One of the significant advantages of grinding your own beef is the ability to engineer the exact fat-to-lean ratio for your specific application. Pre-ground beef offers limited options—usually 80/20, 85/15,  …

  Basics, Beef, Cheap, General, Mince

Welcome to a new section of the Grimoire dedicated to ground beef, or as the rest of the civilized world calls it, beef mince. This won’t be a parade of  …

  Beef, Cheap, General, Global, Mince

The baby ice age of ’26 rolls on: multiple weeks with highs of 20 degrees, 24″ of snow, and light winds that make 10 degrees feel like liquid nitrogen. Madam  …

  Cheap, Follow On, General, Global, Pasta

There’s cold, there’s “wear a jacket” cold, and then there’s “the air itself has declared war on your existence” cold. We’re in the third category. The worst snowstorm in twenty  …

  Global, Pub Food, Soup, Winter

Two days of snow. Two days of shoveling driveways, clearing walks, chipping ice off stairs, and questioning every life choice that led me to live somewhere that actively tries to  …

  American, Baked, Braise, Cheap, Gravy, Slow Cook, Winter

When Autumn Laziness Meets Freezer Treasures The leaves have turned their final colors and fallen like culinary confetti across my yard, and there’s that particular chill in the air that  …

  Asian, Autumn, Cultural-Misappropriation, Quick, Soup

My business trip to Napa Valley last week delivered the expected parade of world-class wines and vineyard vistas, but the real revelation came from an unplanned detour. Tucked on a  …

  Condiment, Global, Process, Vegan, Vegetarian

When one of my followers threw down the gauntlet on social media, challenging me to help them master onion bhaji in an air fryer, I couldn’t resist a callback to  …

  Air Fry, Cheap, Indian, Snack, Vegan, Vegetarian

The first real cold snap of the season has arrived, bringing with it that primal craving for something warm, hearty, and deeply satisfying. When the temperature drops and you need  …

  Autumn, Bean, Cheap, Indian, InstaPot, Soup, Stew, Vegetarian, Winter

When Code Calls for Comfort: Garlic Noodles for the Technical Soul There’s a moment in every deep work session when your brain starts to fog, your eyes burn from staring  …

  American, Asian, Cheap, Cultural-Misappropriation, Pasta, Quick, Stolen from the Net, Vegetarian

In Memoriam: Carlos Dominguez, Friend, pack member, and apprentice. Mornings in the Mid-Hudson valley are getting crisp. I see hints of frost on the grass; all this tells me that  …

  American, Autumn, Cheap, InstaPot, Slow Cook, Stew, Winter

Every party needs its signature dish, and at Bad Wolf birthday celebrations, nothing draws a crowd quite like our trio of mini smoked sausages. These bite-sized powerhouses have become legendary  …

  American, Autumn, Barbecue, InstaPot, Pub Food, Slow Cook, Snack

There I was, prowling through the not-so-mega mart when those bright green Granny Smith apples caught my eye. “What have we here?” I growled with delight. “These tart little beauties  …

  American, Autumn, Bread, Breakfast, Cast Iron, Fried, Fruit, Quick, Snack, Vegetarian, Winter

Wandering the local not-so-mega mart, (Wh*le F**ds, Please come to the Mid-Hudson Valley), I note a 2 for one sale on mega family packs of chicken. Now, what to do  …

  Asian, Cheap, Cultural-Misappropriation, Follow On, Gravy, Indo-Chinese, Slow Cook, Stew

Madam BadWolf and I have lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley for close to 40 years. We’ve seen ice storms, heavy snow, high winds, and the occasional fool doing 70 on  …

  Autumn, General, Global, Preservation, Winter