Free Association: Meat and (Lots of) Potatoes
Rahm Fama, host of the new Food Network series Meat & Potatoes, is a self-proclaimed meat nerd. “If you’re a car nerd, you know as much as you can about cars, but you’ll never know everything. You’re always willing to learn more,” the enthusiastic carnivore explains. “I am consistently and always excited to learn about new meat.”
On Meat & Potatoes, Rahm travels the country, checking out (and, naturally, tasting) the best and most interesting meat and potatoes America has to offer. It’s a dream job for a guy who grew up working on his family’s cattle ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico and then became an established restaurant chef.
To get everyone in a meaty mood for Friday’s premiere of his new show (10pm/9c), we played a little meat-and-potatoes word association with Rahm. His pairings will undoubtedly induce cravings, so try them out at home with some top Food Network recipes...
Let’s start with a classic. French fries and ________?
You know, I’m actually not going to go with a burger. I’d do steak au poivre with pommes frites.
I’d do a grilled filet mignon—gotta have those char marks.
Fork-mashed potatoes. Leave the skins on, keep it a little rustic.
There’s nothing I like more than a potato latke or potato cake. So that’s a fancy way of saying tater tots.
I love whole braised fingerling potatoes, braised in olive oil and roasted in the oven with rosemary.
I just had one on the show that comes with poutine. Delicious. Very low-fat.
My favorite steak to go with a twice-baked is a hanger steak or flank steak.
I would cook the breakfast sausage, cut it into pieces and toss it all together with diced home fried potatoes with peppers, make it kind of a hash.
My last meal would be ________ and a side of ________?
It would be a dry-aged New York steak with pommes frites. Cooked in duck fat.
Catch the premiere of Rahm's new show, Meat & Potatoes, this Friday at 10pm/9c.