SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

• 6 whole eggs in their shells, plus 1, lightly beaten
• 1 lb. ground pork sausage
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. English mustard
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• ¼ tsp. ground mace
• 2 leaves sage, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs thyme, finely chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Canola oil, for frying
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ cup flour
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs

PREPARATION

1. Place 6 eggs in a 2-qt. saucepan and cover by 1″ with cold water. Place over high heat and bring to boil; cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 6 minutes. Drain eggs, and transfer to a bowl of ice water; let sit for 5 minutes. Drain eggs, and peel and discard shells; set aside.

2. Combine sausage, Worcestershire, mustard, cornstarch, mace, sage, and thyme in a bowl; season with salt and pepper and mix until evenly combined. Divide mixture into 6 equal portions, and form each portion around each cooked egg to cover completely. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Pour oil to a depth of 2″ in a 6-qt. Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 350°. Combine remaining beaten egg with milk in a bowl, and place flour and bread crumbs in separate bowls. Working in batches, coat each meat-covered egg in flour, shaking off excess, and then dip in milk mixture to coat. Dredge in bread crumbs, and then fry until golden brown and meat is cooked through, about 7 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain briefly, and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

{via Saveur}

A cold beer is usually somewhere close by any grill. Any beer makes for a good match with grilled foods. As appreciation for pairing foods with wine has grown, so has interest in beers of different styles and characteristics.

Many of the best matches with roasted and grilled foods share that “roasty” quality. Pork cracklings, crispy chicken skin and grilled onions all have a sweet quality, and they go beautifully with beers that also have a nice, malty sweetness.

BEEF
Try a porter with beef. Porters are dark and rich, but without the malt flavor of a stout. A full-bodied ale, such as India Pale Ale (IPA), also fares well with grilled burgers or steak.
RECIPE: The Ultimate Grilled Steak

PORK
Belgian bière de garde, a “farmhouse” ale, has spicy, peppery and herbal notes that blend with pork that is not covered with barbecue sauce. A good, sturdy stout or a nice malty, sweet German wheat beer such as hefeweizen also stands up well next to a grilled pork tenderloin or chop.
RECIPE: Grilled Double-Cut Pork Chops with Rhubarb Mostarda

LAMB
German schwarzbier is the darkest of the lagers and offers a good balance to the fattiness of lamb. A Marzen, a pale but strong lager, can also be served.
RECIPE: Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary

POULTRY
Dunkel, a light darker lager with a nutty maltiness, is wonderful with chicken, game birds and turkey, as is dark and rich porter.
RECIPE: Chicken Under a Brick

FISH
Serve IPA with salmon and tuna — or any substantial, meaty fish. Pale ale cuts through the oiliness of the fish.
RECIPE: Grilled Salmon With Zucchini

SHELLFISH
The burnt-toast quality of light-in-the-mouth Irish dry stout is a wonderful counterpoint to the brininess of shellfish. Irish stouts are famous with oysters.
RECIPE: Grilled Oysters with Barbecue Sauce

VEGETABLES
Belgian dubbel is rich, without hoppy bitterness, and works well with vegetables. A light amber ale will also hold up to grilled vegetables.
RECIPE: Summer Vegetable Kabobs

SPICY MARINADES
A classic pilsner or a Thai beer, chilled, has enough bitterness, crispness and carbonation to hold up to spicy food.
RECIPE: Chili-Orange Marinade

TANGY SAUCES
Flanders brown or red sour beer pulls the tang out of the sauce and makes it more potent. A Mexican lager, served icy cold, only makes barbecue sauce taste that much better.
RECIPE: Peach Barbecue Sauce

What beer do you serve at your summer cookouts? Tell us in the comments!

{via Williams-Sonoma: Taste; featured image via The Dim Sum Diaries, a terrific foodie journal}

The trick to producing crispy deep-fried foods is no trick at all. Keep the fat at a constant high temperature. This is best done by using a heavy, flat-bottomed pan and a deep-fat thermometer to monitor the oil temperature. To ensure crispiness:

Satay Udang (Shrimp Satay)

Ground macadamia nuts enrich this spicy Singaporean-style shrimp satay.

MAKES 20 SKEWERS

INGREDIENTS

Wake up your beach bar from its winter slumber.

Stocking your bar with standard items will prevent you from having to make an emergency run to the store when people drop by. Although fresh is always best, you can substitute with convenience products such as bottled fruit and vegetable juices, and dry mixes. For health-conscious guests, keep nonalcoholic beer, diet soda, and sparkling and mineral water on hand. Vodka, gin, rum, or whiskey can be mixed with any of these beverages or served on the rocks as your guests prefer. Just in case mid-afternoon cocktails turn into dinner, keep a bottle each of red and white wine on the shelf. If you are a novice and would like to try out new drink recipes, buy a guide to help you with proportions and ingredients. In no time you’ll be experimenting and making your own novel libations, which you can creatively name and make the official drinks of your particular paradise.

Once the bar is stocked, freshen your hosting image with fun accessories guaranteed to complement any coastal cocktail hour. Now that the winter hibernation has ended, let the festivities begin.

{by Jacquelyne Froeber via Coastal Living, above image by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn}

Makes 10 cups | Hands-On Time: 10m | Total Time: 40m

{via Real Simple, contributed by Dawn Perry; How about this delightful combination: Homemade Croutons and Blackberry & Roasted Shrimp Salad, our featured image and recipe via A Short, Sweet Season, a divine foodie blog by Mary-Beth}

Garlicky Steak Salad with Chickpeas and Artichokes

No need to be alarmed about all the garlic; the OJ and soy sauce mellow it out.

Recipe: Garlicky Steak Salad with Chickpeas and Artichokes

Shrimp and White Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing

The mix of chicory greens creates layers of textures and flavors from mild to somewhat bitter. It’s a great combo with the sweet shrimp and big hit of lemon.

Recipe: Shrimp and White Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing

Salmon Sesame Salad

Crumble crunchy won tons into this twist on a traditional salmon salad for a crisp texture.

Recipe: Salmon Sesame Salad

{via Sunset Magazine, check out all 36 main-dish salads; featured image via Kate Olsson of Finger Fork Knife, an amazing blog filled with great recipes and stunning photos … a definite blog to follow, check out her recipe for Sugar-crusted Salmon with Citrus and Sesame Salad}

Primavera With Prosciutto, Asparagus and Carrots

INGREDIENTS

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound penne or farfalle
• 1 pound asparagus spears, stems trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
• 1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 1 cup snap peas
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces sliced prosciutto, jamon iberico or other high-quality ham, diced
• 1 large shallot, sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade or low-sodium store-bought
• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard

PREPARATION

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it generously and cook the pasta for 8 minutes; add the asparagus, carrot and snap peas and cook for 3 minutes. Check the pasta and vegetables to make sure they’re cooked through but still have texture, then drain.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan, add the ham and shallot and cook until lightly browned, 3 minutes or so. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the cream, stock and mustard and simmer for a minute or two, scraping up any brown bits.
3. Add the pasta and vegetables to the pan. Toss and cook for another 2 minutes, until cooked through and the pasta is coated. Taste for seasoning, add salt if necessary and serve immediately in warm bowls.

Photograph by Kat Teutsch

Roasted Carrots and Peas

INSTRUCTIONS & PREPARATION

Preheat a rimmed baking sheet in a 450 degrees F oven. Quarter 1 1/2 pounds carrots lengthwise and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon each ground coriander and ground ginger, and salt to taste. Spread on the hot baking sheet and roast 20 minutes; stir in 1 cup thawed frozen peas and roast 4 more minutes. Toss with chopped parsley and lime juice.

Photograph by Christopher Testani

Stuffed Artichokes

INSTRUCTIONS & PREPARATION

Mix 3 cups breadcrumbs, 3 grated garlic cloves, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1 cup each grated parmesan, pecorino, chopped parsley and olive oil in a bowl. Trim 4 large artichokes, removing the stems. Separate the leaves; stuff the crumb mixture between each. Stand upright in a steamer basket over simmering water, cover and steam over medium-low heat, adding more water as needed, until tender, about 1 hour, 20 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and some of the cooking liquid.

Photograph by Kang Kim

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart

INGREDIENTS
Tart:

• 1 (8-ounce) sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 cups strawberries, stemmed
• 1 cup sliced rhubarb (1 large rib, trimmed but not peeled)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Glaze:

• 1 tablespoon currant jelly
• 1 tablespoon very hot water
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving

PREPARATION

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the pastry into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Cut 2 (3/4-inch wide) strips from a long side. Cut remaining pastry into a 13 by 5-inch rectangle and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush a 3/4-inch border down 1 long side with water and lay 1 narrow strip on top, pressing gently. Repeat on the other side. (The filling should be thick enough so you don’t need pastry strips on the short sides of the tart to keep the filling from spilling out when the tart is assembled.) Trim any overhang, if necessary. Very lightly roll a pizza wheel along the inside of the strips to score halfway through the base. Brush the top of the strips with milk, taking care not to drip down the sides. Pierce the base all over with a fork, line it with a piece of aluminum foil that extends along the sides of the strips but not over, and weigh foil down with pie weights or dried beans. Use a paring knife to flute the outer edges of the tart by making small cuts an inch apart. Bake until set, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Cool on a rack.
2. Trim the strawberries’ broad tops and put the trimmings in a small saucepan with the rhubarb, sugar, and vanilla extract. Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fruit is thick and jamlike, about 15 minutes. Add butter and puree with an immersion blender or in a food processor until smooth. Cool. Halve the remainder of the strawberries lengthwise.
3. To assemble the tart: Spread cooked mixture in the shell. Arrange strawberries in shingled rows down length of the tart.
4. For the glaze: Stir together jelly and hot water. Brush warm glaze over strawberries. Dust the sides lightly with confectioners’ sugar, slice, and serve with whipped cream.

Asparagus Quiche

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups instant flour (recommended: Wondra)
• 1/2 cup unsalted cold butter, cut into pieces
• 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup ice water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• All-purpose flour, for dusting

Filling:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 7 to 8 stalks asparagus, bottoms trimmed
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyere

PREPARATION: CRUST

1. Put flour in a large bowl. Using 2 knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter and vegetable shortening into the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add the ice water and salt to the mix until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface; about 1/4-inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch quiche pan. Poke a few holes with a fork at the bottom of the dough. With the same fork press around the edges to finish. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
4. Prick the bottom of the pie shell liberally with a fork. Place another small pan inside to help set the sides while baking, or place a sheet of foil in the shell and fill with beans, rice or pie weights. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until the pie shell begins to feel firm.

PREPARATION: FILLING

1. Mix together eggs, heavy cream, parsley, salt, and white pepper in a medium size bowl. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the partially baked quiche crust. Bake until the filling begins to set; about 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter in a medium size skillet over medium heat. Add the asparagus and cook until tender; about 4 to 6 minutes.
3. In the quiche pan arrange the asparagus like the spokes of a wheel. Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the asparagus. Sprinkle with Gruyere cheese Bake for about 30 minutes, until puffed and brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

*Cook’s Note: If edges of pie shell are looking dark, place foil over crust to reduce any further cooking.

{via Food Network, see all the recipes for spring produce; featured image via Dinner with Julie, offering a delicious recipe for Little Strawberry Rhubarb Pies

This article first appeared on Gastrokid, a personal blog written by Bon Appétit Features Editor, Hugh Garvey, and Matthew Yeomans.

The more you encourage your kids to participate in the pleasures of cooking healthy and delicious food, the more they’ll understand and love what they eat. After 7 years of cooking with our kids and chronicling the thrills and spills at Gastrokid.com, we’ve come up with our top ten tips. Practice these in the kitchen, and you can make the family meal as satisfying in the kitchen as it is at the table. We started our kids on organic pureed butternut squash baby food and now they’re chopping summer squash for succotash with a butter knife. They started by eating string cheese and they’re now savoring Stilton. We avoided ancho chiles, but they unexpectedly taught us that they love anchovies. The moral of the story is: don’t cook down to your kids. Cook with them. If you’ve got tips we didn’t include here, we’d love to hear about them and put together a list of 100 tips for our next cookbook (you can pre-order our forthcoming The Gastrokid Coobook: Raising a Foodie Family in a Fast Food World from Amazon.com).

1. Feed Them Perfect Produce
Buy the best, ripe, in-season, local produce you can find, whether at a grocery store or farmer’s market. Asparagus in spring to teach your kids the essential less of eating seasonally and locally. Strawberries in summer. Apples in fall. Citrus in winter. Perfection. Perfection. Perfection. Read the labels, ask the grocery store clerks, and make sure you’re buying vegetables and fruit in season and farmed as close to home as possible. After your kids taste that intense balanced flavor and texture, produce from thousands of miles away will never taste quite right to them again. It’s better for them. It’s better for the environment. It’s better for the economy. While it might cost a bit more, it will pay for itself in convenience and prep time. It takes less effort to put a dish together with ingredients that are delicious to begin with, and for families time is priceless. You’ll appreciate it and your kids will too.

2. Rinse. Repeat.
A dirty piece of produce teaches kids about where food comes from. Let them see the beauty of a bunch of carrots pulled straight from the ground, soil still clinging to the tops.Tell your kids about the farmers who grew them. The people who picked them. The sun. The rain. The earth. Even better, take them to a farmer’s market and ask them to pick something for themselves. Introduce them to the person at the stand. Chances are they are the farmer or know the farmer and can tell your kids about the harvest. Once you’re home with your kid’s selection, have them rinse the dirt off. Let them care for the vegetables or fruit. Let them dry them. Let them add them to the dish you’re preparing. And, voila: your kids are invested in all the right things, including the meal to come.

3. Chop To It
Kids can cut too, as long as you give them a safe knife. Plastic disposable knives repurposed from takeout, plastic knives from a kids’ set, a butter or dinner knife with a less-than sharp serrated edge and a rounded point: all of these are a great introduction to knife skills for kids from 3 years old and up. Herbs, peeled fruit, and soft vegetables like zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes will yield to a kid-friendly knife and will easily involve the kids in food prep.

4. Mix It Up
Baking is the well-known kid-friendly introduction to the culinary world. We all have memories of licking the spoon when making a cake. But a good stir can stir enthusiasm for other, healthier foods, too. Teach them the delicacy of tossing a salad. The tossing of whole wheat pasta in homemade pesto. The saucing of a panzanella salad of toasted cubes of bread and ripe heirloom tomatoes in a balsamic vinaigrette. The blending or food-processing of a sauce or salsa. (Supervise the heavy machinery, naturally, but letting them control the noisy blast of the blender or food processor can hook them). They stir. They savor.

5. Rock and Roll
A rolling pin is a wonderful thing. Especially the little ones they make these days. Give a rolling pin of any size to the kids for rolling out cookies and pie crust, of course, but also for pasta and dumpling wrappers. The process is gratifying, and even athletic. Have them stuff the pasta or dumplings with spinach or kale-rich fillings. Like Homer Simpson says: Dough!

6. Be Honest
Chicken is from a bird. Beef is from a cow. Pork is from a pig. Tell your kids the truth about animals and they can make their own choices about what they’re comfortable eating (old Macdonald had a farm and he had an oink oink for bacon; remember that one?). Our 7 year old omnivore Violet knows the deal and has come to the decision that she doesn’t like the deal, but she still hasn’t given up good old cured meat like bacon or prosciutto. It’s too yummy for now. We’ve taught her about the difference between happily raised animals and sadly raised factory farm ones, but her heart’s just not into the carnivore thing right now. If she goes vegetarian on us, we’re in full support. Listen to your kids concerns and take them to heart. You might rethink your own attitudes to food through a child’s eyes.

7. Mess Around
Think of the kitchen as a playground. Flour will be spilled. Clothes will get dirty. Fun will and should ensue. Embrace the culinary chaos (with an eye on the stove and she sharp stuff). Let it happen. And an apron on everyone helps. It’s like suiting up for little league. Game on.

8. Scale Up
We recently bought some red snapper that hadn’t been scaled. I was scraping it down as I’d seen a fishmonger in Manhattan’s east village a decade ago and I wasn’t so good at it. 7 year old Violet wanted in. She excelled at taking the scales out. She loved the dinner that followed. 4 year old Desmond hated it (he’s just not into fish anymore, unless it’s an anchovy or a sardine. He loves the little spines. Go figure.). Point is: let the kids lend a hand whenever they want to or can safely. Speaking of scales, measuring ingredients is a fractional math lesson: 1/4 cup goes into 1 cup four times and so on.

9. Keep Them Safe
For all the chaos, there needs to be a bit of order. So…
-Of course everyone should wash their hands before and after cooking. It’s the symbolic beginning and end to the cooking of a meal.
-Always turn pot handles in and away from the edge of the stove to keep hot stuff from spilling.
-Cook boiling liquids on the back burners, away from curious hands.
-Keep your knife block out of reach at the back of the counter.
-Keep your knives behind the cutting board. If a kid pulls a board off the counter, you don’t want the knife falling with it.
-Give the kids a step stool for a good view and position and give a their own dedicated space at the counter free of glassware, raw eggs, meat, and fish, and sharp tools (including peelers and microplane graters!). They’ll feel more in control and involved. And keep them busy with the safe stuff to keep them from grabbing your chef’s knife or raw chicken out of boredom.

10. Don’t Force It
Engage the kids only as much as they want to be. Stuffing ravioli can be fun for a minute, but after five tries, it might get a bit dull for the little ones. And don’t expect culinary perfection. A tough cookie, messy ravioli, or mauled herbs can be their signature on the meal. Let them feel the joy. Let them eat it and enjoy it. Don’t go Gordon Ramsey on them. The kitchen can and should be a happy place for play and pleasure. And that’s a perfect foodie family affair.

{via Bon Appetit; featured image via The Gourmand Mom - a superb blog offering a terrific section on “cooking with kids.”}

Even though some states enjoy healthier reputations than others (Yes, Colorado, we mean you), no state is completely guilt-free when it comes to dishes with huge portion sizes, super-high calorie counts, or sky-high fat content.

So if you want to sample some of these regional favorites on your next road trip, your best bet may be to minimize your portion size.

via Health Magazine By Sarah Klein

Alabama: Bacon-wrapped meatloaf

Alaska: Eskimo Ice Cream

Also known as Eskimo Ice Cream, akutaq, (pronounced agoodik or agooduk) is a classic native dish that is still popular today. Traditionally, women made a batch of the frosty treat when the men returned with a freshly killed polar bear or seal. Today, modern versions are usually prepared with Crisco, but traditional recipes called for meat and fat from caribou, moose, bears, seals, and fish.

Ingredients: Reindeer fat, seal oil, salmonberries, blackberries

Fat content: It’s hard to estimate without a known serving size of this native treat. But consider this: An average serving of reindeer fat packs a whopping 91 grams of fat. A different version made with fish, berries, and seal oil contains 9 grams of fat.

Arizona: Quadruple Bypass Burger

Arkansas: Catfish

California: In-N-Out Burger Double Double

Colorado: Jack-N-Grill’s 7-pound breakfast burritos

Connecticut: 2-foot-long hot dog

Delaware: Deep-fried pastry

Florida: Empanadas

Georgia: Luther Burger

Hawaii: Loco Moco

Legend says the islands’ comfort food dates back to 1949, when a group of hungry teens wanted the owner of Hilo’s Lincoln Grill to whip up something cheap but filling. He reportedly threw together somewhite rice, a beef patty, and gravy, which came to be known as the Loco Moco.

Ingredients: Today, variations abound. The Large at Island Cuisine Maui, a Maui restaurant, has two hamburger patties, two eggs, three scoops of jasmine rice, plus onions, fish, and mushroom gravy.

Fat content: Two hamburger patties clock in at 32 grams fat, two eggs have 10 more grams of fat, and a serving of mushroom gravy has about a gram of fat, all of which edge this dish close to the daily recommended limit.

Idaho: Bacon Bleu Cheese dressing

Illinois: Deep-dish pizza

Indiana: Fried-brain sandwich

The Hoosier State is known for its pork products and festival fare. But Evansville, Ind.’s Hilltop Inn, until recently, was more famous for serving up a fried-brain sandwichthat dates back to the days of waste-not German and Dutch settlers. After recent USDA regulations concerning the spread of mad cow disease, the restaurant created a version made from pork brains instead.

Ingredients: Oil for frying, brain on a bun with pickles and onions

Fat content: A 6-ounce scoop of beef brain batter fried up at the Hilltop Inn packed about 24 grams of fat. The pork version is estimated to be closer to around 18 grams.

Iowa: Hot beef sundae

Kansas: Charred ends

Kentucky: KFC’s Double Down

Louisiana: Beignet

Maine: Lobster roll

Maryland: Smith Island Cake

In 2008, the Old Line State adopted the Smith Island Cake as its official state dessert. The cake gets its name from a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay, home to fewer than 100 year-round residents, and yet the decadent treat became so popular the governor signed the cake into law.

Ingredients: At least 10 layers of cake, which can be made from scratch or from a packaged mix, with layers of chocolate icing in between

Fat content: Most recipes have around 26 grams of fat per serving.

Massachusetts: Chocolate chip cookies

Michigan: BLT

Gigantic sandwiches can be found across the country, but the biggest ones in the country may be found in Birch Run, Mich., at Tony’s I-75, as featured on the Travel Channel’sSandwich Paradise. There, you’ll find the world’s most artery-cloggingBLT. Each contains over a pound of bacon.

Ingredients: Over 20 strips of bacon, lettuce, tomato, bread

Fat content: A pound of bacon clocks in at a whopping 192 grams of fat. That’s about your upper limit over 3 days!