Tag Archives: Garlic

My country cube steak with saw mill gravy for a crowd


I’ll let you in on a secret. I love red meat. Being a guy one could easily know that but I love bison cube steak when I can find it for a true country breakfest.

Mix together flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Dredge the Cube steak in the flour mix on both sides and set aside until all the yummy cube steaks are covered in flour. In a large camp fire skillet, add oil, garlic, and onions. When onions are clear remove from pan along with garlic. Add butter into pan and allow to melt. Once melted add in cube steaks. Watch them carefully, when the sides get a golden hay like color flip them and give them 1 more minute before removing from the pan. Turn off heat and remove grease by pouring through a fine mesh screen over a funnel into a mason jar.  This filters out the solid particles from the grease. Set this remaining grease aside in the mason jar. It will keep in the fridge for upto a week.

Take 9 tablespoons of this grease, 9 tablespoons of flour, 3 cups of half and half, and 1 pound crumbled breakfest sausage. Sift the flour into this remaining grease in the same pan you fried the cube steak. Stir it until it gets brown, I like a straw brown color. Pour in the half and half slowly while stirring constantly. Add in crumbled breakfest sausage, and stir until it’s thickened. At this point I add black pepper, about 3 tablespoons.  The breakfest sausage can be anything. Jimmy dean is good, or what ever you happen to have.

Serve with a side of mashed potatoes.

The don of meatloaf


One thing I realized my site does not have is my meatloaf recipe. It is the don of meatloaves. There’s lots of goodies in it. Bits of bacon mixed in, there’s chunks of feta, olives, onions and garlic.

 

Soak the sliced italian bread in the milk for several minutes in a large mixing bowl. While it is soaking turn the oven onto 200 degrees F.  Place the ground meat, garlic bacon, eggs, salts, pepper, parsley, cheeses, olives, and onions into the soaked bread. Mix by hand until it all comes together and is well mixed. Turn out onto pan and shape into 4 loaves. (I have a cooling rack that is nothing more then a chunk of 1/4 inch thick steel with 1/3 inch holds drilled in it. I place it over a turkey roasting pan 1/2 full of water. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND DOING THIS.) Place into oven and let cook 8-12 hours. After the 8-12 hours has passed apply your favorite sauce ontop of meatloaves and turn to 350 degrees F and allow to bake for another 15 to 30 minutes.

When it is done it will be sticky on the outside, and so moist and tender inside that you can microwave it the next day and not have it dry out on you which most meat loaves others have made for me tend to do. The onions will be clear, the garlic soft and delicious, the bacon flimsy yet delicious. The best thing of all, it’s a great meal that one can cook all day. No longer do you have to rush to get a meatloaf done, you can set it, and forget it.

Typically I use a apple bbq sauce with burbon in it.

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Bison enchiladas


While down in texas my goddess’s grandmother made enchiladas, it was the first time I had ever had them. They were delicious, bit small, but delicious. This is the closest I have come to recreating the recipe.  There usually is left over filling for me but that’s fine I use it to stuff bell peppers or on toast.

8 medium onion, diced
24 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups chili powder
24 teaspoons cumin
16 teaspoons sugar
16 cups tomato sauce
8 cup water
8 pound ground bison
16 cups mexican blend cheese
1 1/2 cups pickled poblanos, minced (I pickle them like japanenos only in deseeded strips)
8 fresh jalapeno, minced
2 cup cilantro, minced
48 12 inch corn tortillas (about 1 package where I shop, might vary)

Coat the bottom of a large camp skillet with olive oil and heat over medium low. Add onions and cover with a lit and let cook away until soft. Should be about 8 minutes. Remove the lid add in garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar and stir 4 times. Stir in your homemade tomato sauce (you can use canned but I got plenty in the freezer) and water bring to a simmer and let simmer away until it thickens up. Stir in the ground bison and simmer over low covered until cooked. About 10 minutes or so. Strain the sauce to remove the solids from this lovely red sauce. Toss the bison, half the cheese, jalapenos and cilantro. Heat the over to 300 and add about 2/3rds of a cup of filling on warmed tortillas (can microwave them), roll and place seam side down. Repeat and lay each one on a sprayed cookie pan. Top with remaining cheese cover with foil and bake until heated through and cheese is melty. About 25 minutes. Delicious and twice the size of the one she made.

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Beer can chicken my way


We’ve all had beer can chicken. Well I love my beer can chicken. I have partaken in many different beer can chickens. They are yummy a favorite when tailgating. Unfortunately some are better then others. There is one that I make that just blows the rest completely out of the water. It all begins with the beer. You want a beer that pairs well with chicken and your flavors. Please for the love of god think outside the box. Corona, bud, and michelob are fine but you want to seperate yourself from every other beer can chicken your friends are making. Make sure it’s a good beer. Keep in mind the styles.

Brown ales tend to work best with gamey dishes, beef entrees or brown gravy over chicken. It depends how it works but I’m grilling mine so, any lighter lager or pilsner or brown ale or pale ale will work.

I like to use Brooklyn Brown Ale and Alpine Glacier Lager.

Now you may ask how do I get a beer bottle into a beer can chicken. Well I like to use a funnel. That’s right I have an empty beer can for my chickens.

So this is what we’ll need:

  • 1 can (12 ounces) beer
  • 1 chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
  • Olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons seasoning (at end)

First we need to marinade over night. To do this mix together the day before

  • 1/8 cup of each beer (1/4 cup total)
  • 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

If you don’t have a empty can of beer like me, well open a beer pour it out drink it, and put an additional 3 holes in the top. Then pour in 6 ounces of each beer. Remove any thing inside the cavity. I take these and just throw them in a pan and cook off any grease I can get for the gravy.

Now that we’re ready drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub it all around. In a bowl mix the following:

  • Garlic powder (2 teaspoon)
  • Cayenne, ground (2 teaspoon)
  • Onion powder (2 tablespoon)
  • Oregano, dried (2 teaspoon)
  • Sage, ground (2 teaspoon)
  • Black pepper, freshly ground (2 tablespoon)
  • Paprika (2 teaspoon)
  • Coffee ground fine (2 teaspoon)

Ssshhhh don’t tell anyone about the coffee. Rub this mix all over the chicken front and back over the legs and the wings. Sprinkle a little inside. If you got extra great save it, it’s excellent on steaks.

  • Half pound bacon

I love charcoal grills for this place a aluminum pan in the center of the grill, pile coals evenly on both sides. Light your coals. When the grill gets hot dip a paper towel in olive oil and oil the grill grate. I like to soak cherry wood in brandy a half hour before. Check your coals, with a hand 2 inches above the grate, 1 tomatoe 2 tomatoe OW! usually tells you it’s ready. You’ll want the chicken over the drip pan. Spread the legs of the chicken wide apart. Suck the marinade into an injector and slowly inject into the chicken in several places throughout the chicken. Slowly lower the chicken onto the top of the beer can. Lift the grate and toss your soaked chips onto the coals.Wait until you begin seeing smoke. Sit you chicken onto the grill over the drip pan.

Pull the legs forward to form a tri-pod. Tuck the wings behind the back (called Akimbo) to prevent from burning them. Drape the half pound bacon over the top of the chicken. Close the lid and let the chicken roast 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. During the cooking process you will have to add you’ll need to add 12 fresh coals per side after 1 hour. If the skin gets to browning too much, tent with foil for the rest of the cooking process. Once done remove carefully off the grill with tongs. Place it on a flat plate and let people awww at it. You can wait for it to cool and then remove the bacon and beer can from it. Though it probably will not last that long.

 

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my secret grilled lobsters


The mint makes them really good. Do not tell anyone! It’s our secret
Salt, to taste
8 live lobsters, each 1 1/2 to 2 lb
4 sticks unsalted butter
24 garlic cloves, minced
4 lemons cut into 1/4th slices
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
12 Tbs. minced fresh mint and parsley

 

Bring a large pot three-fourths full of salted water to a boil over high heat. Have ready a bowl of ice water large enough to fit the lobsters.

On a cutting board, use the point of a knife to cut an incision through each lobster head shell about 1 inch from the eyes, pushing down hard through the shell to instantly kill the lobster (yes it’s painless). Immediately plunge the lobsters into the pot and cook for 2 minutes, then transfer to the ice water. When the lobsters are cool enough to handle, split them in half lengthwise. Remove the intestinal vein from the tails, the grain sacs from the heads and any green tomalley from the bodies; reserve any black egg sacs in a small bowl. (You can stuff the head if you’d like with broccoli and cheese after.)

Pour 1/4 cup boiling water over the egg sacs and, using a fork, gently break the membrane to release the roe; it will turn bright red in the hot water. Strain through a sieve and let dry on a paper towel.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the garlic. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the mint and parsley and 2 Tbs. of the reserved lobster eggs. Keep the garlic-mint butter warm.

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a grill. Brush and oil the grill grate.

Brush the cut side of each lobster half with some of the garlic-mint butter. Place the lobsters, cut side down, on the grill. Cover and grill until the flesh is opaque and firm to the touch, 5 to 6 minutes. Grill the lemon slices over the hottest part of the fire until lightly charred, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Brush the grilled lobsters with the remaining garlic-mint butter and transfer to a platter. Garnish with the grilled lemon slices and serve immediately.

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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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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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My beer cheese soup


I am a guy. I love some things that really show I’m a guy. These are the bbc of mandom, Beer bacon and cheese. This recipe combines them all at once. This is in my opinion the best beer cheese soup recipe in the history of beer cheese soup.

 

3 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped fennel (or celery)
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (32 ounce) carton chicken stock
5 (12 fluid ounce) cans or bottles guinness draught
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 pound moteray jack, cubed
1/2 pound block pepperjack cheese, cubed
1/2 pound block  Jalepeno Cheddar cheese, cubed

 

Put olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the fennel or celery, carrots, and garlic until soft, about 8 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, beer, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, white pepper, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper; whisk to combine. Blend the mixture with a hand blender until smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes.

Stir in the moteray jack and allow to melt. When it has melted, slowly mix in the pepperjack and sharp Cheddar cheeses, a little at a time, allowing each addition to melt into the soup before adding the next. Simmer the soup over low heat until the cheese has completely melted and the flavors have blended, 15 to 20 more minutes.

Where’s the bacon, it’s an after addition. I usually cook 3 pounds of bacon till crisp, and then crumble it. Then sprinkle it into your soup. Mmmm beer cheese soup.

The best thing it is so versitile. You can get some tortia scoop chips and use it as a dip, you can drizzle it over potatoes, add broccoli for broccoli cheese soup, enchilada cassarole, the limits are endless.

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Spring has sprung pasta salad


Inspired by Chef Emeril Lagasse, who posted on his facebook a poll of what peoples favorite spring vegtable is. Well I took a lot of spring veggies and brought it together into this pasta salad. I love making this during the spring when it’s warm enough to fire up that grill. The salad is a bit on the salty side, expecially when you get olive and feta in one bite, but it’s very very good compaired to the normal boring cook out pasta salad. I like my salads a bit on the salty side.

Spring has sprung pasta salad (for a hungry crowd)

2-4 bell peppers diced
2-3 handfulls spinach
1 large jar marinated artichokes (juice reserved)
3 or 4 morel mushrooms
2 cans peas
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
chives for garnish
4 bunches asparagus Grilled
2 or 3 small containers feta cheese crumbles (if you like it cheesy throw it all in there)
12 inches worth of mozzarella string cheese (diced into chunks)
2 jars olives and 1 can (small pimento olives, large garlic stuffed olives, and 1 can black olives)
12 oz prosciutto
12 oz pancetta
3 pounds rotellini or penne pasta or equal amounts of both! (can even use that wacky mack stuff to make it interesting)
2 small cartons cherry tomatoes cut in half depending on size
1 bottle italian dressing or homemade italian dressing (recipe at end)
Dijon mustard
sweet gerkin relish
pepper relish
mayo
white wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar or lemon juice)

Slice morels, fennel, and leek, set aside. Dice pancetta, and place in a skillet and brown. About 3-5 minutes. Add sliced morels, fennel, leeks, diced prosciutto, diced peppers and spinach torn to peices. Cover and let cook 10 minutes stiring every few minutes, add a little oil if needed. The fennel should taste like celery more then liquorice yet still have it’s crunch, and spinach should be wilted. Once done remove and set aside. While morels, fennel, leeks, spinach and prosciutto is cooking, dice cherry tomatos in half and dice marinated artichokes. Remove morels, fennel, leeks, spinach and prosciutto from heat. Boil pasta 7-8 minutes. Cool.

Have the grill heated to a medium heat. Lay the asparagus out on cookie sheets and drizzle with 6 to 9 tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil. Roll the spears back and forth so that the entire stalk is coated. Place the asparagus in a grill basket. Leave a bit of space between the spears, toss them onto the grill. Grill the asparagus for 5 or 6 minutes, turning them slightly every few minutes to provide even grilling. When the cool dice them into thumb sized peices, or you can cut them smaller.

In a large enamel granny ware pot combine pasta, asparagus, feta, mozzarella, tomatoes, peas, morels, artichoke, spinach, fennel and leek. Drain olives and wash in colander. Slice large garlic stuffed olives into 4ths, including garlic clove, slice black olives, and add pimento stuffed and all other olives into the pot. Add panchetta, prosciutto, and tomatoes. Toss gently with your bare hands. Set aside.

Dessing the pasta. This is a bit hard as I generally do not measure. So the below is a guestimation.

for 1 cup mayo, 1 tbsp mustard, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp gerkin relish, 1 tbsp pepper relish. For each cup of mayo mix, add 1 cup italian dressing, or marinated artichoke juice reserved earlier. Mix pasta by hand until lightly coated to your preference. Wash your hands, serve with a spray bottle of lemon juice case the guests prefere more lemon.

Devil’s diamond italian dressing (spicy spin to italian dressing for the brave of heart)

About 3 and 1/2 cups when finished

1 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 cups corn oil (can use canola or vegtable oil too)
1 tsp trinidad scorpion oil (optional-recipe below)

In a blender or food processor, combine the sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, vinegar, water and garlic. Mix scorpion oil and corn oil. Cover and blend while drizzling in the oil(s) to form an emulsion.

Trinidad scorpion oil

10-12 small dried trinidad scorpions, such as 7 Pot or 7 Pod, or the regular trinidad scorpions. You want, roughly 2 tablespoons of course chopped flakes. (can use less spicer peppers if you want to keep hair on your chest.)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil or grapeseed oil (far more impressed with sesame oil)

Gloves and eye protection is a must.

Cut off the stems of the dried chilies and remove the seeds. Chop the chiles into coarse flakes (it’s easiest to do this by processing them in a blender for about 20 seconds). Place the chili flakes in a heat resistant jar with a seal. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high to high heat until it is starting to smoke. Continue heating the oil for 20 – 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat. Wait 3 minutes, or until the oil has cooled to 225 – 240 degrees Fahrenheit

Pour the oil over the flakes. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil if using. Cool and strain the oil. Leave the chili oil for at least 1 hour to give the flavors a chance to blend (longer if adding sesame oil). Use as desired in recipes or as a dipping sauce with dumplings and noodles. Stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator, chili oil will last for at least one month.