Lugaru
Sous Chef
What do you make better than other people you know? What dishes do you get complimented on time and time again? I dont use this term lightly in my own cooking but there are about 3 things that I feel pretty hard to beat at...
For example my roomie's specialty is "man food". He's not afraid to throw cheese, sausage and spices into every thing he makes (imagine meatloaf with chunks of cheddar and pepperoni or chilli with sausage and steak). Usually this style of careless cooking is really bad but it almost always works out great for him. He also makes this really good salad with bleu cheese chunks, italian dressing and craisins.
Here's mine:
Fried rice: when I was insanely poor and all I ate was rice I learned how to turn two cups of uncooked rice and one egg into something really special thanks to some research I did into proper technique. Usually it will be firm, not greasy at all and each individual grain will stand on it's own even after you've let it sit for a day.
Beans: I never thought much of it but at least 10 people have told me they didint like beans before they tasted mine. The best thing I make with them would probably be my bean dip using regular beans, black beans, a very spicy ranchero sauce, grated cheese and sour cream. It's a really american bean dip but man it's good. I think the secret to this is understanding that beans themselves can be really good when done right and in Mexico I had some very elegant dishes where beams where the spotlight (like beans in mole).
Rosti: I was making this a few dozen times a day when I worked at a reastaurant and got to a point where I was far better than any one in my station. Now at home I use cheap, starchy potatoes to get a very solid cake and I never flip it until needed to make sure each side is REALLY golden and crusty. Usually it dosent need anything more than a touch of salt and pepper but I do make a dijon white sauce that really makes it great.
So what are your specialties?
For example my roomie's specialty is "man food". He's not afraid to throw cheese, sausage and spices into every thing he makes (imagine meatloaf with chunks of cheddar and pepperoni or chilli with sausage and steak). Usually this style of careless cooking is really bad but it almost always works out great for him. He also makes this really good salad with bleu cheese chunks, italian dressing and craisins.
Here's mine:
Fried rice: when I was insanely poor and all I ate was rice I learned how to turn two cups of uncooked rice and one egg into something really special thanks to some research I did into proper technique. Usually it will be firm, not greasy at all and each individual grain will stand on it's own even after you've let it sit for a day.
Beans: I never thought much of it but at least 10 people have told me they didint like beans before they tasted mine. The best thing I make with them would probably be my bean dip using regular beans, black beans, a very spicy ranchero sauce, grated cheese and sour cream. It's a really american bean dip but man it's good. I think the secret to this is understanding that beans themselves can be really good when done right and in Mexico I had some very elegant dishes where beams where the spotlight (like beans in mole).
Rosti: I was making this a few dozen times a day when I worked at a reastaurant and got to a point where I was far better than any one in my station. Now at home I use cheap, starchy potatoes to get a very solid cake and I never flip it until needed to make sure each side is REALLY golden and crusty. Usually it dosent need anything more than a touch of salt and pepper but I do make a dijon white sauce that really makes it great.
So what are your specialties?
