7/8/2018 – Inspired by Marcela Valladolid here. The loaf turned out a bit spicy for Mary but fine for Tom. Good flavor and the chunky texture of the chorizo made for a nice chewy entree. Continue reading
7/7/2018 – Our first BBQ’ed Shrimp attempt turned out great. 
It was inspired by Mr. B’s Bistro at http://www.mrbsbistro.com/recipes_shrimp.php Mary loved it insisting I take the photo as it was so good. I thought it needed more kick but that was maybe because I always thought BBQ shrimp would be spicy hot. Continue reading
7/7/2018 – Boiled heads from 7 lbs. of mixed shrimp from Kemah and added spices inspired by Kit Whol’s recipe on page 83 of our copy of her book titled New Orleans Classic Seafood.
Ingredients
- Heads from 7 lbs of mixed shrimp
- 2 green onions corsley chopped
- Center small stalks and leaves of celery
- 1 large bay leaf
- about 1t of dried thyme
- Our black pepper; about six hard shakes
Brought to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours
7/3/2018 – This smoke went very different as the MES quit heating about 2 hours in. So moved it to the Weber Kettle to finish and it turned out very good. The butt and 3 small tasso pieces were rubbed heavy with 5POGS. Continue reading
7/2/2018 – Dry-brined a 1-1/2″ thick Prime Steak from HEB 48 hours ago. This reverse sear turned out great largely due to a good Prime steak.
- Pulled from refer an hour ahead to warm a bit and to add a good layer of fresh coarse ground black pepper.
- Put it into the Weber Kettle with the Slow-N-Sear with about 10 Kingsword charcoals and a piece of pecan for smoke.
- Monitored the IT with the ChefWorks and when it reached about 100 added maybe 20 burning charcoals.
- Seared it flipping twice until the IT was 130.
- Wrapped in foil and let rest for maybe 10 minutes.
Mary said it was very good. Medium rare with good grill flavor on the outside and moist pink middle and no grey areas between the inside and outside.
Made this June 27, 2018, and it had great flavor and texture. Inspired by the recipe here. Mary loved it and therefore it is a tagged a Favorite. Finished the leftovers on the 30th and it reheated and tasted great. Continue reading
6/18/2018 – Made gumbo on the two-burner propane stove on the carport as we were staying in the TT while the house was being remodeled. Somewhat followed the recipe in Poppy Tooker’s Tujaques’ cookbook for Chicken Creole on page 113 of our personalized copy. Despite a lot of improvising it turned out good and made us realize the true simplicity of creole cooking despite what appears to be complex recipes.
Continue reading
The butt turned out really good on salads and in sandwiches. The 5POGS makes a great bark and adds a touch of spice. Continue reading
6/7/2018 – As Mary has faithfully begun eating the last Kraut I made I must make a large batch to ferment while we are on one of our last trips to Mobile before moving there. The recipe is:
2 white cabbages from Hong Kong Market that weighted 6.02 lbs. Discarded the outer leaves and used everything else. Forgot to weight the SS bowl so decided to base salt etal on 6 lbs. or 2,721 gm that was a little less than the store weight.
6 gm caraway seed – 0.2%
15 gm yellow mustard – 0.5%
25 juniper berries that weighted 2 gm – 0.07%
38.7 gm canning salt or 1.4%
Ground the seeds in the coffee grinder to avoid the medical problem of diverticulitis.
7/3/2018 – We have enjoyed this ferment for the past weeks and today divided what was left in the 1/2 gallon jar into a full quart jar (that went into the refer) and a partial quart jar and both went into the refer. When the last is done of those jars I want to compare it to that 2nd 1/2 gallon.
8/12/2018 – This was a good recipe that we have enjoyed almost daily.
8/19/2018 – Made a second batch to have enough to last through the move and until a new batch has fermented in late September. The large cabbage from Hong Kong Market, when the outer leaves were removed, weighted 1797 gm. So, weights of the spices and salt were in the table below created in Excel with the file in DropBox/Cooking.
| Cabbage | 1797 |
| 0.2% caraway seed = | 3.6 |
| 0.5% yellow mustard = | 9.0 |
| 0.7% juniper berries = | 1.3 |
| 1.4% canning salt = | 25.158 |
6/3/2018, Sunday – Both pieces of meat turned out good. The meat was moist likely due to the long dry brining. The combo rub of Jeff’s Texas Rub and 5POGS–different on each–added good flavor. Added more Jeff’s between the smoke and the braising in the oven. This system has now worked well several times on beef. Continue reading