Miela Tahril

We’ve posted about this before, but there’s a great, southern tradition of eating beans and greens on New Year’s Day to ensure good fortune in the coming year. Apparently, by eating “poor” the first day of the year, you align certain cosmic forces in your favor, which results in prosperity and good luck the rest of the year. Sounds crazy, right? I know, you’re way too sophisticated to believe in such lame supernatural shenanigans. Hey wait a minute…don’t you watch all those ghost hunter shows...

When I went to culinary school in the early Eighties, the chef instructors used “Green Beans Almondine” as a prime example for the kind of stodgy, clichéd, faux-fancy, vegetable side dishes that we were supposed to eradicate shortly after graduation. This was the dawn of a new age of American cookery, and something so old-fashioned as green beans almondine had no place along side our newfangled raspberry vinaigrettes and cajun fish. There was only one problem with this prohibition...green...

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Photo (c) Flickr user kevindooleyMichele and I wanted to wish all of you who celebrate, a very Merry Christmas. Hopefully you’re surrounded by the people you love, and/or a ton of great food. We have a new video posting on Thursday, but until then I’m going to try and take a few days off from staring at the omnipresent computer. Seasonal apologies for any lags in responding to comments or emails. Enjoy the rest of your holid...

There’s much debate over how many of America’s greatest recipes got their name, but that’s not an issue with Oyster Rockefeller. Thanks to the rich, money-colored butter sauce, this decadent creation’s name pretty much wrote itself.Besides the obvious, superficial reasons, associating your new shellfish appetizer with the most affluent family of the day was a stroke of social media genius. Hey, just because Twitter wouldn’t be invented for another 107 years doesn’t mean people didn’t “retweet” things.When...

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I usually don’t have a good answer for why I’ve not gotten around to filming certain iconic dishes like risotto, beef Wellington, and puff pastry; but when it comes to lobster bisque, I do have a great excuse.I won’t bore you with the details of how the tradition started (translation: I don’t remember), but for as long as I can remember, I’ve always made lobster bisque on Christmas Eve, to celebrate my sister-in-law Jennifer’s birthday.And since the few days leading up to Christmas are always so...

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I’ve always wondered why Cumberland sauce wasn’t more popular around the holidays. It’s such a delicious and versatile condiment, and just as easy and fast to make as any cranberry sauce out there.  Maybe it’s the name? Cumberland sauce sounds more like something that the Queen would be spooning over a Quail en Croute than it does Uncle Charlie over a slice of ham. However, despite this sassy sauce’s upper-crusty sounding name, it’s actually quite rustic.My “Black Cumberland” version uses...

When I was asked to take part in a special holiday YouTube playlist called, “Christmas Morning Breakfast,” I started thinking about seasonal variation on things like eggs benedict, quiche, and French toast. But then I realized…you can’t wrap those things up and give them as an edible gift, so I decided to do this granola instead. We’ve covered the edible gift topic before, and discussed the fine line between, “Wow, what a creative and thoughtful gift!” and “Wow, what a cheapskate!” Happily, when...

I don’t do a lot of things in the kitchen purely for esthetic reasons, but these twice baked potatoes are one of my more beautiful exceptions to that rule. You can get almost the exact same flavors by just adding stuff to a regular baked potato, but what you won’t get in that scenario is the impressive, over-stuffed height, and gorgeous, golden-browned crust seen here. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that. For me, once in a while, for those extra fancy dinners, the answer is a resounding yes....

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There are few foods I enjoy eating more than a plate of crispy-edged potato pancakes. Unfortunately, I've been trying to limit my carbs lately (I just can't let go of my dream to become a famous underwear model), so seeing all these amazing Latkes recipes that pop up during Hanukkah is really hard.Anyway, just because I'm not partaking doesn't mean you have to deny yourself this exquisite pleasure. Below you'll see my version, which has always received rave reviews. These are garnished with smoked...

I had been fantasizing for weeks about doing a whole, home-cured ham for the holidays. I always get lots of requests for this kind of thing, and was fully prepared to give it a go, but then a strange thing happened, I heard the word “Hamlet.” It was on TV, and completely unrelated to cured pork, but for whatever reason the word made me think of cute little, individually sized hams. That’s all it took, and off I went trying to figure out how to make this thing happen. I knew I wanted a process...

Thanks to you, we're happy to announce that Food Wishes has won two Taste Awards! We were a finalist in two categories, “Best Food Program: Web,” and “Best Home Chef in a Series,” and took home both prizes.A sincere thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. I’ve said it before, but no food blogger anywhere enjoys such overwhelming support from their audience. You're the best!...

Entertaining during the holidays usually means plenty of costly, complicated, and time-consuming recipes, so absolutely no one would blame you if you simply tossed a tube of store-bought dinner rolls into the oven to save a little time and effort. Of course the problem with that, at least for loyal followers of this blog, is that some or all of your family members will have seen this video by then, and you may get a few looks. Not that they would never question your undying love and devotion to...

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This is what our 6-pounder looked like. Would a 20 pounder work as well? Spoiler Alert: Yes.The most common question after we posted our now famous “Method X” for making perfect prime rib was “will this work with much bigger, full-size roasts?” Since I'd only used the method on smaller specimens, I was hesitant to green-light much larger pieces of beef without having tested it myself. Well, thanks to Bill in Salt Lake City, we now have visual proof that this great technique does work on the big...

Admittedly, the witch joke at the beginning of the video may have been a little graphic, but that’s what I always think of when I hear the legend of how these cookies supposedly got their name. As the story goes, when these sweet treats first made their appearance, people that tasted them were so taken by the sheer awesomeness, that they went nuts and started running around shouting, “Whoopie!! Whoopie!!”  Sure they did. This seems very exaggerated, but no matter how they got the “whoopie”...

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If you love chicken cordon bleu because it’s “fancy,” and you serve it primarily to impress dinner guests with your culinary skills, then this video is really not for you. However, if you love chicken cordon bleu because of its winning flavor combination of chicken, ham, and Gruyere cheese, then stick around. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic preparation, and will do my version one of these days, but for all that pounding, stuffing, rolling, pinning, breading, frying, and baking…I can deliver...

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I get a lot of cookie requests this time of year, and while I’m not a fanatical cookie lover myself, I have posted videos for a fair number of them. In fact, I have a new and exciting Christmas cookie post coming later this week. In the meantime, I thought I’d repost this great recipe from three years ago, featuring my favorite, Michele’s famous Chili Chocolate Cookies. As most of you know, Michele is my lovely and talented wife, and as I joke about in the original post, this would still be my...

I always thought Patatas Bravas meant “brave potatoes,” which seemed a little strange since what was supposed to be so brave about them? Amazingly delicious, yes, but valiant, fearless or courageous? I don’t think so. Well, apparently my translation skills were lacking, and come to find out it actually means “fierce.” Now that makes sense. As advertised, these are fiercely textured, fiercely flavored, fiercely presented, and fiercely enjoyed. How fierce is really up to you and your inner Spaniard....

Whenever there’s a discussion about the history of celebrity chef pop culture, one name is invariably left out, and this Swedish Meatballs recipe served as a reminder of that sad fact. How anyone can talk about the pioneers of food television without including the Swedish Chef from the Muppets is beyond me. His frenetic energy and charisma makes Gordon Ramsey seem like a shrinking violet by comparison. His technique surpasses Emeril's on every level, and if we’re just talking catch phrases, how...