If you’ve spent any time at the Chef Hacker Kitchen website or YouTube page you may know that I have an early model Ducane Grill that I absolutely love. I bought it in 1997 and I’ve been using it several times a week, winter and summer, for the last 25 plus years! But what I…
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Easter Wheat Pie
My Great Aunt Mary served me a slice of this delicious pie many years ago and when I asked her for the recipe she handed me what looked like a business card with a short list of ingredients written on it. She told me that the hardest part of the recipe is finding the wheat…
Matzo Ball Soup With A Greek Diner Hack
I love to eat at diners. Fresh coffee in ceramic mugs. Hard top tables, booths and counters. Pastries on display under plasti-glass domes. Authentic gum chewing servers. Menus that have multiply pages of breakfast lunch and dinner items that can be had anytime of the day or night. What is not to like? Whenever I…
Roast Leg Of Lamb
Is there a roast that engenders more passion than a leg of lamb? I think not. People seem to either love it or hate it. Why Is That? I don’t really know but I do have a couple of suspicions that I feel have high odds of being correct. The first is, that some folks…
Lets Explore Mirepoix!
A lot of cooking is elemental. That is, finished dishes are often made by taking ingredients that have already been prepared and combining them with additional ingredients or preparations. One simplest of examples is Spaghetti and Meatballs. Perhaps you would first mix, roll and fry the meatballs. Next you might cook the tomato sauce. After…
Rice Pilaf: An Easy-To-Make Classic Side Dish
Not only is this is classic and versatile side dish quick and easy to make. It’s also delicious and universally appreciated. Over the years I’ve made it for family and friends of many different social and ethnic backgrounds and I can say with certainty that everyone has enjoyed it. In fact, when I entertain I…
Green Bean And Fresh Mixed Vegetable Casserole
I’ve always liked the Green Bean Casserole dish that many families make as part of their holiday dinners. I also have come to understand that people who enjoy this side dish seem to fall into two separate camps – those who prefer it made with canned cut green beans and others who insist that only…
Prime Ribs of Beef Au Jus
People my age love Prime Rib. The main reason is, of course, that it is a delicious and satisfying dish especially when paired with a dry red wine and potatoes. A second reason, I think is because folks born around the time that I was grew up during what I call “The Golden Age of…
North Central Pennsylvania Greens and Beans
When I was a child my Mom used to make a dish in the Italian Peasant style that we called Escarole and Beans and she would always refer to it as ‘Scadol and beans”, effecting a slight and endearing Italian accent that always made me think of her grandmother. Her version had a clear broth.…
Your Server Will Not Be Right Over
I had lunch at a local diner yesterday. I’ve been there before. In fact, I’ve been there many times over a period of almost 30 years. On my first visit to the property I dined in a traditional looking diner car that may have served as the artist’s model for a Rockwell painting. Several years…