Chunky Egg Salad & Great Dressing

Posted on by February 29, 2016

Made 2/6/2016 and “dressing” or sauce was great. Mary added finely chopped fresh cilantro. The dressing would surely be great over boiled shrimp.

Base recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen

Ingredients

12 large eggs
Dressing

Dressing
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 stalk celery (with leaves), chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, soak the onions in cold water, for 15 minutes. Drain.

Cut eggs into quarters then cut the quarters in half.

In a large bowl, mix together the onion, celery, mayonnaise, dill, mustard, lemon juice, cilantro and salt.

Add the eggs to the mayonnaise mixture and gently mix them together. Season with pepper to taste. Use in sandwiches, with lettuce and tomatoes, or in a salad.

From Food Network Kitchens

2016 Super Bowl Appetizers

Posted on by June 18, 2016

2/5/2016 – Made two smoked appetizers to take to Kelley’s for the game and smoked the third on gameday morning.

Beef & Pork Meatballs; aka moinks (moo+oink).

20160206_160523Ingredients

1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 lb. Hormel HOT breakfast sausage
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 large egg
3/8″ square cheese cubes for 1 per meatball
Thin sliced bacon cut in half
Meathead’s beef rub
Toothpicks

Mixed all ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Formed a golf-ball sized meatball then pressed in a cube of cheese in the center and reformed the meat around the cheese into a ball. Wrapped with half slice of bacon and secured with a toothpick pushed all the way through.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

Cut chicken breast into about 1? x 1? cubes and wrapped in 1/2 bacon strip secured with toothpick. Sprinkled on Best Stop cajun seasoning onto bacon strips then rolled and secured with toothpick. Once all assembled dusted with same season.

The First Cook

  1. Kettle was prepared with SnS coals burning in one end and fresh coals poured over and beside them with three chunks of pecan. Foil over exposed part of charcoal grate and boiling water in the SnS slot. Ambient temp for entire cook was about 52 with gentle breezes.
  2. 4:40 pm – Placed chicken and balls on the grate. Came up to 225 slowly (by 5pm) after opening vents fully.
  3. 5:35 – Grate temp was 215. Chicken internal temp was in the 250-260 range so removed and painted balls with Stub’s Sweet Bourban sauce
  4. 5:45 – Grate was at 230. Sauce had glazed so removed.

We ate two of the balls and two of the chicken chucks. The chicken seemed a bit dry but tasty. The balls were great. On both the bacon was well done but not dried out. Put them into seperate plastic containers to take to the game tomorrow.

Third Appetizer was Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

20160207_115110Sliced about a dozen large Jalapeno peppers in half removing all ribs and seeds. Mixed 8 oz. package of cream cheese softened with 1 cup of medium shredded cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup of chives finely chopped. Added an olive with pimento cheese in the stem end of some of them (did not remove the stem) then wrapped with half a strip of thin sliced bacon secured with a toothpick.

Added them around the butts and about an hour later the cheese was bubbling, some of the bacon had a nice color and doneness-some did not and the fat was white and uncooked. Left them on as long as could rsik the cheese to let the peppers get cooked. But they never really were much more than warmed. Hence, all were hot to very hot.

Results:

  • Beef & Pork Meatballs; aka moinks (moo+oink) – The ones we ate just off the grill were moist and tender. GREAT. The warmed up ones the next day were almost dry and tough. Maybe better if we had painted them with seasoned butter when they came off the grill like steaks. They also could have benefited from minced onion and garlic plus a cheese square that was larger ; i.e. 1/2″x1/2″.
  • Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites – Directly off the grill they were a bit more tender than re-warmed gently the next day when they were tough. Left them on too long. Should have watched and pull off when the chicken was still bouncy although the bacon would not have been done. Should have precooked the bacon before wrapping then seared them just before the chick was done.
  • Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers – By the time the fresh pepper began to soften the cheese was soup although on most the bacon was done nicely. This split style would work well coated and deep fried but for smoking low and slow could try pre-roasting the peppers. That would also even out the heat as me and another guy had ok ones and then each had one that was HOT. Could also try cutting out a 1/3 slice leaving a deep boat, remove seeds and ribs then fill it and wrap. with that deep boat could cut off stem end and plug with the olive. The olive was a nice flavor addition.
  • Overall – Should have had less smoke so the balls and chicken would not look dirty.

Three Thin Steaks

Posted on by June 18, 2016

2/5/2016 – This was the first time I tried the reverse sear method but only had three 1/2′ steaks found in the freezer. That was the wrong method for thin steaks. They should have been quickly seared and served.

The evening before salted 1/2″ thick steaks to dry-brine and covered with plastic.

Lite almost a half chimney of Kingsford Blue and when well lite poured into SnS.

Temp with grate ThermoChef came up to over 400 then settled down to in the range of 375. Closed off the dampers and it came down to 350 or so.

Put on two of the steaks on the side opposite the SnS and closed it up. Temp rose quickly back to about 350. Left them there until internal was at 135 or  so and moved them to over the coals. Flip them every 2-3 minutes and removed when “look right”.

Steaks were medium well done, moist despite the over cooking but had an ok flavor. The technique of reverse sear is for thick steaks and did not work for thin ones.

Next Time with such thin steaks:

  • Do not take them out of the refrigerator to warm any before cooking. Let the center be cold when it does on the grill.
  • If pre-cook on the off-coal side do it only to warm them-maybe to 100-with the lid on then sear over the coals fipping every minutes. Be sure the coals are blazing as this time they had cooled off and as the SnS was only half full with so the fire was well down the grate and smaller burning coals.

After we ate Mary lectured me on over cooking thin steaks and listening to the “ya-hoos” on the internet. So much for coming home early with her favorite bottle of wine.

White Bean Stew

Posted on by February 5, 2016

White Bean Stew

Based on a recipe from the Kitchen of DeepSouthDish dot com.

Ingredients

  1. 1-1/2 tablespoons butter, bacon drippings or extra virgin olive oil
  2. 1/4 pound quality andouille or smoked sausage (like Coneuch brand), diced
  3. 1-1/2 cups diced onion
  4. 1 cup diced carrot
  5. 1/2 cup diced celery
  6. 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  7. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  8. 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  9. 1/4 teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, or to taste, optional
  10. 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  11. 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  12. 1 bay leaf
  13. 3 cups cubed smoked ham
  14. 6 cups homemade or boxed chicken stock or broth
  15. 1 medium potato, cooked and mashed
  16. 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
  17. 3 (14.5 ounce) cans white beans (great northern, navy), drained and rinsed

Instructions

  1. Brown sausage in 1/2 tablespoon fat; remove and set aside. Add remaining fat to pan and saute onion, carrots and celery for 4 minutes. Add garlic, seasonings and ham; cook for 1 minute.
  2. Stir in stock or broth, bring to a boil, return sausage to pot, reduce to low simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
  3. Stir in potato until fully incorporated, then add tomato and beans. Continue to simmer until beans are warmed through and stew reaches desired consistency, 10 to 15 minutes longer; taste and adjust seasonings.
  4. Serve over cornbread, hot steamed rice or mashed potatoes, or serve as is, with a green salad and cornbread on the side.

Brining Advice & Recipes

Posted on by August 13, 2017

Chef JJ’s poultry brine method — “Day one, Brine overnight. Next day, drain and pat dry. l place the bird on a rack over a drip pan then in the refer overnight. Day three smoke or cook however…JJ”

Families Favorite Brine by Chef JJ

1/2C Kosher Salt
2T Paprika
2T Gran. Garlic
2T Gran. Onion
2T Dry Thyme
2T Black Pepper
1C Vinegar (Any)
1 to 1-1/2 Gal Cold Water to cover bird

1/2C Brown Sugar, Optional
1T Red Pepper Flake Optional

Mix well and Soak the Bird overnight or up to 24 Hours.
Remove the Chix, rinse if desired and pat dry with paper towels.
Place in an open container in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours for the Skin to dry.
This will give a crispier skin when Smoking or Roasting…

From Jeff’s pulled chicken recipe:

  • 1/2 gallon of water,
  • 1/2 cup of kosher salt,
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar,
  • 3 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce.

Rule of thumb for how long to brine – 1 hour per pound

For pork loin by FoamHeart at SMF. See post here.

Brine
2 cups apple juice
2/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C Canning salt
2 T Maple extract
2 C Ice

Rub
Ground Ancho pepper (perfect heat)
Kosher salt

That’s it, then light brown sugar to on top of a peach glaze to seal in all those good tastes and create a coating that helps hold in moisture.

From an article at SMF available here by 3Men With Nothing Better To Do.

“The following is a tried and tested chicken brine recipe;

1 gallon water
3/4 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon each of dried tarragon, thyme, black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Start by boiling the water and then adding the salt and sugar, so that it will dissolve easier. Then add the spices to the hot liquid so that the flavors are extracted. Cool the brine solution.

Place the brine solution into a non-reactive container and immerse the chicken in the brine, weighting it down if necessary. (Use a heavy plate or a brick inside a ziploc bag as a weight). Place the container into the refrigerator and leave for 10 hours. You can also brine the chicken in an ice chest, by pouring the brine solution into the ice chest, immersing the chicken and weighting down. (Use ziploc bags filled with ice cubes, or “blue ice” to keep the brining solution cool during the brining process.

Upon completion of the brining time remove the chicken from the brine and wash twice for at least 30 seconds in fresh water. Dry the chicken with paper towels.

A few things that you need to be remember when brining:

  • Make sure your brine does not contain too much salt. The salty flavor of a brine is typically offset by using some kind of sweetening agent such as sugar, honey, maple syrup etc.
  • Do not leave the chicken in the brine for too long or you will end up with a very mushy and salty end product.
  • Make sure you wash the chicken in fresh water for 30 seconds, at least twice after you remove it from the brine.
  • Be careful about using acidic products in your brines as these will begin to ‘cook’ the meat and result in a mushy end product.
  • Brining must take place at temperatures of 40 degrees or below. Only place your chicken into the brining solution once it is cold. You can cool the brining solution in the refrigerator or by using ziploc bags filled with ice cubes.
  • Ensure that the brine solution completely covers the chicken during the brining process.

Brining by Dr. Jeff Bonder. Click here to see full article.

  • For dry brining – “Or around 1/2 tsp of fine sea salt, or a tsp of kosher salt, per pound of meat. Adjusted to your own taste, of course.”

  • “So when brining:

    • Wet-brining adds moisture and tenderness to meat when cooking hot and fast. Dry brining is nearly as effective, but the tie goes to wet for wings and small hunks of meat. The inconvenience of wet brining a 20 lb turkey for three days can tip the balance back to dry though…
    • Wet-brining does not add moisture or improve tenderness compared to dry when cooking low and slow.
    • Dry-brining produces a better smoked surface if you distribute the salt in isolated islands. Wet-brining often washes off smoke flavor prematurely, and yields a lighter colored crust. In between there is an optimal technique which balances smoke, flavor and bark.
      • Injecting brine is a faster version of wet-brining, and offers similar results in a shorter time. Injection can make sense in competition cooking where time is a factor, but I prefer dry brining at home. Still, if you inject a concentrated salt solution (only enough to average out to a 0.5% salt level), but not salt the surface, you may achieve the best of all worlds. On my list of future experiments.“

From Dr. Jeff’s page here. How to make brine that is the right concentration.

“First, take one cup of warm water in measuring cup. Then, pour in salt. Any salt will do, and keep on adding salt until the brine level is at 1 1/2 cups. If you pour in Kosher salt, you will have to keep pouring and pouring- it seems like you’re pouring into a black hole. Even a mixture of salts, scavenged from nearly empty containers, is fine.

Blend this concentrated salt slurry into a gallon of water, and you will have a 6% (by weight) brine, which is suited for most meats.”

Shrimp Scampi Florentine from Chef Elliott

Posted on by January 30, 2016

This recipe is offered on the FaceBook page of Chef Elliott Farmer.

“Here’s a recipe that I love…Shrimp Scampi Florentine”

Ingredients
1/3 c cream cheese
8 oz mozerella cheese, shredded
2 T butter
2 T prepared basil pesto
2 large plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 sm green chili pepper, seeded and chopped
1 t old bay seasoning, or to taste
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 c fresh spinach

Directions

  1. Combine the butter and cream cheese in a large skillet over medium heat.
  2. Stir in pesto, green chili and tomatoes. Simmer until the tomatoes start to soften.
  3. Season with old bay seasoning to taste.
  4. Add cheese and stir constantly until melted.
  5. Stir the shrimp into the sauce, and cook just until they turn pink.
  6. Add the spinach, and stir until wilted, about 1 minute.

Cream of Crab soup based on Chef Elliott

Posted on by January 7, 2017

From Chef Elliott Farmer‘s FaceBook post.

THIS RECIPE HAS BEEN MOST POPULAR LATELY… so here it is for those who do not have the recipe…

**Cream of Crab soup**

Ingredients
1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1 cup)
1/3 c flour
4 c milk or half-and-half
1 T OLD BAY® Seasoning
1/2 t McCormick® Parsley Flakes
1 lb. lump crab meat
3 T dry sherry or cooking sherry (optional)

Directions
Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 minutes or until softened. Add flour, Old Bay and parsley; whisk until well blended. Whisking constantly, gradually add milk. Bring just to boil.

Stir in crabmeat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in sherry, if desired. Heat 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with additional Old Bay, if desired.

Journal – Two Slabs of Ribs

Posted on by January 31, 2016

Saturday, January 30, 2016
Ambient Temp was unseasonably warm 65 degrees with a nice breeze..

Meat Prep – About 11 AM removed silver skin, salted as usual and slide back into plastic sleeves and into refrigerator. Both slabs are thick without much outside fat. When grill was ready I removed the slabs and rubbed in Memphis Dust shaken on moderately.

Grill Prep – Major addition to the set up was the portal for the temp probe’s cable made with conduit fittings. See Diary for details. Lite about 15 briquettes in chimney and when almost completely ashed over poured them into one end of the SnS. Added briquettes up to near the top edge with pecan chunks a little smaller than a tennis ball on the burning coals and along the top. Mounted temp probe with grate clip well to one side. Placed foil over lower grate up to SnS.

The Cook

  1. 3:30 PM; grate temp was 240 – Put the two slabs on and realized they covered the cool zone side almost completely. [Realized later that is why they took so long to cook as the heat could not get below them very well.]
  2. Did not add hot water to slot until 4:30 as forgot to do so. Temp up to then stay in the range set for the Thermoworks; i.e. 215 – 250.
  3. At 5:30 Thermoworks low alarmed sounded. Stoked the unburned coals on to burning ones and moved a pecan chunk onto the burn. Temp came back into the mid 220s and held.
  4. At 7:00 noted the color of the ribs does not look like they are cooking and temp had fallen to below 215. Re-stoked coals.
  5. At 8:20 the bend test shows the ribs are not done even though they have been on and at temp for about 5 hours. Wrapped them together in foil and put them into the oven at 250 until 9:15. Set them wrapped in the foil on a wire rack to cool.

Cajun Shrimp & Grits based on Chef Elliott

Posted on by February 14, 2021

This recipe is Mary’s version of Chef Elliott’s Cuisine & Catering Ingredients for Cajun Shrimp & Grits as posted on his FaceBook page.

1 lb. of large shrimp, peeled, deveined – Used fresh gulf shrimp
1 lb. Andouille Sausage, sliced on the diagonal 1/2 inch.  The sausage was from Bergeron’s in West Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1 tbsp. creole seasoning or seasoning salt. Used No MSG Cajun Seasoning bought in Scott Louisiana at The Best Stop Supermarket.
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 stick of butter
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
I added red pepper flakes

For the Grits:

1 c. grits
1 c. water
1 c. milk
1 c. beef or chicken broth, low sodium + extra to thin grits as they cook. We used Turkey stock we made over the weekend.
1 stick of butter
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. creole seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
Added Green onions for topping

To Prepare the Grits:

  1. In a large pot bring all liquids to boil, add butter and seasonings.
  2. Slowly stir in grits while whisking nonstop for about two minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook grits, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.
  3. Adding extra broth as needed to keep the grits thin.
  4. Add cheese and whisk well, add more broth if needed.

To Prepare the Shrimp:

  1. To prepare the shrimp, peel and devein shrimp, season with all the spices and set aside. I prepared the spices early in the day and after preparing the shrimp, seasoned them and put them in the fridge until it was time to fix dinner.
  2. In a large saute pan add butter and olive oil over medium high heat, add all the vegetables, except garlic and saute for 5 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute more.
  3. Add andouille sausage and saute about 10-15 minutes, until browned. Add shrimp and cook about 3-4 minutes are until no longer pink.
  4. Serve on top of grits topped with a little more cheese and green onions.