SALADS, SIDE-DISHES & CONDIMENTS: Chef G. Can Make 'em All

Hi folks, Chef G. here, and on today's episode of  The Chef G. Cooking Channel we're going to do something a little different.  I've heard some rumblings from my tens of fans that I'm "too one-dimensional."  All I do, according to some of you, is cook a bunch of main-course dishes that are heavy on meat, salt, grease, and BBQ sauce.  OUCH!

Message sent, message received.  (Oh yeah, I have the power to read your minds.)

Today I'm going to demonstrate my culinary diversity.  I can do vegetables.  I can do starches.  I can do the salad course.  I can make my own condiments.

I'm not going to tell you HOW I make them, that would take too long.  I just wanted to show you that I CAN make them.

SALADS

My pasta salad is delicious.  If the greatest chefs of Italy could taste it, they would throw up their hands in defeat.  Serve it at your next bratwurst party and you will be praised forever and ever.

 

Cucumber salad with vinegar, sugar, bell peppers, onion and spices.  It
pairs well with pretty much EVERYTHING.

 

Sure, anybody can whip up a generic coleslaw, but it's so much more rewarding to chop up
every ingredient yourself with a steak knife.

I made two versions of coleslaw on this occasion.  One with apple cider vinegar (Mrs. Chef G's preference) and another with a mayonnaise-based sauce (My preference).  Coleslaw goes great with Barbequed ribs and, as Colonel Sanders will attest, fried chicken. 

SIDE DISHES

Potatoes, onions, butter, lots of salt & pepper, wrapped up in foil and grilled over coals, create what I affectionately call "Potato Concoction."  It makes a great companion to steaks, chops, and burgers.

MMMMMMMMMM!  A little bit of char on the potato and onion only adds to the flavor.

Are you making a Chinese dish tonight?  Fried rice with bits of onion, garlic, carrot and broccoli is the perfect side-dish.

CONDIMENTS

I think it is even more satisfying to chop salsa ingredients with a steak knife than it is to chop coleslaw ingredients with a steak knife.  It's a labor of love.  It's fun too.

I dig it!

View from above.  Pico de gallo.  Put it on any Mexican dish, but ESPECIALLY tacos and burritos.

It'll stay fresh in your fridge for about a week. 

For best results, simply scoop it up with a tortilla chip.  

The next condiment was only suggested to me in the last couple of months.  An old friend from high school asked if I've ever tried Bacon Jam.  I hadn't.  But his description of a mixture of bacon rendered in a cast iron pan, onions, garlic, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar was too much to resist.  I've made three batches since then.  I burned the brown sugar the first time.  With adjustments, they've gotten better each time.  Thanks, Kevin.

It starts with the bacon.

It ends with a jam that has nothing to do with any kind of fruit.

When it's done, you can put it on burgers or omelets or whatever your imagination desires.

After seeing all these delicious salads, side-dishes and condiments, I know you folks at home are dying to know how to make them.  Great news!  You can obtain all of the amazing recipes with my personal assurance that every one of them have been perfected over the course of time to provide extreme pleasure to your taste buds.  So, I'll wrap up today's show with a few simple instructions for ordering my incredibly delicious recipes.

[Sorry, those instructions were flagged as "Phishing" by Google, so I removed them even though it was completely obvious that those instructions were nothing more than a joke.]