Dat Gumbo, yo!

Stick this in your pizza oven and smoke it, Sunshine!

 Get outta my booooof!!!!

Holy Smokes!

I got a smoker a few months back, and I've finally figured the right wood + heat + time formula.  These are my latest results;

Pork loin and chicken thighs marinated in a chipotle sorta brine and pineapple bratwursts from the Hy-Vee meat department.  I finished the chicken and the brats on the grill to crisp them up.

This little smoker is kicking some serious ass.

Another Refrigerator Dough loaf of bread.

This method is fantastic.  This was another loaf, but instead of water in this recipe, I used the leftover whey I had from making mozzarella.  The texture was great and the flavor had a nice "sourdough like" flavor.

Pizza using the Refrigerator Dough.

This was the result of a pizza I made using the refrigerator dough that I posted in my last blog.

The outer crust was like fresh baked bread while the rest of the crust was thin and crispy.  It tasted just like it looked....DELICIOUS!!!

No time to make fresh bread? Cracker please!!!

This is a bread recipe that you takes a just a few minutes to mix, then after you let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours, you just cut, shape, let sit for a bit, and then bake.

You can size this any way you like.  A loaf, a boule, a roll, a hamburger bun, a hoagie bun, or whatever you fancy.  You can also use this for pizza dough. Just shape into ball, let come to room temperature, and roll out.  I baked the above loaf  on a pizza stone with boiling water in a pan on the bottom of the oven to steam, but you do not need to do either if you do not want to.

Making the dough.

 Combine in a container that will allow for about 25% growth;
(note- my first try at this, I made half this recipe and it made the above boule and 2 10" pizza crusts)

-3 cups lukewarm water
-1 1/2 TBLS Yeast
-1 1/2 TBLS Salt
-6 1/2 cups fllour
(make sure dough is sticky and has no dry spots)

-Put on air tight lid or wrap well with plastic wrap.
-Let sit in refrigerator for 24 hours minimum and up to a week.
-Tear off amount of dough you need.
-Shape and let rise for about an hour, give or take on temperature and humidity. Colder = longer, warm/humid = less.
-Pre-heat oven to 450.  If desired, place a solid pan on bottom of oven for steaming water.(boil water and add right after putting bread in oven)
-If desired, score bread on top with sharp knife or razor blade.  If not, it will still come out fine.
-Bake for 15-30 minutes, depending on size of loaf.  If you have a thermometer, you want at least 195 degree interior.

A Sunshine challenge.

Whenever Sunshine decides to get over his "horrible" case of the sniffles, I got a recipe he needs to make.

It is a white sauce pizza with potatoes and sausage.  It is a crispy, creamy, savory delight.

Ingredients;

1 medium yellow or russet potato
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 link of sausage
1/4 cup white sauce, can use pizza or alfedo sauce if you are too lazy to make a white sauce
Mozzerella cheese to your desire\
Pizza dough, for those that are too stupid to make this without dough.

Prep;
-cook sausage 90% of way, cut into 1/4" slices
-slice onion into 1/4" and saute till at least translucent or till carmelized
-slice potatoes lengthwise, cut into 1/8" slices and cook in boiling water to al dente.  Season with salt and pepper.

Assembly;
-spread sauce on dough
-layer potatoes evenly
-spread onions evenly
-place sausage evenly
-top with cheese

Bake;
-450 degrees until crust is crispy and cheese is mother fucking golden brown my cracker!

Eat;
-the shit out of it!

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!!!

Look at what Sunshine had built on his backyard patio;

It's an Il Forno yo!

Then the crazy cracker puts in an enclosed TV next to it, you know, cause the 13 TVs in his house just aren't enough I guess.

What's next, a fucking patio pool table?

That tears, I give up, I freaking quit.  I will never make another freaking pizza again in my life.  I do have one question for Sunshine though;

DO YOU DELIVER TO SPRINGFIELD???

How does the peel fit into the oven?

Limoncello Chicken Wings

Sunshine told me about these amazing wings at Marco's Coal Fired Pizzeria.  He said they were the best thing he ever ate, or something like that;   http://marcoscoalfiredpizza.com/ , so I took it as a challenge to make them myself.

If you couldn't tell by the name, the apparent secret to these wings is Limoncello.  It's a lemon liqueur from Italy

First you need to marinate 5 lbs chicken wings for 24 hours in;

 -3 Lemons quartered
-1/2 cup Limoncello
-1/4 oz fresh Oregano
-1/4oz fresh Thyme
-3oz fresh Rosemary
-2 TBLS Kosher salt
-1 tsp crushed Red Pepper
-1 TBLS cracked Black Pepper
-1 1/2 cup Olive Oil

(mix all in food processor or blender)

I tried 2 ways to cook these, both work just fine.

Method #1- cook wings on a smoking hot grill till nicely charred.  Finish on a rack in the grill or in a 450 degree oven.

Method #2- cook wings under a broiler in oven till nicely charred, and finish at 450 degrees.

My first batch didn't have much charring on the wings, and they were pretty ordinary.  Like Sunshine told me, the charring really makes these little cluckers shine.

I'm not a huge chicken wing fan, but these were pretty tasty, good crispy skin and moist meat with a nice lemon flavor.  Just make sure to use plenty of heat and  make sure to cook all the way through.

I call this the "Charlie Sheen Fish Dish"...

.
.
.
...cause it's WINNING!!!

Cool Ranch Dorito crusted grouper, fried Yukon gold potatoes, and some healthy crap.

Shhhh....Don't tell Sunshine, but I made fish.

Baked Halibut with lemon zest, butter, and fresh herbs.  Also present were Yukon gold mashed potatoes (w/ horseradish and green onion) and some frozen vegetable blend.

Believe it or don't, it was PFT!

SS + FF + ATK =PFT!!!

Following Sunshine's advice to make some french fries that he saw on "America's Test Kitchen", came these tasty fries;

Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, just like Sunshine said.

These are easy to make, but they take a half hour or so.  Original recipe can be found on ATK's website; http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

The keys to these are using Yukon Gold potatoes only, starting with cold peanut oil, and discipline not to touch fries for 15 minutes.  Otherwise you will end up with these;

Crispy yes, but very dry in the middle.

The above fries were made with Russett potatoes and vegetable oil, big mistake.



Here's how to make the goo fry;

-cut Yukon potatoes (with skin on) into 1/8-1/4 inch strips (do not rinse).
-place in heavy bottom sauce pan or Dutch oven.
-cover by double with peanut oil
-put on stove burner and turn heat to medium-medium high (do not pre-heat oil)
-allow oil to come to boil, then let them lightly boil, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.
-after 15 minutes, scrape any fries from bottom of pan and let cook another 5-10 minutes.
-place fries on paper towels or drain plate and salt immediately

Lived like a King Yoda was!

First he drank all of Sunshine's wine;

Then he ate all of Sunshine's homemade pasta and meatballs;

PFT Yoda said.

I make a pretty mean chicken!!!

Here's proof;

Southern fried Chicken Breast

Brining makes this a chicken breast moist for days, literally.  After the leftovers had sat in the fridge for 3 days, I reheated and the breasts were just as tasty and moist as they were when fresh.


Start by letting the 3-4 chicken breasts sit for at least an hour in a bath of;
-3 cups ice cold water
-1/4 cup salt
-1/4 cup honey
(mix all till salt is dissolved before adding chicken.

Then drain thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.  Soak in buttermilk for at least a half hour.  Dredge in seasoned flour, I used; 

-salt 

-pepper

-onion powder 

-garlic powder

-cayenne pepper

You can use whatever seasoning you like, just make sure to coat the chicken very well.

Use a cast iron skillet or saute pan to pan fry.  Pour about a 1/2 inch of canola or peanut oil and heat to about 350.  After adding the chicken you the oil temperature will drop, but you want to maintain a constant temperature between 300 and 350.  Failure to do so will result in a poor crust and/or burning, as you can see below.  Cook on each side for about 5 minutes or so, making sure to get a good browning before turning.  It's best to only turn once, but shit happens.

Which one of these is not like the others.........ahhh shut up!

Stay hungry my friends!

He once made a pizza from old shoes, oak leaves, and dead batteries just to beat Bobby Flay in a pizza throwdown with it. 

The most interesting pizza maker on his block

Separated at birth?

This crab is on a roll!!!

This is a take on the east coast's famous lobster roll.  Obviously I used crab instead of lobster, and I used canned lump crab meat, but it was still PFT!
Oh, and I made the hoagie rolls from scratch!

 

Crab Salad Mix

-1 16oz can lump crabmeat (or fresh crab meat if you can get it)

-1/2cup mayonaisse

-1 TBLS sweet chili sauce

-1 tsp lemon juice

-2 TBLS fine chopped onion

-2 TBLS fine chopped red pepper

-1 TBLS chopped green onion

-1/4 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp black pepper

-1/8 tsp cayenne

Mix all other ingredients, except for crab meat.  Gently fold in the crab meat, trying to keep crab in as large of chunks as possible.  Serve on soft bun with slice pickles, tomatoes, and crisp lettuce.

Some of ODR's PFT favorites!

Veal Picatta w/ Mushrooms and Linguine Carbonara

Chicken Parmesan

Sausage Calzone

Potato and Feta Cheese Pizza on Focaccia

Sausage and Jalapeno Kolaches

2nd attempt at meat pie mate.

I tried a more traditional recipe for this version.  It included;
-onions
-carrots
-celery
-peas
-mashed potatoes
-ground beef and ground turkey
-pork cutlets, cut into 1/2 pieces, floured, and sauteed in olive oil
-shredded cheese (I used smoked cheddar and pepper jack)
--puff pastry

I started by cooking off the beef and turkey, then adding the veggies till they were translucent.  I then mixed all the other ingredients together and seasoned with salt and pepper..

Half of puff pastry was formed in pie pan and baked covered with foil for 12-14 minutes.  Filled pie with meat filling and topped with other half of puff pastry.  Brushed top with eggwash and scored with tip of knife.

This meat pie thing is limitless on what you can do with it, and is quickly becoming my favorite cold weather, hearty homestyle favorite.  Puff pastry makes this addicting, though you can also use pie dough as well.

Meat Pie mate!

A guy I work with, who is from New Zealand, asked me, "hey mate, can you make me a meat pie"?  I replied, "what's a meat pie".  He then said, "don't make me hit you bloke"!  So after some googling, and some cleaning out of my refrigerator, I made this;

Basically, it's puff pastry filled with a really thick beef stew and topped with cheese.  I also read that you can use pie crust as well, but the puff pastry worked great here. You can buy the puff pastry or pie dough at the store, and if you can't cook, just buy some Dinty Moore for the filling.  Line your pan with the dough, cover with  foil, and bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Fill baked shell with your choice of stew (that has most of the liquid strained out) and top with cheese of your choice.  Place another layer of pastry on top, crimp into pre-baked pastry, and score with the tip of a knife.  Brush with eggwash (1 egg 1 TBLS water) and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

It's definitely PFT!

Spare rib recipe.

The spare ribs in the prior post were not made the traditional "smoking" way, they were baked, stewed, or some may say braised.  I coated them with a rib rub (use your favorite cause I have long forgot what I put in mine) and let sit in fridge overnight.  In the bottom of a cake pan or casserole dish, place some roughly chopped onion, carrots, and celery then cover with beef stock.  You can either cut the veggies big enough to support the spare ribs, or you can put a cooling rack on top to support them.  Put seasoned ribs on top and cover the pan with foil.  Place pan in a 250 degree oven and let bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Take ribs out (reserve liquid in bottom of pan to make a nice sauce or gravy) and coat with your choice of BBQ sauce.  Bake in oven at 400 degrees or under broiler until sauce starts to caramelize.

Don't tell Sunshine, but I think these would best his smoked ribs in a blind taste test.  Oh hell, what do I care, tell him.

Kick ass potato salad, and Bbq spareribs too.

I have struggled with making potato salad for years and years. I have tried different potatoes, different dressings, multiple cooking techniques, and more.  I finally decided to try the way I was originally taught while working at The County Line Bbq  http://www.countyline.com/index-2.html  more than 20 years ago.  They always boiled the whole potatoes with skin on till they were just tender (fork penetrates potato with low to medium resistance).  (for some reason, cooking them in their jackets (skins) make the potatoes taste more creamy)  You then drain the potatoes and let them cool just enough till you can handle the potatoes and peel them with easily with the side of a fork.  Then you cut them into 1/2 inch pieces, place them in a bowl and toss with your desired type of dressing and vegetables.  I cannot tell you what is best, as it is very subjective, but this is what I added (amounts vary);

3 90 ct potatoes
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 TBLS mustard
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp salt (divided in half)
1 tsp pepper (divided in half)
2 TBLS apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
1/8 cup chopped green onions

-as mentioned, boil potatoes just to tender, let sit for 5-10 minutes, peel, and chop into 1/2" pieces
-season potatoes with half of the salt and pepper
-mix all other ingredients in bowl
-gently toss all ingredients together and chill for at least 4 hours

I would like to emphasize that the key to a good potato salad is cooking the potatoes in their skins and seasoning while warm.