BRUCE (AKA The Chef)

MARK (AKA The Writer)

 

DREYDL (AKA The Dog)

Check out this cheeky tome called Ham: An Obsession With The Hindquarter

FINE COOKING calls it "a witty ode to pork's most primal cut." It's our hymn to backsides: American country ham, European dry-cured hams like prosciutto crudo or jamón ibérico, wet-cured hams like the ones from HoneyBaked, and even fresh hams, the best pork roast you'll ever eat. (Click on the cover to get your copy today.)

The Ultimate Cook Book

Our big compendium cookbook--900 new recipes, tons of cooking tips. You'll be an ultimate cook in no time.

Want to see a video on this book. Check it out here.

Cooking Know-How

WINNER OF THE 2009 GOURMAND AWARD at the Paris cookbook show for the "BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD" for "easy recipes." Also starred reviews in both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal, a main selection of the Good Cook Book of the Month Club, a selection by NPR as one of the best cookbooks of 2009, and a favorite of the San Jose Mercury--that called us "culinary wonks."

Pizza: Grill It, Bake It, Love It!

Our brand-new pizza book. That's the squash, caramelized onion, and pine nut pie. And there are 89 more.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book

Cookies galore--and every one of them with chocolate: chips, shavings, cocoa, melted, irresistible.

The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book

America's favorite spread? Yes, but also the world's. Wait until you see all the no-cook Asian sauces, the African stew, the Filipino braise, and a host of favorites from breakfast to dessert!

Cooking For Two

Every dish for just two--and no waste. Cut it, open it--and use it. It's a feast for twosomes.

The Ultimate Muffin Book

Get your muffins! The chocolate chip ones soon became a holiday tradition in our house.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

The book that started a whole career. A quarter million copies in print and still going strong!

The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book

And a follow-up to The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, this time with gelato, sherbet, granita, and a groaning board of ice cream cakes and frozen pies!

The Ultimate Shrimp Book

A one-book compendium for America's favorite seafood

The Ultimate Party Drink Book

Up, shaken, frozen, pitcher punches, shooters--here's a guide to drinks to make your next party a splash

The Ultimate Brownie Book

Fudgy, cakey, you name it--even a chapter on brownie mix doctor recipes--here's a book that'll keep everyone smiling!

The Ultimate Candy Book

A reviewer on amazon called it "an evil book." We could only hope so. Gooey, crunchy, a ton of chocolate barks, fudge, divinity, and it just keeps going.

The Ultimate Potato Book

Spuds forever! We love everything about the potato--and in this book, we made our favorite vegetable front and center since every recipe is a main course with spuds aplenty.

Powered by Squarespace
Our Youtube Channel

Want to see more? Come on over to our youtube channel. We're cooking up a storm! Check it out here.

It's all about the recipes!
Get your copy of our seven-step plan to get off processed food!

Click on the book jacket for your copy. Don't miss it. Seven simple steps, a hundred great recipes, lots of motivational help, and all in an easy plan that starts small and could end up changing your life!

THE BLOG ROLL
SUBSCRIBE!
THE PERSONAL STUFF
JOIN US!

Want to come cruising with us? We're off to Alaska with Holland America on August 4th for a week--leaving from Vancouver (and returning to there) with lots of cruising up the Tracy Arm and through Glacier Bay National Park. We'll be cooking up a storm in classes on board, so come have a blast with us. For more information, click here.

 

REVIEWS OF COOKING KNOW-HOW

Don't take our word for it. Here are some cool reviews of COOKING KNOW-HOW:

weightwatchers.com

In Mama's Kitchen

5 Second Rule

Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Winston Salem Journal

Super Chef

NPR--chosen one of the ten best cookbooks for the summer of 2009

Relish Magazine (although the writer complains that I use too many big words. Heaven forfend!)

And if you want to see an outrageous clip of us on San Francisco TV, check out our appearance on A View From The Bay here.

Or for white bean veggie burgers on the same show--in which I go off on a bizarre jag about the ethics of cruising--click here.

DANCING WITH A COLLIE

brought on no doubt by that empty bottle of wine on top of the fridge

EMAIL ME
This form does not yet contain any fields.
    Bruce's Blog

    Bruce has his own blog. A knitting blog. Knits Men Want. It's a companion site to his new knitting book: ten rules every woman should know before she knits for a man--plus ten patterns men are guaranteed to like. And I do. I have some of the sweaters. And I wear them. Imagine that. Check on the cover to check it out.

    Entries in chicken (7)

    Friday
    Feb262010

    Pickle Brined Chicken Breasts

    Comment10 Comments

    What's that, you ask? Some lurid bit of recipe testing gone terribly wrong? What's left after the liposuction? Last year's gefilte fish?

    Um, no. Those are chicken breasts in pickle brine. In other words, a quick and easy solution to the problem of boring and overcooked boneless skinless cutlets. (Oh, that nasty sharding! Oh, that tasteless nothingness!)

    I was going to blog a lovely Arabic rice pilaf today. It'll have to wait until next week. Instead, I'm giving props to Bruce for this one. Necessity is not the only mother of invention. Laziness bears children, too.

    Last night, he made boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner. In case you don't know, they are my least favorite food, period, hands down, no questions, get out of Dodge, pull out my teeth and call me gummy. I find them pointless. I whine in their very presence.

    So he came up with a pretty ingenious solution. Mostly to shut me up. But also to make them better. Ready?

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateFriday, February 26, 2010 at 9:02AM | in
    tagged , , , , , , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Tuesday
    Jan192010

    Chicken With Shallots And Kumquats

    Comment10 Comments

    I love kumquats. But let's be reasonable: they're difficult to cook. They tend to roll around a skillet! But I'd go through a lot to get that spiky taste: fresh, vibrant, a spark of sunshine in the dead of winter.

    And winter it is. It's snowing at our house. Has been for days. So we're hunkered down for the long haul. (Or at least until we have to be out the door early in the morning for a working trip into New York City.)

    Let's just say this: it's hard to eat in season when your driveway is a skating rink. But kumquats fit the bill. Bright and divine, they're in our markets right now.

    While Bruce was out teaching knitting the other night, I wanted to make a simple skillet supper that used kumquats to good effect. I knew I'd need to balance them with lots of aromatics and other big flavors. So here's what I came up with.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateTuesday, January 19, 2010 at 1:38PM | in
    tagged , , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Friday
    Oct232009

    Grilled Wings

    CommentPost a Comment

    Now that's a heap of wings! And a fine supper they made. As well they should: sweet, hot, spicy.

    When I was a kid, we had fried chicken at my grandparents' house almost every Sunday we were there. My grandmother always tried to grab the wings. Even put them on her plate before she set the platter down on the table. And then there was always a show-down: she and her sisters, fighting for the wings. "Oh, Sis, let me have that. You take a breast."

    I thought it was martyrdom, saving the best for everyone else. Um, no. Now I know it was rank selfishness--because a wing is definitely crunchier, juicier, fattier, and skinishier. (What would be the adjective for having more skin? Skinnier? That sounds way wrong for chicken wings.) It was one of my favorite parts of developing recipes for THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK (which you can find here)--so we ended up leaving three recipes in that volume.

    Anyway, Bruce made some wings last night on the grill because we had a momentary day of sunshine and warmth, into the low 70s.

    Boy, were those things good.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateFriday, October 23, 2009 at 11:47AM | in ,
    tagged , , , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Thursday
    Jun112009

    Curried Chicken Salad

    Comment1 Comment

    Sometimes, life calls for a picnic.

    I just read Jules Clancy's stone soup blog (check for it here) and she had ten tips for a perfect picnic, some of which really made me smile (such as: make sure you have the weekend papers in tow).

    I can't think of a better time for a picnic. So we just put together this quick curried salad and are ready for a lunch that's calm, quiet, and just for two.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateThursday, June 11, 2009 at 10:17AM | in ,
    tagged , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Wednesday
    Jun102009

    Grilled Cornish Game Hens

    Comment2 Comments

    What is it about the grill? Why is it so doped with male hormones? Is it because guys still don't want to get caught inside in the kitchen, somehow compromising their sexuality? (Uh oh, watch out he's got a whisk--he might be going gay!)

    Or is it because of that open flame? I mean, what little boy didn't want to play with matches? (Me, actually, but then again, I liked whisks.)

    No matter, because I'm all for the grill, even if it gets gendered in ways that make my head hurt. (I'll let you figure out which one of us grills: Bruce carries around a Leatherman and fixes plumbing leaks; I sit on my ample butt reading Henry James. It's a real puzzler, no?)

    And while I'm at it, I'm all for Cornish game hens, even if they aren't game hens, or even sporting birds of any stripe, but cross-bred, Lilliputian chickens (which also makes my head hurt).

    OK, to the recipe.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateWednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12:59PM | in
    tagged , , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Sunday
    Feb222009

    Roast Rooster

    CommentPost a Comment

    Last night, we pulled The Ultimate Cook Book off the shelf and cooked up a capon--aka, a gelded rooster. Poor boy. He lost his balls at an early age because there was already another cock on the walk. (Easy, easy pun.) And so our de-cojones-ed kid plumped up like a castrato--thus to become one of life's more exquisite pleasures.

    A capon is a great roast: moist but meaty, not as fatty as a chicken, not as dry as a turkey. Don't get me wrong: I love roast chicken. But the meat can get a little, well, soft. And in all honesty, it's the skin I adore. With a capon, I get it all: perfect skin, firm meat.

    So here we go: a roasted ball-less rooster stuffed with potatoes and sauerkraut.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateSunday, February 22, 2009 at 12:24PM | in
    tagged , , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |
    Saturday
    Feb212009

    Frenchified Chicken and Rice

    CommentPost a Comment

    I know what you're going to say: French? Chicken and rice? Zut alors!

    OK, maybe you're not going to say that last bit. Still, I'll be the first to admit this dish isn't authentic. Rather, it's one of Bruce's whimsical creations: classic Burgundian tastes in a down-home, American casserole. In other words, darn good comfort food, my kind of thing this time of year. (Well, any time of year, but that's another story.)

    Here's how Bruce makes it:

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateSaturday, February 21, 2009 at 4:54PM | in , ,
    tagged , ,
    Print ArticlePrint Article | |