Cooking with crypt

Primus Pulled Pork with Rustic Faux Gourmet Cole Slaw

2011-09-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

I went to see Primus on Friday for the first show of the Green Naugahyde tour. Since this is not a music review I will simply say that Primus is awesome. But out of Primus some inspiration was born. When Les Claypool stepped off stage for a moment for a wardrobe change and came back wearing a pig mask it made me think of the album Pork Soda, which made me think of the pulled pork I was planning on making for Sunday football. So I decided to dub my pork, Primus Pulled Pork and the rest is now leftovers.

To give credit where credit is due I borrowed heavily from Nibble Me This. I am still an armature at smoking so… I did what I do best; learn from someone else but find a way to make it mine make it mine.

Primus Pulled Pork

6.5 Lb Picnic Pork Roast with bone in (the Boston butt is the bottom of the pork shoulder the picnic is the top)

1 C apple juice

Billy Bones Competition Dry Rub

Some uncured bacon…(more on this later)

The 6.5 Lb roast waiting for some loving.

I took a Cajun injector and pumped as much apple juice into the roast as I could. I think I got somewhere between ½ - 1 cup in it before it started leaking. Then I rubbed in some Billy Bones all over the roast. I put it in the fridge for about 12 hours to do its thing.

While the roast was chillin’ I got to work prepping my Big Green Egg. I cleaned it out and put a batch of fresh coals inside. I also started soaking 3 fist sized mesquite wood chunks and 1 hickory in some water. Now the waiting game begins.

I wanted the pork to be ready for football so expecting it to take about 1.5 hours a Lb I knew I would have to get a late start. At about 2330 I woke up from a power nap to go fire up the Egg (the soaking wood chunks were added before firing). I also took the roast out of the fridge to start warming up to cooking temp.

By 0030 I had the egg, with the plate setter legs up in it, holding fairly steady at 240 degrees. I wanted 250 but I was willing to take what I could get at almost 1 in the morning. I draped the Bacon over the top of the roast, because everyone knows that bacon goes well with pork roast.

I then placed placed it in the roasting basket and put it in the egg. I think I watched it until about 0130 to make sure the temp was holding. Then I went to bed. Not an easy thing to do, to have that much faith that it was going to hold steady but I was tired and I can sleep any where, at any time for any reason.

I checked the Egg at 0630 and it was still holding steady. I woke up again at 0900 and checked it and it had dropped about 20 degrees. I made some adjustments to get the temp up and took the roasts temp. It was sitting pretty at 170 after 8 hours. At 10 it finally hit my target of 190 internal temp. I pulled it off the egg, wrapped it, put it in an insulated grocery bag and let it rest for about an hour.

This is the roast right after coming off the grill and getting wrapped up. One of the strips of bacon seems to have not made it out alive.... I wonder where it went?

It then got pulled out of the bag and pulled apart with a few forks. It was falling off the bone. I used some Bone Sucking BBQ to finish off the BBQ if anyone wanted a “wet” pulled pork.

Rustic Faux Gourmet Cole Slaw

½ cabbage shredded

3 medium carrots shredded (I used 1 white, 1 orange, 1 purple)

½ onion grated

¾ C Mayo

2 T Sugar

2T White vinegar

1 T Dry Mustard

Fresh Ground Himalayan Smoked salt

Fresh ground pepper

I am not sure what the word rustic conjures up in your culinary vernacular but in mine it translates in to this; I did not have the right equipment to shred the cabbage so I cut it as small as I felt like cutting it….

Mix the plant matter together.

Mix the spices, vinegar and mayo in a separate bowl. When thoroughly mixed add to plant matter. Stir. Refrigerate.

Serve with some cornbread and the pork. Invite and army over for dinner or be ready to eat pulled pork for a month.

Guinness Black Lager went well with this

How to Smoke a Chicken

2011-09-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

I got a Big Green Egg for my birthday and have been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since. This past weekend I decided to smoke a chicken. I dug around on the super inter web nets and found a few recipes to work with and this is what I Frankensteined out of it. This recipe is going to take some time to pull off so plan ahead or you will end up with a subpar end product and it will not be my fault. Really, I don’t want to hear you bitching and complaining if your chicken turns out raw or like jerky or like crap because you tried to get it done in 30 minutes or less. You have been warned.

The Brine

2 qt water

1/2 qt ice (a little more will not hurt anything)

1 C beer

1 qt Cranberry, pomegranate, cherry juice

3/4 C salt

1/2 c sugar

4 bay leaves

couple sprigs of thyme

1 5.5Lb chicken (without the popup timer)

Bring the water, sugar, salt and bay leaves to boil. Stir the mixture to make sure the salt and sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Add juice, ice and beer and thyme. Put in fridge and chill. There is no rushing this part. It will take a few hours. I guess you could freeze the juice in ice trays and could speed things up that way but whatever. Once the brine is chilled put the whole chicken whole chicken in the brine and soak overnight (10 –12 hours is good), I used a stockpot to boil the brine in and it was also big enough to put the chicken in. Just a friendly reminder, remove the bag of crap that is inside of the chicken before brining it. When you pull the chicken out of the brine you will be able to see where the chicken was touching something and the juice did not stain it. It makes the chicken look sick but don’t worry you will never be able to tell once you start cooking.

Dry Rub

1 T salt

3/4 T pepper

1 T garlic powder

Stuffing

1 Apple cut into 1/8s

A few leaves of sage and a few sprigs of thyme

Mix spices. Remove the chicken from brine. Season chicken both inside and out. Stuff the chicken with a few sprigs of thyme, sliced apples and a few leaves of sage. Take 2 sage leaves and 2 sprigs of thyme and put one of each under the skin of each breast.

Baste

1 C beer

1 C chicken broth

1/4 C tiger sauce

Mix all of the wet ingredients together. Get a turkey baster for application.

Now comes the fun part. Pull the chicken out of the fridge while you are prepping the grill. This will help bring it up to cooking temperature.

Pre-heat the egg to 250 degrees (or your substandard smoker if you are using something else) with the plate setter in place. I put the chicken in the egg roasting basket and made an aluminum drip pan to put under it to catch the chicken goodness. While the smoker is coming up to temp and stabilizing I soaked 2 cups of cherry wood chips in water. Once you get your temp stable and holding at close to 250 it is show time. Throw the wood chips in the fire, put the chicken on the grate and close the lid and let the Egg do the work. The chicken should be basted about every 30 – 45 minutes. The 5.5 Lb bird was done in 3 Hours and 45 minutes and given 15 minutes to rest after it was finished.

Put the sweet taters on grill when you put chicken on the grill. I put them on about an hour into the cooking process and they needed about 15 minutes in the oven to finish them off. Thankfully the G/F was baking something and I had a hot oven handy to do the trick.

Eat it like a cave man. Rip that bastard bird to shreds with your hands and let it know who is boss. No chicken gets out of here alive.

Serves 4 Cave people or can be used as a snack if Vince Wilfork shows up at your door looking for his chicken.

Time to grill!

2011-07-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

I took some time off. Sue me. I needed to change jobs, move and finish a class on assassination. My plate was somewhat full, no pun intended. So to make up for it I am giving you a fist full of recipes that make for some awesome grilling. Sadly I only have minimal pictures of the eats as they were being eaten right off the grill… there were some hungry people running around with food stuffed in their mouth mumbling/slurring the word Hot, as they were trying to chow down.

1.Grilled squash

It is summer. There should be more squash running around than you can shake a stick at. Or at least that is how it seems to go for anyone with a squash plant in their garden. Here is a way to get rid of some of it while you are hanging out by the grill.

Ingredients

2 – 3 squish (a mix of green and yellow)

Garlic infused olive oil (the regular stuff will work but this is so much better)

Oregano

Red Pepper flakes

Equipment

Grill

Grilling basket

Cut the squish in half and then cut it in half length wise. Chop squish into little ¼ inch half medallions. Throw the squish in a ziplock bag. Add a liberal splash of olive oil, a few healthy pinches of some dried oregano and as much red pepper as your dinner guests can stand. Mix every thing up in the bag. Seal the bag up and let the squish soak up some goodness.

Throw the grilling basket on the grill when you start some of your longer cooking meats so that it can get nice and hot. Once the basket is hot throw the squish in. Stir the squash around every few minutes so any one side does not get overly done. It should take about 10 minutes on a nice hot grill for it to get nice and fork tender.

Once it is done, dump it on a serving plate or platter and send it on its way to table of doom.

2. BBQ Chicken

What cook out is complete with out BBQ chicken? The only problem is it is so damn messy. Seriously, have you ever tried to remove carbonized BBQ sauce from a grill? It is a pain in the ass. That is why I quit making the stuff. Well The girlfriend and I stumbled across something the other day and we thought we would give it a go. Lets just say that the results were awesome so we reloaded and tried again with some chicken…

Ingredients

Boneless Skinless Chicken thighs

Bone Sucking Dry Rub

You can choose to rinse or not to rinse your chicken. I do not because of the increased splash risk of cross contamination. Lay the chicken out flat, what would have been, skin side up. Give it a nice liberal coating of dry rub. Flip and repeat. Roll the chicken up into tight little rolls. Store in a tightly sealed container and let it sit overnight. Take these guys out of your container and lay flat on the grill. I recommend a nice spot where they can cook with some indirect heat. If that is not possible then keep a real good eye on them so they do not char. These should be one of the first things on the grill as it can take a little bit of time to get chicken up to 165 degrees using internal temperature. Flip occasionally to avoid over cooking on any one side. When they hit the magic temp, put them on a plate and send them to their doom.

3. Tiger tips

No, it is not real tiger, but I bet it would taste pretty good if they were. I found this stuff a long time ago called tiger sauce. I think my mom first exposed me to it when she was marinating the hindquarter of a deer roast… It was years later before I discovered it again. I am pretty sure it was my friend Kyle that sent me a bottle for my birthday (thanks man) and I rediscovered the wonders of Tiger Sauce. The stuff is awesome. You can put it on anything or in anything. My favorite is getting some good steak tips and cutting them into bite sized chunks, and soaking them in Tiger Sauce overnight. Throw those bad boys on a skewer and cook till desired doneness. If you want to go over the top with them you can wrap them in with a good thick cut bacon and soak them in tiger sauce and then grill them. If that is the plan then keep in mind you will need to not pack them so tight on the skewers so that the bacon can get cooked all around. These are a crowd pleaser. Hell I think people were trying to pluck them off the grill and put them into their mouth once they knew what I had. I am not including an ingredients list or method because if you read what I wrote it is pretty self explanatory.

4. Fruit murder al la peaches and pineapple.

The final thing that I made was this awesomeness that I have not come up with a name for so I will be working with fruit murder al la peaches and pineapple for now. I have been playing around with grilled pineapple for a few years now and I think I have finally perfected it. All I can say is that this stuff was divine. People were eating it before it even hit the grill. It almost didn’t even make it to the grill.

Ingredients:

1 pineapple

2 cinnamon sticks broken into thirds

1 Tbls Ground cinnamon

1 ¼ C Meyers dark rum

¼ C Meyers dark rum

1 shot of rum

2 very ripe peaches

1 shot of rum

Method:

1. Core the pineapple, cut the skin off and chop it into bite sized pieces. Put into a container that is big enough to hold it with some room left over.

2. Take a shot of rum.

3. Wash the peaches. Remove the pits. Throw into a food processor with the ¼ C rum and the ground cinnamon. Hit the grind button and teach those peaches who is boss. Keep pulsing the grind button until the peaches have been reduced to a pulpy, rummy paste. Then hit the grind button a few more times for good measure.

4. Drink a shot of rum in celebration of peach death.

5. Take the dead peaches and mix with the rest of the rum.

6. Pour the rum/peach murder concoction over the pineapple. Let it soak overnight.

7. Right before it is time to grill, put the pineapple on some skewers. Grill over a medium heat until it gets hot with some grill marks on it.

8. Serve.

9. Drink another shot of rum for the hell of it.

Here is the feast in mid grill... the eaters were circling....

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

2011-05-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my recipes I have noticed that I have done very little that is a vegetarian dish. So over the past week or so I have made a few vegetarian meals and now have some on hot standby to post. The first up is some Cuban Black Beans and Rice. I kind of screwed up and put too much chipotle chilies in it… My girlfriend’s mouth was not impressed with the level of heat. It even made me sweat a little but was far from unbearable. Otherwise it turned out spectacular. I was hesitant about putting coconut milk in with the black beans but the proof is in the pudding.

Cuban Black Beans

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

4 cloves of garlic pressed

2-3 tsp cumin

2 bay leaves

1 Tbl canned chipotle chilies, minced

2 (15 oz) cans black beans, mostly drained

1 c water

1 c Light coconut milk

1 tsp lime juice

2 finely chopped green onions

1/2 c finely chopped fresh cilantro

In a medium sauce pan sauté the onions in olive oil until they start to turn golden brown.

Add the peppers and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes

Add your spices, black beans, water and coconut milk.

Simmer beans for 30 minutes. Add lime juice and serve.

Top with the scallions and cilantro.

Cilantro Rice

2 c water

1 c jasmine rice (any white rice will work but jasmine is my favorite)

Olive oil

3 -4 cloves pressed garlic (my Zyliss got a work out today)

2 tsp lime juice

1 handful of chopped cilantro

2 hands full chopped spinach

3 chopped green onions

Bring water to boil

Add rice, oil, garlic, lime juice

Reduce heat and simmer

Cook until done (20 – 25 minutes)

Transfer rice to a bowl and mix in the cilantro, spinach and onions

You can serve the beans over the rice, beside the rice or just eat the beans from the pot with a spoon and eat the rice from the bowl with a spoon. What ever floats your boat.

This will go nicely with a nice lighter body beer. My personal recommendation is the Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale but I just really like their beer.

White Bean Chili

2011-05-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

We got a little cool snap this weekend that will be stretching into this week so I decided I would crank out one more pot of white chili before the soup season closes. In my mind soup is not a summer food, which is why it drives me up the wall that the local chowder cook off is in the middle of summer. Who wants to eat chowder in 90 degree weather? Not me but then I just don’t want to even exist in 90 degree weather.

Some notes on this recipe before we get to it. This is chili not rocket science. Unless you do something really, really bad you cannot mess this up. I have never followed a recipe exactly for this, and i don't expect you to follow this exactly, so I will just give you a good frame work to work off of. I always add way more spices than what is listed here, I call it adjusting for taste. Just remember you can always add more but it is difficult to remove what you have added.

One final thing, I usually make some cornbread to go with this recipe. Nothing like chili and some cornbread made from scratch but I tried something different this time. We were over by a very good local bakery, that makes an olive bread to die for, so we decided to pop in and pick up a good loaf of bread. Instead of the olive bread we got a cheddar cheese loaf, which kicked off the idea of white chili. The bread was amazing and went with the chili very well. I am surprised that the bread survived the night but I guarantee that it will not survive tonight. ; )

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped (optional, I just had one laying around)

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

4-10 cloves of garlic, pressed (in your Zyliss garlic press)

1 fresh pepper (cayenne, Anaheim, jalapeno) chopped (optional depending on tolerance for heat)

30 oz of chicken broth

1 can chopped green chilies

1 ½ Tbl. Cumin (roasted)

2 tsp oregano

1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (I used a dash of African cayenne)

1 tsp crushed red pepper

White pepper to taste

2 cans of white beans, undrained (Navy, great northern, cannellini, etc. mix them if you want)

Toppings:

Shredded cheese, Monterey jack works well but anything will do

Fresh Cilantro (optional if you think cilantro tastes like soap)

Wedge of cornbread or artisanal bread

1. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and sauté onions (and shallot) until tender, remove from pan.

2. In the same pan cook the chicken until done. Drain the excess fat off of the chicken.

3. Add onions and chicken to a large stock pot.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the stock pot and heat almost to a boil then reduce heat and simmer.

5. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, then serve.

6. After you put the chili in a bowl sprinkle with the shredded cheese and cilantro.

As an alternative you can cook it in a crock pot on a high heat for 3 - 4 hours. That is what I did and it turned out very well. Just remember to stir it before you serve it because your seasonings will settle on the bottom of the pot and who ever gets the last bowl is in for a kick.

Serve with your favorite beer, I think I had a Flying Dog

Linguini & Clams with a Red Sauce & More

2011-05-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Very rarely do I make anything Italian but I had a thing of shredded Parmesan cheese in my fridge that needed to get used.

Olive oil

1/2 c. Chopped onion

1 Chopped shallot
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1/4 c. Dry white wine
1/4 c. Tomato sauce
1 tsp. Dried whole basil

1 tsp. Dried Oregano
Fresh pressed garlic to taste (I used lots)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 (6.5 oz) cans whole baby clams, drained
8 oz. Whole wheat linguine (Follow the cooking directions on the package, that is what they are there for)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Coat a large pan with some olive oil and put it on a medium heat. Sautee the shallots and onions until tender. Add the next 8 ingredients. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat. Simmer this uncovered (I recommend using a splatter screen) for about 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want to cook off some of the liquids so your sauce thickens and will stick to your linguini. Once the sauce has reached a desired consistency, add the clams. Simmer for a few more minutes. Serve over cooked linguini and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

This is like a 3 for one today. I served the linguini with a kind of a Capri salad and garlic Focaccia bread.

Capri (but not really)Salad

1 Package baby spinach (rinsed and drained)

1 Package cherry tomatoes

1 Ball of Mozzarella (cut or ripped into bite sized pieces)

Dried or fresh basil

Dried oregano

Balsamic reduction (store bought unless you want to make it…)

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a big bowl. Serve in salad bowls. After salad is plated add some basil and oregano and drizzle with the Balsamic reduction.

Garlic Focaccia Bread

1 small loaf of Garlic Focaccia Bread

Lots of fresh pressed garlic (my Zyliss was getting some use yesterday)

Butter

Slice the Focaccia into 3rds lengthwise. Spread the pressed garlic onto the bread like butter. I like garlic so I went a little bit heavy handed. Add a few little pats of butter to the bread. Toast in a toaster oven until the bread/garlic starts to toast and turn brown. Serve with linguini.

Notes on all of this.

Next time I will make a few changes to this recipe. It is good but I can do better. First my herb garden is not ready yet. Hopefully next time it will be so I can use fresh herbs. Second thing I would change is to add more wine and reduce more. I think the wine got hidden in there. I may even try some Sherry to really get that flavor to come out. Finally I would add about half as many more clams. I like clams and there just were not enough for me. But like I say about any of my recipes, have some fun, play with it and make it yours.

I also paired this with Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch beer. It is not so much that it goes with this, I mean it is a pretty stand up beer that can handle a red sauce, it is just that it is one of my favorite beers.

My bad ass chicken recipe

2011-05-05T04:18:00.000-07:00

This recipe really doesn't have a name. This was just something that I made up when I was living in Virginia Beach. I think my roommate Kris was my kitchen test dummy at the time. I think I got the idea from Chicken Cordon Bleu but it is really nothing like it. I apologies for not giving you a hard ingredients list but there is really no defined amounts. I will tell you what you need and how to do it. From there it is simple enough but pretty labor intensive. It is probably one of my girlfriends favorite dishes of mine but I rarely make it because of the amount of work involved.There is also a lot of room for improvisation in this recipe. Please read the entire recipe before you begin, it will help determine what you need to do So, without further adieu...

My bad ass chicken recipe

Ingredients
- Chicken breasts, filleted and pounded flat (you can also use chicken cutlets)
- Crumbled feta cheese (Crumbled blue will also work0
- Baby spinach
- Fresh Garlic, pressed, to taste
- Bacon (thick or thin cut depending on cooking method)
- Stuffing (optional depending on cooking method)*
- Bamboo skewers

Method: Preparation

Take the chicken fillets or cutlets and pound them flat, if they seem to be to thick to work with. Do not pound them so flat that they have holes in them or you will have problems later. I find that an empty beer bottle seems to do the trick.

Put a layer of spinach leaves on the chicken.

Put some crumbled cheese and pressed garlic in the center of the chicken. You want just enough that you can roll the chicken up without it leaking out all over the place. Make sure you tuck the ends of the chicken so as to create a cheese and spinach filled chicken roll-up.

Take the skewers and use them to hold the chicken shut, it should take about 3 - 4 per chicken. Trim the skewers so that there is only about 1/2 an inch sticking out on each side.

Take the bacon and wrap tightly around the chicken. Don't wrap so tightly that you rip the bacon or squeeze the stuff out.

Set chicken aside and move on to the next one, until they are all wrapped up nice and neat, like so:

Method: Cooking

There are two cooking methods that I have used for this dish, grilling and baking.

Grilling:
I originally cooked this on the grill. I used a medium low heat and put the chicken as far away from the flame as I could, because as the fat in the bacon renders you will get some vicious flare ups. Try to abate the flames as best as you can but keep in mind that the bacon serves two purposes in this cooking method. First as bacon cooks it will tighten up on the chicken, sealing in the juices and melting cheese. Second, and the reason why you want thicker bacon, it protects if from the flames. Cook the chicken until you get a 165 internal temperature.

When it is done cooking, pull it off the grill and let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes. Either remove the skewers or warn your diners that they are there (this is very important when grilling as the ends tend to burn off). The bacon can either be eaten or discarded. It should be rather charred and crispy on the outside but still tasty....

(I will add pictures when I get them for this method)

Baking:
I have adapted a second cooking method for this dish, baking. To bake the chicken I use a 375 degree oven. I take the chicken and put it in a Pyrex dish full of stuffing. For this method thinner bacon is better as it will crisp up in the oven quicker than thicker bacon will. Cooking time is around 45 minutes but varies depending on the size of the chicken rolls (cook to an internal temperature of 165). At about the half way point I flip the chicken, for even cooking. When done, remove from the oven and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes. Remove skewers or warn diners that they are there.

*A note on stuffing. I often cheat with stuffing and will make boxed stuffing, unless i have the time to make my own. I have found Bell's Stuffing to be one of the few commercially available stuffing's that does not have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. I am not sure why stuffing needs HFCS in it but I don't want it. That crap is everywhere and I try my best to avoid it. Also when making boxed stuffing I like adding sauteed onions and some diced up crispy apples (granny smith, honeycrisp, pink ladys etc...). I also replace the water with beer or chicken broth. When baking it uncovered like I am in this recipe I tend to add a touch more water than what is called for.

Sorry for being so wordy but this is my baby and I wanted to treat her right. If you have any questions about it, please ask in the comments and I will try my best to answer them.

Here is the finished product from last night with some Bell's Stuffing and some steamed Asparagus with pressed garlic thrown in the steamer bag.

Bon Appétit

Sour Cream Replacement

2011-04-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

I started eating Greek yogurt about a year or two ago, I guess when it really started showing up on the shelves in the supermarket. If you are unfamiliar, it is a thicker yogurt with more protein than normal yogurt (I do not consider candy bar yogurt like Yoplait yogurt to be real yogurt). Sometime after I started eating this stuff my girlfriend and I were in the market and a thought came to my mind, "I bet you could replace sour cream with plain Greek yogurt...". So we decided to give it a day in court.

We got some good baking potatoes and some low fat (or no fat) yogurt and threw it on our baked potatoes. It was good. The consistency was very similar to sour cream and the taste was very similar as well. The only real difference was that it was just a touch sweeter. So I got to thinking about ways to hide that sweetness without blowing the health benefits of yogurt over sour cream. The Greeks have this stuff called Tzatziki sauce that is a blend of yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, dill and some other stuff but it inspired me.

The next time we had baked potatoes I tried adding some pressed garlic. I swear, my garlic press can solve almost any kitchen problem (another shameless plug for Zyliss garlic presses). I think I may have overdone it by adding 4 cloves to one small container of yogurt but the results were awesome. My girlfriend and I have played around with the amount of garlic and have found 1 - 2 cloves per small container to be good. We have also substituted this in every recipe that calls for sour cream with success (tacos, burritos, baked potatoes etc...). We have even passed it off on unsuspecting people as sour cream and they never knew the difference until we told them.

I have my suspicion that if you were to add your favorite herb combination the results would be the same as garlic. I don't mind the hint of sweetness it has when used plain but if you want to cover hide it then try some oregano, basil or dill. Play around with it and see what you can come up with. I am not saying that replacing sour cream is the solution to a healthier diet but it is a small step you can take and more than likely you will never know the difference.

Ingredients:

6oz of Greek Yogurt ( I like Chobani)
1-2 cloves of garlic pressed

Mix garlic into the yogurt. Cover and chill until you are ready to use

I thought I would include the nutritional breakdown for the yogurt versus sour cream just for your viewing.

Versus Light Sour cream (which I think tastes icky)

Ingredients: Grade A cultured cream, skim milk, vitamin A palmitate
2 Tbsp = about 1 oz
So multiply these values by 6 to see how it compares to the yogurt... and how many of us only use the recommended serving size of sour cream on our baked potatoes?

Just a side note to all of this... I used Daisey Sour Cream for the analysis. They only put nutritional info up for the light sour cream. The full strength stuff only had an ingredients list...

Pork Carnitas

2011-04-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

If done right this stuff melts in your mouth. I have never done this so this will be an experiment. I kind of searched all over to get an idea of what to do and decided to wing it from there. I am sure that I will have to refine it a few times before I nail it but here goes.

Ingredients:

Dry Rub:

1 T Chili powder
1 T Salt
1 T Cumin
1 T Garlic Powder

Everything else:

4lb Pork Shoulder - Boneless will be easier to work with but bone in will give you better flavor
1 C chopped onion
2 Bay leaves
4 Cloves of garlic - peeled and whole (more if you like garlic)
1 t Paprika
1 t Oregano
1 t Cumin
1 Cinnamon stick
Chicken broth
Olive oil

Method:

Mix the dry rub ingredients together and rub into pork shoulder. Put in a container, wrap and chill. I would let it marinate at least over night but up to 3 days.

Put the bay leaves and other spices, except the garlic, in the bottom of the stock pot or a slow cooker.

Put a little bit of olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold the roast. Turn the heat up to medium. Cook the onions in the skillet until they start to turn translucent. Remove from skillet and put into either a large stock pot or slow cooker.

Throw the roast into the skillet and brown on all sides.

Put the roast into the stock pot/slow cooker. Cover the roast 3/4 of the way with chicken stock and add the garlic.

Cook covered over low heat for 6 - 8 hours.

When the roast is done remove it from the stock pot and reserve 2 cups of liquid. Let the pork rest for 15 minutes. Shred the pork with two forks, removing any large chunks of fat. If you are making this ahead of time you can put the shredded pork in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Put the shredded pork in a baking dish with enough of the reserved liquid to get it moist. Heat under a broiler until the pork starts to get crisp. Then serve.

Serve with corn tortillas, sour cream *, guacamole, diced onions, chopped cilantro, chopped jalapenos, salsa... pretty much what ever you desire. The rule of thumb is to keep it simple. You are not trying to make an overstuffed burrito, instead you are making little hand sized tacos.

* About a year a go I stopped using sour cream and replaced it with yogurt. Hear me out before you freak out. The plain Greek yogurt has the same consistency as sour cream it is just a touch sweeter. I like to add some pressed garlic to the yogurt and let it chill for a few hours to allow the garlic and yogurt to mingle. If you don't tell people they are eating yogurt instead of sour cream they will never know.

**One other note. Out of all of the recipes I saw the one thing that was constant was the use of pork shoulder. The butcher recommended the rump roast but I stuck with the shoulder. It turned out pretty good for about half the price of a rump....

Variant on my bad ass chicken recipe

2011-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Well I was really rushed for time tonight and didn't have time to make my "Bad Ass Chicken Recipe" so I made a variant of it. As soon as I get a chance to make it I will post the original but for now this will have to suffice. I have never made this particular variant before so it is kind of an experiment. ;)

I don't really consider this so much of a recipe as it is a method...

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken thighs
Bacon (thin cut)
Your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Bone Sucking Sauce)

Method:

Take a baking sheet or Pyrex baking pan and cover in aluminum. Put a baking rack in the pan on the aluminum.

Rinse and dry the chicken thighs.

Roll the thighs up and wrap them with a piece or two of bacon, then dip in your favorite BBQ sauce and place on the rack.

Once you have them arranged nice and neat, like so:

Throw them into an oven preheated to 375. Bake for about 40 minutes, turning once and basting. Once the chicken hits an internal temp of 165 it is done.

Serve with rice and a steamed veggie for a simple, easy dinner. Enjoy with your favorite beer.

After making this there are a few alterations that I would make.
1. Given the time I would marinate the chicken in the bone sucking sauce. I think it would enhance the flavor.
2. I should have turned on the broiler on for a few minutes and really crisped that bacon. There is just something about crispy bacon and chicken that is awesome.
3. I think a grill would have been best, with some Bone Sucking Sauce to baste the chicken with as it was cooking.

Passover Lasagna – Not a Myth but a Reality

2011-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

My Canadian friend has submitted this recipe for Passover. She said something about passover lasagna and I got curious... So now you can enjoy a non traditional Passover meal thanks to Shira.

Passover Lasagna – Not a Myth but a Reality

I am not sure how many individuals who read this celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover, but for those, like me, who are forced into eating what amounts to “stale crackers” for a week, this is for you. Possibly the most aggravating thing about the holiday is giving up some food staples we often take for granted – bread, rice, and pasta. Other than being a great diet for week, it can be a severe pain.

The trick I have learned over the years while banging my head against a wall thousands of times while trying to come up with something other than the ever popular “meat and potatoes,” is to reorient my thinking. Although many of us tend to focus on the things we can’t have (my walk everyday past the donut joint is going to be a killer for a week), you need to focus on what you do have in order to make delicious, appetizing substitutes.

Possibly one of the biggest substitution tricks I have learned when it comes to Passover is making Matzah Lasagna. If you want to be creative, this is just the ticket. It is your garden variety of lasagna but you substitute lasagna noodles with matzah. You will also need to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta unless you can find kosher for Passover ricotta. (As a little science note – a common ingredient in ricotta is grain vinegar, though often called something like “catalyzer” on the ingredient list.)

This is a recipe good for two people but you can increase as need be!

2 pieces of matza
Either jarred tomato sauce (or you can make your own like I like to do and freeze the rest for a post-Passover spaghetti and meatball fest)
Cottage cheese
1 egg
Shredded mozzarella cheese (as much or little as you like)
Parmesan cheese
Optional: Vegetables (I either like to sauté mushrooms or slices of zucchini to layer in my lasagna)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the egg with one cup of cottage cheese and parmesan cheese. In an 8X8 pan, spread a layer of tomato sauce, but keep it thin. Place down your first piece of matzah. On top of the matzah, place another layer of tomato sauce and then a layer of the cottage cheese mixture. If you are adding vegetables, put them on after the cheese mixture is placed. Then put on a thin layer of tomato sauce and cover with the matzah. On top of the matzah, place more sauce as well as your shredded mozzarella. Place the lasagna into the oven and cook until the mozzarella on top becomes brown.

Obviously, you can add more layers if you like, but this is basic.

So for this Passover, I am telling you to be creative with your food and make something new and interesting. The week will go by much faster when you have good food planned!

BBQ Pasta Salad

2011-04-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten around to getting this thing up and running. Please comment. I am open to reader submissions. If you know me, let me know and we can figure something out. If you don't know me leave me a comment and we can try and work something out.

This is one of my all time favorite pasta salads. Every time I have made it has been a smashing hit. The original for this came off of the food network. I have modified it fairly heavily so it is now mine. As with any recipe I encourage you to make your own modifications. Play with it and have some fun. That is what cooking is all about.

BBQ Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 Lb fusilli pasta (or what ever kind of pasta you want)
- 2 T apple cider vinegar
- 1 t hot sauce
- 1/2 t chili powder (i always end up using a lot more...)
- 1/8 t garlic powder (i tend to use fresh crushed garlic and a lot of it, I recommend Zyliss garlic presses)*
- Pinch of cayenne (i have big fingers so my pinch is a healthy one)
- 1 C Mayonnaise
- 1/2 C BBQ Sauce (use what ever kind you want but I highly recommend Bone Sucking Sauce)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, sliced thin (can omit if you dislike celery like i do)
- 2 whole scallions, sliced thin
- 8 - 16 oz of pulled pork (pulled chicken works for those of you who don't eat pork)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley leaves for garnish

Directions

FOLLOW the directions on the package of pasta. They put the directions there for a reason, use them. Slightly under cook. That way it will have a nice firmness for the pasta salad.

In a large bowl, mix vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic, cayenne, mayo and BBQ sauce. Add vegetables to coat. pour BBQ dressing over pasta and mix well. You can then either place pork/chicken on top of the pasta or mix it into the pasta. I prefer to mix it in. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Let me stress that last bit. It has mayo in it. That stuff is one of the number one big offenders of food borne illness. Keep it cold until you are ready to serve. It goes great with beer or anything else for that matter.

If by chance there is any left (there shouldn't be), I advise chucking it instead of turning it into leftovers, especially if it has been at room temp for more than an hour or so. I would rather toss something than kill someone. Alternatively you can break out only what you need as you need it and keep the rest refrigerated.

* More on the Zyliss. I like their presses for a number of reasons. There may be better presses out there but you are going to pay for them. I went on a search for a garlic press not too long ago and what I found was that presses in the same dollar range as the Zyliss were crap. They had shoddy construction, stupid ergonomics or just did a piss poor job. Some of the more expensive ones that I saw really didn't do it for me. I just couldn't justify dropping $50 on a garlic press when there is one out there that is well made and presses the hell out of some garlic for $14. I am not getting a kick back for plugging Zyliss (yet, maybe we can work something out???). I am trying to make it a point to only plug kitchen equipment that 1) I use 2) I think is awesome. Those are my standards.

Greetings

2011-02-24T12:12:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my recipe blog. This is not my weekly recipe but more of an establishment of my mission statement. What I would like to do is to post at least one recipe a week of something I have cooked. I want to try and provide as detailed of an ingredients list and instructions as I can. However there will be plenty of times where I will not use an exact amount of something or use an exact technique but I will try and be as descriptive about what I am using or what I am doing as I can. It is cooking, not rocket science so have some fun…

I would also like to bring some of my friends on-board with this project. I know that many of them are no strangers to a kitchen and I think that the knowledge base that could be accumulated here is immense. So looking forward hopefully some of you will want to participate either by recreating what I am doing or by contributing your own recipes. Either way it should be good times.

Another aspect to consider is that I like to be challenged. So please feel free to either comment or contact me in some other way with things you would like me to take a stab at. Really I would like to make this as interactive as I can and as fun as I can. I mean, really there is no point playing in the kitchen if you are not having fun doing it.

A little about myself and cooking: I think my interest in cooking comes from my Grandma Stout and my Grandma Pat. My Grandma Stout was an amazing baker and just all round good cook. My Grandma Pat does fancier and more refined cooking. I can remember helping both of them out in the kitchen when I was younger. I am not sure if I was really helping of if they just put up with me in the kitchen… The other greatest influence was my mom. Of course most people will fiercely defend their moms cooking as the best in the world and that is understandable. My mom aside from being a mighty fine cook also taught me how to make something out of nothing, which is what she often had to work with.

For many of you this is probably the retelling of the abridged version of my life story…. For the rest of you … My formal culinary training consists of being a Navy cook for 7 years. More often than not it was mass production of food like substances more than it was actual cooking. But even in the worst case I still learned many of the basic skills of cooking during my time in the Navy. While I was in I also did a fair amount of cooking at home and really tried to refine those skills (thank you Kris for being a guinea pig). After my time in the Navy I went to school at Johnson & Wales and got a degree in restaurant management. I am pretty sure that the degree is not worth the paper it is printed on but I have it none the less. Now that I have totally divested myself from cooking for a living or for a scholastic endeavor my passion for it has picked back up (the Navy really did a job on ripping the passion for cooking out of me).

Now days I find that I primarily cook for me and my girlfriend. On occasion I will cook a little something something for a party, gathering or get together with friends. This seems to pick up during the summer when I am poolside and have access to a grill. If you have not been to one of my poolside cookouts you have no idea what you are missing…. So cheers! And here is looking forward to posting my first recipe. Not sure if I will be able to get to something this weekend or not as I have a term paper to write but I will hopefully have a chance to make something.