Some interesting meals
I’ve been trying to do more from scratch cooking in 2026. Not only do I get to control the nutrition better, it’s more affordable, and it’s been teaching me a lot about food science. I’ve got some basic skills and practices from when I worked pizza that have translated well.
I’ve been trying to work more with potatoes, luckily they are easy to get creative with. I enjoyed this breakfast, not too heavy, plenty of carbs for my run and somehow managed to perfectly poach the eggs, topped with Za’atar seasoning and some red chili flakes.
On the pancake front I’ve tweaked my recipe from my usual little hotcakes to a single, Golden Diner-esque pancake. I actually think just from a logistics perspective this is better as I don’t have a griddle to cook multiple at once, so I inevitably have some fresh pancakes and some less-than-fresh ones. I do have a large pan, but it doesn’t quite have the thermal mass of a griddle, and there are noticeable cold spots after removing a cooked pancake, that affect the cook of the next one.
I’ve come to learn that the mechanics of combining the ingredients is just as important as the amounts. For example, for this batter I very slowly mixed the dry ingredients into the wet, bsically alternating between the two. I’ve also come to learn that not doing something is pretty effective as well. I let the batter autolyse for about 20 minutes to fully hydrate before going into the pan.
Pretty proud of this one, kept me full all day.
Another thing I’ve been experimenting with more is deep frying, which the potato is basically born for. Last year I went to one of the chef stores on Bowery and picked up some stainless ramikans, they’ve turned out to be one of my best kitchen purchases ever.
These are The Potatoes That Mum Grew. She grew 3 little golden potatoes and then mailed them to me in New York in a golden box!
