Home cooking

[ng_moonmoth]

Happy Thursday! Spouse and I are foodies, which means that whenever it's running, Thursday night belongs to Top Chef: the reality show where professional chefs, all high-level and some of them quite successful, square off in a weeks-long series of culinary challenges that allow them to showcase their skills across the entire range of what one needs to be a big-time, big-name chef -- and rewards the winner with the exposure and stake that they can use to do precisely that, if they wish. Many winners have indeed done so, while others have gone the media route and been successful there.

But today's post isn't about the show, other than using it as inspiration. Each season, the chefs are likely to face a challenge like, "Make the dish that convinced you to take up cooking as a career," or "recreate a treasured family recipe." And with lots more people doing lots more home cooking these days, I'd like to offer up a similar challenge.

What is/are your signature dish/dishes? Have you made any of them recently? Even if someone else in your household is the primary cook, there may be one or two things you make that are special; you are welcome to just share those. If making your best dish amounts to cutting things up, adding some flavors, and putting the result in a bowl, that totally counts, too. And, as an escape clause for those whose culinary skills include the ability to burn water, and the best thing they make in the kitchen is "reservations": pick exactly one dish from a restaurant you often order food from, that you wish you could make yourself.

Comments

[annofowlshire]

Once upon a time, a Lousiana-raised friend made jambalaya for me using normal American hot dogs, so I’ve started using frankfurters and liberal spicing/seasoning to make up for the lack of Andouille. It’s not the same, but I figure it’s as close as I’m going to get on this side of the pond. (We learned the hard way what the French call Andouille is not what is called Andouille in US. O_O)