From a young age I was cooking in the kitchen with my dad. I was his little assistant with my tiny red top chef Sydney apron. I probably wasn’t very helpful and I probably didn’t do much, but I was present. For this reason I am optimistic that I must still have some cooking skills left over from my apprentice days. I am not the best chef by any means, but when given a proper recipe I would say I’m a pretty good follower even though I have been known to forget some key ingredients. I am an English major, but reading the instructions is apparently not my strong suit.
I wanted to try out some recipes from the mayor of Flavortown himself, Guy Fieri. I picked out two of his most well known recipes: Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese and Texas French Toast Bananas Foster. I also made sure to read through the ingredient list and instructions thoroughly before beginning.
The first step was to begin the search for ingredients which proved more difficult than I had initially thought. Let me tell you, finding all of the ingredients for these recipes was a struggle. I would have chosen some of his other recipes but those ingredients were even more obscure. The Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese (how amazing is that name?!) was the better of the two in terms of finding all the ingredients. The only semi-odd item was bacon grease and for someone like me (an avid anti-bacon eater) that wasn’t something easy to come by. I want to send out a heartfelt thank you to my mommom who just so happened to have some in her fridge. She was also the one who provided me with the half cup of orange juice (which I also hate) and the quarter cup of rum for the bananas foster. She was also subsequently very worried that I would have an open container of alcohol in my car on the way home (everything turned out fine). I received the miniscule amount of ¼ of a teaspoon of orange liqueur from the former co-editor-in-chief of this very magazine. Thanks Ryan!
I also didn’t expect to have such a hard time finding thyme of all things. The mac and cheese called for fresh thyme which was a ghastly seven dollars at the local Giant. When I chose instead to purchase dried thyme I somehow accidentally grabbed dried rosemary instead. So that’s to say that I did not add thyme to the recipe, but the Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese still turned out absolutely amazing.
Guy Fieri’s Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese is probably the best homemade mac and cheese that I have ever had (and I have had a lot, I am a Mac and Cheese connoisseur). I think it not only had to do with the addition of the bacon grease but also the shallots and garlic that were first roasted and then fried in the grease. They added a touch of crunch and savor into the cheesy mac and cheese. There were a couple of things that I did differently from the recipe (on purpose this time!). First was that I did not put a bacon crumble on top or wherever else it wanted said bacon. As I have mentioned before I loathe the meat and refused to add it. Feel free to come at me for that statement. The second was that I did NOT use penne pasta for the recipe. Why call something Mac Daddy MAC and Cheese while not using macaroni noodles? Absolute nonsense if you ask me and so I had to remedy that.
As for the Texas French Toast Bananas Foster (that name doesn’t have as much of a ring to it), this dish was also absolutely phenomenal. I was a bit skeptical with this recipe as it called for ingredients that I never used in my life and I wondered how it could possibly turn out well. I am not a person who likes orange flavored things, but the orange juice and orange liqueur were barely present, they just gave the dish an overall tang and different flavor which I really enjoyed. The rum was a spiced dark rum that added additional vanilla flavor to the carmel sauce that the french toast was covered in.
The only slight downside I would give to this recipe is with the instructions portion of it. I have never cooked with alcohol before and I have never made a caramel sauce. I would have appreciated a little more direction at this step of the recipe as in: what consistency should the sauce be at and does it need to be reduced etc. The instructions also said to use a saucepan (perhaps this is a bit picky), but it needed to say LARGE saucepan. The caramel sauce got everywhere before I put it in a bigger pan. My stove was a bit of a mess afterwards, but it was all worth it. The dish was an absolute hit. My roommate and our friend who came for dinner all absolutely adored Fieri’s take on this recipe. I now feel the need to have my parents and everyone else I know try this masterpiece.
There are some other recipes of Fieri’s that I was considering such as the Taj Maholla! Chicken, but that also had odd ingredients like cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and cardamom seeds that I felt like I wouldn’t have easy access to in my nearby neighborhood Giant.
I would for sure want to try more of Guy Fieri’s recipes in the future. I’m looking at you, Trash Can Nachos (another recipe that was highly recommended). I’m a sucker for black beans, not gonna lie. Not all of his recipes are my cup of tea, obviously, like his sushi or seafood. He also seems to lean heavily towards cajun cuisine and more spicy american foods. I do like flavor in my food, but keep in mind that I am a white girl who cannot handle much spice in her life.
I think these two recipes were very successful and were even added to the recipe book that my roommate and I are making. My dad is always the first person I send food pictures and amazing recipes to. I was thrilled to show him these masterpieces that I made all by myself. When I head back home to Texas for the next school break I hope to make this recipe again, but this time with him as my assistant chef.
All Images by Jewel Miller
