Cooking with Bruce and Mark

It's grilling time in our part of the world. And we've got a great, easy recipe, particularly if you can find cross-cut beef short ribs (sometimes called "flanken"). We get ours at a big-box store. We stock up every time we're there because we want this great barbecue meal a lot all summer long.

We're veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've published three dozen cookbooks with eight New York publishers. Our most current is THE LOOK AND COOK AIR-FRYER BIBLE, which you can find here.

This podcast lets us indulge some of our passions: food and cooking. (Bruce is off on knitting adventures on his own; Mark has a podcast solely focused on walking slowly through Dante's DIVINE COMEDY.)

We're glad you're with us. Thanks for being a part of our journey.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:56] Our one-minute cooking tip: Clean your grill AFTER every use.

[02:32] We're making grilled, cross-cut, beef short ribs!

Here's how:

Put all of this in a turbo blender or a food processor to make a marinade:

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch or 2 1/2-cm chunks;

1 medium Asian pear (about 6 ounces or 170 grams);

5 peeled, medium garlic cloves;

one 1-inch or 2 1/2-cm piece of peeled fresh ginger, cut into smaller chunks;

1 cup or 250 milliliters soy sauce;

1/2 cup or 125 milliliters water;

1/4 cup or 55 grams packed light brown sugar;

2 tablespoons or 30 milliliters mirin;

and 1 tablespoon or 4 grams freshly ground black pepper.

Blend until a smooth puree, then pour into a very large, zip-seal plastic bag. Add about 3 pounds or 1.4 kilograms of cross-cut beef short ribs. Massage the puree into the meat, seal, and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.

Grill over direct high heat 3 - 4 minutes per side. Cut them into chunks with at least one oval bone in each. Serve with cooked white or brown rice and lots of kimchi.

Garnish with minced scallions and sesame seeds.

[13:52] What’s making us happy in food this week: affirmation from others on our TikTok channel and homemade kimchi!

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, veteran cookbook authors with over three dozen cookbooks published under our own names. We've also been contributing editors and columnists for the likes of EATING WELL, COOKING LIGHT, and weightwatchers.com.

This podcast is about our passion: food and cooking. We're so happy you joined us. Thank you for that.

If you'd like to buy Renato's new baking book, DOLCI: AMERICAN BAKING WITH AN ITALIAN ACCENT, you can find it here.

Here are the segments for this episode of this podcast:

[00:52] Our one-minute cooking tip: Cover a cutting board with plastic wrap to carry raw meats out to the grill.

[01:59] Bruce interviews Renato Poliafito, owner of a Brooklyn bakeshop and author of the brand-new cookbook DOLCI: AMERICAN BAKING WITH AN ITALIAN ACCENT.

[18:37] What’s making us happy in food this week: curried lentils and cannoli. (Bruce says "cannoli" for one. Don't write in. We've hashed it out enough!)

Beef chow fun! Is there better take-out? (Or take-away?) It's always been one of our favorites. But we live in rural New England . . . so we have to make our own.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've written three dozen cookbooks and been contributing editors and/or columnists at a host of magazines (back in the day). We're working on our 37th cookbook right now! But in this episode, we're making that chow fun, one of our go-to dinners.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:44] Our one-minute cooking tip: Start cooking thin strips of bacon (or streaky bacon) in a cold skillet (or "pan," as Bruce would say).

[02:33] We're making beef chow fun at home.

Here's the recipe: soak 10 ounces or 285 grams of wide dry rice noodles in a bowl of water overnight (or at least 12 hours--yep, that long).

Slice an 8-ounce or 225-gram beef flank steak into thin strips (angle your knife and cut thin strips sort of on the diagonal). Put these strips in a bowl and add 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon Shaoxing (a rice wine for cooking) or dry sherry, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch (or cornflour). Mix well and set aside for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the sauce in a small bowl: 2 tablespoons (30 ml) standard soy sauce, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Shaoxing (as above), 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated white or caster sugar.

Drain the noodles in a colander set in the sink.

Set a wok over high heat until smoking. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons (23 ml) refined vegatable or peanut oil. Add the beef strips and any juice in the bowl. Spread out the slices all across the wok (even up the sides) to brown on one side.

Char for about 1 minute, then add 2 tablespoons (26 grams) julienned or minced fresh peeled ginger and 4 medium scallions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch (5-centimeter) segments.

Stir-fry for 1 minute, gathering all the beef strips together as you do. Spread the drained noodles over the top. Then pour the sauce all around the inner edge of the wok (so it runs down). Stir-fry gently until everything is coated (without breaking up the noodles).

Add 6 ounces (170 grams) of bean sprouts and a big pinch of ground white pepper. Serve it up!

[15:10] What’s making us happy in food this week: rhubarb pickles (look for a video on how to make these on TikTok and Istagram) and bread-and-butter pickles (for our recipe, see our YouTube channel: COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK).

Who doesn't love potato salad? We're making a recipe that was mentioned on our Facebook group (COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK) by a listener: potato, pasta, a combo of potato and macaroni salad. A great treat.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen (and counting!) cookbooks (not counting the ones ghost-written for celebs--now there are some stories.) This is our podcast about our food and cooking passion . . . and mostly about potatoes this time around.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:39] Our one-minute cooking tip: store potatoes in a cool, dark place at room temperature.

[01:50] We're making potato salad with pasta, a U. S. Midwestern (and elsewhere!) classic. Here's the recipe:

Start with 1 1/2 pounds (675 grams) VERY SMALL yellow potatoes, boiled in a Dutch oven with lots of water for 7 minutes. (Or larger potatoes, cut into 2-inch (1-centimeter) pieces.

Add 1/2 pound (225 grams) dried small elbow macaroni. Cook until both are tender, about 5 more minutes.

Drain in a colander set in the sink. Cool just a few minutes, then whisk together this dressing in a serving bowl: 3/4 cup (155 grams) mayonnaise, 1/4 cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons (30 grams) pickle relish, 2 teaspoons (10 grams) Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.

Stir in the warm potatoes, pasta, 2 cups (360 grams) corn kernels and 4 thinly sliced celery stalks. If desired, top with 2 or 3 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and sliced. Just FYI, the salad tastes better when cold. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

[13:47] What’s making us happy in food this week: cherimoya and rhubarb pie!

Let's talk about the grocery store! Not about what's there or how to find the best that's there. Instead, about how the modern grocery store got to be the way it is . . . and maybe some notions of where it's headed.

We're veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've published three dozen cookbooks through several New York publishers. This podcast is about our passion: food and cooking.]

Want to see our latest cookbook? It's THE LOOK & COOK AIR FRYER BIBLE. Over seven hundred photographs, one for every step of every recipe. You can find it here.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:04] Our one-minute cooking tip: Eat greasy or coated chips with chopsticks to keep your fingers clean.

[03:38] The evolution of the modern grocery store: from self-serving to its modern incarnation with our thoughts of where things may be headed.

[25:38] What’s making us happy in food this week: a game to help you learn how to use chopsticks and ramen in New Haven, CT, at Mecha Noodle Bar.

Who doesn't love pizza? With better crusts, even gluten-free crusts, and a bigger range of toppings than years past, pizza has become almost a food category in and of itself.

So let's talk about how to up your pizza game! We're cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've even written a book about pizza. But this podcast isn't about our book (although you can check out PIZZA: GRILL IT, BAKE IT LOVE IT! here). It's about having better pizza at home.

Fire up the grill or the oven and listen to these segments of the podcast COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01 :00] Our one-minute cooking tip: If you buy one pizza, buy a second one to freeze for later.

[3:39] All about how to up your pizza game at home: tricks for better crusts and ideas for better and more varied toppings.

[20:14] What’s making us happy in food this week: garden-fresh asparagus and yellow-chili Sriracha.

Cold brew. You can buy it everywhere. But there's a vast difference in flavors (and prices!). Let's discover what's worth the money and what's not.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, veteran cookbook authors with three dozen (and counting) cookbooks to our names. This is our podcast about food and cooking . . . and we're so honored you've chosen to spend time with us.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:55] Our one-minute cooking tip: Buy ice for parties because you're going to need more.

[04:44] We're doing a taste-test of purchased, bottled cold brews . . . not the stuff from a coffee shop, but the bottled cold brews available at North American supermarkets. Find out which we think is worth the money.

[22:06] What’s making us happy in food this week: veal (don't hate Bruce!) and roasted chicken.

There's lots of food news these days. We've got the latest on McDonald's plans, on new pink pineapples, on the Italian government's regulations, and on what may be the newest ice cream craze . . . which involves fried chicken skin.

We're veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've written thirty-six cookbooks, are working on number thirty-seven, and are passionate about food and cooking. Thanks for being on this journey with us. We're so glad you've joined us.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:04] Our one-minute cooking tip: Run the dishwasher BEFORE company comes over.

[04:21] Our take on the latest food news: a new, EXPENSIVE pineapple on the market, McDonald's plans to offer a bigger burger, the Italian government's attempts to regulate food consumption and even gelato, and the wildest ice cream flavor we've ever seen.

[20:02] What’s making us happy in food this week: guacamole with jalapeño relish and dried fig and lemon jam.

Food photography. We know it's now crucial to the success of a cookbook. But it wasn't always so. We'll tell what we've seen over three dozen cookbooks published in the last twenty-five years.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We're the team behind dozens of cookbooks, tens of thousands of published original recipes, and a long career in the food publishing business.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:09] One-minute cooking tip: Pick the smallest chicken.

[03:40] What's happened to food photography in cookbooks over the twenty-five years we've been in the food business? How has photography changed with the advent of the internet? We'll give you an overview of food photography from our three-dozen-cookbook persepctive.

[19:32] What’s making us happy info this week? China China and conserves (a lower-sugar jam with chilis or other aromatics).

Perhaps just a decade ago, the dominant theory was that food likes and dislikes were learned. But genetic research is changing the game, proving that what you like and dislike may actually be part of your DNA.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen cookbooks and more than 20,000 original recipes. This is our food and cooking podcast, part of our passion for all things culinary.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:56] Our one-minute cooking tip: Rent a tablescape!

[04:15] Are your food preferences written in your DNA? We're talking about the latest genetic research and how your likes and dislikes may be part of your very biological makeup . . . and how you can actually learn to override your own DNA.

[18:44] What’s making us happy info this week: vegan chocolate creams and kasha varnishkes.