American cooking

Sauces and Dips

Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess was invented at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1923. The formula: mayonnaise, a serious amount of fresh herbs, tarragon, garlic, anchovy for depth, and lemon to hold it all together. The result is vivid green, herb-forward, and complex in a way no bottled version gets close to. Doubles as a dip, a sandwich spread, and a sauce for grilled fish or chicken. Makes in 10 minutes.

10 min120 kcal8 serves

🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

🇺🇸USAEasy

Appetizers and Sandwiches

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The perfect grilled cheese — golden, shatteringly crispy bread encasing a molten blend of three cheeses. The trick is low heat, patience, and finishing with a knob of butter for an irresistible golden crust.

15 min450 kcal2 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free🌶️Spicy

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Grilled Corn with Herb Compound Butter

Grilled corn on the cob is the defining side dish of the American summer barbecue — requiring almost no preparation, producing spectacular results, and improving everything eaten alongside it with a hit of smoke and sweetness. When corn is grilled directly on hot grates without the husk, the natural sugars caramelize against the hot metal, producing the characteristic charred, lightly sweet flavor that boiling or steaming cannot replicate. A herb compound butter — softened butter blended with fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon zest — is made ahead, rolled into a log, and sliced into rounds that melt over the hot corn the moment it comes off the grill. This recipe also includes a Mexican elote variation: the classic Mexico City street corn treatment of mayonnaise, cotija cheese, chili powder, and lime that transforms the same grilled cob into something entirely different.

35 min280 kcal4 serves

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Grilled Salmon

Grilled salmon with honey, soy sauce and garlic marinade. The marinade gives the salmon a rich flavor, and the grill creates a delicious crust while keeping the fish juicy.

65 min325 kcal4 serves

💪High protein

★4.4

💪High protein🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Grilled Shrimp

Jumbo shrimp marinated in garlic, lemon, smoked paprika and olive oil, then grilled fast over high heat. Ready in 30 minutes, works as a main or an appetizer.

30 min220 kcal4 serves

★4.7

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein

Meat Dishes

Grilled Steak (Reverse Sear Method)

The reverse sear is the definitive method for cooking a thick steak to perfect, uniform doneness with an aggressively crusted exterior — and it produces reliably superior results to every traditional technique. The principle is the inversion of conventional wisdom: instead of searing first and finishing low, you cook the steak slowly at 120°C (250°F) until the interior reaches 10°C below your target temperature, then sear it over maximum heat for 60 to 90 seconds per side. Because the interior is already at the correct temperature, the high-heat sear builds the Maillard crust without creating the gray, overcooked band that plagues traditional searing. The result is a steak that is uniformly pink from edge to edge with a dark, shatteringly crisp crust. A meat thermometer is not optional — it is the entire technique.

90 min650 kcal2 serves

🌱Vegan🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Grilled Vegetable Platter

A grilled vegetable platter is the most underrated item at any barbecue — and the most versatile. Where meat requires precise temperature control and resting times, vegetables are forgiving: they tell you when they are done by releasing from the grates, and they improve with a few minutes of rest, during which the heat equalises and the marinade or dressing soaks in. The technique is the same across all vegetables: oil them generously (oil on the vegetable, not just the grate), grill on medium-high direct heat for the time each vegetable needs, and dress them hot — a vinaigrette applied to hot vegetables is absorbed rather than sitting on the surface. The key to a beautiful platter is timing: eggplant and peppers need the most time; zucchini and asparagus need the least. The trick is to work in sequence, pulling each vegetable as it finishes, and to arrange everything on one platter together so the final dish is warm and accessible.

40 min185 kcal6 serves

★4.4

💪High protein🌾Gluten-free

Meat Dishes

Ground Beef and Potato Skillet

Ground beef and potatoes in one pan, done in 35 minutes. No advance prep, no separate boiling. The beef goes in first and builds a fond on the bottom of the pan; the potatoes cook in that flavoured fat with a splash of broth and a lid on top. It's the kind of meal that doesn't ask much of you on a weeknight.

35 min430 kcal4 serves

★4.6

⚡Quick💪High protein🌾Gluten-free

Meat Dishes

Ground Turkey Taco Bowls

Lean ground turkey seasoned with homemade taco spices, served over cilantro-lime rice with black beans, corn, salsa and avocado. Around 40g of protein per bowl — the standard for high-protein meal prep that actually tastes like dinner.

30 min420 kcal4 serves

Soups

Gumbo

A rich Creole-style Louisiana gumbo with a dark roux, chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp, okra, and the holy trinity of onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Served over rice, it is deep, smoky, and comforting.

110 min520 kcal6 serves

🌶️Spicy

⚡Quick💪High protein🌾Gluten-free

🇺🇸USAEasy

Meat Dishes

Hamburger Patties

80/20 ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper and Worcestershire, cooked two ways: as a thick classic patty with a thumb-print dimple to stay flat, or as a smash burger pressed thin on screaming-hot cast iron for maximum crust. Both from the same ingredients.

20 min380 kcal4 serves