A Guy’s Guide to Cooking: Start with a chicken

Starving musicians often sing for their supper, so the best way to get them to come over for a pickin’ party is to feed them.
                                                     

Our little band, Texas Switchgrass, had a date in a recording studio, and I got everybody to show up to practice by serving home-cooked meals for the boys. I’d make a salad, a simple chicken dish, mashed potatoes from scratch and steamed broccoli. They’d all show up. Such is the power of good friends, good music and good food.

A couple of them skipped the broccoli.

“Cooking doesn’t have to be hard, it can really be quite simple,” says Daniel Pittman, the executive chef at LUCK in Trinity Groves, West Dallas. “If you get overwhelmed, it’s not going to be any fun.”

Apparently, I’m not the only single man in Dallas who is learning how to cook, but I might be the oldest. Hipsters and millennials are cooking, too.

“Absolutely,” Pittman says. “I think younger people today are looking to enjoy local things, the better things in life. They want good coffee, good beer, good food. I think the males want to impress the young ladies, so they become foodies.” Bingo.

Pittman got his culinary training at El Centro College in Dallas and worked at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas for 10 years before he and two partners opened LUCK. The restaurant features 40 locally brewed craft beers on tap.

“Our target audience would probably be craft-beer enthusiasts,” Pittman says, “people who like simple comfort food and people who are into things local.”

Working in the tiny kitchen at LUCK, he shows me how to make the most of a roast chicken.

“Simple roasting: You put it in the oven. You take it out when it’s done,” he says. “I oven-roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts and butternut squash all at the same time, right next to the chicken.”

Single Man Cooking: Anybody can make this dinner for two

I didn’t want to be that guy, the one who opens up the refrigerator and sees nothing but a pizza box and a few beers. I wanted to cook for myself, minimize fast food and go out to fewer restaurants.

                                                         

My goals were simple: Eat fresh, healthy food, cut costs, and entertain my friends and family.

It all started during the Great Recession. Now not only has my cooking improved, I’ve also been able to maintain normal weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Socially, I’ve found that a single man cooking turns an evening into an adventure. I like to add Miles Davis to kick up the flavor profiles.

My editor suggested I get some tips on cooking for company from real chefs. I started with Richard Chamberlain, who has been a top Dallas chef for more than 20 years.

“It’s really a great idea, and it comes down to simple techniques,” says Chamberlain, owner of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House in Dallas and Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill in Addison.

In his home kitchen, he shows me how to cook an amazing meal for two for less than $30. The menu includes a bottle of pinot grigio and a simple ice cream pie, and there are leftovers.

“Food is about sharing, and sharing is what life’s about,” Chamberlain says, “whether it’s somebody showing me how to shoot a basketball better or me showing somebody how to make a vinaigrette real fast and real flavorful.”