Category Archives: Mains

Here are the big boys. The heavy hitters. Main courses to build a meal around. We specialize in strong flavors and quality ingredients and not overly complicated preparation. Check ’em out.

Recipe: Porcupines (Meat Balls with Rice)

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Burnt My Fingers

I tinkered with Dorothy Crum’s very plain recipe in the Phi Beta Phi cookbook by adding the ingredients marked with a *. Makes six porcupines. Ingredients: 1 lb lean ground beef ½ c uncooked rice ½ chopped onion 1 clove … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Chef Salad

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Is it Chef Salad or Chef’s Salad? Considering its roots in the aspirational 1950s, “Chef” might have been some food writer’s idea of a descriptive adjective connoting quality—the kind of salad a chef (as opposed to a mere cook) might … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Popcorn Chicken with Real Popcorn

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

What to do with leftover movie popcorn? Here’s a mod of my General Tso’s Prawns which uses popcorn instead of (or in addition to) rice as the starch to make popcorn chicken. Serves 4. Ingredients: 3-4 c popped popcorn* 1 … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Ceviche

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Two critical decisions when making ceviche are a/whether to add oil and b/how long to let the fish “cook” in its acid bath. The answer to the first question is no. The second is a bit more nuanced. Serves 3-4 as … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Grilled Squid

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

When it’s in oil, it’s calamari. When it’s over the flame, it’s grilled squid. That’s how we roll in my house. And this is one of the easiest yet most delicious preps you’ll find. Just be sure to use a … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Steak American Pharoah

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Here’s my contribution toward the excess caused by the arrival of the Triple Crown winner to run in this weekend’s Travers Stakes. It was inspired by some ripe stone fruit and a tub of duck fat that was in danger … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Texas Schoolburgers (IMPROVED)

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

After preparing a palatable version using my recollections of school lunches in Dallas and ideas I’d found on the web, I finally bit the bullet and converted the original institutional recipe. Guess what: it is terrific. No idea why we … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Egg Foo Young

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

I had a surfeit of bean sprouts so decided to experiment with this Chinese-American classic. On the way I investigated a few options which will give you better results than mine on your own batch. Serves 4. Ingredients: 6 eggs … Continue reading →

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Recipe: “Destination” Shrimp

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Years ago I cooked at a prime rib chain called Victoria Station. Our radio tag was Johnny Cash singing “Destination… Victoria Station” in his deep tremolo, hence the name of this delicious and easy dish. We’d always have a few … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Grandma Eggplant

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Burnt My Fingers

Another Southern classic from my friend Judy Cromwell, who writes: My grandmother would cook her dinner in the morning and set it on the top shelf of the stove until it was time for the evening meal. She would make … Continue reading →

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