Derby Pie on Pride Day

Dateline: Sat 13 June. Downtown Winston-Salem was alive and colorful with tons of activity on the middle Saturday of the month. It was the featured day of the Pride parade and all the associated events. With temps still cooking into the low 90s, the enthusiasm of the crowds did not seem much diminished or stilled. The celebration at home, of course, for those of us who don't venture out a lot when there are so many comforts within, was in bringing out an old-fashioned derby pie after supper. Twenty years ago I was spending lots of time in Louisa County, VA, working with schools there. In the evenings, as I was warmly lodged with the superintendent and her husband, I'd pass the time recording recipes from their grand collection of cookbooks and such. That's where this one came from, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've made it. We decided it was pretty darned good, especially with just a bit of the remaining sweet milk vanilla ice cream I'd churned not long before.

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"Derby Pie," from Eugenia Bumpass. In Cuckoo Cooks from Gilboa Christian Church in Cuckoo, Virginia.

Meal No. 4128: Emeril's Skillet Beef Stroganoff

Dateline: Sat 13 June. ‘Twas another hot late spring Saturday, as we trudged through a dry heatwave in the run-up to mid-June. As I sorted through ideas for dinner that night, I defaulted to a grandly doable menu: Emeril’s skillet beef stroganoff. Well-seasoned with Emeril’s Essence spice mix, this combination of ground beef, onion, mushroom, wine, and beef consomme, served over wide egg noodles, and adorned with fresh shreds of sharp white cheddar plus some shakes of parsley regularly fits the bill for getting folks fed and satisfied.

Meal No. 4127: Steak au Poivre

Dateline: Fri 12 June. When I moved to Winston-Salem 25 years ago upon joining the faculty of Wake Forest University, I took up residence in a faculty apartment...and it was the first time I had a kitchen since before I started my PhD program at the University of Virginia. (Well, except for a couple of summer sub-leases in my poor doc student days.) I had accumulated an incredible pent-up desire to cook things and had collected tons of recipes when visiting friends in various places. But I'd also followed the wise advice of friend and UVA mentor John Lloyd and subscribed to Cook's Illustrated. One of the earliest recipes I attempted from one of the first issues I received told me that cooking could seem both fancy and infinitely possible: steak au poivre. It's something I've made numerous times over the years, although when it appeared here Friday a week ago, it was the first time in about two years. I also made well-buttered mashed potatoes and roasted up herbed whole green beans. The crowning touch was the peppercorn-shallot cream sauce, which was really just glorious covering it all.

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"Steak au Poivre," by Dawn Yanagihara. In Cook's Illustrated, September & October 2001, p. 8-9.

Meal No. 4126: Peanut Butter Bacon Burgers

Dateline: Thur 11 June. An enormous amount of time has passed since the last time I made peanut butter bacon burgers, a remarkable undertaking and a definite gustatory treat. These monstrosities might get put together in slightly different ways each time they appear here, but there are some faithful constants that are catalogued just below. Peanut butter bacon burgers are very much a labor of love with an incredibly satisfying conclusion.

This was the 35th occasion for this particular delicacy, and I always like to update the history accordingly:

• Inspired by Yo Mama's in the French Quarter of New Orleans
• First Made: Meal No. 180
• Last Made: Meal No. 3583
• Fresh Home-Ground Beef, typically from boneless beef short ribs and top sirloin
• Homemade Peanut Butter
• Homemade Classic Burger Sauce (recipe below)
• Labeled Sample "Final Product" Burger: Guide to Meal No. 234

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Classic Burger Sauce

from Cook's Illustrated, July-August 2008, p. 11.

4 T mayonnaise
2 T ketchup
1 tsp sweet pickle relish
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.

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Guidance on grinding, shaping, and cooking burgers from "Best Old-Fashioned Burgers," by J. Kenji Alt, in Cook's Illustrated, No. 93 (July/August 2008), p. 10-11.

"Beef & Cheddar Melts Sauce," a Roediger House creation.

Original bacon braid guidance from "Bacon Sheets," from MyFridgeFood.com. See also: "How to Make a Bacon Lattices for the Perfect BLTs," a nice video demonstration, from Justin Chapple's Mad Genius Tips on the Food & Wine website [published 02 March 2015 / Updated 14 September 2021 by Bridget Hallinana].

Meal No. 4125: Copycat Chick-Fil-A Sandwiches

Dateline Wed 10 June: It was a welcome Wednesday signaling Amy's weekly visit and we sat down at dinnertime to the generally rare offering of copycat Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. It's the sort of thing I can throw together incredibly quickly, which was helpful that night because there was quite a bout of afternoon pool-playing, much to my delight. The fried chicken fillets were pretty perfect, and the brioche buns were slathered with almost enough Duke's mayonnaise. It's the long stretches in between the times I make these that sanctioned my doubling up on 'em. Now I can complain even more about weigh-ins. And did I mention that we finihed the evening with a fresh round of chocolate chip cookie sundaes?

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"Chick-Fil-A Copycat Sandwich," by Hilah Johnson. From Hilah Cooking. [Published June 2012]

Meal No. 4124: Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Dateline: Tue 09 June. A portion of leftover Costco rotisserie chicken, supplemented with some fresh seasoned and herbed chicken breasts from the sous vide immersion circulator, all got turned into a tasty chicken salad for sandwiches a little more than a week ago. Side servings of chips brought the picnic feel to the summer supper table.

In the meantime, I also threw together the quick-and-easy chai-spiced snickerdoodle skillet cookie to be baking away in the cast iron whilst dinner was munched on. It emerged hot and fresh and all too tempting before we could leave the dinner table.

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"Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie," from Heather Baird of SprinkleBakes.com. [Published 06 July 2020]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sundae

Dateline: Mon 08 June. On a casual weeknight, I got a wild hair for coming out at dessert time with something new and different. I'd spotted online an intriguing combination of cookies and ice cream, in the form of what some call a pizookie sundae. Basically, you drop a healthy ball of chocolate chunk cookie dough into a ramekin, let it bake into full cookieness, and then top it with ice cream (and if you still have homemade chocolate syrup, perhaps a few streaks of that as well). This was really, really good, truth be told. I'll be glad to have it reappear before long.

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"Mini Individual Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae (Pizookie)," from Melissa Stadler of ModernHoney.com. [Published 04 February 2017 / Updated 09 September 2018]

Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Meal No. 4123: Chicken & Pea Penne Bake

Dateline: Mon 08 June. Monday a week ago included a run to Costco, and that meant there was a rotisserie chicken ready for deboning. Then, I found myself curious about exploring some heretofore untried recipe. In this case, it was a pretty straightforward chicken and pea penne casserole which was tasty enough without any socks being knocked off. For that evening's meal, it did its duty. The lambrusco brought by that evening's guest surely helped.

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"Baked Penne with Chicken and Peas," from Jennifer Dempsey of Mother Thyme. [Published May 2015]

Chocolate Frosty Shakes

The first Sunday of June was also National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, apparently, and it was therefore fitting that I'd made a new batch of homemade chocolate milk to freeze into cubes to then be developed into a blender-based chocolate frosty shake...à la Wendy's. This was my second attempt to make a Frosty this way, and once again I was very disappointed that my very expensive Vitamix blender seems unable to handle the job. Of course, once I research it further, I'm sure I'll find out it's just user error. But with guests waiting for their dessert, I did not like that my hosting efforts were jeopardized when that expensive appliance did not perform as expected.

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"Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Meal No. 4122: Sausage, Onion, and Potato Hash

Dateline: Sun 07 June. My quick run to the grocery store was mostly unsuccessful Sunday a week ago, so I shifted my plans for that evening and brought to the supper table a comforting easy favorite: sausage, onion, and roasted potatoes hash. I've been making this a while, when there are potatoes and some form of sausage on hand and I need to figure out a dish to serve. It's worth it to spice and roast the cubes of potato separately before adding them into the skillet in the end, and when time allows it's sure tasty to get the diced onion on the road to caramelization. The skillet was cleaned out and no leftovers remained: a good sign, no?

Guess Who Lost the Rat Race

Dateline: Sat 06 June. As the first full week of June was drawing to a close, there was quite a bit of excitement happening. Let’s start with a first-time accomplishment by the house imp, Scarlett: she managed to pounce on and eliminate a yard rat.

Then, no more than 40 minutes later, I’ll be darned if she didn’t slay a second larger rat. That girl must’ve wanted to get in my good graces something fierce.

The next day, there was a third rat slaying by this girl. Not only did I have no idea we had such a rat problem, I had no clue that she was such a rat problem solver.

You go, Scarlett Impia!

But wait! There is more! When I was getting that Saturday morning started in the kitchen, the number and speeding intensity of a convoy of Winston-Salem police cars piqued my curiosity enough to tune into the scanner on Broadcastify.

Once the communications exchanges made clear there was a complete shutdown of Salem Parkway and US 421 just down from the house, I thought I’d stroll to see what was afoot. From the Peters Creek Parkway bridge over the highway I snapped these shots.

Eventually the local news had the fuller story: this was the conclusion of a vehicle chase that left one WSPD unit flipped onto its roof and another slightly smashed into a small SUV.

Meal No. 4121: Bacon & Cheese Sandwiches

Dateline: Fri 05 June. It was a terrific three days up in Richmond the first week of June, conducting a Project CRISS training for another fine group of teachers at St. Christopher's School (plus one from Hanover County!). I always feel graciously and warmly welcomed and the group responded so positively to our collaborative endeavor. We wrapped up early enough Friday afternoon that I was able to get home, enjoy time sitting in the shade with the pups nearby, and still get a supper on the table before 6 pm. Simple menus help that, like the ease of throwing a pan of chile-rubbed bacon into the oven and then tackling the rest of the package in a skillet on the cooktop. A slice of sharp cheddar on the bottom half of brioche buns, and a Kraft Single on top, and the double-layers of bacon were almost quite enough.

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"Chile-Rubbed Bacon," by Rick Martinez. In "D.I.Y. B.L.T. O.M.G.: Bake Better Bacon (Upgrade Idea No. 1)," Bon Appétit, July 2016, p. 44.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Dateline: Mon 01 June. Coming in at just about the most perfect I've ever made it, the dessert at the start of the month was the glorious traditional creamy lemon meringue pie. The lemon filling was truly airy and excellent but there was something uniquely pleasing about the way the meringue turned out. While the four of us might have been desirous of larger or additional portions, we also were wise enough to recognize when enough was enough. Boy howdy, was it ever good.

The next day, before I headed out for a few days of work in Richmond, the Goodyear Blimp flew over downtown. Here's the photo to record that uneventful event.

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"Lemon Meringue Pie," based on a classic and common recipe.

Meal No. 4120: Pork Medallions with Ginger-Soy-Shiitake Cream Sauce

Dateline: Mon 01 June. The new month was welcomed on its first day with the happy return of Amy and Gern to the dinner table. And a long-time house favorite was served up to the delight of us all: pan-seared pork medallions with a ginger-soy-shiitake cream sauce. We had our much-loved company mashed potatoes alongside, and there was fresh-made creamy Caesar dressing for some crunchy green lettuced salad. We feasted with joy.

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Based on "Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce," from The Bon Appétit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild, 2006, p. 398-399.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones Family favorite.

Based on "Easy Lemon Caesar Salad Dressing," by Kim Hardesty of lowcarbmaven.com.

Meal No. 4119: Pork Chops and Two Sides

The final day of May occurred a week ago Sunday, and it was a standard meal of a meat and two sides. I took advantage of the sous vide immersion circulator to bring to perfect temp a trio of prepped pork chops from a Costco value-pak. I added in canned green beans and some stovetop stuffing, and I think the diners were happy enough with the results.

It was another lovely day in downtown Winston-Salem, with good yard time with the pups. Sumner was happy to soak up sun, as is his bent, and it also gave me a chance to spy the earliest blooms on the amazing astra blue balloon flowers that grow on either side of the front steps.

Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake & Chocolate Frosty Ice Cream

As May wrapped up, the Roediger House found itself in a celebratory mood with all of its favorite locals on hand for a movie-watching extravaganza that lasted all day, as noted in yesterday's blog post. We did also indulge in dessert later that evening, featuring a new and an old recipe. On its maiden voyage here was vanilla Texas sheet cake, inspired in part because of how much we all liked the recent lemon version I'd made. It also proved to be a winner, in a warmer vanilla bean-boosted way. And as revealed in the photo above, there was also ice cream, a return to the simple churning chest freezer version of a chocolate Wendy's Frosty ice cream (first made in 2012 and based on a long ago Southern Living blog post). Best served when it's got its icy features and mouthfeel, I thought it achieved a strong chocolate punch, perhaps helping it to be acceptable enough for the gang.

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"Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake," from Karli Bitner of Cooking with Karli. [Published 11 March 2026]

The recipe for a copycat Wendy's Chocolate Frosty was originally discovered in a discussion thread on the discontinued Southern Living blogs, posted by user Patricia Elizabeth (Pat) Martin (pbj1118), proud alumnus (Class of 1969) of Isaac Litton High School in Nashville, TN. (Recipe accessed September 2005.) Similar recipe is available at The House of Elyn Ryn: "Wendy's Chocolate Frosty: An Easy Copycat of a Classic Treat," from Rynn Hennings. [Published 11 August 2022]

Homemade Chocolate Milk based on guidance from "Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Flavor boosted with homemade chocolate syrup, from a batch based on "Hershey's Chocolate Syrup," from Stephanie Manley of CopyKat.com. [Published 25 August 2020 / Updated 15 September 2021]

Meal No. 4118: Sheet Pan Nachos for Movies Day

The final Saturday of May was an all-day movies event at the Roediger House. The afternoon was horror flicks and the evening selection was a light comedy. In between, we sat down to a dinner of sheet pan nachos, with a choice of either beef or Cuban pork. Both of those proteins had been previously prepared and stored away, and I used the sous vide to bring them back to life for helping build those nachos. I also made a fresh batch of garlicky lime crema, which was well-utilized by the seven of us at the table.

With folks hanging out all afternoon, a tub of southwestern dip struck me as a judicious appetizer. Definitely well-suited to tortilla chips, this long-time house favorite is hard to resist.

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Sheet Pan Nachos loosely inspired by "Loaded Sweet Pork Sheet Pan Nachos," from Elyse of Six Sisters Stuff. [Published 14 March 2018]

Taco-Style meat depended partly on "Crispy Beef Tacos with Cilantro Lime Sauce," by Jeremy the Contrarian Money on Instagram. [Published 19 February 2026]

"Easy Lime Crema," from Lisa Bryan of DownShiftology.com. [Published 22 April 2020]

"Southwestern Dip," in Betty Crocker Monthly Recipes, December 2001.

Meal No. 4117: National Coq Au Vin Day

The final Friday of May was National Coq Au Vin Day, and at the Roediger House, we celebrated in style. Yep: reasonably authentic for a southern American kitchen helmed by an amateur cook...but incredibly delicious and well worth the extra effort to try to get it right. It was a symphony centered on the main feature of chicken leg quarters, seasoned and pan-seared; then came a host of other goodness, such as thin ribbons of crisped bacon; onion and carrot and shallots and garlic; a giddy Pinot Noir and hearty chicken stock; pearl onions in abundance; and the crowning touch of Madeira mushrooms to mix in at the end. A little thickening and a couple of magic ingredients made it closer to stew for serving over fresh-steamed white rice. This meal was pretty awesome.

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"Coq au Vin," from Cook's Illustrated, January/February 1999.

Meal No. 4116: Fried Chicken Fingers

With a mix of ideas in my head and not enough sense to follow somebody else's recipe, I made chicken fingers on the final Thursday evening of May. The weather had turned nice and I was in a picnic mindset, maybe, but I dipped and breaded and fried thin slices of chicken breast and also whipped up a quick batch of cabbage slaw to go with it. I also made both a honey-mustard sauce and a fast-food-style barbecue-enhanced version of the same. The dipping sauces were on point, the breading was not as pronounced as I'd hoped on the chicken, and the slaw was a faithful side ride.

Sumner took up his favorite spot beneath our guest's feet, as he is sweetly contented to do.

But his preference earlier in the day was to splay out on the driveway in order to soak up as much as he could of the welcome sunshine on a dazzling late spring day.

And that morning's appearance of the first daylily bloom at the back door seemed earlier than past years. But no less lovely!

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"5 Minute Honey Mustard Sauce," by Lindsay of PinchofYum.com. [Published 22 July 2015]

Meal No. 4115: Grilled Chicken & Bacon Spicy Ranch Sandwiches

When Amy was here for her final-Wednesday-of-May hang-time last week, I braved the suppertime sprinkles to grill seasoned chicken breasts, topped with Swiss cheese. I tossed thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon into the oven and finished it with my handy chile rub. I pulled some saved spicy ranch dressing from the fridge and some brioche buns from the cabinet. We made our respective chicken-bacon-spicy-ranch sandwiches to our liking that evening and were filled to satisfaction.

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Based loosely on "Chicken Bacon Ranch Baked Subs," from Brandi Skibinski of The Country Cook. [Published 09 March 2025]

"Spicy Ranch Dressing," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 09 March 2021]

"Chile-Rubbed Bacon," by Rick Martinez. In "D.I.Y. B.L.T. O.M.G.: Bake Better Bacon (Upgrade Idea No. 1)," Bon Appétit, July 2016, p. 44.

Meal No. 4114: Seasoned Chicken Breasts on Salads

Unpleasant weigh-ins at the end of May caused small bursts of restraint to govern some kitchen activity. On the final Tuesday of the month, that led to seasoned sous vide chicken breasts to go atop salad, with a choice either of homemade creamy Caesar dressing or homemade white balsamic dressing. Both of those options were nearing the end of their shelf lives but they were still good for supper that night.

Sumner & Scarlett Get Down with Homemade Dog Food

The Harris Teeter at which I regularly shop had an oversupply of boneless skinless chicken breasts on Memorial Day and they were marked down to 0.98 a pound. Not only was that perfect for dinner Monday a week ago, but it proved to be a bonus for the house pooches. Brown rice, carrots, butternut squash, and green beans all went into the slow cooker with three breasts on top, which meant their breakfast Tuesday a week ago (and several succeeding meals) was a glorious feast voraciously consumed by two really happy pups.

Perhaps being so very satisfied is also why they looked so wiped out mid-day in the south parlour?

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Based on "DIY Homemade Dog Food," by Chungah Rhee of the Damn Delicious blog. [Published 27 April 2015 /Updated 19 September 2025]

Based on "Easy Crockpot Dog Food," by Chungah Rhee of the Damn Delicious blog. [Published 13 May 2015 / Updated 08 July 2024]

Meal No. 4113: Chicken Souvlaki on Homemade Flatbread

I'm kind of proud of the dinner served up on Memorial Day last week: grilled chicken souvlaki skewers on homemade flatbread with homemade tzatziki. The marinade for the chicken was so very spot on, and then those morsels grilled perfectly on the Weber. The tzatziki was really excellent, too, just the right garlic kick and plenty of amalgamated deliciousness with the rest of the ingredients.

But boy howdy: that flatbread! Tasty on its own but elevated by the melted ghee that sizzled in the griddle, this second recorded attempt at these Mediterranean specialties proved to be more than worthy of our platters that night.

Mind you: they are not hard to make but it is an involved process and consumes more time than I was planning for. I'm pretty sure when I make them again, I should break out the Blackstone griddle.

Between rolling them out individually, brushing them with melted ghee, but then doing five minutes per side in a single skillet...let's just say dinner was about 45 minutes late.

But let's contrast late with early, because in the quiet of that evening, as I ventured out for a sit on the driveway, I also got to hear the first cicada of the season. He sounded mighty lonely, with no answering replies that I could hear, but I guess somebody's got to be the first to emerge at the call of coming summer.

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"Greek Chicken Souvlaki Recipe with Tzatziki" [Published 11 June 2018 / Updated 16 October 2020] and "Authentic (Easy) Tzatziki Sauce" [Published 03 June 2016 / Updated 27 September 2023] from Suzy Karedsheh of The Mediterranean Dish.

"Layered Yogurt Flatbreads," from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. [Published 30 April 2020]

Meal No. 4112: Creamy Chicken Marsala

A long overdue evening with Amy and Gern occurred on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, and we sat right down to a dinner of delicious creamy chicken marsala over spaghetti. Roasted herbed whole green beans gave us something green on the scene and I was happy that Gern returned for seconds. I managed to overcook a few of the pieces of chicken in the hot skillet but the sauce and sautéed mushrooms were a reasonable compensation for my shortcomings.

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Based on "Chicken Marsala with Gorgonzola," by Jill Anderson (Sleepy Eye, MN). In Taste of Home, February/March 2012, p. 34-35.

Copycat J. Alexander's Carrot Cake

When UNC buddy Chris was here for an evening visit on Saturday a week ago, dessert was included to help make the reunion complete. On that occasion, I tackled the sheetcake version of carrot cake that's proven to be pretty exceptional: a copycat of J. Alexander's. I've made this several times now and it almost always gets rave reviews. Its sugar content certainly does not hurt its popularity but overall it's also a really delicious, warmly-spiced, fluffy and moist concoction. And cream cheese frosting never hurts, eh?

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Based on "Copycat J. Alexander's Carrot Cake," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Updated 19 April 2019 / 20 April 2026]

Meal No. 4111: 2 x 2 Soup in Bread Bowls

With the return of Chris (a UNC chum and fellow Argonaut of the Order of the Golden Fleece) back on September 23rd, the occasion fell alongside a fall-like rainy spell with temps no higher than the upper 50s. Soup was a natural fit for that nasty weather, and I thought Chris might like to shake it up a bit with something served in a bread bowl. I went with 2 x 2 soup, so named because its ingredient list dwells mostly in two-fers: 2 pounds of ground beef, 2 cans of minestrone, 2 cans of Rotel, and 2 cans of kidney beans. The outlier is the 1 pound of Velveeta that gets mixed in at the end of the cooking time until it melts into a creamy cheesy smoothness before ladling into the waiting bread bowls. We enjoyed ourselves while we enjoyed this dinner.

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"2 x 2 Soup," from various sources.

Soup Bread Bowls from "My Mother's Peasant Bread," by Alexandra Stafford of AlexandraCooks.com. [07 November 2012 / Updated 11 February 2026]