He always cooks frozen pizza.... And always leaves it on the cardboard. I love him, but sadly dad's no cook! He leaves it to me.

I thought traditional shrimp and grits always used cheesy grits and not plain ones?

Firing up the Weber, making old fashioned burgers with soft and small Merita buns, toppings laid out on the patio table, and a pitcher of cold sweet tea to be enjoyed by the family.

Gotta have the warm air of a Spring evening blowing slightly too, past the dogwoods and right onto the deck. I can't think of anything better than fresh Spring air in rural Alabama.

Sorry if this is a bit poetic for a burger party, but there is truly nothing more enjoyable than a family burger cookout. Cheap to prepare and just as tasty as a steak dinner without all the expense, pretense, and hassle. It's the Christmas and Thanksgiving time of the Summer months!

@rasellerso If you want an upscale dining experience them Birmingham is where you need to be. Frank Stitt, Chris Hastings, and many other talented chefs are trying to bring food to a higher level in Alabama and introduce our residents to a new way of thinking about how you eat in restaurants.

That said, what is wrong with all the things you mentioned? I don't think that those foods lend themselves to only being "shovel" worthy dishes. I think they are all southern dishes that lend themselves to the south as a whole. But I will say that as far as unique dishes go that are only located in Alabama there are few, if any. We do the classics well though, and some of the best meals I've ever had has come out of home kitchens. They may not have stressed plating or refinement, but that goes against simple southern food in the first place in my viewpoint. Effort and flavor were definitely there in high amounts. Okay, off my soapbox! LOL.

Do you want the recipe to use a mild triple cream brie or something VERY mild like President's brand brie?

I know my favorite brand to eat alone or as an appetizer is Le Petite, but it can be very strong and ammoniated tasting depending on the ripeness, which I wasn't sure if that is the kind of brie you were wanting the recipe to use.

The strong flavor may play nice with the Nutella though not sure. Definitely don't want to waste $10.00 on a wedge of Le Petite to find out though so maybe you can direct my ideas here.

Could you just melt the butter in the measuring cup in a microwave? Never tried melting that amount of butter in the microwave personally. T

hat would save having to wash a pot, which is a definite pro and takes one step out. Truly 2 minute hollandaise then, even with the clean up!

Holy shiat, Pomfret is right at the top of all the fish I've ever had. Ever ever. The texture is amazing and the flavor is off the charts for a white-flesh fish.

Alright, here's how I did it though just to give you an idea. I removed all the fins and scales, them stuffed it with plenty of lime slices and large torn pieces of Thai basil (which is so much better than normal basil btw! Sprinkled some salt in there and that was that. The I made cuts deep on each side about 1" apart all the way down the fish, and rubbed them and the whole fish with olive oil, kosher salt and smoked pepper, then stuffed some Thai basil and minced garlic in the slits and sprinkled the rest over the fish.

To bake it, I lifted it up off the tin foil using lime slices so it wouldn't stew in juices and would cook more evenly. Right before I slid it in the 475 degree oven I hit it with some lime juice and a SMALL sprinkle of Harissa just because I wanted some color and also a bit of sweet smoked paprika. I think it baked about 23 minutes when I pulled it out to rest, and it was so flaky and juicy. Served it with nothing more than cheese grits and some crusty bread to sop up the juicy goodness on the plate.

If you ever see Golden Pomfret, get it!!!! The bones are so easy to eat around and are fairly large and there is a TON of meat on the fish. I can see this fish being cooked in any regional style and being flavorful and good. I say that because I served Creole cheese grits and it complimented awesomely. :) Good to know branching out and randomly buying a fish I've never seen worked out. Mackerel or milkfish is next! Or even tiny smelt heads, guts and all!

Thank you so much for the inspiration guys, y'all's posts really gave me the go ahead to just cook the damn thing and not worry about it so much!

Thank you so much Annie! I have thought about trying to plank grill this fish but I'm afraid the skin would come out all wrong. I may just give your ideas a go because the only other option I was considering was grilling it regularly with butter and lemon stuffed inside it and some kind of lemony rub over the outside with slits in the fish. I'll take that baked idea and run with it I bet. Maybe someone else will chime in too here soon. Gonna get going in an hour or two.

Fried rice and I even did it on the charcoal grill for high heat. Never turned out to be more than soy sauce flavor with none of that wok-hay flavor. I was so sad but it has become the normal for my wok cooking.

I am dead serious when I say that lo-mein and fried rice are better left up to professional chefs in restaurants. Not worth the time, hassle, or ingredients and it never tastes as good and is 99% of the time cheaper when you get a meat version since it's so high in the stores these days.

Xanthan gum really does make the Big Mac sauce exactly like what they sell in the store. Slightly slick and a bit gloppy, bit I almost prefer it when I am eating a replica Big Mac so I get the exact same experience.

I would recommend buying a bag and you'll have it for a LONG time. It's great for thickening a massive variety of sauces as long as you are judicious with its addition.

Thank you so much Sydney!!! I am going to make one tonight to go with some lamb loin chops I have. Luckily I have some rendered lamb fat in the fridge so this can be baked while the chops are grilling.

Do you think cooking the liquid to get the alcohol out after the soak would screw this up? And would you need to remove the seeds if you did? I am not too big on alcohol consumption really, but I use it a lot cooking. If so I'll just skip this recipe and give all the others a try. The ones I've done so far from you have been awesome BTW. Get on the Meatwave I say.