Crazy Croat's Recipes and Cheffy Tips

10/29/2026

Crazy Croat's Cheffy Tip #96: Use much more laurel or bay leaves than a recipe states if the leaves are dried.

Friends,

I have learned that a culinary study has determined that dried laurel leaves, or bay leaves, have VERY little flavour compared to fresh laurel. This is exactly opposite to dried herbs and spices, which is quite a revelation.

So, I now use FIVE TIMES the amount of laurel or bay leaves in my recipes. The result? The recipes come out MUCH better with a proper pronounced flabour of laurel (or bay).

Today I made a batch of pickled eggs and I used about 6 or 7 leaves in the brine, packing about 4 of them into the jar as I filled it.

So...

Quadruple or quintuple the amount of laurel you use in your sauces and brines. You'll find a vast improvement every time.

10/12/2026

Crazy Croat's Cheffy Tip #62

If you're roasting carrots and/or cauliflower, you will have to put some oil on the vegetables.

So:

1. use a bowl for each vegetable,
2. put all your cut pieces in the bowl(s),
3. add your spices (in my case, the spices are garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper),
4. toss the vegetables, first one way, then 90 degrees to that and toss again. Repeat until the vegetables look evenly coated in oil and spices, and,
5. let the vegetables marinate for at least an hour to soak up that deliciousness (THIS IS IMPORTANT. It makes a difference, trust me)!

Proceed with roasting your vegetables in a 375-400F oven on an oiled sheet covered in foil (saves your pans and makes for easy clean-up) for about 40 minutes or until tender.

The picture shows my carrots and cauliflower pieces marinating after being sufficiently tossed. I cut my carrots on the bias.

09/19/2026

Same goes for limes...

09/07/2026

Crazy Croat's Cheffy Tip #34:

Love boiled eggs? Planning on puckling eggs or making egg salad?

I've been preaching this for the last several years...

09/05/2026

When making Indian curries and chilies, use whole seeds and spices and toast them. Then, use a mortar and pestle to grind the blend. This method assures you that the oils in the spices will be retained. Below are pictures of my chana masala.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons coriander seeds
6 teaspoons cumin seeds
12 to 16 whole dried red chilies
12 whole green cardamom pods
2, 3-inch cinnamon sticks (broken into pieces)
20 whole cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
6 teaspoons amchur powder (dried mango powder) OR use lime juice in the curry or chili.
1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Method:

Place all seed and pepercorns into a skillet warmed to med-low.

Toast the seeds stirring frequently for 2 - 3 minutes until fragrant.

Remove from skillet and place on plate to fully cool.

Place the red chillies in the pan. Toast the red chillies for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove red chillies from pan and let cool completely.

Using a mortar and pestle, grind the mixture until you reach the texture you want. I tend to like a slightly medium grind rather than a powder, maintaining some of the oils. You can use a blade spice grinder, but then you will be removing all those fragrant and pungent oils and reducing everything to a powder. Plus, the heat from the blades can strip the more delicate notes of the spices.

Add the turmeric to your ground spice blend and stir thoroughly.

Chana masala can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month.

08/20/2026

When preparing hard-boiled or jammy eggs, I do NOT boil them.

I steam them.

I know that many cooks state that this doesn't make any difference. To that I say: 1. The eggs aren't jostling against each other, so they don't crack, 2. Steam is a consistent temperature, so cooking is even, and 3. You can use an ice bath or a cold water bath because either will result in the shells peeling properly IF you gently roll the egg on the counter.

This method is fool-proof. Truly.

All kudos to Alton Brown.

Alton Brown explains a foolproof way to hard-cook (not boil) eggs. ...

08/15/2026

Garlic-Shrimp Spaghetti! EASY recipe! I will post soon.

08/15/2026

Crazy Croat's Cheffy Tip #73:

When making a sauce or soup, a mire-poix offers a great base.

Mire-poix is a combo of three vegetables: onion, celery and carrots.

The trick is FINELY-DICING the carrot and celery. While a regular dice for the onion will suffice, finely-dicing the carrots and celery allows those vegetables to soften, even melt into the sauce.

Finely-dice means 1/10" maximum, meaning under 1/8".

You'll need a good sharp knife to achieve this cut.

I cook my mire-poix in a cast iron skillet. The onion, seasoned with salt, cooks for at least 30 minutes on low first, achieving some caramelization. Then I add my finely-diced celery and carrot. I continue to cook the mire-poix on the lowest setting for at least 40 minutes, achieving a beautiful flavour base.

So, use a mire-poix when making a tomato pasta sauce, a soup or a cream sauce. Have fun!

08/13/2026

Apple Peppers are different from Sweet Bell Peppers in shape, size and flavour profile.
Apple Peppers are about 4" in diameter max and have a round shape like an apple, while Sweet Bell Peppers are somewhat square and larger. While Sweet Green Peppers are slightly bitter and Red Bell Peppers are sweeter (and the yellow and orange shades between green and red), Apple Peppers are even sweeter than Red Bell Peppers. The hot variety of Apple Peppers offer a citrusy heat (Wow! That'd be fun to work with!)

Apple Peppers have darker seeds too.

So, try Apple Peppers if you can find them. [Or grow them yourself]

08/12/2026

Crazy Croat's Cheffy Tip #23: adding acidity with lemon.

Lemons are fairly inexpensive but add so much depth to a dish. There's practically no main dish that doesn't require some acidity.

Example: sonething as mundane and un-gourmet (is that a word?) as chicken noodle soup benefits from a wedge of lemon sq**rted into it. In fact, any chicken soup benefits from a sq**rt of lemon.

Fish, obviously, loves lemon.

Weiner Schnitzel, famously, benefits from a sq**rt of lemon.

So, ALWAYS have lemons on hand. It doesn't matter what cuisine you're attempting, lemons help. Italian, Greek, Hungarian, German, Spanish, English (yes, that's a cuisine, don't slam the English), Swedish, Russian, Chinese... name the cuisine. Lemons help. Just a wedge of lemon sq**rt brightens a dish.