Get ready to head back into the kitchen, as “The Bear” returns for its third season. The show has served up multiple courses of gorgeous dishes throughout its first two seasons, ranging from casual classics like Mikey’s family-meal spaghetti, to the more elaborate holiday menus like the Feast of the Seven Fishes. For those left hungry during the show’s hiatus, here are five Globe recipes for dishes featured in “The Bear” for you to try at home.
1. Chicken-pepper (Season 1, Episode 2)
While this episode primarily focuses on the restaurant’s failed health inspection, due to an unsealed vent stuffed with oily rags and a pack of cigarettes in the kitchen, it also offers insights into The Beef’s most popular dishes. Despite getting a C health rating, the restaurant continues to get jammed with orders, most of which are “chicken-peppers.”
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Try this Globe recipe for a sheet-pan version of chicken and peppers by correspondent Lisa Zwirn, a colorful dish of soft chicken breasts and balsamic peppers.
2. Tina’s mashed potatoes (Season 1, Episode 4)
While Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), a longtime chef at The Beef, fully embraced the culinary arts in season two, she was initially reluctant to change. When Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) tries to elevate Tina’s mashed potatoes by infusing rosemary into the heavy cream, Tina does not follow along. It’s not until Tina leaves her cream unsupervised and burns it that she is forced to use Sydney’s rosemary cream — she was not happy and was short on time. When mixing in the mixture into her potatoes, she decides to try it out, reacting with a solemn “damn.”
Try this Globe recipe for “make-ahead” mashed potatoes by correspondent Sally Pasley Vargas, featuring Yukon and Russet potatoes to deliver a fluffy and creamy delight.
3. Mikey’s beef braciole (Season 1, Episode 8)
This iconic Italian-American dish is presented through a flashback scene, where Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), longtime family friend “cousin” Richie (Ebon-Moss Bachrach), and his siblings, Mikey (Jon Bernthal) and Natalie (Abby Elliot) gather in the Berzatto’s family kitchen, listening to Mikey tell a story. The episode features Mikey laying out thinly pounded steak on the table, asking Carmy for help as he sprinkles breadcrumbs, greens, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. “We are not [expletive] doing raisins,” Mikey says to his sister, changing the Berzatto’s mother recipe and making it his own. Carmy finishes off the dish by rolling the steaks, awaiting to be doused in the tomato sauce Mikey prepared.
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Try this Globe recipe for the dish by Globe food critic Devra First, inspired by a vintage cookbook and, although it features raisins, you may decide to opt out as the young Berzatto’s did.
4. Mikey’s family meal spaghetti (Season 1, Episode 8)
Originally described by Carmy as an “under-seasoned, over-sauced mess,” the spaghetti became a point of contention during the first season, when the young chef tries to remove it from the menu. With many questions still lingering regarding Mikey’s decisions about the restaurant, Richie delivers a letter left to Carmy from his late brother, containing the spaghetti recipe. Mikey’s secret? To use the small San Marzano tomatoes cans (They taste better despite being more expensive). While prepping the spaghetti, Carmy pours the small can’s contents into a pan, surprised to find $100 bills rolled inside. The season finale finds the kitchen staff opening cans, splattering tomatoes everywhere to collect the hidden fortune.
Try this Globe recipe by Vargas for a more refreshing spin on spaghetti, using fresh tomatoes instead of canned.
5. Feast of the Seven Fishes (Season 2, Episode 6)
One of the most chaotic and iconic episodes of the series, “Fishes,” is served as a flashback, chronicling a dramatic Christmas Eve dinner before Mikey’s passing. Accompanied by a star-studded cast, Berzatto matriarch Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) prepares the intricate Feast of the Seven Fishes, a series of dishes featuring a variety of seafood fare. Moving erratically while intoxicated, Donna breaks down amid the chaos, ultimately crashing a car into the family home, seasoning the Berzatto children with family trauma for years to come.
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Try this Globe Magazine recipe for a Sicilian spin on the seafood feast (family drama not included) featuring a fish stew, fennel and sardines pasta, and marinated roasted red peppers with anchovies.
Maria Jose Gutierrez Chavez can be reached at [email protected].