We've been watching Big Daddy's House, the show by Next Food Network Star Aaron McCargo, and I find it a lot of fun. It's been nice to see him grow more comfortable in front of the camera. He's had three guest stars from NFNS: Shane, Kelsey, and Adam (who now has his own show, Will Work for Food). Adam was the best guest, feeding Aaron questions like "What kind of bread are you using?" and "Why do you add salt to a sweet dessert?" Makes sense, since that's a lot of what he does on his own show. We've been wondering if Lisa "Ensign Ro" Garza will make an appearance on Big Daddy's House. It seems like he ought to have her on, since all the other finalists have, but I can't really imagine her on his show.
We finally made a couple of his recipes: Inside Out Burgers and Broccoli Casserole. The burgers were terrific, maybe too much food though. Next time we'll make them a little smaller. Also the recipe called for cubed cheese and I think it would have been better grated. McCargo's recipes use lots of cheese and he never grates it.
The broccoli casserole was better the second day, I guess reheating cooked it better. We made a few changes: panko bread crumbs instead of crushed Ritz crackers, and we substituted monterey jack and port salut (a soft cheese at Whole Foods which isn't too expensive) for Velveeta and camembert. The only real problem wasn't the recipe's fault: I had tried to cut the recipe in half and ended up with way too many bread crumbs. Next time (yes, I would make it again) fewer bread crumbs, and a shallow pan so there broccoli to bread crumb ratio is better.
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