Philly Cheesesteak, Man Heaven

There are a lot of ways to make a great sandwich.  Lots of different ingredients you can use to enhance the flavor.  But sometimes, you just want a simple sandwich.  Something that doesn't require you to go to the market to grab another five ingredients.  This is it, the Philly Cheesesteak.  It can be as simple as you want it to be or as complex as you desire.

Grilled steak! So easy and so good!

There are some amazing things in this world.  There are the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Fallon, Warhead candies, and then there's steak.  In a league of its own.  This is our carnivorous advantage over vegetarians, our ace card.  They say health, we say "Bah!  STEAK!"  They chant for animal rights, we scream "steak!"  What more can you ask for?  Juicy, classy and ease, all in one.  Everybody's got their own techniques (okay, maybe not all of you) but this is mine, and it works.

Broiled Lemon Herb Salmon topped with a Crispified Salmon Skin

Buy salmon steak at the market.  How?  Put the fish next to your noise and smell it.  It should smell fresh and sweet.  If it smells very fishy, slap your butcher with it.  Flesh should be firm and reddish.  Can't decide which one to get?  Get the one with the least fat, leaving me the nice and fatty one for myself.  Try and buy some wild salmon if you could afford it.  Now, take it home wash it, scale it and debone it.  How?  Watch this YouTube video.

Spiced Center Cut Pork Chops with Sweet Mashed Potatoes

Pork is unfortunately cooked wrong today.  There's been a myth that pork has to be well done.  This used to be true, in like the 70s and 80s.  But this is 2011.  We have a lot of problems in this world, but at least we got rid of most diseases in our swine.  This is a recipe for some amazing pork chops, cooked to a perfect medium.  NOT WELL DONE.  If you eat your pork chops cooked well done (aka overcooked), you've got to try cooking it to a medium doneness and see what real pork is about!  (Of course this is assuming you have decent quality pork.)  Read on to see how.

Nuoc Mam Cham -- Mixed fish sauce

If there is one thing you want to make right when you want to make Vietnamese cuisine, it's nuoc mam cham.  Nuoc mam is to the Vietnamese what ketchup is to Americans or soy sauce is to the Chinese.  It's basically fish sauce mixed with a few other ingredients to make it a great dipping sauce.  Fish sauce alone, for the most part, is too strong and doesn't have the depth of flavor you want.  Mixing it with some garlic, sugar, lime and a couple other things helps immensely with the flavor profile.

CookingForDads @ IHG in Chicago, Top 10 Kitchen Gadgets

I thought this video was really cool and wanted to share it with you guys.  This video was made by Rob Barrett (CookingForDads) @ www.cookingfordads.net.  Check out his site and his YouTube videos if you get the chance.

There are some cool products (most I will never touch or consider getting) that were displayed at the International Home and Houseware Show.  Very cool, check it out.

Cha Gio - Vietnamese Egg Rolls

Every time I begin writing, I always stop and pause.  First, to look at the picture I take, then to decide how I'm going to start the post.  I think this might be my first Vietnamese dish and I want to babble on about how wonderful Vietnamese food is and how it got its roots from this and that.  But then I remembered that every time a segment like that comes up on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, I get sleepy as heck.  So we are going to skip that... this time.  What I won't skip is the reason this simple roll is so wonderful and, of course, how to make it.

Beer Can Chicken - Dancin' Chickens?

OK.  That is not a dancing chicken.  That's a dead chicken.  First of all, you might be asking, "What the heck is a dancing chicken?"  Well my friends, if you haven't heard (or tried for that matter) of beer can chicken, you're in for a treat.  Beer can chicken refers more towards a cooking method than beer flavored chicken.  So if you don't like the flavor of beer, well... what's the matter with you?  But more importantly, you don't taste any beer.  And if you really are offended by the flavor of beer, you can use any liquid in a can.  In this demo, I used a beer and a coke can.