Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "11 Ways To Use Hot Sauce"

Link To Blog Post: https://goo.gl/kMM4H7

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Show Notes:

1. In a sandwich like this New Orleans Shrimp Po’ Boy.

2. Use to roast vegetables like these Ghee Roast Carrots with FilFil Hot Sauce.

3. Over grilled meats like this Chicken Satay With Maple Sriracha.

4. To glaze sausages with honey or syrup like these Spicy Maple Glazed Bratwurst.

5. Add to a cocktail like a Bloody Mary or a Yellowbird Michelada.

6. In tacos like these Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos.

7. Toss wings in hot sauce like these Apinya Thai Chili Wings.

8. Or these Dragon’s Blood Wings…

9. Douse over nachos like Aurelia’s Chorizo Nachos.

10. Splash over fried chicken like this Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Sweet Potato Habanero Hot Sauce.

11. On Pizza!

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "Foolproof Rules For Finding The Best Restaurants"

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Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "3 Totally Underrated Food Travel Guides"

Link To Blog Post: https://goo.gl/tyJhrr

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Show Notes:

1. Road Food

Devoted to finding the most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America. Stuck looking for a good meal in rural Pennsylvania? The team at Road Food have you covered. Use the map function, it’s incredibly handy.

2. Southern Foodways Alliance

SFA’s meticulous writing and research on Barbecue in America alone is worth a nod. Go anywhere they write about!

3. The Coastal Living Annual “Best Seafood Dives” Lists

Some of the best meals we have ever eaten have come off this list, no joke. We dig the 2011 and 2012 lists but it’s all pure gold.

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "The 1 Minute Guide To Eating Healthy-ish"

Link To Blog Post: https://goo.gl/c77Wb7

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Show Notes:

1. Focus On Your Food

Ever notice that when you plonk down to devour a bowl of ice cream you savor the first bite, black out and then seem to tune back into the final moments as you scrape the bowl looking for one last flavor hit? People are unaware as they eat, which leads to mindless consumption. Simply taking less of the sweet stuff and paying attention to each bite will still curb your craving and you won’t be looking at an empty pint of Ben & Jerry’s wondering what the hell happened.

2. Chopsticks?

Do you really want to consume less? Create an intentional barrier like chopsticks. It takes around 20 minutes to digest, so if you’re using that oversized spoon in your fruit loops by the time the cereal hits your belly you’ve polished off 3 bowls. Try using a smaller spoon, your opposite hand or all those leftover chopsticks in your top drawer from takeout.

3. When You Eat Out, Go Mexican Or Thai

Rice and beans or a green curry just won’t do as much damage as a burger and fries or that 7 meat Italian hero. Generally speaking, there’s minimal bread and clean ingredient lists in Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican or Indian. It’s easier to just change the country of origin than deciding to eat healthy at the Neapolitan Pizzeria.

4. Read This Book

This book will change the way you think about your next meal… Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "10 Totally Underrated Cooking Tips From Food Experts"

Link To Blog Post

Part 1: https://goo.gl/5fYKu3

Part 2: https://goo.gl/5edjaP

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Show Notes:

1. Sean Brock, Husk, Charleston, SC

“When grinding your own beef for burgers, grind in some bacon.”

2. Geoffrey Zakarian, The Lambs Club, New York, NY

“When you grill, pull your steaks out of the refrigerator one hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature.”

3. Laurent Gras, New York City

“Cook with other people who want to learn or who know how to cook.”

4. Marc Forgione, American Cut, New York City

“Don’t dress the salad when having a big party. Leave it on the side and let the people do it themselves. I’ve had too many soggy salads because of this.”

5. Masaharu Morimoto, Iron Chef America

“Cook more often. Don’t study; just cook.”

6. Roy Choi, Kogi BBQ + The Line Hotel

“To make a great sandwich, spread the mayonnaise from corner to corner on the bread. People rush this step and just do a swoosh down the middle. Every bite should be flavorful. Now that’s a sandwich!”

7. Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

“For best results when you’re baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight.”

8. Chris Cosentino, @offalchris

“To cut pancetta or bacon into lardons, put in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will firm up the meat and make it easier to cut.”

9. Matt Lewis, Baked, Brooklyn

“Invest in parchment paper for lining pans. It makes all of your baked goods super easy to remove, and it makes cleanup a dream (no butter-flour mixture or errant batter to scrape off).”

10. Alain Ducasse, Benoit, New York City

“To cook a steak, I always start by cooking it on its side, where there is a rim of fat on its narrow edge. I render it down so there’s good, flavorful fat in the pan for the rest of the cooking.”

Photo: Husk Restaurant

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "5 Underrated Cooking Tips To Help You Impress Even Yourself"

Link To Blog Post: https://goo.gl/XTL65x

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Show Notes:

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” — Julia Child

1. Compound Butter

Fat is a vessel for flavor. Fold next to anything into room temp grass fed butter and then roll it into a log, chill and cut off coins when needed. Google “Cafe de Paris” butter (amazing on steaks) or make a simple chili-lime butter with lime zest and cayenne or fresh red chili. The options are endless and easy.

2. Pre-Heat That Sheet

Drizzle a little Grapeseed Oil over your baking sheet and toss it in the oven for 10 minutes before roasting sweet potatoes or other root vegetables. The result is way crispier and it cooks faster. For the greatest Yorkshire Puddings ever, get the muffin tin smoking hot beforehand with the same technique.

3. Blanch Green Veg

Ever wonder why that spring pea soup or asparagus salad is neon green at fancy restaurants? Blanching. There’s science behind it, but all you need to know is drop any green veg in a rolling boil and plunge into ice water after 30 seconds. Voila, your broccoli went from 0 to Instagram worthy #nofilter

4. Add Smoke Without A Smoker

Bourbon Sugar Grilled Peaches Recipe Here

Liquid smoke is gross, but smoked salts and sugars impart smokey depth in seconds. Try Alaska Pure Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt or Bourbon Smoked Sugar.

5. The 3–1 Dressing Rule

Grilled Romaine w/ Smoked Popcorn Recipe Here

A simple restaurant secret is you can whip up a vinaigrette by adding 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. Olive oil and lemon juice? Nice. Hazelnut oil and champagne vinegar? Fancy. Warm bacon fat and apple cider vinegar? Yes please. Just throw in some fresh herbs and a crack of pepper and you’re ready to work the line at your local Sweetgreen.

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "6 Tips For Hosting A Dinner Party"

Link To Blog Post: https://goo.gl/WkaQJV

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Show Notes:

1. Family Style All-Day

Individual plates create more hassle and cold food for your guests. Invest in a couple cheap white serving platters and warm them in an oven for 3 minutes at the lowest setting to keep food hot.

2. Pre-Bottle Cocktails

Make a punch, or an old fashioned, then lay out some glasses and ice so people can serve themselves. Less hassle, more social lubrication.

3. Just Serve One Cocktail

Less headache, less money and guests won’t mind. Call it the “signature cocktail” for the night. That way you can make sure you have plenty of ice and ingredients for it. Remember, one cocktail done well beats five bad highball options.

4. Know When To Hold Back

Don’t take it from us, take it from Marcus Samuelsson, Chef at Red Rooster in NYC:

“If you’re cooking for someone important — whether it’s your boss or a date — never try a new recipe and a new ingredient at the same time.”

5. The Most Crowd-Pleasing Dessert We Know

Maybe it’s because it stirs up notions of adolescent nights around the campfire or because it’s cozy as hell or because it’s a big mug of liquid chocolate but fresh hot chocolate made with real chocolate is a winner. Make sure you go to a specialty shop in your area and get artisan (yes fancy fancy) marshmallows. It’s fun, it’s delicious and nobody has ever said “Ahhhh really hot chocolate? I hate hot chocolate.”

Need nice mallows? Wondermade.

6. Maldon

No other ingredient will make more delicious food come out of your kitchen faster.

Photo: Tahoe Unveiled

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "5 Tips To Help You Grill Better"

Link To Blog Post: https://medium.com/@mantry/5-tips-to-help-you-grill-better-1fd77f9fa7ad

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Show Notes:

5 Tips To Help You Grill Better

Step up your grill game with these often overlooked tips.

“Grilling takes the formality out of entertaining. Everyone wants to get involved.” — Bobby Flay

1. Wait….. For Your Grill To Get Hot

Wait 5 minutes longer than you think…grill grates take time to get hot, let them.

2. Don’t Crowd The Grill

Food that’s crowded gets steamed instead of grilled. Do multiple batches or stagger your cooking a bit and keep items warm (peppers first, then corn, then steak).

3. Move It & Lose It

A lot of the flavor on a grill is developed in the caramelization that occurs, don’t move items around or flip too often. One flip is all you need.

4. Bowl with Olive Oil & Salt > Drizzle

“Drizzling” with olive oil often results in non-oiled pieces of meat or veg. A simple trick is to glug a bit of olive oil and a bold pinch of salt in a bowl and really toss the ingredients like a salad. The better coating will result in more evenly cooked, better charred results.

5. Cook Like A Caveman

If your using hardwood coals like oak, hickory, pecan or maple don’t be afraid to throw veg like onions, squash, peppers and corn directly on the coals and “ember roast” them. You can easily peel off the overly charred bits and you’re left with unmatched smoky flavor. This is a great technique for pre-charring ingredients for a salsa. You can even cook steak and meat directly on the coals.

Here’s a great recipe for ember roasted sweet potatoes or ember grilled lobster tails.

Photo: Adventures In Cooking

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "5 Tips For Stress-Free Dinner Party Ambience"

Link To Blog Post: https://medium.com/@mantry/the-mantry-guide-to-kickass-dinner-party-ambience-4cd9ed97958e

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Show Notes:

5 Tips For Stress-Free Dinner Party Ambience

1. The Free-ist Most Incredible Ambience

Golden hour works for photos and it works for entertaining. Google What Time Is Sunset? Aim to sit down an hour before that time.

2. Get Lit

After sunsets, candles are the cheapest mood setter in the game, just buy a pile from the dollar store and scatter them around. Everyone will subconsciously thank you because everyone looks better in candlelight.

3. Draw On Your Tablecloth

Ask your butcher for a couple big sheets of industrial butcher paper. When you lay out cured meats, jams, cheeses ect. grab a sharpie and label what each item is directly on the paper. It takes one minute, it shows you care and people will actually know what they’re eating.

4. Consider A Boil

Steaming shellfish dumped onto newspaper with chilled beer is pretty much an entertaining walk off shot. Clam bakes, crawfish boils, oyster roasts and lobster steams are no frills, fun and easy.

5. Bug Off

Nothing kills the vibe like a couple mosquitos buzzing the table. Simple precautionary measures will go a long way. Go for the timeless classic, the mosquito coil or here’s a great list.

Photo: @athomeinlove

Reggie Milligan Co-Founder of Mantry hosts "5 Easy Tips For A Perfect Pan Sauce"

Link To Blog Post: https://medium.com/@mantry/5-easy-tips-for-a-perfect-pan-sauce-caa9a8e5a494

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Show Notes:

1. Brown The Meat (or Veg)

A pork chop, chicken breast or skirt steak is a good start. Hit it with high heat and don’t flip it too much so you develop a nice crust. This also works with seafood, cauliflower steaks, brussel sprouts and other sturdy veg too.

2. Add Aromatics

After removing the protein you can add some shallots, onion or garlic for some more depth of flavor.

3. Deglaze With Wine Or Stock

That beautifully caramelized goodness at the bottom of the pan is what the French call “fond”. Add a splash of red wine or stock to pull it off the pan.

4. Add Cold Butter

Ever wonder how restaurant sauces have that brilliant shimmer? It’s often a little cold butter stirred into the sauce in the final seconds. The cold butter helps the sauce emulsify (do this off of the heat).

5. Finish With Fresh Herbs + Salt

A combination of chopped chives, parsley (or chervil, tarragon, basil) will waken up the flavor of any sauce. Basically butter + salt + herbs and you can dress up everything from a chicken breast to a bland old turnip.

Photo: My Recipes