There's the "What's for dinner" thread and I enjoy looking through that one and see some amazing stuff. Sigmonkey did a Sigforum cookbook thread back in 2016, but that one's been dormant for a bit. With... everything going on in life right now, comfort food is still comfort food. I figured maybe us sharing our best here now might be welcome.

If you were going to put forward one dish as your best, what would it be? Is it something you've been perfecting for decades? Is it something recent that the family goes nuts over? Heck, just for giggles, let's say you've got two because your signature got replaced, but not upstaged, by something new. My old man's trick was this salt-packed prime rib that always turned out amazing. My mother makes biscuits I would kill for, right now. Maybe you make some smoked, baked whatever thing on a skewer with a reduction sauce you're thinking of right now. Whatever it is.

It's been a few months since I've made mine. We bought a house that has a lemon tree. It's a dwarf tree, but when you have fresh lemons, you wanna use them. Found this creamy lemon chicken recipe and it's been a winner. It's got a fair bit of steps and isn't super fast, but the upside is, if you slice the chicken nice and thin or even pound the cutlets to uniform thickness, this one is really hard to mess up. The lemon doesn't smack you in the face, but it isn't too subtle, it's a perfect balance. This one is delicious. I did it over some linguini, but it truly isn't even necessary. Made this one several times in the last six months and we all love it here. Pictures help seal the deal, so I'm stealing from the article.


Now, this other one, I've only made once. Why is it a signature? Because it came out amazing, and my family has been asking me to make it again for several years now. It was a lot of work, and it made an absolute mess, which is why I haven't made it again. It is ridiculous, and it's indulgent. This is not health food. However, my family went absolutely nuts over this one, and I really enjoyed it as well. Unfortunately, you will have to sit through a video by a bloviating California doofus, but if you do *exactly* what he does only maybe omitting the egg, you'll end up with a stellar sandwich. Yes, that means the breaded fried tomatoes and the candied bacon just how he does. It's been long enough that I'm actually going to do this again real soon. It's easy to scoff at it because it's an absurd recipe, but it truly is delicious.

Hot water for me.

But I can buy takeout with the best of ‘em

Poulet a la Moutarde. (Mustard chicken)

Classic French techniques in making the dish. Browning the chicken, softening onions, adding pork fat (and pork meat) then deglazing with wine followed by simmering that creates a sauce that is heartened by heavy cream.

Accompanied by oven baked French fries in olive oil, seasoned with smoked paprika.

Of course, the process is greatly improved by the liberal imbibing of a decent Cote du Nuit Pinot noir.

I made Coq Au Vin. Once. It was fantastic, my wife said it was stellar, but it was labor intensive and I have not worked up the energy to do it again.

Something on my to-do list, I haven't got a round tuit yet, is cassoulet.

Participated in preparing Beef Wellington once. It was not all my doing, it was a group effort, and took quite a while, but it was really good.

Don’t make me cry. I cooked all kinds of fun exotic stuff just for me for many years. Now I’m stuck having to help feed a couple of relatives who have the tastes of toddlers. It has taken all the joy out of cooking.

My griddle fried Teriyaki chicken.

My Denver frittata with ham, bell pepper, onion, and cheddar.

In the pan:


Out of the oven:


On the plate:

Pan seared scallops with pasta is my number one.
Shrimp scampi would be my second and my lemon chicken third.
Great, now I’m hungry!!

I used to make a mean Kung Pao Chicken using the ancient secret Chinese method of velveting (pre-texturizing using baking soda or cornstarch). Hmmm, haven't done this in quite the while. Maybe I should fire up the wok...

Rack of lamb. It's super easy to grill to perfection, especially if you do sous vide.

I don't add much to it. S&P and garlic powder. If I'm doing sous vide, I'll toss in some sprigs of rosemary and thyme.

The secret ingredient is properly Frenching and trimming it, as well as removing as much fat and silver skin, while leaving the right amount of fat for flavor. Too much fat and it won't render properly, too little and it's drier than usual.

I cook in sous vide @134° approx 1hr, then sear on stupid high heat while painting with torch.

I grill it at ~400 on the grill for about 15-20 minutes. I don't know really what time and temperature, doesn't really matter. I just cook til seared well and internal temp is 133-135°. I prefer it on the medium side of midrare after carryover cooking.

Super simple main dish that seems way more impressive than it really is.

Pot Roast, a recipe I found years ago in the Sunday paper and have transmogrified over the course of time. It cooks for 4 hours then I pull the beef apart and put it back in pot.
This one doesn't have potatoes in it so I make garlic, sour cream, cheese mashed potatoes and ladle the beef/veggie/everything else over top.

It's a dish for cooler weather.

My Tacos are kinda a big deal…

Red beans and rice, essentially Tigereye313's recipe.

Pinto beans and cornbread.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Shugart:
Red beans and rice, essentially Tigereye313's recipe.

Usually I'll cook gumbo. Always a crowd pleaser.

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Shugart:
Red beans and rice, essentially Tigereye313's recipe.

Usually I'll cook gumbo. Always a crowd pleaser.

Jambalaya is my preference, but I'll never turn down a good helping of the other 2!

I cook all the time and enjoy it, the wife not so much.
I'll ask what she wants for dinner and look at a few recipes and take a little from each and make my own creation.

If I had a signature dish, it would probably be Mississippi Pot Roast.
Serve it over mashed potatoes and a sliced Baguette.



But I can make just about anything.
Tonight was Mediterranean-themed Baked Chicken Kabobs over orzo.
That was our 17 year anniversary dinner..

Mine is becoming beef rendang.

Tonight I made sushi and sashimi. The secret, of course, is fresh and very high quality fish.

The menu included salmon in rolls with cucumber and avocado topped with salmon caviar; tuna nigiri with flying fish roe, scallops (both uncooked and sautéed in drawn butter) and a cooked shrimp roll.

I bought genuine wasabi and imported soy sauce as well.

The sticky rice was not as cohesive as I really needed, but was satisfactory - my excuse is that I had not prepared home-made sushi in almost forty years.

Although an amateur preparation, my three guests and I consumed the entire batch!

Sushi is not my best dish, but it was a great deal of fun to prepare!

My showpiece dish is Ossobuco, cross-cut veal shank in the Lombardi style. A true dish to die for! Recipe to follow…

I don't have any good pictures, but I do make a pretty decent Älplermagronen.