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…
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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…
Kale Al Fresco
It seems like it was not that long ago that Kale was used mainly as a garnish. Something that your young child might glimpse on the edge of a plate, just under a spiced apple ring, the first time they ate at a restaurant that did not have a drive through and ask you, “Do…
Cirtus Salmon
We love salmon fillets that are cooked outdoors and that is typically how we prepare them. And although I have been know to shovel a path through knee-deep snow to my old Ducane grill even before I shovel out my driveway, there are times when I just do not feel like standing shivering on my…
Corned Beef Pea Soup
On occasion, my wife and I would find ourselves near Livingston New Jersey. When those occasions occurred near lunch time we would sometimes visit a cool strip mall restaurant called Irving’s Delicatessen. What a wonderful place! Sort of a cross between a classic NY style Jewish deli and a NJ sub shop with iconic hot…
I AM a Chef AND I Play One On TV
Yes, that IS me being man-handled by Donnie Wahlberg in an episode of CBS’ TV show “Blue Bloods”. So how does something like this happen? Well, if you live in or near New York City and you want to be on Blue Bloods or several other NY area productions you can sign up with Central…