Main Course
8665 recipes found
Zuni Café’s Hamburger
Made to exacting standards, the hamburger at Zuni Café, in San Francisco, is legendary. First, grass-fed beef is salted well in advance of grinding, which gives the meat its succulence. Grilled over coals and flipped three times to prevent it from overcharring or becoming tough, the patty is rested, like a roast. It is then served on a toasted square of rosemary focaccia, smeared with handmade aioli and accompanied by Zuni’s acclaimed house pickles: fuchsia-red onion rings and turmeric-tinged sliced zucchini. It is wonderful on its own, but toppings like Shelburne Farms Cheddar, Bayley Hazen blue cheese, grilled onions or portobello mushroom are also available, and most customers can’t resist a heaping plate of shoestring potatoes alongside. It’s perfectly possible to make these burgers at home, but know that the full project involves several recipes, so it’s probably best to spread the work out over a few days.
Pork-Shoulder Steaks With Hot Pepper Dip
This is pork barbecue as you’ve probably never experienced it, with the shoulder cut crosswise into pencil-thin steaks and grilled directly over hickory embers. Note we're saying grilled, not barbecued (smoked), the way most pork shoulder is cooked in the South. But it’s not complete until it's dipped in a fiery bath of vinegar, melted lard or butter, and cayenne. And no one makes it better than Anita Hamilton Bartlett at R&S Barbecue in Tompkinsville, Ky. To be strictly authentic, you’d grill over a wood fire; barring that, add hickory or other hardwood chunks or chips to your charcoal fire, or place wood chunks under the grate and over the burners of your gas grill. An added advantage: this is “barbecue” you can cook in 15 minutes.
Carne Adobada (Chile-Marinated Steak)
Mexican adobada, a tangy marinade with guajillo chiles, is often reserved for large cuts of pork, but it’s also well-suited to any sturdy cut of steak, such as flank. The acid comes from lime juice in this formula, but vinegar or lemon juice works as well. An overnight marinade yields incredibly tender results, but a 30-minute steep is sufficient to infuse the meat with the fruity flavor of the chiles. Here, the steak is paired with a nice piquant roasted red pepper relish, which complements the deep flavors of the marinated meat. Side dishes like rice, beans and warm tortillas round this dish out for a wonderful weeknight meal.
BBQ Country-Style Pork Ribs
This basic barbecue has big flavor and no ketchup or Coca-Cola (no disrespect meant to those who favor that type of seasoning). There’s no fire involved; you use a standard oven. The spicing trends toward Caribbean, with plenty of sweet spice and as much Scotch bonnet or habanero chile heat as you wish. County-style ribs are meaty bone-in pork chops cut from the shoulder end of the loin, so use those or a whole bone-in pork shoulder roast. Cooked until it’s ultratender, it can be cut in chunky pieces and served in its juices with beans, rice and cornbread. Or shred the cooked meat to make pulled pork sandwiches or tacos. It’s quite good accompanied with a crisp slawlike cabbage salad or your favorite version of coleslaw.
Grilled Scallion Lamb
Here is a somewhat different take on lamb kebabs for the grill. The meat is bathed in a spicy-cool Asian marinade and threaded on skewers with whole scallions placed crosswise so all can be seared together. My butcher suggested top round of lamb, a cut I had never used, but he knew what he was talking about: It was excellent, lean and tender. The scallions become lightly charred and smoky. Romesco, the Spanish pepper, tomato and nut emulsion that’s often served as a dip for grilled baby leeks, would be a perfect sauce alongside.
Grilled Flank Steak With Worcestershire Butter
Grilled steak covered in melting herb butter is a cornerstone of summer cooking. Here, both the steak and the compound butter are spiked with Worcestershire sauce, fresh thyme and garlic for an intensely brawny flavor. Then, the steak is garnished with a mix of charred tomatoes, scallions and basil, which gives everything a juicy sweetness brightened with lemon. You can use any cut of beef here; the flank steak has a deeply mineral taste and chewy texture that’s at its best sliced thin. But rib-eye, skirt steak and sirloin also work; just be sure to adjust the cooking time for thinner or thicker pieces.
Pork-Fennel Burger
For this burger, you need fat. Pork shoulder is almost imperative for the correct balance of lean and fat. You need strong spices; as a starting point, you cannot beat fennel seeds and black pepper. And you need adequate salt, an essential in any good burger. Variations, of course, are not just possible but advisable. Chopped fresh fennel or chopped onion are spectacular additions. When it is cooked over high heat, whether on a grill or in a pan or broiler, until just done, the result is consistently juicy, super flavorful and sublimely tender. And it browns, developing a dark, crisp crust like no beef burger I’ve ever had.
Spicy Grilled Chicken With Tomato-Cucumber Relish
Chicken thighs meet with a mellow mix of Indian spices and are grilled into weekend dinner excellence. In Indian cooking, most spices are toasted before they’re used, a process that brings up their aromatics and mellows and rounds their flavors. Here they’re then rubbed onto chicken thighs and grilled, which gives them an additional smokiness that pairs beautifully with the tomato-and-cucumber relish.
Publican Chicken
This quick, easy-to-put-together chicken comes from Paul Kahan of The Publican, a restaurant in Chicago. The ingredient list is short, and may include much of what you already have on hand. But the flavor it yields is paramount: Serve it with wedge fries and a frosty beer for a meal that will lift the most flagging spirits.
Arctic Char Burgers
The Food Network personality Alton Brown is deeply in love with arctic char because it is sustainable, affordable and delicious in several applications. He punches up these fish burgers with horseradish and furikake, a Japanese seasoning mix that usually contains ground fish, sesame seeds, seaweed, sugar and MSG. He discovered it on the set of "Iron Chef America," which he hosted for Food Network. Of all the recipes in his book "EveryDayCook," it is his favorite.
Dry-Rubbed London Broil
Here is a cheap beef dinner of uncommon flavor, perfect for serving to a crowd. It calls for the process known as indirect grilling, in which you build a fire on one side of your grill and cook on the other, so that the dry-rubbed meat is never in direct contact with flame. (If you grill the meat directly, the sugar and spices will burn rather than melt into appetizing darkness.) The recipe is forgiving. You might add granulated onion or garlic powder to it, or omit the coriander if you don’t have any. Be careful with the paprika as there are so many different varieties afoot: if it’s smoked, you’ll need less, and if it’s fiery you may need less cayenne. (No cayenne? Use red pepper flakes.) Adjust the seasonings to your taste.
Grilled Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken With Tomato Salad
Of all the condiments in my overstuffed pantry, pomegranate molasses ranks among the most intense. A staple in countries across the Middle East, it is made from pomegranate juice simmered until nearly as thick and dark as espresso, but with even more punch. Both pickle-sour and syrupy sweet, it’s as pungent as chile paste but with the vivid bristle of tart red fruit instead of capsicum heat. In Middle Eastern cuisines, pomegranate molasses is usually tossed into salads, stirred into stews and sprinkled on vegetables and fish. In my kitchen, I especially adore it as a way to perk up mild meats like chicken. A small drizzle after you’re done grilling the meat can add just the right note of sweet-tart complexity to make everything shine.
Spice-Rubbed Baby Back Ribs With Chipotle-Bourbon BBQ Sauce
The baby back (sometimes called top loin) is the perfect rib for neophytes. Cut from high on the hog — literally, it abuts the backbone — it’s intrinsically tender and generously marbled, which keeps it moist during smoking. Thanks to these attributes, you can cook it at a higher temperature than the low-and-slow heat favored in the American barbecue belt. This shortens the cooking time and lets you cook the ribs on a common charcoal kettle grill. (However, you can certainly smoke these ribs low and slow at 250 degrees, in which case, you’ll need 3 1/2 to 4 hours of cooking time — and a smoker.) The higher heat and shorter cooking time produce ribs with a firmer, meatier consistency. Add a chile-stung spice rub and a sweet, spicy chipotle-bourbon barbecue sauce, and you wind up with textbook barbecued ribs with a distinctive sweet, hot, smoky finish.
Slow-Smoked Brisket
This brisket is pretty close to Nirvana for Texas barbecue fanatics who rely on backyard equipment. No smoker is needed, no mops or mesquite — just time and fire and a reliable thermometer. The long, low smoke replicates the results of the bigger, hotter pits used in Central Texas: fork-tender, peppery meat, each bite bathed in drippings and juice. Use potato rolls or thick white bread to soak it all up.
Spanish-Style Lamb Stew
John Willoughby fell in love with pimentón, a smoky Spanish paprika, after a trip to La Vera, a region west of Madrid, first encountering it in a lamb stew. “The stew, rich with the slight gaminess of lamb, the tang of sherry and the smooth comfort of white beans, was brought to greatness by the subtle heat and almost mysterious smokiness of the pimentón,” he wrote. He drew inspiration from the stew, making his own version at home and bringing this recipe to The Times in 2010.
Smoky Pork Burgers With Fennel and Red Cabbage Slaw
Jennifer Hess, a food blogger from Providence, R.I., was an early Food52 member. Her smoky pork burger with fennel and red cabbage slaw won the “Your Best Grilled Pork Recipe” contest.
Spicy Red Beans with Chicken and Andouille Sausage
This recipe came to The Times in a 2012 article about cooking in a bean hole, a classic method of outdoor cooking popular in Maine. Here’s how it works: Dig a hole big enough for the pot you’re planning to cook in, then build a fire of hardwood logs in it. Drop a dozen or so rocks into the fire once it’s started. When the wood has burned down to embers, remove the rocks using barbecue gloves, put your pot of presoaked beans into the embers, drop the rocks around and on top of the pot, cover everything with dirt and walk away. Come back in about eight hours, and your beans should be ready. Not in the mood to dig a hole in your backyard? No worries. These spicy New Orleans-style red beans with chicken and andouille sausage can just as easily be made in your oven. The slightly sweet creaminess of the beans and the richness of the chicken temper the sharp heat of the andouille sausage and red pepper flakes. Serve over a pile of snowy white rice alongside an ice-cold beer.
Garlicky, Smoky Grilled London Broil With Chipotle Chiles
No matter if you broil, pan-sear or grill it, like most economical cuts, London broils want to stay rare and juicy and a little chewy to show off its best side. Cooked through until completely brown, these steaks toughen and dry up. Warning to well-done steak lovers: You might want to buy a different hunk of beef.
Inside-Out Lamb Cheeseburgers
Grind the lamb for these smoked mozzarella-stuffed patties yourself and you'll be rewarded with burgers that are full of flavor. "Grinding" may sound intimidating, but it's easy and quick to do it at home with a food processor. Then be sure to handle the meat gently. Make the patties with a light hand, and resist the urge to press on them with a spatula as they cook.
Pork Stew With Pears and Sweet Potatoes
It's nice knowing that pears, which we think of almost exclusively for desserts in this country, are often used in savory ways in Eastern European cuisines. In this stew, caraway seeds, allspice and fennel reinforce that heritage, while sweet potatoes add rich, round flavors. Although bone-in ribs seem a bit more flavorful, boneless are also fine here. You can even use a combination of both if that’s what turns out to be in the package you buy at the store. Because the pears can turn mushy overnight, this is the rare stew that’s actually best served the day that it’s made.
Jalapeño Grilled Pork Chops
Juicy jalapeños offer discernible heat, but they have a higher purpose beyond that: They provide welcome freshness with their distinct vegetal flavor. When blitzed with aromatic cilantro stems and plenty of garlic, jalapeños transform into a punchy marinade that flavors and tenderizes pork chops gloriously, and tinges them a bright Reptar-Bar green, too. That brilliant color, evidence of the chlorophyll in the peppers and herbs, stays vibrant even after a fiery kiss on the grill.
Grilled Gochujang Pork With Fresh Sesame Kimchi
Pork shoulder is often prepared as a large roast, requiring hours of cooking until it’s tender. But if you slice it thinly and pound it, the meat quickly absorbs this savory gochujang marinade and cooks up in no time. The spicy pork is balanced by a cool and crisp sesame kimchi, eaten fresh like a salad rather than fermented like traditional preparations. Baby bok choy stands in for the usual napa cabbage, and it’s coated in a vibrant sauce of garlic, ginger, gochugaru, fish sauce and nutty sesame oil. Tuck any leftover pork and kimchi into sandwiches the next day, garnished with tomatoes and mayonnaise.
Reverse-Seared Steak
Reverse-searing is a grilling technique for steak that ensures a dark, sizzling crust and a rosy center that is perfectly cooked to your desired degree of doneness. This brilliant grilling method combines the low and slow cooking of traditional barbecue with the high heat charring practiced at steakhouses. Though it works well with any thick steak, from picanha to porterhouse, this recipe calls for a cut of steak popularized in Santa Maria, Calif., and is today known and loved across the U.S. as tri-tip. As the name suggests, it’s a triangular or boomerang-shaped steak cut from the tip of the sirloin, blessed with a robust beefy flavor.
Mustard-and-Chile-Rubbed Roasted Beef Tenderloin
For parties or picnics, meat that you've prepared the day before is a time-saving trick worth adopting. Everyone knows that beef tenderloin, served hot, is a fail-safe dish for a dinner party. It comes out of the oven caramelized, glistening and perfect. If the primary goal is to serve it chilled or room temperature, however, the trick is to swab the meat with flavor — lots of chile powder, oregano, garlic, mustard and olive oil — before sliding it into the oven (roast it rare so it stays tender and juicy). The next day all you need to do is slice and serve, no compensatory condiments necessary. The flavors of mustard and chile, carried by the fat in the olive oil, have penetrated the meat beautifully.