, a column by Food Editor Emily Ziemski where small-but-mighty additions—ingredients, sauces, toppings—that instantly upgrade whatever’s on the table are the star of the show. Today, chicken-fried what?

 I don’t believe in trying to make one food be another food. As someone who is constantly searching for 

, I find where foods fall flat is the moment when they try to perfectly imitate a different food. I respect the hustle, but it’s super difficult to use an item that functions completely separately, with different protein structures or vegetal cells, and try to mold it into that item you *really* want it to be. Vegan “cheese,” I love you, but you’re really more of a creamy spread. Is this a metaphor for being true to yourself? Maybe. The only exception that I’ve found so far that seems to be impervious to said rule, is chicken-fried something (gosh are we surprised though?). Chicken-fried steak is probably the most classic iteration you’ve seen out in the world, as a diner food staple. You can picture it, that blue speckled plate—it’s always a blue speckled plate in my mind—with that perfectly crispy, golden-brown fried, thin-pounded piece of tender steak hiding underneath all the crackly edges, topped with a rich puddle of gravy that’s just beginning to pool underneath the steak. But that’s been done a million times over. So, here I am, yet again, asking you to make another mushroom dish. Searing fluffy Lion's Mane mushrooms before battering and frying ensures all of the excess liquid is pressed out (plus creates a chicken-like texture), and the batter is simply something very similar that you’d use to double coat a piece of fried chicken. If beer isn’t your thing, try a different sparkling beverage to get that carbonation, which contributes to having an airy and textured crust.

Chicken-Fried Mushroom Steaks

An Americana take on fish and chips: beer-battered chicken nuggets and crispy tater tots. If the tartar sauce isn't your thing, give this 

Chicken Nuggets & Tater Tots With Tartar Sauce

For a bachelor dinner, it's either this or whole-wheat pasta with broccoli rabe and anchovies. Anyway, what's not to like about oysters and beer. What else can I say? 

Fried Oysters

"This humble meal is today considered Puerto Rico’s unofficial national dish, and a family favorite for many. Growing up, mofongo was a dish reserved for special occasions and almost always served with “camarones a la criolla,” or Creole shrimp. My version takes my family’s recipe and incorporates a few tricks I’ve picked up along the way growing up in Brooklyn. ¡Buen provecho!" —César Ramón Pérez Medero

Essential Equipment: mortar & pestle


Mofongo de Camarones (Shrimp Mofongo)

This is a cocktail easily made for one, or you can scale up at will. Feel free to make it boozier if you like—there are no rules.

Dark and Stormy

Bring the gastropub vibes home with this classic bar food that never gets old: soft pretzels with beer cheese. Here, I’ve added seasonal pumpkin puree and a splash of pumpkin ale to the beer cheese for a pretzel dip that feels extra fall-ready.

To cut the proofing time by half or more, I used the PROOF setting on my Ninja® Foodi® XL Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid™ to activate the yeast and expedite the proofing process. And to transform the dough into perfectly fluffy, golden-brown pretzels, I used the STEAM & CRISP function, which (you guessed it) steams and crisps at the same time for always-tender, crispy results.

Soft Pretzels With Pumpkin Beer Cheese in a Multi-Cooker

Turkey-Brined Roast Duck

I don’t mean to be cocky, but this chili really is the best ever (at least the best I've ever made). And it's dirt cheap! While beef is usually my protein of choice for this purpose, it’s expensive here in Israel. So I decided to give leaner, cheaper turkey chili a whirl -- and I got to watch as they freshly ground the turkey breast for me at the shuk. 

I’ve made a decent amount of chili in my day: We usually make it at least once a year and have been known to host a chili party. It’s the perfect cold weather comfort food, and when I was home in New York in December I couldn’t seem to get enough of it. I usually make a decent chili, but I can get a little heavy-handed. I add too much jalapeño or beer or cinnamon. But this time, everything was in perfect harmony -- the ingredients balanced each other to create a hearty, highly satisfying chili. Also, for the first time I measured and wrote down ingredients as I went instead of haphazardly throwing things in the pot. Which means, lucky for me, I can recreate this again. 

This is a fairly mild chili, but it can be easily spiced up with jalapeño peppers (I just forgot to get them). Enjoy it with a cold beer -- the Leffe I cooked with was a perfect complement, although a cheaper beer would be just as good!

Best Ever Turkey Chili

This cake was inspired by the oh-so-tasty cocktail concoction of lager and cider known as a "snakebite." For the cake, I've replaced the lager with a stout, and have opted for fermented pear cider in place of the more traditional apple. The slightly effervescent pear cider–cream cheese frosting swoons contentedly upon a truly dark, rich, and delicious chocolate stout cake. I think you'll like it.

The Snake Bite

There’s really no way around it: Making fried-fish sandwiches is a messy endeavor. But they're also irresistible, and so worth the cleanup. The first helpful tip? Get your oil hot and ready for frying before you start dipping the fish into the batter, because once it’s dipped, it has nowhere to go except directly in the oil. Another trick to keep in your back pocket? Cut the fish into pieces, which makes them easier to manage and ups the crunch factor of the whole sandwich.

The beer batter helps make the fried fish fluffy and wonderfully crispy, but the fish isn’t the only key component of this sandwich. A Potato Sandwich Bun from Arnold®, Brownberry®, or Oroweat® is the soft, toasty vessel that holds it all together, and the tangy banana pepper mayo brings a welcome kick of creaminess and acidity. 

Crispiest Beer-Battered Fish Sandwiches

In the days when my sons played high school hockey, I made gallons of this chili. I would transport it to the snack bar at the rink in a slow cooker. It would sell out every time because it was the best way to warm up at our infamously cold rink! The recipe is originally from Epicurious, but I have tweaked and adjusted it over the years to make it our family favorite. Both my former hockey players know how to make it, and they do a great job! 

Our Favorite Chili

Growing up, soft pretzels were one of the few junk foods my siblings and I were allowed to eat. This homemade variation is a variation of my mother's recipe, paired with the Kentuckian classic, beer cheese. I recommend letting the cheese warm to room temperature and spreading it over a hot pretzel, then enjoying the whole ensemble with a cold beer.

Soft Pretzels with Beer Cheese

Ribs are one of the dishes that my parents ask me to make the most whenever I host family dinners. My parents loved going to BBQ joints for birthdays, and after spending hundreds year after year on dry mac and cheese and ribs with very little to no meat, I decided to make everything myself for half the cost. I like to braise the ribs in a mixture reminiscent of the flavors of a michelada—beer, Clamato, Worcestershire sauce—and braising them makes them really juicy and tender so the cooked meat just falls off the bone. I love deviled eggs, so along with the ribs I like to serve a creamy deviled egg macaroni salad, the cheesiest rajas con mac and cheese (mac and cheese with diced jalapeño and poblano chiles), and sweet and buttery corn bread muffins made with a mixture of cornmeal and masa harina to enhance the flavor of the corn. 

Esteban Castillo's Michelada Ribs

The summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I studied abroad in France, in the small town of St. Brieuc, located in the Celtic region of Brittany (or Bretagne). At that point my French was largely untested -- I had only had three years of high school French, an introduction in middle school, and some lessons in elementary -- but the program would soon to change all that. The main rule dictated that as soon as the plane hit the ground in Paris, we were not allowed to speak English until we had completed the program seven weeks later...or else we got sent home. So when we finally pulled into the town parking lot with the host families waiting outside, I remember being a little scared to get off the bus. But I didn't know then the wonderful home I'd be welcomed into by Anny, Jean-Marie, Simon, and Clément Lachevre.

I'm not sure if the program just did a superb job matching students with hosts, or if I was just lucky, but despite my piecemeal French, I felt immediately comfortable -- the Lachevre's home felt so similar to mine and there was a piano to play, a yard to kick around the soccer ball with my host brothers, and a room all my own with a view of the garden and a desk where I could write letters and leaf through back issues of French Vogue that Anny had set out for me. The Europe Cup was that summer, so we watched a lot of soccer, went on excursions to nearby fishing villages, and every Friday, we ate Breton galettes.

These are not the galettes that we eat here in the U.S. Breton galettes are, in fact, a savory crêpe made from buckwheat flour and stuffed with Emmental or Gruyère cheese, jambon (ham), and a fried egg. Sometimes other ingredients are added (Clément, for instance, always requested tomatoes in his). The meal is traditionally enjoyed with a glass (or two) of hard Breton cidre, which was indeed another compulsory item on our Friday dinner table. I remember once when Jean-Marie and Anny had plans to go out on a Friday, Anny specifically taught me how to make galettes, just so Simon, Clément, and I wouldn't miss our tradition.

Back in November, I headed down to North Carolina for my friends Lora and Joe's baby shower. On the way home on Sunday, we all took a trip to Foggy Ridge Cider, a women-owned orchard and hard cider producer outside of Floyd, VA. Unlike the overly sweet cider varieties common here in the states, Foggy Ridge makes a European-style cider: complex, and more dry than sweet. Throughout our tasting I was reminded of those Friday night dinners at the Lachevres.

So on my ride home from the orchard, a new member of the Foggy Ridge Cider Club with a few bottles in tow, I decided I would make a Breton galette-inspired galette to pair with the cider I'd brought home. I've made this a few times now -- for our Southern Friendsgiving, as an appetizer for Christmas dinner, and for a Sunday brunch. The rye crust is adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Ham, Gruyère, and Caramelized Onion Galette with a Fried Egg

In June, we visited our good friends the Begerts down in Austin, TX...the heat was unreal, with every day of our long weekend a sweltering 105 degrees...the hottest summer on record! We spent as much time as we could indoors or in the local swimming hole...but while outside, the most cooling drink by far were the micheladas. Every bar in town served them: a savory, refreshing concoction of limey, spicy tomato juice with a cold, fizzy beer poured on top. There are many variations throughout Latin America (and Austin!), but this recipe is a great start. A nice change from the usual sugary-sweet summer cocktails, you can drink these all night long. And best of all, if booze is off-limits, just swap in a non-alc brew and join the party.

Zingy Michelada With Celery Salt

This recipe uses beer to create a fluffy yeast-type batter without haven't to work with dry yeast. Don't worry, you don't need to be a beer lover to love these waffles! I use a local stout beer with vanilla and coffee notes and add cinnamon and floral cardamom to the batter. When the maple syrup hits the waffle, you're in for a treat. This recipe is adapted from Amanda Clarke's Serious Eats recipe.

Spiced Stout Waffles

Bacon Jam

French Onion Soup is one of the first dishes I ever taught myself to make and is still one of my favorite winter comfort foods. Here's my recipe for it on my cooking webseries, Working Class Foodies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-BRWSN2PV4

French Onion Soup

Homemade chicken stock and Guinness replace the thick, traditional gravy of many lamb stews and give this stew a broth-y sauce pepped up with lemon zest and fresh herbs. The finished stew is tender enough to be pulled apart with two spoons. Tip: add a little more stock when reheating leftovers.

A Lighter Lamb Stew

I've been making this recipe for a few years now, basically an amalgam of chili recipes I have known and loved. This is truly a toss it all in type deal, but you can omit many of the ingredients except, IMHO, the beer, which gives the chili bite, and the spices and onions. Texans will be offended by the beans. Normal people would not add carrots; I do it because my husband likes them. I often use half the liquid recommended if I want a thicker brew. Another cheat is a can of fire roasted tomatoes, and no chili powder. I often make this with ground turkey meat only, and no sirloin at all. I know people who have made it into a vegetarian dish. Do as you like, and enjoy! 

Just Good Chili

Your simple, go-to chili for all your summer chili dog needs. Plus, it has three types of meat in it.

Three-Meat Chili

At first glance, this thing looks daunting. But once you've assembled the ingredients, it really is pretty straightforward. I've taken a more than a few liberties on traditional chili. I've used inspirations from a Bon Appétit squash chili recipe, a Washington Post lamb chili recipe, and a Food Lab (Serious Eats) recipe. The short ribs give a heartiness that you just won't get from ground beef or even stew meat. I prefer bone-in ribs, as boneless meat won't give the chili the same complexity and texture. I like the hints of mole using the chocolate, and the background notes of coffee.

Short Rib & Pumpkin Chili

No-knead breads feel downright revolutionary the first time you make one. Not just because they take little effort, but when baked in a Dutch oven they get that crusty golden exterior that seems impossible to achieve for a homemade bread. I assure you, it’s not impossible. This loaf is made with a crisp pilsner and chopped olives. It’s my go-to when I need something special for dipping in a seasonal soup. If you’ve never made no-knead bread before, just a heads-up that it proofs in the refrigerator for around 20 hours and then needs to rest at room temperature for about 90 minutes before baking. 

Beer Bread: Brew Infused Breads, Rolls, Biscuits, Muffins, and More

Three-Olive Pilsner Loaf From Lori Rice

This cocktail is smoky, spicy, and utterly enjoyable. The lime and agave balance nicely to create depth and complexity. If you’re in the mood for a savory cocktail that features your favorite lager beer, this is definitely the recipe for you.

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