November 30, 2021
Honey Butter
Had a few minutes free so thought I’d whip up some Honey Butter. Rather than use a pound of butter and a stand mixer, I just used a single stick and mixed it in a bowl with a fork.
Tried it on some toast and it’s amazing. Going to try it on some mashed sweet potatoes next, and then some pancakes this weekend. It’s delicious!
November 28, 2021
Turkey Soup
I wanted to get into Season Three right after Thanksgiving in order to have the raw materials for Bird to the Last Drop a.k.a. Good Eats turkey soup. I’m so glad I got the timing right, because this soup was so easy to make and so delicious.
Everyone loved it, served with some cut up Italian bread and butter. I just wish the recipe made more – next time will probably try adding another 32oz container of vegetable stock.
November 25, 2021
Pear & Blueberry Tart
I had a feeling I might save a dessert for the last recipe in Season Two. So here I was with only No Pan Pear Pie left, and it just so happened to be Thanksgiving. That was just a coincidence, but a happy one – I was able to serve this with Thanksgiving dinner, and the reviews were great. The tart was sweet but not too sweet like some of the pies we had. It was nice and balanced, and the crust was amazing.
Even though I didn’t get it to look as great as Alton did on the show, the taste made up for its funny looks.
Reflections on Season Two
Season Two started off with a whimper, in the form of a fruitcake. However, I’m really glad I started with that because I would have just been dreading it the whole time.
As I started off the season, we were a bit underwhelmed by some of the recipes. The meatloaf was a bit too spicy, the stuffed mushrooms were good but not mind blowing, and I was expecting way more from the ribs.
But as we approached the latter end of the recipes, we hit on a bunch of 5-rated ones. The fish and chips were awesome, and this will be the only way I ever make shrimp cocktail from here on. I’m not sure I’ll ever make this pear tart again, but I’m really glad I did.
I did rush a little bit through the end, though, because I wanted to make sure I was on Season Three after Thanksgiving to get to the recipes from Remains of the Bird using our leftovers. Mission accomplished, now let’s see what Season Three has in store…
November 23, 2021
Fon-don’t
Well the Fondue Vudu wasn’t so great. Rather than coming together as a nice, smooth cheese sauce, it turned into a clumpy and often stringy mess. The flavor was OK but not good enough to make us ignore the consistency. It’s too bad because I had prepared a lot of great stuff to dip into it – summer sausage, roasted baby potatoes, bread chunks, and blanched broccoli.
November 21, 2021
Shrimp Cocktail
Made The Shrimp Cocktail for a pre-dinner snack tonight and it was awesome. The brine made the shrimp salty and sweet, and broiling cooked them to perfection. The cocktail sauce was tangy, sweet, and spicy.
A real crowd pleaser – both Gemma and Vivian loved it. This is how I’m going to prepare shrimp cocktail from now on.
November 20, 2021
Fish and Chips
We’re getting close to the end of Season Two, so I’m starting in on the recipes that I’ve been procrastinating on for one reason or another. Tonight it was Chips and Fish, which I’d been putting off because, well, frying is kind of scary.
Turns out, while it did make a huge mess and took quite a while, the fries and the fish were both fantastic. The fries were crispy with a nice fluffy inside, the fish batter was light and crispy, and the fish itself was flaky and delicious.
There was a moment at the beginning where I thought I’d screwed up the fries, because I misread or misremembered the recipe and thought the fries were blanched at 220, not 320. I didn’t realize that until I had finished them, so I washed them off and dried them again, then started over. Fortunately it didn’t seem to make a difference and the fried were great.
We served the meal with some homemade tartar sauce, which went like this:
- 1/4 C mayo
- 2 dill gherkins, finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried dill
- Squirt of lemon juice
- Pinch of sugar
- Pinch of kosher salt
It was a great compliment to a delicious meal!
November 16, 2021
Blueberry Jam
I made up the Spiced Blueberry Jammin’, canned it in the way AB shows in the episode, cooled the jars and … didn’t seem to get a vacuum on the lids. Not exactly sure why, though I might have second guessed myself because I came back later and the lids didn’t “pop” anymore. However, I had already opened them out of curiosity so they definitely lost any kind of “preserved” that they had.
The jam itself though was pretty good. I don’t usually use a lot of jams and jellies normally, and I’d probably choose strawberry if I did, so even though this was a good experience to learn the basics of preserving, probably won’t make it again.
File this one under: I get the idea.
November 04, 2021
Banana Splits
Banana Splitsville is really three recipes in one. I started by making the doodads and the caramel sauce during my lunch break.
As you can see, at first I tried while the caramel was too hot (upper left) and ended up with lumps. As it cooled I got better doodads (the paper on the right). They were a little crunchy and stick to your teeth. Then I made the caramel sauce. I don’t think I waited long enough to see smoke (maybe it was steam, or my eyes playing tricks on me?) but it didn’t seem to matter because I got it to a boil and everything seemed (and tasted) just fine.
After dinner, I then bruleed the bananas and put it all together. I didn’t quite get the glass-like texture that Alton did in the show, and I stopped with the torch when it seemed like it was cooking the bananas (notice the browning). But, they were still sweet and a bit toasty.
The finished product doesn’t looks great (I blame my food photography) but it was really tasty, even though banana splits aren’t something I’d usually go for.
November 01, 2021
Burgers
I’ve been looking forward to grinding meat in the food processor for the Burger of the Gods. It was a cool experience, and the burger came out great, except that I definitely left too many of the gristly parts of the steak in when I cut it up. Gemma’s burger had so much gristle she couldn’t finish it, yet Vivian’s had none. I also prepared them with just salt in the burger mix, but next time I’d probably add in all the usual stuff I use (an egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic power, etc.)
I prepared mine to eat the way Alton did on the show: a toasted bun with just some mayo. It was good! But I do like my burgers with a bit more toppings and condiments. Overall though, a great burger.
October 25, 2021
Red Sauce and Popcorn
Tried out two Season Two recipes last night. First up was the Pantry Friendly Tomato Sauce. To me, this sauce was fantastic. Gemma doesn’t really care for the “roasted tomato” flavor in anything, so next time I want to try this without the broiling step – perhaps doing the whole sauce in a big skillet. Regardless, though, a really great red sauce that is easy to make.
Later on I went to B.J.’s place to watch a movie and brought with me the stuff for Plain Brown Popper. I just dressed it up with a little garlic salt and melted butter, and it was a great snack. This “recipe” is more like a method, though, which is why I rate it 0, or N/A. There’s a ton of ways to dress up and customize popcorn, and next I’ll probably try putting some clarified butter and tumeric on it.
October 19, 2021
Baked Apples
Made Baker, Baker as great dessert treat tonight, served over vanilla ice cream. These are delicious, though definitely a special treat.
They taste just like apple crisp!
October 16, 2021
Waldorf Salad
This was another one I wasn’t really excited for at first. However, the mix of flavors was pretty good. It’s a Wonderful Waldorf wasn’t exactly wonderful, but it was good nonetheless.
October 15, 2021
Good Eats Grilled Cheese
Decided to try the Big Cheese Squeeze for lunch today. Improvising a sandwich press using two cast iron pans is a pretty interesting idea:
It definitely did the trick and the sandwich was delicious.
October 12, 2021
A weekend of Good Eats
We had mostly no plans for this long holiday weekend, so I figured I’d kick off Season 2 with a bang. Did a big shopping run on Friday afternoon and then pretty much cooked all weekend. What a blast!
Friday night started off with The Fungal Saute, which we used to top some home-made pizzas.
Saturday morning I figured I’d break out the Chemex to do True Brew using the same ratios that AB does.
While sipping my coffee, I got to work on the Free Range Fruitcake using the dried fruit I had macerated in rum the night before.
I only have an 8-inch loaf pan so with the leftover batter I used a muffin tin to make 4 fruitcake muffins. In the future, this is probably the way to go. I was keeping an open mind, but after it was done it was hard to eat. Gemma’s mom thought it was edible at least, as long as you put butter on it. Neither Gemma or I could stomach it, and I ended up tossing most of the loaf, and sending the muffins home with Gemma’s mom. Will most likely never make a fruitcake again.
Saturday night we started by making That Ol’ Cap Magic as an appetizer, and they were delicious.
Dinner was Good Eats Meat Loaf with Better Than Grannie’s Creamed Corn on the side. The creamed corn was phenomenal, and it’s something I’d definitely make again, even though getting the kernels off the cobs was a bit messy.
The meat loaf was good as well, though a bit on the spicy side. It was almost like a load of taco meat, which isn’t a bad thing, but next time I’ll leave out the red pepper and chili powder. But, the glaze was awesome and gave the loaf a flavorful, crunchy crust.
Sunday night we hard pork chops and 10 Minute Apple Sauce with a side of Creamed Corn Cornbread. The apple sauce was good and complemented the grilled chops very well.
The cornbread was OK, definitely not a 2, but it was a little dry. Vivian did have a lot of fun helping me make it though!
Finally, to top the long weekend off I decided to cook up a batch of Who Loves Ya Baby-Back? ribs. They were flavorful and delicious, and cooking them with liquid was an interesting addition to the way I usually do them in the over with just a dry rub. I think if I had cooked them longer than 2.5 hours they would have been more “fall off the bone” but they were tasty nonetheless and Vivian just crushed them one after another.
And that’s it! One holiday weekend and got through almost half of Season Two!
October 05, 2021
Season One Finale - Fish in a Salt Dome
I attempted to do the Striped Bass in Salt Dome about a week ago, but after visiting all the seafood shops and supermarkets in the area (there’s like 4 or 5) I discovered that whole fish isn’t very common. So I started calling around until I found a place about 30m away that sells whole fish every day.
At first I sought out a striped bass like Alton used in the show, but then I learned that the minimum size you can buy is 35”. That’s like 18-20 pounds of fish, oh and striper is like $25 a pound. So, yeah that idea was out.
Instead I ended up with a ~3 pound haddock, which was nice size for the three of us.
I have to admit I was skeptical of this one, but in the end it turned out great (if not a tad overcooked, which was my fault not the recipe or the technique). The flavor was great, with the citrus and herbs giving the meat a great subtle flavor. Also, just to note, the fish was not salty at all.
Salt dome, pre-cook:
Cooked salt dome:
The big reveal:
And the aftermath:
Reflections on Season One
And that wraps up season one. From start to finish it took a little less than 2 and a half months.
So far the project has been really fun and I’ve cooked some stuff that I never really thought I would.
Can’t say that I was too surprised the last recipe would be the fish in the salt dome, or that three of the last four would be desserts. I started pretty fast through the recipes then slowed way down when it got to these. Season Two only has 2 or 3 desserts so hopefully I won’t have that lull at the end.
There were some great surprises in Season One though. I’ve never made biscuits, shortcake, or scones before and I don’t think I would have if it weren’t for this. Now I have these recipes in my back pocket for when I need them. Making ice cream is another skill I’m happy I’ve picked up.
For Season Two, I’m going to make sure to start earlier on the ones I’d rather put off, so I’m not dragging my feet by the end. And it’s going to start with that fruit cake…
September 26, 2021
Lava Muffins
Cooked these when our neighbors invited us over for dinner, and they were a hit! Not everyone liked the sauce with the melted ice cream and espresso powder, but everyone enjoyed the gooey chocolate muffins. Served these over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
September 18, 2021
Chocolate Mousse
I tried making the Chocolate Mousse a couple weeks ago and the attempt failed miserably. When I went to fold the whipped cream into the chocolate, I ended up with a soupy mess. I think I didn’t let the chocolate cool enough and the whipped cream melted.
This time things went much better!
Spooned it into ramekins, let it set in the fridge, then served it up with some whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
September 17, 2021
Coffee Granita
Decided to do this on a Friday since it’s extra coffee in the afternoon. Used a venti dark roast from Starbucks, some orange zest, and some Allan’s coffee brandy.
Served it up with some whipped cream and a few raspberries to top it off.
September 11, 2021
Onion Soup
Years and years ago I got an electric skillet for Christmas. Opening the gift I immediately thought of the Good Eats French Onion Soup recipe. I never found a use for the skillet, but I always kept it stashed away in the hopes that one day I’d use it for making this soup.
Today was finally the day!
I even borrowed my mom’s onion soup crocks to make it extra authentic.
This soup was really, really good. Erin said it was some of the best onion soup she’s ever had. I give it a solid 4, though probably won’t be making it again anytime soon due to the labor intensive and… pungent preparation.
September 06, 2021
Gratin
Finally got to use my mandoline slicer today and made some Potato/Portobello Gratin.
(OK, that picture doesn’t make this look too appetizing but believe me it was really delicious.)
I used the full 3/4 C of half and half like in the recipe but it looked like a little too much so I poured some off. The gratin came out really tasty, but not very “saucy”. However, there was a really good crispy crust around the edges that might not have been there with too much more liquid. Perhaps if I do this one again I’ll keep all the half and half and see how it turns out.
August 31, 2021
Scones
What I like about the quick bread recipes from the episode The Dough Also Rises is that it’s all usually stuff you’ve got on hand and they takes no time at all to make. Today I decided before dinner to whip up a half batch of Scones using dried cranberries.
August 30, 2021
Roast Beef w/ Gravy
The night before, I made a White Roux in a small skillet, using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour.
After making the roux I popped it in the fridge to use the next day. While at it, I salted a 2.5 lb top round roast and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Tonight, I cooked the roast using this recipe – all in the name of getting some pan drippings for making Gravy from Roast Drippings
The gravy was fantastic, though I believe I thickened it a little too much. Don’t believe that picture up there, it was really delicious. I don’t think I’ll ever let pan drippings go to waste again.
August 19, 2021
Strawberry Shortcake Parfait
Googling something along the lines of “what do I do with lemon curd” brings you eventually to this Strawberry Shortcake & Lemon Curd Parfaits recipe.
The great thing about this idea is that I could use both the Lemon Curd and the Shortcake recipes from season one, all in one dessert.
Basically, you layer shortcake/lemon curd/strawberries twice, and then top it all off with some whipped cream. It’s amazingly delicious.
August 15, 2021
Power the Pilaf
I’ve been looking forward to making AB’s Rice Pilaf and today I figured I’d bring all the stuff down to my folks’ place and make it along with our dinner. Served it with some grilled chicken and veggies. Everyone loved it – will definitely do rice this way again.
August 14, 2021
Sawmill Gravy
Sawmill Gravy a.k.a. sausage gravy, has been a camping staple for us for years, though it’s always been Dan who makes it. This was my first attempt at it, and I’m so glad I know how to make it now. Will definitely pull this one out some time again.
August 13, 2021
Key Lime Sorbet
Not much to say about the Key Lime Sorbet – I guess we’re not really sorbet fans, so this wasn’t really our cup of tea.
Update: brought it to my parents’ place the next day and my parents and my sister seemed to like it a lot, though, so it’s not going to go to waste.
August 12, 2021
Southern Biscuits
Getting into the latter half of season one, this is where I’m starting to get farther out of my comfort zone. I don’t typically do baked goods, doughs, pastries, etc. and Alton sprinkles a lot of them throughout the series. That’s good though, it’s one of the reasons I’m doing this in the first place!
Today was Southern Biscuits from the episode “The Dough Also Rises”.
But with a small twist. The other night at dinner, Gemma and I were talking about this project and given that she prefers to eat gluten-free, she asked if I could try some of these recipes GF. So, for these biscuits I made two half-batches: one with regular AP flour, and the other with gluten free replacement flour.
On the left: with gluten, on the right: gluten free. Not pictured: the one Vivian immediately stole and scarfed down.
The GF version was just as good as the gluten version, though the dough was a HUGE pain to work with. It never really formed into a workable dough, but I guess that makes sense because gluten is what makes doughs, um, doughy.
August 09, 2021
Broiled Butterflied Chicken & Mashers
Combined Season 1 recipes Broiled, Butterflied Chicken and Mashers for tonight’s dinner. Served them up with some sauteed spinach.
August 03, 2021
Eggs Over Easy & Serious Vanilla Ice Cream
Not in the same meal, though.
Kept the “breakfast for lunch” train rolling with some Eggs Over Easy.
Then for dessert with tonight’s dinner, we did Alton’s Serious Vanilla Ice Cream served on top of a slice of vanilla pound cake with some sliced peaches and whipped cream to top it all off.
Two 5-for-5 recipes in a day!
August 02, 2021
Pan Seared Rib Eye & Hail Caesar Salad
Dinner tonight: Pan Seared Rib Eye and Hail Caesar Salad. Put it together with some grilled sweet potato steak fries.
(I think my food photography is getting progressively worse)
August 02, 2021
Scrambled Eggs Unscrambled
Thought I’d bang out a Season 1 recipe with breakfast-as-lunch Scrambled Eggs Unscrambled
July 29, 2021
Pan Fried Fish & Pasta
Continuing on with Season 1, the next couple recipes went into tonight’s dinner:
We usually prepare pasta with just butter and cheese, but this prepartion was a good change of pace. Combined with roasted broccoli, this was a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
Like before, notes and ratings on each:
July 24, 2021
Starting Season 1
Began cooking Season 1 today!
Putting together a meal with a few recipes from the season is a good way to start on the list, so I started with:
Here are our notes and ratings for each. Check the FAQ for what the ratings mean.