Mascarpone Stuffed Pork Chops with a Port Wine Sauce

Me: First time making it. Easy peasy. Maybe a little too much pepper in the port wine sauce. More or less just like Mom's. Really nothing to it. Delicious but expensive for how little work there is to it. Should have used toothpicks to hold the stuffing inside.

Bob: Arg, too much pepper!

Tab: Amazing.

Zelda the Princess: I literally licked the port wine sauce from the bottom of the pan and was appeased. The mortals will live a day longer and I'm beginning to like the fat one.

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

• 8 oz. mascarpone
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 6 oz pancetta, or bacon, chopped (after cooking)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp. thyme, minced
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup chives, diced

Emeril's ESSENCE:

• 2½ Tbl. paprika
• 2 Tbl. salt
• 2 Tbl. garlic powder
• 1 Tbl. cracked black pepper
• 1 Tbl. onion powder
• 1 Tbl. cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbl. dried oregano
• 1 Tbl. dried thyme

Port Wine Sauce:

• 750ml Tawny Port Wine
• 1 Tbl. butter
• ½ cup shallots, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. thyme, minced
• Roux
• Butter
• Flour
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)
• Chicken stock (optional)

• (4 to 5) - Thick-cut Pork Chops. NOTE: These are best to purchase from a butcher, and if you do so you may request that they cut a pocket inside of them which will make this recipe all the easier. If you purchase these without a pocket then you will have to make one yourself. 
• Olive oil

Notes:

There is really nothing to this recipe. You're going to fry some bacon, caramelize some onions, and then mix them into a stuffing. The Port Wine sauce takes quite a while to completely reduce, at least 30-45 minutes. The recipe serves very well with a Spinach Salad and a good bottle of wine! 

"Caramelizing onions (for the stuffing) takes awhile, so I'll start by frying my bacon. Once that's cooking I'm going to brown the shallots and then begin reducing the wine, because that takes awhile, too. Then I'm free to mix the ESSENCE together, sear the pork chops and then stuff them once they're cool. Toothpicks or kitchen string will make sure the stuffing doesn't run. I can throw these in the oven and bake them whenever the sauce is ready. This is easy." - Game Planning

Technique:

 

Stuffing: 

1. Preheat skillet and place bacon fat side down, allowing to brown.
2. Cook bacon until crispy on medium high heat. Remove to paper towel.
3. Add diced onion to bacon fat and allow to caramelize. Add thyme and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Chop bacon and add to onions. Stir until even and remove from heat.
5. Place a colander over a plate and dump contents of skillet into colander. Allow oil to drain.
6. Once oil has drained transfer mixture to a large bowl and add mascarpone cheese and chives, stirring until mixture is evenly blended. 

 

Pork Chops: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix ESSENCE spices together in a small bowl and blend completely. 
3. Evenly apply ESSENCE to both sides of the pork chops, pressing spices in gently.
4. Preheat skillet to medium high heat.
5. When hot lightly coat bottom of pan with olive oil and then sear pork chops until golden on both sides. NOTE: You are not cooking the pork chops when you sear them, you are just giving the outside a nice brown crust. They will be cooked fully when they are baked in the oven.
6. Once cool, stuff pork chops. Yes, use your hands. NOTE: You must, must make sure that the pocket has been cut before you sear or you will not be able to stuff them!
7. (optional) Use toothpicks to close stuffing pocket, or kitchen string.
8. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Port Wine Sauce:

1. Preheat pan to medium heat.
2. Add butter and allow to melt completely.
3. Add shallots, stirring frequently, and increasing temperature slightly and allowing to gently brown. Salt and pepper gently to taste.
4. Add garlic. 
5. Continue to stir until garlic is lightly golden.
6. Increase temperature, stirring constantly.
7. Add entire bottle of  port wine. Bring to boil. Add thyme.
8. Reduce temperature and allow to reduce for minimum of 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
9. Bring up to boil and begin to slowly add the roux, while stirring aggressively. There is no need to add too much, too quickly. Add a little, allow it to cook in, continue to stir and then add more if necessary. Sauce should coat the back of the spoon.
10. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. 
11. Spoon on top of pork chops when they are hot out of the oven.

Roux:

1. Bring chicken stock to boil. A cup should do. If you use too much it will go to waste, but we aren't using measurements here. Traditionally a roux is simply flour and butter, but here I prefer to add chicken stock. Bring it boil. Yes, you need to use a separate pan.
2. Add 2 Tbl. butter. You may have to add more. Allow to melt.
3. Begin to slowly add flour, stirring it in aggressively. If you add too much, you will need more butter, or more chicken stock. If you don't add enough, it will not be thick enough.
4. Add just a skosh of Balsamic vinegar. Seriously, just a little spoonful. 
5. Cook on medium high and stir constantly allowing to thicken, then reduce and remove from heat.

Want to see more? Check out the imgur album!

How to Use a Knife

In the beginning this is going to be your biggest challenge in the kitchen. Knives are dangerous, you can and will cut yourself if you cook often. Burns, too.

There are a variety of cooking gloves and other assortments that are designed to make this step in the adventure safer. While most sources might suggest using these products, I would not.

Over time a knife will feel second nature in your hand. It is large but easily controlled. You will hold it delicately, but firmly. They are feminine and elegant, and when it's in your hand you're about to do some serious business in the kitchen. For many recipes, the vast bulk of the work will be accomplished like this, with a knife in your hand. If you are cooking a large recipe, such as a Bolognese, you will be spending three to four hours chopping, dicing, and mincing.

The alpha and the omega for knife safety is being very careful of the fingers on your free hand. If you hold a knife properly then the hand that is holding it should never be at risk.

Maintaining a constant vigilance for the fingers on your other hand and ensuring that they are never under the blade, or in the path of a slice is easiest if you learn how to handle a knife properly.

If you're worried about your fingers get a glove. I find that they reduce my sensitivity to the blade, and as a result worry that I might injure myself more easily by wearing one.

Never apply force downward unless you have a firm grip with your free hand. If you look at the picture above you see the end of an onion. As this final piece gets smaller and smaller it will become harder and harder to hold upright, and you will have to put your knife closer and closer to your fingers to keep any amount of control.

Are you trying to force control over the knife?

That's how accidents happen. It isn't important to slice an onion perfectly. Lay that last piece down and just "run the knife" back and forth and chop it into little bits. What's that? You want the onions in narrow strips? No problem, then just run the knife across it once and cut it down into thin little strips.

Using a knife is more about function than about style when it comes to safety.

Notice how the tips of the fingers are curled slightly in? The knuckles act as a barrier. When the hand is "feeding" the knife they touch the blade and prevent the fingers from getting underneath the blade. Your other hand is holding the knife and moving down, "rolling" the blade down onto the cutting board.

 

Notice how the knife is being brought up and not down. If too much force is used and the knife breaks through the skin of the apple then where will it go? Nowhere. Into the empty space in front of the chest. See how the blade is facing if that happens? You have a lot of control. If you were going down and that same thing happened look at what could happen: Fingertips are suddenly in the way of the business end of the knife. If not those, then your knee, or a person in front of you. It's much easier to bring a knife down then it is to bring it up. This is a much more controlled cut than moving the blade down. Just be careful of that thumb!

See? Nice smooth downward motion, cutting the onion into manageable slices and keeping them uniform.

Then one more time, cutting the onion down into nice uniform pieces. Remember if whatever you're cutting starts to fall apart then do not risk cutting yourself just to save a little time.

Keep your free hand clear and use it to guide the blade. "Run the knife" through several times until whatever you're cutting is chopped finely enough.

Different recipes will call for different cutting styles. If you are uncomfortable with something you're doing then either ask for help or Google for a picture/video! Don't be afraid of the knife. Just relax and work carefully. There's no gold medal for getting done with your prep early, and if you're that worried about finishing your recipe on time then consider how dinner is going to be served if you're in the emergency room. 

Cuban Deep-fried Stuffed Mashed Potatoes

Me: The gravy was a bit much but it worked. Really went well with the mashed potatoes and biscuits. Had an oddly spicy "comfort food" feel to it. Not satisfied with sausage gravy as being a suitable dipping sauce... next time will try something with cilantro. Mint? Brown Sugar? Think it came out better last time using a Sriracha marinade that I made for cooking a pork shoulder. Maybe I'll add cilantro to that... and make it creamy. Lemongrass? Mango & Habanero?

Bob: Arg, sausage gravy doesn't go with potatoes! It's too much starch. But, I ate as many as I could! Arg, the biscuits were delicious, too!

Tab: The sausage gravy was my idea. Moving forward any attempt to make this dish sans sausage gravy will be compared to my very own recipe: Papas Rellenas de Tab. But, I've never made sausage gravy or Cuban Deep-fried Mashed Potatoes before. Fuck you, I could make them if I wanted. I'm a boss!

Zelda the Princess: Woof, woof. I ate it. I eat everything.

Ingredients:

Mashed Potatoes:

• Red skin potatoes
• 3 egg yolks
• ~1/2 cup heavy cream, or milk
• 3 Tbl. butter
• 4 cloves garlic, whole
• 1 tsp. cumin (optional)
• 2 tsp. oregano(optional)
• 2 Tbl. cracked black pepper
• Kosher salt, to taste

Picadillo:

• 1 lb. ground sirloin, or round
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. red pepper
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. Sriracha
• 2 Tbl. cracked black pepper
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup pimento stuffed olives, drained & chopped
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 lime (optional)
• Capers, to taste (optional)
• Raisins, to taste (optional)

Misc:

• Bread crumbs
• All purpose flour
• Vegetable oil
• Eggs

Sausage Gravy:

• 1 lb. breakfast sausage
• 1 McCormick sausage flavored country gravy packet, or similar brand.
• Spices, to taste.

Biscuits:

• Pillsbury Grands! Mini Biscuits
• Honey
• Brown Sugar

Notes:

Just relax. I know that looks like a ton of things, and this is supposed to be a beginners blog, but trust me. This is easy! You're basically cooking four different things, that are all easy to cook, and then putting them together at the end.  The biscuits and gravy are premade! All you're doing is making some mashed potatoes, and frying up some ground beef with some spices. No. Big. Deal.

Despite how many items you see on this list, it is actually an incredibly cheap dish to make that will only cost you about $20 once you have a well stocked spice cupboard and it has a great yield that will serve 10. Just relax, write a list, and make sure you have everything you need and aren't going to run out in the middle of cooking. You may choose to make this over two days, cooking the beef & potatoes on one day, and then coming back to fry them the next day.

You may also desire to increase the amount of spices used. I tend to go a bit heavier as I enjoy spicier foods, but be careful if you are a novice. It is always easy to add more at the end to make it spicier and you don't want to ruin your dish by over-spicing it early on. This is particularly sage advice when it comes to using salt!

I find it helpful to peel, cut, and separate everything I need for a recipe before I actually start cooking. So in this case what I would do is peel the potatoes and clean the garlic, organize my ingredients for the mashed potatoes, then chop the onions, garlic, and olives and organize the ingredients for cooking the beef.

Ideally you want to be cooking the potatoes and beef at the same time, but if this is too much for you then don't worry. Just do one at a time starting with the potatoes.  

"Right, so, all I'm doing here is making mashed potatoes and browning up some beef. Then I'm going to put them both in the refrigerator, and when they're cool roll them out into balls and deep-fry them. Sausage gravy and biscuits both come in a package, they're easy, I can do those last or skip them entirely if I want. This is going to be a piece of cake." - Game Planning

"All I have to do is cut up an onion, garlic, and some olives? That should take about 20 minutes to do, I'll fill the stock pot with water now and put it on the heat now to save time. This is going to be simple. I know how to season beef and make mashed potatoes." - Game Planning

"I wonder how long it's going to take to refrigerate the potatoes and beef before I can roll them into balls? This might take longer than I thought. Maybe I'll leave them in the fridge overnight and make this for dinner tomorrow. I'll order a pizza tonight." - Game Planning

Technique:

Mashed Potatoes:

1. Peel and cut potatoes into quarters. The more the merrier, just so long as you have a pot big enough to cook them all in. If not, use two.
2. Peel your garlic! 
3. Clean the garlic further by cutting the ends off four cloves. No big deal, just cut a thin slice off the top and bottom to get rid of the "icky" parts. Keep whole.
4. Fill stock pot with enough water to completely submerge poatoes and add garlic. 
5. Place on high heat and boil until cooked fully. About 15 to 20 minutes. TIP: Poke the potatoes with a fork. If it can stick through easily, like it's a baked potato, then it's finished. PROTIP: Put the water on boil while you peel and quarter your potatoes, then add them straight into the boiling water. This saves time!
6. Drain water. If you've never done this before, fear not! Put a colander in the sink and just pour the potatoes into it. After the water has drained you can dump the potatoes back in. TIP: If you don't have a colander then just relax, put a kitchen glove on and grab a plate (or use the lid) - place it on top of the pot and then tilt it over the sink and let the water drain. Retain the garlic.
7. Add the butter, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, egg yolks and milk.
8. Mash! TIP: Do not do this in the colander. Either do it in the pot that they were cooked in, or a large bowl. For this particular recipe it does not matter if they are chunky or smooth, although for the Holidays this is something that you're going to want to pay attention to.
9. Cover and place in fridge to cool. TIP: Throw it in the freezer if you want to move things along quickly!  

NOTE: How to separate egg yolks! Save the egg whites for later!

Picadillo:

1. Preheat your skillet. TIP: Place skillet onto burner and turn on to medium heat and leave for several minutes. The goal is for the pan to be hot enough for the Maillard reaction to take place.
2. Very lightly drizzle some oil into the bottom of the pan and make sure it is evenly spread and thin.
3. Add package of ground beef. Do not break apart. Turn up heat and let sit for approximately 1 minute (more if pan is not properly heated, less if pan is overheated) or until there is a light brown crust. Flip and repeat.
4. Begin breaking up the ground beef using a wooden spoon and turning constantly. As the water content of the beef begins to evaporate you will want to reduce the temperature of the burner. NOTE: In the last step you turned the heat up because when you added the beef to the pan it brought the pan's temperature down and you wanted to turn the heat up to make sure the pan stays a nice uniform temperature. In this step you are turning it down for the same reason. This is part of the "art" of cooking.
   
5. Season beef with the cumin, chili powder, red pepper, black pepper, oregano, salt, and paprika. Continuing stirring on high heat until lightly browned.
6. Turn up the heat and add the onions. Repeat the technique describe above between steps 3 & 4 and turn the heat down once the water content from the onions is mostly removed.
7. Add garlic & chopped olives. Continue browning on low heat and allowing all of the water/juices to evaporate. Stir regularly. Add capers & raisins if using them.
8. Increase the temperature and get the pan hot while stirring constantly. When sizzling add the wine and cook on high until boiling. Reduce to medium heat and allow wine to almost completely cook off.
9. Add warm water to tomato paste (in a bowl) and stir until thick. Increase temperature again and stir vigorously while adding tomato product to beef. Continue stirring until well blended and then reduce temperature to low. NOTE: If you are using a fattier type of meat you may want to drain the excess oil in the pan before mixing in the tomato product. Conversely speaking if you are using a very lean type of beef you may wish to add a small amount of water during step #5.
10. Add Sriracha and continue to stir being careful not to scrape the bottom of the pan. Allow to simmer on low until the tomato product has reduced to the desired thickness OPTIONAL: Add 1 bay leaf and stir in small amounts of the brine from the jar of olives and allow to simmer for at least one hour.
11. Remove from heat and squeeze the juice from half of a lime over the beef before putting in the refrigerator to cool. Beef should have the consistency of a Sloppy Joe recipe.

Rolling: 

1. When cool to touch remove the potatoes and picadillo from the refrigerator.
2. Take a small amount of mashed potatoes in the palm of your hand and begin to roll into a ball, flattening it out into a round pancake that is evenly thick. 
3. Take a smaller amount of beef and place it into the center of the potato, working it together tightly.
4. Fold the potato up around the beef and begin to roll. Do not worry if some of the beef reaches the surface of the ball.
5. Refrigerate until cool (optional, if necessary) 
6. Roll in flour.
7. Submerge in mixture of egg whites and milk.
1. See imgur album at the end of this post. Just take your egg whites, splash in some milk, and whisk it up. Or don't use the egg whites! Just use milk! Or whisk up a few whole eggs and use the yolks. It doesn't matter!
8. Roll in breadcrumbs.
9. Refrigerate until cool (optional, if necessary) 

Biscuits & Gravy:

1. Follow directions on respective packages. I enjoy putting a small amount of honey, brown sugar, and oregano on the biscuits before baking them.
2. I also added 1lb of sausage to the recipe on the package. Browned identically to how the beef was cooked for the picadillo, then following the recipe afterwards. I added additional spices to this to make it spicy, specifically cumin and red pepper.

Frying:

1. Preheat skillet to medium high and fill halfway with oil.
2. When hot, fry until golden brown. Using a pair of tongs rotate and make sure that all sides are fried evenly. NOTE: Careful not to overcook. These will "melt" and become difficult to remove from the pan. Use a kitchen spoon if necessary and place on paper towels when finished. 
3. Serve.

Please see this imgur album for more pictures & information! Sorry for the crappy camera! 

Game Planning!

Right, so you now how to shop, how to use a knife and you have all the equipment that you need. So shut up and give us a recipe!

Well, just in case you're really really new here is a little info on how to make your first experience in the kitchen less stressful.

The very first thing you want to do is make sure you have all of the ingredients you're going to need, and that you have the needed equipment. One of the simplest things that a new cook will become anxious about is transferring. 

You start off cooking something in a pan, and as you add more and more ingredients to it you suddenly realize that the pan won't be big enough to finish the recipe. This is no big deal! Just transfer what you're cooking to a larger container and keep chugging along.

This is something you may want to consider before you start. 

If you only have one sauté pan and you have a lot of ingredients to sauté then you'll be cooking in batches. Anticipate this and have bowls at the ready to preserve the various ingredients as you build your recipe. 

Another handy tip in the kitchen has to do with prepping. I find it easier to prep everything before I start to cook. Cut up everything that needs to be cut up, measure it, keep it separate and then when the time comes to use it you won't need to stress out or rush. Cooking is about solving problems before they become problems and taking care of things in advance.

This keeps the whole process nice and orderly.

One final statement before the recipes start has to do with cleaning while you cook. If you're going to be in the kitchen all day and you aren't planning to clean a thing until the very end then you're going to have quite a mess to deal with. You will find that while you're cooking that you have lots of free time to do a few dishes, wipe up the counters, and sweep the floor. In a perfect world you will have a clean kitchen when you finish cooking and only the dishes from the meal to worry about afterwards.

Organize your process. Make sure you have all the ingredients and equipment that you need at hand before you start and you won't have a problem.

How to Shop

"Gourmet" cooking doesn't have to be expensive. Almost all of the recipes that you will find here will cost under $50, but much more like $20 or even cheaper if you have a well stocked kitchen, which you will have over time if cooking becomes a hobby.

You will also be amazed how you sort of know what you have and what you don't. So when you go to the grocery store it becomes easier and easier to see what's on special, think about what you have and what you don't, and then pick up a few odds and ends and make a really nice dinner without spending much money.

One of the real cruxes of any recipe that you're going to use for entertaining guests is cost. You might spend $50 but if you can feed 10 people and the quality of the food far surpasses what you could get for the same budget from a high end restaurant... well, people will quickly prefer to eat what you cook than what they can get at a restaurant.

For this first recipe there are quite a lot of ingredients, but almost all of them should be common to any kitchen that gets a lot of use. You will want to pay particular attention to your spice cupboard and any time you have a few extra dollars to spend look to see what spices are on sale.

Spices used in ethnic dishes such as cumin, or saffron, can quickly run up the cost of making a recipe however they are usually used sparingly and you will be able to make the recipe multiple times without having to purchase more.

Cooking wine is also necessary. Look for a good price on a large bottle and throw it in your pantry. Vinegar, flour, and oil are also items that you will want to purchase in advance, always keeping them on hand so that you can take advantage of sale prices.

Removing all of these items you will find beef, butter, milk, breadcrumbs, potatoes, garlic, an onion, and eggs. Olives, capers, and raisins can be completely omitted - bringing the total for a recipe like this up to approximately $20. Considering the yield was about 30... it could serve 10 people as part of a meal, or up to 15 people as an appetizer.

An added bonus is that it really isn't much work to double this recipe, and it really doesn't cost much more because you're only going to need more potatoes, and more beef. So instead of spending $20 to make a yield of 30 you could spend ~$30 to make a yield of 60, or ~$40 to make a yield of 90.

If you have milk, and butter, and eggs you can quickly see how cheap a recipe like this is, and once you get a little practice in you'll see how easy it is as well.

How to Read a Recipe

During the summer I had a chance to go down to Disney World and while there stopped in at a Cuban restaurant and had the most delicious deep-fried stuffed mashed potatoes. I had never been exposed to Cuban food specifically and decided there that I would learn this recipe and master it.

It has been about six months since my trip and I have tried this recipe on my own three times now and am really getting the hang of it. Each time they come out better than the last, and I am slowly creating my own recipe from the ones that I initially found.

So for you, the new cook... I think it's important that you see how this process works and how a more experienced cook looks at a recipe and learns how to cook something completely new. Becoming comfortable with this process is as important as learning techniques in the kitchen!

So after a week or two after getting back from my trip it came about that I was going to be spending a Saturday all by myself at home, and I wanted something to do with myself.

To someone completely inexperienced in the kitchen cooking looks like a lot of work, but to me it's a nice way to spend a day at home relaxing, working on my computer, and having a few drinks. So, as it were, I found myself having no idea how to make the recipe I wanted to cook and staring at the Google screen you see above.

I had no idea which one of these recipes were the best, or the most authentic, or the most like the ones I had on my vacation! After a little clicking around this is what I was confronted with:

http://www.tasteofcuba.com/cuban-papas-rellenas.html

http://www.thecandidappetite.com/2012/08/03/cuban-potato-balls-papas-rellenas/

http://icuban.com/food/papas.html

Three different recipes! Three different ingredient sets! Three different styles!

"I like different parts of each one! I don't want to make their recipes, I want to make the one I remember eating! The one I ate definitely had olives... but two of these recipes do not. Does that mean I should ignore them and focus only on the one that does? Wait... what's this? One of them has capers and raisins? The ones I ate definitely didn't have capers or raisins, but that sounds good..."

So right here, this is lesson number one: When you look at a recipe the first thing you do is look at the ingredients. Look up a couple different recipes and see how they differ... what do you think sounds better?

Next, you want to look at techniques. One of these recipes called for mixing egg yolks into the mashed potatoes. I've never tried that before. It sounded interesting.

Another recipe called for adding a splash of the brine from the olives to the meat.

And so on... find a few recipes that you like and compare them. See how they're different and pick the method that you desire. Unknowingly what you are doing here is making yourself familiar with the technique that you will be using. If you're going to use olives, do they get added before or after you add the onions? If Recipe #1 has olives but not onions, and Recipe #2 has onions but no olives, and if you want to incorporate both olives and onions then what are you going to do? Answer: Read the recipes, see how the onions are cooked, see how the olives are cooked, and then pick make up your mind! The worst case is that you're wrong and you learn something and improve it the next time around.

Once you know the ingredients and have a game plan for the technique the rest is easy! This is what I was left with after looking at the different recipes:

With that I was ready to go grocery shopping and get ready to start cooking!

Equipment

A lot of inexperienced cooks believe that they are prevented from a wide range of recipes because they lack the proper equipment in the kitchen. This is nonsense! My lifestyle has demanded that I move around quite a bit over the last decade of my life and the result is that I've never invested in any equipment that I would ever take with me. Each new city means an entirely new set of equipment. Having quality equipment is important, and desirable, it makes your job in the kitchen much easier to accomplish, but you can still do so much with very little.


Below you will find the essentials that you will need for any recipe found here:

1. A cutting board. This is one of the few items on this list where you will really see a difference between a cheap one and a proper one. Get something large enough to work on, and then a smaller cheap one.
2. A proper kitchen knife. Ideally two. It doesn't have to be expensive.
3. A knife sharpener.
4. A measuring cup, and measuring spoons
5. Three or four wooden spoons
6. A deep plastic ladle
7. A spatula
8. Tongs
9. A large heavy skillet
10. A lighter non-stick frying pan
11. Large stock pot
12. Medium stock pot
13. Small stock pot
14. Several baking trays
15. Large glass bowl
16. One large plastic bowl, and several smaller ones
17. A whisk
18. A colander
19. A wooden kitchen mallet
20. A potato masher
21. A vegetable peeler
22. A can opener
23. Cooking gloves or hot-pads

Couple of points:

• Don't fret! You can find just about all of this for under $100, or even much cheaper if you stop by a second hand shop.
• You do not need all of these for every recipe. You can acquire what you need to start and then add to it over time.
• Luxury items like mixers, garlic presses, and food processors are worthwhile investments once you have the bare essentials covered and you know you enjoy cooking!

Welcome!

I've never had a blog before and am excited to begin putting all of my recipes in one place. I'm sorry to say I haven't physically coded a website since the 90s so I'm sorry if this is initially difficult to read. Also, I'm limited to using the camera from my old Samsung Freeform (which I love) - So I'll apologize now for the quality of the pictures. I'll try to get better with both as time moves on but this is about the cooking, not the technology!

I was inspired to start working on this project because I am amazed at how many new techniques I am picking up on Reddit and thought that this would be a great way to incorporate those techniques into whole recipes that can benefit the novice cook.

One of my favorite hobbies is teaching people how to cook. Not how to cook better, but how to cook if they have absolutely no practical knowledge at all. It's easy, and relaxing, and anyone can do it! Unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of good quality information for that total beginner. For the guy who asks what goes on a BLT. We've all worked with them. Hell, I used to be one. Kind of still am.

I am not a "chef" and there will be countless methods that you will encounter that are better than mine (make sure you email them to me, because I want to know!) - But while better methods may be available these methods do work and the final product, with patience and effort, will allow you to succeed.

Most of the recipes you will encounter here will be designed around entertaining. Having guests over and cooking for them. Effort is involved. It may take several times before you really know what you're doing. Remember: Cooking is as much an art as it is a science. Keep a cool level-head and use common sense. Mistakes can be (usually) covered up and even if your endeavor is a totally inedible disaster you will learn from your mistakes and get better. You can do this!