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…
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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…
Tomato Basil Mushroom Bisque – A Pantry Rescue!
Those of you who regularly read this blog or spend any time watching the videos at the Chef Hacker Kitchen Youtube channel probably enjoy the process of cooking. The tactile sensation you get when slicing through vegetables or meats. The sizzling sound when adding food to a hot pan. The aromas that fill your kitchen…
HackRib Sandwich
My culinary adventures have had me working in high end restaurants, factory cafeterias and local pubs. I’ve been a carny food booth cook, a tavern owner and a church hall pasta dinner worker. I’ve attended chef school, done menu consulting and advised more than one budding restaurateur. On the consumption side I’ve enjoyed wonderful dinners…
Baked Macaroni And Cheese
Mac and Cheese, once the staple of many a latch-key child, has gotten hip in the last 10 or so years. This uber-carb entree most associated with low cost and the blue and white box has even become the featured item on many a restaurant’s menu. There is even a pub not far from Chef…
Is This The Best Way To Use A Recipe?
Years ago, I was talking about the then current high levels of unemployment with a person who was not aware that I trained at the Culinary Institute of America or that I had already worked for several years in the hospitality industry. He mentioned that he didn’t understand why people would want to apply for…
Asian Pork Chop Soup
It’s a funny name for a soup. Don’t you think? Let me tell you about it. I worked in a restaurant in central New Jersey called “The McAteers”. Most of the kitchen maintenance staff – the dish and pot washers and porters, as well as the dinning room bus staff were from China. These men…
Stone Soup – From Just A Few Scraps
In the mid 1960’s when I was 6 or 7 years old I attended St Michael’s Catholic School in Union City, New Jersey. We had a class activity called “Library” and it involved walking as a group from our classroom to the school’s library room where we were free to select a book to borrow…