The lawyer’s guide to cooking

Winning Your Case in the Kitchen

JON T. HARRIS

Copyright © 2026 by Jon T. Harris

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published 2026

Printed in the United States of America

For permissions or inquiries, contact the author.

For those who think good cooking is hard.

It is not.

Don’t be shy when you cook.

Explore.

About This Book

The law and the kitchen have more in common than most people think. Both reward preparation. Both punish shortcuts. Both require you to know your materials, trust your process, and commit to the result. And in both, the difference between a good outcome and a great one is usually not talent — it is discipline, attention, and the willingness to do the work.

This book is organized the way a trial is organized. The Voir Dire section qualifies the equipment and the kitchen before a single dish is attempted. The Opening Arguments make the case for the appetizers. Discovery covers the soups and salads. Supporting Evidence presents the sides, the rice, and the risotto. The Docket handles the pasta. Admiralty Court convenes for seafood. The Poultry Court handles the chicken. The Beef Docket presents the beef cases. And the Grand Jury — convened only for matters of extraordinary importance — covers the Thanksgiving dinner, the Beef Wellington dinner, the Texas BBQ brisket dinner, and the standing rib roast.

The legal theme is not a gimmick. It is a framework. Every recipe in this book was selected because it belongs in the kitchen of someone who cooks seriously, eats well, and understands that a good meal is worth the effort it takes to produce one.

The Counsel’s Notes throughout the book are the most important parts. Read them. They are the things that separate a dish that works from one that does not.

The verdict is yours to deliver. The jury at your table will rule in your favor.

Cook well.

About the Author

Jon T. Harris learned to cook from his father. He has been cooking ever since.

Over the decades that followed, he catered events, worked in restaurants, and consulted on menus for several dining establishments. His friends have long maintained that the best restaurant in town is at his house. He does not disagree with them.

His professional life has taken a different path. Harris completed his military service as a counterintelligence officer, training in Russian and German at the Defense Language Institute and serving at Allied Checkpoint Alpha on the East-West German border during the final years of the Cold War. He went on to a career in law enforcement as a K-9 handler, SWAT operator, hostage negotiator, and patrol officer. He then spent years in high-risk security contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to the United States to attend law school.

He is now a criminal prosecutor. The work is serious, demanding, and consequential. Cooking, he will tell you, is the best departure from it. There is something clarifying about reducing a sauce, breaking down a brisket, or getting a carbonara exactly right. The kitchen requires the same precision and discipline as the courtroom. The stakes are considerably more enjoyable.

Harris is the author of fourteen books across three series and nonfiction.

The Phil Swain Spy Fiction Series:

Breakpoint • Transit to Tehran • Stopover in Leningrad • Moscow Express • Kursky Station: End of the Line

The Contractor Series:

The Hormuz Contract • The Basra Contract • The Last Contract • Once More Into the Breach

Nonfiction:

A Year Behind the Leash • The Dog Always Knows • The Ride-Along: What You Learn • Real Police Patrol: Lessons from the Street • The Graveyard Shift

The Phil Swain novels draw directly on his counterintelligence service, his language training, and his years working in some of the most difficult places in the world. The Contractor series follows a former Delta-adjacent operative navigating the shadow world between government sanction and deniable action. The dog books are true memoirs — honest accounts of his years as a K-9 handler on the streets of Texas and in the badlands of the Middle East. The most significant of them is A Year Behind the Leash: Winning the Battle on PTSD with the Help of My War Dog Partner. It is the true account of a law enforcement officer who developed severe PTSD following a line-of-duty car crash — not from combat, but from the streets of Texas, where damage can find you just as surely. Sitting in the dark and contemplating the end of it, Harris made a decision that seemed counterintuitive to everyone who heard it: he went to Afghanistan as a contract K-9 handler. What he thought would be a year turned into four. In the war zone, working alongside a dog named Uzo and the dogs that followed, he found what nothing else had given him: mission, purpose, and the slow road back to himself. The book follows him from Kandahar to Iraq and finally home — from broken cop to practicing attorney — and it is as honest an account of what PTSD does to a life as you will find. His wife Katherine is present throughout it. She is the reason he always came home. It won Best Book of 2026 in the PTSD recovery category. The Graveyard Shift and Real Police Patrol are drawn from his patrol career. All of the nonfiction is exactly what it says it is.

He will tell you that of everything he has done and everywhere he has been, there is nothing better than preparing a beautiful meal for his wife. Date night is at home. It is always worth it.

Contents

VOIR DIRE  —  Qualifying the Kitchen Before the Trial Begins

1.  Knives
2.  Sanitation

III.  Mise en Place

1.  Clarified Butter
2.  Good Ingredients
3.  The Rice Cooker

VII.  The Deep Fryer

OPENING ARGUMENTS  —  The Appetizer Section

1.  Garlic and Herb Compound Butter Crostini
2.  Caprese Bites
3.  Goat Cheese with Honey, Raspberry and Pistachios
4.  Stuffed Mushrooms with Italian Sausage
5.  Shrimp in Garlic Butter Sauce
6.  Champagne Oysters on Angel Hair
7.  French Onion Soup Shooters
8.  Seared Scallops with Sweet Potato, Caviar and Frisée
9.  Lobster Bisque
10.  Classic Shrimp Cocktail
11.  Deviled Chickpea-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
12.  Pizzette with Gorgonzola, Tomato and Basil
13.  Bruschetta
14.  Beef Wellington Bites
15.  Crab Cakes with Mango-Avocado Relish
16.  Shrimp on Crackers with Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly
17.  Jalapeño Poppers
18.  Stuffed Mushrooms with Boursin
19.  Homemade Tortilla Chips

DISCOVERY  —  Soups and Salads

1.  French Onion Soup
2.  Tomato Basil Soup
3.  Seafood Gumbo
4.  Loaded Baked Potato Soup
5.  Wonton Soup
6.  Tuna Salad
7.  Rotisserie Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts
8.  Egg Salad

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE  —  Rice, Sides and Risotto

1.  Perfect White Rice
2.  Coconut Rice
3.  Mexican-Style Rice
4.  Rice Pilaf
5.  Fried Rice
6.  Green Beans with Almonds
7.  Honey Glazed Carrots
8.  Baked Beans
9.  Sautéed Mushrooms
10.  Grilled Asparagus
11.  Steamed Artichoke with Clarified Butter
12.  Mashed Potatoes
13.  Roasted New Potatoes
14.  Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Apple Cider
15.  Mac and Cheese
16.  Mushroom Risotto
17.  Lobster Risotto
18.  Sweet Potato Risotto with Brown Butter and Sage
19.  Butternut Squash Risotto
20.  Croatian Squid Ink Risotto
21.  Garlic Bread

THE PASTA DOCKET  —  Cases 1–13

1.  Fettuccine Alfredo
2.  Linguini with Clams
3.  Bolognese
4.  Tagliatelle with Bacon and Mushrooms
5.  Carbonara
6.  Rich Meat Sauce
7.  Cacio e Pepe
8.  Tortellini al Curry
9.  Pasta al Limone
10.  Baked Ziti
11.  Sicilian Lasagna
12.  Marinara Sauce
13.  Pasta Aglio e Olio

ADMIRALTY COURT  —  Seafood Cases 1–13

1.  Seared Salmon with Crispy Skin
2.  Fish and Chips
3.  Salt Crust Sea Bass
4.  Pan-Fried Tilapia with Panko Crust
5.  Oysters Rockefeller
6.  Grilled Octopus
7.  Mussels Marinara
8.  Mussels with Harissa and Basil
9.  Lobster Thermidor
10.  Bouillabaisse
11.  Grilled Black Cod with Ginger and Miso
12.  Shrimp Scampi
13.  Seafood Paella

THE POULTRY COURT  —  Cases 1–14

1.  Marry Me Chicken
2.  Chicken Piccata
3.  Cilantro-Lime Chicken
4.  Cowboy Butter Chicken Skillet
5.  Santa Fe Skillet Chicken
6.  Chicken Pesto Pasta
7.  Crunchy Coconut Chicken
8.  Chicken Enchiladas
9.  Orange Chicken
10.  Chicken Stir-Fry
11.  Chicken Alfredo
12.  Sheet-Pan Crispy Ramen
13.  Fried Chicken
14.  Skillet Sicilian Chicken

THE BEEF DOCKET  —  Cases 1–11

1.  Cast Iron Ribeye
2.  Beef Tenderloin with Compound Butter
3.  Steak Frites
4.  Steak Tartare
5.  Beef Bourguignon
6.  Braised Beef Short Ribs
7.  Classic Beef Stew
8.  Shepherd's Pie — Two Versions
9.  Meatloaf
10.  Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
11.  Beef Stroganoff

THE GRAND JURY  —  Special Proceedings

1.  Thanksgiving Dinner
2.  Beef Wellington Dinner

III.  Texas BBQ Brisket Dinner

1.  Standing Rib Roast with Yorkshire Pudding

CLOSING ARGUMENT  —

APPENDIX  —  Tips You Should Know