Melissa Maedgen, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Melissa Maedgen has tested.

Melissa Maedgen

Melissa Maedgen owes her passion for cooking and gardening to her parents. Like her mom and dad, she’s fond of improvisational cooking with a focus on fresh produce from her garden or from local farmers. She enjoys cooking outdoors, sometimes in a particularly rustic manner—she once roasted a goat on a spit (actually just a piece of rebar) over a fire in a field in Texas. Maedgen was raised to be a DIYer, so she often makes her own tofu or beer. She’s been following Leite’s Culinaria since 2001, when she was studying Portuguese and developed an interest in Brazilian and Portuguese food. She became a tester in 2009 and loves that she gets to cook foods she might not otherwise make.

A plate with a horseradish deviled egg, truffled deviled egg, and smoked salmon deviled egg

A Trio of Deviled Eggs

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Lovely. That’s all we can think to say of this array of deviled eggs, which come in classic, smoked salmon, and lightly truffled.

  • Quick Glance
  • 10 M
  • 40 M
  • 1
Slow Cooker Shredded Pork

Slow Cooker Shredded Pork

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Pull out your slow cooker and sate yourself with this tender, sweetly spiced, subtly smoky shredded pork. And with nary any effort.

  • Quick Glance
  • 30 M
  • 12 H
  • 0
Three bowls of fennel and potato soup, topped with cracked pepper and a dribble of olive oil, spoons on the side

Fennel and Potato Soup

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A marvie riff on the classic French potato and leek soup known as vichyssoise, this is astoundingly good. So much so you may just find yourself raising the bowl to your lips.

  • Quick Glance
  • 35 M
  • 50 M
  • 0
Baked Ricotta Recipe

Baked Ricotta

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Entertaining gets no simpler than this rich, creamy, indulgent, elegant cheese spread made from three ingredients. Tasting is believing. Go on.

  • 10 M
  • 35 M
  • 32
Plastic container or North African chicken soup with shredded chicken, ras el hanout, couscous, and preserved lemon

North African Chicken Soup

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We wish we always had a stash of this chicken soup recipe in the fridge to take to lunch as a soothing respite in the day.

  • Quick Glance
  • 15 M
  • 35 M
  • 0
Clay pot filled with Vietnamese caramel chicken pieces and cilantro on a wooden table

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

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Vietnamese caramel chicken is an easy weeknight dinner that tastes authentic as heck even if you don’t use a clay pot when you make it. Sorta like dessert for dinner.

  • Quick Glance
  • 25 M
  • 1 H
  • 2
Lemon and Thyme Risotto

Lemon and Thyme Risotto

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A lilt of lemon and hints of thyme dance throughout this simple risotto. The best they’ve ever tasted.

  • 30 M
  • 30 M
  • 15
Shrimp and Grits

Southern Shrimp and Grits

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Our most requested recipe, this ridiculously rich dish takes its heat from andouille, its creamy comfort from grits smothered in cheese.

  • 30 M
  • 30 M
  • 2
Glass bowl with spicy tomato blue cheese soup on a tray with a hunk of cheese and a spoon

Spicy Tomato Blue Cheese Soup

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This spicy tomato soup gets its heat from Thai Sriracha sauce and depth from blue cheese. San Marzano tomatoes are used, so the soup can be made anytime.

  • 15 M
  • 1 H, 15 M
  • 25
Blue pot of chunks of pork, authentic carnitas, with a bay leaf and wooden spoon on top

Authentic Carnitas

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This Mexican carnitas recipe is authentic braised and fried pork that’s fall-apart-tender pork goodness ready for tacos.

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