Ben Cooks Everything

A dinner of soup was in order when I started to feel a cold coming on last week. I have a theory, based on virtually no empirical evidence or research, that ginger and garlic are homeopathic remedies, so this variation on How to Cook Everything’s Noodle Soup recipe jumped out at me. Bulked up with chinese noodles and plenty of veggies, it’s a meal in itself. (more…)

Gorging during the holiday season left me feeling like I needed a nice, light vegetarian dinner. I settled on Stir-Fried Tofu with Scallions. Bittman prefaces this recipe by saying you can start with firm or extra firm tofu, or use any of the methods of preparing it in the book, including Baked Tofu. Which entails brushing tofu with some soy sauce (optional) and baking it for an hour or so. (more…)

This is one of those sneaky recipes that masquerades as a green vegetable even though it’s mostly cheese and cream. Oh well. (more…)

My Grandma Ruth is an incredible cook, but when asked for a recipe, she’ll often claim not to know how to make it. Stuffed cabbage? Brisket? Potato latkes? Grandma claims she works from a cookbook for all these dishes despite having made them hundreds of times. It’s true, in a way, but there must be things she does between the lines of the recipes, things that I could gleam from watching her cook. It was with that in mind that I volunteered to help make the latkes for our Hanukkah party this year at Grandma’s house. (more…)

So, this is basically scrambled eggs, leftover pasta and cheese (I also stirred in some tomato sauce), mixed together and cooked like any other frittata: cooked slowly on the stove, finished with a quick spin under the broiler. It’s a filling, starchy brunch dish that not only uses up leftovers but also can feed a crowd pretty nicely. (more…)

As is now a Ben Cooks Everything tradition, here’s a late recap of what happened over Thanksgiving, well after everyone’s moved on.

Much has been made of stuffing around here. This year I finally perfected my own recipe, building from Bittman’s, which builds on James Beard’s. But mine never could have come together without the help of Maggie Hoffman, of Serious Eats and Pithy & Cleaver fame. See, I wanted to incorporate chicken liver into my stuffing. I made a number of test batches, once of which had diced livers in it as Bittman suggests in a variation on the stuffing recipe in How to Cook Everything. The thing is, even though I diced the liver finely, it was still overbearing when you got a chunk of it. Even for me, an avid liver lover, it was too much. What Maggie suggested is what I ended up doing: sautee the livers whole with the onions and celery, then remove, puree with some stock, and add this along with the rest of the stock in the recipe. You get a hearty, rich liver flavor without ever biting down on a big chunk, and people who claim not to like liver are none the wiser.

It’s a peculiar feeling, but a nice one, knowing you’ve just tricked your whole family into eating liver. (more…)

Potato leek soup, red beans cooked orange, and roasted root vegetables are all done. Just waiting for the last of the stuffing–I did finally figure out my perfect recipe, which I’ll post later this weekend–to finish baking off and we’ll pile it all in the car and head to my aunt’s place. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Oh, and if you’re scrambling, check out the Diner’s Journal and food52 helplines! The food52 option, foodpickle, is especially exciting as it’s totally crowdsourced. Ask or advise, your choice. (more…)

Are you pumped? I am pumped. I thought I’d hit you all with a bit of a roundup of Thanksgiving coverage from here, from Bittman, and from around the web. (more…)

Okay, we need to talk about a different cookbook for a minute.

Last month saw the release of The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century, and it’s a huge, fascinating monster of a thing, weighing in at almost five pounds and over 900 pages. Amanda Hesser and her team have put together the most comprehensive review of over a century of culinary culture. (more…)

Last year, I brought stuffing to Thanksgiving after many attempts to get it right. Which was great, because it meant eating a ton of stuffing, and even the worst stuffing I’ve ever had was pretty good, you know? (more…)