Let’s here it folks…I’ll keep it to one item since I had one tonight.
I’m going cheese steaks. I can make a badass cheese steak! Most places around here have no clue.
Let’s not limit it to “cook” …let’s use “prepare” so it can be a side, liquor/beer, baked goods, sashimi…whatever. How do you smash the competition? 
Chicken soup!!
Let’s hear about this miss curlz 
I’m always game for some chicken soup!
Secret ingredients AND secret techniques… But seriously, I make a great pot of soup! In fact, I just made some turkey soup tonight in anticipation of being home tomorrow! It’s all about building flavor…
Great thread.
Speaking of cheesesteaks they never seem to put enough cheese in NJ. It’s like the garbage processed shit their using is worth it’s weight in gold.
One thing?? Hahahahahah. Almost every time we go out to dinner I wind up thinking "I could have made this better.’ And cheaper. So we really only go out for stuff we don’t make. It’s a long time since I went into a restaurant & got excited about the menu. There used to be a place in Wall at the mall on the Bob-Ton side which I cannot remember the name of right now. We used to go there quite a bit when we went to the movies down there. They had a terrific chef & every time I went in there there were two or three things on the menu I wanted. Then we went & they had a new chef & that was the end of that. So - things I make better?
Wings
Ribs
Pasta
Steaks
Steak au Poivre
Corned beef
Pastrami
Calamari
I like the microwavable White Castle sliders in the supermarket frozen section better than the ones off the grill from the restaurants. Just something about the way I know how to microwave them.
Gee, I thought you’d say crab.
I’d say black bean soup, but do I really make it better, or do I just make it the way we like it? For example, we like it much thicker than most people make it.
Mark thinks I make matzoh balls better than other places, but Mark genuinely likes his matzoh balls heavy and rubbery. This is better for us, but is it better?
“Better” is extremely subjective.
Interesting…as elleper has pointed out “better” is rather subjective but here are a few things I rarely every enjoy out as much as my own:
1.) broccoli rabe’
2.) gravy and meatballs
3.) manicotti
4.) chili
5.) white/sausage gravy
6.) cocktail sauce (so stupid but so few places actually make their own)
I think we’ll need some sort of official judging ceremony on some of these…ya know, just to be sure…lol
By better I mean “what do you think you can make that is tastier than most NJ restaurants?” …not in the public’s eyes, your opinion
John and Jr put out some good ones.
I should probably add this to my list, because we go a lot heavier on the horseradish than most places.
Mark much prefers his Russian (or Thousand Island) dressing to restaurants’.
I’d LOVE to know your secret for broccoli rabe… haven’t fully figured that one out! Believe it or not, I love the version the Neptune Shop Rite sells in the prepared foods dept.
For me it’s lots of salt. I’ve tried to go easy on the salt by adding more garlic/olive oil but it doesn’t work.
Any and all braised dishes, from stuffed cabbage to pork mole to lion’s head meatballs.
Honestly all I do is blanch it in chicken broth for a few minutes before sauteing. Bring the water to a boil first, a hearty chicken stock, that takes the bitterness out, finish in olive oil and browned garlic (I like hot pepper flake) just toss a few times in the pan to get it coated and serve. Delicious, not bitter and easy to cut / eat, even the stems.
Ah…It’s the chicken stock and it takes the bitterness out! I will definitely try that. Thanks!
Never thought to use chicken stock. I will try it next time.
when I used to work at the Italian food store/salumeria- once the kitchen made a dish to put out for sale- any bit in the pot were fought over like gold. The best days were vodka sauce, any soups or chicken cacciatore days (best choice bar none). We’d grab a fresh loaf of Italian bread and rip it to pieces and sop up the sauce/broth and actua;;y be happy for 5 min. I’ll never forget the one day I made mistake of sopping up the broth after a huge pot of broccoli rabe was just made, looked and smelled delicious…my face almost turned inside out it was so bitter however…lesson learned…
