Chef John’s 10 Best Recipes of 2025 | Food Wishes

Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with a very special episode for you today. That's right, we're looking back at the best recipes of 2025. From unexpected viral hits to reinventing favorites, these are the dishes that lit up the internet and our appetites. So, make yourself comfortable. Don't be afraid to take a few notes. And as always, enjoy awesome blossom onion bites. That's right. Trying to deep fry an onion blossom at home is not a great idea. Nor is eating at the strip mall too often. Which is why I'm going to show you how to make basically the same thing with a much easier, much less messy method. And yes, these are not just awesome, they are extra awesome. And to get started, we'll mix together our awesome blossom sauce, which starts with some sour cream, to which we will add a little bit of mayo. And then we are definitely going to want to include a nice big spoon of horseradish, which is one of the key ingredients to making this awesome. And then we'll finish up with a little bit of ketchup for its sweet tanginess and also a little bit of color. And then we'll take a spoon and give this a thorough mixing at which point we have to give it a taste and adjust if necessary. And this tasted awesome, but I really wanted it to taste extra awesome. So I decided to add a few shakes of cayenne. And then I gave it another mix and another taste. And of course, you're gonna have to do the same thing to yours. I mean, you are after all the Michael Scott of what this got. And that's it. Once that's tasting exactly how we want, we'll pop that in the fridge until we need it. And then we'll move on to the only actual prep we have to do, which is dicing one onion. And for that, we will find the top of an onion. Right? That's the root end or the bottom. But what we want to do is cut about an inch off the top. And once we do, we'll cut this in half. Although cutting down on something rounded is not that safe. So, let's turn that to the flat side. And then we'll cut directly through that root end. And once that's set, we'll go ahead and peel off the skin, which is usually very, very easy unless I'm filming. And then it looks like the hardest thing I've ever done. And that layer underneath the skin did not want to separate. So, I ended up pulling that off as well, which was probably a good thing. All right. And if that layer doesn't want to separate from the skin, sometimes it means it's very tough and fibrous. And once we have our onions peeled in half, we will take our knife and slice straight down. And of course, the closer we make these cuts to each other, the finer our dice is going to be. And whatever distance those slices were apart, we will make the same thickness cuts going this way. And we'll do that until we get down near the root, at which point I stop since I don't want to fuss around with that. And it is the harshest part of the onion. And after the initial dicing, if you want to give this another chop to make things a little smaller, go ahead. But this was pretty much looking exactly how I wanted. And then what we'll do is transfer two cups of these diced onions into a mixing bowl, which is pretty much what you're going to get out of one standard yellow onion. And then once bold, we'll sprinkle over a teaspoon and a half of kosher salt. And what our plan is here is to mix this salt in and then let it sit for about 15 minutes during which time is going to draw moisture out of the onion, which I think is going to improve the texture and flavor. So yes, this step is optional, but it's been my experience that vegetables you salt before you cook them always, almost every time taste better. And it's kind of hard to see here, but after 15 minutes, once you unwrap these, you will notice the onions look very wet and kind of sweaty, which again is that salt drawing out the moisture. So, what we'll do is transfer those onions into a strainer, and we will rinse those very, very thoroughly under cold running water, which is going to remove all the excess salt. And then what we'll do is let that drain for a couple minutes before we transfer it into a dry bowl. and we will start introducing the rest of the ingredients. Beginning with a nice big pinch of salt as well as some freshly ground black pepper, followed by a few shakes of cayenne. We will also do some garlic powder, which is not the same as garlic salt. Okay, if you use that, you probably don't need the pinch of salt. And then we'll finish up the dry ingredients with a little bit of cornmeal, followed by some allpurpose flour. And then last but not least, some baking powder. not baking soda, baking powder. And then what I like to do before we add the milk is give this a quick stir. And we could, if we want, probably add that in with everything else. But the first time I made this, I mixed up the onions with these dry ingredients first and then added the milk. And it came out so perfectly, I don't want to change the method. So, I'm going to stir all that together first and then add the milk at this point. And then we'll continue stirring until we formed a very thick batter. And like all batters, if yours seems really thin, add a little more flour. Or if it seems much more thicker than mine, you could add a little bit of milk. But one way or another, once we're finished, it should look like this. And then what we'll do is let that sit for about 5 or 10 minutes while we heat up some oil in a skillet set over mediumigh heat. And once our oil's hot, as in about 350°, we can start transferring in rounded tablespoon portions of the batter, which for me is most easily done with one of these sorbet scoops. But just a couple spoons will do the exact same thing. I use one spoon to scoop and one spoon to push it off. And I generally just go with a round shape since that's the easiest. Although, I guess roundish would be a more accurate term. But anyway, since I'm using a small pan, I'm only going to be able to fit six in here, which is fine since these only take about 3 minutes per side. And we can keep the finished ones in a warm oven until we're done. And I didn't have much trouble with these sticking together. But once they're in the oil after about 30 seconds or so, it is not a bad idea to check with a spatula to make sure that's not happening. And that's it. After frying for about 3 minutes, we'll go ahead and flip those over, which I'm going to do with a spatula and possibly the help of a fork. Okay, as long as you're not splashing oil on yourself, you're doing fine. And the spatula only method was working for a little bit, but it is probably easier and safer if you use the fork, too. And that's it. We'll give the other side about three minutes or so, or until these are beautifully browned and nice and crispy around the edges. And since I did want a little more browning on that first side, I decided to flip these over again, which some people say you should never do when you fry. But you know what? They say a lot of things. And while these might absorb a little more oil, I always think they come out a little crispier if we do flip them again, right? Sort of kind of like a twice cooked French fry. And that's it. Once our awesome blossom bites have fried for about 6 minutes total, we will carefully, and in my case a little bit awkwardly, remove those from the oil onto a paper towel line plate. Okay, I thought this strainer would slide right under, which it didn't since I only have about a/ inch of oil in the pan, but anyway, it was fine and I eventually got them out. At which point, I fried the rest for a grand total of 16 bites. And we'll go ahead and serve those up next to our awesome blossom sauce, which I'm going to garnish with another shake of cayenne because, as I've already mentioned, we want these to be extra awesome, which I'm happy to report they were. But before we get to the extra awesome taste, let's listen to the extra awesome texture. Oh yes, we have a beautiful tender, soft, moist inside surrounded by a beautiful crunchy outside with the very outer edge of it being extra crispy. So texturally speaking, I think these are perfect. And then as far as the taste goes, imagine the best onion ring you've ever had, except a little bit better. And of course, this would be great with lots of different kinds of sauces. All right, I can think of about 12 off the top of my head, but this one with that tangy sour cream and that little bit of heat from the horseradish and the cayenne, I think is an absolutely perfect pairing. But whether you make and serve these as shown or you come up with your own extra awesome version, I think this is a great way to capture the magic of a deep fried onion blossom. And I really do hope you give this a try soon. Menaman. That's right. Hey, I'm going to show you my favorite version of what people refer to as Turkish scrambled eggs. Although, if you do it like I like to do it, it's not going to be like any scrambled eggs you've ever had. But anyway, we'll get to all those options later, and there are a lot of them. But for now, let's just get started by looking at the main ingredients, which includes an array of fresh peppers. And today, I'll be using some sweet red bell, as well as these gorgeous green Anaheim chilies, which are fairly mild, but sometimes do have a little bit of heat. And then last but not least, I have a few homegrown AI Amaro Peruvian chili peppers, which are kind of medium spicy. And then besides the peppers, we're going to need some crushed or chopped up tomato, which in Turkey is usually a fresh tomato that they peel and seed and dice. But the fresh tomatoes at the market right now are not good. So, I'm going to use these crushed San Marzano tomatoes, which are beautifully sweet. And then the last mandatory ingredient of course will be some whole eggs followed by two optional ingredients which are diced onion as well as a little bit of grated cheese and apparently the onion's not used for the breakfast version but only if this is used as a main course and then not everybody does but I'll be adding a little bit of grated Monterey Jack to mine but any mild melty cheese will work. And to get this started we will melt some butter in some olive oil over mediumigh heat. And there's quite a debate on whether you should do this in olive oil or butter, which is why I use bold. Since both sides make great arguments. And once our butter is melted, let's go ahead and toss in our peppers, which we've diced fairly small, along with our onion if we're using it. And we'll also go ahead and toss in a nice big pinch of salt. And what we'll do is cook this stirring for a few minutes until those onions and peppers start to soften up and maybe just start to brown around the edges. And yes, that is a freakishly small wooden spoon, which is never not fun to use unless your fingers are too close to the action and you get burned. So, I will be switching to a bigger one in a second. But anyway, like I said, we'll sauté those until they soften up and start to take on a little bit of color. At which point, we'll stop and toss in a little bit of dried oregano. All right, just a touch. And then we'll follow that with some Aleppo chili or the chili flake of your choice. And then I also like to do a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, at which point we can transfer in our tomato product. And we'll go ahead and stir everything together. And I should mention at this point, if you do have access to nice fresh vine ripened tomatoes, by all means, go ahead and grate those and use that or like I said, you can peel it, seated, and dice it. But in general, many months of the year, a nice diced or crushed San Marzano is going to be your best bet. And then what we'll do after everything's been nicely combined and the mixture has come up to a simmer is we'll reduce our heat to low and we'll cover this and we'll let it simmer just like that for about 10 minutes or until our veggies are nice and soft and all the flavors have had time to mingle. So that's exactly what I did. And about 10 minutes later, the mixture look like this. And then what we'll do after we give that a stir is scatter over and then stir in about half our grated cheese. And as I mentioned, I'm using Jack because it has a little more flavor than mozzarella, which is what a lot of people use that can't get the authentic Turkish cheese, which apparently is similar to mozzarella. But anyway, use what you want. I mean, you are after all Sulaman the magnificent of what would be sufficient. But no matter what you use, once the cheese disappears, we will transfer in our whole eggs. And then we'll take our spoon and we'll bust those eggs right in the yolks. And we'll go ahead and stir those in for as long as we want, which can be just like a few seconds so the eggs are barely mixed in and the eggs stay in large identifiable pieces. Or like I'm going to do it, stirred in for a couple minutes so we can achieve full integration, which is basically going to form a new luxurious, very delicious substance. So to summarize, my goal here is to make scrambled eggs that are nothing like scrambled eggs. But no matter how long and how thoroughly you decide to mix your eggs in, once you're done, we will cover this and we'll let it cook on low for a couple minutes or until the mixture is just barely set. And what I mean by that, if we uncover it and we give the pen the old shakea shaker, everything should sort of move together in one mass. And keep in mind, it's going to continue to firm up as we apply the finishing touches. And by the time we serve it, it's going to be perfect. So, what we'll do is turn off the heat and sprinkle over the rest of the cheese. And yes, since I know you're wondering, I have tried this with feta and it's very good. And then after that's applied, I'm going to do another drizzle of olive oil. Since it looks good, it tastes good. And you really cannot use enough olive oil in your cooking. And I mean that literally. Eat as much as you can. And that's it. We'll almost finish up with a nice sprinkling of Turkish or Syrian chili flakes. Or if times are tough, you could just do a little cayenne over the top. And that's it. We'll go ahead and serve that up next to a nice hunk of bread. And because I had some cilantro that just sprouted in the garden, I went ahead and scattered some young tender leaves over the top. And that's it. My version of Turkish scrambled eggs was ready to enjoy. And by now, as promised, the eggs in the sauce have firmed up perfectly. But since we did stir them in so well, we really don't get chunks of scrambled eggs sitting in sauce. Right. Like I said, the sauce, the cheese, and the eggs have sort of merged together to form almost like a thick dip or spread, which is just absolutely unbelievable on a nice piece of baguette. And of course, in real life, you'll spoon this into some warm bowls and serve the bread alongside. But for the purpose of this video, I'm just going to eat right out of this dish like a savage. And yes, I've definitely done the version where you just barely stir in the eggs and you end up with much larger pieces swimming in the sauce, which is also delicious and totally fine to do. But if I do want the eggs mostly intact, then I'm probably going to go with something closer to a shakshuka where we just crack the eggs on top and don't scramble them. But if I'm going to mix eggs into a pepper and tomato sauce, I'm really really going to mix my eggs into the sauce since I think the final result is much more luxurious. But again, this is just personal preference and you should definitely try different versions of this until you decide on your own personal ideal texture. And along the same lines, you can definitely add more eggs to this, which would also give you something closer to a more typical scrambled egg dish. But as you might know, I generally like things saucy. And for me, and more importantly my wife Michelle, this ratio is what we consider perfection. Oh, and I know it's a bit off-brand, but we did a vegetarian version here. Right. Quite often a Turkish sausage is used in Menammen, which is sort of similar to a beef salami. And while I'm always up for some meat, this meatless version is still very, very satisfying and really didn't lack for anything. Just please make sure you have enough bread. But whether you add meat or not, this is one of my favorite egg dishes of all time. And I really do hope you give it a try soon. Mississippi chicken chili. That's right. We're making chicken like they make beef pot roast in Mississippi. And then we'll use that to make an amazing chili just like they don't make it in Texas since we're adding beans. And this really did come out amazingly well and could not be any easier. And to get started, we will dust off our slow cooker and we will transfer in some boneless, skinless chicken thighs. And while you theoretically could use breast for this, you really, really shouldn't. All right, the flavor and texture is going to be so much better if you go with the thigh. And once that's been transferred in, we will sprinkle over the two ingredients that make Mississippi pot roast so famously delicious, which would be one packet of au gravy mix, followed by one package of powdered ranch dressing mix. And by the way, pro tip, do not read the ingredient list on either package. Okay, this is like similar advice to telling people who love sausage, do not visit a sausage factory. So, we'll just sprinkle that over an ignorant bliss. And then, because we're turning this into a chili, we'll also sprinkle over a nice big rounded tablespoon of chili powder, as well as a couple cans of white kidney beans, also known as canolini beans. And while white beans are a classic choice with chicken chili, of course, you can use any other bean you want. I mean, you are after all the Dwight shroo of exactly which musical fruit. But no matter what you use, we will drizzle the top with about a half a cup of our pepperini pepper brine, which comes free with the peppers. And then we'll follow that with a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. Again, since we're doing a chili, okay, if you're doing classic Mississippi chicken, the tomatoes, beans, and chili powder would be left out. And then to finish this up, we'll transfer over our pepperonchini peppers, which are usually whole in the pot roast recipe. But for this chicken chili version, I thought the slice would be better. And then last but not least, we'll cut up an entire stick of unsalted butter. And we'll distribute that evenly over the top. And believe it or not, that's it. We'll go ahead and place on the lid and make sure it's tightly sealed. And then you can do this on the low setting for a long time, but I prefer to go on the high mode for about 3 to four hours, which gets us to the same place only much quicker. And that place we want to get to is where the chicken is very tender and just about ready to fall apart. So, we'll go ahead and test that with a fork. And once our chicken's done, we can grab a couple forks and we can shred this right in the croc. But I'm actually going to fish this out with some tongs since I want to do a more user friendly version. Okay, if you shred these whole thighs, you're going to get pieces of chicken longer than your spoon, which could potentially cause some chin burns. So, what I'm going to do once it's in a bowl is take a pair of scissors and I'm actually going to scissor the chicken into like one or two inch pieces. Oh, yeah. I got this idea from watching an old South Park rerun a few weeks ago. And by doing this in the bowl with scissors, we're not going to mess up a cutting board trying to do it with a knife while the juices are running all over. So, personally, I find this method much easier. And that's it. We'll transfer our chicken back in and stir everything together. And at this point, we could just turn it off or just switch it to the warm mode. But before we serve it, we have to give it a taste for seasoning and add some more salt or some more spice or whatever we think it needs. But I thought mine was perfectly seasoned. And once it is, we can grab a ladle and serve up, which we could do in a cup or a bowl as is. just plain chili. But since I was testing a new recipe for something called swamp rice, I decided to pair it with that. So, I ladled some up and then I garnished with a pinch of pepperoni as well as a little squirt of hot sauce, followed by a final touch of some freshly chopped green onions. And that's it. What I'm calling Mississippi chicken chili was ready to enjoy. And that, my friends, really was an incredibly delicious chili. And like the Mississippi pot roast features a very intense level of savoriness. But don't worry, the chicken does not taste like beef, the flavors from the au mix just made the chicken taste like really, really good roasted chicken. And yes, that swamp rice was perfect with this, which is no surprise. Plus, since the rice is made with jalapeno and herbs and spinach and green onions, I think it worked even better than plain rice would have. But no matter what you serve this chili on or with, the method could not be easier or the results more delicious. Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon. One pan stuffed pepper casserole. That's right. We're going to make it one pan and bake it in one pan. And if you're a fan of beef and rice stuffed peppers, you're going to love this easier, less fussy version since this casserole delivery system delivers the same taste and texture with no actual stuffing involved. And to get started, we'll go ahead and cut up our bell peppers. And by far the easiest method to do that is to cut both ends off the pepper like this, about a/ inch or so from the end. And we'll go ahead and set those two pieces aside for now. And once that's done, we will cut straight down. And then we'll turn it on its side. And we'll simply cut through all the membranes that hold the pepper together while we unroll it, which is going to give us a long, beautiful seed-free strip. And then what we'll do is cut that in half and trim out any excess membrane if we want, which is optional and not really necessary. And then what we'll do is cut these pieces into smaller strips. And then all we need to do is turn those strips and slice across into about one inch pieces. And I was just about to say this is the easiest way for a beginner to cut a pepper, which it is. But it's also the best way for a professional chef to cut a pepper. And of course, the more strips you cut at once, the faster this goes. But this is only going to take a few minutes. So if you just want to do two or three at a time, that's fine. And once that's done, we'll take the end pieces and cut those into a similar size. And if there's a tiny black speck on the end of the pepper where the flower used to attach, we could trim that off if it bothers us. which apparently it did me. Oh, and I should mention I do love to use a serrated knife for peppers since the skins are really tough and most folks dull kitchen knives are going to struggle with that. But no matter what you use, we'll cut up three or four bell peppers depending on the size. And then we'll head to the stove where we're going to add a pound of ground beef to a skillet in which we put a little bit of olive oil. And we'll toss in a nice big pinch of salt. And over high heat, we will start breaking this meat up since the first step is to brown this with some onions. But I find it much easier to break the meat up a little bit first before we add the onions in. Otherwise, as I've learned the hard way, they tend to fly out of the pan. So, I like to work the meat over with a spatula a little bit before adding those in. And then what we'll do is continue to cook this while crumbling the meat into smaller pieces. And we will do that for about five or six minutes or however long it takes to get some nice color on the meat. Right? This step is called browning. Not grain, not tanning. It's called browning. So, please take your time and make sure you get a little bit of color on the meat, which always every time makes it taste better. And once we're happy with that, we will stop and toss in some butter as well as a fair amount of crushed garlic. And we'll reduce our heat to medium high. And we will cook this stirring for about a minute or until that butter melts in. And once that happens, we'll go ahead and season this up with some freshly ground black pepper, a little bit of smoked paprika, although regular's fine. And we'll also do a little bit of garlic powder, plus a few shakes of cayenne because why not? And what we'll do is stir those in and cook this for about a minute just to kind of wake them up and infuse them into that oil and beef fat. And once that's been accomplished, we can add our bell peppers to the pan. And we'll go ahead and stir those in. And then we'll cook this for about two or three minutes. Basically, just until those peppers are heated through. Okay, we don't really need them to soften since this whole thing is going to get baked in the oven. But I do like to cook them for a couple minutes just to take off the raw edge. At which point, I like to transfer in my rice and give that a quick stir for about a minute. Since I think if we coat the rice with the fat in the pan, the texture of our final product's a little nicer and a little more peeloff like where the rice gets beautifully tender yet still holds its shape. So, like I said, that step is optional, but personally, I do think it's worth the extra minute. And that's it. We'll go ahead and add in the rest of our salt along with a splash of worersher sauce, followed by a couple cups of tomato sauce or pretty much any tomato product. And then we'll finish up with our beef broth, which could also be chicken broth. They both will actually work fine in this. And what we'll do is stir all that together and we'll raise our heat to high. Since we want to bring this up to a simmer before we cover it and pop it in the oven. And by the way, if you don't have a pan like this, they can go straight in the oven from the stove. Just simply do this in a regular skillet and then transfer everything into a casserole dish and the final product will be the same but with a slightly different name. But anyway, once our pan's bubbling, we'll go ahead and turn off the heat and we'll go ahead and transfer over our cheese, but not all of it. We're going to save some for the top, which, as you'll see, will stay on the top. But with this portion of the cheese, we're going to take a spoon and kind of poke and stir that in. And by the way, I'm using a nice white cheddar for this. But if you wanted, you could use half cheddar and then half something more mild like a Monterey Jack or a mozzarella. All right, as usual, the exact cheeses are up to you. I mean, you are after all the Chef John stand of making stuffed pepper casserole in one pan. And that's it. Once that's been poked and stirred in, we'll go ahead and cover that tightly. And we will transfer that into the upper center of a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes. At which point, we'll pull it out, uncover it, and do two things. Well, maybe two things, right? That depends on the first thing, which is to take a spoon and test the dness of the rice, which should be just tender by now. And if it is, and mine was, we can apply the rest of our cheese over the top. But if your rice is not quite cooked yet, you can just cover it back up and pop it in the oven until it is. But anyway, once the rice is tender and this has been topped with cheese, we will pop this under the broiler uncovered for a couple minutes just to melt the cheese and maybe have it get a little bit golden brown, which you can also do in a hot oven like 475 for about 5 or 10 minutes. At which point, if everything goes according to plan, it should look like this. Oh yeah, that is beautiful and way, way too hot to eat. So, I think we should let this sit for at least 10 minutes before we serve up. But hang on, I forgot a very, very important thing. Anytime we take a pan out of the oven that has a handle or handles, we always place towels over those because if you don't, someone will grab them and they will burn themselves and it will be your fault. So, please play it safe. And that's it. I went ahead and let mine rest and remove the towels since I'm the only one in the kitchen. And then I finish this up with some freshly chopped Italian parsley. And after taking way too many contractually obligated pictures, I grabbed a spoon and served some up. And some of these recipes I do are a little bit challenging to describe the taste and texture. But this one is not. Right. That, my friends, tastes exactly like a beef and rice stuffed pepper. Except because we have more surface area with this, it might actually even be a little bit better and more flavorful. Which reminds me, this is more of an idea than a specific recipe. So, whatever you usually put in your stuffed peppers will work with this technique. Oh, and do not let this little sample plate fool you. I'm usually enjoying a slightly larger portion next to a nice big green salad since this is a fairly rich dish. So, I think enjoying it next to some crunchy greens is a great idea. But no matter how you serve it, if you're a fan of stuffed bell peppers and you're a fan of just making things with one pan, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Red Devil cocktail meatballs. That's right. They say the devil's in the details, which is why I've eliminated most of the details here to make these less devilish to do and even more devilishly delicious to eat. And whether you're doing a football tailgate or a Halloween party, these will be absolutely perfect. And to get started, we will add some ground beef and some ground pork to a mixing bowl. And while you can use one or the other, I think a combo works best. And since we are using two different kind of meats, what I like to do is take a fork and blend these two meats together before we add the rest of the ingredients, just to hopefully avoid overmixing later. And once our two meats have become one, we will toss in the rest of the ingredients, which will include one large egg, a small but important splash of milk, and then we'll also need some salt, of course, as well as some freshly ground black pepper, followed by some garlic powder, as well as some onion powder. And then, obviously, if the recipe has the word devil in the name, we're going to have to also add a little bit of cayenne. And that's it. We'll finish up with our breadcrumbs. And then we'll take our fork again and we will mix and stir this until everything's evenly combined. And while it does take a little bit longer, I really like using a fork for this, but if you want, you could use a big spoon or a spatula or even your hand. I mean, you are after all the Lucifer of which tool you'd prefer. But I really do think the fork is the best choice or even a small pitchfork if you have it. And then once that's mixed, what we'll do is pat it down and cover it in plastic. And if possible, pop it into the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill before we shape it. Right, this step is optional, but cold meat is always easier to work with than warm meat. Right, ask anybody that makes meatballs in hell. But whether you chill your meat or not, what we'll do is start scooping portions onto a lightly greased foil line baking sheet. And as usual, I'm going to wet my fingers so the meat doesn't stick as I work with it. And you can just scoop out portions with a tablespoon, but I really love using these little sorbet scoopers since it's easier to get the exact same amount in each portion. But no matter what you use, we'll portion that onto our pan. And if you're making them the same size I am, you're going to get about 30 to 32, which is roughly eight portions of three meatballs each. And then what we'll do once that's been accomplished is wet our hands and we'll go ahead and roll these into balls. if that is you want balls. Or if you're feeling lazy or you're pressed for time, you can brown and sauces as is and they'll still look fine and taste the same. But I do think they look nicer if you roll them. So hopefully you spend a couple extra minutes and do just that. Oh, and do not forget to wet your hands first. Since if you only learn one thing on this channel, it should be that damp hands make smooth balls. And once those smooth balls have been formed and equally spaced, they are ready to transfer into the center of a nice hot 475 degree oven for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the bottoms are sizzling and they browned up nicely. And they hopefully look like this. And by the way, you can do this step ahead of time like I did here and actually make the meatballs the day before and then just heat them up in the sauce when you're ready to serve. And for the sauce, we'll need some Korean chili paste, which goes by the name Gou Jang, or as a food Wisher would pronounce it, Goch Chef John. And then to that, we will add some seasoned rice vinegar, as well as a little touch of soy sauce. I'm also going to do a nice squeeze of Sriracha since my Korean chili paste wasn't that spicy, and I do want this to have a kick. And then to balance out all that salty sweet tanginess, we'll pour in some maple syrup, which I much prefer over honey in this, which most people use for chili glazes. And that's it. We'll finish up with a small splash of water, at which point we can head to the stove where we will bring this up to a simmer on mediumigh heat. And once it starts to bubble, we'll give it a stir. And we'll reduce our heat to medium. And we'll let this cook for about a minute or two or until it thickens up slightly. And like all sauces and glazes, you're going to have to decide how thick this gets. All right, I do want mine relatively thick, but I want to retain a little bit of the sauciness. And once we're eventually happy with how that looks, we will transfer our meatballs in. And we will stir those until they're evenly coated. And then the only things that have to happen before we can serve this is that our meatballs get heated through as well as our sauce continues to reduce down a little bit to whatever we would consider the perfect glaze. Oh, and if that happens before your meatballs are heated through, just simply add a splash of water so your pan doesn't dry out. And on the other hand, if your meatballs are hot and your glaze is a little too thin, just turn up the heat and reduce it a little faster. And once we do decide these are ready to serve, I like to give the pan the old shakea shaker just to kind of settle and even out the balls, at which point we could serve these just like this. But I'm actually going to take a wet paper towel and just clean up the sides of the pan a little bit. All right, if you don't mind washing one extra thing, you could just transfer these into a clean serving pan or dish, but a quick wipe works for me. And that's it. these array to serve up next to some toothpicks, which I've placed in a holder made out of actual human bone. Or at least that's what the guy selling the shrunken heads told me. And then for a little bit of a garnish, I'm going to sprinkle these with both white and black sesame seeds. Since if the red meatballs represent the fires of hell, then the light sesame seeds will be the sparks and the black sesame seeds will be the ash. And that's it. What we're calling Red Devil cocktail meatballs are ready to enjoy. So, let me grab a toothpick and impale one of these so I can enjoy the official taste. And that, my friends, ticks every box on the cocktail meatball checklist. Right. The meatballs themselves are very savory, which is really what you need if something's going to be enveloped in this sticky, sweet, tangy, spicy sauce. And I don't think I've ever had something made with Korean chili paste that I didn't absolutely love. And this was no exception. And while the flavor profile is obviously a little bit different from your classic grape jelly chili sauce version, this is going to tickle you in all the same places. And like I said in the intro, whether you make this for a football tailgate party or a Halloween themed party or a Halloween themed football tailgate party, these very, very easy toake cocktail meatballs really would be a hell of a good choice. Which is why I really do hope you give these a try soon. new and improved baked feta pasta. That's right. There is no mystery why this easy, delicious recipe went viral. And while I thought it was great, I also thought there was a couple ways to improve it. And by the way, you'll probably never guess where this recipe was invented, and I'll share that later. But for now, I'll give you one clue. I will tell you before we finish. So, with that, let's go ahead and get started by drizzling a whole bunch of olive oil into our baking pan, which could also be a glass baking dish. And then to the oil, I'm going to add a whole bunch of finely minced garlic. And then we'll take a spoon and give that a mix. And this step here is one of the new improvements since most people toss it in once the fet is cooked. But I think the results are much better if that's infused into the oil while this bakes. And once that's set, we'll add two pints of cherry tomatoes, just like in the original recipe. And I went with half Cherokee purples and half red grape tomatoes, but any color, any style will work as long as they're nice and sweet. And that's it. We'll give that a quick toss with our spatula until they're nicely coated in that garlicky oil. At which point, we'll season this very simply with some kosher salt as well as some freshly ground black pepper. And we do not need a lot of salt here since feta is a fairly salty cheese, but I generally find we need at least one big extra pinch. And then speaking of feta, once we've given that a quick stir, we'll make a space in the center. And we'll transfer in a couple pieces of the milkiest, creamiest feta we can find. Okay, I love the dense, firm, salty version for some things, but for this, something creamier and mild is best. And instead of using 8 ounces, I'm actually going to use 10. And I find that couple extra ounces makes a big difference in the final sauce. So I think that's another improvement, as is this next secret ingredient, which would be to drizzle our cheese with some balsamic vinegar, which is going to add another very interesting sweet and sour element, which I think really elevates the flavor of the tomatoes. And then I'm going to finish up with a nice pinch of dry oregano, as well as some red chili flakes for a little heat. And of course, those things are optional, and you get to add whatever you want. I mean, you are after all the greater garbo of your fetus cargo, but unlike her, I do not think this cheese wants to be left alone. But anyway, whether you add that or not, we'll finish up with a nice big drizzle of olive oil over the top. And that's it. Our feta and friends are now ready to transfer into the center of a 450°ree oven for about 30 to 35 minutes or until our tomatoes are roasted very soft and our cheese is browned. And it looks like this. Oh yeah, that is gorgeous. And it's ready to stir into a sauce and then toss with our pasta, which we need to cook when this is about seven or eight minutes away from being done. And my favorite shape for this is something called kavatapi, which is basically a cavatelli that's hollow, but literally any shaped pasta will work. And we will cook that in salted water according to the directions. But very important, when it's almost done, let's ladle out about a half a cup of the pasta water since we will use that to adjust the texture of our sauce later. And again, we want to make sure we time the cooking of the pasta for right before our baked feta comes out of the oven. That way, our pasta will be freshly drained and nice and hot when we stir it in. And while our pasta is draining for a minute, we will grab a fork and we will smash and stir this into a sauce. And normally I really dislike tomato skins in my tomato sauce, but I'm happy to report for whatever reason they're almost imperceivable in this. And even though visually you can still see a few here and there, texturally speaking, they pretty much disappear. And then what we'll do once our sauce looks like this is toss in a whole bunch of freshly sliced basil as well as two or three tablespoons of our reserved pasta water, followed by our still very, very hot macaroni. And then we'll take a spatula or a spoon or in my case a spula and we'll mix everything together until those pieces of pasta are evenly coated and looking beautiful. And depending on the texture, you may want to add another splash or two of the pasta water, which I definitely did here. And by adjusting with that, we're going to keep everything nice and saucy. Okay? So, be sure to stir some of that in as you see fit. And keep in mind after we're done stirring this, as we go to serve it up, it's going to continue to absorb the moisture. So, it's actually totally fine if at this point it seems a little bit saucy. But anyway, mine was feeling and looking perfect. And once it is, we'll grab a fork and give this a taste and add a little more salt if we need. But mine was tasting exactly how I wanted. And by that I mean it was incredibly delicious with a perfect balance between the sweet and the tangy as well as that beautifully briny saltiness that the feta adds. So I could not have been happier with how that came out. And I went ahead and cleaned off the pan and sprinkled over a little more basil since I had to take some contractually obligated pictures after which I served up a nice big portion in a bowl. And that, my friends, is every bit as tasty and easy as the original version, except what I consider those slight improvements that I pointed out by cooking the garlic in the oil under the tomatoes and using more cheese and topping it with that drizzle of balsamic vinegar and then cooking it for a shorter time in a hotter oven than most recipes call for. Oh, and before we finish, I should finish by telling you the person that invented this was Finnish. Or so I've been told by the finish. And that's it. Now I can finish by saying I really do hope you give this a try soon. Bang Bang chicken nuggets. That's right. I'm going to show you my take on Bang Bang Chicken, which actually might be closer to Boom Boom Chicken, right? This is kind of both. So what I'm trying to say is I'd really love it if you called this Bang Bang Boom Boom Chicken. Oh yeah, people are going to enjoy saying that, but not as much as they're going to enjoy eating this. And to get started, we'll go ahead and cut up some chicken for our nuggets. And for this, I use both boneless, skinless chicken breast and boneless, skinless chicken thighs. But this will work with all one or the other. And all we need to do to prep this is cut it into like one one and a half inch strips. And then we'll simply slice across that every inch or so to create some hopefully fairly uniform pieces. And yes, as you can see from the dramatic shadows, I did this early in the morning, which is not common for me. Right. I'm normally not up and working until the crack of noon, but anyway, once we have our chicken cut up, we will transfer that into a food processor along with the rest of our nugget ingredients, which will include some breadcrumb, some salt, of course. We'll also do some freshly ground black pepper, a little bit of paprika, which could be regular or smoked, and then I think we definitely want a little bit of cayenne because bang bang. And then we'll finish up with some garlic powder as well as a little drizzle of oil just for a little extra richness and to help keep our nuggets moist and tender. And that's it. We'll pop on the lid and pulse this on and off until our chicken's ground as finely as we want, which for me is not going to be super fine. Okay. If you want these closer to a fast food nugget, which is basically a piece of fried chicken loaf, you'll probably want to grind this a little smoother. But personally, this is what I'm after. Okay, a pretty small grind, but it's definitely not pureed. And that's it. Once our nugget base has been blitzed, we can go ahead and scoop equal sized portions onto a sheetpan. And I'm thinking a couple tablespoons is just about the perfect size. Although obviously that's something you can adjust depending whether you want little adorable nuggets or even bigger, more bodacious nuggets. And other than the frying time, the procedure will be exactly the same. So you go ahead and make the call. I mean, you are after all the pistol Pete of portioning your ground meat. And speaking of balls, instead of forming nuggets, which is what we're going to do next, you could actually serve these as fried meatballs, which I think would also be very wellreceived. But anyway, once portioned, we will wrap those up and pop them in the fridge so they're nicely chilled and easier to work with when we coat them with our starch, which is going to be nothing more than some corn starch. Mix together with some self-rising flour or just regular flour with a little bit of baking powder in there. And if you go that route, we'll explain that in the written recipe. In any event, we'll mix that very thoroughly in a bag. And we will pull out our soontobe nuggets. And what we'll do is quickly form these into balls by first wetting our fingers a little bit so the meat doesn't stick. Oh yeah, as you well know, damp hands make smooth balls. And what we'll do is toss five or six in at a time. And then we'll shake them and toss them around until they're well coated before shaking off the excess and returning them back to the pan. And on the recipe, it's going to say you're going to get 24 nuggets out of this batch, but as you can see, I got 23. So, if you want 24, make them a little smaller. And then what we're going to do once all those have been dredged is shape those into nuggets, which of course, depending on where you eat them, will vary in size and shape. But for me, I kind of go with a flat oval. But hey, if you prefer a little bit of a pointier nugget, that is not going to bother me. And then what I like to do once all these are coated is pop them back in the fridge, which I do uncovered, but you can cover them if you want. And I like to leave them in there for a couple hours to really give that starch on the surface time to adhere. But if you're starving, you can pretty much fry these up anytime you want. And while those are chilling, we should go ahead and make our bang bang sauce, which starts with some mayonnaise, to which we will add some honey. And once we do some sweet, we will add some heat in the form of some Sriracha hot sauce. And I like to add a lot, but of course that's going to be to taste, just like the honey is. And then for my version, we'll also add some rice vinegar, as well as some soy sauce, plus a little bit of sesame oil. And then last but not least, a little bit of ground suan pepperc corn, which is totally optional, but highly recommended. And that's it. We'll give this a thorough whisking until it's all combined. At which point, we'll give it a taste and adjust with more sweet or in my case, more heat. And that's it. Once that's tasting exactly how we want, we will simply refrigerate that until needed. And then as far as how to cook the nuggets, I'm actually going to shallow fry these in vegetable oil over about mediumigh heat. Although I should mention for the full chicken nugget effect, they're supposed to be deep fried. But this really does work out almost exactly the same. And please keep in mind these are going to get tossed with our bang bang sauce, so they're not going to stay super crispy anyway. And what we'll do is cook that first side for a couple minutes or until we've achieved a nice golden brown, at which point we'll flip them over and give the other side a couple minutes. And if you are doing these in batches or doing a whole bunch, you can just keep the ones you fried in a warm oven until they're all finished, which is what I did while I fried the other half of the batch. And that's it. Once fried, we can transfer those into a mixing bowl. And we'll toss in some freshly sliced green onions. And we'll pour over a couple nice ladles of our Bang Bang sauce or just enough to coat. And then we can serve the rest alongside. And that's it. We'll toss and stir those until they're coated. And by the way, the recipe is going to make lots of extra sauce, which is nice since that stuff's great on like a thousand other things. And then once our nuggets have been sauced, we'll go ahead and plate up. And once I had those piled up, I gave them one more drizzle of shrizza before I finished up with some more sliced green onions. And that's it. what I'm calling bang bang chicken nuggets are ready to enjoy. So, I grabbed a fork and stabbed a nugget and went in for the official bite. And that, my friends, if you're a fan of sweet and spicy sauces like I am, is going to be an incredibly delicious bite of food. And I enjoy that whole sweet heat thing on pretty much anything. But when we're talking about a homemade chicken nugget that's been fried up to have that nice crispy exterior, which holds on to our sauce so perfectly, we produce something extra extra special. And because I didn't puree the meat, these do have a texture reminiscent of a meatball or maybe like a dumpling filling, which totally works for me. Oh, and fun fact, people assume the Bang Bang refers to the spiciness of the sauce, but it actually doesn't, right? The original Bang Bang chicken got that name because the chicken was pounded with a stick, and apparently the Chinese word for that is bang. And apparently that original version is flavored with sesame and vinegar and definitely did not contain any mayonnaise, which is why I mentioned this might be closer to boom boom sauce. But whether you call this boom boom chicken or bang bang chicken or my personal preference, bang bang boom boom chicken, this would be a hit on any occasion, whether that's a Super Bowl party or just a casual weekn night meal. I really did love everything about these, which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon. Hawaiian style beef stew. That's right. I thought I knew about all the beef stews there were to do. But then I found out about this and realized that wasn't true. So, I gave it a try and it was incredible. And now I'm going to show you how to do what might actually be the best beef stew. And to get started, let's go over the most important tip in this entire video, which is not to buy pre-cut stew meat, but rather get a nice piece of beef chuck and cut it up yourself. And not just because it's going to be cheaper and it's super easy to do, but because you can pick out the piece of meat you want in the butcher case, so you're able to get something beautifully marbled like this. And since a beef stew is only going to be as good as the beef that goes in it, I cannot stress the importance of this enough. And what we'll do is cut that into about one and a half inch pieces, although a little smaller or a little bigger will work. Right, the key is to try to get them relatively uniform so these pieces of meat get tender at the same time. And once we do have our beef prepped, I'm going to season it right on the board by sprinkling over some kosher salt, followed by half the amount of the flour called for. And what we'll do is give that a thorough tossing until those pieces of meat are evenly coated. And you know what the salt does, but what this flour is going to do is dry the surface, which is going to help us get a beautiful brown crust on the meat when we brown it up in the next step. And for that, we will heat up some veget over high heat. And we will transfer those freshly fled pieces of meat into the pot. And then we'll proceed to brown those very well on at least two sides. All right, that's the minimum. And if you have the time and patience, you could do four sides or even all six if you want. But I think two very well brown sides is probably enough for this. And yes, to ensure better browning, you want to do this in two batches probably. So even though I won't show you the second batch, that's exactly what I did. But anyway, once that meat's been transferred into a bowl, we'll set that aside for now. And we'll reduce our heat to medium high. And we will transfer in our roughly chopped up onion. And we'll cook that stirring for a couple minutes or until it just starts to turn translucent, at which point we'll transfer in about 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, which ended up being way more exciting than I thought it was going to be. But anyway, once that gets transferred in, we'll cook this stirring for about 3 or 4 minutes or until that tomato paste starts to kind of brown onto the edges of the onions. And while this is sort of an optional step, I think the depth of flavor you get if you do this makes the couple extra minutes this takes more than worthwhile. And that's it. Once we've toasted that tomato paste a little bit, we'll sprinkle in the rest of our flour. And we'll cook that stirring for a few minutes to take off that raw pasty edge. And once we feel like that's happened, we will dump in our second tomato product, which is just going to be some plain tomato sauce or tomato puree or crushed tomatoes. or really any kind of tomato product will work. And then we'll follow that with some beef broth or if things are going well for you, some beef bone broth. And we'll go ahead and stir that in and raise our heat to high. And we'll wait for this to come to a boil. And while it does, we can add the other two key ingredients, which is going to be some worsture sauce as well as a whole bunch of soy sauce. And in case you're wondering, the things that make a regular beef stew a Hawaiian style beef stew would be the additions of the tomato as well as the soy sauce and possibly the worashershure sauce. All right, the tomato and soy for sure. And even though not all the recipes call for the worashers, to my taste, I think it's an important addition. And then once things do come up to a boil, we'll transfer in our browned beef along with any and all accumulated juices. And we'll give that a stir and reduce our heat to low or whatever heating setting gets you a nice gentle simmer. And what we'll do is cover this tightly. And we will let it simmer for 1 hour to give it a nice head start before we add the rest of the ingredients. And after about 60 minutes, this is what mine look like. And what we'll do at this point is go ahead and add our black pepper plus a few shakes of cayenne. So people know this is our recipe. And by the way, we could have added that earlier, and I would have, but I forgot. And that's it. We'll also add in our stew veggies, which will be some celery and carrots, as well as some potatoes, of course. And I'm using some nice big Yukon Gold, which I peeled and cut into some nice big pieces. Okay. I usually don't like to cut the potatoes too small, since we don't want those totally falling apart while this cooks. And then we'll cover this back up and we'll let it simmer gently on low for another hour. at which point our meat's probably not going to be done yet. But what we'll do is uncover this and give it a nice stir. And then we'll continue cooking without the cover on for another hour or so, stirring occasionally. And we'll do that until our meat is very, very tender. And as usual, as is simmers, if you want to skim some of the fat off the top, feel free. I mean, you guys are after all the Grandpa C's of whether you should decrease. And by the way, the Grandpa C I just referred to is Grandpa Clarence, whose recipe I adapted this one from. So, big thanks to him. And by finishing this uncovered, our sauce will reduce down a little bit, which is going to thicken things up. And at this point, any of that fat that wasn't skimmed off is basically going to get emulsified in, which not only adds some flavor, but it also gives our stew a lovely shine. But anyway, like I said, we'll simply continue simmering uncovered until our meat is nice and tender. And since this meat seemed to be just about perfect, I was down to one last task, which is of course tasting for seasoning. And maybe sneaking in another pinch of salt or a little splash of soy, but that was tasting really good as is. And once it is, we can grab a ladle and serve up. And by the way, if you don't want it quite this thick and you want something a little brothier, just simply reduce the amount of flour by half and you'll end up with something a little bit thinner in texture. But either way, I recommend we serve this with rice. And then I finished up with a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, plus a scattering of green onions. And then I grabbed a fork and a spoon and went in for the official taste. And that, my friends, as I mentioned in the intro, just might be the best version of beef stew. And the umami level, which is what us foodies call something that's super savory, is just off the charts. In fact, it's so flavorful it can actually break your mouth. I mean, not literally, but metaphorically, oh yeah. So, I really did love everything about this, and I really do hope you give it a try soon. New Orleans mac and cheese. That's right. I'm very excited to show you my version of this, which is not necessarily how they make it there, but rather how I think it should be made there since I'm going to add a few ingredients that quite frankly I'm shocked are not already being commonly used. And I think they make this even more special than it already is. And to get started, we will add some diced onions to a little bit of olive oil that we have in a pot set over mediumigh heat. And after tossing in a nice big pinch of salt, we will cook those, stirring for about 2 minutes, just to give them a head start before we add our celery and our diced bell pepper. And in New Orleans, these three ingredients are referred to as the holy trinity. And they are the aromatic vegetable base for many of the city's most delicious recipes. And what we'll do is continue cooking our Holy Trinity, stirring for another 3 or 4 minutes or so, or until our onions turn translucent and our pepper and celery just start to soften up. And when I heard there was a thing called New Orleans Mac and Cheese, I was 100% positive the Holy Trinity would be involved. But much to my shock and surprise, it was not. But I am so glad I included them here since I thought they did wonderful things. But anyway, once we're happy with how our vegetables look, we will toss in a generous amount of butter, followed by some smoked paprika, some freshly ground black pepper, a little bit of garlic powder, as well as some ground cumin, and then finally the rest of our salt. And we'll go ahead and stir all that together and cook this for another minute or so, or until our butter is melted and the spices are fragrant. And that's it. Once we've cooked that stirring for a few minutes, we'll go ahead and toss in our flour. And we'll stir that in and cook that for about 2 minutes to form what's known as a r ox. And once we've cooked the raw edge off that flour and it's kind of toasting and sticking to the bottom of the pot, we'll go ahead and transfer in some cold heavy cream, followed by some whole milk. And once that's in there, we'll take a whisk and we'll give that a thorough mixing. And we will keep mixing until all that rude dissolves in and we can't feel anything still stuck to the bottom of the pan. And then what we'll do is wait for this to come back to a simmer, which is probably going to take a few minutes. And you'll see as your mixture starts to boil, it's going to thicken up. And if everything goes according to plan, it should look something like this. And once it does, we'll reduce our heat to medium low. And we'll let this simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. And during that time, because we added that paprika and some of my bell peppers were red, this cream sauce is going to take on a beautiful warmer color. And once it does, and this is simmered for about 5 minutes, we'll turn off the heat. And we'll whisk in whatever cheeses we're going to use, which for me is going to be half sharp cheddar and half Monterey Jack. Okay. Apparently mozzarella is also a popular choice, but I'm sorry, I'm just not a big mozzarella fan in mac and cheese. All right. It's all stretch, no flavor. But anyway, use what you want. I mean, you are after all the dochi of how this should be. Oh, and by the way, we're only adding 75% of the cheese at this point since we want to reserve 25% for the top. And that's it. As soon as that cheese melts in, our sauce is done. And we'll simply reserve that until our pasta is cooked. And while spaghetti is by far the most popular choice for New Orleans mac and cheese, I personally think bukatini is a much better choice. And from what I hear, the original choice of the Italian immigrants who inspired this amazing variation on an American classic. And since the pasta is hollow, it does an amazing job of soaking in the sauce. But no matter what you use, we're going to boil that in salted water until it's just barely cooked. Right. This package said cook at 9 to 11 minutes. So I set my timer for 8 and 1/2. And that's going to be just about perfect considering we're going to bake this in the oven for about a half hour. And that's it. Once our pasta is cooked, we will drain that very well and we'll go ahead and transfer that into a casserole dish. And then before it gets too sticky and hard to move, we'll grab our tongs and we will quickly distribute that as evenly as possible. But we don't have to get it perfect yet because we're going to do this again once our sauce has been poured over, which I'm going to do with a ladle. even though he could probably just pour everything over the top. But my theory is by ladling this I'm gonna get better distribution of that holy trinity, which may or may not make any difference, but I've always enjoyed a good ladelling. So just dump it all on at once if you want. But this is how I did it. And once that was finally accomplished, I grabbed my tongs and I gave that bukatini the old shakea shaker to help settle that sauce down in. And we'll also try to make sure that pasta has been distributed as uniformly as possible. And then once we're finally done fussing around, we'll go ahead and sprinkle over the rest of our cheese. And then if you want, you could add the traditional breadcrumb topping to this, but I decided not to. All right. It didn't look like most versions used one. And since I had already made a couple other major changes, I did not want to attempt fate. Although, after the cheese was down, I did sprinkle the top with cayenne. So, I guess this technically counts as a topping. But in any event, once we're done, this is now ready to transfer into the upper center of a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so, or until our top is golden brown and our sauce is bubbling around the edge. And yes, this does look amazing. And you really want to start eating right now. But do yourself and everybody else a favor and hang tight for about 10 minutes so this has a chance to set up texturally and cool down just a touch. And while I waited, I garnished with some chives since I had some in the garden. And after letting this cool for about 10 minutes, I grabbed a spatula and cut out a piece. And I went ahead and served that up. And that, my friends, was every bit as good as it looks and every bit as delicious as you would think. All right, forget about my controversial inclusion of the Holy Trinity in those Cajun spices. Or as they're called in Cajun country spices. All right, even without those additions, this is a beautifully creamy, just decadent enough worldass mac and cheese. And you might not think that using a long noodle like spaghetti or bukatini would make that big of a difference compared to like an elbow macaroni, but it really, really does. So to summarize, I absolutely loved how this came out. And I think that Holy Trinity vegetable component we added along with that little touch of spice really did elevate things. And I'll just say this one more time. I'm really not sure why it's not already being added. And if you know the reason, maybe leave it in the comments. But anyway, if you're looking for a new and I think very exciting addition to your mac and cheese recipe rotation, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Tiger chicken. That's right. Chicken leg quarters are becoming very popular, which is why I'm very excited to be showing you my tiger cut technique, which along with a few other tricks is the perfect way to prepare this cut of chicken. Plus, I'm also going to show you one of the fastest, easiest, best pan gravies ever. But first things first, and to get started, we will take our chicken leg, which of course is the drumstick and the thigh still connected. And what we'll do is take a sharp knife starting about halfway up the leg and we'll cut all the way down to the bone. And we will keep cutting like this until we get all the way to the end of the thigh. Oh, and one small tip here. When we get past the drumstick, if we kind of pinch both sides of the thigh, that'll sort of push the meat up and give us a little more to cut through. And when we're done, we're going to have something that resembles the stripes on a tiger, which is where I got the name. But besides looking cool, that's going to allow our seasonings to penetrate in nice and deeply, as well as, as you will see and here, help our skin get beautifully crispy and crusty. So, we'll go ahead and do that to four leg sections. And we will place those skin side down on a parchment line baking sheet. at which point they're ready to season with a mixture of kosher salt to which we will add some freshly ground black pepper, some garlic powder, some ground chipotle, which could also be cayenne or just regular sweet paprika. And then we'll finish this up with one secret ingredient before we give it a mix, which is going to be a little touch of baking soda. No, not baking powder. Baking soda, which is going to chemically alter the composition of the skin and make it more alkaline, which is going to help us get it nice and crispy. And that's it. Once mixed, we will apply about half to the meat side of our chicken legs. And then we'll flip them over and apply the rest to the tiger cut skin side. And I probably don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway. You go ahead and put in whatever spices you want here. I mean, you are after all the meg of how to season your leg. And there are so many different directions we could go. But no matter what you use, the game plan here is going to be the same. Once these are seasoned very generously, we're going to pop them in the fridge uncovered with the skin side up and let them dry overnight, which is going to accomplish several things, right? It's going to give our seasoning mix time to get in there and get in there deep. Plus, we'll end up with some really nice dry skin, which always makes it crispier when you bake it. And then lastly, we're going to lose some moisture as it sits in the fridge overnight, which is going to help concentrate the flavors and tighten up the texture a little bit. So, like I said, we'll pop that in the fridge uncovered overnight. And if you can't fit a pan, just use a plate and transfer it onto the pan later. And that's it. After about 14 hours in the fridge, our chicken legs are probably going to look something like this, which is kind of dry and leathery, but that is exactly what we want. And no, we are not going to oil these before they go in the oven. Okay, sure, it's going to look a little better and maybe get browner, but for the crispiest, most delicious skin, we're going to roast this as is. So, let's go ahead and transfer that into the upper center of a 450 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until our chicken's safely cooked and our skin is crispy. And it hopefully looks like this. But looking crispy and being crispy are two different things. So, let's check. And as we like to say, fork don't lie. Oh, yeah. That does sound amazing. And you can just go ahead and start eating this now, however you normally eat roasted chicken. But what I think we should do is quickly transfer that onto a plate and pop it in a warm oven for about 5 minutes while we make an incredible pan gravy using all these drippings on the parchment paper, which because it's nonstick is going to make it very easy to scrape all this goodness into a pan. And from four legs, we're going to end up with about 2 tablespoons of fat, which is going to be perfect for making a quick r. So, we'll place that over mediumigh heat. And we'll transfer in a couple tablespoons of flour. And we'll cook that stirring with a whisk for about 2 minutes or so just to take the raw edge off the flour. And you kind of know you've gone long enough when the mixture smells like cooked pie crust. And also, it's probably going to look something like this. And once it does, we will quickly but very safely transfer in some cold chicken broth or if times are good, some of that slightly more expensive chicken bone broth. And we will whisk that in. And because we added cold liquid into a hot r, which is what that fat and flour mixture is called, we are not going to get any lumps. And I know you think you see lumps, but those aren't lumps. Those are just those little particles of the pan drippings that haven't broken down yet. But anyway, we'll give that a whisk and wait for it to come up to a simmer. And like all flourbased sauces, as soon as it's simmering or boiling, that's when it reaches its maximum thickness. And of course, if it's too thick, add a little more broth. And if it's too thin, just reduce it down a little bit. And once we've reached this point, we can reduce our heat to low. And we can season this up with a pinch of salt, a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, and then maybe a pinch of cayenne just because. And we'll go ahead and whisk that in. And then because I had it and it goes so good with chicken, I tossed in a springrig of terrigon, which we don't even have to chop. Just toss it in and bruise it with your whisk and give it a few stirs. And that's it. In about five minutes or less, you've created a delicious and beautiful chicken pan gravy that we can strain if we want. Or we could serve it just like this, which is normally how I do it. And then we'll go ahead and sauce our plate generously with that. And of course, if you're serving mashed potatoes, which I insist you do, we'll make sure those get a good amount of this gravy as well. and we'll transfer on our still warm tiger chicken. And that, my friends, I truly believe is the best way to roast a chicken leg quarter. So, I grabbed a fork and knife and went in for the official taste, which as usual was a huge challenge. All right, that skin was actually so crusty, I couldn't really even get the fork into it. And also, I remembered I'm not left-handed, so I switched hands and I scooped it up and eventually got it into my mouth. But it was totally worth the wait since that really was an exceptional bite of roast chicken and pan gravy, right? The skin is crispy, the meat is succulent and beautifully seasoned. And while it's not a perfect analogy, it does remind me a little bit of duck comfy. So flavor-wise and texturally, I could not love this technique anymore. And whether you're looking for a new way to cook chicken leg quarters or like me, you're just looking for an excuse to eat mashed potatoes with gravy. Either way, I really do hope you give this a try