Monthly Archives: February 2012

cave man’s thai coconut rattlesnake


Coconut Water

Coconut Water (Photo credit: TaranRampersad)

To do this right, let’s get low tech! Cave man cookin on stones and coals low tech. First we need the right stone and a fire. You need limestone or basalt with a flat cooking surface….throw these in a fire….the stones will get very hot. Upwards of 700 degrees but it takes several hours to reach these tempratures. Let the fire burn down to coals. One note I forgot to mention. Try to get the coconuts that are green, ready for drinking like the above photo. The Brown ones tend to burn and the shell cracks.

3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons fish sauce/light soy sauce
4 lemongrass stalks (white part only), finely diced
4 long red chiles, finely diced
8 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 tablespoon chopped shallots
2 pound deboned rattler cut into bite sized peices
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into wedges
4 young coconuts with juice and tops
4 spring onions, sliced in 3-inch pieces
6 coriander (cilantro) sprigs for garnish
Before the fire burns down to coals, in a large mixing bowl (or skull which ever you may have on hand) combine the sugar and fish sauce/light soy sauce, and mix until the sugar has dissolved. Add half of the lemongrass, half of the chile, half of the garlic and the rattler pieces. Coat the rattler, then let it marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

In your coconuts divide and add the oil and remaining lemongrass and cook the coals. Then add the garlic, shallots, chile, and fry until fragrant and slightly brown.

Carefully remove coconuts from the coals, then add the rattler on your stone searing all sides until browned, and it will brown fast.

Add the onions and coconut juice to the coconuts, and cover with a lid. Cook the mixture over coals until the sauce has reduced by half. Remove the lid, add the scallions and cook 1 minute more.Adding in the rattler to the coconuts, heat for 1 minute more then remove from heat. Open the lids and sprinkle with coriander and place the lid back on. Serve to guests in the coconut shell, allow them to remove the top themselves and mix with rice if they wish.

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Fried rattler and bamboo


I love asian food. This is a spin on my local go to thai place’s chicken and bamboo. It’s quite good but well I think it be lovely with rattler.

1 lb rattler
7 ounce Can of Bamboo
10 Chillis (Mixed red/green)
6 Garlic Cloves
Half a Ginger Root Shoot (About 3 ounces)
2 Spring Onion
2 Tablespoon light soy sauce
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Teaspoon Sugar
4 Tablespoons Water
4 Tablespoons Oil

Clean the rattler and chop it into bite sized pieces.
Slice the bamboo, and spring onion, into fine pieces.
Chop the chilli and garlic into very small pieces.
Slice the ginger root into thin slices.
Put oil in pan turn up the heat to get it good and hot.
Add the chilli & garlic fry it for few second to release the flavour.
Add the chicken in and fry it for 2 minutes until its just cooked through.
Add the ingredient for the sauce to the pan, the soy, oyster and fish sauces and the sugar.
Add bamboo, spring onion, ginger and water, fry till brown and spoon over thai jasmine rice.

Mmm dish from the gods.

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Rattlesnake braised with vinegar and tomatoes


1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup potato flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 lb. deboned rattler
6 Tbs. olive oil
2 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 14-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 dried bay leaf
2/3 cup good-quality red wine vinegar
1 cup rattler broth (see bottom)
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon pepperocino (crushed red pepper flakes)
1 pound sliced crimini mushrooms

Put the flour, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper in a 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag. Close and shake to combine. Add the rattler to the bag, zip it closed, and shake till your arms fall off.

Heat 4 Tbs. of the oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet on medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Add half of the rattler in a single layer and cook, flipping once, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the rattler to a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining rattler.

Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Stir in the tomatoes and bay leaf, raise the heat to high, and cook about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar and boil vigorously until almost evaporated, about 30 seconds. Return the rattler and any juices to the pan, along with the rattler broth, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper, stirring well to combine. Bring to a boil; then reduce to a simmer and watch it to keep it simmering. Cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the rattler is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir in the parsley, cover, and cook for 1 minute more.

Rattler broth is something I make using the bones of the snake. Crack open the bones, Toss them in a muslin bag, and proceed like you would to make chicken broth.

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Rattlesnake-an everything guide


A rattlesnake on the Wild Oak Trail

Image via Wikipedia

I love being a wild man. Part of being a wild man is eating things that might make others cringe. I love rattlesnake and if the thought sickens you, you don’t know what your missing. I find rattlesnake to be light, chewy, with a delicate texture that resembles chicken. To many people rattlesnake does taste like chicken. To me it’s like chicken, but yet nothing like it. I’d say the best way to describe it is a mix between alligator tail, quail, pork and frogs legs all rolled into one. It really is a quite unique meat and I highly recommend putting aside that EEK SNAKE ON MY FORK AND IN MY MOUTH EW! thoughts and just give it a shot. You might find you love it. It is perfectly understandable to be afraid, after all they can kill us with a single bite. Many may fear that it’s dangerous and not safe well that’s not true. It’s perfectly safe, but like everything, you have to do it right way for it to be safe. Your not going to try hunting, with the barrel pointed into your chest right?

Depending on preparation the meat does have a bit of gamey flavor. I soak mine in acidic water.  1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water to make the acid water. Rattlesnake can be similar to seafood in taste if served the right way. Many recipes you find on the web are just rattlesnake substituted for beef, pork, chicken, or seafood. It works very well but, it’s certainly not too original.

I guess you can say I’m Ted Nugent at heart. I believe that animals were put on earth to be eaten. Do I recklessly go out to kill them, no and I never will. I find one in my kid’s sandbox though….It’s getting killed, it’s a danger to my kid/kids. If I kill it, it’s wasteful to not eat it.

The western diamondback is probably the snake you would find in the southwest. They rarely get larger then 7 feet long. I do not advertise going out hunting rattlesnakes. Rattlers can be mean, and can and sometimes do CHASE YOU! Unless your starving, or it doesn’t pose a threat to your family just leave it be!

I plan on being outdoors a lot when I get down to texas, so I’m going to get gear to protect from snake bites. I love to go splunking so I know I’m going to run into a rattlesnake so for me I’m going to be prepared.If your the same way and wanna prepare Cabela’s offers snake boots with a Dry-Lex® lining beginning at around $90.00. They also offer snake gaiters and chaps beginning at around $50.00 for men, women and children. In addition, snake pants are available for around $100.00 and Snake Guardz® is available for around $60.00. Dunns offer Russell® snake boots made with bullhide leather for around $300.00. The Sportmen’s Guide offers Guide Gear® snake boots for around $90.00 and, in addition, makes available other brands on a seasonal basis. This is not exhaustive list and there are other manufacturers from which to choose. I would personally uses Chippawa® snake boots and Cabela’s chaps. A good starting place is to look for boots and/or chaps that use bullhide leather or DuPont‘s® Cordura 1000 denier nylon.

For me, a small snub nose 38 would do the job quite well at dispatching the snake. You might be surprised but rattlers move very fast. So a head shot is best, and don’t worry about eating venom tainted meat. It only hurts if it’s injected directly into the blood stream.

This is how you butcher your snake properly. First remove the head, 3-4 inches behind the skull. Hang the snake in an area you don’t mind getting bloody. The snake will continue to move for the next several hours, so blood will probably splatter about. You need to bleed the snake as this will remove the gameyness that people often complain about.

Slice the snake’s belly from neck to tail.  Pull the skin off by peeling from the neck toward the tail. Cut off the skin and tail just before the rattle.  Remove entrails and dispose. Deboning is simply a matter of pinching the bones and pulling them off using a pair of deboning tweezers. Yes it is a lot of work. Expecially since the snake is still moving about at this point in time. So you got two options before deboning.

Option 1:  Rattlesnake meat needs to be handled gently to prevent it from breaking apart.   Carefully rub the meat under cool running water to remove any remaining blood which would give the meat a “gamey” taint.  Set in a firmly covered container until the meat stops writhing.

Option 2:  Set the snake meat to soak in a cold brine for several hours in a firmly covered container until it stops writhing.  The brine is made by adding 1/4 cup of salt to 1 gallon of cold water.  When the writhing has stopped, gently rinse the meat under cool running water to remove the excess brine.

Many people will be creeped out but the writhing is just a natural instinct. Just some….food for thought. Snakes are remarkable creatures and evolved 150 million years ago. There is stories and photos from florida where people try to kill pythons and the snake escapes an survives. There was one story of a snake being hit in the head twice with a machete and managed to survive and carried the scars ontop of it’s head. It’s a marvel that they can take that kinda punishment and survive.  That type of survival is not something you can easily kill.

 

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Italian zucchini flowers fried


That’s right! Zucchini flowers stuffed and fried. Delicious. What do they taste like you may ask? Well they don’t really have much flavor at all on their own. In Italy they are very popular that at any market there is always a few stalls selling just zuccini flowers. I love stuffing them with many things. I try to make combinations of things to stuff them with. Sometimes they leak out some of the stuffing but that’s perfectly ok. If you really wanna make sure it don’t fall out. Refigerate after stuffing for an hour, toss with flour first then the egg, then the breading. Here we go!

 

72 Fresh Zucchini Flowers
9 ounce Log Goat Cheese
9 ounce feta cheese
16 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Chives
3 Cup Ricotta Cheese
Sea Salt & Pepper
12 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cup Milk
9 Cups italian Breadcrumbs
1 1/2 Cup Grated Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese
1 pound pancetta sliced thin
Oil For Frying

Gently rinse your flowers and pat dry with paper towels and remove the inner bits from each.
Mix together the ricotta, feta, chives and goat cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Put ricotta mixture in a small plastic bag and clip off one bottom corner.
Place some thin strips of pancetta into each flower.
Squeeze a good teaspoonful of the mixture into each flower.
Toss the flowers in the flour now.
Beat the eggs with the milk until light and foamy.
Dip the flowers into the egg wash and allow it to drip off.
Roll the flowers in the breadcrumbs and place on a tray.
Repeat with all the flowers.
Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Heat oil in a wide saucepan until very hot (375 degrees F.)
Fry the flowers in batches on both sides until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
Place the fried flowers on a platter covered with a couple of layers of paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Once all fried lay on a plate sprinkle a bit of sea salt and put on the side some marinara sauce.

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Asian sweet and spicy wings


派對食品: 雞翅 Chicken wing

Image via Wikipedia

I love wings. I love food of all kinds but my absolute favorite finger food is wings. Love spicy wings the best, these are my sweet and spicy wings.

2 cup Sriracha
2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1 cup Cherry jelly
48 large chicken drumsticks
Kosher salt
3 cup rice flour
1 cup potato flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch

Bring Sriracha, rice wine vinegar, mirin, and jelly to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, adjusting heat if necessary, until mixture is thick and reduced about 10 minutes.

Place drumsticks in a large bowl and season generously with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450°. Whisk rice flour potato flour and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Place a rimmed baking sheet. Using a paper towel, pat drumsticks dry. Dredge in rice flour mixture, shaking off excess. Arrange on prepared rack.
Roast drumsticks, turning frequently, until skin is browned and crisp, 50–60 minutes.

If you make them ahead of time, Rewarm in a 450° oven for 10–15 minutes before continuing.

Combine hot drumsticks and 1 cup sauce in a large bowl; toss to coat. Return drumsticks to rack and roast, turning once, until skin is crisp and sauce is beginning to brown, 8–9 minutes. Remaining sauce can be used for dipping.

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homemade caramel apple pop tarts


I’m a fiend for pop tarts. I love them like there is no tomarrow. My favorite caramel apple pop tarts. What can I say I’m a kid at heart!

Pastry
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pats
2 large egg
4 tablespoons milk

2 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)
caramel apple Filling
3/4 cup caramel
3/4 cup apple sauce
2 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoon cold water
To make caramel apple filling: Mix the apple sauce with the cornstarch/water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat,mix in caramel and set aside to cool. Use to fill the pastry tarts.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything comes together, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.

Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about pop tart size. You can roll this out immediately or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

If your dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes in a warm kitchen. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim into 18 pop tart sized rectangles.

Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.

Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.

Sprinkle the dough trimmings with cinnamon-sugar; these have nothing to do with your pop tarts, as my lover says, it’s a shame to not give treats to the chef. While the tarts are chilling, bake these trimmings for 13 to 15 minutes, till they’re golden brown.

Remove the tarts form the fridge, and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Cool in pan on rack.

You should have 9 pairs of pop tarts ready to eat filled with a nice yummy caramel apple filling.

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Italian popcorn


Ok we Italians love our garbanzo beans. (chickpeas) I love them so much I find it’s easier to grow 14 plants per person. That’s a lot of garbanzos per person. In the middle east, they only grow 7 plants per person. I love to roast mine till crispy and eat them with seasoning. This is something really special. I have four favorite seasonings, smokey mesquite which I think compliments the bean quite nicely, little bit of onion or garlic powder, taco seasoning and a greek seasoning.

2 pounds garbanzo beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Spice blend of your choice

Preheat oven to 400F.

Rinse the beans with water for a few seconds to clean off the beans. Shake the strainer to rid of excess water. Lay paper towl on a baking sheet, and spread the beans over. Use another paper towel to gently press and absorb the water on the beans. Continue to roll beans gently to remove them from their thin skins. Discard the skins and the paper towels.

Drizzle the olive oil over the beans and use your hands to toss them. Season lightly and then put in the oven. Roast for 30-40 minutes until the beans are a deep golden brown and crunchy. Becareful to not burn them.
To make your own greek seasoning, mix 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried mint, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, marjoram, and onion powder, and 1/4 teapoon garlic powder.

To make your own taco seasoning, mix 4 teaspoons onion powder, 3 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teapoon garlic powder, corn starch and cumin, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/8th teaspoon cayenne pepper.

 

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hog sour lure


ok….doesn’t work on just hogs. Down south I shared hunting talk with a real nice gentlemen and he gave me this recipe, that he uses for luring hogs. It’s really simple.

 

10 cup corn syrup
10 cup water
5 cup sour lemon juice
5 cup sour lime juice
5 cup sour  orange juice

He’d just stir it all up put into empty soda bottles melt 1-3 holes in the cap and 6-9 holes in the bottom of the bottles once he hung them. They would drip slowly emptying their contents onto the ground. The hogs would come to the smell of slowly dripping sour citrus thats sweet too. Then he’d shoot them.

Well I know a different use!

That’s right switch out the corn syrup for agave nectar, and switch from sour lemon lime and orange juice to fresh and you got your own sour mix!

What’s sour mix good for? Well I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking of sailing away to Margaritaville. If that don’t work, you can try the following 3 drinks from barnone drinks.

 

Caribbean Iced Tea

 

Bahama basil smash

 

purple haze

 

Summer salads for a crowd


Ok I love my seafood. During the summer here in Rhode Island, lots of good fresh seafood available.  I do 2 varieties, 1 with mayo, 1 without. I like the ones with mayo myself. I just cook my corn right on the grill on the cob till the tops start to brown/blacken a bit, and then remove the kernals with a corn cob cutter from lehmans and the desilking brush.

You can get the corn cutter here.

The desilking brush you can get from here.

I also highly recommend there book on growing corn, which you can get here.

 

Crab and lobster summer salad

5 lb crab meat (lump is good but I use all of it)
5 lb lobster meat (again all of it)
10 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
10 hass avocado, diced
20 hot peppers such as serrano or jalapeños, diced fine (seeds and white membraine removed for no heat, or seeds removed for mild)
15 cups fire roasted corn kernels
3 1/3 cup chopped red onion
20 limes, juice of (or more to taste)
10 tsp olive oil
20 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and fresh pepper to taste
3 cups feta

In a small bowl combine red onion, lime juice, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper. Let them sit at least 5 minutes to mellow the flavor of the onion.

In a large bowl combine chopped crab meat, lobster meat, feta, avocado, tomatoes, hot pepper and corn. Combine all the ingredients together, add cilantro and gently toss. Add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. For me the sweet of the crab, avocado and lobster the bite of lime an the saltyness of feta creates a real treat.

 

The mayo version is also great.

5 lb crab meat (lump is good but I use all of it)
5 lb lobster meat (again all of it)
10 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
10 hass avocado, diced
20 hot peppers such as serrano or jalapeños, diced fine (seeds and white membraine removed for no heat, or seeds removed for mild)
15 cups roasted corn kernels
3 1/3 cup chopped red onion
20 limes, juice of (or more to taste)
10 tsp olive oil
20 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and fresh pepper to taste
3 cups feta
20 spears oven roasted asparagus
1 1/2 cups black olives (sliced)
1 1/2 cups green olives (minced)
3 cups mayo
3 cups italian dressing

In a small bowl combine red onion, lime juice, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper. Let them sit at least 5 minutes to mellow the flavor of the onion.

In a large bowl combine chopped crab meat, lobster meat, feta, avocado, tomatoes, hot pepper and corn. Combine all the ingredients together, mayo and italian dressing, add cilantro and gently toss. Add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

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