ODG Eats

In case you don't remember (or didn't read it, you asshole), I once wrote about my Mexican restaurant . Now, this wasn't a Mexican restaurant that I owned; just the Mexican restaurant that I frequented. Unfortunately, they closed down in October (more on that later...), but a new restaurant opened it its place: Ragin Cajun Seafood and Po'boys. Just so you know, I'm no restaurant critic: I like eating food, and I like eating other people's  food to help expand my own ideas and find new inspiration. That's what restaurant week is about. I have only visited Ragin Cajun once, and that was within the first week of their opening, so keep that in mind. I usually like to give restaurants 2-4 weeks before really analyzing their food as it takes time for them to get into their routines. However, sometimes you just have to go when you're able. I started off my visit with their boudin balls with "creole mustard dipping sauce." The balls came dressed with s...

 This past Sunday (1/18/2025) was my second cooking stream of the New Generation of ODG Cooking Streams. When I was trying to come up with a "theme" for the afternoon, I was thinking a lot about those fancy-ass restaurants where they serve you three bites of food on a fucking plate five or six times and, even though you're somehow full, it still doesn't seem to quite justify spending five million dollars just to eat there for two hours while everyone around you looks at you condescendingly because you didn't wear a goddamn tie. Fuck those people. Anyway, I decided I wanted to figure out a way to do that kind of fun, small plate, presentation-centric food at the house without having to break the bank. My first course, as a direct theft from The Bear , a show I absolutely love, was the mirepoix broth. I started the stream by starting a light stock, which means you don't roast the bones beforehand, using some pork and beef bones. For the mirepoix broth, I finely ...

I spent a bit of time on New Year's Eve doing some menu planning for my next cooking stream. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that it involves 6 dishes, none of which I've made before, and is an undertaking that will change the culinary landscape forever. That's totally not a baseless exaggeration or clickbait of any kind, but if you watch that next stream, you'll learn the 3 Key Secrects Why Chefs Hate Me And You Won't Believe Number Seven!  Anyway, after looking at photos, making some drawings, and having a think, I decided that I also needed to eat that night. Since I'd already spent what little brainpower I had on a menu, I wanted to keep it simple for dinner, so I used an old fallback I learned from a Jacques Pepin video a few years ago: persillade. I started off by slicing up a chicken breast into little thin cutlets which I seasoned with salt and paprika. I pan fried the chicken in butter and olive oil, as one does.  The persillade part ...

I was voluntold to make breakfast for my dad, stepmom, and grandmother on Christmas morning. I didn't complain too much because I do enjoy cooking, but it's so much nicer to have someone ask you to do something than to tell you that you're going to do something. It is what it is. I was feeling the Christmas spirit or something, I don't fucking know. I decided to only use ingredients that were at Memaw's house, which was a great way to constrain what I could do. I started off by medium boiling four eggs, then dicing and frying some bacon while I scrambled up several more eggs. Once the bacon got crispy, I scooped it all out onto a plate lined with paper towels to try to get some of that rendered fat off of it, then I turned down the burner the frying pan was on. I poured the scrambled eggs into the hot bacon fat and, while they fried, I whipped up some biscuit dough by mixing all purpose flour with 2% milk, plus a little table salt and sugar. By the way: from now on,...

I still relish the memory of the first time I ate an authentic curry while summering in the north of Connecticut as a precocious child. Wait, never mind. That's bullshit. Sorry, I read a couple other food blogs this week and forgot that this is supposed to be about food, not being a pretentious dipshit who tries to assert my own superiority over everyone else due to my family's wealth. We did okay, but we weren't any of those rich assholes who thinks that authentic anything comes from northern Connecticut. Fuck that shit. This is a place for real food. Well, the pasta-making bug has bitten my ass in spades. After my pre-seasoned spaghetti and meatballs  experiment, I started thinking about what other weird shit I could do. The first idea I had, for better or worse, was making my own curry powder and mixing it into some noodle dough. I also wanted to make some vegan noodles for my vegan friends, so I mixed water with flour and extra virgin olive oil to make the dough. I just...

You ever just been lazing around on a Sunday thinking, "Man, I have no chores, no responsibilities, all the time in the world, and plenty of energy to spend on cooking!" while surveying your property? Me neither, but I chose to ignore my responsibilities to spend a few hours making spaghetti and meatballs from as close to scratch as I could.  I actually read a recipe for making pasta. It said to make a "nest" out of two cups of flour, then crack three eggs into the middle with a little olive oil and salt. I decided I wanted to be fancy, so I added in some basil, oregano, and parsley. I like my noodles to be interesting. I would like to quickly note: I am not Jacques Pépin, Martha Stewart, or Garden Contessa, so I don't have fancy little herbs growing just outside my door. I like using fresh ingredients as much as possible, but it's not always possible. I couldn't find oregano or basil at Kroger, so I grabbed one of these little bastards. They're drie...