Cheese

Like Mama’s goulash, this easy, meaty baked spaghetti is based on ground beef. We add olives, Alfredo sauce, and bacon to give it loads of flavor. This is one of those dishes that folks line up for at a church dinner or school fund-raiser. It’s not much more complicated than following the instructions on the back of the Hamburger Helper box—but it’s a whole lot more satisfying. Serve it with a tasty and hearty green salad like our Crisp Romaine and Tomato Salad (page 115).

When we think of spaghetti and meatballs, we think of someone’s Italian grandma in the kitchen all day. But we love this childhood favorite too much to wait for it, so we just had to make our own, weeknight version. Add Cheesy Garlic Bread (page 102), and you just can’t get a tastier meal in less time.

You can order yourself a grilled chicken Caesar anywhere. But we figured we could jazz up that combo a little while still keeping it fairly healthful if we swapped in tender slices of grilled pork instead. The smoky, juicy pork and crunchy, tangy salad is a uniquely delicious pairing, if we do say so ourselves. We love to serve it with our Grilled Cheesy Olive Bread (page 90), but then again, we love just about anything with that bread!

We first wrapped our faces around some authentic cheesesteaks and hoagies when we were shooting an episode of our Food Network show, Road Tasted, at Campo’s Deli in Philadelphia. Once we got a taste for Yankee-style sub sandwiches, there was no going back. Grilled onions, peppers, and meat plus melted cheese all piled onto a nice big roll—you can’t improve on that! Now you don’t need to be in Philly to savor this supreme sandwich experience.

If you’ve ever had Frito pie down South, then you know where we’re coming from here. This creamy turkey casserole, topped with a crispy layer of melted cheese and crushed corn chips, is the kind of thing that can make grown men cry on Super Bowl Sunday. Bobby loves to serve this with a side of crunchy, garlicky broccoli.

We try to eat a healthy, balanced diet, but you know Paula Deen’s boys have a taste for rich, creamy sauces. One of our favorite foods in a jar is Alfredo sauce, and it’s the perfect base for the world’s fastest chicken and pasta casserole. We throw in peas for a little green color, and add a nice tomato salad to get our veggies in.

Southern cooks love to serve Swiss steak—a dish made with a tougher cut of beef that’s been pounded and braised with enough red sauce that it becomes so tender you can eat it without a knife. And that’s where the idea for this dish came from—pork chops cooked in marinara sauce and topped with cheese. We like to serve the chops with a bowl of egg noodles tossed with butter and chopped fresh parsley or with our Garlic Mashed Potatoes (page 21)—anything to soak up some of the delicious sauce.

We hadn’t had Mama’s pork chops and rice bake in years when Bobby—who is on a pork chop kick—decided it was worth reviving. We brown the chops like Mama taught us, to give them a really rich flavor and seal in the juices. Then we smother them in cheese, which is our own addition to Mama’s classic recipe, and bake them with cream of chicken soup and rice for one of the most luscious one-pot suppers ever. We make a version of this at The Lady & Sons, where it’s a real crowd-pleaser.

There’s just something about layers of ground beef, salsa, tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheddar cheese that appeals to the soul—at least when your mama has been making seven-layer salads and dips for as long as you can remember. Mexican flavors are particularly popular for parties—Brooke is definitely a big fan of them—but this dish is quick enough to fix for a fun weeknight fiesta, too. You can use up the broken bottom-of-the-bag tortilla chips for this meal, and you don’t need a side dish other than a little guacamole for dipping the extra chips in.

We get hungry just looking at the recipe for this biscuit-topped casserole! Made with some of our favorite foods out there—ground beef, pickles, ketchup, and cheese—this casserole is a fast way to make a big family-style meal that everyone will definitely love, especially the kids.

Pimiento cheese is the bright orange spread that Southerners are crazy for because it’s comforting and delicious and traditional. It’s most often served as a dip or spread, but it’s also good in a sandwich all by itself or as a topping on burgers. I like to make up a big batch for family gatherings and barbecues, and if I have some left over, I’ll eat it in a sandwich the next day. I’m going to give you a big recipe, too, so you can do the same.

When my brothers and I were cooking and working at my father’s barbecue restaurant, we had barbecue baked potatoes on the menu and they were popular as hell. I ate them for lunch all the time, and to this day I make them whenever I have leftover pulled pork.

If you ever find yourself wondering what to do with that last pound of barbecue, I’ve got a solution for you: nachos. This is the best damn appetizer in the world, especially good for things like Super Bowl parties and poker games. You can make your own salsa, of course, but I usually just use whichever brand I happen to have in the fridge.

Cold fruit salads like this one are an old-fashioned piece of Americana. You can find recipes for stuffed canned peaches and pears and other so-called salads like this one in historic Southern cookbooks and of course in classics like the Joy of Cooking and The Settlement Cookbook. You don’t see them much around anymore, which is a shame because this salad is cool and refreshing—a great thing to serve for a summer lunch or as a first course for a dinner party. It may seem weird nowadays to serve canned pears with mayo, but would I waste my time with something that wasn’t good as hell? I didn’t think so.

There’s no better side dish for a barbecue on a hot summer’s day than this layered salad, which is sweet and salty all at once. If you like Hawaiian pizza, with bacon and pineapple on it, this salad is for you.

In 2004, I won a big burger-cooking contest in Whistler, British Columbia, against a bunch of other professional barbecue cooks. “You were shooting to do America’s favorite burger better than it’s ever been done before, and you definitely pulled it off.” That’s what Paul Street, the director of food and beverage at Whistler Blackcomb, declared when I was named the champion. Part of winning the competition was the honor of your burger appearing on their menu for a year; my burger’s been on the menu ever since that day. My secret is to smoke the burger first, then sear it in a bit of butter afterward to seal in the moisture, create a crust, and add an extra layer of flavor and richness. I just wanted to come up with the best damn burger I could—one that was meaty and juicy and also infused with great smoky flavor. Now cooking burgers in a smoker is a must for me because I love it when the meat is kissed with smoke; if you’ve never tried it this way, you ought to. That said, you can do the first step in the oven on those days you don’t want to fire up a smoker or grill—it will still be delicious, don’t you worry. I like generously portioned burgers, and these are half-pounders. Feel free to make them smaller if you like.

No, this dish was not inspired by my father, Jack. It gets its name from the pepper jack cheese that you use to stuff the bologna. Many Memphis in May competition teams cook this dish at the annual World Championship and snack on it during the weeklong celebration.

“Tian” is a Provençal word for a shallow pottery dish, and there are almost as many tians as there are vegetables. The common ingredient is usually cooked rice enlivened with a green vegetable, aromatic seasonings, and cheese. To make it for one, use a shallow, single portion baking dish.