Mains & Sides
59 recipes.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Bourguignon: Garnish ApartThe onions and mushrooms are cooked separately and added at the end. Simmered in from the start they are what turns it into ordinary stew.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Stroganoff: Not Stewing SteakStroganoff is a fast dish and stewing beef needs hours. Use fillet or sirloin, seared in seconds, or it turns grey and tough.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Tenderloin: Tuck the TailA whole tenderloin tapers from thick to thin. Fold the narrow end under and tie it, or that end is well done before the middle is warm.
Ina Garten-Inspired Bolognese: The Milk Is Not OptionalA cup of milk simmered into the meat early tenderises it and rounds off the tomato. It is in the traditional recipe and it is the first thing dropped.
Ina Garten-Inspired Braised Short Ribs: Don't SubmergeLiquid should come halfway up the ribs, not over them. Covered completely, they boil — and boiled meat cannot taste braised.
Ina Garten-Inspired Brisket: The Grain Changes DirectionA brisket is two muscles whose grain runs at an angle to each other. Carve it as one piece and half of it comes out chewy.
Ina Garten-Inspired Cauliflower Gratin: Grate Your OwnBagged grated cheese is coated in starch to stop it clumping. That coating is what makes a gratin sauce turn grainy and split.
Ina Garten-Inspired Cauliflower Toasts: Toast It TwiceBread goes under the grill before it is topped and again after. Skip the first pass and a wet topping turns the slice to sponge.
Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Chili: Roast the ChickenChicken simmered in chili goes stringy and gives nothing back. Roast it separately, shred it, and stir it in near the end.
Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup: Never Boil ItA boiling stock emulsifies fat and protein into the liquid and turns it cloudy and greasy. A bare simmer keeps it clear and clean.- Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Parmigiana: Sauce It LastTwenty minutes under sauce in the oven undoes the crust you just fried. Sauce and cheese go on at the end, under a grill, for three minutes.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Piccata: The Flour ThickensThe dredge on the chicken is the only thickener in the dish. Shake off too much and the sauce stays as thin as the wine you poured in.
Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Pot Pie: Cook It All FirstNothing under the pastry cooks properly in the oven. Everything inside should be finished before the lid goes on — the bake is for the crust.
Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Salad: Cool It In the BrothChicken lifted out hot loses moisture as it cools. Left to cool in its poaching liquid it reabsorbs some, and the difference is obvious.
Ina Garten-Inspired Coleslaw: Salt the Cabbage FirstCabbage keeps releasing water for hours after it is dressed. Draw it out with salt beforehand or the dressing turns to soup.- Ina Garten-Inspired Corn Chowder: Simmer the CobsThe stripped cobs hold starch and most of the corn flavour. Simmered in the stock they thicken the chowder and deepen it for free.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Crab Cakes: Fold, Don't MixThe lumps are what you paid for. Mix the binder completely on its own first, then fold the crab in with a spatula at the last moment.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Deviled Eggs: Sieve the YolksMashed yolk stays granular no matter how much mayonnaise you add. Pushed through a sieve it turns into something closer to a mousse.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Filet Mignon: Sear It LastA thick lean steak seared first cooks a grey band under the crust. Warm it through in a low oven and sear at the end instead.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Fried Chicken Sandwiches: Craggy FlourRub a few spoonfuls of the buttermilk marinade into the dry flour. The shaggy lumps it makes are what fry into the crunchiest shards.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Gazpacho: Bread Makes It CreamyStale bread blended in is not a thickener. It lets olive oil emulsify into the vegetable juice, which is why real gazpacho is opaque.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Green Bean Casserole: Dry Pan FirstMushrooms are around ninety per cent water. Brown them in a dry pan before any butter goes in or the sauce will never thicken.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Guacamole: Lime First, Then MashLime has to touch the cut avocado before you mash, not after. Browning is enzymatic and the acid only protects what it reaches.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Lasagna: Béchamel, Not RicottaRicotta is the American convention. A white sauce coats every sheet evenly and is why a Bolognese lasagne holds together in a clean slice.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Lemon Capellini: Save the WaterStarchy pasta water is what emulsifies butter and lemon into a sauce. Drain it all away and you are left with oil on noodles.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Lobster Mac n Cheese: Undercook ItPasta boiled to al dente before baking goes on absorbing in the oven. Stop it two minutes early or the sauce ends up in the macaroni.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Mac and Cheese: Melters and TastersCheeses that taste best melt worst. Use a young cheese for texture and an aged one for flavour, because no single cheese does both.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Mashed Potatoes: Butter Before MilkFat first coats the starch granules so they cannot swell with liquid. Add the milk first and the mash turns gluey however carefully you work.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Meatballs: Mix Them LessWorked mince turns springy and bouncy. That is a sausage texture, and it comes from mixing, not from the meat you bought.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Meatloaf: Bread and Milk, Not CrumbsDry breadcrumbs pull moisture out of the meat. Bread soaked in milk puts moisture in and traps it, which is the whole difference.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Mustard Chicken Thighs: Add It TwiceDijon's sharpness is volatile and cooks off. Use half in the marinade and whisk the rest in off the heat, or the mustard vanishes.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Panko-Crusted Salmon: Toast It FirstSalmon is done in twelve minutes and panko needs longer to brown. Toast the crumbs in a dry pan and the two finish together.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Pastitsio: The Top Is a CustardThe top layer is not a béchamel poured over. It is enriched with eggs until it can be spread, which is why pastitsio cuts into clean squares.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Penne Alla Vodka: Why the VodkaSome tomato aroma compounds dissolve in alcohol and not in water or fat. Without vodka they stay locked in the sauce, unsmelled.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Pork Chops: 63°C, Not Well DoneThe guidance changed in 2011 and most home cooks never heard. Pork is safe at 63°C with a rest, and it is a different piece of meat.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Pot Roast: Cook It Past DoneFor steak, higher internal temperature means drier meat. For pot roast the rule inverts — it is not tender until it passes 90°C.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Potato Salad: Vinegar Hot, Mayo ColdHot potatoes absorb vinegar and shed mayonnaise. Season them in two stages and the salad is flavoured through instead of coated.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Prime Rib Roast: Pull It EarlyA roast this size keeps climbing 5 to 8°C after it leaves the oven. Cook to your target temperature and it is already past it.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Rack of Lamb: Render It From ColdA hot pan seizes the fat cap and leaves it thick and chewy. Start the rack fat-side down in a cold pan and the fat renders out.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roast Chicken: Take the Backbone OutSpatchcocking flattens the bird into one thickness, halves the roasting time and ends the argument between dry breast and raw thigh.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roast Turkey: Start It Upside DownBreast and thigh need different temperatures. Roasting breast-down for the first hour lets the legs get ahead while the breast stays cool.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Broccoli: Garlic Goes LastSliced garlic burns to bitterness in under fifteen minutes at roasting heat. Add it for the final five and it stays sweet.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Brussels Sprouts: Cut Side Down, Every TimeThe sprouts that brown are the ones touching metal. Cut side down on a hot sheet, in one layer, is the whole technique.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Chicken Breasts: Go HotLow and slow dries a chicken breast out. Bone-in and skin-on at 220°C it is done in thirty-five minutes and still juicy.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Lemon Chicken: Under the SkinA lemon in the cavity perfumes steam that mostly escapes. Slices pushed under the skin sit against the meat, which is where flavour transfers.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Rosemary Cashews: Toss Them HotRosemary oil dissolves into warm nut oil and clings. Tossed with cool nuts, the same seasoning slides straight to the bottom of the bowl.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Salmon Cakes: Chill Before ShapingCakes that fall apart in the pan rarely need more binder. They need thirty minutes in the fridge before they are shaped.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Scallops: Buy Dry, Not WetMost supermarket scallops are soaked in phosphate and full of added water. They cannot sear, however hot the pan is.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Shepherd's Pie: Chill the FillingPotato spread over hot filling sinks into it and disappears. Cool the filling completely and the topping stays a separate layer.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Shrimp and Orzo Salad: Dress It HotWarm orzo absorbs dressing. Cold orzo repels it, which is why the vinaigrette ends up as a pool at the bottom of the bowl.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Shrimp Cocktail: Roast, Don't BoilBoiling pours the flavour of the shrimp down the sink. Roasting at high heat concentrates it instead, and the texture is firmer.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Shrimp Scampi: Cold Butter, Off HeatThe sauce is an emulsion, not melted butter. Cold cubes whisked in off the heat give a glossy sauce that clings instead of a greasy pool.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Spinach Gratin: Wring It DryFrozen spinach carries close to half its weight in water. Wring it out in a towel and the gratin sets instead of pooling.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Sweet Potato Casserole: Bake ThemSlow baking lets an enzyme in sweet potato convert starch into maltose. Boiling races past that window and washes the sugar out.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Tomato Soup With Basil: Roast FirstRoasting the tomatoes drives off water and browns their sugars. A simmered tomato can only ever taste like a boiled one.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Turkey Breast: Butter Under the SkinButter spread on top of the skin runs into the pan within minutes. Pushed underneath, it bastes the meat for the whole roast.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Turkey Roulade: Pound It EvenA roulade exists to make an awkward, uneven cut into one uniform thickness. Skip the pounding and you have kept the original problem.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Vegetarian Lasagna: Rest ItThirty minutes out of the oven is a cooking step, not impatience. Cut it hot and the layers slide apart however well you built them.
- Ina Garten-Inspired Winter Minestrone Soup: Add the RindA Parmesan rind simmered in the pot dissolves savoury depth into the broth that no amount of grated cheese on top can supply.