Great Foods for The Upcoming Winter Season

By Julien Garcia

Food is an integral part of human culture, society, and health. As a person that loves to cook and is also 6’2”, a feminist, and is also great with kids, I look forward to the Holiday season, even the abysmal holiday that is Thanksgiving. Food is a big part of making the holiday season feel so warm.

Me being one of the greatest chefs, on par with Carmy from “The Bear 2022–present,” it is my duty to share great foods for this holiday season.

Semi-Appetiser (Mac)

     A dish so delicious that even lactose intolerant people love it: Mac and Cheese is a dish that evokes nothing but happiness when eating it. Here’s how to cook it:

  1. Get a large pot and fill it with water about more than half, set to boil and reduce to med-low.
  2. Shred cheese: Gruyere, Colby Jack, Parmesan or Cheddar cheese.
  1. Add cheese slowly and season.
  2. Add milk or heavy cream .
  3. Then, place in a buttered glass dish and bake it.

Light work–no reaction. This is a staple dish that no one can hate and is fairly easy to cook.

Entree (Chicken & Gravy) 

     Chicken and Gravy for me is a match made in Heaven, along with peanut butter and jelly or the Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Mcguire and New York style Pizza. The connection between two things is a beautiful sight—one thing coming together with another just for the sake of it.

      As with all great relationships, Chicken is there to support gravy and brings it to a whole new level. Now, when I say Chicken, I do not mean your average rotisserie chicken—I mean fried chicken. Thanksgiving was created during the Civil War, so they didn’t have the technology to make fried chicken and had to settle for the mediocrity that is rotisserie chicken. I promise Abraham Lincoln would have loved fried chicken. If Santa Claus is drinking Coca-Cola, I know that jolly old man loves his chicken fried from an easy oven, as well. Now, this recipe is pretty hard to cook correctly, so here’s what you wanna do: 

  1. Brine your chicken the prior night and put it in the fridge. You can do this two ways: leave it in water with bay leaves, pepper, or salt, or you can  do a dry brine with all your seasoning like Salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, Cayenne peppers or whatever you use (just, please, do not use only salt and pepper).
  2. The next day, you want to get your chicken, you want to put your plain flour, whisked eggs, and flour with your seasonings in separate bowls and run the chicken through them in that order 2 or maybe 3 times (until fully coated).
  3. Get a big pot or skillet with a lot of vegetable oil in it, crank the heat up to med-high or high and set your chicken in there. Flip them when necessary, and fry them until golden brown—not black.
  4. While frying, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and when ready throw the chicken in there (keep an eye on chicken) until fully cooked.

For the gravy-roux:

  1. Mix flour and butter and move that around in a low heat pan, whisk and cook it.

     This is bound to have your uncle twistin ‘and turnin’, so much so it’ll look like a scene from the exorcist (in a good way because the chicken is very flavorful and tasty). 

Dessert (Peppermint Brownies)

     Now, although I am a world class chef, I do not bake, and I don’t know that many recipes besides chocolate chip cookies. Don’t get it twisted—if I baked it would be amazing. But I don’t bake(that’s why I stole one like Plankton from Spongebob).

Here’s how to make peppermint brownies, according to Food and Wine:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9- x 13-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
  2. In a heatproof bowl, combine two-thirds of the chopped chocolate with the 2 sticks of butter. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir until melted. Scrape the chocolate into another bowl and let cool slightly. Add the remaining chopped chocolate and the peppermint extract to the heatproof bowl and melt over the simmering water.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the brown sugar until combined. Whisk in the chocolate-butter mixture until glossy and thick. Sprinkle the flour and salt into the bowl and stir until just incorporated. Spread the brownie batter in the prepared baking pan. Dollop the peppermint chocolate onto the brownie batter and swirl in with a table knife.
  4. Bake the brownies in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the edges are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let the brownies cool in the pan.

After that, you should be good and ready to cut them into squares!

 These three recipes are bound to make your winter season great, unless you watch the abysmal film that is Borderlands as a holiday movie.

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