Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: Gordon Ramsey

  • Perfect Homemade Fortune Cookies

    Makes 12-18 fortune cookies depending on size and thickness. Fortune cookies are remarkably easy to make…IF…you have the right recipe.  Many of the recipes on the net call for fat in the form of butter or oil.  The problem there is that you end up with greasy fortunes.  The remaining recipes, at least the ones…

  • Hatch Green Chile Peach Pie

    It’s that time of year again!  Grocery stores all over Texas have the unmistakable spicy-smoky aroma of roasting Hatch chiles out front, and the big chile roasters are rolling almost nonstop during open hours.  It’s my favorite culinary time of year. While most recipes for Hatch chiles are savory, I decided to post a sweet…

  • A FRANK Tale: The Godfather

    Photos in this blog appear courtesy of our friend Stephanie Casey at Real Fine Food.  Follow her on Facebook and Instagram, also! With FRANK pulling in some crazy press recently (a Dallas Morning News article called us “The Best Restaurant in DFW” and Modern Luxury featured us with 3 other restaurants as “Best of the…

  • A FRANK Tale: REAL Mexico

    (Most photos in this blog appear courtesy of Stephanie Casey at Frugal Foodie Dallas, who live-blogged our menu for us!  Thanks, Stephanie!) We’ve been wanting to do Mexican FRANK for a very, very long time.  Since the beginning, in fact.  BUT…when you live in a place like Texas, which is oversaturated with both TexMex AND…

  • Josh Marks: In Memoriam

    For those of you who don’t know, Josh Marks, runner up from MasterChef season 3, died last week at his own hands.  This tragedy is too awful to process, even for those of us who didn’t know Josh.  I cannot imagine what his family is experiencing. I haven’t addressed this issue earlier for several reasons. …

  • Crispy Fish Tacos

    I’ve had quite a number of requests for the recipe for fish tacos that I served as my “signature dish” on MasterChef.  It’s certainly not my signature dish, but it’s one of the only things I make that could be made in an hour, so that’s what I made!  Fish tacos are one of the…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: T-Bones and Live Birds (S4E19)

    (PLEASE NOTE: This blog contains the IPA-soaked rants of a former MasterChef survivor who has practically no inside knowledge of how this season was produced.  It’s not fit to be read by anyone.) So we’re back up to 7 contestants, now that Bri is back.  And it’s time for a mystery box.  Krissi tells us,…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: Eggs and Salmon (S4E18)

    (PLEASE NOTE: This blog contains the maniacal ravings of a Season 2 survivor with [practically] no inside knowledge of how this season was produced.  It should be treated as opinion only, and isn’t fit to be read by anyone.) We’re down to 6…but are we?  Apparently, the producers are pulling another surprise comeback, but this…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: Family Food and Sushi (S4E17)

    (PLEASE NOTE: The content that follows is entirely from the depraved mind of a MasterChef season 2 survivor.  It should be treated, not as fact, but as opinion, only…and probably not a very sound opinion, at that!) We’re down to 7 for MasterChef season 4.  At this point in my season, Christine Corley and Derrick…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: (S4E16)

    (WARNING: This blog contains the crazed ravings of a MasterChef season 2 survivor who has no inside knowledge of how this season was produced.  Everything in this blog should be considered opinion and nothing else.) Before I begin, I need to address a MasterChef issue that’s been flying around the TV gossip websites today.  These…