We're fired up for Memorial Day!

According to our calendars, Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer and the official start of grilling season! This weekend is the perfect time to get together with friends and family in the backyard and fire up the grill to practice your outdoor cooking skills. The great thing about the grill is that it serves as a focal point for a relaxing day of food and fun. Put your favorite beverages on ice, keep some snacks handy and throw your favorite foods on the grill.

This Memorial Day, we're excited to dig into some classic American dishes- burgers & dogs, potato salad & cole slaw, berry cobbler & ice cream. Pick some of your favorite recipes and meet us at the grill!


To help you find the best classic dishes for your backyard party, we fired up the FoodPair search engine and found a handful of delicious dishes from across the Web.

Blue Cheese Burgers
It's hard to beat the classic burger, which pairs well with sharp blue cheese.
Ingredients: garlic, egg, scallion, mustard, blue cheese, salt, ground beef, black pepper, water, hamburger buns

Grilled Hot Dogs with Mango Chutney and Red Onion Relish
Try the classic hot dog with inventive toppings.
Ingredients: cilantro, red onion, Dijon mustard, hot dogs, mango chutney, hot dog buns

Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad
This is a lighter & fresher take on the classic potato salad.
Ingredients: olive oil, red onion, sugar, red wine vinegar, Yukon Gold potatoes, Italian parsley

Cabbage and Carrot Slaw
This slaw is a great side and delicious on any burger or dog!
Ingredients: olive oil, cabbage, carrot, salt, black pepper, apple cider vinegar

Brown Sugar Berry Cobbler
A fresh berry cobbler always hits the spot.
Ingredients: butter, sugar, salt, all-purpose flour, baking powder, milk, cornstarch, mixed berries, dark brown sugar

Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Cake
A great way to finish the meal with with this patriotic ice cream cake.
Ingredients: lemon peel, whipped cream, cookies, strawberry sorbet, blueberry sorbet, lemon ice cream, fresh berries


Let's get cooking!

Any other favorite ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight? Post them in the comments section or on our Facebook page! And while you're at it, "Like" us on Facebook to get helpful updates in your news feed.

May is National BBQ Month!

It's time to fire up the grill! Well, hold on a second. If we're going to be technically sound on this one, it's time to fire up the smoker! While most of us think of Barbecue as grilling, it's actually about smoking. Real barbecue involves cooking things slow & low over indirect heat, usually smoke from an aromatic wood like hickory, mesquite, apple or cherry.

Even though summer hasn't started yet and it's been raining like crazy across the country, that doesn't mean we can't get into a sunny mood by eating some great barbecue. We all have our favorites: Ribs, Brisket, Chicken, and Pulled Pork. Top those tender meats with your favorite BBQ sauce and serve it alongside some bread for sopping up the gravy and tasty sides like beans, greens and salads.

To help you find the best Barbecue dishes for any occasion, we fired up the FoodPair search engine and found a handful of delicious dishes from across the Web.

Hank's Barbecue Sauce
No matter what you make, you're gonna need sauce for slathering.
Ingredients: butter, lemon juice, brown sugar, ketchup, serrano chile, salt, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onion, molasses, Kentucky bourbon whiskey

Memphis-Style Barbecued Pork Ribs
Memphis delivers a flavorful dry rub and vinegar-based sauce.
Ingredients: kosher salt, barbecue sauce, pork ribs, barbecue seasoning

Barbecued Tri-Tip with Caramelized Onions
The West Coast loves Tri-Tip and you will too!
Ingredients: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, butter, red onion, chive, salt, black pepper, kosher salt, barbecue sauce, garlic powder, tri-tip steak

Honey-Mustard Barbecued Chicken
Don't forget about tasty chicken dishes like this one.
Ingredients: honey, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ketchup, lemon zest, black pepper, chicken drumsticks, orange juice, oregano, whole grain mustard

Collard Greens with Bacon
Savory sides are just what the doctor ordered.
Ingredients: garlic, bacon, sugar, collard greens, black pepper, apple cider vinegar, kosher salt, chicken broth, yellow onion, hot sauce

Tangy Barbecue Baked Beans
BBQ chefs really know how to make beans sing!
Ingredients: honey, mustard, ketchup, pinto beans, water, sea salt, Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce


Let's get cooking!

Any other favorite ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight? Post them in the comments section or on our Facebook page! And while you're at it, "Like" us on Facebook to get helpful updates in your news feed.

Regional Breakfast Specialties!

We hear it again and again: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Sure, but what are we supposed to cook and eat? On top of that, what do we have time to make as we watch the stove while simultaneously lacing up our shoes and buttoning our shirt?

What you're eating most mornings probably has a lot to do with where you live. From New York through Philadelphia, people love their egg & cheese on a roll. You can buy them in nearly every market, from carts on the street or make them at home. They're delicious, but often unavailable in other parts of the country. So, what are we talking about? Starting with a lightly toasted Kaiser roll or toast, you either scramble or fry an egg or two before topping it with a slice of American cheese. Some people add bacon or ham to the breakfast sandwich and by the Jersey Shore and in Philly, they love to add pork roll, the region's answer to Canadian bacon. The egg & cheese on a roll is a hearty breakfast that's sure to kick-start your day and push your metabolism into overdrive.

On a recent trip to New Orleans, we feasted on a breakfast of beignets and chicory coffee from Cafe du Monde. Beignets are light and fluffy fried doughnuts (without the hole) topped with plenty of powdered sugar. Chicory is a great additive to coffee- it's the root of the endive plant and adds a great rich and roasted flavor without adding caffeine.

In other parts of the south they enjoy biscuits & gravy- light buttermilk biscuits topped with a white gravy with plenty of ground bacon and black pepper. In the south they also opt for grits instead of breakfast potatoes. Grits are coarsely ground corn cooked for 15-20 minutes until soft. They're often topped with some butter, but we love the versions with cheddar cheese or red-eye gravy made from breakfast sausage or bacon.

To help you decide which regional American breakfast is best for you, we fired up the FoodPair search engine and found a handful of delicious dishes from across the Web.

Fried Egg and Sausage Ciabatta Breakfast Pizzas
This is a great take on the traditional northeastern breakfast sandwich.
Ingredients: olive oil, egg, scallion, Italian sausage, Monterrey Jack cheese, ciabatta

Buttermilk Beignets
Try your hand at the ultimate New Orleans breakfast treat!
Ingredients: sugar, buttermilk, salt, powdered sugar, baking soda, milk, peanut oil, active dry yeast, bread flour

Creamy Stone-Ground Grits
Stir up a taste of the South for your next breakfast.
Ingredients: butter, heavy cream, water, milk, kosher salt, grits

Country-Fried Ham with Redeye Gravy
It takes only three ingredients to make a great breakfast gravy.
Ingredients: ham, milk, coffee


Let's get cooking!

Any other favorite ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight? Post them in the comments section or on our Facebook page! And while you're at it, "Like" us on Facebook to get helpful updates in your news feed.

Happy Mother's Day!

FoodPair is here to give you an important reminder: Mother's Day is Sunday, May 8th. Don't forget to order those flowers, gifts and cards!

Since we know you'd like to celebrate Mother's Day with food, we've collected a bunch of great recipes from the moms and grandmoms of the world. But, don't limit yourself to these. No mom can resist breakfast in bed, so check out these searches for breakfast egg dishes or pancakes and french toast. Serve it with some fresh squeezed juice, coffee and perhaps a mimosa and she'll be dancing in the streets (while you clean the dishes, of course)!

Mothers are an amazing source of culinary heritage, so make sure to pay attention to what your mom has been cooking. For some reason, mom's meatballs and roast chicken always taste better than they do at restaurants. Mom has some tricks up her sleeve!

To help you celebrate the mothers of the world, we fired up the FoodPair search engine and found a handful of delicious dishes from across the Web.

Almost Grandmother's Challah
Making challah as good as gradma takes practice. We're almost there!
Ingredients: egg, sugar, salt, all-purpose flour, water, vegetable oil, active dry yeast

Grandma Ether's Brisket with Tzimmes
Grandma also makes a mean brisket, cooking it slow and low!
Ingredients: olive oil, sweet potato, carrot, sherry vinegar, prune, salt, chicken stock, black pepper, brisket

My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake
Mother in laws can cook delicious food too!
Ingredients: egg, butter, lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, all-purpose flour, self rising flour

My Grandmother's Ginger-Jam Bread and Butter Pudding
Bread pudding is a great choice for Mother's Day.
Ingredients: egg, butter, ginger, sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, bread, milk, golden raisins, dark rum

Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies
Make grandma everyone's favorite cookies!
Ingredients: egg, sugar, oats, walnut, raisin, brown sugar, salt, all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, baking soda, cinnamon powder, vegetable shortening


Let's get cooking!

Any other favorite ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight? Post them in the comments section or on our Facebook page! And while you're at it, "Like" us on Facebook to get helpful updates in your news feed.