of pork. With a pork tenderloin, if it’s not raw or burned to smithereens, it’ll be good. Pork tenderloin and pork loin, though, are entirely two different types of animal. A pork tenderloin is the long, narrow, boneless cut of meat that comes from the muscle that runs along the backbone. A pork loin is wider and … [Read more...]

Which is best? Chicken soup or turkey soup? No contest. Turkey overwhelmingly make the best soup and we have it often. My favorite is Turkey Wing Soup. I usually have to go to Food Lion to find fresh turkey wings, but I saw some on display this week at Kroger’s and picked up a package with a  pair of wings. When turkey wings are available, they are almost always a good buy. There is lots of … [Read more...]

I don’t do briskets very well. I have tried smoking them, grilling them and have used various and sundry oven tactics and they usually turn out tough, dry or both. But I am a determined chef - hard-headed, my wife might say. So I bought another one last week for French Dip Sandwiches. I went with a small brisket because my confidence was lacking. I decided to put the brisket in a slow … [Read more...]

Monday morning is a great time to patrol the aisles of a grocery store. It’s the time many meat managers reduce prices to clear out old stock. This is especially true at Sam’s Club and Costco. I usually don’t grocery shop on Monday mornings, but this week I had to make a quick run to Kroger’s and as I passed by the meat department, I heard a package call out my name. “Buy me”, said the 32-ounce … [Read more...]

I have made Vegetable Beef Soup countless times and I feel confident I have never made it the same way twice. When it comes to Vegetable Beef Soup or Beef Stew, it’s not a matter of what recipe you have, it’s what you have on hand. Whatcha got. Last week we had a night that was supposed to get down on the 30’s, a perfect night for soup, and I figured Vegetable Beef would hit the spot. I needed … [Read more...]

I’ve been doing a little Tex/Mex stuff in the kitchen. I’m slowly coming around to South of the Border dishes, and I actually prefer my own recipes to those of the restaurants. Refried beans, for example, is not my idea of human food. Dogs, maybe, but not humans. Anyway, I whipped up a Mexican dish called Beef Enchiladas that actually passed the “Nancy Test.” If my wife, Nancy, eats one of my … [Read more...]

  There are probably as many recipes for Chicken and Rice Casserole as there are cookbooks in America. Every cook, every house has its own version. I did one this week that turned out well. Nothing fancy at all, just basic comfort food. But it was easy and tasty. Here’s how. I started with chicken tenderloins, not whole chicken breast loins. I did this for several reasons – they were on … [Read more...]

As a cook, preparing vegetables is not my forte, especially green vegetables. I typically go to the basics – green beans, sweet peas, lima beans, kale, collards and the like. Not that there is anything wrong with those green vegetables, they’re just not very exciting. Tired of the same-old, same-old, I looked for a different green vegetable to cook with creamy garlic chicken, and I saw some … [Read more...]

  A regular Father’s Day or birthday present to me from my children is a gift box from Omaha Steaks. Afterall, there is no need to worry about sizes or colors or will I use it. Who won’t use stuff from Omaha Steaks? I have found, though, that the boxes often contain maybe only two steaks. and lots of. other foods - like gourmet hot dogs and burgers,  fancy stuffed potatoes, deluxe … [Read more...]

  My son Jimmie ran across a recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen that he thought well worth sharing. “I fixed this the other night and it was damned good,” he said. “The only thing I did differently was to brine the chicken for 4 hours (should have been longer) but it turned out GREAT -  crispy skin, juicy meat perfectly done and the veggies were just as good.  Cutting large carrots into 1 … [Read more...]