I used to live near Chinatown in New York City, and the frog’s legs I’d get there were cheap and plump. People always joke that they taste like chicken, but they don’t really. They have a poultry-like texture with a faint aquatic aroma that is a tasty union of land and sea. In the same spirit, here’s a wonderful union of a classic French technique of cooking frog’s legs in brown butter merged with my love for Southeast Asian fish sauce.
Author: Chef M
For a hearty beef and vegetable chili greater than the sum of its parts, we started with well-marbled, inexpensive beef chuck-eye for its ability to become meltingly tender. We browned it for rich flavor and then stewed it until it was fork-tender. An aromatic base of garlic, cumin, chipotle, and chili powder gave our stew depth and some heat. The heat balanced out the sweetness of the potatoes and bell pepper, and mild beer added further complexity. We added some sweet potatoes in the beginning, knowing that they would break down to thicken our stew, and stirred in the beans…
With the goal of developing a no-fuss chili that would taste far better than the sum of its parts, we knew that adding the spices with the aromatics would boost their potency. Commercial chili powder, backed by cumin, coriander, cayenne, oregano, and red pepper flakes, provided plenty of spice notes and heat. For the meat, 85 percent lean ground beef gave us full, deep flavor. Using both diced tomatoes and tomato puree provided chunks of tomato and a rich, thick sauce. Adding the beans with the tomatoes ensured that they cooked enough to absorb flavor but not so much that…
Sausage and Kale, paired with lentils, is a hearty dish. Crushing the kale a little with your hands softens it and makes the texture more manageable. Leftovers can be chopped up and added to a rich chicken stock for a filling soup. This dish can also be made outdoors on a grate over a medium-high fire.
Gingerbread and brownies: What at first might sound like an unlikely pairing is actually a logical success. Chocolate and spice work well together; plus, both of these desserts have a dense, cakey chew, so we figured melding the two would be relatively easy. With so many bold ingredients we needed to find just the right balance of flavors, so we used only the most essential players: ginger and molasses from the gingerbread, and cocoa powder and melted chocolate from the brownies. (Other gingerbread additions such as cinnamon and cloves, or brownie enhancers such as espresso powder, overwhelmed these bars.) While…
We can never get enough s’more-themed desserts, so while we love our S’mores Blossom Cookies, we couldn’t resist adding another s’mores treat to our repertoire: these multilayered s’mores brownies. For a taste of the campfire, we topped the baked brownies with marshmallows and then ran the whole thing under the broiler until the marshmallows were gooey and uniformly kissed with a toasty-brown top. Because these brownies had a hefty topping, we wanted to make sure the base was particularly sturdy, so we employed the same workhorse brownie base that we used in our Rocky Road Brownies and Peanut Butter Swirl…
When you want a taste of fall, this is your recipe. You’ll love it so much that you’ll make it all year-round except maybe when summer fruits make it too hard to fathom apples. Then, make it using peaches instead. (It works!) This recipe may have just a handful of ingredients, but they carefully balance sweet and tangy, savory and bright. It’s that tension particularly between the maple syrup and cider vinegar that makes this so irresistibly delicious. If you make these pork chops frequently, you’ll get adept enough to improvise this pan sauce when cooking more affordable chicken cutlets,…