I bet not many home chefs filet a head of cabbage, but I am now doing just that. Let me explain. One of our favorite places to eat out is Bubba’s Restaurant in Virginia Beach. The ambience, overlooking the Lynnnhaven Inlet, is unrivaled and the seafood is beyond delicious. But something else has always been special at this eatery – the coleslaw. It comes finely shredded with a little slaw … [Read more...]

I have an entire shelf in my basement devoted to items I have bought “As Seen On TV.” Somehow all these gizmos look good when the TV “carnies” are hustling the snake oil, but when you get them, they often don’t cut the mustard. It took me three days to chip the splattered egg from the inside of my microwave oven after trying my “As Seen On TV Egg Poacher”, for example. However, when we were in … [Read more...]

  I’ve printed this before, but sometimes I have to remind myself just how good a hamburger can taste if you don’t really care how many calories it contains. Such is the case with the Perfect Hamburger. The recipe is fairly simple, only two ingredients – hamburger and Kosher salt. But the type of hamburger is critical. Modern hamburger is trending leaner. They have 96/4 burger, meaning … [Read more...]

Sinners! Repent! You know who you are! All you evil beings out there who love sweets more than life itself. If I were the Devil, I would tempt you “sweeties” with this recipe. Praline Grahams. Every soul alive and dead knows how sinfully good a plain praline is, but put one a sweet, crunchy Graham Cracker, and it’s hard to beat in the sweet department. This is a treat that makes a few extra … [Read more...]

  When I was a boy, Mom always had a bottle of buttermilk in the refrigerator. Sometimes she drank it straight up, not my cup of tea, but she used it frequently when baking. Occasionally, I or my wife Nancy use a recipe that calls for buttermilk, like a cobbler she baked recently. Buttermilk is extremely versatile and I’m convinced there should be a pint or so of buttermilk in every chef’s … [Read more...]

Longtime reader and subscriber of CvilleBuzz, Nancy Jackson of Urbana, says she came up with a concoction sure to please. It certainly pleased her husband Mike, so much so that he wanted it again within five days of his first sampling. Nancy is like many cooks – she likes to experiment. Here’s what she came up with on a recent culinary adventure. “I just cooked a ‘made-up’ recipe, as many of … [Read more...]

  I subscribe to Yummly, a really neat cooking site. They shoot me stuff about twice a week and I have used a number of their recipes. The thing I like most about Yummly is that most of their recipes are simple – no Bavarian Lentils Seasoned in Rabbit Fat type of stuff. Just simple, easy dishes. But I rarely follow their recipes to a “T”. There is always room for improvement, I figure, … [Read more...]

  When it comes to chicken, size matters. But in this case, the smaller, the better. When I was about 14, I spent the night with a classmate, Larry McDaniel, whose family owned a small farm on Muddy Creek Mountain, just outside Lewisburg, WV. Larry and I were going squirrel hunting early the next morning, so I spent the night and ate with his family the night before. For dinner, … [Read more...]

  My mom used to make Seven Layer Bars, especially if company was coming. These sweet morsels are to die for – rich, creamy, chocolaty and delicious. I thought about Mom and those bars recently and decided to make a batch for some kids I cook for. As expected, each and every one was wolfed down and an order is now on the table for more, any time I want to make a batch. Seven Layer … [Read more...]