Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Monday, December 19, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thursday, October 07, 2010
We Have To Quit Having The Sardine and Limburger Pizza at 11:30 Every Night
My SO keeps having this reoccurring dream.
He thinks its the fish and cheese combo on the pizza.
He doesn't know about the mushrooms.
Hehehe.
Proxi - Just filling in
He thinks its the fish and cheese combo on the pizza.
He doesn't know about the mushrooms.
Hehehe.
Proxi - Just filling in
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Figures... Had to be in Texas.
Deep-fried beer invented in Texas
Inventor Mark Zable:
Clever, them Texicans...
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Inventor Mark Zable:
"Nobody has been able to fry a liquid before. It tastes like you took a bite of hot pretzel dough and then took a drink of beer."
Clever, them Texicans...
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Augusta 2009 Frankensandwich
Every year in Augusta I perform experiments on the Green Sandwiches
that are supplied to us by The Tournament.
Last year it was "Elemental Chicken"
- a Chicken filet sandwich with pimento cheese,
and the year before was the beloved "Masters Cordon Bleu"...
This year things got a bit out of hand.
I present to you:
The Kreeper
A Krispy Kreme glazed donut, with banana and Peeps.
Cut the donut in half and invert them to make a stable platform to build upon.
Slice up some banana and artistically arrange the slices, then add Peeps.
Of course, I had to push it...And I highly recommend that you
avoid the temptation to throw this little morsel into your
sandwich press / panini maker / George Foreman Grill...
All the sugar on the Krispy Kreme and the Peeps turns into napalm.
Sweet, sticky napalm.
Tasty- but very, very messy.
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
that are supplied to us by The Tournament.
Last year it was "Elemental Chicken"
- a Chicken filet sandwich with pimento cheese,
and the year before was the beloved "Masters Cordon Bleu"...
This year things got a bit out of hand.
I present to you:
The Kreeper
A Krispy Kreme glazed donut, with banana and Peeps.
Cut the donut in half and invert them to make a stable platform to build upon.
Slice up some banana and artistically arrange the slices, then add Peeps.
Of course, I had to push it...And I highly recommend that you
avoid the temptation to throw this little morsel into your
sandwich press / panini maker / George Foreman Grill...
All the sugar on the Krispy Kreme and the Peeps turns into napalm.
Sweet, sticky napalm.
Tasty- but very, very messy.
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Pull-itizer Prize Material
That's right. Semen-based recipes.
I only have 3 comments:
1. I wish I knew how many copies are being sold.
2. The comments are hi-larious.
3. Some of my Constant Readers are whack-jobs and I wish they'd quit e-mailing me some of this bizarre shit...
The guy who runs our Exchange Server is starting to look at me funny.
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Coconuts 101
Is your knowledge of coconut limited to that bag of Angel Flake coconut on the shelf of the grocery store?
Step over here and let me give you a little info on the coconut.
Everyone knows that on a deserted island you can inevitably find a coconut tree, and thus you will be able to easily slake your thirst...Not! If you saw the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks you saw a relatively accurate portrayal of opening a coconut. 'T'aint easy, Bucko.
There are a couple ways of dealing with the nut...
Fortunately, I'm in an excellent environment for a little coconut show and tell...
First- You need a nut to deal with...
Here are some fresh-off-the-tree nuts...
If you see a nice tall tree full of nuts, just look at the ground beneath... You'll probably see a nut or two on the ground, unless some other poor marooned fool has scavenged the fallen fruit...
Although this is promising, alas, it is not really a good thing. Especially if you don't have any tools. The nuts that fall off the tree are usually very mature, they have a good amount of liquid and meat, but it's hard to get to it.
These are 45 feet up... Kinda hard to get at.
Let's assume, first, that you find a nut on the ground.
First, give it a shake and listen carefully.
Hear a sloshing noise? Good.
If not, pitch it away and look for another...more on this later.
When you've found your nut, now you have to get into it.
If you have no tools, well... if can be done, but it's no fun.
You take your 'nut and bang it (repeatedly...) on the pointy end of nut against a hard surface.
After a looong time, there will be cracks up the side. Keep banging away and eventually you will be able to strip the husk off in 3 pieces.
(I didn't do this for the purposes of the program here...But I have done it before. It works. I promise. Try it yourself.)
Strip the husk from the nut... and then you have some more work to do.
But...there is a better way to remove the nut from the husk.
If... you have access to a toolshed... which I do... and the choice of basic hand tools including grinders, circular saws, hacksaws, drills, blow torches and weed whackers, your best choice of weapons is...
2 shovels.
My victim and the tools.
Ok...
Put your nut on the ground...
Grounded nut.
Then take one shovel and dig the point into the nut.
It doesn't hurt the nut, I promise...
Now- Orient the second shovel so they are back to back, then dig the other shovel in to the husk as close as possible to the first shovel.
...Like so.
Now just pull the handles toward each other, using the tips to pry the husk apart.
Pry the husk apart...
Opened nut. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Depending on the age of the husk and how securely the nut is attached to the inside of the husk, you might have to perform the same maneuver again to completely separate the nut... But it should only take you about 2 minutes to completely remove the nut from the husk.
Now... Before we get to using the nut itself, let's talk about Bad Nuts.
If you have one that doesn't slosh when you shake it, it means somehow the nut inside is damaged.
This one is damaged, you can see where the liquid has leaked out of the shell.
Ooo. The dark spot. Not good.
Inside the meat of the nut has started to dissolve.
Not pretty. Don't eat.
The crabs love it though...
![]()
Just set the bad nut on the ground...
...and just after dark it's crab nirvana.
They clean it right out...
Crabs just love the coconut.
Don't come between the crab and his coconut.
Actually, they are pretty smart about coconuts. Pay attention and they could learn you a thing or two.
We'll see about that in a minute.
At this point you have to open the actual nut itself.
First, there are 3 "eyes" at one end of the shell.
They are the thinnest point in the shell. Anything sharp and pointy will penetrate it... Drill out 2 of the eyes.
Invert the nut over a container and the liquid will drain out.
The liquid is NOT coconut "milk" like you find canned in the store.
The stuff in the can is actually a mix of the coconut liquid and fat extracted from the coconut meat.
This liquid is more like water than anything else...but be aware- this liquid is a diuretic...if all you drink is this liquid, it will give you a severe case of diarrea. You've been warned.
Anyway-
To make your own coconut milk, drain the liquid outlined above, then crack the nut against a hard surface. Remove the white meat inside the shell. You can usually pry it out in chunks.
There is usually a brown "skin" or rind on the back of the meat. Just cut that skin off with a paring knife then shred the meat on a box grater.
Put the shredded meat and the coconut water in a bowl and let it soak for a few minutes, the put the whole mass in a double layer of cheesecloth and wring it out... A good bit of the coconut oil will be drawn out of the meat along with the water.
Use the resulting liquid as you would any commercially prepared coconut milk... Using it to cook rice is great, as is mixing it with rum in a pina colada is also acceptable.
To use the shredded meat, you can used it as it is, or you can toast it in the oven (350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until it turns a light brown).
There is a hand-written recipe in the house on Loggerhead for macaroons...
Fresh Coconut Macaroons
16oz fresh grated coconut
1 can eagle brand condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix ingredients, drop by teaspoonful on greased sheet.
bake at 350 for 8 minutes, remove at once.
Now, this is all well and good, if you have a well-stocked tool shed and a couple of shovels. But what if you don't?
Well... Remember when I said the crabs could learn you a thing or two?
Let's look on the ground near one of the coconut trees on Loggerhead.
Look- some immature coconuts are on the ground.
If you look closely you can see one end has been opened...
When the nuts are very young, they still have a reasonable amount of liquid inside them, and the hard nut has not been formed yet, and the resevoir of liquid is near the top of the young nut. At this point of their development it is quite easy to get at the liquid.
The real key is getting at the nut when it is the right size.
What you need is a small tree that is producing coconuts.
Like this one.
It has nuts in all stages of development.
You want a nut no larger than a softball.
No, not the D-Cup...
Not the C-cup either...
Ah. Perfect.
Remove the stem and the stemcaps...
Make a small hole and pour the liquid into a container.
It's not alot, the liquid is not sweet, and it has a little substance to it, but if you have nothing else, it beats drinking saltwater.
Here endeth the lesson-
Until next time...
TBG Out-
Step over here and let me give you a little info on the coconut.
Everyone knows that on a deserted island you can inevitably find a coconut tree, and thus you will be able to easily slake your thirst...Not! If you saw the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks you saw a relatively accurate portrayal of opening a coconut. 'T'aint easy, Bucko.
There are a couple ways of dealing with the nut...
Fortunately, I'm in an excellent environment for a little coconut show and tell...
First- You need a nut to deal with...
Here are some fresh-off-the-tree nuts...
If you see a nice tall tree full of nuts, just look at the ground beneath... You'll probably see a nut or two on the ground, unless some other poor marooned fool has scavenged the fallen fruit...
Although this is promising, alas, it is not really a good thing. Especially if you don't have any tools. The nuts that fall off the tree are usually very mature, they have a good amount of liquid and meat, but it's hard to get to it.
These are 45 feet up... Kinda hard to get at.
Let's assume, first, that you find a nut on the ground.
First, give it a shake and listen carefully.
Hear a sloshing noise? Good.
If not, pitch it away and look for another...more on this later.
When you've found your nut, now you have to get into it.
If you have no tools, well... if can be done, but it's no fun.
You take your 'nut and bang it (repeatedly...) on the pointy end of nut against a hard surface.
After a looong time, there will be cracks up the side. Keep banging away and eventually you will be able to strip the husk off in 3 pieces.
(I didn't do this for the purposes of the program here...But I have done it before. It works. I promise. Try it yourself.)
Strip the husk from the nut... and then you have some more work to do.
But...there is a better way to remove the nut from the husk.
If... you have access to a toolshed... which I do... and the choice of basic hand tools including grinders, circular saws, hacksaws, drills, blow torches and weed whackers, your best choice of weapons is...
2 shovels.
My victim and the tools.
Ok...
Put your nut on the ground...
Grounded nut.
Then take one shovel and dig the point into the nut.
It doesn't hurt the nut, I promise...
Now- Orient the second shovel so they are back to back, then dig the other shovel in to the husk as close as possible to the first shovel.
...Like so.
Now just pull the handles toward each other, using the tips to pry the husk apart.
Pry the husk apart...
Opened nut. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Depending on the age of the husk and how securely the nut is attached to the inside of the husk, you might have to perform the same maneuver again to completely separate the nut... But it should only take you about 2 minutes to completely remove the nut from the husk.
Now... Before we get to using the nut itself, let's talk about Bad Nuts.
If you have one that doesn't slosh when you shake it, it means somehow the nut inside is damaged.
This one is damaged, you can see where the liquid has leaked out of the shell.
Ooo. The dark spot. Not good.
Inside the meat of the nut has started to dissolve.
Not pretty. Don't eat.
The crabs love it though...
Just set the bad nut on the ground...
...and just after dark it's crab nirvana.
They clean it right out...
Crabs just love the coconut.
Don't come between the crab and his coconut.
Actually, they are pretty smart about coconuts. Pay attention and they could learn you a thing or two.
We'll see about that in a minute.
At this point you have to open the actual nut itself.
First, there are 3 "eyes" at one end of the shell.
They are the thinnest point in the shell. Anything sharp and pointy will penetrate it... Drill out 2 of the eyes.
Invert the nut over a container and the liquid will drain out.
The liquid is NOT coconut "milk" like you find canned in the store.
The stuff in the can is actually a mix of the coconut liquid and fat extracted from the coconut meat.
This liquid is more like water than anything else...but be aware- this liquid is a diuretic...if all you drink is this liquid, it will give you a severe case of diarrea. You've been warned.
Anyway-
To make your own coconut milk, drain the liquid outlined above, then crack the nut against a hard surface. Remove the white meat inside the shell. You can usually pry it out in chunks.
There is usually a brown "skin" or rind on the back of the meat. Just cut that skin off with a paring knife then shred the meat on a box grater.
Put the shredded meat and the coconut water in a bowl and let it soak for a few minutes, the put the whole mass in a double layer of cheesecloth and wring it out... A good bit of the coconut oil will be drawn out of the meat along with the water.
Use the resulting liquid as you would any commercially prepared coconut milk... Using it to cook rice is great, as is mixing it with rum in a pina colada is also acceptable.
To use the shredded meat, you can used it as it is, or you can toast it in the oven (350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until it turns a light brown).
There is a hand-written recipe in the house on Loggerhead for macaroons...
Fresh Coconut Macaroons
16oz fresh grated coconut
1 can eagle brand condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix ingredients, drop by teaspoonful on greased sheet.
bake at 350 for 8 minutes, remove at once.
Now, this is all well and good, if you have a well-stocked tool shed and a couple of shovels. But what if you don't?
Well... Remember when I said the crabs could learn you a thing or two?
Let's look on the ground near one of the coconut trees on Loggerhead.
Look- some immature coconuts are on the ground.
If you look closely you can see one end has been opened...
When the nuts are very young, they still have a reasonable amount of liquid inside them, and the hard nut has not been formed yet, and the resevoir of liquid is near the top of the young nut. At this point of their development it is quite easy to get at the liquid.
The real key is getting at the nut when it is the right size.
What you need is a small tree that is producing coconuts.
Like this one.
It has nuts in all stages of development.
You want a nut no larger than a softball.
No, not the D-Cup...
Not the C-cup either...
Ah. Perfect.
Remove the stem and the stemcaps...
Make a small hole and pour the liquid into a container.
It's not alot, the liquid is not sweet, and it has a little substance to it, but if you have nothing else, it beats drinking saltwater.
Here endeth the lesson-
Until next time...
TBG Out-
Saturday, April 12, 2008
A new DIY Combo
Everyone remembers the advent of the Master's Cordon Bleu...
Well... I've been slaving away in the Listen to Uncle Jay Test Kitchen and have developed the newest culinary delight here at A Nice Golf Course...
The Pimento Chicken... Known to some as the Master's Elemental Chicken.
Firstly, assemble your mise en place...
One Chicken Fillet and one Pimento Cheese sandwich.
Open them both up...
Spread the pimento cheese on the Chicken Filet.
Pop the tasty morsel in the microwave for 30 seconds on High.
Don't have a microwave handy? Neither do I.
But I do have a Toaster...
30 to 45 minutes on the dashboard in your Blue Toaster will do nicely.
Mmmmm. Tasty sandwich.
TBG, noshing.
Well... I've been slaving away in the Listen to Uncle Jay Test Kitchen and have developed the newest culinary delight here at A Nice Golf Course...
The Pimento Chicken... Known to some as the Master's Elemental Chicken.
Firstly, assemble your mise en place...
One Chicken Fillet and one Pimento Cheese sandwich.
Open them both up...
Spread the pimento cheese on the Chicken Filet.
Pop the tasty morsel in the microwave for 30 seconds on High.
Don't have a microwave handy? Neither do I.
But I do have a Toaster...
30 to 45 minutes on the dashboard in your Blue Toaster will do nicely.
Mmmmm. Tasty sandwich.
TBG, noshing.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
April Fool's Day
I usually don't do any pranking on April Fools Day-
It's like Amateur's Day for the serious prankster... Let the newbies get it out of their systems. Serious jokers like Yours Truly are held in high suspicion on AFD...
Anyway- I didn't want anyone to think I was slacking off today so I figured I'd better put something up on the old 'blog...
(This entry should convince most of y'all that I'm a pretty sick puppy...)
I was at Costco the other day and purchased, much to the Shock and Horror of The Woman Who Knows Most Things and the Perfect Child, a 6-can package of sardines in olive oil.
I just loves sardines. I can has sardines nao?
Needless to say, whilst unpacking the groceries a certain amount of slight-of-hand and misdirection was needed so I could squirrel away the brick-o-stinkfish in the pantry.
Alas, one evening last week as TWWKMT was rooting about the pantry she came upon the package of fishes...
"What the HELL is this?"
I raced through the possible answers-
"Hell if I know. I think they're Hunter's..."
or perhaps
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I bought a dolphin... That's his dinner."
Hmmm... That probably wouldn't work.
I decided to go with the truth.
"I got them- they're mine."
"Well I KNEW that. Why are they here?"
"This is where I keep my food."
"You're not opening them in this house."
Surprise surprise.
She doesn't let me cook fish in the house either. She likes fish, but doesn't like the smell of cooking it in the house.
I guess she felt like she needed to re-educate me on that- didn't need to though.
I'd planned on eating them out on the back patio anyway.
So- there they sit, a little time bomb in tin cans, waiting for an opportunity, say, when The Girls (all of them) depart The Estrogen Palace and are off to one of their family gatherings in Atlanta or South Carolina. Then I shall wrest the tiny fishes from their hiding place in the back of the pantry and consume them-
Normally I'd place them atop crackers with a dash of hot sauce, but as I was daydreaming about them today I wondered if there might be a recipe that calls for canned sardines.
I fired up the ol' Intarwub and went a-Googlin'!
Eureka!
Mario Batali's Fritelle Sarde - Sardine Fritters.
Doesn't this sound awesome?:
2 cans good-quality oil-packed sardines, chopped
2 large eggs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 bunch parsley leaves, finely chopped plus extra, for garnish
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped pepperonchini
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon grated caciocavallo cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil, to fill a deep pot no more than halfway
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon halves
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the canned sardines, eggs, garlic, parsley, pepperonchini, bread crumbs and cheese.
Using a wooden spoon stir lightly, not to mash mixture. Set fish mixture aside.
Fill a deep pot no more than halfway full with the olive oil.
Heat over a medium flame until the temperature reaches 350 degrees F.
The oil should remain at or around this temperature throughout the frying process. Using a spoon, make fritters into semi-balls.
When the oil reaches temperature, gently drop the fish balls into the hot oil.
Be careful not to splatter the oil.
Fry each fritter to a golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Carefully remove the cooked fritters with a slotted spoon and reserve on a serving dish. Repeat until all of the fish mixture has been used.
These fritters are best served hot with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Wow.
But- If there's one there must be more...
Ah! Look here...
Beet and Sardine Salad from Epicurious.com
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon bottled horseradish (not drained)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 (16-oz) jar pickled sliced beets, drained
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (3 3/4- to 4 3/8-oz) can sardines in oil, drained
Stir together sour cream, horseradish, dill, and salt to taste. Cut beets into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with oil and salt to taste. Serve sardines on top of beets with sour cream mixture.
Now- I'm not really into beets, but I'd be willing to give it a try...
But the really great thing about this recipe were the reviews that readers gave it.
They ran from the positive:
A Cook from Toronto, ON-
For those who LIKE sardines and beets - in addition to being a unique and tasty combination - this salad is a nutritional powerhouse. Both beets and sardines (packed in sardine oil, olive oil, or water - not vegetable oil) are wonderfully nutritious - and inexpensive! Enjoy.
to the odd:
A Cook from Palm Beach-
I was very nervous about preparing a dish with Sardines, but I was told I needed to expand my tastes. So I made this salad and I gagged. I couldn't stand the fish, I think I will stick to more normal combinations!
to the bizarre:
A Cook from the great roads of the USA-
I nice addition to this meal would be oven roasted road kill.
to the downright High-larious:
A Cook from Kelowna, BC-
I added some diced lutefisk, some headcheese, and a dash of 10-30 motor oil to offset the tartness of the beets. Life will never be the same
Lutefisk and Headcheese and Sardines. Oh My.
Happy April Fool's Day
TBG, fishing for content-
It's like Amateur's Day for the serious prankster... Let the newbies get it out of their systems. Serious jokers like Yours Truly are held in high suspicion on AFD...
Anyway- I didn't want anyone to think I was slacking off today so I figured I'd better put something up on the old 'blog...
(This entry should convince most of y'all that I'm a pretty sick puppy...)
I was at Costco the other day and purchased, much to the Shock and Horror of The Woman Who Knows Most Things and the Perfect Child, a 6-can package of sardines in olive oil.
I just loves sardines. I can has sardines nao?
Needless to say, whilst unpacking the groceries a certain amount of slight-of-hand and misdirection was needed so I could squirrel away the brick-o-stinkfish in the pantry.
Alas, one evening last week as TWWKMT was rooting about the pantry she came upon the package of fishes...
"What the HELL is this?"
I raced through the possible answers-
"Hell if I know. I think they're Hunter's..."
or perhaps
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I bought a dolphin... That's his dinner."
Hmmm... That probably wouldn't work.
I decided to go with the truth.
"I got them- they're mine."
"Well I KNEW that. Why are they here?"
"This is where I keep my food."
"You're not opening them in this house."
Surprise surprise.
She doesn't let me cook fish in the house either. She likes fish, but doesn't like the smell of cooking it in the house.
I guess she felt like she needed to re-educate me on that- didn't need to though.
I'd planned on eating them out on the back patio anyway.
So- there they sit, a little time bomb in tin cans, waiting for an opportunity, say, when The Girls (all of them) depart The Estrogen Palace and are off to one of their family gatherings in Atlanta or South Carolina. Then I shall wrest the tiny fishes from their hiding place in the back of the pantry and consume them-
Normally I'd place them atop crackers with a dash of hot sauce, but as I was daydreaming about them today I wondered if there might be a recipe that calls for canned sardines.
I fired up the ol' Intarwub and went a-Googlin'!
Eureka!
Mario Batali's Fritelle Sarde - Sardine Fritters.
Doesn't this sound awesome?:
2 cans good-quality oil-packed sardines, chopped
2 large eggs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 bunch parsley leaves, finely chopped plus extra, for garnish
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped pepperonchini
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon grated caciocavallo cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil, to fill a deep pot no more than halfway
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon halves
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the canned sardines, eggs, garlic, parsley, pepperonchini, bread crumbs and cheese.
Using a wooden spoon stir lightly, not to mash mixture. Set fish mixture aside.
Fill a deep pot no more than halfway full with the olive oil.
Heat over a medium flame until the temperature reaches 350 degrees F.
The oil should remain at or around this temperature throughout the frying process. Using a spoon, make fritters into semi-balls.
When the oil reaches temperature, gently drop the fish balls into the hot oil.
Be careful not to splatter the oil.
Fry each fritter to a golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Carefully remove the cooked fritters with a slotted spoon and reserve on a serving dish. Repeat until all of the fish mixture has been used.
These fritters are best served hot with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Wow.
But- If there's one there must be more...
Ah! Look here...
Beet and Sardine Salad from Epicurious.com
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon bottled horseradish (not drained)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 (16-oz) jar pickled sliced beets, drained
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (3 3/4- to 4 3/8-oz) can sardines in oil, drained
Stir together sour cream, horseradish, dill, and salt to taste. Cut beets into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with oil and salt to taste. Serve sardines on top of beets with sour cream mixture.
Now- I'm not really into beets, but I'd be willing to give it a try...
But the really great thing about this recipe were the reviews that readers gave it.
They ran from the positive:
A Cook from Toronto, ON-
For those who LIKE sardines and beets - in addition to being a unique and tasty combination - this salad is a nutritional powerhouse. Both beets and sardines (packed in sardine oil, olive oil, or water - not vegetable oil) are wonderfully nutritious - and inexpensive! Enjoy.
to the odd:
A Cook from Palm Beach-
I was very nervous about preparing a dish with Sardines, but I was told I needed to expand my tastes. So I made this salad and I gagged. I couldn't stand the fish, I think I will stick to more normal combinations!
to the bizarre:
A Cook from the great roads of the USA-
I nice addition to this meal would be oven roasted road kill.
to the downright High-larious:
A Cook from Kelowna, BC-
I added some diced lutefisk, some headcheese, and a dash of 10-30 motor oil to offset the tartness of the beets. Life will never be the same
Lutefisk and Headcheese and Sardines. Oh My.
Happy April Fool's Day
TBG, fishing for content-
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Saucy Shrimp
I had a jones for shrimp on Friday, so Saturday the Perfect Child and I headed out to Safe Harbor (the seafood purveyor of whom I have sung praises before...) to get some scrimps to cook up for dinner.
5 lbs of jumbo shrimp later, I was back at the Humble Abode and digging through the spice rack and dry storage to see what was available to work with...
I got out several cookbooks, including one from Uglesich's and made notes on several recipes and after a quick trip to Publix I set to work. At the risk of sounding full of myself, the results werefamous amazing astounding beyond compare pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.
For your gastronomic pleasure, I present to you, lucky reader,
Saucy Shrimp...
(serves 4, or 2 if one of the 2 is an ogre)
Hardware:
10" saute pan
6-quart soup pot
Shallow bowls for serving
Ingredients:
1/2 small onion
2 celery ribs
5 garlic cloves
1/2 stick of butter
2T bacon grease.
(What? You don't save your old bacon grease after frying bacon on Saturday morning? For shame. Tsk tsk tsk. Use another 1/2 stick of butter.
2T rosemary
2t thyme
1T fennel
1T cumin
2t celery seed
2 tsp black pepper
1 Qt chicken broth
8 oz bottle clam juice
2T Crystal Hot Sauce or Texas Pete
Juice of 1 lemon
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 bottle (12oz.) Red Stripe beer.
3 to 4 lbs of prepared* shrimp.
2 loaves Cuban bread or baguettes.
Optional: white rice
*A note on Shrimp.
There are 3 schools of thought on preparing and serving shrimp.
1. International Method
Buy whole head-on shrimp, cook & serve them intact, so their beady little eyes are watching you as you shell and eat them. Big in Europe and in Asia.
2. Lazy American Method
Buy headed shrimp, leaving tail shells intact, or just cutting the shell a bit to remove the sand vein, but leaving the bulk of the shell in place.
Some people will make the case that this method makes the shrimp more tender and keeps more of the flavoring of the cooking spices close to the meat of the shrimp.
I've tried it and I'm calling bullshit on this theory. When you peel them, the spices come off with the shell.
3. Uncle Jay's Method
Buy head-on jumbo shrimp. (They are bigger, fresher and cheaper than their prepared counterparts.)
Head, peel and de-vein shrimp while listening to Jimmy Buffett's "A1A" album.
Before the last strains of "Nautical Wheelers" are heard, you will be finished with 3 or 4 lbs of shrimp.
I peel them completely for 2 reasons... 1) because I don't overcook them, and 2) that way my dinner guests can concentrate on enjoying the food, rather than peeling their meals and dealing with shrimp shells and legs, and messy hands...
Do it however works for you...
Ready?... Here we go.
Slice and dice the onion and celery, peel and mince the garlic.
Melt the butter and bacon grease in the saute pan, and fry the onion, celery and garlic until soft. Don't brown the ingredients...just fry until soft and translucent.
(Hey! No salt yet! That's later.)
While the veggies are frying, it's time to work with the spices.
You can use fresh or dried spices, depending on what you have on-hand in your larder.
I had no fresh spices...not even a sprig of rosemary...so all mine were out of rack...
If you have fresh, so much the better for you.
If your using fresh you want to do a little cut and crush to release the oils in the herbs. For any dry spices you are using, you'll want to chop/crush them, or take them for a spin in a spice grinder, if you use one of those things.
I have a mortar and pestle for just such an occasion. Heh.
So.. Have at it... cut, crush, chop and/or grind away...
Once you have prepared your spices, and your veggies are nice and soft, reduce the heat under the saute pan and add your spices. Stir to combine. Cover the pan and head to the next step.
Get all your liquids ready to use, open all containers and bottles. Put your soup pot on the stove.
Set your burner to med-high heat and transfer the veggies from the saute pan to the 6-quart pot. Add the chicken stock, the clam juice, Red Stripe beer, hot sauce, lemon juice, and the tomato paste. Bring to a boil, the reduce heat to just above a simmer (slow boil) for 1 hour, uncovered.
After 1 hour, test for flavor and texture. Now will be the time to add salt, more garlic or garlic powder, or any other spices you like.
(Nota Bene: You will notice there is no mention of cooking shrimp up to this point. Just want to make that clear.)
Serving / Presentation.
I really hate it when some people make a shrimp dish and insist on cooking the crap out of the shrimp, making them hard, bad-tasting shrimp nuggets.
If you drop your shrimp in a pot of, say, file gumbo, and boil it for 20 or 30 minutes, the shrimp will cease to taste like shrimp and will taste like, well, not good.
Shrimp only need a few minutes of cooking to make them tasty and flavorful and wonderful.
For this particular recipe, do it my way... It's a lot of work, but worth it.
Heat your saute pan over med-hi to hi heat.
Using a soup ladle, put 2 ladles of the broth in your hot saute pan. As soon as it starts to bubble (almost immediately) add a handful (8-10) of raw, peeled, de-veined shrimp.
Let them cook for 30 seconds, then turn them over and let them cook for another 30 or so seconds...
Give them a swirl or two, and maybe pan-flip them a time or two if your are able to do that kind of thing without slpattering the entire stove with sauce. The shrimp should be over the heat for 90 seconds to 2 minutes tops. They will continue to cook in the sauce for a minute or two more after plating, and will be completely and perfectly cooked if you follow the directions correctly.
Transfer the shrimp and pan sauce to a shallow bowl and serve with crusty bread for sopping up the sauce to one of your lucky dinner guests.
Repeat for each guest.
Cook only as needed to serve each guest. Be prepared to saute more sauce and shrimp as needed for seconds and thirds.
As an alternative, serve over rice.
Have some Texas Pete or Crystal hot sauce on the table for individual taste.
Addendum:
Leftover sauce: Put it in a jar- keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.
For saucy crawfish - Use a bigger pot, add another beer and another quart of stock, 2 T of cayenne, 2T of
hot sauce, and 1t of black peppercorns.After broth simmers for 1 hour, increase heat to low boil, add 4 lbs whole crawfish to the full pot of broth.
After 20 minutes, ladle sauce & crawfish into bowls and serve. Have lots of bread on hand for sopping up sauce.
Enjoy.
TBG out-
5 lbs of jumbo shrimp later, I was back at the Humble Abode and digging through the spice rack and dry storage to see what was available to work with...
I got out several cookbooks, including one from Uglesich's and made notes on several recipes and after a quick trip to Publix I set to work. At the risk of sounding full of myself, the results were
For your gastronomic pleasure, I present to you, lucky reader,
Saucy Shrimp...
(serves 4, or 2 if one of the 2 is an ogre)
Hardware:
10" saute pan
6-quart soup pot
Shallow bowls for serving
Ingredients:
1/2 small onion
2 celery ribs
5 garlic cloves
1/2 stick of butter
2T bacon grease.
(What? You don't save your old bacon grease after frying bacon on Saturday morning? For shame. Tsk tsk tsk. Use another 1/2 stick of butter.
2T rosemary
2t thyme
1T fennel
1T cumin
2t celery seed
2 tsp black pepper
1 Qt chicken broth
8 oz bottle clam juice
2T Crystal Hot Sauce or Texas Pete
Juice of 1 lemon
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 bottle (12oz.) Red Stripe beer.
3 to 4 lbs of prepared* shrimp.
2 loaves Cuban bread or baguettes.
Optional: white rice
*A note on Shrimp.
There are 3 schools of thought on preparing and serving shrimp.
1. International Method
Buy whole head-on shrimp, cook & serve them intact, so their beady little eyes are watching you as you shell and eat them. Big in Europe and in Asia.
2. Lazy American Method
Buy headed shrimp, leaving tail shells intact, or just cutting the shell a bit to remove the sand vein, but leaving the bulk of the shell in place.
Some people will make the case that this method makes the shrimp more tender and keeps more of the flavoring of the cooking spices close to the meat of the shrimp.
I've tried it and I'm calling bullshit on this theory. When you peel them, the spices come off with the shell.
3. Uncle Jay's Method
Buy head-on jumbo shrimp. (They are bigger, fresher and cheaper than their prepared counterparts.)
Head, peel and de-vein shrimp while listening to Jimmy Buffett's "A1A" album.
Before the last strains of "Nautical Wheelers" are heard, you will be finished with 3 or 4 lbs of shrimp.
I peel them completely for 2 reasons... 1) because I don't overcook them, and 2) that way my dinner guests can concentrate on enjoying the food, rather than peeling their meals and dealing with shrimp shells and legs, and messy hands...
Do it however works for you...
Ready?... Here we go.
Slice and dice the onion and celery, peel and mince the garlic.
Melt the butter and bacon grease in the saute pan, and fry the onion, celery and garlic until soft. Don't brown the ingredients...just fry until soft and translucent.
(Hey! No salt yet! That's later.)
While the veggies are frying, it's time to work with the spices.
You can use fresh or dried spices, depending on what you have on-hand in your larder.
I had no fresh spices...not even a sprig of rosemary...so all mine were out of rack...
If you have fresh, so much the better for you.
If your using fresh you want to do a little cut and crush to release the oils in the herbs. For any dry spices you are using, you'll want to chop/crush them, or take them for a spin in a spice grinder, if you use one of those things.
I have a mortar and pestle for just such an occasion. Heh.
So.. Have at it... cut, crush, chop and/or grind away...
Once you have prepared your spices, and your veggies are nice and soft, reduce the heat under the saute pan and add your spices. Stir to combine. Cover the pan and head to the next step.
Get all your liquids ready to use, open all containers and bottles. Put your soup pot on the stove.
Set your burner to med-high heat and transfer the veggies from the saute pan to the 6-quart pot. Add the chicken stock, the clam juice, Red Stripe beer, hot sauce, lemon juice, and the tomato paste. Bring to a boil, the reduce heat to just above a simmer (slow boil) for 1 hour, uncovered.
After 1 hour, test for flavor and texture. Now will be the time to add salt, more garlic or garlic powder, or any other spices you like.
(Nota Bene: You will notice there is no mention of cooking shrimp up to this point. Just want to make that clear.)
Serving / Presentation.
I really hate it when some people make a shrimp dish and insist on cooking the crap out of the shrimp, making them hard, bad-tasting shrimp nuggets.
If you drop your shrimp in a pot of, say, file gumbo, and boil it for 20 or 30 minutes, the shrimp will cease to taste like shrimp and will taste like, well, not good.
Shrimp only need a few minutes of cooking to make them tasty and flavorful and wonderful.
For this particular recipe, do it my way... It's a lot of work, but worth it.
Heat your saute pan over med-hi to hi heat.
Using a soup ladle, put 2 ladles of the broth in your hot saute pan. As soon as it starts to bubble (almost immediately) add a handful (8-10) of raw, peeled, de-veined shrimp.
Let them cook for 30 seconds, then turn them over and let them cook for another 30 or so seconds...
Give them a swirl or two, and maybe pan-flip them a time or two if your are able to do that kind of thing without slpattering the entire stove with sauce. The shrimp should be over the heat for 90 seconds to 2 minutes tops. They will continue to cook in the sauce for a minute or two more after plating, and will be completely and perfectly cooked if you follow the directions correctly.
Transfer the shrimp and pan sauce to a shallow bowl and serve with crusty bread for sopping up the sauce to one of your lucky dinner guests.
Repeat for each guest.
Cook only as needed to serve each guest. Be prepared to saute more sauce and shrimp as needed for seconds and thirds.
As an alternative, serve over rice.
Have some Texas Pete or Crystal hot sauce on the table for individual taste.
Addendum:
Leftover sauce: Put it in a jar- keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.
For saucy crawfish - Use a bigger pot, add another beer and another quart of stock, 2 T of cayenne, 2T of
hot sauce, and 1t of black peppercorns.After broth simmers for 1 hour, increase heat to low boil, add 4 lbs whole crawfish to the full pot of broth.
After 20 minutes, ladle sauce & crawfish into bowls and serve. Have lots of bread on hand for sopping up sauce.
Enjoy.
TBG out-
Monday, May 14, 2007
Spectator sport
Quote of the night:
We're (some guys from the NHL) sitting in a bar in Anaheim watching the Buffalo / Ottawa game...
10 minutes left in the game- the bartender asks Damien,
"Hey, you want another beer?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact bring me ten, then you better call the cops."
Wow.
TBG, out drinking.
P.S. Ottawa won, 0-1, they are up 3 to 0. Someone tell the Fat Lady she's on in 5.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Oysterpalooza! -or- Does this month have an R in it?
Hmmm... Let me check.
J-a-n-u-a-R-y
Whoo hoo!
Time for an oyster roast!!
I've done smoked pork, pulled pork, lechon asado, wings, ribs, and some kick-ass baked ham over the last month and a half... But even though I spent 2 weeks on a semi-deserted island (i.e. no INTELLENGENT* life, Heh) I have not dabbeled in cooking any seafood lately...
We had an oyster roast the first week of December...
The Perfect Child on the prowl for a tasty morsel.
And I think it's getting to be time for another seafood fest.
A couple bags of oysters, maybe some crawfish...
Perhaps some scrimps and clams... Maybe some fried grouper.
Let's start with a nice oyster roast, shall we?
You know, it was a brave man that first picked up an oyster, pryed it open, looked at the inside of it and thought "Man. I wonder what that'd taste like?" and ate it.
I'm ok with raw oysters, but I'd rather they be steamed or roasted on a grill...
Oysters Rockefeller and Casino are ok but are a lot of work.
For you folks without a lot of experience with family Ostreidae here are a few pointers:
The Goods:
On the East Coast, oysters is oysters. Whether you have sweet little Malpeques or Beausoleils from Nova Scotia, Parramours from Chincoteague Bay in Virginia, Blue Pointes from Long Island Sound, or -my personal favorites- Appalachicolas from Appalachicola Bay, they are all the same critter- Crassostrea virginica...
If we talk Left Coast, it's a different set o' animals entirely.
The only native oysters harvested for human consumption you will find in the Pacific Northwest is the Olympia oyster (Ostreola conchaphila), once near extinction...
A series of non-native species were brought in to fill the void, and now you can get Kumamotos (Crassostrea sikamea), and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas). This importation and proliferation is causing problems in the natual ecosystems in the Eastern Pacific, but since commerce overrules ecology, the oyster farmers will keep doing everything they can do to keep up with demand for these tasty shellfish.
As for other oysters you might come across, you'll occasionally find Belons (Ostrea edulis), originally from the Brittany coast of France, or Conway Cup oysters (the Crassostrea virginica again) from Prince Edward Island, and a host of other local oysters, but these are so rare in basic large US markets they are a novelty...
Tools-
(This is easy.)
Go get a oyster knife and a heavy glove.
The oyster knife is a tool with a short blunt blade, used to pry open the oyster.
Should have a non-slip handle. The glove to to keep you from slicing open you hand either with the knife (bad), or the oyster shell (worse).
(Important: Should you follow these instruction and STILL cut yourself, immediately perform routine first aid. Don't wait until you finish that last few oysters, or delay until you're finished cleaning up... Do it NOW. The infection you can get from subtidal organisms is absoultely miserable and you can wind up extremely sick in a very short amount of time. Do yourself a favor: hot water rinse, antiseptic, antibotic cream or ointment, bandage. ASAFP. I'm not kidding.)
Ok... Let's get to work.
We have a big bag of Ostreidae, (at C&C seafood on Mayport RD here in Jax Beach I get two 40lb bags for $60. Your milage might vary)
1 shucking knife for each participant
1 glove for each participant
1 large roasting pan
backyard BBQ grill (propane is best)
several bottles of dark beer
2 clean towels
1 large serving tray (big enough for the full roaster)
Heat grill to Low-medium - (You should be able to hold your hand at grate-level for 4 seconds) Put roasting pan on grill and cover to bring the temp of the pan up.
Empty 2 bottles of beer in a large bowl, then soak the towels for minute- then lightly wring them out. (Periodically resoak towels during the cooking process, adding beer as needed.)
Prepare oysters for cooking- I hit them with a high-pressure spray from the hose to get off the worst of the mud and other muck, but if you are OCD or really want to go the extra yard, you can take a scrub brush to them...
When your pan is hot, add one beer to the pan, then put in a generous layer of oysters. Cover them with the beer-soaked towel and put them back on the grill for 8 to 10 minutes or until all the oysters are open.
(If one of two don't open, pitch the unopened ones. There is something wrong with them.)
Transfer the open oysters to the serving tray, and bring them to the table for the Ravenous Hordes.
To Consume:
Select a semi-opened oyster, hold in a gloved hand,
lever the shell open with your oyster knife.
Slide the knife under the meat, scraping to make sure adductor muscles are free from the shell, and then slurp the tasty morsel straight from the half-shell. Feel free to customize your slurpage with the following:
Lemon juice,
A dab of cocktail sauce,
Malt vinegar,
Tobasco,
Horseradish,
Wasabi,
or... (drumroll please)
Uncle jay's Oyster Sauce:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.
Serve as a dipping sauce, or spoon 1/8 teaspoon into the shell before slurping.
One other thing,
It is considered good form for others to take turns at the grill, so everyone can enjoy the different activities of the oyster roast.
Famous, out-
*Please see the comment section in regards to this
egregious misspelling.
J-a-n-u-a-R-y
Whoo hoo!
Time for an oyster roast!!
I've done smoked pork, pulled pork, lechon asado, wings, ribs, and some kick-ass baked ham over the last month and a half... But even though I spent 2 weeks on a semi-deserted island (i.e. no INTELLENGENT* life, Heh) I have not dabbeled in cooking any seafood lately...
We had an oyster roast the first week of December...
The Perfect Child on the prowl for a tasty morsel.
And I think it's getting to be time for another seafood fest.
A couple bags of oysters, maybe some crawfish...
Perhaps some scrimps and clams... Maybe some fried grouper.
Let's start with a nice oyster roast, shall we?
You know, it was a brave man that first picked up an oyster, pryed it open, looked at the inside of it and thought "Man. I wonder what that'd taste like?" and ate it.
I'm ok with raw oysters, but I'd rather they be steamed or roasted on a grill...
Oysters Rockefeller and Casino are ok but are a lot of work.
For you folks without a lot of experience with family Ostreidae here are a few pointers:
The Goods:
On the East Coast, oysters is oysters. Whether you have sweet little Malpeques or Beausoleils from Nova Scotia, Parramours from Chincoteague Bay in Virginia, Blue Pointes from Long Island Sound, or -my personal favorites- Appalachicolas from Appalachicola Bay, they are all the same critter- Crassostrea virginica...
If we talk Left Coast, it's a different set o' animals entirely.
The only native oysters harvested for human consumption you will find in the Pacific Northwest is the Olympia oyster (Ostreola conchaphila), once near extinction...
A series of non-native species were brought in to fill the void, and now you can get Kumamotos (Crassostrea sikamea), and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas). This importation and proliferation is causing problems in the natual ecosystems in the Eastern Pacific, but since commerce overrules ecology, the oyster farmers will keep doing everything they can do to keep up with demand for these tasty shellfish.
As for other oysters you might come across, you'll occasionally find Belons (Ostrea edulis), originally from the Brittany coast of France, or Conway Cup oysters (the Crassostrea virginica again) from Prince Edward Island, and a host of other local oysters, but these are so rare in basic large US markets they are a novelty...
Tools-
(This is easy.)
Go get a oyster knife and a heavy glove.
The oyster knife is a tool with a short blunt blade, used to pry open the oyster.
Should have a non-slip handle. The glove to to keep you from slicing open you hand either with the knife (bad), or the oyster shell (worse).
(Important: Should you follow these instruction and STILL cut yourself, immediately perform routine first aid. Don't wait until you finish that last few oysters, or delay until you're finished cleaning up... Do it NOW. The infection you can get from subtidal organisms is absoultely miserable and you can wind up extremely sick in a very short amount of time. Do yourself a favor: hot water rinse, antiseptic, antibotic cream or ointment, bandage. ASAFP. I'm not kidding.)
Ok... Let's get to work.
We have a big bag of Ostreidae, (at C&C seafood on Mayport RD here in Jax Beach I get two 40lb bags for $60. Your milage might vary)
1 shucking knife for each participant
1 glove for each participant
1 large roasting pan
backyard BBQ grill (propane is best)
several bottles of dark beer
2 clean towels
1 large serving tray (big enough for the full roaster)
Heat grill to Low-medium - (You should be able to hold your hand at grate-level for 4 seconds) Put roasting pan on grill and cover to bring the temp of the pan up.
Empty 2 bottles of beer in a large bowl, then soak the towels for minute- then lightly wring them out. (Periodically resoak towels during the cooking process, adding beer as needed.)
Prepare oysters for cooking- I hit them with a high-pressure spray from the hose to get off the worst of the mud and other muck, but if you are OCD or really want to go the extra yard, you can take a scrub brush to them...
When your pan is hot, add one beer to the pan, then put in a generous layer of oysters. Cover them with the beer-soaked towel and put them back on the grill for 8 to 10 minutes or until all the oysters are open.
(If one of two don't open, pitch the unopened ones. There is something wrong with them.)
Transfer the open oysters to the serving tray, and bring them to the table for the Ravenous Hordes.
To Consume:
Select a semi-opened oyster, hold in a gloved hand,
lever the shell open with your oyster knife.
Slide the knife under the meat, scraping to make sure adductor muscles are free from the shell, and then slurp the tasty morsel straight from the half-shell. Feel free to customize your slurpage with the following:
Lemon juice,
A dab of cocktail sauce,
Malt vinegar,
Tobasco,
Horseradish,
Wasabi,
or... (drumroll please)
Uncle jay's Oyster Sauce:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.
Serve as a dipping sauce, or spoon 1/8 teaspoon into the shell before slurping.
One other thing,
It is considered good form for others to take turns at the grill, so everyone can enjoy the different activities of the oyster roast.
Famous, out-
*Please see the comment section in regards to this
egregious misspelling.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Uncle Jay's Pulled Cork
A week or so ago I made a pulled pork that, by popular acclaim, was one of the best I had come up with thus far...
So... By popular demand:
Uncle Jay's Pulled Cork.
(Coca-cola & Pork Shoulder)
Gets:
4-6 lb pork shoulder (butt).
(I used a boned and rolled shoulder, but bone-in is OK, just a little more work when your are shredding the meat.)
1 large yellow onion
2 large cloves of garlic. (don't use the pre-minced stuff here.)
1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates (R) Mesquite Marinade
1/2 to 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 20 oz. bottle Coca-Cola (The Real Thing.)
Olive oil. (Whatever you have, regular, virgin, extra virgin...hell, I don't care.)
Salt (kosher, of course)
Black pepper.
Non-stick cooking spray (unless you like scrubbing the sides of your slow cooker)
All-Purpose Flour for dusting the pork prior to browning
yellow mustard (optional)
Dos:
Get your slow cooker out.
Get a large frying pan out.
Quarter and slice the onion.
Peel, crush and coarsly chop the garlic.
Spray the sides of the slow cooker with cooking spray.
Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Add onions and garlic.
Add GrillMates Mesquite Marinade
Pour in Coca-Cola
Turn on "low" heat
Unwrap pork shoulder and dust with flour, salt and pepper.
(put a handful of all purpose flour on a paper plate with a tablespoon of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper. Roll the pork in the flour/salt/pepper mixture.)
Turn stove on high heat and in the large frying pan add olive oil (a couple tablespoons).
When it is good and hot, add the pork shoulder and brown it on all sides...
You're looking for a little brown crust on all sides and ends...
Should take no more than 10 minutes to do the whole thing.
Once browned, move the meat into the slow cooker.
(Lower it in carefully. A slam-dunk would be inappropriate here.)
Lid the cooker and wash up.
Cook time 8-10 hours.
(I put mine on at 10PM and at 7:00 am I was shredding the meat)
Next steps:
After the cooking time is expired, remove meat from the slow cooker to a cutting board and give it ten minutes to rest.
(It's been swimming for a long time, it going to be tired.)
While the meat rests, start your sauce.
Take all the "pot-likker" for the slow cooker and put it in a large pot over med-hi heat.
Add brown sugar (to taste) as the mixture reduces.
(Also add yellow mustard here if you want just a little zing)
Stir frequently
Reduce sauce to half original volume.
While sauce reduces, pull pork.
With 2 dinner forks, pull the cooked port into long shreds, the meat should just fall apart.
Put the pulled pork back in the pot. When the sauce has reduced to a nice thick sweet sauce, put sauce back in the pot with the pork.
Mix well. Leave heat on LOW.
(Reserve some sauce for dipping or dressing sandwiches)
Serve with cole slaw and soft rolls for making sandwiches.
Famous!
So... By popular demand:
Uncle Jay's Pulled Cork.
(Coca-cola & Pork Shoulder)
Gets:
4-6 lb pork shoulder (butt).
(I used a boned and rolled shoulder, but bone-in is OK, just a little more work when your are shredding the meat.)
1 large yellow onion
2 large cloves of garlic. (don't use the pre-minced stuff here.)
1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates (R) Mesquite Marinade
1/2 to 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 20 oz. bottle Coca-Cola (The Real Thing.)
Olive oil. (Whatever you have, regular, virgin, extra virgin...hell, I don't care.)
Salt (kosher, of course)
Black pepper.
Non-stick cooking spray (unless you like scrubbing the sides of your slow cooker)
All-Purpose Flour for dusting the pork prior to browning
yellow mustard (optional)
Dos:
Get your slow cooker out.
Get a large frying pan out.
Quarter and slice the onion.
Peel, crush and coarsly chop the garlic.
Spray the sides of the slow cooker with cooking spray.
Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Add onions and garlic.
Add GrillMates Mesquite Marinade
Pour in Coca-Cola
Turn on "low" heat
Unwrap pork shoulder and dust with flour, salt and pepper.
(put a handful of all purpose flour on a paper plate with a tablespoon of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper. Roll the pork in the flour/salt/pepper mixture.)
Turn stove on high heat and in the large frying pan add olive oil (a couple tablespoons).
When it is good and hot, add the pork shoulder and brown it on all sides...
You're looking for a little brown crust on all sides and ends...
Should take no more than 10 minutes to do the whole thing.
Once browned, move the meat into the slow cooker.
(Lower it in carefully. A slam-dunk would be inappropriate here.)
Lid the cooker and wash up.
Cook time 8-10 hours.
(I put mine on at 10PM and at 7:00 am I was shredding the meat)
Next steps:
After the cooking time is expired, remove meat from the slow cooker to a cutting board and give it ten minutes to rest.
(It's been swimming for a long time, it going to be tired.)
While the meat rests, start your sauce.
Take all the "pot-likker" for the slow cooker and put it in a large pot over med-hi heat.
Add brown sugar (to taste) as the mixture reduces.
(Also add yellow mustard here if you want just a little zing)
Stir frequently
Reduce sauce to half original volume.
While sauce reduces, pull pork.
With 2 dinner forks, pull the cooked port into long shreds, the meat should just fall apart.
Put the pulled pork back in the pot. When the sauce has reduced to a nice thick sweet sauce, put sauce back in the pot with the pork.
Mix well. Leave heat on LOW.
(Reserve some sauce for dipping or dressing sandwiches)
Serve with cole slaw and soft rolls for making sandwiches.
Famous!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Bonehead alert!
Holy crap!
I made a real bonehead mistake in my instructions for fried turkey...
(I plead insanity- I was insanely busy while trying to write these instructions; The Tennis Masters Cup semifinals were underway and I was trying to monitor gamestate and change the logos and write at the same time...Multitasking is not my strong suit. Heh.)
Original-
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
It should read:
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Remove the bird at this point.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
Of course, anyone with half a brain (which is what I am equipped with) would know that to measure volume via water displacement method one would have to remove the object in question in order to get a proper quantum... Geez, even a UGA graduate would know there was a missing step here...
And a huge thank you the DH for slapping me upside the head and pointing out my error...
Famous, out-
I made a real bonehead mistake in my instructions for fried turkey...
(I plead insanity- I was insanely busy while trying to write these instructions; The Tennis Masters Cup semifinals were underway and I was trying to monitor gamestate and change the logos and write at the same time...Multitasking is not my strong suit. Heh.)
Original-
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
It should read:
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Remove the bird at this point.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
Of course, anyone with half a brain (which is what I am equipped with) would know that to measure volume via water displacement method one would have to remove the object in question in order to get a proper quantum... Geez, even a UGA graduate would know there was a missing step here...
And a huge thank you the DH for slapping me upside the head and pointing out my error...
Famous, out-
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Giving you The Bird - Uncle Jay's Fried Turkey
I have had several requests for my Fried Turkey recipe...
This is the recipe I've been using for ten years now-
I got this basic recipe from a guy I worked with back at KBJ Architects years ago- Paul Robinson, from down in St Augustine, gave it to me one afternoon as I frantically scribbled it down on a sheet of stolen graph paper...
I've eaten some other people's recipes and I've toyed with other flavors and procedures (Mojo Bird for instance), but this is the all-time favorite. I usually cook 6 to 10 turkeys on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas for friends, neighbors and co-workers... We have been doing a Thanksgiving dinner at work for several years, and this recipe is always well-recieved.
For the last two years I have been in recovery from my return from China and the Tennis Masters Cup during Thanksgiving week, basically too tired to go through all the BS to cook a bunch of birds for dinner.
I got a couple e-mails while I was in Shanghai asking if I was cooking this year and when I said I wasn't, a couple people asked for the recipe...
Well... I've given this recipe to folks before, and there has been Some Trouble...
People take the recipe and make substitutions, and/or change the procedures, then get substandard results... and then complain to me about it.
Well... I'm publishing this recipe here- If you want to use it you'll have to make the pledge...
(Note: If you don't make the pledge and use this recipe and make even one tiny little change, quick Karma will do you in...Be advised.)
Hokay! Here we goes...
Uncle Jay's Fried Turkey Recipe. (v 1.1.0.2)
Repeat after me...
I promise to faithfully follow all instructions given to me in preparing Uncle Jay's Fried Turkey.
I will use only bona-fide and sanctioned ingredients and I will protect myself and my family by following all saftey procedures.
I will protect the sanctity of The Recipe by reproducing it faithfully, keeping all ingredients and procedures intact, and I will give proper credit upon dispersal to friends and family.
This recipe is intellectual property of Uncle Jay Enterprises, LTD.
Pax Vobiscum.
Stuff you're gonna need:
Turkey Fryer Stuff (Big-ass pot, bird stand, lift hook, propane burner & full tank.)
One 2-gallon ziplock bag.
Fresh Turkey. 9-13 lbs, depending on your pot.
Anything over 13 lbs is probably too big for average pot.
(And I mean fresh. Not frozen thawed ... Fresh. Publix has the best ones.)
One bottle Red Stripe Beer. (Or 1 sixpack: 1 bottle for recipe, 5 bottles for the cook.)
5 gallons of peanut oil.
(NOT canola, vegetable, safflower, coconut, motor, oilve, grapeseed or any other type of oil.)
One shaker can of Tony Cacheries Cajun Seasoning.
(NOT the "low salt" version. Get the green can.)
Kosher Salt.
One injecting syringe & needle. (#20 horse needle is nice)
12 inches of twine
Long-stem thermometer
Welders gloves or oven mitts.
Large cardboard box (refrigerator size is good)
One turkey-sized disposable aluminum pan.
FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
24 or 32oz plastic cup (Like from the soda fountain at the gas station.)
-----------------
Work Preparation:
1. Make sure your propane tank is full.
2. ALL cooking will take place outside.
3. Every time you touch the raw turkey, you will wash your &*#$@ hands BEFORE you touch ANYTHING else.
4. Make sure you have a large surface to work on to prepare the bird.
5. Sanitation hint: Once you start working on the bird, have an assistant pour the seasoning /salt /etc from the container into your hands as you need it. If you touch the can, you WILL cross-contaminate, and you WILL spend several hours in the bathroom counting tiles.
Also, put down several layers on newspaper on your prep surface...it will save time on cleanup.
-----------------
Cook Prep:
(Part one is done the night before, all prep must be finished before 11:00PM.
(I'm not kidding.)
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Remove the bird at this point.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
Prepare Bird
1. Pour beer into 24 or 32 oz. plastic cup
(Using this cup will make it easier to mix the seasoning and get it into the syringe.)
2. Agitate beer (take some of the fizz out of it.)
3. Let foam subside
4. Put 3 tablespoons of Tony Cacheries seasoning in the beer.
5. Mix THOUROUGHLY. (Lots of salt in there that needs to dissolve.)
6. Let mixture stand
7. Unwrap bird, remove "goodies" from inside body cavity and neck cavity.
8. Rinse bird well, especially inside. Fill with water several times, until water runs clear.
9. Make sure there are no ice crystals inside.
10. working from the cavity end of the bird, run your hands up under the skin of the turkey, separating the skin from the meat. Do both sides, and try to get down toward the thighs and wings.
(IMPORTANT - Try NOT to tear the skin as you do this. The skin protects the meat as it cooks...If it is excessively torn, the unprotected meat will cook incorrectly and leave dry sections of meat.)
11. Take small handfuls of Tony Cacheries seasoning and insert it under the skin of the turkey, rubbing it on the meat up as far as you can under the skin with your hands...(again, careful not to tear skin).
12. Sprinkle a good amount of seasoning into body cavity.
13. Sprinkle a good amount of kosher salt into body cavity.
14. Give your beer mixture a good stir.
15. Fill your injecting syringe with the mixture.
16. Inject syringefuls of mix into the breastmeat, moving the needle around to different points to evenly distribute mixture. Also inject thighs and drums. Use all the mixture.
17. When finished, pull the ends of the legs together, cross the ends of the bones and tie them together with twine. Fold and tuck wingtips under the body.
18. Sprinkle the outside of the bird liberally with kosher salt.
19. Put bird in 2 gallon ziplock bag. (You will need help with this.)
20. Both you and your assistant GO WASH YOUR F%&#@$ING HANDS.
21. Put the bagged bird in the fridge.
22. Roll up the newspaper from your work surface and throw it away.
23. Clean EVERYTHING with disinfectant.
24. A nice cold Red Stripe would be good right about now.
---------------
Cooking Time!
OUTSIDE...right?
1. Set up your burner on a large flat hard surface.
The driveway is good. On the lawn is bad.
Put down cardboard under the burner assembly, unless your want a nice oilstain if there is an accidental spill. Keep away from the house, car, pets, or anything else flammable.
2. Have your FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand.
3. Bring out your bird and place on work surface.
4. Put pot on ground.
5. Fill your pot to the fill-to mark with peanut oil.
6. Light burner.
7. Adjust flame- you want a medium-high flame.
8. Put filled pot on lit burner.
(At this point you must NEVER leave the cooking area unattended.)
9. Put thermometer in oil, making sure the tip doesn't touch the bottom or sides.
10. Heat oil to 350.
(This will take a little while, but not that long. Watch the thermometer.)
11. Unwrap bird and impale NECK SIDE DOWN on bird stand.
12. GO WASH YOUR F%&#@$ING HANDS while your assistant watches the oil.
13. When oil is at 350, put on your welders gloves/pot holders.
14. When oil is at 365-370, remove thermometer and pick up the bird with the hook and carefully lower it into the oil. Remove the hook.
It will bubble up quite a bit, and there will be a lot of steam, so watch your hands/wrists.
Also, watch for overspill; if oil is too near the top of the pot, oil may overflow.
Be very careful.
Monitor the oil temp. Keep between 350 and 370.
A beer might be good right about now...but only one.
Cooking Times:
Weight - Cook time
9 lbs - 36 mins
10 lbs - 36 mins
11 lbs - 38 mins
12 lbs - 38 Mins
13 lbs - 39 Mins
15. At end of cooking time, hook the eye of the bird stand and raise the bird from the oil.
16. Place bird stand on work surface and let stand for 5 minutes before doing anything else with the bird.
17. While bird cools, kill the fire on the burner.
It will take more than an hour to cool the oil to a point where it can be easily and safely moved.
IF YOU ARE VERY CAREFUL you can move the pot from the stand and put it somewhere safe to cool. Use your welders gloves/oven mitts. Make sure it is safe from kids, animals and accidental contact.
18. After 5 mins, tip bird of stand and into disposable pan and take it inside the house.
19. The bird will be easier to work with if you give it 20 or so minutes to cool.
It will still be very hot inside.
Carve it up 15 or so minutes before ready to serve.
Enjoy
After dinner, go deal with the oil.
Pour it back in the bottle (strain it) and save it for cooking a turkey at Christmas.
Used oil is good (stored in cool dark place) for 6 to 8 months.
Famous, out-
This is the recipe I've been using for ten years now-
I got this basic recipe from a guy I worked with back at KBJ Architects years ago- Paul Robinson, from down in St Augustine, gave it to me one afternoon as I frantically scribbled it down on a sheet of stolen graph paper...
I've eaten some other people's recipes and I've toyed with other flavors and procedures (Mojo Bird for instance), but this is the all-time favorite. I usually cook 6 to 10 turkeys on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas for friends, neighbors and co-workers... We have been doing a Thanksgiving dinner at work for several years, and this recipe is always well-recieved.
For the last two years I have been in recovery from my return from China and the Tennis Masters Cup during Thanksgiving week, basically too tired to go through all the BS to cook a bunch of birds for dinner.
I got a couple e-mails while I was in Shanghai asking if I was cooking this year and when I said I wasn't, a couple people asked for the recipe...
Well... I've given this recipe to folks before, and there has been Some Trouble...
People take the recipe and make substitutions, and/or change the procedures, then get substandard results... and then complain to me about it.
Well... I'm publishing this recipe here- If you want to use it you'll have to make the pledge...
(Note: If you don't make the pledge and use this recipe and make even one tiny little change, quick Karma will do you in...Be advised.)
Hokay! Here we goes...
Uncle Jay's Fried Turkey Recipe. (v 1.1.0.2)
Repeat after me...
I promise to faithfully follow all instructions given to me in preparing Uncle Jay's Fried Turkey.
I will use only bona-fide and sanctioned ingredients and I will protect myself and my family by following all saftey procedures.
I will protect the sanctity of The Recipe by reproducing it faithfully, keeping all ingredients and procedures intact, and I will give proper credit upon dispersal to friends and family.
This recipe is intellectual property of Uncle Jay Enterprises, LTD.
Pax Vobiscum.
Stuff you're gonna need:
Turkey Fryer Stuff (Big-ass pot, bird stand, lift hook, propane burner & full tank.)
One 2-gallon ziplock bag.
Fresh Turkey. 9-13 lbs, depending on your pot.
Anything over 13 lbs is probably too big for average pot.
(And I mean fresh. Not frozen thawed ... Fresh. Publix has the best ones.)
One bottle Red Stripe Beer. (Or 1 sixpack: 1 bottle for recipe, 5 bottles for the cook.)
5 gallons of peanut oil.
(NOT canola, vegetable, safflower, coconut, motor, oilve, grapeseed or any other type of oil.)
One shaker can of Tony Cacheries Cajun Seasoning.
(NOT the "low salt" version. Get the green can.)
Kosher Salt.
One injecting syringe & needle. (#20 horse needle is nice)
12 inches of twine
Long-stem thermometer
Welders gloves or oven mitts.
Large cardboard box (refrigerator size is good)
One turkey-sized disposable aluminum pan.
FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
24 or 32oz plastic cup (Like from the soda fountain at the gas station.)
-----------------
Work Preparation:
1. Make sure your propane tank is full.
2. ALL cooking will take place outside.
3. Every time you touch the raw turkey, you will wash your &*#$@ hands BEFORE you touch ANYTHING else.
4. Make sure you have a large surface to work on to prepare the bird.
5. Sanitation hint: Once you start working on the bird, have an assistant pour the seasoning /salt /etc from the container into your hands as you need it. If you touch the can, you WILL cross-contaminate, and you WILL spend several hours in the bathroom counting tiles.
Also, put down several layers on newspaper on your prep surface...it will save time on cleanup.
-----------------
Cook Prep:
(Part one is done the night before, all prep must be finished before 11:00PM.
(I'm not kidding.)
BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THE BIRD, you must figure out how much oil to use.
Put wrapped bird in empty pot and run water into pot.
Fill until bird is covered by 2 inches of water.
Remove the bird at this point.
Make a fill-to mark side of pot (inside) with a Sharpie.
Dump water and move onto prep.
Prepare Bird
1. Pour beer into 24 or 32 oz. plastic cup
(Using this cup will make it easier to mix the seasoning and get it into the syringe.)
2. Agitate beer (take some of the fizz out of it.)
3. Let foam subside
4. Put 3 tablespoons of Tony Cacheries seasoning in the beer.
5. Mix THOUROUGHLY. (Lots of salt in there that needs to dissolve.)
6. Let mixture stand
7. Unwrap bird, remove "goodies" from inside body cavity and neck cavity.
8. Rinse bird well, especially inside. Fill with water several times, until water runs clear.
9. Make sure there are no ice crystals inside.
10. working from the cavity end of the bird, run your hands up under the skin of the turkey, separating the skin from the meat. Do both sides, and try to get down toward the thighs and wings.
(IMPORTANT - Try NOT to tear the skin as you do this. The skin protects the meat as it cooks...If it is excessively torn, the unprotected meat will cook incorrectly and leave dry sections of meat.)
11. Take small handfuls of Tony Cacheries seasoning and insert it under the skin of the turkey, rubbing it on the meat up as far as you can under the skin with your hands...(again, careful not to tear skin).
12. Sprinkle a good amount of seasoning into body cavity.
13. Sprinkle a good amount of kosher salt into body cavity.
14. Give your beer mixture a good stir.
15. Fill your injecting syringe with the mixture.
16. Inject syringefuls of mix into the breastmeat, moving the needle around to different points to evenly distribute mixture. Also inject thighs and drums. Use all the mixture.
17. When finished, pull the ends of the legs together, cross the ends of the bones and tie them together with twine. Fold and tuck wingtips under the body.
18. Sprinkle the outside of the bird liberally with kosher salt.
19. Put bird in 2 gallon ziplock bag. (You will need help with this.)
20. Both you and your assistant GO WASH YOUR F%&#@$ING HANDS.
21. Put the bagged bird in the fridge.
22. Roll up the newspaper from your work surface and throw it away.
23. Clean EVERYTHING with disinfectant.
24. A nice cold Red Stripe would be good right about now.
---------------
Cooking Time!
OUTSIDE...right?
1. Set up your burner on a large flat hard surface.
The driveway is good. On the lawn is bad.
Put down cardboard under the burner assembly, unless your want a nice oilstain if there is an accidental spill. Keep away from the house, car, pets, or anything else flammable.
2. Have your FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand.
3. Bring out your bird and place on work surface.
4. Put pot on ground.
5. Fill your pot to the fill-to mark with peanut oil.
6. Light burner.
7. Adjust flame- you want a medium-high flame.
8. Put filled pot on lit burner.
(At this point you must NEVER leave the cooking area unattended.)
9. Put thermometer in oil, making sure the tip doesn't touch the bottom or sides.
10. Heat oil to 350.
(This will take a little while, but not that long. Watch the thermometer.)
11. Unwrap bird and impale NECK SIDE DOWN on bird stand.
12. GO WASH YOUR F%&#@$ING HANDS while your assistant watches the oil.
13. When oil is at 350, put on your welders gloves/pot holders.
14. When oil is at 365-370, remove thermometer and pick up the bird with the hook and carefully lower it into the oil. Remove the hook.
It will bubble up quite a bit, and there will be a lot of steam, so watch your hands/wrists.
Also, watch for overspill; if oil is too near the top of the pot, oil may overflow.
Be very careful.
Monitor the oil temp. Keep between 350 and 370.
A beer might be good right about now...but only one.
Cooking Times:
Weight - Cook time
9 lbs - 36 mins
10 lbs - 36 mins
11 lbs - 38 mins
12 lbs - 38 Mins
13 lbs - 39 Mins
15. At end of cooking time, hook the eye of the bird stand and raise the bird from the oil.
16. Place bird stand on work surface and let stand for 5 minutes before doing anything else with the bird.
17. While bird cools, kill the fire on the burner.
It will take more than an hour to cool the oil to a point where it can be easily and safely moved.
IF YOU ARE VERY CAREFUL you can move the pot from the stand and put it somewhere safe to cool. Use your welders gloves/oven mitts. Make sure it is safe from kids, animals and accidental contact.
18. After 5 mins, tip bird of stand and into disposable pan and take it inside the house.
19. The bird will be easier to work with if you give it 20 or so minutes to cool.
It will still be very hot inside.
Carve it up 15 or so minutes before ready to serve.
Enjoy
After dinner, go deal with the oil.
Pour it back in the bottle (strain it) and save it for cooking a turkey at Christmas.
Used oil is good (stored in cool dark place) for 6 to 8 months.
Famous, out-
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Skunks & Groupers & Brats (Oh my.)
Greetings Constant Readers...
I have a few goodies to share with you before tiffin...
(And we take tiffin pretty durn early in these parts, Buckaroo...)
First-
James B, known far and wide as The Skunk, maniacal sports boffin and surfer-dude has taken an option on some real estate in the Blogosphere...
I've worked with The Skunk and his Minions (especially Christo) at a couple US Open events during my tenure at IDS... He has an interesting (but very valid) take on some service vendors in our industry.
His rantings can be found at The Mighty Skunk. You can also find his business site here...
Welcome to the party, Skunk-man.
(And thanks to Spongemark for the tip...)
So...
I got the hankering for some fish the other night and decided instead of going to the local seafood joint, ordering grouper and getting some overpriced mystery fish, I'd make my own fried grouper.
I went up to Safe Harbor Seafood in Mayport and picked up a couple nice fillets at about half what the more convenient fish markets were charging....
They don't have a website that I could find, but listen to Uncle Jay: You want great shrimp or fish- go to Safe Harbor Seafood Market, 4378 Ocean St, up in Mayport.
(904 246-4911)
How'd I cook it?
A couple different ways...
A dusting of flour on the fillet, heat up butter and a tablespoon of canola oil in a heavy frying pan on Med-Hi heat, and pan fry for about 3 minutes on one side. Flip and fry for two more minutes and then check to see if it's done- toothpick in the thickest part of the fillet...
If there is any resistance going through the fillet it needs more time...
A squeeze of lime juice and a few capers thrown on at the last minute- and when you plate it, make sure you put some of the pan sauce on the top of the fillet...
Mmmmm!
Option two was deep fried grouper fingers...
(Bet you didn't know groupers had fingers, did ya?)
Cut the fillet into thick finger portions.
Mix some of your favorite seasoning and a cup or two of flour in a large zip-top bag...
Throw the the fingers in the bag, zip it up and shake to coat the fingers in flour.
beat two eggs in a wide shallow bowl and dip the fingers in the egg mixture, then dredge them in panko bread flakes...
(I get my panko at Publix in the international food section.)
Fry the fingers a few at a time in canola or peanut oil at 350 for 5 or 6 minutes.
Remove from the oil and let them dry and cool just a bit on a rack.
Don't stack them on top of each other immediately, or let them sit on paper towels; They'll just re-absorb any residual oil that is coming off the surface.
The panko is a great crust- the texture is amazing. And for leftovers, it reheats really well. Try the panko next time you fry some fish... Great stuff.
Bratwurst?
Well, you don't go looking for sushi in Germany...
So... I'm off to Koln.
The NBA is doing 4 games in Cologne Germany next week, so I'm off to make sure that all will be right in ESPN-world, and the overall scoring and stats for the game.
Looked at a calendar lately?
Can you say "Oktoberfest?"
Well... Constant Readers will know I'm not exactly a beer guy, and I'll probably be forced to drag along an emergency stash of Captain Morgan, but I can guarantee there will be some misbehavior in Koln next week.
And there will be photos.
Stay tuned.
Berühmt, aus!
I have a few goodies to share with you before tiffin...
(And we take tiffin pretty durn early in these parts, Buckaroo...)
First-
James B, known far and wide as The Skunk, maniacal sports boffin and surfer-dude has taken an option on some real estate in the Blogosphere...
I've worked with The Skunk and his Minions (especially Christo) at a couple US Open events during my tenure at IDS... He has an interesting (but very valid) take on some service vendors in our industry.
His rantings can be found at The Mighty Skunk. You can also find his business site here...
Welcome to the party, Skunk-man.
(And thanks to Spongemark for the tip...)
So...
I got the hankering for some fish the other night and decided instead of going to the local seafood joint, ordering grouper and getting some overpriced mystery fish, I'd make my own fried grouper.
I went up to Safe Harbor Seafood in Mayport and picked up a couple nice fillets at about half what the more convenient fish markets were charging....
They don't have a website that I could find, but listen to Uncle Jay: You want great shrimp or fish- go to Safe Harbor Seafood Market, 4378 Ocean St, up in Mayport.
(904 246-4911)
How'd I cook it?
A couple different ways...
A dusting of flour on the fillet, heat up butter and a tablespoon of canola oil in a heavy frying pan on Med-Hi heat, and pan fry for about 3 minutes on one side. Flip and fry for two more minutes and then check to see if it's done- toothpick in the thickest part of the fillet...
If there is any resistance going through the fillet it needs more time...
A squeeze of lime juice and a few capers thrown on at the last minute- and when you plate it, make sure you put some of the pan sauce on the top of the fillet...
Mmmmm!
Option two was deep fried grouper fingers...
(Bet you didn't know groupers had fingers, did ya?)
Cut the fillet into thick finger portions.
Mix some of your favorite seasoning and a cup or two of flour in a large zip-top bag...
Throw the the fingers in the bag, zip it up and shake to coat the fingers in flour.
beat two eggs in a wide shallow bowl and dip the fingers in the egg mixture, then dredge them in panko bread flakes...
(I get my panko at Publix in the international food section.)
Fry the fingers a few at a time in canola or peanut oil at 350 for 5 or 6 minutes.
Remove from the oil and let them dry and cool just a bit on a rack.
Don't stack them on top of each other immediately, or let them sit on paper towels; They'll just re-absorb any residual oil that is coming off the surface.
The panko is a great crust- the texture is amazing. And for leftovers, it reheats really well. Try the panko next time you fry some fish... Great stuff.
Bratwurst?
Well, you don't go looking for sushi in Germany...
So... I'm off to Koln.
The NBA is doing 4 games in Cologne Germany next week, so I'm off to make sure that all will be right in ESPN-world, and the overall scoring and stats for the game.
Looked at a calendar lately?
Can you say "Oktoberfest?"
Well... Constant Readers will know I'm not exactly a beer guy, and I'll probably be forced to drag along an emergency stash of Captain Morgan, but I can guarantee there will be some misbehavior in Koln next week.
And there will be photos.
Stay tuned.
Berühmt, aus!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Fun on the menu, Augusta style...
At A Nice Golf Course like the one here, they are renown for some of the food available during the tournament.The egg salad is pretty good, and some people are enamored of the pimento cheese sandwiches...
They have ham & cheese on rye, and turkey, tuna salad, barbeque, and other goodies...
We have found, however, the best sandwich available is a is actually a combo-
Take one of the chicken filet sandwiches and a club sandwich,
and remove the filet, take the ham, turkey and cheese out of the club sandwiches,
and put them atop the chicken filet.
If you are in a position that has a microwave in the vicinity, put your chicken/ham/cheese assembly in and nuke it for 20 seconds or, if you own a Blue Toaster, put it on the dashboard for a hour or so in the hot Georgia sun...
Voila! An ANGC Cordon Bleu.
Famous, out-
They have ham & cheese on rye, and turkey, tuna salad, barbeque, and other goodies...
We have found, however, the best sandwich available is a is actually a combo-
Take one of the chicken filet sandwiches and a club sandwich,
and remove the filet, take the ham, turkey and cheese out of the club sandwiches,
and put them atop the chicken filet.
If you are in a position that has a microwave in the vicinity, put your chicken/ham/cheese assembly in and nuke it for 20 seconds or, if you own a Blue Toaster, put it on the dashboard for a hour or so in the hot Georgia sun...
Voila! An ANGC Cordon Bleu.
Famous, out-
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