November 2003 Archives

I like corn and corn bread. I like corn bread and I especially like corn meal. I like corn meal and I like corn meal cook books. So when I saw this little "illi" I hadda take it home with me.

The Recipe
BATTER-DIPPED HOT DOGS

½ cup corn meal
½ cup sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teasoon pepper
1 egg, beaten
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons melted lard or bacon grease

12 WEINERS

Sift together dry ingredients. Add egg, milk and lard and/or bacon grease. Beat with rotary beater until smooth... ah!

Dip WEINERS into batter; drain...

Fry in hot deep fat (375°F) 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain... on absorbant paper. Makes 6 servings!

Guess what though. I HATE HOT DOGS!!!

MeatHenge is down with the flu. First it was Momma and baby, now it's Papa and waiting to see if older boy gets it.
Thanksgiving dinner had to move locations, but all turned out stellar. I have that to post along with a few other goodies. So hang tight boys & girls and we'll get rolling along in a bit. Hugs to all.

Surely you'd have thought I would have roasted a chicken with the Danish Viking Smoked Salt by now. Nope. I believe I was waiting until I could rub the entire chicken with it and not have to leave any open parts for the kids. Well, I couldn't wait any longer last night and only rubbed 3/4 of the chicken. I can live with that.
Out came the cast iron skillet with trivet, then and only then I rubbed the chicken with extra virgin olive oil. Rubbing it with Viking Salt was a trill ride man !!! I got that awesome smell all over my hands! OH MAN IT WAS GREAT !! For hours I sat in the living room smelling my fingers. I didn't mention anything to my wife because she's already pretty well creeped out by me taking pictures of food. I figured she didn't need to find me in the living room playing stink finger with myself. But I digress ...
Cook the chicken upside down for an hour, then rotate around so the breast can get her browning. Pull and set aside. Heat up the skillet with some fresh finely diced shallots. Put in a tablespoon of flour/cornstarch (remember corn starch has twice the thickening power of flour) and make a nice paste. Add some liquid and make yer gravy. DON'T ADD ANY SALT, or wait until you taste the gravy first. Remember you rubbed the entire damn chicken with salt. Grind pepper. Steam some vegie you like and make a starch. Any kind of starch will do, you just want something to hold the gravy. Know what I mean? yes.

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to take a moment here and thank Dennis for some kick ass advice a week ago or so. You see, I wanted more from my lighting set up at home, in the kitchen, for food. Since I have a small kitchen, it's tough some times to get the lighting just right. Well, since my old Sunpak 555 handle-mount flash unit didn't sell on ebay (idiots), Dennis suggested I get an adapter (surely they make one he said) that slides on the flash shoe of my digital rig. All the adapter would have to have is a PC connector on it. Sure enough, Sarber's Camera in Berkeley had it in stock! I dashed over there, slid it on and POW, I had a flash on my digital camera with a GN of about 160 (that's really a lot). This is now a manly rig and commands respect where ever I go (home & work usually). All this and more I owe to Dennis, who in one fell swoop was able to cause mere mortals to shake and tremble in my presence. THANKS Dennis!

Nope, nothing special here. This right here is THE standard ol' Spaghetti. It's exactly what everyone makes more than a few times a month and for us maybe once a week. Every batch is different from the last but always just as tasty. Yum.

Come check out this Danish Viking Smoked Salt Pan Sauce I made last night ...

Juicy inside & Crispy Outside

Once in a great while I will follow a recipe. Usually I find myself flipping though maybe a half dozen and seeing what I like and don't on each one. So far, I've done very well this way. For whatever reason this last Sunday foodtv dot com had just what I thought I wanted. Sure it made enough for 20 servings, but I was feeling up to the task and went shopping first thing in the a.m. And true to my way of shopping it took no less than 3 grocery stores to render what I needed, mostly because it was 9:15 Sunday morning. I was on a mission.

Fresh bagel time !!!

I'm not sure what prevoked her, but my wife made fresh bagels on Saturday. We'd never made them before, maybe it was the conquest of food untried that set this baking frenzy into motion.
As near as I could see she opened up The Joy of Cooking for the recipe. It seemed straight forward enough. Make a dough using ... ingredients, let it rise. Then make some little logs, and then make rings from those logs. Let those rise too. Heat up a pot of water and boilem' for a bit. Then pop them into the oven after wiping a little eggy wash on them.

I liked them a lot.

This entry thoughtfully given to us by Grampa!

Pot-roasted Pork and Apples

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4
Categories : pork

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 3/4 pound pork tenderloins
1 pound medium shallots -- peeled
1 parsnip (1/2 pond) -- halved lenghtwise and sliced
1/2" thick
2 cloves garlic -- coarsely chopped
4 baking apples (2 pounds) -- peeled and quartered
2 cups apple cider (juice)
3 large thyme sprigs
salt and pepper

Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a cast-iron casserole. Add the pork and brown; transfer to a platter.

Heat another tablespoon of the olive oil in the casserole. Add the shallots and the parsnip and cook untill lightly browned, about 8 minutes, add to the platter. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pot. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the apples and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the cider and thyme to the pot and simmer, stirring to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom. Add the pork and vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until the meat is barely rosy within, aboui 25 minutes. Remove the pork. Simmer the apples and vegetables over moderately high heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Carve the pork and serve with the apples and vegetables.

Source:
"Food & Wine p. 84"
Copyright:
"11/2003"

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 92 Calories; 10g Fat (97.5% calories from fat); trace Protein; trace Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; trace Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Vegetable; 2 Fat.

A crazed butcher or crazed grill meister? Either way Rick's customer's walked away this drizzly Friday afternoon with a belly full of smoked pork shoulder sammiches. If you have a few moments to make your way into El Cerrito on Fridays you'll be rewarded with a smoked meat treat.

Does anyone have some nice Wednesday Night dinner ideas? Please leave responses in the COMMENTS section below.

Are you tired of receiving this (see below) when you ask for Chili? Are you thinking that just possibly you could do better? You can. You will. You must.
And if you've done any research for chili recipes you know that there are as many variances as there are home remedies for the common cold. Just ask anyone. Some people don't like beans, some do. Or add tequila or whole tomatoes, or no tomatoes. You just need to find what you like and do that. I found that using coarse ground beef and real chilies help with the final product. All the rest is just for fun.

Saturday night pork party with spicy dry rub and oranges.

Boston Butt Pork roast with bone in.

Slow roasted at 300 degrees for six hours. Just what you need.

It was this yummy.

This is one of our favorites; it's hearty and brightly delicious. Crazy large hunks of chicken swimming in a rich & thick juicy sauce of love. You can pour it over rice or potatoes or probably even toast and have a teeerific wintery meal.

Pot Roast. Pot Roast. Check your buds, they're tingling aren't they? You know damn well they are. There is some time in your past when you layed yourself into a gargantuan portion of Pot Roast and you can't shake it. And you know? If you spend any time on the internet reading about home chef's attempts at Pot Roast you'll find that rarely can anyone make it, or make it well. At least make it well enough to want to eat it again.

MeatHenge's crack reporter Cindy heads off to Mobile for a late in the year meat treat. This time though, there's been a change in the menu! There's a new rib place in town. She and her friends pile into the Winnie and head out to find out whose ribs are best.
Please look to your left and under "FEATURED ARTICLES" you'll notice the two entries for the Rib Off v1 and v2.

Now, these are all just guidelines for measurement. The recipe is my head, and I just do what seems right, and what tastes good. The rest is up to you.

1 small pumpkin (I think we got a small 3 pounder)
1 lb real good smoked ham
4 stalks celery
1 onion
1/2 bag bunny baby carrots
1 fistfull (one girly handful, mind you) fresh (!) oregano
1 fistfull fresh sage
1 fistfull thyme
1 entire garlic thingie
1/4 tsp creole seasoning or just cayenne is ok
1/2 cup white wine (or it could been alot more, we just kept pouring)
6 cups real honest to god homemade chicken broth
1/2 pint heavy cream

Gut pumpkin and slice up into big wedgies. Baste each piece with olive oil covering all exposed pumpkin bits. Put on biiig cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for hours, or until it softens. At some point cut the top off the garlic clove and put in foil, covering with olive oil and put into bake until real soft with the pumpkin.

When the pumpkin is soft, let it cool, it really hurts to try and wrastle the skin off when it's real hot.

Dice onion, carrots, celery and herbs, creole stuff and sautee in olive oil and, if you're daring, a little butter.

Peel the skin off the pumpkin wedgies and cut into large chunks, put in pot with sauteing veggies, start adding your broth and wine, enough to cover the pumpkiny bits.

Cook for 30-45 minutes until the pumpkin is turning to mush. Then put mixture through the blender until smooth. Add back into pot. Dice ham into 1/2 " cubes and add. Start adding the heavy cream, chicken broth, and more wine, stirring constantly over low heat. Keep tasting until it's good.

That's it! Ready to eat!

These are scary food pictures. The real deal looked and tasted great!

Yeah, okay I am a bit behind. OH well. You know it was a good halloween when you wake up and find an empty knife rack in the kitchen and the shower curtain needs to be washed.

Nothing says the weather is getting cooler liked a big ol' batch of baked applies. Do what you see and cook for 45 minutes at 350. EASY. Don't use margarine FOO. These apples are Red Delicious and came from my Uncle's trees.