Redneck eggrolls.

28 Friday Sep 2012

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This post started as an argument. I have 2 friends from college who are involved. One who invented this recipe. And one who thinks they invented the recipe. Lots of beer, studying, and college nonsense may have clouded the memory of the second party. Or this could be just a ploy to get the recipe out of me. Anyway what follows is how this recipe really came about…how the second person believes this recipe was invented…and finally the original recipe followed by an updated version. Let’s go.

Carla Guthrie was my first roommate in college. We did everything together. People always recognized as a duo because I was tall with dark hair and she is not so tall with long blonde curly hair.  When Carla finally moved into an apartment, she would invite her friends over for dinner. No college student turns down a homemade meal. The favorite thing she would make were these egg rolls with a twist. Today she calls them redneck egg rolls, and that they are. They bear no resemblance to any egg roll you might find in a Chinese restaurant, and that is why they are amazing. She would make them for us often…to get through finals, to celebrate, after a night out drinking…I mean studying. I am absolutely certain we all learned to make these egg rolls from Carla.

These days Carla is this super mom with a beautiful little girl. She was this extremely smart science brain in college, and now is one of those modern women who can do it all. Which, by the way, comes as no surprise to any of her college friends. When I told her recently that I was gonna use her recipe for the blog she said “oh the redneck egg rolls?” Because no one who eats the redneck egg rolls ever wants a real egg roll again.

Which brings me to my “delusional” friend Jesse Ward, who also knew myself and Carla in college. Jesse believes he invented the redneck egg roll. Jesse is now an orthopedic surgeon but I refuse to let that give his claim any credibility. I believe Jesse’s confusion may stem from the fact that the first time he had the redneck egg roll, he had been at George’s for hours.

George’s, to fill you in, is a drinking establishment in Waco, Texas. Their beers are served in ice-cold goblets called Big O’s. They also serve a mean chicken fried steak, and have George Jones on the jukebox. Or at least they did when the confusion takes place. George’s is also a place where stories and legends are born. My favorite George’s story has to do with the waitresses that ran the place. They were the crusty barfly variety who would tell you in no uncertain terms how hell froze over. One time we had a booth full of friends. One of the guys in the booth ordered a Bud Light. Without skipping a beat the waitress turned to him and said “HONEY now that is a p***y beer. Why don’t you order like a man should?”

SO you can see where the confusion might start on the origin of the redneck egg rolls. Too many stories, too much George Jones, and too many Big O’s and one might easily think they created the redneck egg roll. Anyway, here’s the recipe. The redneck egg roll is great for parties, watching football, and just for getting over that ‘ I NEED SOMETHING DEEP FRIED NOW’ feeling. They are completely unhealthy, and yet so good that it is understandable why Jesse Ward might want to claim he invented them. But he didn’t. He did sucker me out of the recipe though.

(NOTE: after the original recipe is the recipe updated to use green chiles. A sort of Homage to my adopted state of New Mexico. Enjoy.)

Redneck Egg Rolls Original Recipe

Ingredients:

– 1 lb lean ground beef

– 1 pkg egg roll wrappers

– 1 pkg soba noodles

– can water chestnuts

– 1/4 cup shredded carrots and cabbage

– soy sauce

– 1 tbsp flour

– vegetable oil for frying

– sweet and sour dipping sauce

Directions:

1. Cook ground beef in skillet. After cooked, drain oil.

2. Add carrots, cabbage, water chestnuts and soba noodles to skillet and cook on low adding soy sauce to your taste

3. Mix tbsp of flour with water to create a watery paste. This will be used to seal the egg rolls.

4. Take 1 egg roll wrapper and place a rounded tablespoon of meat/noodle/vegetable mixture in the middle of the wrapper.

5. Fold two opposite corners of the wrapper to the middle of mixture as pictured below:

6. Now bring one of the remaining corners to the middle as shown below:

7. Now starting at the bottom folded edge, roll the egg roll upward toward the top pointed edge. Once it is rolled, seal the last pointed corner with the flour/water paste mixture.

8. Heat oil on medium low and fry egg rolls until golden brown.

9. Enjoy with sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Redneck Egg Rolls Redux Southwestern Style with Ranch Avocado Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

– 2 c. shredded chicken

– 2 cups frozen corn, thawed

– 1-15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

– 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

– 4 oz can diced green chiles, drained

–  2 green onions, finely chopped

– 1 tsp ground cumin

–  1/2 tsp chili powder

– 1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

-1 package of egg roll wrappers

Directions:

– Put all ingredients in large skillet and heat on med low until onions are cooked. Stir frequently.

– Put rounded tablespoon of above mixture in the middle of egg roll wrapper and roll as above.

– Fry rolls in heated vegetable oil.

– Enjoy with the below dipping sauce.

Ranch Avocado Dipping Sauce

-1/2 cup ranch salad dressing

-1/2 medium ripe avocado, peeled and mashed

-1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

-1 teaspoon grated lime peel

Mix all of the above together.

We do the crime…you eat the cake.

22 Saturday Sep 2012

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What if you knew a crime had been committed? What would you do? Would you turn the person in? What if you knew this crime was nonviolent and would net you something amazing? Well…here is what I did. And since I believe in sharing the reward (and the guilt) I am going to pass it along to you. This is a story of a person I might know; a bakery that person may have worked at; stories of famous people who may have come to this bakery; and secret recipes (lemon bundt cake and lemon muffins) that may have come from that bakery.

(NOTE: no real crime has been committed so everyone settle down. And you can go out and get these secret recipes by paying $30 for this bakery’s recipe book but I am about to dish them out for free. Y’all can thank me and the thief later.)

Before we get to the recipes, let’s put the evidence before you and you can draw your own conclusions.

Exhibit A: This person’s face has been blocked out by my thumb to protect them (who needs Photoshop when you have a thumb?). This person may have worked at said bakery but I cannot confirm or deny this.

Exhibit B:  The below show is based in the city where this bakery is found. And baked goods from this bakery may have been made famous by this show.

Exhibit C:   The bakery’s name may often appear in this magazine as part of celebrity sightings.

Exhibit D: These celebrity sighting stories may have happened in said bakery as reported by the person who may have worked there.

– Adam Sandler dropping a $20 bill in the tip jar after buying only a couple of dollars worth of stuff and being super friendly with the bakery staff.

-Discussing red velvet cupcakes with Steve Earle

-Bjork coming in with her daughter and ordering a raspberry iced tea with her super cute Icelandic accent

-Little Steven Van Zandt dropping $600 in cash when we were raising money to help a homeless neighborhood guy who had been hit by a car and had no money or family to help

-Heath Ledger complimenting me on a tattoo

-Dave Gahan ordering his daughter’s birthday cake from me

-a guy whining on the phone needing a hummingbird cake immediately and not taking no for an answer. He turned out to be David Schwimmer.

Exhibit E: The recipes below could be from said bakery. I can’t vouch for their origin, but I can vouch for their deliciousness. Enjoy and please don’t report me as an accomplice.

Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake

1. Grease and flour one bundt pan

2. Cream 3 sticks butter (1 1/2 cups) and 3 cups sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes)

3. Add 5 eggs, one at a time

4. Add 3 cups flour with 3/4 cup club soda

5. Add 2 Tbsp vanilla and 1 Tbsp lemon zest

6. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until tests done

Note: When cooled, this cake may be dusted with powdered sugar as the bakery might do it. Also a slice of this is excellent with Earl Grey tea.

Lemon Muffins

Ingredients:

– 2 c. butter

– 2 c. sugar

– 8 large eggs-separate into yolks and whites ( you will use both)

– 4 c. flour

– 4 tsp. baking powder

– 1/2 tsp salt

– 1 cup fresh lemon juice

– 2 tsp grated lemon rind

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and beat well. Sift flour with baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternating with the lemon juice and rind. Blend ingredients thoroughly. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, and fold into batter. Put batter into muffin tin liners.

Bake at 275 for 25 minutes.

–

RJ’s Crockpot Spiced Apple Butter

08 Saturday Sep 2012

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For the first time in three years, the apple trees below my house are loaded with apples. This prompted me to go on the search for a recipe for apple butter. That I know of, no one in my family makes it. So I did not have a recipe. What to do?

First I picked the brains of my friends Angela White-Tragus and Brent Cox. The two of them are masters of all things canned and preserved. Between the two of them, I got a base recipe. Well what happened next is pure accident and amazing apple butter born out of inspiration from a gal from Texas and a British chap from Bath.

R is for Rachel

My friend Rachel Lee Waldop is the first source of inspiration. A fellow Texan, we share a love of music, cocktails, Southern food and stories about little old church ladies. Every season, Rachel and her husband Dave have a “go-to” cocktail. Two years ago, they had family in town for Christmas. One night they found themselves on the plaza here in Santa Fe. It was freezing outside so they decided to have “fancy” cocktails in a hotel. The drink Rachel had that night turned into that winter’s cocktail. The cocktail was called Chimayo Apple Cider. (Chimayo is a small village north of Santa Fe). Rachel translated her fancy drink into apple cider, cinnamon sticks and rum served warm. That winter we drank more than our share of this cocktail.

J is for James

James…writer, rocker, professor and inspiration number two. James and his wife Hannah make up the band Venus Bogardus.  I met them as they spun tunes at a local bar. For James’ birthday last year, I found out he’s a huge fan of rum. Now rum and I are not friends…I blame the head-to-head collision I had with rum in college but that’s another story. So when James came to my house, I got him a bottle of rum to drink. Spiced rum, of which James managed to handle 80%, and then the rum sat waiting for them to return.

Fast forward to apple butter. I had the base recipe. When I sat down to figure out how to give it a kick, the idea of Rachel’s cocktail and James rum were just the things I needed. So I had to name the apple butter for them. What follows is the easiest recipe for apple butter ever. Plus it makes your house smell amazing as it cooks.  It’s great on homemade bread or toast.

By the way, you can check out James and Hannah’s band at:

https://www.facebook.com/venus.bogardus.7?ref=ts

and you can buy James’ novel I, JUDAS at your local bookstore or online at:

http://www.amazon.com/I-Judas-A-Novel-Paperback/dp/B0084JN5RE

RJ’s Crockpot Apple Butter Recipe

Ingredients:

-approx 20 med and large apples, all varieties

-2 cups apple cider or orange juice

-1/2 cup spiced rum

-2 Tbsp cinnamon

-1 tsp nutmeg

-1 tsp cloves ground

-1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Peel, slice and core apples. Place all slices into crockpot.

2. Add the rum, apple juice (or orange juice), spices and brown sugar.

3. Simmer in crockpot on low for 8 hours.

4. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and puree mixture in a blender or food processor in batches.

5. Transfer puree back to crockpot.

6. Remove lid and heat on high for 30 min to an hour until thickens.

7. You can add additional brown sugar at this point if you want butter sweeter.

8. Once butter has thickened (you can test using the cold saucer test), put in hot sterilized canning jars. Place lids and rings on jars.

9. Process all jars immediately in a hot water bath for 15-20 minutes.

Grandma’s cheese

01 Saturday Sep 2012

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Secret family recipe. That’s really all you need to know. But here’s the nitty gritty. When I moved to Portland, Oregon, I met Amy McKenna. She shared a house with two other great friends Jen and Christina.

Whenever they had a party, Amy would make this dish called Grandma’s cheese. Grandma’s cheese was like pimento cheese but a thousand times better. Served in a bowl as a dip, it was always the first thing to go. And EVERYONE would ask Amy for the recipe. Her reply was always: “sorry it’s Grandma’s cheese and it’s a secret recipe.” Now me being of the obstinate Irish persuasion, I constantly asked, pleaded and even tried to bribe Amy for Grandma’s cheese recipe. It never worked.

Until now. I can only explain getting the recipe now by the fact that despite our lives diverging, Amy and I have similar connections and recent similar life experiences.  In Portland, Amy went with her Dad to Ireland. When she came back and told me how amazing it was, I told her that my mom had always wanted to go. I remember she told me: “well then you have to take her. When you go you will so understand your family history. There’s nothing like being in the country your family came from.” So I took my mother the next year, and it was the trip of a lifetime.

Amy lost her father last year. I lost my mother. There’s a bond in understanding what it means to be a member of that club. I started this blog as a result. Amy gave me Grandma’s cheese. To say that I am honored to have and share this recipe is an understatement. This recipe is a food celebration of family, friends, memories, good times and even the tough stuff all rolled into one. Thank you Amy for sharing…

Amy McKenna Insera on her grandmother and the cheese

When asking Grandma if I could share the family’s Grandma’s Cheese recipe, she replied, ” With a fellow southern woman?  Of course.”  Grandma (Virginia Ella McKenna) was born in Littleton, CO in 1919, moving to El Paso when she was 7.

 Her mother made the wonderous cheese throughout her life, and Grandma McKenna brought it into our family traditions.  Now, the process of making, serving and eating Grandma’s Cheese immediately transports me back to my childhood, warm feelings of family parties and lots of love.

My dad passed away in October, and heading into the holiday season brought me no warm feelings, and no Grandma’s Cheese.  I am now looking forward to busting out my grater and celebrating with family and friends that I love.  It’s been a crazy year emotionally and looking forward to Grandma’s Cheese seems like turning a corner for me. Sorry it’s taken a while to get it to you, now I’m ready.

Grandma’s Cheese Recipe

Ingredients:

shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used 1 lb to make my batch)

diced pimentos ( I used one jar per one pound of cheese)

Best Foods mayo (Hellman’s) ( I used 2/3 cup per one pound of cheese)

lemon juice

Lawry’s seasoning

salt

pepper

Tobasco

This is not an exact science.  Experimentation is encouraged. Make the day before, chill.  Stir and re-season if needed.  Serve on crackers, with veggies, between two pieces of white bread, or my favorite, broiled on slices of baguette until browned.

* some yummy substitutions over the years

aged white cheddar

roast your own red peppers

NEVER USE MIRACLE WHIP!!!!!!

Healing: a story about family, friends and green chile

25 Saturday Aug 2012

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There are times when we all need to hear a feel-good story. This week is certainly one of those weeks for me. As the green chile roasters get pulled out in Santa Fe, I am reminded of one of my favorite such stories and the recipe that accompanies it (it uses green chile y’all).

Toni Cleland and I worked together in Oregon. We lost touch after I moved, and then she found me through the world of modern technology. I am grateful for her doing so. While she and I are tied by our similar beliefs and interests, her example as a human being is what I appreciate. And most importantly as a lover of stories, her story that follows is one that inspires me. Hopefully it will do the same for you. What follows is Toni’s story in her own words, and an amazing recipe using green chile to soothe whatever ails you.

Toni Cleland on family, friends and food

Scott (Toni’s husband) was transferring from a desk job at the sheriff’s office to a deputy position. He had to take a pre-employment physical and that’s how they found his tumor – when they did a chest x-ray. The tumor was HUGE, and he hadn’t experienced any symptoms…so his doctor told us that if Scott hadn’t had the x-ray, by the time he DID have symptoms, his cancer probably would not have been treatable. So the decision to switch jobs was life-saving!

So they found he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Scott had chemo for about 4 months and radiation for about 3 months. He’s been in remission…let’s see…it’ll be 7 years this October (woohoo!).

When Scott got sick, one of our church friends started a dinner group – that fed us periodically so I had one last thing to deal with while I was working, doing basically all the child care and housework, etc, etc, etc. The meals were so, so appreciated – not only were they far healthier than anything I could have slung together at that time, but they gave us a sense of normalcy and allowed us to have some actual family dinners.

Our Master Chef friend is named Mike Peterson. Mike is a Vietnam veteran and retired vintner (He made wine.). He is also a major community activist, volunteering to help homeless vets. He volunteers at the Eugene family Dining Room several times per month. He also pushed our church into becoming a site for the Egan Warming Center. Named after a homeless vet, Major Thomas Egan, who froze to death one night while sleeping outside, the Egan warming centers open at churches throughout Eugene when the temperature drops below 30 degrees. Our church has some grumpy people who love the idea of Christianity…just not of letting stinky homeless people sleep in the church. Mike stood up and fought HARD to overcome that sentiment, and now the grumpy old people are super proud that we are an Egan Warming Center. Mike is seriously one of the kindest people I’ve ever met – LIVES his faith if you know what I
mean.

Mike cooked for us a few times, but our favorite meal was his chile verde. He personally delivered a complete meal of chile verde, homemade Spanish rice, and tortillas, along with some pre-packed leftovers for the freezer. It was so, so good – Scott’s taste buds were kind of wacky from the chemo (a common side effect), and the spiciness was perfect – spicy enough that he could taste and enjoy it, but not so spicy that the kids wouldn’t eat it.

We liked it so much, and told Mike afterwards…so he, out of the blue, made it for us again once or twice after Scott was well. At the time we were neighbors with Mike, and he just popped over a few times with a meal and a bottle of his own wine. What a wonderful neighbor!

When you’re dealing with a life-threatening illness, there are some blessings that you discover along the way. One of them is an understanding and appreciation of the fact that you are loved – loved and supported by people like Mike. It’s been so long since Scott was sick that sometimes it all seems like a dream – a bad dream, but a dream. But we will never forget our friends like Mike, who rallied when our family needed it the most.

So here is the recipe for Chile Verde. We swore it had healing properties.

CHILE VERDE

– 3 pounds pork, cut up
– 1 large onion
– 4-5 potatoes
– 3 large  7 oz. cans green chiles, diced ( approx 3 cups of fresh roasted green chile diced if you have it)


– garlic granules
– salt
– pepper
– crushed red chiles, pods, and seeds, to taste


– flour (if needed to thicken)

1. Saute onion until transparent, about 2 minutes.

2. Cut pork (de-bone if needed) into large pieces.

3. Dice potatoes medium-large.

4. Add pork (and bones, if any) to stockpot or frying pan.

5.Cook over medium-low heat for 6-9 minutes.

6.Once you have a small amount of juice in the pan, add potatoes and cook until 3/4 done.

7. Add enough flour (mixed into a paste, or roux) to thicken and cook last 1/4 until done.

8. Add chiles (canned of fresh)  to desired consistency and all seasonings.

9.Cook 24-36 minutes longer.

This is great with tortillas or just plain.

If Noah owned a BBQ joint, the world would stand in line

17 Friday Aug 2012

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This last New Year’s Eve, I had the pleasure of being in Joshua Tree. Our hosts Dave and Hutch have this uncanny knack for bringing folks together. This post is a result of folks colliding at Rancho de la Luna.

One of these folks is Noah Rosenstein. He’s a BBQ savant, and the Texas BBQ snob in me does not say that lightly. After working his magic on a smoker the day before, he presented a plate of brisket that I promise people would fight for. Niceties made all parties eyeing said brisket politely eat a slice one at a time until it was all gone. I was blown away as were the BBQs snobs that surrounded me. After the praise settled down, I wanted to know who this Noah Rosenstein was and how he mastered the art of BBQ. I wanted the story. His reply? “Yeah it doesn’t make sense does it? An east coast Jewish boy with gout cooking some BBQ.”

So sit down and get schooled. Noah knows his BBQ. And he graciously agreed to answer my silly questions, as well as dishing out his BBQ secrets along with photos of a master at work. You’ll find out how he does ribs, and he sneaks in a bonus BBQ recipe as well. Now if that doesn’t make your salivary glands dance, I don’t know if help exists for you.

Let’s talk music, smokers, ribs and oh yeah bacon

Aine: When we are at Joshua tree you joked that “yeah it doesn’t make sense does it? An east coast Jewish boy with gout cooking some BBQ” which is the equivalent of my southern self knowing her way blindfolded around a NYC Jewish deli. Is there a how or why you got into BBQ?

Noah: I’ve always liked grilling. Growing up, I had a natural aptitude for it, and my Dad ceded all outdoor cooking to me at age 16. I’m the guy at your cookout – that’s what we called it growing up in Massachusetts – who will offer to lend a hand cooking, and then never leave your grill.

Pork ribs have always been my favorite. About 5 years ago I decided I wanted to make them my own self. I started by crock-potting, and then finished them on the grill. The results were not satisfying. Crock-potting ribs makes them tender, but because you’re cooking them in water you’re essentially making soup. Much of the flavor is left in the water.

Westcott, the lead singer of the band I am in, The Slighted, had a smoker he’d been given as a gift, but never used. He gave it to me knowing I was having difficulty getting my ribs just so. The first time I used it I lit the side of it on fire: but I rescued the ribs before they went up in the ensuing conflagration. Even slightly burnt, they were better than any I had ever made before. I’ve been working at it ever since. My hope is that my retirement hobby will be competition BBQ.

A couple of years ago I got a Weber bullet smoker, and that’s made my BBQ even better. I would do an unpaid testimonial for Weber if they wanted me to, I like it that much. It’s probably important to note that I don’t keep my smoker at my house. It’s in my friends Ben and Helen’s backyard. There isn’t a good location for it at my apartment, but I love cooking with it so much I must have a smoker. Ben and Helen are nice enough, and enthusiastic enough about BBQ, to let me keep it there.

I even have a smoker I keep at my sister’s house in Massachusetts, so when I’m on my yearly family vacation I can still cook. My friend Ted can attest to that. He slept in the living room of our vacation house with the sliding glass door open while I cooked a brisket overnight. I’m not sure which turned out more mesquite smoked: him, or the brisket.

I cook all sorts of food on my smoker; pulled pork, brisket, chicken, bacon, hot links– but ribs are my favorite.

Aine:  Your style of BBQ–would you consider it your own mix of influences or do you prefer one style over another i.e. Texas and the dry rub or South Carolina or Memphis or….

Noah: My BBQ is a mix. I use a Memphis rub on my ribs, but my brisket is closer to Texas style. Maybe if I had grown up in a region that had a particular way of BBQing I would be more of a purist, but I use whatever recipe sounds tasty.

The BBQ community can be a little strict in their interpretation of what “real” BBQ is. Many BBQ enthusiasts say the definition is only indirect heat, and cooking “slow and low” — i.e., long cooking times at low temps. There’s even debate about the derivation of the word barbecue. I don’t believe in such a strict interpretation. If you want to say you’re BBQing a hamburger that’s fine with me. I’m just glad you’re cooking and enjoying yourself.

Aine: Any stories of great restaurants or eating experiences you want to share?

Noah: I moved to Los Angeles in 1993, and at that point I didn’t have a lot of experience with Southern cooking. There was a traditional BBQ restaurant in my new neighborhood. An older couple owned it, and their daughter worked there too. After I tried their ribs, the daughter came by the table, and asked if I liked the food. I jokingly said, “It was so good I want to hug you”. She said, “Well don’t just sit there then, get up and do it!” I did, and she gave me a long heartfelt hug. That started my love affair with BBQ.

Aine: If I asked you “how you learned to cook”–are you self-taught or is there an influence?

Noah: My friend Carolyn is an amazing chef. I called and asked her lots of questions when I started, and I just got a BBQ sauce recipe from a chef who won a “Best of Memphis” recipe with it, but mostly I’m self-taught. The Internet is a great resource for all things BBQ. I get a lot of my info from:
http://www.amazingribs.com/

http://virtualweberbullet.com/

Aine:  As a musician if you are having friends over and cooking and hanging out what albums are no-brainers to put in the mix?

Noah: If I’m BBQing the sun is usually shining, and I’m happy, so the music I listen to reflects that. Bands like the Growlers, FIDLAR, Ty Segall, The Night Beats, Tyvek, Golden Triangle, and Tijuana Panthers go well with BBQ. I also like to listen to reggae while cooking. The Harder They Come soundtrack is a top-notch selection. I actually saw Jimmy Cliff with my Pops last month, and he said, “It was one of my top 3 all time live events, along with Janis Joplin and Rodney Dangerfield”. We were both pretty blown away. Hmm, I think I just got inspired to try jerk chicken on the smoker.

Aine: That soundtrack is amazing. When I was a teenager, a cousin of mine gave me the movie on VHS with the soundtrack on cassette. That movie made such a huge impression on me. All these years, I have missed seeing Jimmy Cliff and I finally get to see him at a small venue in town this next week. I am so excited.

Noah: The reason I took my pops was he brought me to see the movie in the theater in 1976. I was the completely inappropriate age of 6. I have his copy of the soundtrack on vinyl to this day. We listened to it a lot. I wasn’t exaggerating when I say we were blown away (by Jimmy Cliff’s performance). My 68-year-old dad asked me if I was embarrassed with his loud singing and dancing. There were a couple of times I got chills, but that was from Jimmy, not my Dad. You are in for a real treat.

Aine: So what about this band you are in? Plug away.

Noah: We are called The Slighted. We’re playing our last show in LA on Sept 8, with a couple of other great bands. This will be your last chance to check us out.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Slighted/129068960815

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4QwsjNOGnM

Aine: Finally, may I pry a recipe out of your smoking hands?

Noah: Here’s how I make my ribs:

I go to a local butcher for my ribs, and have him remove the membrane. I can do it if I have to, but he’s the professional, right?

Rinse the ribs with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Then coat the ribs with vegetable oil, and apply the rub. I leave them in the refrigerator over night.

The rub:
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary powder
1 tablespoon ancho chili
1 tablespoon dry mustard

There are 4 elements of a rub:

1. Sweet/salt – the base of all rubs
2. Color – Paprika gives it the deep red
3. Heat – The black pepper and ancho chili are mild, add cayenne if you want it hotter, but be careful, too much will overpower the rub
4. Flavorings – This is where personal taste comes in. I think rosemary is complimentary to pork, so that’s a must for me. Feel free to add anything else, but I think it’s a good idea to only change one ingredient at a time while testing rubs, that way you know what element changed the flavor. The above rub is good for pork, but I use different ones for beef or chicken.

A good rule of thumb on rubs is: 4 parts stage 1, 1-2 parts stage 2, 1 part stage 3, and 1 part stage 4. Mine has more sugar and less heat, but I’m an artist so I don’t need to follow rules exactly.

Some people coat their meat with mustard, but I like oil because some herbs and spices aren’t water soluble, so the oil pulls the flavor into the meat better.

I light my coals in a chimney then use something called the Minion method. I layer the bottom of the smoker with hardwood charcoal and put the hot coals from the chimney on top of them. This way the coals burn down, keeping an even heat, and you don’t have to add coal during cooking.

I put the ribs in the smoker and add a big wood chunk. 20 minutes later I add another. You don’t need to add a lot of wood. I use apple, and pecan. Any wood that is seasonal is good for smoking, but pine and all evergreens are not. I usually put the ribs on the bottom level, and cook sausages or bacon over it. Grease drips onto the ribs, and adds a little bit of flavor, and moisture. To date, I haven’t found any meal that doesn’t improve with bacon.

Keep the heat between 225 and 250. There are 4 vents on my smoker: 1 on top and 3 on the bottom. Always leave the top vent open while cooking, or you can get a creosote taste on your food. I start with all vents open, then close 2 bottom ones when the heat reaches 210. The heat goes up a little more, and then BBQ out. It takes some practice to keep the heat fairly even.

I cook my ribs 4 to 4.5 hours. After about 3.5 hours I put some BBQ sauce on and let them cook awhile longer. Another option I use is to put sauce on them when they’re done, and grill for about 5 minutes a side, just enough to get the sauce to caramelize. A good test to see if ribs are done is to twist one of the bones near the middle of the rack, if it starts to break free of the meat its ready. Tent the ribs under foil when they’re done for 10 minutes, and then cut them, and serve.

BONUS RECIPE

I got this firecracker bacon recipe from my friend Matt. Rub thick slab bacon with a blend of 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne. Put them in the smoker, after 45 minutes turn them over. Cook for another half hour. It’s delish.

Sweet and Savoury Apples with a side of football

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in Appetizers

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I know Karen Foster from Mick’s Bar and Terilli’s Restaurant in Dallas. From the minute I met her, we got along. We have the same sense of humor, love music and sports, and somehow we seem to both have the knack for CRAZY things happening to us without either of us trying.

Last Mardi Gras, Karen cooked up this apple dish for a mid-morning snack and it was amazing. I have been bugging her for the recipe ever since. Karen is this amazing artist and the loyalest of friends. So I ask the questions. She does the talking. Then we all get this great recipe.

You can get a feel for her films/videos by watching her homage to Mardi Gras in New Orleans:

Karen also paints these amazing pet portraits. You can contact her for pet portrait commissions at :
punkrockpaperscissors@gmail.com

 

Pet portrait

Pet portrait

Karen Foster on Sweet and Savoury and Football

Aine: Ok finally I get the recipe for your sweet and savoury apples. Where did you get the recipe from?

Karen: I got the recipe from Mark Bittman of the New York Times. He’s the author of the cookbook “How to Cook Everything.”  I first made these apples for last year’s Super Bowl party. The theme was to bring food that represented one of the teams playing. Bittman’s recipe did not include the sausage. That was my addition.

Aine: Where did you learn to cook? I know your family heritage is Japanese and Hawaiian. Does that have any influence?

Karen: I’m still learning to cook. From friends, television, and the internet. Sadly, no familial or cultural ties. I am an island. Ha.

Aine:  So who do you like to cook for and what music do you play when you are cooking?

Karen: I like to cook for friends. I like to listen to jazz when cooking. Straight ahead bebop, Miles, Monk, Chet, etc.

Aine: So we have this crazy story tie that binds us. Tell me a crazy story I don’t know. One you would tell me if I was sitting in your kitchen while you cooked.

Karen: So I will tell a football story since the recipe was inspired by a football party. My friends and I love football. The drawback for me is that I’m a Buffalo Bills fan but I live in Dallas. You may know of my team’s infamous 4 straight years in the Super Bowl with ZERO wins which include the two devastating crushing blows dealt by the Dallas Cowboys.

My friends would torture me on occasion with little digs like “Hey let me light your cigarette with my DALLAS COWBOY lighter” and drawing blue stars on everything. This spawned the Preseason Prank Wars. The rules: from the first day of regular season, anything goes. (keep in mind this was before the internet could bring virtually everything to your doorstep) Because we all lived in Dallas, it was easy for my friends to prank me with the above stated lighters, stickers, calendars, etc… I had to use my imagination a little more, I would draw the Bills logo and send it in the mail, use vending machine helmets, and just try to keep up with the onslaught of Cowboy memorabilia that would come my way. Year after year, they got the best of me.

One year, when Little Craig had moved to Austin, I mistakenly thought he couldn’t get me. On the first day of the preseason, I was greeted with email alerts from the Cowboys. The same year, Big Craig and I were hanging out at his house, it got too late for me to go home, so I decided to sleep on the couch. Craig graciously offered me a pillow and a Dallas Cowboy blanket. Of course, I took the pillow and turned down the blanket. He laid it down next to me, saying it would be right there if I changed my mind. He then said goodnight, and on his way back to the bedroom and unbeknownst to me, he cranked the a/c way down. In the middle of the night, I was freezing and had to cover up with it. I then woke up to Craig laughing his head off, and asking if his championship Dallas Cowboy blanket kept me nice and warm, and told me about the a/c! Now it was ON!

I knew Craig was working and went to Terilli’s to borrow his car, (the one with the HUGE blue star on the windshield). I used his car to buy all my stuff and with his keys, I let myself into his house to enact my plan. In his bedroom, I wrapped everything in red and blue crepe paper. I also knew that his landlord was getting ready to redo the tile in his bathroom; so with a homemade stencil, I painted about a dozen 6″ Bills buffaloes, and a huge buffalo breaking the blue star right in front of the toilet. Craig also had a Cowboys shower curtain, I left it alone, but I painted a gigantic Bills logo on a curtain liner and hung it inside the shower. I made a red/blue boutonnière to hang from his rear view. I even took a picture of his dog wearing my Bills cap. I then returned to the bar and gave his keys back. Because of my inability to keep a straight face, he knew something was up. My next drink was served with a molten mass of plastic on top, he had found the boutonnière. Of course, after work, it was a hilarious reveal and the bonus, he didn’t find the shower curtain liner until the next morning!!

A few years later, the Buffalo Bills had a contest on their website, 50 fans from 50 states. The entry requirements were to take a picture in your Bills gear at a location that shows where you are from and a short essay (I think like 500 words) that explains why you are the top fan in your state. I decided to tell about the prank wars for the essay and the pic location? No place better to show my love for the Bills except the big blue star at midfield Texas Stadium. I wrangled up a bunch of Cowboy loving friends and we headed out to take the Texas Stadium tour. I not only had a blast razzing the Cowboys fans, (we were in a group of 20 or so), I got my pic on the star and a bonus pic outside the stadium with the Tom Landry statue.
Then this happened.

http://buf276.americaneagle.com/fans/BillsFansAcrossAmericaTexas.jsp

Baked Apples with Balsamic Vinegar, Rosemary and Sausage

Ingredients:

4 apples

1/2 lb sausage

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preparation:

1. Halve and core apples.

2. Put apples cut side down in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

4. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

5. Brown sausage. Cook about 2/3 done.

6. Turn the apples, baste and fill the cavity with sausage.

7. Sprinkle apples with fresh rosemary.

8. Bake for another 20 minutes.

Eating is more than fulfilling the need for food ~Cory Brown

28 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Main Dish

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When my previous neighbor told me she was selling her house she announced “I hope some rich retired Texans who like to gamble and play golf buy it.” Fortunately for me that did not happen. Instead I got Cory Brown and Quita Ortiz as neighbors. Believe me they are a lot more interesting than “rich Texas who like to golf and gamble.” Cory is an elementary school teacher, and Quita works for the New Mexico Acequia Association.

The first time they had me over for dinner, Cory smoked some amazing brisket and it was an easy jump to talking to him for the blog. What follows is what came out of a sit down with Quita and Cory as we discuss smokers, food, and BBQ sauce recipes.

Aine: So how did you get into cooking?

Cory: When I was a kid I remember boiling pecans on the gas heater in the bathroom. That’s maybe a step up from making mud pies for a kid. And I have memories of my Dad cooking for us. Then at age 14, I started working in restaurants. First I bused tables, and then I started cooking. I really wanted to go to culinary school when I was young. When I met Quita, she convinced me to get out of the kitchen where I was working hard but not making much and go to college. But I worked in several types of restaurants from Italian fine dining to Pacific Rim cuisine to global cuisine.

Aine: What about the art of BBQ and smoking meat? How did you get into that? Have you traveled and tried different styles?

Cory: Well Quita’s parents gave me their smoker. Well the story goes that they got a smoker maybe as a present. They maybe used it once, and then it just sat unused.

Quita: For Cory’s graduation party from college, we got the smoker from my parents. It started from there. We “borrowed” the smoker for life so to say.

Cory: About a year ago, we got a new smoker. I try to do the same thing every time. I started using mesquite wood, but because it’s not available around here I now use apple wood. I came across using apple wood because some people had cut down an apple tree and were giving the wood away.

I am not a BBQ snob nor am I a connoisseur. I just read. And my sauce I do it differently all the time. I try to write down what I do afterwards but it’s hard to remember exactly because I’ll add a pinch of this and that. But I haven’t really travelled enough to know BBQ. I just do what tastes good to me.

Quita: He’s definitely an experimenter. I appreciate it now but it used to drive me crazy in college. I would just be hungry and want to just throw on a can of soup. But Cory has to make it better. It couldn’t just be a can of soup. He’d have to add this and that to make it better. He’s never satisfied and always trying new things.

Aine: Before we get to the recipe book, do you have any tips or any secrets for smoking meat or BBQing? I have had your brisket, and it was delicious. This is saying a lot coming from a Texas BBQ snob.

Cory:  When I do my dry rub, I prefer it salty. I usually take some brown sugar and mix it with chipotle or cayenne or even green chile. I also ‘inoculate’ the brisket the night before with amber ale. I drain that and then use the dry rub.  You have to get the fire going and keep it at a low heat around 250 degrees. I constantly check on the fire. The whole process usually takes me 8 hours. I usually do 4 hours of smoking the brisket and the last 2-3 hours in a crock pot on low heat..just until the brisket is tender and juicy. Then I make a sauce. I do it differently every time but the recipe I am going to give you is what I used last time and it turned out great.

Cory Brown’s BBQ SAUCE

Ingredients:

one onion

12 oz Amber ale

7-8 tbsp dark brown sugar

one orange

6 garlic cloves, diced

1 tbsp chipotle

1 tbsp mustard

salt, to taste

1. Dice one onion and carmelize in olive oil in skillet

2. De-glaze the pan with 12 oz amber ale. Let simmer.

3. Add 7-8 tbsp dark brown sugar. Let this reduce.

4. Add one orange, diced.

5. Add 6 cloves of garlic diced.

6. Add 1 tbsp chipotle powder.

7. Puree everything in food processor.

8. Add 1 tbsp mustard.

9. Add salt to taste.

Carrot Cake. Lost and Found in New Orleans.

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Dessert

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Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, Jesse Bascle, messaged me that he “had the best story and recipe ever” for this blog. From the message I inferred excitement, and this is unusual for Jesse.

First, I have known Jesse since he was a kid. His mom, Sue Ford and his step-dad, Jimmy Ford, are great friends. Jesse and his brother Jonah, have always been a comedic duo. They are each other’s yin and yang. Jesse the calm cerebral type. Jonah the excitable sarcastic type. Together they have always kept me rolling in laughter. Jonah gets excited about something and makes a joke. Jesse is the calm rebuttal in the background who grounds Jonah.

So when Jesse got excited enough to tell me a story, I knew it had to be good. Before Jesse shares his story and recipe, I want y’all to know that Jesse and Jonah have their own podcast where they discuss sports, life and you can get a sense of their comedy. You can check out the Bascle brothers podcast at the following and it is also available on iTunes:

http://basclebrothers.libsyn.com/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/thebasclebrothers

Lost and Found by Jesse Bascle

When Jonah and I were kids, we would go over to Jimmy’s parents’ house. His mom was Evelyn Ford. She always made a cake for when we went to visit. Most of the time it was a carrot cake. The kind with 3 layers and icing. We loved it. I loved it. It was my favorite. She would always give Jonah and I a fourth of the cake. We had to eat it at her house so she could watch us enjoy it. She knew how much we loved it.

She hardly ever gave her recipes to anyone. Well not that I know of. Only people she cared about or she knew how much they loved what she made. So one time I was over there, and she gave the recipe. Jimmy’s dad worked for the New Orleans RTA (Regional Transit Authority). I am pretty sure he worked the streetcars. So she unfolded this old RTA pink newsletter. The recipe was on the newsletter, and I copied it from her.

I took it home and made it a couple of times. It is so delicious. But then Katrina happened. I thought the recipe was downstairs in the kitchen, and it had been lost with everything else downstairs because of the water. Plus she passed away and then Jimmy’s dad passed away so there was no way I was ever going to see that recipe again. I just thought it was lost forever.

The other day, my mom was cleaning out some things and in this shoebox with a bunch of random stuff was the recipe. I don’t know how it got in the box or where it has been. It has holes and water stains on it, so I don’t know if it was downstairs and somehow survived and got put in the box. Or if it was upstairs in the box all along, but I don’t know how it could have been upstairs. It’s just a mystery. But now after all this time we have Jimmy’s mom’s carrot cake recipe. It is my favorite.

(Note: I asked Jesse if he would photograph the recipe and send it to me. He did and the photo is as follows…)

Evelyn Ford’s Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

for cake:

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

2 cups sifted flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped pecans

for the cream cheese frosting:

1 pound powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1/8 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

1. Beat sugar & oil until blended

2. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

3. Sift dry ingredients into sugar-oil mixture.

4. Add carrots & pecans, mix well.

5. Grease 3 9-inch cake pans. Batter into pans.

6. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 min.

7. Cool.

8. For icing, beat all ingredients together and ice cake layers.

Aunt Millie’s Lemon Loaf

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Dessert

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Sometimes recipes slip into the forgotten, so I should really thank my Aunt Martha for reminding me of my Aunt Millie Malone Brown’s lemon cake. When Aunt Martha reminded me of how much we loved this cake, I couldn’t just go and ask my Aunt Millie because she has Alzheimer’s Disease. So I got to digging around and found her recipe tucked into a notecard box in my Dad’s belongings. What follows are some of my cousins and aunts telling stories about this beloved aunt and sister, and then her recipe for the lemon cake we all love.

When I say beloved I should probably type it BELOVED. My Aunt Millie never had children of her own, and she had this way of making all of us feel as if we were the most important person in the world.  There is no way to expound on that. I think a lot of us have someone like that in our lives. If you do, cherish them. If you don’t, here’s a lot of my Aunt Millie to go around.

Gayle Riley Slusher:  As a sister – she is the best.
I remember when she and BH lived in Waco. I loved to go and stay with them. Sidewalk skating. I learned how to skate. She and BH loved to go frog gigging. They would come fix them for frying – I had never seen that. I learned if the lid was not on – they would jump out. HOW THEY LAUGHED. I Remember Coco the long-haired dog they had for years. Lots of great memories of both Millie and BH.

Martha Johnson Malone:  Millie had a way of making each niece and nephew feel like they were the most special one. She sincerely loved being the Aunt everyone adored! As her sister-in-law, I was always excited to know she would be at Grandma’s for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. She would make the holidays fun! Of course she loved playing cards and the big table that Papa Callahan built would be full of adults playing spades and bourre (Boo-ray) late into the night.

Millie had a gift for gab…and still does…she can talk to anyone (now she makes up the conversation as she goes along. LOL). She loved more than anything to buy groceries. It was nothing for her to come home and get Grandma and go spend several hundred dollars in groceries. Grandma would be in heaven as they both loved to shop and cook and bake for the family. I think her happiest time was spent in the kitchen.

Bart Malone:  Memories of Millie and BH. Where do I start? From Millie giving me my first dog when I was 3 that was with me until I turned 19. My dog’s name was Cheena, and she was a Pekingese. Or Mom and Dad putting me on an airplane at age 10 and sending me to St. Louis to spend 2 weeks with Millie and BH, that’s a whole another story. But the best memories are the ones Martha talked about and that’s the holidays. The baking she and grandma did. Don’t forget the homemade peanut brittle she made. Luv ya Millie.

Anne Malone Abbott:  I remember watching her oil paint in the front room out at the old house. I loved watching her. I used to paint but I was never as good as she was. We have one of her paintings.

Callie Malone Bertaud:  My favorite memory would be listening to her sing “way down yonder in the Johnson grass” and making all the nieces and nephews laugh (Note: the song has the assumption that the next line will include the word ‘ass’ to rhyme with grass. Sometimes Millie would say the word. Sometimes she would stop short of saying it. But to us it was funny to hear an adult say a “BAD WORD.”) Of course her and my dad would duet and sing it—lovely.  She liked to wink a lot, like after she would tell a story. And of course she has never been without a lap dog. I think every one of them was named Buster Brown. I thought she was the coolest aunt ever using all those dirty words and wearing a size 12 shoe.

Aine Malone:  When we would have breakfast at Grandmother’s house,  Millie would make us slices of Texas toast with huge slabs of cheddar cheese melted on them. We thought that was the best thing ever. She loved to buy things. Once I was staying with her and grandma and she got a wild hair to go buy peaches. Grandma said “Millie we have 2 freezers full of peaches from last year we never canned.” Millie said “Now Pauline (my grandma) get in the car. We need fresh peaches and peaches in the freezer aren’t fresh.” So off we went to buy peaches.

She’s a great story-teller. She used to tell us stories about my Dad and all our aunts and uncles when they were kids. I think every kid wants to hear stories of their parents when they were little. She would always tell us about her getting my Dad stuck in the hay loft of the barn and how she pulled away the rope for him to get down. She would laugh and describe how he would beg her to let him down and she would tease him until he started to cry and then she would get scared that they would all get a whipping so she would let him get down.

My favorite memory is one summer I went with Millie and Grandma and Mike  Sims(my cousin) to see Uncle Malcolm. From New Mexico we went to the Grand Canyon and Vegas. Millie kept teasing Grandma about whether she was going to gamble because many people she knew considered gambling to be ‘sinnin.’Grandma kept calling people back home like my great Aunt Willie Mae and maybe ladies in her church. Grandma would say to them on the phone “oh Millie and Malcolm are taking me to Vegas. I know but I am just going to stay in the hotel room. I am NOT going to gamble.” So we get to Vegas and have a great time but Grandma does not gamble. She stays in the room except to eat. On the day we check out, Mike and I are helping wheel her out of the casino in a wheelchair when we finally talk her into “trying” a slot machine. Mike tells her “come on Grandma. Just a dollar. We will never tell.” So our Grandmother Malone drops a dollar that Mike gives her in the machine and out falls a few hundred dollars. Grandma was picking that money up so fast. Well we get back to Uncle Malcolm’s house in New Mexico and of course Grandma has to call Aunt Willie Mae and all her church ladies and tells them ” well we went to Vegas and I won some money but don’t you worry I am going to TITHE my 10%.” Millie would not let grandma forget that. The whole rest of the trip she would say and laugh “Now Pauline as soon as we get to Longview I am going to take you to Gum Springs Church so you can tithe your 10% otherwise Willie Mae may be onto you.”

And finally from an interview taken at a family reunion in 1990, my Aunt Millie talks about her idea of a project. A project that to my knowledge was never finished. We might just have to get on finishing it for her. And y’all need to do the same. My Aunt Millie would love it if she knew she gave y’all a good idea.

Millie Brown (from 1990): I am trying to work on a project for our immediate family.  We get together every Thanksgiving—my brothers and sisters all come home at that particular time. So I am going to start a cookbook that we all can add to—a chapter every year. We are going to have our family tree in the front of the book. It will be very fun and interesting. One of the things I want to do is have them recount some of–or at least one—of their favorite memories of childhood that can be included in the cookbook.

MILLIE BROWN’S LEMON LOAF

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup almonds

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 lemon grated rind- save lemon and squeeze and save juice for glaze

1.  Sift and mix dry ingredients

2.  Cut in shortening until it has a coarse texture like cornmeal.

3.  Mix in nuts.

4.  Beat eggs. Add to the mixture with the milk.

5.  Add the grated lemon rind

6. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour.

7.  After loaf has cooled make the glaze by mixing the saved lemon juice with 1/4 cup of additional sugar. Drizzle glaze over cooled loaf. (Note: use granulated sugar NOT POWDERED SUGAR for the glaze)