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Leite's Culinaria

Family-Style Feasts

Published about 21 hours ago • 2 min read

Hi Reader,

After Valentine’s Day, I crave the antidote to all that candlelit, two-fork intimacy: a noisy, elbows-on-the-table, gravy-splashing family meal. The kind where you can’t hear yourself over the chorus of “pass the potatoes,” and someone inevitably uses a dinner roll as a pointer during an argument about politics or football—or both.
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When I was growing up, those family-style feasts were the great equalizer. You could show up grumpy, triumphant, or in full teenage angst, but once the platters started circling, you were drafted into the collective. My mother had a rule: “If you can reach it, you can serve it.” And heaven help the person who forgot to refill the breadbasket. Now, when The One and I cook for friends, I chase that same beautiful chaos—shared dishes, shared laughter, and that blissful moment when everyone’s too busy eating to remember their phones exist.

How to Pull Off a Family-Style Feast

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  • Cook for abundance. Nothing kills the mood faster than a timid serving dish. Heap it high.
  • Choose overlap-friendly dishes. Think braises, pastas, roasts—foods that hold up under seconds (and thirds).
  • Delegate with charm. Let someone pour the wine, another carve the roast—everyone wants a role.
  • Set the mood, not the table. Skip the perfection. A little mess says, “We’re having fun.”
  • Finish with something communal. A big dessert—cobbler, pudding, or pie—because sharing sweetness is the real finale.

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WHAT'S INSIDE...

​Homemade Chicken Strips​

Homemade chicken strips. When it comes to this type of quick weeknight dinner, we're all about respecting the yum factor.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Cornmeal Crusted Fried Chicken​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.8 from 10 votes

This cornmeal-crusted fried chicken from Sydney Meers, thanks to a quick brine and an easy dredge in flour and cornmeal, turns out tender, juicy meat, and shatteringly crisp skin. Here's how to make it.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Spanish Pork Loin Roast​

This easy pork loin roast with paprika is great for entertaining as it requires minimal effort but will garner you rave reviews.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Creamy Pork & Egg Noodles​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.64 from 19 votes

For this easy meal, ground pork is browned with some mushrooms before stirring in broth and scraping up all the savory bits. Cooking the noodles in this saucy mix ensures that they are deeply flavorful from the inside out. Just at the end, Boursin cheese is added, delivering quintessential creaminess and complex herby flavor from one ingredient.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​David Leite’s Best Brined Roast Chicken​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.88 from 31 votes

This best brined roast chicken is the best method for brining your chicken, as far as I know. It blends aromatic vegetables and herbs to the brining solution before adding your chicken. The meat gets infused with lush flavors and juiciness beyond the average brined chicken.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Barbecued Beef Back Ribs​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.75 from 36 votes

These barbecued beef back ribs are easy to make. They're coated with a homemade spice rub and slowly grilled to perfection.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Braised Pork Loin With Rosemary​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.87 from 15 votes

This braised pork loin with rosemary is a simple Sunday supper. Pork loin is studded with rosemary, seared with onion and garlic, and braised in wine until tender. A pan sauce of pork drippings, vinegar, olive oil, and mustard lends a nice acidity to the dish.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

​Korean-Style BBQ Ribs​

Korean-style BBQ ribs are sticky, sweet, and tangy. Ginger, honey, brown sugar, and vinegar come together to infuse juicy ribs with Korean flavors. They're cooked in foil so the cleanup is easy-peasy, too.
​☞ ​Try This Recipe​

Leite's Culinaria

David Leite

Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join more than 30,000 food lovers and subscribe.

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