Mmmmmm.

Kevin’s Beer Bread. Had some last night with some turkey soup. Very nice.

Politics, religion, and barbecue. No good can come from this.

Coming soon to a restaurant near you. I make these and they’re quite good. And fries need ketchup so I usually mix some sour cream, brown sugar, and honey to dip the fries in.

Makes me hungry.

Nice!

Someone asked for my pickle recipe, and I answer.

From Home Life

For my pickling spice, I use the following:

2 tablespoons mustard seed
2 tablespoons coriander
2 tablespoons peppercorn
1 broken to bits cinnamon stick

In each jar, I put one to two tablespoons of this concoction depending on jar size. Then I put in a couple cloves of garlic, one cayenne pepper, and 3 to four sprigs of fresh dill. Then, fill the jar with whatever you’re pickling. Pack it as tight as you can. In the pic above, from left to right, are cucumbers, garlic and cayenne peppers (with a few serranos thrown in).

Then, bring to a boil a mixture of 3:1 water to white vinegar ratio. Add kosher salt to taste (about 3 – 6 table spoons). Once it’s boiling, fill jars up with the mixture and put the lid on it. Let them cool and place in the refrigerator. The vinegar and spices will steep the veggies. Will be ready in 3 to 7 days. Keeps for months.

Sort of mood. Junior and I made some pickles, pickled garlic and pickled peppers:

From Home Life

Noms commence in a week or so.

The kids dig watermelon. Trouble is, we can never eat a whole one before it goes bad. So, I started making watermelon popsicles. Fill your blender with watermelon and hit the juice setting. Then strain to get rid of pieces of seed. Place in a popsicle tray overnight and the kids love them.

Also, the latest creation is, and I am not making this up, cucumber popsicles. Our cucumber plants are out of control and, frankly, we can’t go through them all, even giving them to our neighbors. This is a bit more work but is delicious. Put a quarter cup of lime juice and a half cup of sugar in a pan and heat it up. While the sugar is dissolving, seed and peel 3 whole cucumbers. Put them in the blender and add your sugar and lime juice mix and hit the juice setting. Freeze in popsicle trays over night. No need to strain these.

I love them. Tam is becoming a fan. I like to follow my mom’s recipe and smash a couple up. Coat with lime juice (keeps them green). Then add a couple of tomatoes, a diced serrano pepper, garlic, cilantro, onion and a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce for some guacamole.

Various Barbecue recipes.

Here’s mine.

Three Rivers Cornmeal is still going under but apparently White Lily is the same recipe. Some folks are upset:

I have two bags of Three Rivers cornmeal left. I’m going to bronze them for bookends.

Via Shane.

Three Rivers Corn Meal going under. I use that stuff in my cornbread.

I told you I’d start more recipe blogging.

This is a post about making your own barbecue sauce. This is a recipe that started based on a concoction my brother in law J-Lo (who has been featured here before) discovered. It has since gone through several iterations. This is the current version which will no doubt change as it does often. Fire up your smoker (optional but if you’re cooking some food on it, may as well cook the sauce there too). Phase one:

8 pieces of thick cut bacon
1 large onion, finely chopped
8 teaspoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons chili powder
1 – 2 chopped cayenne peppers. Note that these can be fresh or dried. I grow my own and the plants produce a lot. So, I hang the excess peppers from a string and let them dry out in the garage. They’ll keep for a very long time.

In a skillet, fry up your bacon. Eat bacon for breakfast because if you’re smoking some meat, you probably started early. Retain the bacon fat. You can substitute a stick of butter for bacon fat but why would you? Unless you’re a vegetarian. But if you’re a vegetarian, I imagine your need for barbecue sauce is low. To the bacon fat, add the onion, garlic, and peppers. Cook until the onions become tender. Add chili powder and stir. Cook for a few minutes longer. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You’re only going to allow this to cool because getting hot stuff on you can burn. After you’re satisfied that you won’t burn yourself, pour the mixture into a food processor. Hit frappe and allow it to run until the mixture is mostly liquefied.

Transfer the liquid to a large pot and put it on the stove. To the mixture, stir in the following:

4 cups ketchup
1 cup yellow mustard
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup honey
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons of ginger powder
1/4 cup Soy sauce
ground black pepper to taste (I like mine peppery)
Kosher salt to taste

Bring mixture to a gentle boil and reduce heat. After a few minutes on reduced heat, transfer to your smoker. And let it cook all day. I said the smoker was optional. If you do not plan on using one or don’t have one, no worries. Just keep cooking it on the stove. If you do not use a smoker, I recommend adding a bit of Liquid Smoke to add some smoky flavor. And keep it on your stove on low for an hour or so.

I like mine a bit spicy so I’ll also add some hot sauce on occasion.

You can use the sauce on any thing you’d put barbecue sauce on. Once the sauce cools, I transfer my sauce to a large and clean ketchup bottle and keep it in the fridge. It will keep for several months.

Cool cake designs

I like to cook. The wife and I have various recipes strewn about the house on paper, note cards, and carrier pigeons. And I have the oft neglected recipes category on the blog. So, I decided it’d a good idea so start typing them up to put on the old webpage so that I can 1) find them easily; 2) share with people; and 3) for the kids to find later. I’ve discovered at this point in life that my mom and dad made some really damn good food. And I occasionally want some of the old favorites. But, I don’t have the recipe. So, I call up mom and ask how to make stuff. Like her clam chowder. So, if my kids want that, they’ll have it.

Speaking of mom, I generally like to make my own salad dressing. Here’s one of my faves from Mom: Hawaiian Dressing. And, so, it seems appropriate to start this new endeavor with a new favorite of mine: Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing (quick and easy).

1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Quarter cup of milk

Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Whisk until smooth.

Update: For you purists, no there’s no anchovy paste. Mostly because I don’t usually have any around.

Chris and Melody are publishing a cookbook.

The best sandwich: Muffuletta, Reuben, Patty Melt, Bacon Double Cheeseburger, or Fluffernutter?

Perhaps worthy of the list is my brother in law’s Italian Redneck Hotdog. Grill up some Italian sausage, put it on a hotdog bun with some spaghetti sauce of choice and mozzarella. But I’m leaving it off the poll because you probably haven’t had one. But you should.

Fish stew recipe.

Mongolian beef from a blog that has a great name.

Blueberry dump cake because even survivalists like dessert.

Breda tells us how to roast garlic in a crock pot. Cool. I do the same on the grill. Cut the tops, put in foil with some oil, and toss it on the grill for 20 to 30 minutes.

This weekend, me, the wife, and kids built a raised garden. Ours is 10X4. Gonna put some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and some veggies. Any suggestions for something I might be missing? Junior wants to do watermelons.

Update: I didn’t know it was a survival garden.

Coincidentally, compost is easy to get when you share a border with a cattle farm.

I agree. Made some the other night.

It’s an internet hit. Recipe is here. A few weeks ago, me and my brother in law, J-Lo, decided to have a go at it. Here’s J-Lo getting his bacon weave on (and because I told him I’d put his picture on the internet):

From Home Life

Weave complete:

From Home Life

Almost ready:

From Home Life

All done:

From Home Life

Quite good, I have to say. Even better was the next day when I put a slice on a sandwich with some spicy mustard.

For our next artery clogging trick, we’re probably going to try the Double Bypass Burger.

Mmmm, tactical bacon.

They’re pretty smart. Interact well with humans when domesticated. Can be easily trained. Unfortunately for them, they’re made of bacon. Mmmmm, bacon.

I am remiss in mentioning that Bitter is now a food blogger. Mmmm, corned beef and cabbage.

First, bacon is not a vegetable. I’m pretty sure about that. Secondly, if it has beans in it, then it is chili with beans. Chili has no beans. I am definitely sure about that.

I like bacon. I like bourbon. Not sure I’d want to mix the two though.

First habanero of the year. I diced this one up and put it in the wife’s white chicken chili:

Mmmmm.

Ya know, I yammer on about a lot of controversial topics here. But if you want to really piss people off, talk about martinis err bradfords sans vermouth plus olive.

Greg couldn’t help himself.

Heh: The moral of this story is, if you don’t like Martinis, then just call it a Vodka Rocks with olives and be done with it

So, Greg tells you how he makes a martini. LawDog does the same.

Robb offers his $0.02. Heh.

To say I like my martinis dry is an understatement. My recipe is simple. And my friends will attest that this is the recipe I follow:

Put three olives (good ones, not cheap ones – all preference really) on a toothpick. Stick said toothpick into a cocktail glass.

In a cocktail mixer, add ice and vodka of choice (I go with Grey Goose). I use vodka because gin tastes like ass err Pine-Sol. Look at mixer and say the word vermouth. Shake. Pour into glass over olives.

There you go.

So, tonight we got some friends over and we’re doing a beer butt chicken (more here). But that’s all preliminary as me and said male friend will get up at 0 early thirty and smoke about 55 pounds of Boston butts. And we’ll drink beer from about 0 early thirty until said butts are done.

Mmmm. I do like butts of all kinds.

Update: BTW, all this butt talk has Junior confused. We’ve told her that butt is a bad word. So, whenever I reference a butt she reminds me we don’t say that because it’s a bad word.

Chris tells you how to pan fry a steak. On occasions when I cannot grill, I’ve found that a broiler pan and the broil setting on the oven works quite well.

While we’re discussing food, Loubie Bzeit looks very good though unpronounceable.

Ya know, when it comes to cooking, I’m a firm believer that bacon makes things better. But I may have found an exception: Bacon Mints.

Uhm, Ok.

The Uncle clan survived round one.

What to do with a turkey carcass? Make stock. I do that too. It’s awesome. And Turkeyocaust? Why not a carrotcaust?

These are the cries of the carrots.

They do seem popular lately. I’ve always enjoyed them myself. Now that they’re popular, they’ve doubled in price at the local grocery store. And there’s all kinds of pomegranate juices these days. Here’s a handy tip on how to prepare them.

Also, don’t rule out the juice you buy at the store. Mix a bit of juice with vodka for Pometini (yummy) and (my favorite for a refreshing summer drink) is to mix some juice with a bit of vodka, a little sugar, and some carbonated water over ice for a pomegranate spritzer. Garnish with an orange slice.

At GBR, I mentioned Fried Coke. No one believed me. Well, looky from Yahoo’s main page.

Discovered this recipe this weekend and love it. Thought I’d share. It’s a Korean dish and it is a very light soup. You’ll need:

1 clove of minced garlic
5 green onions chopped – white and thick green part only
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar (cooking sherry will do in a pinch)
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 or so cups of chicken stock
1/2 pound of fresh, clean spinach
2 cans of chopped clams – drained (you can use fresh but they weren’t in season)

In a pot, add the oil and saute the garlic for a minute or two. Add four of the five green onions and saute another minute. Add the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and the sesame oil. Stir until it’s adequately mixed. Add the stock and bring to a low boil. Add clams and spinach and cook until spinach is cooked (about 10 minutes).

Garnish with your remaining chopped onions.

Mmm, tasty and fast.

Update: disagreement on using sherry in lieu of rice wine vinegar. It’s what I’ve heard but I always have the rice wine at home. Also, you can make it without the clams or substituting a variety of greens. Still, yummy.

But I have found a way to improve the world’s greatest sandwich: add a slice of onion.

Making Italian subs. Simple:

Grill some Italian sausages (hot for me, mild for The Mrs.)

Put them on a bun and add some of your favorite leftover spaghetti sauce, some mozzarella cheese, and some fresh basil. Onions optional.

Speaking of grilling

Smoking a couple of Boston Butts today. Here’s how. The night before, buy some butts, remove them from the package, run water over them then dab with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Do not remove the fat. It adds moisture and prevents burning in the event your fire gets out of control. Make your rub. Here’s mine (I use rough percentages because who knows how much you’ll make):

30% Brown sugar
10% Kosher salt
10% Garlic powder
10% Mustard powder
5% Cumin
5% Cinnamon
10% Paprika
10% Chili powder
10% Red pepper (powder, not flakes)

And some fresh ground black pepper to taste.

As you can see, it’s largely brown sugar. Next, rub your butt. Well, rub the, err, rub on the meat. You can even slap your butt a few times for good measure. Do both sides. Place them in a large dish, cover in foil and place it in the fridge over night. This lets the rub really sink in. While your at it, take some mesquite or hickory logs or chunks and place them in a bucket. Cover with water and let them sit over night as well.

The next day, get up and make a fresh pot of coffee (this will be important later). Have a cup or two. Then, fire up the smoker. I like to use charcoal and add my soaked wood chunks every couple of hours. The soaked chips make a lot more smoke.

Now, take one 12oz can of your favorite beer and pour it into a bowl. Add roughly equal parts vinegar and the left over coffee you just enjoyed. Add a bout 1/4 cup of minced garlic to that. This stuff works wonders at both keeping your butts moist and adding a tangy garlicky flavor. Once your smoker settles between about 250-300 degrees (never over 300), put your big butt on there. About once every half hour, I take about a quarter cup of the beer/coffee/vinegar mixture and just pour it over the top of that big ol’ butt. I cook my butts for between 7-12 hours while drinking beer, and lounging around. An empty beer is a good reminder to go and pour some mixture over your butts.

Here we are about three hours in.

Yum. Notice they’re dark from the rub, which is now starting to crisp up a bit. After about 7-12 hours, sample a piece. If satisfied, remove from smoker, chop up or pull apart. Use your favorite mop sauce to have barbecue sandwiches or pulled pork. Also, if you buy one, you may as well buy 2 or 3. You can freeze any leftovers and they’ll keep for months.

ETA: And the garden shovel is to remove coals as needed.

ETA 2: And I rarely flip mine. If I do, I do it once about half way through.

Mmm, corned beef.

You can call it chili with beans but you cannot call it chili.

I could give my chili with beans recipe but just listing the ingredients will cause your cholesterol to rise by 10 points.

Tilapia.

Chris is right: real Chili has no beans. But I don’t call it Chili Bean Stew. I call it Chili with beans.

Lentil soup.

Aunt B. says broccoli cheese soup makes her happy. Well, here’s my recipe, which is easy, fast and tasty:

super easy, fast and tasty

2 cups frozen or fresh chopped broccoli

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup flour

1 to 2 cups milk depending on desired thickness

14ish ounces of chicken stock (homemade or from a can)

Pepper to taste

1 cup of grated American cheese (or Velveeta – am I the only one concerned about a dairy product that isn’t refrigerated at the grocery store?)

In a large pot, bring to light boil onions, broccoli and chicken broth. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 or so minutes. In bowl, combine flour, pepper and milk mixture. Stir milk/flour mixture into broth/veggie mixture. Stir regularly for several minutes to allow mixture to thicken.

After mixture has thickened, gradually stir in cheese. Cook until all cheese melts. Good stuff!

Can be substituted for shoe polish for a short time.

No, the other kind. Company coming, so I did some cooking. Politically Incorrect Dog is always up for camera time:

My yard looks like shit. The crab grass is still winning.

But some perfect ribs:

I hear some folks like the baby backs. Not me. I like my ribs to have enough meat that you bite into them and taste, you know, meat. So, I use plain old pork ribs. Actually, I personally prefer beef ribs but I am apparently the only one on the planet that does so I make concessions for guests.

Yeah, they’re good too. I’ll take the Pepsi challenge with any of ya.

Update: Junior concurs:

Well, you have to love a recipe that starts with Open an ice cold beer.

I love mangos. Here’s a handy guide on how to cut them.

Barbeque

No, not a gun. A mint julep. Mmmm, julep.

I use some old glass jars with bail wires or old olive oil bottles with wider mouths on them but a clean sterile mason jar or mayo jar should work fine

Slice and dice up nicely a green or red bell pepper and an onion(yellow is best). Until they are about the size of the side of an individual die(dice). I made a mistake once of slicing thin french fry size cuts of bell once and getting them out of the dang jar was a major pain, so make sure the cut pieces will slide out when aged.

Then hand mix equal parts and pack into your jars. After adding two good tablespoons full of pickling salt(non-iodized) fill with hot cider vinegar(standard white vinegar will work). Cap and then let them set for two months or more.

After draining most of the vinegar add the seasoning according to taste to the dried beans in your crockpot or bean pot. I normally add about one full cup of this type of seasoning to 2 pounds of brown beans or a package of 15 bean soup bean mix. It is all to taste here people.

The aged/pickled aromatic add a nice kick to the pot of beans and is easily noticeable. You can get a good pot of beans with fresh onions and peppers but I find that this quick pickling of them adds a whole new realm of flavor in the finished product.

I use three variants.

1 the standard as mentioned above
2 one good banana or Jalopeno diced and added per two pint is also good
3 Minced Garlic according to taste

I have four bottles aging as I write this. It makes a pot of dried beans have a nice flavor when you might be tired of just adding the standard ham flavor or ham hock.

At home with Junior all day, one of the things I feel obligated to do in my role as stay-at-home-dad (which will be permanent in a week) is to make dinner. We’re having bacon cheeseburgers and not any pre-packaged burgers either. Real meat ground from a cow who was alive three days ago that I got from some farmer friends. Anyway, I just put kosher salt on the bacon and I felt dirty.

And since I’m making burgers, thought I’d share:

1 pound of ground beef – not that low fat stuff either, if you use low fat you have to add egg and bread crumbs to make the patties stick. Use full fat to bypass burgers that taste like meat loaf.
1/2 cup Worcestershire
2 table spoons ground mustard
2 table spoons of minced garlic
4 table spoons of barbecue sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix in a bowl. Pat into 3/4 inch thick patties. Cook on the grill or (like I’m doing since it’s winter) broil for 15 – 20 minutes. Pan fried burgers kinda suck since they don’t cook even. Remove from oven. I add cooked bacon and cheese then put them back in the oven for a couple of minutes. Yum.

And if you happen to like low fat burgers, put your skirt on before coming to my house.

Cowboy Blob’s friend reviews the Kel-Tec Sub2000 9mm Carbine.

Cowboy Blob tells us that the MechTech sucks.

Mr. Completely reviews the Hi Point 9MM carbine.

And when you’re done, have some pickled cole slaw.

I’m with Chuck, infra-red grills take the fun out of grilling. May as well microwave it. As a bonus, here’s a Korean barbecue marinade recipe I use on beef ribs:

1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons minced garlic
splash of powdered ginger
Korean red pepper powder (to taste – I use a tablespoon or two)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 chopped green onions
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

Mix together and marinate your beef short ribs for a few hours before grilling. Yummy.

In the event you have not tried the new Peanut Butter Creme Double Stuff Oreos, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and head to the store to get some. And pick up some milk while you’re there. I’m not kidding. They’re that good.

Update: Even if that means taking the day off from work. Seriously, go now.

Rocket Jones has the latest Carnival of the Recipes.

You ever been to a Japanese steak house and had the hibachi sauce? It’s sort of tastes like it’s based on mayo. Anyone know how to make it?

Somebody paid $41,000 for a fungus. Is it just me, or is that insane? At least the money went to charity.

Company is coming. I’m smoking a Boston Butt and we’re mopping it up with Mango Barbecue Sauce (recipe later, if you want it). Trying these for the first time today as an appetizer. Ingredients:

12 Jalapeño Peppers, cut long ways, stemmed and seeded.
12 pieces of bacon
Cream cheese
Cumin
Garlic powder
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

After cutting the peppers long ways (you will have 24 halves, fill 12 of the halves with a dollop of cream cheese. Put a dash of garlic powder and cumin on the cream cheese. Put the peppers back together. Wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon (Everything is better with bacon). Use a toothpick to hold them together. Salt and pepper the bacon. Grill until bacon is done.

I’ll let you know how they are.

Update: Quite tasty. The peppers I used (which I grew myself) are possibly the hottest Jalapeños I’ve ever had. I can eat hot stuff with the best of them and these got a bit too hot for me. I only ate three and no one else would try them. Milder peppers are a must. I do recommend them because they have good flavor but these peppers were damn hot.

The latest is up. Note to self: Send something next time.

Another blog meme. This one is for recipes.

I should point out SayUncle has a recipe section too.

Meant to post this a while back when Bubba was asking for sauce recipes. I dig Boston Butts. My usual method of preparation is to throw some charcoal in the smoker, add some hickory or mesquite logs (or chips) that have been soaking in water for a few days, and smoke the butt on about 250 degrees for 7 to 9 hours. However, when in a rush for lunch, you can do one in the oven on about 350 degrees for about 30 minutes per pound.

Regardless, to prepare the butt, I either do a rub or oil marinade. The rub consists of chili powder, cumin, garlic, mustard powder, paprika, kosher salt, brown sugar and pepper. I’ve never really measured amounts and tend to eyeball it. The oil marinade consists of 3/4 cup of olive oil, 8 fresh chopped basil leaves, two table spoons of fresh chopped rosemary and a couple table spoons of garlic. Salt and pepper the butt then spoon the marinade over it. Cook as outlined above.

One of the mop sauces I use (that I used today, in fact) is a vinegar sauce. Make this about and hour before you eat because it’s good fresh and it doesn’t keep for more than a couple of days. Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1.5 cups of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 freshly chopped jalapeños (chopped thin. You can make the sauce less spicy by removing the seeds. I never do, though)
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
1 small onion chopped
2 tablespoons garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Spoon over the meat that you pull from the Boston butt. I’ll post my more traditional (i.e., tomato based) mop sauce soon. Go ahead, fix some. It’s good, I promise. Enjoy.

One word: Yum!

1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 table spoons ground mustard
1 table spoon garlic
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup soy sauce

Whisk ingredients together and marinate 2 to 4 steaks in it for several hours. Grill and eat.

First, he was talking about his butt. Now, his wiener. Geez, get a room.

I periodically need reminding of my hillbilly roots, I typically do this by enjoying some fine southern cuisine. Today’s culinary selection is a true southern staple, pinto beans. Stuff needed:

Large pot
Water
Dried pinto beans
Onion chopped
2 – 3 Bay leaves
Either a Ham hock, soup bone, or some salt pork fatback

The quick method: Put beans in pot, boil on high heat for 10 minutes, strain. Add enough water to clear the beans by about an inch or two. Add remainder of ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and let gently boil for a few hours or until beans are tender.

Over night method: Bypass the boiling for 10 minutes and soak the beans in a large pot over night. The next morning, strain. Add enough water to clear the beans by about an inch or two. Add remainder of ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and let gently boil for a few hours or until beans are tender.

With pinto beans, you must have corn bread. Seriously, it’s a law or something.

Dale has a good looking stew recipe.

. . . you other brothers can’t deny . . .

I covered the basic recipe for beer butt chicken here, but Steve’s sauce sounds amazing. I would not have thought to inject it into the bird. Gonna have to try that.

I have been remiss in my recipe blogging, so here’s a good little dish that will make you popular with anyone who likes olives. Trust me, this is the one most folks ask me how to make after they have it:

Olive Salad (note that amounts need not be exact)

Ingredients (for all this chopping, I use one of these but a food processor works as well):

One can of black olives (chopped)

An equal amount of green olives (chopped)

6 or 8 stalks of celery or celery hearts (chopped)

1 table spoon of minced garlic

1 cup of chopped leaks (or green onions; or both)

Mix all ingredients into a bowl with a lid and shake to mix thoroughly. Serve as a side dish or on crackers.

Also good to add but not necessary: capers, pepperoni, or sprinkle feta.

Heck, it’s good on a ham sandwich too.

I gave the recipe for Mustgo a bit back. Tommy has some advice on what to avoid.

I guess it is odd to list a recipe that tells people to use their own judgment.

By grandfather used to make this all the time. Essentially, it is a soup. You make this when every thing in your fridge Must Go. It’s the end of the week and you leftovers are about to go bad, what do you do? Make Mustgo, of course.

Ingredients:

Beef stock (or beef bullion; or any sort of meat drippings)

Any meats and veggies in the fridge that you don’t want in there tomorrow. This includes cabbage, carrots, potatoes mashed potatoes, corn, beans, chicken, beef, pork, turkey, whatever. Use your own judgment. If it’s good in soup, it can go in the pot.

Bring beef stock to boil, add remaining ingredients. Let simmer until ingredients cook. Add water if necessary. Cook for at least an hour, preferably more. Eat with corn bread. It really is delicious and it’s different every time.

I was heating up some broccoli cheese soup* in the microwave here at the office and I paused the microwave to stir it. I spilled a drop on my leather shoes. I took a paper towel and wiped it off. It left a surprisingly lustrous shine on my brown shoes. Strange.

* Broccoli Cheese Soup – super easy, fast and tasty

2 cups frozen or fresh chopped broccoli

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup flour

1 to 2 cups milk depending on desired thickness

14ish ounces of chicken stock (homemade or from a can)

Pepper to taste

1 cup of grated American cheese (or Velveeta – am I the only one concerned about a dairy product that isn’t refrigerated at the grocery store?)

In a large pot, bring to light boil onions, broccoli and chicken broth. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 or so minutes. In bowl, combine flour, pepper and milk mixture. Stir milk/flour mixture into broth/veggie mixture. Stir regularly for several minutes to allow mixture to thicken.

After mixture has thickened, gradually stir in cheese. Cook until all cheese melts. Good stuff!

Update: Shine is gone now and I am left with a white film. Eew!

This recipe is for some fine homemade salad dressing. It has been dubbed Hawaiian Dressing not because it’s actually Hawaiian but because when my mom learned to make it, we lived in Hawaii.

Ingredients
5 tablespoons of vinegar (white or apple cider)
5 tablespoons of olive oil
5 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons of Salad Supreme
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

Combine ingredients in salad shaker or jar. Shake vigorously. Use as salad dressing. Refrigerate any unused portion.

Trust me, it’s delicious!

As the weather gets cold, my thoughts turn to soup. One of my favorite winter soups is New England Clam Chowder. This is quick and easy (for soup):

4 strips of bacon, chopped into tiny bits
1 large onion, chopped
5 6oz cans of minced clams (or 3 10oz cans of whole baby claims; or 10oz fresh clams if you can get them)
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups diced potatoes
Quart of milk
4 tablespoons of flour
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, fry the bacon until it is not quite wiggly. Add all the vegetables and sauté until moderately tender. Add the flour. Be sure to stir the flour into the bacon grease until smooth. Add the cans of clams (including juice) and the milk. Cook until veggies are tender (20 – 30 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Enjoy.

P.S. Substitute another couple of cups of potatoes instead of the clams and it makes excellent potato soup.

P.P.S. Despite the last two recipe posts, not every thing I cook has bacon grease in it.

Eric tells us how to make mulled wine.

When I first started this blog, I stated I’d post recipes semi-regularly. I have been remiss in doing that. But no more. I love to cook. I went back and categorized some (ahem, three) older posts into the new Recipes category. I like all kinds of food and cook everything from southern dishes to Korean (I make my own kimchee too). So, we’ll start off with a good old southern staple, cornbread:

8 inch Iron skillet
2 cups cornmeal
1 piece of bacon
6 tablespoons of sugar
1.5 cups of milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 430 degrees. In iron skillet, cook up the bacon and give it to the dogs (my dogs love cornbread night) or eat it yourself. In a bowl combine all the other ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir a tablespoon or two of the bacon grease into the mixture. While your skillet is still hot from cooking the bacon swirl the remaining grease around in the skillet to coat the bottom and sides for good flavor and it keeps the cornbread from sticking. Pour mixture into the skillet, which should still be hot (this will crisp the bottom of the cornbread). Cook in oven on 430 for 20 to 35 minutes. Outside should be brown and crispy and a knife inserted into the center should come out dry.

Good with soups, pinto beans, and almost everything.

Enjoy.

Take one whole chicken (3-5 pounds), one can of beer, and your choice of spices (I like garlic, cumin, diced cayenne pepper, fresh rosemary, salt, and freshly ground pepper).

Step 1: Drink one quarter of the beer (important later).

Step 2: Use an old style can opener to poke holes in the top of the can.

Step 3: Put spices into can (if you did not drink the quarter of beer mentioned above, you will now have beer foaming all over your cooking area).

Step 4: Remove innards from chicken and insert beer can top up (i.e., open part towards where the chicken’s head used to be) into the opening of chicken.

Step 5: Place chicken on grill with the top of the can facing up. Use the the can and the chicken’s legs to make a little tripod for balance (I recommend you have the fire going on one side of the grill and your chicken on the other side so it cooks slow). If you do this correctly, it looks like the chicken is standing on the grill.

Step 6: Wait 2 hours and eat.

The beer and spices slowly boil over and season the chicken.

Tasty!

I don’t have a problem with vegetarians but I have a problem with self-righteousness. A while back, a coworker went to great lengths to explain to me that eating meat was wrong and we should not harm our animal friends. I respect her commitment to her cause but, I am sorry, I enjoy the hell out of rosemary prime rib*. And her generally pissy attitude wouldn’t have persuaded me to change my ways. I will always be mostly carnivorous (I do like salads). In fact, I view chicken as a side dish. I like the red meat.

After said coworker goes to great lengths to explain to me how chickens, cows and pigs are born, raised, and slaughtered and how appalling it is; and how wrong it is for me to eat meat; I made this point:

I’m pretty sure that cows and chickens don’t naturally occur any where in the world today. So I conclude that were it not for human intervention that chickens and cows would be extinct. Here’s why:

Cows are stupid, slow-moving, herd animals. They are easy to kill. If humans had not domesticated cows, I think (given our history with stupid, slow-moving, herd animals) that humans would have caused these bovines to go extinct.

Chickens are dumber than cows. They’re also slower than cows. And they can’t even fly (longest recorded flight of a chicken was thirteen seconds and it probably involved a tall building and a gust of wind). My veggie friend claimed that current chickens go from egg to slaughterhouse in six weeks, due to chemicals and things that are fed to them. I can grow chickens faster than I can grow rosemary for my prime rib (I have no intent of trying to grow chickens as I’m pretty sure my subdivision restrictions prevent it, but rosemary is OK). If humans didn’t consume chickens (given our history with flightless birds), I’m pretty sure they’d be extinct as well.

Pigs do exist in the wild and are largely viewed as a nuisance and hunted. Of course, most pigs are feral but they are smart enough to exist on their own. And they’re meaner than hell.

I’m no biologist, but I’m certain the original animals that chickens and cows evolved from probably bear little resemblance to current cows or chickens. Also, I don’t even know that they currently exist.

We’re doing cows and chickens are great favor by eating them. We ensure the continuation of the species, which is what it’s all about.

* Recipe for rosemary prime rib

Equal parts fresh rosemary, paprika, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Garlic to taste. Chop in food processor until rosemary and garlic is finally diced. Rub mixture directly on meat (this mixture is also great on any type of beef). Cook on smoker or in oven at 250 for several hours. Yummy!

I bragged in the comments section over at SKB’s about the best Bloody Mary’s on Earth. Here goes the perfect Bloody Mary:

In a 16.5 ounce glass of ice combine:

A shot or two of Grey Goose (to taste, women seem to like them lighter)
1 Teaspoon of McIlhenny Tabasco Habanero Sauce
1 Teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Dab of horseradish (to taste)
1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire
Dash of celery salt
Dash of salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Fill remainder of glass with V8 (not tomato juice but the vegetable juice)

Stir and garnish with celery.

Happy New Year to all.

Update: I’m reminded by a coworker that some folks aren’t as into spicy things as me (based on her experience with the aforementioned beverage) so you better start out with less habanero sauce (a few dashes, this stuff is stout) and work your way up to it. That is, if you’re inclined to spicy things.

Red beans and rice is very tasty and keeps for a week or more (indefinitely if frozen):

2 cans red kidney beans (light or dark to taste)
1 – 3 jalapeno peppers sliced (again to taste, you can control the heat of these by removing the seeds. More seeds means hotter flavor)
2 table spoons of minced garlic (or to taste), that’s 4 cloves for you purists
1 package of kielbasa (or Italian sausage)
2 – 3 small sirloin steaks sliced thinly
1 large red onion, sliced
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
3 – 4 large tomatoes or two cans of diced tomatoes
3 – 4 stalks of celery, chopped
2 – 3 green peppers, chopped

In a large pot, sauté onion & garlic in light olive oil. Add cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sauté lightly.

Add kielbasa, sliced stake, green peppers, celery and jalapenos and cook covered until meat is done, stirring regularly.

Once veggies and meat are cooked, add both cans of tomatoes (do not drain) or add sliced (preferable squished) tomatoes. Continue until tomatoes are cooked.

Add beans (do not drain) & simmer on low hit for 30 minutes to an hour to cook the beans.

Pour over rice and eat.