It’s bluegill time at a farm pond near you! You can’t buy bluegills in a grocery store or a seafood market, but they are such a culinary delight that all fish lovers should head out and catch a few. One word of advice. Fish very early in the day or late in the afternoon. Bluegills are sunfish and the sun hurts their eyes. Therefore they swim to deep water during the hat of the day and return … [Read more...]

I like chicken wings, but I think they are among the poorest values in the entire meat department. Because of America’s propensity to order chicken wings as appetizers at all the sports bars across country, the demand for wings is higher than the supply, thus the price is inflated. Sometimes – sometimes – you can buy wings at $1.99 a pound if you buy enough to serve Madison Square Garden at a … [Read more...]

I’ve done this article before, but it’s worth repeating. With backyard chefs bearing tongs and spatulas and heading for the grill, here’s my take on how to make the Perfect Burger. Be forewarned. This isn’t a recipe for the healthiest burger, just the tastiest. You really wouldn’t want to serve a steady diet of these burgers unless you had a death wish, but at least once this summer, indulge … [Read more...]

It’s summer – time for tuna fish salad piled high on a bed of lettuce or better yet, ladled thickly on some white bread as the centerpiece of a great sandwich. But instead of plain, old tuna salad, why not go first class and make white albacore salad? Albacore is known as white tuna while the other tunas, yellowfin, skipjack or big-eye are in the “light tuna” category. The albacore is found … [Read more...]

About a month ago, I saw a box of Blueberry Muffin Mix from Krusteaz, and knowing I had a bunch of extra blueberries, I bought the mix, added some fresh blueberries and the muffins were delicious. This week, I saw that Krusteaz made a Banana Nut Muffin Mix, and I put that in my grocery cart. My wife, Nancy, particularly enjoys muffins. Three days a week, she is up at 4:30 and off to the gym. … [Read more...]

I was a bachelor for three days last week as my wife Nancy abandoned me to spend time with her sisters-in-law in Jacksonville. She had a great time and I had some great meals. When Nancy goes out of town, it gives me the opportunity to cook some of my favorite dishes – things she finds objectionable. Things like veal. When Nancy was a little girl, her family lived on a cattle farm and she … [Read more...]

At some point during the life of an average man – and assuming the average man does a little cooking – it will become necessary to boil an egg. Boiling an egg is not rocket science. You put the egg in some boiling water, give it about ten minutes and you have yourself a hard-boiled egg. Hard-boiled eggs are useful in dishes like deviled eggs, which are really not all that appetizing unless the … [Read more...]

I found myself with an entire quart of fresh blueberries. I had planned on making my “Blueberry Stuff” cobbler for company, but changed my mind. Then, to think that my wife Nancy and I would have to eat all that cobbler by ourselves – with weigh gain to follow - I decided to make a few blueberry muffins instead, using half of the blueberries. Prowling through the baking aisle at Kroger’s, a box of … [Read more...]

What if I invited you to dinner and said we were having ‎”Foies de Volaille.” That sounds good, you may say. But what if I said we are actually having chicken livers. Maybe not so good, you might respond. Folks either love “‎Foies de Volaille” or they hate them. When it comes to chicken livers, there is no middle ground. If you happen to enjoy ‎”Foies de Volaille”, I stumbled across an … [Read more...]

Summer is grilling time – burgers, dogs, steaks, chicken, ribs, green beans. Green beans? Why not? Start with fresh green beans and make sure they are not those that are seemingly coated in a light film of wax. That’s some kind of preservative and those beans taste like – well, bad stuff. Get fresh, crisp string beans, about 8 whole beans per serving. After washing the beans, dry them on a … [Read more...]