If you're a person who enjoys workplace dramas and the Food Network equally, there's a good chance you've already watched The Bear, FX's new show about a chef who comes home to run his family's Chicago restaurant. The show combines frantic, almost Uncut Gems-style drama with food photography that will remind you of glossy cooking shows like Salt Fat Acid Heat—and it'll probably leave you pretty hungry.
The Bear even boasts an unlikely breakout star in Matty Matheson, the real-life chef who plays an earnest repairman on the show. Matheson, along with The Bear chef-consultant Courtney Storer, has been sharing a few recipes inspired by the show on his YouTube channel—so we decided to round up a few more recipes that can help you cook along with your new favorite show, from classic pasta to piping-hot sandwiches.
Episode 1: "System"
Braised Beef Sandwiches
If there's one thing The Bear has taught us, it's that hot beef sandwiches should come sauced, hot and/or sweet. So a recipe like our Slow-Cooker Flank Steak Au Jus Sandwiches is a great place to start. You'll get a delicious gravy and some tender onion to go with your beef, so all that's left to do is fire up the skillet to sauté your hot or sweet peppers. You could even do a few hot and and a few sweet, then let everyone build their sandwich to their liking.
Sydney's Family Meal
We meet Ayo Edebiri's Sydney on her first day in the kitchen as she aims to win over her co-workers with a family dinner that's delicious *and* impressive. The result is a stew with rice and plantains, plus some fennel salad. There are a few ways you could put a twist on this dish, depending on what you're in the mood for. Our Cuban Beef Picadillo over Plantain Mash is perfect for creamy plantain-lovers, while our might appeal more to those who love a crispy slab of plantain. Serve either one with a favorite fennel salad, like our , to complete the picture.
Episode 2: "Hands"
Chicken with Peppers
We don't get to see much specific cooking in this episode, but we do get to hear about some of The Beef's most popular dishes as dinner orders come through—including many orders of "chicken-pepper." (In the show, the dish appears to be a half chicken slathered with grilled peppers.) A nice substitute for baking a couple of whole chickens could be something like our , which includes plenty of colorful peppers, plus some tender potatoes for an extra veg.
Sausage with Peppers
Just as popular as the chicken-pepper is something called "sausage-pepper"—which we're going to guess would look something similar to the chicken-pepper plate. If that appeals to you more than the chicken option, look no further than our for something that will hit the spot.
Episode 3: "Brigade"
Hot Dogs, "Run Through the Garden"
The restaurant isn't called The Original Beef of Chicagoland for nothing—of course they sell a classic Chicago-style dog. You could make your twist on this recipe vegetarian-friendly by going for our Chicago-Style Carrot Dogs, inspired by Tabitha Brown. If you'd rather make the recipe with your favorite hot dog from the store, just swap out the carrot for your protein of choice. You could even offer both the next time you grill for a mixed crowd.
Carmy's Plum Gelée
Let's be honest—you probably don't want to haul out the veal fat to try your hand at making this gummy-bear-style plum dessert, but we have a few different plum desserts that are just as glamorous and delicious. Our deceptively simple Plum Ruffle Pie uses phyllo dough for a crispy, textured top, while dishes like our Plum Custard Tart and Plum Tart get their looks from the arrangement of plum slices on the top.
Ebrahim's Chicken Suqaar
Suqaar is a classic Somali dish made with your protein of choice and lots of veggies. While Ebrahim uses chicken in his, this recipe for Ma Halima's Beef Suqaar goes for a red-meat option. Excerpted from Hawa Hassan's cookbook In Bibi's Kitchen, this recipe promises to make your kitchen smell heavenly.
Episode 4: "Dogs"
Marcus's Chocolate Ganache Cake
On days when you don't *quite* want to put in all the painstaking effort that Marcus does with his bakes, turn to this simple One-Bowl Chocolate Cake, complete with a fluffy icing like the kind you'll find inside Marcus's slices. You could even add a little chocolate ganache to the finished product for a glossy look.
Tina's Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Unlike The Beef's recipe, we're going to stick with something basic here. Just make our classic mashed potatoes—here's a step-by-step breakdown—and add a little rosemary, olive oil and chicken broth to the final product for a silky, flavorful result. You'll find even more options for add-ins when you peruse that simple mashed potato tutorial.
Episode 5: "Sheridan"
Carmy's Lemon Chicken Piccata
Carmy breaks down his piccata recipe step-by-step in one of the show's most hands-on sequences, but sometimes you still want to follow a written recipe. Our Lemon Chicken Piccata uses mostly pantry ingredients for a quick 20-minute dinner you can pair with a favorite Caesar salad and a piece of crusty bread.
Episode 6: "Ceres"
Sydney's Cola-Braised Short Rib and Risotto
While Sydney finishes figuring out how to loosen up her soda-based short rib sauce, we can offer you a simpler recipe. These balsamic short ribs let the slow cooker do all the work, so you can have something that tastes like a million bucks without all the work. Pair it with this Basic Risotto for a simple and delicious meal.
If, however, you want to try your hand at Sydney's recipe, viewers can catch a glimpse of her notes in the season finale. Her notes indicate that you should braise 4 pounds of short ribs with the following ingredients:
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 2/3 cup onion, diced
- 2/3 cup carrot, diced
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 cups red wine
- 2 cups Coca-Cola
- 1/4 cup thyme
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 2 pieces of bay leaf
- 2 cups beef stock
Her risotto recipe is a little tougher to read, but we can tell that she uses 1/2 cup shallots, 3 tablespoons of garlic and 2 tablespoons of thyme in her recipe for about 3 1/2 cups of rice. Add a little thyme to our basic recipe, and you'll have something approximating Sydney's flavor profile.
Episode 7: "Review"
Marcus's Perfect Doughnut
Pulling together a light yeast doughnut with a technicolor jelly filling isn't exactly the *easiest* thing to do, so we'd recommend something a little simpler. These baked lemon-blueberry doughnuts get a little old-school jelly flavor from the blueberries—plus you get to avoid messy oil by baking instead of frying.
Episode 8: "Braciola"
Mikey's Beef Braciole
So, technically, Mikey calls for thinly sliced beef in this recipe, but hear us out—our chicken-based take on braciole is so simple and quick, you won't mind swapping one protein for another. Serve it with marinara over your favorite pasta for a Sunday dinner just like Mikey used to make.
Sydney's Chilean Sea Bass with Tomato Confit
There are two ways to spin this glamorous, summer-ready dish. You could go with a cooked sea bass—like Sydney does—and cooked tomatoes, like in our . But if hot summer days are getting to you and you'd rather go with a no-cook classic, our Black Sea Bass Ceviche with Rhubarb Pico de Gallo might be perfect for you. We sub rhubarb for tomatoes in that recipe's take on pico, but you could add them back to the mix by serving up a couple more summer-ready dips for dinner. Our Fresh Tomato Salsa and Peach-Mango Salsa are both hard to resist.
Mikey's Family Spaghetti
When you need a basic spaghetti recipe that everyone will love, try our One-Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. It's simple, easy to clean up and packed with flavor. Mikey's recipe doesn't include meat in the sauce—in fact, his sauce has just four ingredients: 10 garlic cloves, basil steeped in olive oil and two 28-ounce cans of San Marzano tomatoes. Carmy channels Marcella Hazan when he adds in a couple tablespoons of butter and an onion—sliced just in half to be removed from the sauce before serving—to his pan for heating the canned tomatoes.
