I [Cook] in the Corridor

Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken, or hamburgers. In other words, be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.

-Bobby Flay 

 

After this past holiday, I've been trying lots of new dishes lately.  I have ventured into different restaurants and I've even tuned in to the Food Network for inspiration on new recipes or twists on dishes I've created before.  I want to share a few of my experiences in the kitchen and offer a great recipe that I hope you'll enjoy!

The most popular summer dish in my family was hamburgers.  My father loved to grill them and my mother created her own special hamburgers in the oven.  My personal favorites were her self-proclaimed "Buffalo Bleu Burgers."  By adding a coat of buffalo sauce to the burger and topping each one of with a layer of thick and chunky bleu cheese, she prepared my ultimate favorite hamburger.  My family has always experimented in the kitchen.  Lots of failures came about, but many great dishes were also created when someone ventured out of the ordinary.

While I encourage everyone to try the great restaurants in Mercer Village and throughout the Corridor, cooking at home has many advantages.  It saves quite a bit of money.  At Taco Bell, it costs $5 plus tax for only five tacos.  At your local grocery, for $5 you can buy a pack of taco shells, one pound of ground beef, and seasoning mix. For the same price, you get twelve tacos!  Add a twist to your homemade tacos and burritos by squeezing a fresh lime into your meat.  It doesn't take much to really spice up a simple dish.  If you're not in the mood to stay in, Margarita's in Mercer Village has been serving some of the best Mexican food since 1988.

No Knife Necessary Ribs

 

A few weeks ago, I bought some ribs but I wasn't sure how to prepare them. I don't own a grill, so I researched recipes to learn how to cook ribs in the oven and found No Knife Necessary Ribs.  First, I applied a great-smelling pork rub and let them sit overnight.  The rub's main ingredient was red pepper which created enough kick, but was balanced out with the sweet taste of brown sugar.  I brushed a thin layer of steak sauce on them and poured a little Worcestershire sauce on them as well.  I then laid the ribs on a sheet of aluminum foil and covered them with another layer and sealed off the ends.  I popped them in the oven at 300 degrees for approximately two and a half hours.  Slow cooking them on a lower temperature made them so tender I didn't need a knife to cut them, hence the name.  Sealing them in a make-shift aluminum bag mixed all the juices together to create a unique dipping sauce.  I recommend this to anyone without a grill who is looking for a great summer time dish!

Cooking at home can be a great bonding time for a family, couple, and can even be an evening of adventure for a night by yourself.  Don't limit yourself to one recipe for a specific dish. Compare several recipes to see what ingredients are commonly used and use your judgment to adjust to your taste buds.  Several trials and a little tweaking could lead to you cooking some award winning dishes in the Corridor!