Kachur Family Recipes

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Introduction

I was blessed to grow up in a family that loved cooking and loved to teach cooking. This meant frequent meals together with us kids participating in the planning, preparation, and clean up. Both my parents have sharp culinary skills, as do many relatives, so it’s only natural that I would amass a library of favorite recipes.

This page presents some of my favorite recipes, all captured in one place, so I can easily reference them. I’ve included a little context about each recipe for those curious about the family traditions behind them, and I’ve tried to write them approachably for those trying something new. I hope they bring a little joy to your family table.

—Nicholas Kachur, 2026

Table of Contents

Breakfast

Start the day off right with something special.

Pancakes

The go to star that will make any breakfast delightful. You probably already have your favorite box mix—growing up we used Bisquick. Follow the instructions and you’re off to the races!

If you’re willing to spend just a few more minutes measuring out ingredients, scratch pancakes are a worthwhile elevation. Scratch recipes use almost entirely shelf-stable pantry ingredients, so it’s easy to keep them on hand and ready to go at a moment’s notice. I recommend this recipe from Smitten Kitchen as a place to start.

Tips and Tricks

If you don’t have buttermilk, there are a number of ways to make an approximation using other ingredients. My favorite such trick comes from J. Kenji López-Alt: mix equal parts regular milk and sour cream to make the desired amount of buttermilk substitute. Buttermilk itself keeps for about two weeks, so you may decide it’s okay to keep some on hand.

Go wild with the toppings! Macerate some sliced strawberries by sprinkling a tablespoon or two of sugar over them and letting them sit for a few minutes. Pick up a fancy jam or apple butter from the farmer’s market. Even spring for maple syrup—you’re worth it.

Yogurt Ideas

Plain Greek Yogurt is a wonderful thing. It’s a blank canvas upon which you can build a wide variety of healthy breakfasts. The pre-mixed single-serving containers have their place when you need convenience, but when you start with plain yogurt and build your own mixture, you can dial it in just right.

Personally, I don’t eat yogurt too often, so when I do, I spring for the richer, full-fat versions and skip the nonfat ones. It seems, science has determined that the fats in yogurt are healthier than we once thought, assuming you eat them in moderation.

Breakfast Yogurt Mix-in Ideas

For a more consistent texture, mix finer ingredients like syrups and sugar into the yogurt first before chunkier ingredients like granola.

Monster Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls are a breakfast food that I could usually only dream about. In my childhood, Mom started breaking out this recipe on truly special occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving break. They take a lot of effort, but they make for a magical morning.

This recipe is adapted from Diane Mott Davidson’s 1995 murder mystery, The Last Suppers. Mom was a big fan of her novels, which feature a single-mom caterer investigating murders on the side and frequently include significant recipes.

Thanks Diane Mott Davidson, I hope you don’t mind the reprint, this was such a lasting childhood memory that I had to include it.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Dough

Filling

Frosting

Peparation

Dough & Filling

  1. Heat the butter with the milk, ¾ cup of the sugar, and the salt in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, add the remaining teaspoon sugar, stir, and set aside for 10 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly.
  3. Add the lukewarm milk mixture and the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the flour a cup at a time, stirring and using enough flour to form a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and satiny, approximately 10 minutes. (Or place in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and knead with a dough hook until the dough cleans the side of the bowl, approximately 5 minutes.)
  4. Place the dough in a very large buttered bowl, turn to butter the top, and allow to rise, covered loosely with a kitchen towel, in a warm place until doubled in bulk, approximately 1 hour. Punch the dough down and roll out to a large rectangle, 24 inches by 36 inches.
  5. Beat together the brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon until well combined. Spread evenly over the surface of the dough. Roll up lengthwise and cut at 2-inch intervals to make 12 rolls.
  6. Divide the rolls between two buttered 9- by 13-inch glass baking dishes. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Alternately, refrigerate, covered overnight to bake the next morning. (They will rise in the fridge.)

Frosting & Assembly

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls for about 20 to 30 minutes, or about 40 minutes if they go into the oven from the fridge, until puffed and browned. Cool to room temperature on racks.
  2. Beat the cream cheese, cream, and vanilla until well combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth and soft, not stiff. Frost the rolls and serve immediately.
  3. Revel in a joyous morning!

Homemade Bagels

One day, Mom got the idea to make bagels from scratch.

It was a good day.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. In ½ cup of warm water, pour the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let sit for 5 minutes then stir until the yeast and sugar mixture all dissolves in the water.
  2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour the water-sugar-yeast into it. Pour another ¼ to ½ cup of warm water into the well and mix to create a firm yet moist dough, adding more water if needed.
  3. Knead the dough on a floured countertop or with the dough hook of a stand mixer for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
  4. Roll the dough into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. Punch down the dough and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
  5. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and shape each piece into a ball. Take each dough ball and press it gently against the work surface moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion, pulling the dough into itself while reducing pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball is formed.
  6. Coat a finger in flour and gently press it through the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the hole to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel, and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cover the dough rings with a damp cloth and allow to rest for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F.
  7. Bring a large pot of water to a light boil. Use a slotted spoon or spider strainer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as can fit loosely in the pot. After the bagels float to the top, boil them for a minute, flip, and boil them for another minute. If you like a chewier, New York style bagel, add another 2 minutes to the boiling time.
  8. If you want to top your bagels, do so as soon as you pull them out of the water using an egg wash to adhere the topping (e.g., one egg beaten with a few tablespoons of water brushed over the bagel).
  9. Once all the bagels are ready, carefully transfer them to an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes in the 425°F oven until golden brown.
  10. Cool on a wire rack, then enjoy!

Lunch & Dinner

I have fond memories of family dinner growing up with everything from homemade pierogis to your standard Kraft Mac & Cheese (served with ketchup because I was a monster). It was a piece of underappreciated magic that we spent so much time at the table together.

These recipes represent some of the best traditional favorites (the aforementioned pierogis) along with some of the new ones I’m developing (risotto). Mangia!

Fettuccine Alfredo

When Dad was a young man, he worked in various restaurants, including a classy Italian joint called Scordato’s. Even though he was a waiter there, he got in on the cooking action by preparing some dishes table-side, one of which was Fettuccine Alfredo.

Now, Fettuccine Alfredo is everything I love in a food: butter, cheese, and some kind of starch to deliver it to my mouth. It was always special when Dad would make Alfredo for us, and one day he decided it was time to pass it down to me.

The recipe is not complicated—it needed to be easily prepared table-side—but it does its job capably. Even as a high schooler, I was able to put it together, and it became my go-to dish for a while, whenever I needed something a little “fancy.” These days, I’m a little more restrained, but it’s still fun to bust out every now and then.

Tips and Tricks

For a dish as simple as this, quality ingredients make a big difference. You’ll certainly want quality grated cheese—the green canister is not a great choice here. Ideally, you’d get your cheese and pasta from a specialty store like Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Penn Mac) in Pittsburgh’s Strip District or Claudio’s in Philly’s Italian Market. However, you can find decent quality pasta and cheese in most grocery stores these days.

Alfredo doesn’t reheat all that well, but you can mix in a little cream or milk after microwaving it to spruce it up a little.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Fill a stockpot with water, salt the water thoroughly, and bring to a boil.
  2. If you are preparing any additional protein or vegetable to add to the pasta, cook that now, then keep it warm.
  3. Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s directions. Once cooked, reserve about a half-cup to a cup of the pasta water in a heatproof vessel. Drain the pasta and leave it in the colander. Add the butter to the stockpot over very low heat to melt it. Once melted, return the pasta to the pot and mix to combine.
  4. Add the cream and cheese a little at a time, keeping the heat on very low. Mix and taste in between additions. In the beginning, start by adding about a half cup of each at a time, then alternate adding cream and cheese until satisfied with the flavor and texture. It should be cheesy and full, but a little loose as the sauce will set slightly when removed from heat. You likely won’t need to use all the cream and cheese, and you can use some of the reserved pasta water to help the cheese emulsify into the sauce. Season with black pepper.
  5. If you are adding anything else to the pasta, do so now, and mix to combine.
  6. Make sure to turn the burner off, then serve to glorious adulation.

Goulash

Goulash is a traditional Hungarian stew made with beef and paprika that’ll stick to your ribs on a cold night. It does take a little planning to work around the long simmer time, but is well worth it, and doesn’t need too much attention during that period. Serve with Grandma K-style mashed potatoes and a hearty vegetable for a meal that will leave everyone satisfied.

Tips and Tricks

During the long simmer period, the stew has a tendency to burn to the bottom. You can prevent this by lowering the heat and stirring the pot occasionally. Try to keep the stew on a low heat just below the point at which you notice any substantial surface activity. It’s okay if some of the stew burns to the bottom, you’ll just have less to eat come dinnertime and a tough pot-cleaning job ahead of you.

Goulash reheats well, so if you don’t have time to cook for four hours right before dinnertime, you can make it ahead of time then reheat it in ten minutes or so over low heat on the stovetop (just don’t burn it!).

When choosing meat to use, many grocery stores offer a pre-cubed stewing beef that is completely serviceable. If you want to use a slightly more upscale beef, you could consider any of the following cuts that I found by just searching the web for suggestions:

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Dredge the beef chunks in flour seasoned with salt and pepper until lightly coated. Pro-tip: you can use a plastic zip bag and just shake everything together in it.
  2. Fry the chopped onions in a lightly oiled stock pot until translucent, then remove from the pot.
  3. Sear the beef in the stock pot, adding a little more oil if necessary. You may need to sear the beef in multiple batches.
  4. Combine the wine, broth, tomato paste, onions, and beef in the stock pot. Mix well. Season with the paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Remember, you can never remove seasonings once you’ve added them.
  5. Gently simmer on low to medium-low heat for 3 to 4 hours until beef is tender. Taste the liquid occasionally and carefully add more of the seasonings as desired.
  6. Serve to raucous applause, or chill and refrigerate to be reheated another time.

Chicken Paprikas

Chicken Paprikas (pronounced paprikash) is another traditional Hungarian dish, a delectable chicken in paprika-infused sauce. It was a go-to for Grandma Kachur, and I remember having it with her many delicious times.

Tips and Tricks

Paprika that is too old will smell and taste dull and not season the dish adequately. Prefer to use fresher paprika if at all possible.

You can use chicken breast or chicken thighs, or even whatever parts of a whole chicken you have around depending on your preferences. Some people really like bone-in, skin-on meat for this dish, others (like me) prefer boneless. Grandma Kachur seemed to use chicken thighs, mostly.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Lightly salt the chicken and let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
  2. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large saucepan, or stockpot then brown the chicken thoroughly, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the saucepan to a bowl or plate and set aside.
  3. Add the onions to the saucepan and cook them until softened, about 10 minutes. You can add a little more butter if you need more liquid, and if you have any crusty chicken residue on the bottom of the pan (called fond), scrape up that goodness to incorporate it into the onions.
  4. Add the chicken stock to the saucepan with the onions, and return the chicken to that pan as well. Bring to a bare simmer, which will probably require medium-low or low heat.
  5. In a separate, small skillet, create a roux with the flour and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. That is, melt the butter over low heat then add the flour and mix until a paste forms. Add the paprika and toast for no more than 30 seconds, being careful not to burn it.
  6. Add the roux-paprika mixture to the chicken-onion-stock pan, and mix to combine. Let the full mixture simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and chicken is cooked through (safe internal temperature: ≥165°F). Season cautiously with additional paprika, salt, and pepper.
  7. Turn off the heat, let the mixture cool about 5 minutes, and then mix in the sour cream to thicken it up (you want it to cool a little so the sour cream doesn’t curdle). Serve over a starch like mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or spätzle.
  8. Bask in the ensuing adulation.

Online Resources

I found this recipe from Simply Recipes helpful. It has detailed images and steps, but eventually I wanted to customize my own version.

Homemade Pierogis

Sure, you can buy a box of Mrs. T’s, perhaps you’re even lucky enough to have a Polish deli nearby with handmade stock, but it’s worth it to make your own pierogis now and then.

These pierogis will knock your socks off and leave you feeling accomplished. When you make a batch of these, be sure to freeze some, future you will be grateful.

Fast Facts

Dough Ingredients

Dough Preparation

  1. Mix in a large bowl the flour, eggs, water, oil, and salt. Combine well, then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead approximately 10 minutes until smooth, soft, and not sticky. The traditional description is “like a baby’s bottom.” Cut into four equal pieces and roll them into balls. Place in a large bowl that has been lightly coated with oil and cover with plastic wrap.
  2. Let dough rest for approximately 30 minutes.

Potato and Cheese Filling Ingredients

Potato and Cheese Filling Preparation

  1. Put a large stock pot of water on to boil.
  2. Wash and peel the potatoes, cut into cubes, and add to the boiling water. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender and do not resist a piercing fork or knife.
  3. Sauté the onion in oil until translucent.
  4. Drain and mash the potatoes with the onion, shredded cheddar, salt, and pepper.

Assembly

  1. Put a large stock pot of water on to boil with 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon salt.
  2. Roll out the dough, one quarter at a time until less than ⅛-inch thick. Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter or thin rimmed glass. Spoon filling into center of each circle and pinch the edges closed around it.
  3. Place the pinched pierogis into the boiling water in batches. They are done and should be removed when they float to the top of the pot, between 3 and 6 minutes.
  4. Lay the boiled pierogis on a wire rack on top of a dish towel. Once they have dried, they can be stored by freezing them in batches on cookie sheets then moving them to Tupperware or freezer bags after about an hour. This lets them freeze individually without sticking to each other.

Finished Pierogi Preparation

Once you have finished pierogis, it’s straightforward to prepare them for eating.

  1. If frozen: boil the pierogis in water for 4 to 6 minutes, or until they float to the top of the pot.
  2. Once thawed or boiled: fry the pierogis in butter over medium heat in a sauté pan. Fry them for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Press down on them occasionally to promote contact with the pan.
  3. Serve with sautéed onions, shredded cheddar, and sour cream to joyful delight.

Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage Rolls were a Grandma Kachur special. She made them often for the people she loved. Together with Sophie and Dad, we’ve tried to recreate that magic with this recipe.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Mix together beef, pork, bacon, and rice. Season liberally. This is the only point you will season the dish, so the filling should be incredibly flavorful to make sure it permeates throughout the cabbage and pot as the rolls stew. Set filling aside.
  2. Set stockpot full of water to boil. Stab tongs/fork/something into cabbage to hold it. Place whole cabbage in boiling water, bottom side up, bobbing it in the boiling water every so often to submerge it. Blanch leaves, peeling them layer by layer as they soften. It’s hard to overcook the leaves now, and the stalky part of the leaves needs to be soft to roll them properly, so err on the side of blanching longer. It’ll take about 5 minutes for the first layer to even get soft. Set softened leaves to the side to let cool. For leaves with strong ribs, after blanching cut a v-shape out of the toughest part of the rib to ensure it will roll nicely without snapping.
  3. Roughly chop excess cabbage into large pieces, this will be used between layers of rolls.
  4. Empty stockpot of water. Set on counter to begin filling it with cabbage rolls. Pour in enough tomato juice to coat the bottom, then place a layer or two of chopped cabbage. This layer will protect against your rolls burning to the bottom of the pot.
  5. Begin rolling cabbage: Fill leaves with ⅓–½ cup of filling depending on desired size. Fold sides of leaf over the meat, then fold over the bottom, rolling it up to the top of the leaf like a burrito. Place finished rolls in a layer in the stock pot, then cover with excess cabbage and repeat.
  6. Once the stock pot is packed, pour tomato juice over the rolls until the top layer is just submerged. Add the bay leaves. Set over medium-low heat and cook for several hours. Check doneness by cutting into cabbage roll and checking for pink meat.
  7. Feed your loved-ones, body and soul.

Online Resources

Sophie found this fascinating YouTube video demonstrating an easy way to boil the cabbage leaves for stuffing.

Grandma K’s Mashed Potatoes

Grandma K’s Mashed Potatoes are not so much a recipe as a philosophy: “if you’re going to have mashed potatoes, why not have them as creamy as you can?” To that end, this isn’t so much “Grandma K’s Recipe,” as the one thing I know she did that I really like.

Sour cream. She used sour cream. Apply that to any mashed potato recipe as you see fit. I will provide a very basic recipe here, but they’re mashed potatoes—you can probably figure it out.

Tips and Tricks

Apparently, Yukon Gold (Yellow) Potatoes are especially good for mashing, but your basic Russet Potato will do just fine too.

There are people on the internet who offer really good mashed potato recipes, but I don’t know that any of them are that much better than your basic “mix things together” recipe.

I always leave the skins on because I am recovering from a childhood where I hated potato skins (don’t ask me why, I don’t remember), but you do you. Peel ‘em if you want, it’s up to you.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Fill a large stockpot with water and salt it substantially. Add the potatoes while the water is still cool, and you won’t risk burning yourself, yay! Bring the water to a rolling boil, and cook the potatoes for another 20 to 30 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when a fork or knife pierces them easily.
  2. Drain the potatoes. Before returning them to the stockpot, add the butter to it and melt it under low heat. Then, you can add the potatoes.
  3. Now comes the tricky part: add milk, sour cream, salt, and pepper a little at a time while you start to mash the potatoes. Taste them as you go and adjust until you’re content.
  4. You did it! You made mashed potatoes. Grandma K would be proud.

Risotto

On a cold night, you might want some hot & steamy chicken noodle soup. On a particularly daring night, you might substitute rice in place of the noodles to thicken things up. Well, risotto is what happens when you let the rice absorb up all the soup—a wonderfully warm rice dish wet from the soup, and somehow creamy from all its starch.

I learned to make risotto through a community culinary arts course from Walnut Hill College here in Philly. The nights were cold & dark at the time, so my first risottos were a godsent pick-me-up.

If you’re anything like me, you may have heard that risotto is finicky and difficult, but I’m here to tell you it is eminently doable. My first rendition was perfectly serviceable, and I’ve only gotten better at it since.

Tips and Tricks

This recipe is a base that can be adapted to different co-starring ingredients. I like to add in sliced mushrooms with the onions, for a nice mushroom risotto.

Give the pan a stir to more easily see how wet everything is—looks can be deceiving when the dish has been sitting still. Aim to serve it moist but not soggy.

In my experience, a risotto for 1 cup of rice will need a 10-inch skillet, a half-cup batch will fit in an 8-inch skillet, and a 2 cup batch should fit in a 12-inch skillet.

Risotto does not hold or reheat too well, so it’s best to eat it fresh and promptly.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Bring stock to a boil, then hold at a bare simmer to keep warm.
  2. In a medium skillet, melt butter and sauté onion over medium heat until soft.
  3. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 to 60 seconds.
  4. Add rice and toast until grains are slightly transparent and coated with butter but not browned, about 1 to 2 minutes.
  5. Reduce heat to medium-low. If using the white wine, add it now, otherwise add ½ cup stock instead. Stir frequently until the liquid absorbs or evaporates.
  6. Slowly add the remaining stock ½ cup to a cup at a time, stirring to prevent burning and allowing to absorb or evaporate.
  7. Add the parmesan and stir to incorporate.
  8. Serve promptly, and eat with enthusiasm.

Japanese Curry

My brother Kevin has lived in Japan for over ten years, so I had a lot to catch up on when I finally visited. From the well functioning public transit, to the pedestrian friendly streetscape, to the little counter service restaurants and coffee parlors, there was so much to enjoy.

One of the foods I loved was Japanese curry served with a breaded chicken cutlet. It was a wam embrace distilled into a meal. When I returned home, singing its praises, my sister Sophie surprised me with a box of Japanese curry bricks!

These bricks are a condensed pack of seasonings and thickeners that make it easy to cook curry at home. You can find brands like Golden Curry or Vermont Curry at many Asian grocery stores like H Mart. They usually include a basic recipe on the back, but this is the one I use.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Prepare the rice according to the packaging directions and set aside. If desired, add the bouillon base as the water starts to boil and mix to dissolve before adding the rice to impart flavor.
  2. Add cooking oil to a large stockpot, and sear the meat over medium-high heat until mostly cooked, about 5–10 minutes. Add the vegetables, and cook until softened, another 5–10 minutes.
  3. Add the water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until everything is tender.
  4. Break up the curry brick into pieces, then add to the stockpot and stir until fully dissolved, about 5 minutes. Pro-tip: break up the brick while it’s still in its packaging to avoid sticky hands.
  5. Turn off the burner, and ladle out yourself a heaping helping!

Weeknight Chili

I didn’t like chili growing up. I dreaded and avoided it, all because I didn’t like beans. Only much later did I realize: beans are optional in chili!

Even though my distaste for beans has lessened, that realization is what really unlocked my enthusiasm for chili. It’s such an easy way to make a big pot of food, and it’s great as leftovers.

So now, the choice is yours—to bean or not to bean?

Tips and Tricks

I like to set out shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and sour cream for chili toppings. You can also add some greens like minced chives or scallions.

To better brown the meat, don’t move it around so much once you’ve put it in the stockpot. Break it up a little, then let it be. This will give some surface area more time directly on the pan to brown, rather than mixing all the juices around, preventing browning. Even if you don’t get your meat too well browned, there’s enough else going on in the recipe that it won’t be a big deal.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Ingredient Full Batch (4–6 servings) 1-pound Batch (2–3 servings)
Ground Beef (80/20 or leaner) 2–3 pounds 1 pound
Yellow onion, diced 1 large ½ large
Garlic, minced 4–6 cloves 2–3 cloves
Tomato paste About 2 tablespoons About 1 tablespoon
Chili powder About 3 tablespoons About 1 tablespoon
Garlic powder About 3 tablespoons About 1 tablespoon
Cumin, oregano, Italian seasoning, etc. (optional) 1–2 tablespoons each ½–1 tablespoon each
Diced tomatoes (preferably Rotel brand with chiles) 16–24 ounces 8–16 ounces
Chicken stock 2–3 cups 1–2 cups
Kidney or similar beans (optional) 15 ounces (1 can) 7.5 ounces (½ can)

Preparation

  1. Add a little cooking oil to a large stockpot and bring it to medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and brown it.
  2. Add diced onions and minced garlic to the stockpot, and cook a few minutes until slightly softened. Season with a little salt and pepper.
  3. Add tomato paste and spices (i.e., chili powder, garlic powder, etc.). Mix thoroughly and let the spices toast for 30 to 60 seconds so they bloom and release their flavors.
  4. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices and the chicken stock. Add beans, if desired.
  5. Preferably, you would simmer for at least 30 minutes, but you don’t strictly have to. The flavors will become more complex and married together the longer you let it simmer.

Online Resources

This video chili recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt really demystified chili for me and made it feel very accessible to cook. I highly recommend it for a little extra encouragement.

Tacos

No Kachur family cookbook would be complete without mentioning tacos. They were a go to staple growing up—an easy way to make a delicious family dinner.

This recipe adds an innovation from Kevin, the use of canned, diced tomatoes. They add some lightness to the otherwise heavy meat. I’ve also found that ground turkey or chicken are good ways to lighten the dish without compromising its integrity.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Brown the meat in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces.
  2. Drain most of the fat. You’re not really supposed to pour it down your sink, so consider capturing it in an old can that you keep in the freezer until garbage day.
  3. Add your taco seasoning, mix, and toast for 30 to 60 seconds. Add the can of diced tomatoes with their juices. Add 3 tablespoons water, and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
  4. Serve with your favorite accompaniments to grateful appreciation.

3-Ingredient Mac & Cheese

I’m here to tell you that you can make excellent, homemade mac & cheese almost as easily as using a box. J. Kenji López-Alt from Serious Eats developed a delicious and straightforward recipe that takes about 15 minutes and 3 main ingredients.

The short of it is the mixture of starchy pasta water and evaporated (not condensed) milk combines with the cheese to make a tasty but easy sauce. You can definitely spruce this up with whatever things you have at hand—I personally like to add some dijon mustard and garlic powder.

Tips and Tricks

Evaporated milk comes in a shelf-stable can. I’ve seen it in various sizes, mostly 5(ish) and 12 fluid ounces. Since the recipe is essentially one-to-one-to-one, it’s easy to adjust the ingredients in relation to each other. If you don’t use all the evaporated milk at once, it can be refrigerated for a few days.

This recipe is so simple that it’s easy to experiment with adding other flavors, like dijon mustard, garlic powder, or various spices. Have fun, and taste as you go.

It’s preferable to shred the cheese fresh, rather than use pre-shredded cheese, as it will melt easier without the anti-caking additives. I usually have enough time to shred cheese while the pasta is cooking.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Place the pasta in a skillet, fill it with water until just covering the pasta, and add a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat and stir occasionally. Boil the water until it is almost entirely absorbed or evaporated away. At this point the pasta should be cooked through and moist.
  2. Add the evaporated milk to the skillet under medium-low heat. Bring the milk up to a bare simmer, then add the cheese and mix to combine. Optionally, add additional flavorings.
  3. Serve relatively quickly—the sauce will thicken as it cools.

Online Resources

To read more about the fabulous food science behind this recipe, read the full write-up by J. Kenji López-Alt on Serious Eats.

Green Bean Casserole

A dead simple way to cheat at eating vegetables. This recipe isn’t so much a Kachur tradition as is the idea of tasty vegetable casseroles.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  2. Combine beans, soup, and cheddar in a casserole dish. Mix well. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until heated through.
  3. Add the fried onions on top, and bake for another 7–10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned.
  4. Convince yourself this counts as a vegetable.

Salad Ideas

At some point, I decided it might be good to eat a vegetable here or there, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Fortunately, my Sunday Night Dinner group frequently serves interesting side salads, and it’s helped me develop both a taste for salad and some intuition for how to make it.

First, you absolutely can buy a salad kit or salad dressing from your local grocery store. These are certainly better than not having any vegetables at all.

If you want to start creating your own from scratch, you can start with your favorite ingredients and slowly experiment over time. You’ll typically want a base of lettuce or spinach, some additional chopped vegetables (or fruits), maybe some protein via cheese and/or meat, and then finish with a dressing.

Homemade Salad Components

Here are a few example ingredients you can pull from to get you started.

Homemade Ranch and Other Dips

Sure, you can buy dips at the store, but you can also make delectable ones at home without much effort. A little sour cream, a little mayo, and some spices and you’ve got everything you need.

Here’s a sample ranch dip recipe and some ideas for further experimentation.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

All these ingredients are very approximate, you can eyeball them and it will be fine.

Preparation

  1. Mix together the spices in a small bowl and just cover with water. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow the spices to bloom.
  2. Mix in the sour cream and mayo, carefully stirring to combine. Add the lemon juice, if desired.
  3. Voilà, you have your own ranch!

Other Dip Ideas

Dessert

Growing up, we were spoiled for dessert. With a Grandma and a Mom who were prodigious and accomplished bakers, we always had a delightful birthday cake or Christmas cookie tray. Here are a few of the top hits.

Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe is based on the venerable Toll House recipe with some tweaks for our family’s preferences. Using shortening and an extra quarter-cup of flour makes them fluffier, and the handful of chocolate chunks adds a little more variety to the chocolate experience.

This recipe uses ingredients that you can reasonably keep on hand most times of the year, so it makes an excellent companion for quickly satisfying baked good urges.

Tips and Tricks

While most of these ingredients are easy to keep in stock, my old roommate Aaron introduced me to the wonder of always keeping a box of brownie mix in the pantry. That has even fewer required ingredients (usually just oil and an egg), and is even easier to put together on a whim. Thanks Aaron!

If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can melt the butter in a saucepan or microwave to make it easier to work with. Make sure the mixture isn’t too hot before adding your eggs so they don’t scramble.

The dough can be kept covered in the fridge for several days, or in the freezer for about a month. They’re actually a little easier to handle below room temperature.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Ingredient Full Batch (5 Dozen) Half Batch (2 ½ Dozen)
All-purpose Flour 2½ cups 1¼ cups
Baking soda 1 teaspoon ½ teaspoon
Salt 1 teaspoon ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter or shortening 1 cup (2 sticks) ½ cup (1 stick)
Granulated sugar ¾ cup ⅜ cup
Brown sugar, packed ¾ cup ⅜ cup
Vanilla extract, optional 1 teaspoon ½ teaspoon
Eggs, large 2 1
Chocolate chips 12 ounces (1 bag) 6 ounces (½ bag)
Chocolate chunks A handful / to taste A handful / to taste

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
  3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  4. Gradually beat flour mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in chocolate. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
  5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before removing to wire racks.
  6. Enjoy fresh cookies that you’ve baked yourself! That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Molasses Sugar Cookies

Another traditional holiday cookie in the Kachur family, molasses sugar cookies impart a rich sweetness to the cookie table. They bring a deeper, more complex flavor than most other sugar cookies, and are a personal favorite.

Tips and Tricks

Rather than pre-heating your oven at the start of this recipe, consider chilling the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours instead. It’ll be easier to handle and bake a little better.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Wet

Dry

Topping

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

  2. Melt the shortening in a large saucepan. Then, let cool to lukewarm. Add the 1 cup of sugar along with the molasses and egg, then mix well.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Slowly blend into the wet ingredients to create the dough.
  4. Place the remaining half-cup sugar in a bowl. Form the dough into roughly 1-inch spheres and roll in the sugar until well covered.
  5. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 375°F for about 8 to 10 minutes until the top looks just a little soft.
  6. Serve to delighted applause!

Snickerdoodles

A lighthearted sugar & cinnamon cookie, the Snickerdoodle is just the thing for rounding out your Christmas cookie tray.

Tips and Tricks

If you don’t have cream of tartar or baking soda, try replacing both with 1 tablespoon of baking powder, which is usually a mixture of the two.

Fast Facts

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Mix the shortening, 1 ½ cups sugar, and eggs until creamy. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Slowly combine the wet and dry ingredients until well-blended.
  2. Chill the dough in the freezer or refrigerator for roughly an hour until slightly firm.
  3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  4. Mix the cinnamon and roughly ¼ cup of sugar in a small bowl. Form the dough into 1-inch diameter balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar until coated.
  5. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 6 to 10 minutes, watching to make sure they don’t burn. The cookies should be lightly brown around the edges and still soft looking on top.
  6. Remove from the oven to wire racks. They will crack a little on top as they cool. Try to save some for later.

Dobos Torte

Here is the recipe that you asked for… I hope Nicholas really appreciates all the work this entails.

—Grandma Kachur, 2010

Dobos Torte—from the Hungarian last name pronounced doe-bish—is a family favorite. Grandma Kachur made it for someone’s birthday one year, and I was hooked.

It takes a certain amount of effort. You have to separate eggs, beating the whites to stiff peaks, and the six layers of cake are so thin as to be fragile. Over her many years of baking, Grandma developed a knack for it, but even after several successful attempts, this cake still takes me a while.

That said, this is the perfect cake to prepare with a sous chef. You will find a second pair of hands invaluable when tempering the eggs or blending things together, and especially with the caramel topping. Company makes the time pass more smoothly and brings another person into the act of love that is baking this for someone.

Fast Facts

Chocolate Buttercream Ingredients

Chocolate Buttercream Preparation

  1. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double-boiler. Set aside and let cool to incorporate with the butter later.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored.
  4. In a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cover and boil syrup gently for 5 minutes to help wash down any crystals that have formed on the sides of the saucepan. Uncover and continue cooking the syrup until it reaches the “thread” stage, about 230–235°F, where it spins a roughly 2-inch thread when allowed to drip from a fork.
  5. Beating constantly, pour the hot syrup very gradually into the egg yolks. Be careful not to scramble the eggs by pouring too quickly. Do not scrape syrup from the bottom and sides of the pan or mixers—it’s okay if some of the sugar is left behind. Beat mixture until it has the consistency of creamed butter. Cool completely.
  6. Beat the syrup-egg mixture about 2 tablespoons at a time into the butter, until just blended. Gradually blend in the chocolate.
  7. Set the completed frosting in the refrigerator to chill.

Torte Ingredients

Torte Preparation

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  2. Prepare 6 round cake pans to bake the layers. You can buy disposable aluminum pans to bake more at a time, or work in batches with as many pans as you have. Either way, grease the bottoms and line with parchment paper.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and ⅓ cup of the sugar until thick and lemon-colored. Set aside.
  4. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until frothy, gradually adding the other ⅓ cup of sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Sophie claims it is possible to beat to stiff peaks by hand, but it will be much easier & faster with an electric mixer.
  5. Gently spread egg yolk mixture over the egg whites. Add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and gently fold into the egg mixture until just blended.
  6. Divide the batter into equal parts and bake in the cake pans at 350°F for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let sit in the pans for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pans, peel off parchment paper, and cool on racks until prepared to assemble.

Caramel Topping & Assembly Ingredients

Caramel Topping & Assembly Preparation

  1. Beat the chilled frosting until fluffy. Frost and stack four of the cake layers. Add the fifth layer but do not frost. Return the five layers of cake to the refrigerator, along with the remaining frosting.
  2. Place the sixth layer of cake on a sheet of parchment paper, substantially larger than the cake. This will collect caramel overflow. With a knife, make shallow indents to guide where the cake will be sliced for serving. These will be used when adding the caramel. Prepare a large glassful of hot water to coat your knife with when the caramel is ready.
  3. Cook the confectioner’s sugar in a heavy skillet over low heat, stirring constantly using a wooden spoon or spatula. Low and slow is the name of the game. Press out lumps and cook until a smooth, liquid caramel forms. This will happen very slowly, then all at once, at which point you won’t have much time before it burns.
  4. Pour the molten caramel over top of the sixth layer of cake and spread evenly. Let the caramel just begin to set and then cut into slices all the way through before it hardens. Use the hot water to quickly clean your knife. Pull apart the slices, and let the caramel cool completely.
  5. Pull the other five layers from the refrigerator and frost the fifth layer. Arrange the caramel-topped sixth layer on top of it. One potential presentation is to place a floret of frosting for each caramel-topped slice then lean each slice at an angle against the floret. Frost as desired with any remaining buttercream.
  6. Serve at room temperature to thunderous applause and heartfelt appreciation.

Online Resources

I used a variety of written and video recipes to help me develop the recipe that was passed down from Grandma Kachur. She was a fabulous and generous cook, but getting a complete and repeatable recipe out of her was sometimes difficult. That meant the rest of us occasionally had to fill in some gaps.

Still, this is a case where we had a pretty solid recipe direct from Grandma, and I only used the following recipes as supplementary research.

Texas Sheet Cake

Texas Sheet Cake, a type of chocolate sheet cake, is a staple of Kachur birthday celebrations. It’s a relatively accessible cake to make for birthdays and other festivities. The size adjusts easily to feed any size gathering.

This recipe comes to us from my friend Gaylord, of Philadelphia Sunday Night Dinner. It turns out to be a birthday staple in his family too, and he graciously allowed me to reproduce his battle-tested recipe here (lightly edited). Thanks Gaylord!

Fast Facts

Cake Ingredients

Ingredient Full Sheet Pan Half Sheet Pan
All-purpose flour 2 cups 1 cup
Granulated sugar 2 cups 1 cup
Baking soda 1 teaspoon ½ teaspoon
Butter 4 ounces 2 ounces
Crisco shortening ½ cup ¼ cup
Water 1 cup ½ cup
Cocoa 4 tablespoons 2 tablespoons
Buttermilk ½ cup ¼ cup
Eggs 2 1
Vanilla 1 teaspoon ½ teaspoon

Cake Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda together.
  3. Melt butter and shortening together with water. Whisk in cocoa.
  4. Beat buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together.
  5. Combine hot mixture with dry and mix well.
  6. Add buttermilk mixture and stir. Pour into full or half-size sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients

Ingredient Full Sheet Pan Half Sheet Pan
Butter 4 ounces 2 ounces
Cocoa 4 tablespoons 2 tablespoons
Milk 6 tablespoons 3 tablespoons
Powdered sugar, sifted 16 ounces 8 ounces
Chopped nuts, optional to taste to taste

Frosting Preparation

  1. Melt butter.
  2. Whisk in cocoa.
  3. Add milk.
  4. Slowly add powdered sugar.
  5. Spread frosting over warm cake.
  6. Optionally add nuts on top.

Afterword

Whether you tried any of these recipes or just perused them, I hope you found some love within. Food and cooking are so foundational that they contain hosts of memories about our favorite people. I hope you share a table with your loved ones in good time. If you come to dinner at my place, I’ll keep an apron ready for you, so we can whip something up together.

—Nicholas, 2026