Very tasty food

Mushrooms
Mushrooms offer so much flexibility when it comes to cooking for yourself and others. Try these three mushroom recipes to impress any guest!
There’s a case to be made for mushrooms being the world’s most extraordinary food?at least among those so commonly used and recognized by cultures across the globe. There’s a good chance one’s growing somewhere near you right now, whether it’s a delicious source of plant-based protein, a deadly poison, or a mind-bending ingredient more suited to shamanic rituals and music festivals than sauteing on your stove. Of course, the focus here is on the edible sort?specifically the delicious and nutritious variety available in your local grocery store!

One of the best things about cooking mushrooms is how they can just as easily be either the star of the show or part of a perfectly assembled support cast. A large portobello makes a solid burger patty just as well as it adds edge to a gravy. If you’re just buying one vegetable, you can be sure mushrooms will pair beautifully with whatever else lies in your pantry. Even the humble potato can’t boast such versatility.

Mushrooms are also a great starting point when seeking inspiration for dinner party ideas. Their texture is meaty enough to satisfy omnivores at a vegetarian or vegan dinner, but aren’t so meaty that they can’t complement actual meat as a simple side dish. They’re incredibly easy to cook in a multitude of ways, but also have enough variety to offer even the most imaginative chefs room to experiment with new flavors and textures. Cooking mushrooms, as the old saying goes, takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master.

Aside that saves you time
If you’re looking to impress guests without spending too much time over your stove, why are you still making vegetables and gravy separately? Just combine the two and pour your vegetables straight over that juicy slab of meat.

A Marsala mushroom sauce doesn’t just keep pork chops succulent, it also gives them just enough kick to appease fans of spicy dining. You can even add chili flakes to the meat seasoning if it’s that kind of dinner.

Either way, this recipe works best with enough sauce that the mushrooms ooze round the plate. While it makes a great low-carb meal on its own, you should consider serving the chops with pasta or white bread to mop up the last of those creamy mushrooms. If you do so while entertaining, however, be warned that guests might not have room for dessert after this! Keep it light and don’t spend much time making something overly elaborate.

The Italian people pleaser
Risotto is a great dinner party food. Everyone will be impressed by your effort?they know it takes plenty of time and patience?but it isn’t really an effort at all. Pour yourself a glass of wine, put your favorite podcast on, and start slowly stirring. Oh, and mushrooms could have been made for it!

Still not convinced that risotto is one of the best dinner party foods out there? It works equally well as a main or a starter, has subtle enough flavors to work well between mismatched courses, pairs excellently with almost any white wine, and, better still, any leftovers can be rolled up and fried into mouth-watering Arancini the next day.

If you do want to serve mushroom risotto as a single meal or main course, you could also try elaborating by topping it off with grilled asparagus or chicken.

For any time of day
Whether a starter, snack, or even a light meal, few foods can match slices of good bread layered with thick pate. Given how pates change the texture of meat so drastically, it’s somewhat surprising that this is one of those areas where vegan alternatives really struggle to compete. But there are exceptions.

This wild mushroom terrine isn’t trying to taste like meat, and that’s where it succeeds. Instead, it does the job that a pate of terrine should do (spread smooth and fatty over soft, fluffy bread) while providing a smoky, nutty flavor that’s all its own. It works as an excellent starter to any vegan dinner, but also for occasions when you’d rather not precede a meat main course with even more meat.

In any case, you’re going to want to smother that on some good bread, and there’s no bread more certain to impress your guests than the bread you’ve baked yourself. If you’re inexperienced with baking, you might want to start with a flatbread, such as a simple pita or Sicilian carasau recipe. Or if you’re feeling confident, why not try your hand at baking olive bread? All go well with this wild mushroom terrine.

Hopefully, these recipes helped you understand just how versatile mushrooms can be. When planning a dinner, building any or all courses around these fascinating fungi is an easy way to get started. And if you’re looking to get creative, there’s a huge variety out there for you to play with.

Sausage
Who doesn’t love a grilled bratwurst? No matter what part of the world you’re from, it’s likely you’ve enjoyed some sort of sausage in your life.
Since the earliest days of human meat consumption, sausages have been an important part of preserving and eating meat. Whether it’s German frankfurters, Spanish chorizo, or even Turkish sucuk, different types of sausage are available all over the world—and they’re all incredibly tasty. Sausages generally consist of ground meat from various sources being encased in animal intestine. More recently, synthetic sausage casings have become prevalent, as they are cheaper to make than the more traditional intestinal linings used in the past.

Evidence of human sausage consumption stretches back millennia. Perhaps the oldest recorded evidence of sausage consumption was revealed after archeologists decoded ancient Akkadian tablets which described the process of encasing some sort of meat inside animal intestines.

But the Mesopotamian Akkadian Empire isn’t the only place where early evidence of sausage consumption can be found. On the other side of the Asian continent, the Chinese lachang sausage has been consumed since at least 589 BC, which at the time consisted of goat and lamb meat. These days, Chinese sausages contain a variety of meats, but that goat and lamb combination sure does sound tasty.

Fast forward to the present, and sausage constitutes an important part of many cultures’ national cuisines. Imagine Germany without sausages—what would the locals enjoy alongside their beer if not the magnificent grilled bratwurst? Together with a topping of strong mustard, the bratwurst is indeed the best companion to a cold, German wheat beer.

But it is perhaps in the United States and other multicultural settler-colonial nations where the wide array of international varieties of sausage can be observed. In an American supermarket, whole deli counters are reserved for the sale of sausages based on recipes stemming from the various immigrant groups, all of whom have become part of the nation’s rich, cultural tapestry. Whether salami, frankfurters, or mortadella, the plethora of sausage varieties in such multicultural contexts can be quite impressive.

A great way to start the day
If you stem from a North American or British background, you’ll probably know the classic breakfast combination of sausage, egg, and bacon. There’s just something about these ingredients that brighten up the start to any day. So whether you’re nursing a hangover or are simply in the mood for some meaty, eggy goodness, then it might be time to consider beginning your day with a sausage, bacon and fried egg sandwich.

Of course, store-bought bread rolls are perfectly fine to use for this recipe. But if you’re an early bird, why not get up a bit ahead of time and prepare some freshly baked homemade bread? This won’t only up your breakfast game—the smell of bread in the oven is bound to get the rest of your family out of bed in no time. Combined with the enticing smell of fried bacon and sausage, this aroma may, in fact, be the best way to entice your partner and children to join you in the kitchen without you even having to go and fetch them.

One variety of bread that is sure to work alongside your sausage and bacon is, of course, a homemade Italian-style bread. This traditional recipe will produce a dough that you can even store in the fridge and use at a later date. But for the purpose of the breakfast at hand, rest assured that this Italian bread will be the perfect accompaniment to the sandwiches you’re about to make.

The best way to prepare eggs for these magical sandwiches is, of course, to fry them sunny-side up in the pan that you’ve just cooked your sausages and bacon in. That way, you don’t even need to use any additional oil—the remaining meat fat will help fry your eggs to perfection in no time. Sprinkle these majestic sandwiches with some fresh parsley, and you’re good to go.

A match made in heaven
While there are many food couplings that seem to have been made for each other, there is one that particularly stands out. The most dynamic of food duos is without a doubt sausage and mashed potatoes, a dish so classic and easy to make that it’s consumed by families all over the Western world. But to transform this terrific twosome into something even better, you’ll need to harness one more fantastic ingredient—fried onions.

This magical combination will result in a hearty sausage and mashed potatoes with onions and gravy. While your potatoes are boiling, fry up your pork sausages in a well-oiled pan. Once they’re cooked all the way through, it’s time to start with your onion wedges. These should be fried until tender, at which point you’ll want to add some beef stock and sugar that will result in a savory gravy.

While you let your gravy simmer, it’s time to mash those potatoes. If you time it right, all the components of this tasty dish should be ready simultaneously.

Thanksgiving
In the United States, Christmas isn’t the only winter holiday where families come together to break bread. About a month before Jesus’ birth lies the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
This iconic holiday traces its roots back to 1621 in what became known as the First Thanksgiving. This consisted of a three-day feast where early American settlers, known as the Pilgrims, sat down for a communal meal with indigenous Americans to celebrate the end of the harvest.

But it wasn’t until 1863 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving was enshrined as a national holiday, a position it retains up until this day. While the origins of this modern iteration of Thanksgiving laid in giving thanks to God for a successful harvest, these have in many ways been overshadowed by more modern traditions such as Thanksgiving parades—and one of the busiest days to travel throughout the whole year, as families all over the country attempt to come together to eat a communal meal and watch football.

Thanksgiving classics
For anyone who’s celebrated the holiday before, you’ll know that there are a number of iconic dishes that can often be found on a Thanksgiving dinner table. Preparing these dishes usually involves a full day’s work—and an occasional argument in the kitchen! But perhaps the most famous of all the Thanksgiving dishes is, of course, a roast turkey filled with stuffing. It’s estimated that 46 million Turkeys are consumed by Americans on Thanksgiving, this fact demonstrating how truly important this dish is for the holiday.

The secret to a great Thanksgiving turkey is purchasing a meat thermometer. Depending on the size of the bird—and the strength of your oven—cooking a turkey can be a slightly challenging task. But with a meat thermometer at hand, you’ll be able to know right away when the bird has reached that desired level of heat and is ready to serve.

But a roast turkey is nothing unless it contains a great stuffing inside. As there is no one stuffing recipe set in stone for all to follow, you can experiment with a number of different combinations. If you want to try out something new this year, why not attempt one of these three turkey stuffing recipes?

The first is a delicious pecan and sausage stuffing, which is bound to please the whole family. Another variant you could put on the menu this year is a cornbread and Italian sausage stuffing which. After all, who doesn’t love extra cornbread? Finally, for the most adventurous stuffing enthusiasts, a chestnut, squash, and wild rice stuffing might go down as the most memorable—and definitely the most interesting—of any stuffing your family has ever eaten.

Vegetarians can celebrate Thanksgiving too
You know the story. Your son or daughter has gone off to college and a few months later comes home to inform you they’ve decided to go vegetarian. But have no fear—their change in dietary requirements will not ruin this year’s Thanksgiving. This is because there are a number of fantastic vegetarian variations on Thanksgiving classics that you can prepare that even the meat-lovers in your family will definitely enjoy!

First of all, you’re going to need an alternative for the juicy, luscious turkey meat that your vegetarian family members can no longer eat. A recipe that is bound to help out here is one for a deliciously savory tofurkey roll with mushrooms. This dish captures the meaty character of turkey along with the richness of the stuffing usually contained within. Who knows? Perhaps this dish might even convince you to try out vegetarianism!

If you need a fantastic vegetarian side dish to go along with your tofurkey roll, try making a green bean casserole. This is a quick, tasty, and healthy accompaniment that vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike can enjoy.

Save room for dessert
Here comes the moment you’ve all been waiting for—yes, it’s time for dessert! No Thanksgiving is complete without a pecan pie. After you’ve taken your turkey out of the oven, it’s time to bake this majestic, Thanksgiving pie for about 50 minutes. That way, by the time everyone has finished their main courses, this pie will be ready to go! Sweeten the deal with a dollop of sweet cream on top of every serving.

If you have a relative nagging you in the kitchen while you’re preparing the pecan pie, why not enlist them to cook up a second delicious Thanksgiving dessert? One idea comes to mind—a pumpkin pudding with raisins! Even if your family is devoid of hunger after so many servings of delicious food, this pumpkin pudding can also be put in the fridge and baked later in the evening, or even the next day. What better dessert is there to enjoy after feasting on leftover turkey sandwiches?

BBQ & Grilling
From the campfire to the propane grill, open-fire cooking has a storied place in human tradition. Learn the history of grilling and get some great recipes.
Open-fire grilling is surely the oldest method of cooking. From the moment a hungry hominid retrieved that first hunk of steaming hunk of meat from the ashes of a forest fire, humans have eaten and enjoyed the smoky taste of food cooked over the open flame.

But first, it might be best to define some terms. Open-fire cooking, cooking food directly over the glowing coals, is great for chunks of meat and vegetables skewered on a stick and suspended above the heat source. With the right equipment, it’s also well suited to one-pot cooking, so things like stews and chilis are a great option. If you’re going for grilling, then meats and kebabs of various types are the way to go. Barbecue (or BBQ) is widely used as a synonym for this type of food, but more precisely refers to a complex process of smoking heavily spiced meat popular in the South of the United States (to get an idea of the difference, think about the difference between a grilled piece of salmon and some barbecue baby back ribs).

In this article, we’re going to review the history of cooking over the open fire, examine its traditional place in some of the world’s cultures, and check out some inspiring recipes for the best BBQed and grilled food around.

Grilling around the world
As we have already seen, grilling can mean lots of different things for lots of different people. Let’s see how different people around the world make use of the open flame for cooking, baking, and other types of cooking.

Central Asia and the Middle East has a longstanding tradition of grilling meats over the open flames. Some say this is due to the influence that nomadic horse riders have had over the histories of these areas. Unlike traditional cooking, open-flame grilling requires nothing more than a fuel source, some food, and perhaps a long stick to avoid getting burned. This made it easier for the Turkic and Mongolian horse riders to prepare food even as they traveled dozens of miles each day. You can’t exactly cart an oven around on the back of a horse, now can you?

So it turns out that it’s not a coincidence that many of our grilling vocabulary words come from Middle Eastern and Central Asian tradition. Think about it next time you eat a kebab—a word that arrived in English after traveling through Arabic from its Turkic origins.

A recipe that really showcases the diverse origins of grilled food is this delicious grilled chicken kebab with couscous. In this dish, juicy chicken breast is wrapped around wooden skewers and grilled over the open flame and served alongside a gorgeous and healthy couscous salad packed with juicy vegetables.

The simplicity of fire
But grilling doesn’t need to involve heavily spiced meats. Indeed, the oldest cooking method can also be the simplest: the smoke of the fire adds its own spice to meat, and sometimes that’s all you need. When working with delicately flavored ingredients like fish, grilling can be a secret weapon for adding flavor and visual interest to your meal. This simple grilled salmon leverages the primary and most important benefit of grilling—that lovely smokey flavor—to create a meal that is truly more than the sum of its parts.

It also helps that it’s dead easy. The key to this recipe is to get the best salmon possible. This grilled salmon with vegetables recipe can be the difference between simply not being hungry anymore and having a meal that’s truly worth remembering.

Not just for meat
Vegetarians and vegans, listen up! You may have cast aside grilling and BBQ along with the steaks and chicken wings, but hope is not lost. Some vegetables take readily to the grill. Whether it’s potatoes wrapped up in tin foil and cooked directly over the embers or a charred eggplant whipped up into the smokiest baba ganoush you’ve ever had, vegetables belong on the grill just as much as a piece of meat does.

One of the best ways to enjoy vegetables on the grill is to cook a good ear of corn. Just assemble your various seasonings, slather on that butter (or olive oil if you’re a vegan), and grill that baby up! All you have to do is take off the husk and this simple grilled corn is one of the singular pleasures of summer, and now it can be yours.

Grilling—a piece of human history
So the next time you decide to reenact one of humanity’s proudest forgotten moments and put flesh to flame, be sure to try out some of these inspiring recipes for the grill or BBQ. Whether you’re grilling over open coals or cooking up a traditional southern BBQ feast, cooking your food with fire and imparts that delicious smoky flavor you just can’t get any other way.

Now it's easier to send Very tasty food a message.