1/17/2018 – While working from home during the great freeze in Houston the second week of January 2018 we made our traditional chicken soup with four thighs. I wanted to try a different spice profile so searched for an Ina recipe and found the one below. It turned out great with her spices.
Continue reading1/15/2018 – Bought a very meaty 3.95 lb. (1,791.7 gm) slab at Hong Kong Market for $3.49/lb. Dry cured for almost three weeks. Cold smoked for 6 hours. Continue reading
1/16/2018 – Bought a head of white cabbage from Hong Kong Market. This ferment worked well and had a distinct mustard tone from the ground seeds. Next time use only yellow mustard to avoid the dark “clouds” in the ferment from the brown mustard seeds. Continue reading
1/15/2018 – Used bones from the ribs smoked yesterday.
Yields about 6 quarts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 large (about 3-4 lbs) beef rib bones where we had eaten the smoked beef
- 9 quarts cold water
- 4 large carrots, washed, unpeeled and halved
- 2 large onions, unpeeled and quartered
- A couple extra onion peels, if available
- 1 heart of celery (including stalks and leafy tops), washed and halved
- 1 leek, chopped and rinsed to remove any grit
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled and halved cross-wise
- 1/2 bunch parsley (leaves and stems), rinsed
- 1 bunch thyme (about 15-20 sprigs), rinsed
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
- 8 juniper berries (or 2 sprigs rosemary, rinsed)
- 5 bay leaves
- 3 whole cloves
- 3 whole pods cardamom, cracked
Boiled the bones, covered in filtered water, about 30 minutes as had not fixed the other items.
Added the remaining ingredients, turn heat up to high, and bring to a boil again; turn heat down and simmer uncovered 4 hours. Cool and strain through a cheesecloth-lined colander placed over a large pot to catch the stock, squeezing the cheesecloth to extract as much stock as possible; discard the solids. If the bones had meat on them, pull the meat off and use it in whatever you want.
Pour the stock into freezer-safe storage containers, cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate overnight. The next day, skim the fat off the top; keep the stock in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer 6 months or longer.
Inspired by https://www.anediblemosaic.com/homemade-lamb-or-beef-stock/
1/14/2018 – 5 AM to 6 AM – Pulled silver skin from BBs and rubbed well with Kit’s Creole Seasoning. Rubbed the beef ribs with Jeff’s Texas Rub. Put into refer.
2:30 – Put into MES. Smoke was from a mixture of ChefMasters blend pellets (~50%) and Treflager Hickory (~50%). Ambient Temp is 40 and humidity is ~60%.
3:30 – Removed Beef ribs. Mary poured on some Stubbs sauce, wrapped in foil and put into the oven set at 250.
5:30 – Painted on a baste of 50% of made of 1/8C Stubbs Orig Sauce, 1/8C ACV, 1/2 Tbs Creole Seasoning, and 3T butter. (Forgot the butter.) Painted it on three hours into the smoke.
Saturday, January 13, 2018 – This cook turned out great. Results were very good especially with the point that had the 3POGS and Jeff’s Texas Rub. Adding more Jeff’s at the time it was wrapped also had to help with the very flavorful bark. Trimming the brisket of almost all fat left a lot of meat for rub and smoke. The bark was great and the meat tender. Best brisket we have ever made in the MES. Continue reading
Zatarain’s Copy Cat. Add 2-3 lemons, quartered, to the water. This is enough for 5 lbs shrimp or a dozen blue crabs.
Ingredients – Makes 1 cup
8 Bay leaves
2 tbsp Allspice, whole
1 tsp Cloves, whole
3 tbsp Coriander seeds
2 tbsp Dill seeds
4 tbsp Mustard seeds
1 tbsp Red pepper flakes
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Below is from the OldGringo in Arizona here. I made the conversion to volumes and weights.
| Parts | 1T = 1 part | grams for 1-part volumes | 2T = 1 part | |
| dried bay leaves in small pieces | 2 | 2T | 1/4C | |
| cayenne pepper | 2 | 2T | 1/4C | |
| celery seeds | 4 | 1/4C | 1/2C | |
| coriander seeds* | 1 | 1T | 2T | |
| brown mustard seeds | 8 | 1/2C | 1 C | |
| whole black peppercorns | 2 | 2T | 1/4C | |
| whole allspice berries | 1 | 1T | 2T | |
| whole clove buds | 1 | 1T | 2T | |
| crushed red pepper flakes | 2 | 2T | 1/4C | |
| thyme leaves | 2 | 2T | 1/4C |
01-09-2018 – Inspired by CookinCowGirls recipe at AllRecipes.com. This was Mary’s best ever remoulade as it had a bold remoulade taste with a distinctive, but not painful, kick.
Continue readingThis cook was inspired by the recipe on page 23 of our copy of Rima and Richard Collin’s The New Orleans Cookbook. The first time we made this was on a cold, rainy day at the farm on Moma’s birthday, 12/27/2017. Cooked it on the propane burner on the carport in a 12′ diameter x 6′ deep aluminum fry pan. Turned out great. Continue reading
12/23/2017 – Made our fourth batch of German-style kraut inspired by this recipe at the www.TheSpruce.com. This one is with a green cabbage with twice the mustard seed using yellow and brown in a 50/50 ratio. It turned out good with a distinct mustard background tone.