The cookbook
Recipes I actually make.
No 1,500-word life stories before the ingredients — just the dishes I come back to, written the way I'd tell a friend. A couple are written up in full here; the rest live in my Recipeats app for now and will move over in time.
Smoked Brisket
Central-Texas style: nothing but salt, 16-mesh pepper, post oak smoke, and patience. The recipe behind years of logged cooks.
Ginger Beer
A naturally-carbonated soda built on a living ginger bug — basically a sourdough starter for soda. Wild yeast, real fizz, no commercial yeast.
Black Garlic Smashburgers
Thin, lacy-edged smashburgers with deep umami from black garlic. Fast, loud, and a little fancy.
Bagels
Boiled-then-baked, chewy-crusted, proper bagels. The kind of bake that earns a slow Sunday.
Homemade Yogurt
Warm milk, a spoon of live culture, and a long cozy incubation. Thick, tangy, and endlessly reusable.
Butter Chicken
Marinated chicken in a silky, spiced tomato-and-cream gravy. The dinner everyone asks for again.
Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
A patient, chocolate-dark roux carrying chicken and andouille. Made in the big pot, for a crowd.
Green Chile
Roasted green chiles and tender pork in a stew that's good on everything — eggs, burritos, a spoon.
French Onion Soup
Deeply caramelized onions, rich broth, and a raft of bubbling, broiled Gruyère on top.
Red Wine Braised Pot Roast
Fall-apart chuck braised low in red wine and aromatics until the gravy makes itself.
Dutch Apple Pie
Spiced apples under a craggy brown-sugar streusel lid. All the apple pie, twice the crunch.
Limoncello Tiramisu
Tiramisu that took a trip to the Amalfi coast — bright limoncello and lemon curd instead of coffee.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
A proper custard base steeped with real mint and shot through with shards of dark chocolate.
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Hot, gooey, and gone in minutes. The party dip people hover over until the dish is scraped clean.