Chef's Notes

Cooking Tips, Techniques & Recipes

From the Back Burner

Tips, techniques, and recipes from The One Clog Cookbook series — plus the thinking behind the menu planner.


By Brian W. Bonanno

Technique

Technique

Mise en Place — Set Yourself Up Before You Start

The most important thing you do in the kitchen happens before you touch the stove. The professional habit that changes everything.

Read more

Technique

The Tasting Spoon — The Most Important Tool in Your Kitchen

Most home cooks taste twice. Professional kitchens never stop tasting. Salt, acid, and trusting your palate.

Read more

Technique

Food Safety for Home Cooks — What Actually Matters

Cross-contamination, why you should never wash chicken, safe temperature ranges, proper cooling, and the covering rule everyone gets wrong.

Read more

Technique

How to Roast Any Vegetable

The right temperature for every vegetable category, how to cut for even cooking, which pans to use, and the one rule that governs everything.

Read more

Technique

The Flavor Matrix — Make Any Dish Taste Like Where It Comes From

The building blocks of 8 international cuisines — aromatics, spices, herbs, fats, and garnishes. Italian, Japanese, Korean, Middle Eastern, Thai, French, Latin, and more.

Read more

Technique

Knife Skills for Home Cooks

The three knives you actually need, the pinch grip, the bear claw, honing vs. sharpening, and how to choose between German and Japanese styles.

Read more

Planning & Experience

Planning

How to Plan Your Week — The System Behind the Planner

Most people don't fail at cooking. They fail at planning. The Weeknight / Fun Night / Sunday framework — and how to use it.

Read more

Technique

A Guide to Seasonal Cooking

How to cook with the rhythm of the year — spring through winter, which ingredients belong to each season, and what to make when it's too hot to turn on the oven.

Read more

Experience

Why Music Belongs in the Kitchen — And at the Table

Great restaurants know music isn't background noise. It's part of the meal. Plus the curated playlists for both volumes.

Read more

From the Books — Sample Recipes

Recipe · Vol. I · Korean

Korean BBQ Short Ribs (Galbi)

Flanken-cut ribs marinated overnight in soy, Asian pear, sesame, and ginger — grilled until caramelized. The marinade does most of the work.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. I · Japanese

Miso Glazed Salmon

White miso, mirin, and sesame oil glaze broiled until caramelized. Steamed jasmine rice, stir-fried bok choy. Twenty-five minutes on a Tuesday.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Italian

Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi with Crispy Guanciale

Pillowy homemade gnocchi in the three-ingredient Roman sauce — Pecorino, Parmigiano, cracked pepper — topped with crispy guanciale. Worth every minute.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Italian-American

Chicken Parmigiana — Done Right

Properly pounded, panko-Parmigiano crust, pan-fried golden, finished under San Marzano sauce and fresh mozzarella. The version that gets it right.

Get the recipe

More Recipes

Recipe · Vol. I · Middle Eastern

One-Pan Chicken Shawarma

Big, bold flavors. One pan. Forty minutes. The kind of Tuesday dinner you'll actually look forward to — with garlic toum that changes everything.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Italian-American

Mezze Rigatoni with Spicy Pork Ragù

A weeknight ragù that tastes like it's been going all day. Fennel seed, Calabrian chili, San Marzanos. Bold, fast, built to impress.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Roman

Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Guanciale, San Marzanos, Pecorino. The Roman pasta that breaks more home cooks than any other — and the one trick that fixes it.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. I · Korean

Korean Beef Bulgogi

Thinly sliced ribeye in a soy and grated-pear marinade. Pan-seared in two minutes. The trick is the pear — and you only need half of one.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Italian-American

Vodka Rigatoni with Nduja & Burrata

The vodka sauce upgrade you've been seeing everywhere. Nduja melts into the sauce like spicy butter. Burrata finishes it cold and creamy on top.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Northern Italian · Sunday Project

Sunday Project Osso Buco with Gremolata

Veal shanks, white wine, San Marzanos, three hours in the oven. The bright gremolata at the end is what turns a heavy braise into something elegant.

Get the recipe

Recipe · Vol. II · Roman

Midnight Cacio e Pepe

Pasta. Pecorino. Pepper. The most disciplined three-ingredient pasta in the world. Cream is a tell — pasta water and technique are the answer.

Get the recipe

From the Back Burner

Chef's Notes, in your inbox.

One short note a week from Brian — what I'm cooking, reading, and thinking about. No spam. No filler.

Subscribe to From the Back Burner → Unsubscribe anytime. Your email stays with me.

Get the Books

Every technique and recipe here comes from The One Clog Cookbook series. Both volumes available on Amazon and Gumroad.

Vol. I on Amazon Vol. II on Amazon
or get both for less Get the PDF Bundle — Both Volumes for $19.99 →