Young Bear's Blog

I've wanted to make this dish ever since I saw the 2015 movie "Chef". It looked so simple yet so delicious and that's what Italian cooking is all about, taking a handful of fresh ingredients and combining them to make something amazing. Cookware 10 inch pan Ingredients (serves 2) Olive Oil (enough to fill 1/4 of pan) Sliced garlic (several cloves) Freshly chopped parsley (small bowl's worth) 1/2 lemon (juiced) Red pepper flakes (2 pinches) Freshly cracked black pepper (5 cracks) Salt (2 generous pinches) Linguine (small handful)  Place pan on stove over med-low heat. Allow pan to heat for at least 5 minutes. Add oil to pan along with sliced garlic. Stir to make sure that that garlic slices don't stick together. Add red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt. Once garlic is toasted but not burnt, remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente, strain, and add to the pan. Add lemon juice, choppe...

The first I made these was on a weekend afternoon in elementary school. At the time my dad was talking a lot about the tortillas that my grandma used to make and had me call her up and get the recipe. She hadn't thought about it in a long time but did her best to remember and I'll never forget the time I tried one. Yes they do take time and it is work but once one try the real deal, it's very hard to go back.  Ingredients  4 cups of flour 2 teaspoons of salt 6 tablespoons of shortening 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1 1/4 cup of fairly warm water Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the shortening, and work it into the flour. Once blended, slowly add the water and form into a ball until there is no more flour in the bowl. Knead the dough on a board, form small balls and let them sit covered with a dish towel for 15 minutes. Once rested, cook the small dough balls on a low-med low heat on a skillet or griddle, 2 minutes on 1 side, 1 minute on t...

These might be the best pork chop I've ever eaten. Googled "best pork chop recipe" and am not disappointed. Yes the pork is pink and despite what you may think, it's totally ok.  EQUIPMENT  Small pot  Cast iron (or other oven safe skillet) Measuring spoons Shallow dish  Plastic wrap  BRINE 3 cups water 2 1/2 tbls salt  3 crushed/peeled garlic cloves  2 bay leaves  Pepper  MEAT 2 bone-on pork chops SEASONING  Small amount of olive oil A few shakes of Cajun seasoning (my twist) Freshly cracked pepper DIRECTIONS   Heat 1 cup of water until the salt is melted, transfer to a shallow dish and add garlic cloves, bay leaves, freshly cracked pepper, and 2 cups of cold water to cool. Give it a stir. Once the brine mixture is room temp, submerge pork chops in brine, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit in fridge for 30mins-4 hours (4 hours is best.)   Once brined, removed from fridg...

Although broccoli has always been my favorite vegetable, my first time having this dish wasn't until I was almost a teenager. My aunt Suki made this for dinner one night during one our annual summer trips and I've loved it ever since. This specific recipe however is not hers, rather another version I found on YouTube. Ingredients  1pd flank steak (cut into 1inch-ish pieces) 2 heads of broccoli (cut into florets) 3 carrots (peeled and slices) 3 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed) Black pepper  Chili flakes  2tbps corn starch/2tbps water mixed Sauce 1/3cup soy sauce  1/4cup honey 1/4cup brown sugar Chili flakes Put the sliced steak in a bowl and mix it with the crushed garlic, black pepper, chili flakes, and enough soy sauce to marinate but not drown the meat in it. Marinate covered in the fridge overnight or at least a few hours. Add all the sauce ingredients in a small pot or small pan, turn the burner on low an...