Category: Recipes

By Posted on Posted in Recipes 1 Comment

Potato and Bacon Chowder in stock pot

Since we got back from our honeymoon we have been aching to cook some recipes in our new cookbooks we had picked up at the flea market well today was round two for the ‘fast healthy food’ Reader’s Digest cookbook and if our first two recipes from this cookbook are any indication of the rest of the book we might as well throw it out.  First we had made a pasta that was bland and this time we made the potato and bacon chowder which in all fairness one ingredient was substituted, instead of using Canadian ‘bacon’, I used real bacon, a nice juicy end cut from a slab of bacon prepared by a local butcher.  That said the chowder was an excellent base on which to build a fantastic potato and bacon chowder but the product that was yielded by following the recipe in the book was boring.  In the end it was Old Bay Seasoning and my spice rack to the rescue to save the day and this pot of chowder I sacrificed a prize piece of end bacon for.

So with no more anticipation here is the recipe from the book.

Ingredients
1 Qt Whole Milk
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Ounces Lean smoked Canadian bacon, rind removed and finely chopped (note I substituted real bacon!)
1 large onion finely chopped (slap chop to the rescue here)
2 tbsp all purpose flour
14 oz smooth, thin skinned potatoes, scrubbed and finely diced
1 parsnip, about 5 ounces grated
Freshly grated nutmeg
4 oz baby Spinach leaves
Salt and Fresh ground black pepper

Instructions
1. In a saucepan, over high heat, bring the milk just to a boil. Meanwhile in another large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the bacon and onion and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes.  Add the flour and stir to combine, then slowly add about one-quarter of the hot milk, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to mix in the flour.  When the roux thickens, stir in the remaining hot milk.

2. Add the potatoes and parsnip. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Adjust the heat so the soup bubbles gently.  Half cover the pan and continue cooking until the vegetables are nearly tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

3. Stir in the spinach and continue cooking until the spinach wilts, 1 to 2 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

That is where the recipe in the book ends I would add a step 4 to season until it tastes like more than potatoes and flour.

Serves 4

Let me know what you think, it just seemed bland off the bat to me.

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By Posted on Posted in Blogroll, Recipes, Reviews, Smoked Goodness 3 Comments

Well before we get right down to it prehaps I should mention that today was an exceptional day for smoking (bitter sarcism injected throughout that last statement), if I had not been forced, have already prepared my meat for smoking I would have just thrown in the towel for smoking today, but I had no choice, so I did what you do when you have no choice.  Upon rising at 0900 this morning it was rainy and windy, so I thought I would wait tell after noon to smoke my fatty, after all it had already been rolled.  Well noon brought around no positive change in the weather so I just did what I had to do, I got the charcoal ready.

Smokin' on a rainy day

I digress so after getting the smoker going in less than ideal smoking weather I popped the fatty on the smoker and let it smoke for 1…2…3…did I mention it was windy…4 hours until the thermometer read 165.

My Fatty on the smoker

Once it was done I pulled it off, let it rest and then dug in.

Picture of the Fatty

A sliced fatty

All said and done it was worth the effort, my tomato basil fatty has been my first fatty but certainly not my last.  It took a chunk of the day to smoke this fatty over charcoal and bits of hickory and cherry but it was worth it.  It was a culinary delight and an arterial nightmare.

Disclaimer:  While I may rave that this was in fact a delicious meal it would not be right to omit the opinion of my wife, who claims it was good but salty, it was certainly a man meal.

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By Posted on Posted in Blogroll, Recipes, Reviews, Smoked Goodness 3 Comments

While this ia  new concept to me many of you may be turned off by the title, I would encourage you to roll on.  Like its contraband counter part the fatty we are talking about must first be rolled, so that is where this process will begin.  But before we do perhaps we should look at a definition of what exactly is a fatty.  A fatty is a bit of sausage rolled out filled with some tasty goodness rolled up, wrapped in bacon and smoked (more info over at Smoking Meat Forums.  Having never assembled, much less smoked one of these tasty looking things I thought I would give it a try.  So I took some pork sausage and bacon out of the freezer last night and tonight assembled my master piece I will smoke it in the morning.  Below is my ordeal in a step by step fashion with pictures.

1.The Pork Sausage all rolled out.

Pork Sausage Rolled out for the Fatty

2. The bacon weave found out after all was said and done a much easier looking way to accomplish the same thing.

Bacon Weave awaiting the Fatty

3. Getting the fillings ready to the tomato basil fatty

The Fatty all filled up with Tomatoes, Basil and Mozz Cheese

4. The Fatty ready for the smoker…

The Fatty waiting for the smoker

It almost looks tasty enough to eat right now, but in the morning I shall throw it in the smoker and try it for lunch.  Check back later tomorrow for an update.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes 3 Comments

This past weekend I had some company over and made the world famous squealer burger, for those who don’t know what a squealer is, it is quite possibly the moistest, tastiest burger one will eat. I used the a recipe found on Recipe Zaar as my base and went from there. Because of the crowd I was feeding I ended up using 6 pounds of beef and substituted 90% Lean Ground Sirloin in place of the called for the 80% lean hamburger meat called for in the recipe. The added moisture from the bacon more than made up for the lack of fat in the burger, it’s like basting the meat from the inside the whole time it is cooking. I grilled up 22 of these patties and they were oh so moist, had great flavor and were gone in minutes.

Edit::The Actual Nate Elston Texas Squealer Burger Recipe

The recipe I used is as follows:

Ingredients
Per 1 pound of extra lean (90/10) ground sirloin
1/4 pound uncooked finely (size of a pea or a little bigger) chopped bacon, thicker cut bacon is better
Worcestershire sauce to taste
1 tbsp Mc Cormicks Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning

Instructions
Hand mix all that together in bowl or large pot, and then form into burgers, about a 1/3 pound each.
From there put them in the freezer for about a half an hour it seems to help them grill better.
Grill until done to your taste.

If you want some extra kick, I have in the past added cheese (cheddar or pepper jack) and jalapeños to the meat before it is grilled, its almost like having a burger with the toppings inside.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes No Comments

Have you ever wanted the stuffing without the hassle of making the turkey?  Maybe you don’t eat meat but smell the glorious smell of stuffing when you visit with your relatives for Thanksgiving.  Well what ever the case I love stuffing, I mean forget the turkey, give me some stuffing.  Well in my quest to find good stuffing without the bird I decided I had to start somewhere so I went to my favorite recipe finding tool, Google, and I found a starting point.  Over at AllRecipes.com I found a recipe for Slow Cooker Stuffing, it looked easy enough so I gave it a whirl.  Being that I live on my own I decided to make a quarter recipe of this, which filled about half of my mini slow cooker.  I also used fresh sage and dried parsely, didn’t quite have enough to strip my plants.  I dried the bread in the oven at 200°F until the bread felt crisp.  I then mixed per the recipe but refrigerated over night and threw it in the cooker this morning and left for work.

When I arrived this evening I was greeted by the pleasant aroma of stuffing so I fried up the grill and threw on some chicken.  Meanwhile, anticipating the flavorful treat that was waiting for me.  Finally the moment arrived I scooped out a healthy portion of stuffing and dug in.

Stuffing in a glass dish.
Stuffing in a glass dish.
Stuffing Ready to eat with chicken breast.
Stuffing Ready to eat with chicken breast.

Once I finally got to eat it I was not disappointed, it was moist, flavorful and remarkably like stuffing.  Now that is not to say it was as good as out of the bird but it certainly was a great substitute, it tasted like stuffing, smelled like stuffing and will do just find to hold me over tell I have time to cook a whole bird.  I will surely cook this again, probably in a week or two.

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