Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Are your family members allergic to parsnips? Replace the carrots with parsnip. Or anything you want. I've made stocks out of just about all the root veggies available at one point or another.

The easiest answer is to make chicken stock, remove the chicken and carrot portions, and replace with whatever you'd like. Fish bones, shrimp shells, rabbit, veal, mushrooms (mushroom stock is a must have item), parsnip, turnip, fennel, and on and on it goes.

As CJ said, there are few hard and fast rules.

Emeril has an osso buco ragu that uses veal shanks, but I used bison ribs the first time I ever followed the recipe.

The roast beef at Manny's Deli in Chicago. I get it extra rare on an onion roll that is SOAKED in roast beef juice. The potato pancake and pickle on the side aren't too shabby either.

Finely chopped parsley and a drizzle of white truffle oil will do the trick.

I have a large repertoire of homemade soups, but my favorite is based on a recipe that was published in the NY Times, and said to be over 100 years old. There are no meat products in it. It makes a spectacular, soufflé–like presentation, and tastes amazing.

Onion Soup Gratinée
6–8 servings Prep plus cooking time: 2 hours
1 bagette (stale is OK)
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 lb. Emmental cheese
5 large onions
1–1/4 cups tomato puree
3 tbsp. Diamond Crystal® kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry sherry

Equipment:
5.5–7.25 qt. round dutch oven
large saucepan
food processor w/shredding disk or box grater
rimmed sheet pan

Position oven rack to upper middle position, and preheat to 350°F. Slice the bagette into 1/2” thick slices. Place bread rounds directly on oven rack and toast until lightly golden (10–15 min). Transfer to the cookie sheet to cool.
Grate the cheese and reserve.
Peel and slice the onions. Melt 4 tbsp. butter in the pot over medium–high heat. Add the onions and sprinkle with the pepper and 1 tbsp. DCK salt. Sauté the onion until well caramelized (15–20 min), stirring frequently. If they stick, just deglaze the pot with a little water. Remove onions from pot and hold aside.
Butter the bread toasts on one side with the remaining butter, and arrange closely together on the sheet pan. Sprinkle all but 1 cup of the cheese on the buttered bread rounds and press down to adhere.
Arrange 1/3 of the bread rounds in a layer on the bottom of the pot. Cover with 1/3 of the onions, then 1/3 of the tomato. Repeat same layers two more times. Finish top with the remaining grated cheese.
Keep the oven at 350°F. and move rack to lower–middle position.
In the saucepan, dissolve 2 tbsp. DCK salt in 2 qts. boiling water. Stir in the sherry. Carefully pour the liquid into the dutch oven near the edge., trying not to disturb the top layer of cheese. Simmer on the stovetop for 20 min., uncovered, then transfer to oven and bake for 1 hour @ 350°F., uncovered.

You're not your

Grammar is hard.

I'd consider How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson.

Thanks all. Just finishing my time in Orlando. 2 places of note for anyone willing to get away from disney and the chain o'restaurants.

Rice Paper: Turkey Lake Road and Sand Lake - in a strip mall. Decor is minimal but the food is great and at a good price. Vietnamese fusion cuisine cooked to order by an older Vietnamese gentleman - he actually delivers each plate! Great selection - had crisp cornish hen, husband had hanoi noodles - rice noodles saute'd with chicken , shrimp and veggies.

Have been to Le Coq Au Vin a few times - always plan a trip there when I am here. Family run French/creole bistro. Great ambiance and exceptional food.

A local said Backwater BBQ - next door to Le Coq is really good, but has limited hours. Looks like a standing room only kind of place - aromas are pretty awesome. On my list for next time.

I didn't read all the responses but have you ever added tomato paste? I usually add one 7-ounce can of tomato paste and one tomato-paste-can of water to every 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes I use. It tastes great and does not separate.

What makes marinara "marinara" is the fact that it's meatless. It's "in the style of the mariner" who needed a product that would not turn rancid when brought out to sea for long periods of time.

The sandwich you make on Thanksgiving after all your guests have left is my all time fav and probably even more so because it's a special once a year thing. You know, it's that sloppy dagwood of a thing piled preciptously with turkey (reheated in a frying pan with a little oil so it's a little bit golden) mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce held together by an entirely too small parkerhouse roll.

When I was younger I used to cook and bake with my friend and we used her copy of the better homes and gardens cookbook

I just got my daily e-mail from ecookbooks.com, and included in it today was The Silver Spoon for Children: Favorite Italian Recipes. Here's part of what the e-mail said: "The Silver Spoon for Children is one of the best books geared to children in the kitchen that we have seen! Specially adapted from the bestselling classic, The Silver Spoon, this edition presents more than 40 quick, wholesome and easy-to-make Italian recipes that children aged 8 and above will love to cook and eat. For more information, and two recipes from The Silver Spoon for Children, visit our special webpage here: http://www.ecookbooks.com/t-Silver-Spoon-for-Children-Phaidon.aspx "

I checked the webpage out and the recipes sounded simple and delicious, the illustrations are very cute and instructive. Check it out. Good luck!

Ok no cornstarch! Use more tomato paste and saute it with the onions which makes a tomato paste/rouxish thing which will thicken your sauce. A lot of chuncked up tomatoes need a home to live in, so add some water or wine or stock to the party to thin out the tomato paste once it has sauteed.
Here is my question are you pouring oil in the pasta water. Some genius one thought this was a great idea. The starch is needed so the sauce will adhere to it. Do not rinse pasta and do not put oil in the pasta water.