Kitchen Notes

The stuff between the recipes — technique, pantry, and what I've learned filming all this.

July 30, 2026 Four Wings, One Kitchen: Fried, Air-Fried, Smothered, Stuffed Four completely different wing builds from the same kitchen — Flamin' Hot Cheetos wings, Southern smothered wings, hot honey mac-and-cheese stuffed wings, and air fryer honey glazed wings. Here's what each one actually does differently.

July 27, 2026 One Pound of Shaved Steak, Three Different Dinners One cut of grocery-store shaved steak, three different builds — a one-pot cheesesteak tortellini, cheesesteak spring rolls, and a chop-cheese egg roll spin-off. Here's what changes and what doesn't.

July 24, 2026 The Dish That Built This Channel: Smothered Chicken and Rice The 551,000-view Short that put this channel on the map — the exact browning, roux, and 30-35 minute simmer behind the recipe people keep asking me to re-shoot.

July 21, 2026 What I Cook Everything In The two pans in nearly every SelfMadeCook video: my cast-iron skillet, my Dutch oven, and what I'd buy first, plus the care habits I actually use.

July 20, 2026 The $2 Kitchen MVP: Fried Cabbage, the Southern Way One cheap head of cabbage, a stick of butter, and the brown-and-bring-back trick that turns produce-aisle change into a full skillet dinner.

July 17, 2026 The Roux, Without Fear A calm walkthrough of the gumbo roux: the heat, the stirring, the color to wait for, when to kill the flame, and how to keep it from breaking.

July 16, 2026 Why I Make Marry Me Chicken with Skin-On Thighs My marry me chicken uses skin-on thighs, not breasts — the seasoning paste, the sear, and the sauce that made it worth the name.

July 13, 2026 Sweet Heat, Southern Style: How I Build a Swicy Sauce The sweet-and-spicy Cajun honey glaze I build on the stove and in the air fryer — the exact ratio, the timing, and the mistakes that break it.

July 6, 2026 My Cajun Pantry: The Seasonings in Half These Recipes The Cajun seasoning, trinity, garlic, oils, and pantry staples I reach for on camera again and again — what each one does and where it shows up.

July 5, 2026 How I Actually Run a One-Pot Weeknight Rotation The real system behind my one-pot weeknight dinners: which dishes I rotate, the brown-and-bring-back move, my prep habits, and fixes I learned on camera.

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