Tales from the Wandering Cook

[echoes]

Summer drinks.

You must 21, or add you applicable age relative to where you live, to ride this train.

So most people know the White Russian cocktail, maybe you have had one or you have a friend who has had one. Its a simple cocktail, one of those classic cocktails that everyone tries at some point and time or another. Its a vodka based drink that combines coffee liqueur with cream to create a rather exotic mix of flavors. The vodka can be any of choice but I tend to use Absolute of Kettle One. The coffee Liqueur is usually Kahlua and the cream is usually a light cream though some people do heavy cream.

Now I am not a coffee person, which I have mentioned before, but I have had more than one carafe of these drinks while out with friends during my college years. Mind you, I first attended Uni in the early nineties, so this was before the drink was popularized by the movie, "The Big Lebowski," as I am told that this was the preferred drink of "the Dude" of Lebowski fame.

Its a summer drink, meant to be on ice and it was the predecessor to the drink I wanted to share with you today.

The Colorado Bulldog

.

^Good God This is an obnoxious color.... Im leaving it

Take the white Russian and Add cola ( and by cola we all know I mean coke.) That's it, you basically make an alcoholic root beer float without the root beer Don't ask me why it tastes like this, something about the coffee liqueur and the cola that changes the taste profile and it comes out like a boozy float. Serve over ice and work towards that well deserved buzz.

1.5 Ounces Vodka
1 Coffee Liqueur ( Kahlua)
1 Ounce light cream/milk
1-2 ounces of cola

Add in that order over ice and giv it a swirl. See what you think.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Going to do another drink and then will get back to doing food on Friday. Im planning to make lamb kabobs, couscous, grilled veggies. homemade hummus and table bread along with a fresh spring salad with homemade vinaigrette. So, see you Friday if you are interested.

Now, despite all that sounding very Mediterranean, the drink I am going to throw your way if not based in Ouzo and Sambuca.  First, much like the previous post, we have to start with the original and then get the variant so, without anymore stalling, let's talk about the Rattlesnake shot.

First, I have no idea why this combo is called the Rattlesnake because, unlike a Rattlesnake, this one doesn't warn you. What do I mean by that? Well, here are the ingredients:

Coffee Liqueur
Creme de Cacao ( chocolate ) Liqueur
Irish Cream.

Notice, none of the heavy hitters are making an appearance. No Vodka, Bourbon, Rum, Scotch etc. In fact, mixed together and the average proof is in the low 40% and that isn't even pregame. in fact, this is a lovely and smooth, "sweet," shot that goes great with dessert.

I like an alcohol that tells you what will happen if you imbibe to much. Bourbon, for example, warns you from the first burn that it will push you shit in should you decide to drink to much. Same with Scotch, Tequila and son. Schnapps, liqueurs and so one fucking lie to you, "We taste sweet, we are fun, drink a lot of us." You do so at your own peril. I will not go into the night I played the drinking game, "Three Man" while doing rattlesnakes. That is not something we talk about outside of Fight Club, but, I will tell you. When I was asked if I was a God, I said YES!

Back to the shot. This is a fun shot, no bite and the mix of coffee, chocolate and creme is pretty much what some of you get at Starbucks every day. If you do it right you can layer the liquids so they stay separated but I always forget the order in which they go so I just mix them up. You can chill this shot, shake it over ice to thin it out or go at room temperature. Its flexible, fun and tastes good.

The Slippery Snake

This is easy and it changes the profile by pulling the Creme de Cacao and replaces it with Buttershots ( Butterscotch) Same portions either 1/2 oz of each liqueur or 1oz of each. I tend to the 1 oz each. I prefer this at room temp but you can shake it and strain it over ice if you will.

So there, 2 more drinks and then on Friday there will be kebabs.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

30 Minute Italian Sausage in Linguini

So I have switched departments at work a few months back and now have moved to closing my department Mon-Wed each week. This works out pretty well considering the GF works overnights as a nurse so she is gone 7-7 in a normal 12 hour shift. What this does is give us the mornings together before she passes out and then I start getting ready for work around 11 or 11:15 local time. I have a 30 minute drive, that I try to give myself the minimum 45 minutes to an hour to get to work, because we live in a town 20 or so miles from the city we work in. Now, to major metropolitan areas, that is nothing as it takes 20 minutes just to get to a store, but what I am setting up here is that when I get home around 930 (2130) usually everyone else has eaten and some have even gone to bed in the house. I don't have a lot of time to make food because I want to get some sleep, or spend time with the GF before she passes out. Cooking on the quick with minimum fuss and mess is a must.

Ingredients"

2 Primo Italian Sausage links
Linguini Pasta
Butter
flour
Manchego
Heavy Cream
Vegetable broth/Stock
Minced Garlic
Diced Onions ( fresh, frozen, dried )
Salt/pepper and herbs to taste.

get water going in a pot with a dash or three of salt. Get enough water  to cover roughly 3 servings of linguini. This will make either 2 large portions or 3 medium portions so set yourself up for leftovers.

In a large sauté skillet get an ounce of butter going on medium high and then get the sausages in. You want to brown all sides of the sausage but dont let them burn. Once you've got them browned you take one sausage out at a time, slice it down then middle and then slice the two halves into 1/4 inch ( 4 mm) thick chunks. Put this back in the pan and then do the other one. Once the sausage is almost all the way cooked pull all pieces out and onto a plate with a paper towel on it to get rid of excess oil.

By now water should be boiling get pasta in and set timer to 10-11 minutes depending on how you like your pasta to feel firmness wise.

2 -3 more tablespoons of butter into the skillet and drop the temp to medium. melt and add onion's, sauté for 2 minutes and add garlic. ( I used frozen onions and pre minced garlic so if you only have a fresh onion and whole cloves of garlic do not add the butter until you prep those items as the butter will burn while it waits for you.) You want the onions to be translucent and the garlic to just start to brown when you add just under 1/3 cup of flour. Mix in and make a roux.


While the roux continues to cook, and in between stirring, shredder about 1/2 a cup of Manchego cheese. Once the roux, which should have just the slightest of brown color due to the sausage drippings and then cooking, has warmed add the cheese and stir. this will make an unholy looking glob of sauce base goodness. Add in the cream and stir until the gooey blob starts to settle into a sauce. from here you start adding in the veggie broth/stock to get the consistency you want.

NOW... do not make it to think because when you strain the pasta you will keep some of the water in reserve to add to the sauce. At first this water will think the sauce our, but the starch that has separated from the pasta while cooking will then thicken the sauce up when it cools.

Add cream, or veggie broth until you get the profile you want and then season with salt, pepper or whatever you want to add. Cayenne works well here if you want heat. Add the sausage back in, turn the heat up and just under a boil. I also encourage a spalsh of lemon juice to bring out additional flavor profiles.

When the pasta is finished pour into a colander but save several tablespoons of water to add to the sauce. Pour pasta into the skillet and mix well. Garnish with shredded Parm cheese or parsley flakes.

Start to finish this can be done in about 22 minutes with time to clean up the counter and dishes bringing you right to 30.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

"Oh My Stars and Garter"s - Paul Beattany as Geoffrey Chaucer

So I went all in and let myself have some fun while cooking. Here was the menu for tonight:

Lamb Kebabs ( Mediterranean Style)
Carrot and Pea Parmesan Couscous
Grilled Veggies ( Squash, Zucchini, onion and Cherry Tomatoes
Everything Bagel Hummus
Naan Bread
Pistachio Cheesecake with Caramel Drizzle and homemade Whipped Cream

I already did a Hummus earlier so I am not going into that again. Just change out roasted Garlic with the everything Bagel seasoning. ( I cheated and used a pre-made but you can make your own.)

Also, already did Naan bread but, this time, it was perfect. I proofed it differently and got a better result. I have a small room with a washer and dryer in it. I could call it a laundry room but it really and oversized closet. I had been doing laundry so the room was the perfect temp to be a proofing room. I also bought a new grill this year and one half of the grille is a flat top. these two things gave my fluffy light Naan with a perfect outer shell. So not doing that recipe.

Lastly, have done Couscous and my game on that is pretty strong and the veggies were just cut up, olive oil and seasoning salt so they are super easy and I am going to skip.

I will do an entry for the Lamb kebabs here and then another one for the Pistachio Cheese Cake later.

Lamb Kebabs

Why Lamb, they are cute and fluffy and they taste really good! I used a boneless lamb shoulder and spent a bit of time trimming off a majority of the marbling ( fat) before cutting the remaining meat down into 1/2" (1/25 cm) cubes. I started off with about 4.5 pounds (2 kilos) of lamb and ended up with about 3 lbs (1.35) rendered.

The Marinade
1 large onion
5 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon sugar in the raw ( coarse brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
Cumin
Allspice
Salt
pepper
Coriander

Notice the last five have no measurements. do this to your taste.

Make your marinade in a food processor and you are looking for a pesto like consistency. I then added the lamb to a mixing bowl and poured the marinade on top. Mix well, coating as evenly as possible before transferring to a zip-lock bag. Seal and place in fridge for at least 2 hours but the longer the better as this will continue to tenderize the meat and add flavor.

Now I did kebabs with wooden skewers but if you have metal ones you can obviously skip this part. 30 minutes before cooking count out 10 or so skewers and get them soaking in hot water.

When skewering you do not want to jam the meat as tightly together as possible let the pieces hold their natural shape as best you can. this will make for more even cooking. While I did pure meat skewers you can intermix meat with veggies here should you desire. the combo I did on the flat top was listed above but you can do chucks of these same veggies on the skewer. You should not, not all the marinade will stay on the meat. that is fine, what stays in the bag is not to be worried about and just throw it away. The veggies can be seasoned lightly with salts and brushed with olive oil once they are skewered

After this, on to a preheated grill and let them cook at their own pace. You are looking at a couple of minuted before a rotation so about 8-10 minutes is a standard cook type to get mostly medium rare and medium pieces./ Some grilles cook faster/slower than others, so the set time doesn't help you here. If you do this, and you have your own grille, you know your grille and I don;t. Trust your instincts.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Wow,

Haven't done much here in the last month but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. Fired up the pizza oven this last weekend. The S/o spent a girl's week away in Illinois trail riding with her friend and so I made fresh dough and fixings for personal pizzas and welcomed her back Sunday with Salad, handmade Pizzas and a Caramel Pie with chocolate topping. Flat out failed to get the filling to set to it was like a caramel s'more trapped between a tempered chocolate topping and Grahmn cracker crust. This was a fail successfully as the taste was amazing but the execution was sloppy.

So, if you didn't see earlier posts where I mentioned this, I build a pizza oven off my back porch a while back and I have decided to add to it a bit. I pouring a concrete shell atop the bricks to help keep heat in and I am going to make a mold and pour a front to the oven to keep heat in. The front will be removable so that I can clean the oven out easily but this will help speed up the cooking process which takes a good 12 minute per pizza. Something I have learned about the style of oven I made; It CONSUMES fuel at a voracious rate. Luckily I always have limbs down around the edges of the yard so I am not depopulating a forest or anything.

Also this week I was able to harvest the first of my fresh herbs and this was good times. My herb garden was planted a while ago but and enterprising raccoon decided to dig up almost all my seedlings do to his anger at my garbage cans being closed. ( he was using the planters as a spring board to get to the cans.) The cans were moved and the herbs were replanted. I harvested Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Parsley and catgrass for my cats. I will be cutting the opal basil this week and a few others in the days to come. I am really looking forward to using the Opal Basil because not only is it fragrant, its purple and I plan to do an Opal basil Risotto with bacon and Gouda as a compliment to either steaks or chicken here soon.

Speaking of Gouda, the GF got two new "barn cats," from the shelter and they are never going to be barn cats. They are orange and white and their names are Nacho and Gouda and I refer to them as the "cheese itz." This name has been adopted by everyone in the house.

So, not much about food tonight, that will come in a later post. Soon, more food and some other stuff about cooking like :

What does E listen to while he cooks
Does E dance while he cooks
What is a go to meal
Cheap eats on a budget
and more

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So, what does E listen to while he cooks?

Good question that no one asked but I am putting it out there because I want to talk about music. The name is Echoes for a reason; sound is important to me. A little background to give perspective. My parents signed me up for band in elementary school and I decided I did not want to learn all the important stuff that is involved with music that I had no idea about. For those of you who are musically inclined; you know where this going. Instead of an instrument that could, later in life and not as an 8 year old, make wonderful music, I decided to pick up a pair of sticks and beat things. Oddly enough, in these later years, that has paid off in non musical ways and those stories can only be read by approved members on this site.

I digress. Imagine that.

Yes, I became a percussionist which, at that young age meant you hit a snare drum, a bass drum or a cymbal to whatever terrible rendition of a song we were performing. I stuck with it, through middle and high school all the way to college and eventually learned scales and several of the nuances of music that you don't know about as a kid. But let's back track a bit and get perspective to what I was listening to before college. The parents liked country but I never fell into that genre, it didn't reach out to me but, for those who like country, I do respect that art because it is still music even if I don't like it. I was drawn to pop and, I didn't realize this at the time, an alternative sound. I also, or so I think, was there for the true emergence of Rap as a sound. Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Whoodini, LL Cool J, Afrika Bambata, NWA, Ice-T, 2 Live Crew; am I dating myself yet? I heard this sound and listened and yet Rap, like country, didn't reach out to me. As a drummer, ahem, percussionist, in High School I found Rush but I had to do this on my own as I had no older siblings. So, while U2 dominated the stations REM, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure were hitting the college radio stations and I found something that got my attention. Then, in the span of a few years, my future self found part of what I call home. 1989 and NIN releases Pretty Hate Machine, 1990 sees Sisters of Mercy release Vision Thing and Depeche Mode release Violator. Then 1992 see the releases of Rage Against the Machine by Rage Against the Machine and Opiate by Tool; my sound just got a foundation. I had to find a lot of this on the college station and MTV because, back then, MTV actually played music.

Anywho, once in college my music selection grew by leaps and bounds and I left the comfort of Pink Floyd and 80's pop to embrace something louder, darker and driving. It was also at this time that I made it to my first club and found another new sound; Techno. I embraced club life in the middle sized city I lived in at the time and this where, for better or worse, I got hooked into something that stays with me to this day. How did I get there, ok, grab and drink and get ready for this ride.

I am a geek, not the hard core card carrying know every role-playing game system ever made geek, but I am a geek. Old school table top from the early 80's D&D ( love me some WOD before the God Machine) geek but, outside of being a murder hobo ready to loot the next cave the party found, I had a game I found and liked called "Battletech." People operating giant robots and blowing the shit out of other robots. How does this fit into music you may ask. Well, when I first made it to college I was on campus and I saw a group of guys playing this game and it turns out there was a gaming group on campus; I had just found my people and I was already hooked before I knew it. I ended up joining this non Greek group, appropriately named the MSU ( Miskatonic Student union for those of you who know Lovecraft) and this is where I stayed during my first stint at higher learning. (I might tell some stories of the dumb shit we did in the MSU including robbing a Frat house of Composite picture they had stolen from a neighboring university's sorority one summer but that will be somewhere else of this site.)

Anyway, after a couple of years with the group a watershed moment occurred. It just so happened that a former member of this group had gotten back from a stint in the military, and other places I will never go to, and he had a bit of money to spend. This guy had clubbed on the West Coast of the US, and other places, and had decided to open a club here in town. So, after a normal night of gaming, several of the people I was with decided to go to said club and finish the night. They asked if I wanted to come and I tagged along. Normally I wouldn't have been able to get into a club, I was 20 by now and the club/ drinking age is 21 here, but this club was all ages and didn't serve alcohol. So I figured why not, try something new and hang with friends. This wasn't in my wheelhouse, I had no idea what i was getting into but it was something new and I decided to go.

This place was a hole in the wall and everything from the walls up was painted black. The music was rattling the windows and was a garble of sound out on the street when we got there. We payed cover, went in, and that, friends, was me falling down a rabbit hole. I ran into a dozen people I knew in high school, and had met in college, before I even made it to the dance floor. The music struck the chest, hit the spine and pushed the body to move. A quick side note: I can keep time and I can dance; the parents saw to that, and I never thought it would pay off. I ended up dancing with two ladies, one who I graduated with and her friend, grinding to LaTour's "Blue" ( from Basic Instinct) like it was something I was meant to do. Don't worry, there is no "hook up" story here, I didn't, but I was hooked. I was there every Friday and Saturday until eventually I got a job there.

First i was on the door, boring as fuck, and as a bouncer and behind the "bar" but eventually I became a DJ there doing retro 80's and then techno before the club was sold and we moved to another place. I expanded and embraced the sounds I wanted to play. I did industrial along with 80's and techno. I played what I wanted to play but one talent I had then, and I keep to this day, I can read a crowd. if we had a headliner back then, someone who was brought in who had a name in the scene, I was the one they always put before them to get the floor full. I have my tricks, my sound, but my goal was to get people to move their asses. One of the secrets to this is knowing what I want to move my ass to.

So, that is a bit of background and way to many words before we talk about cooking, which is what this is supposed to be about. When I cook I have the bluetooth on and have it on loud. As of late it has been psuedo pop and not so much alt. I want happy music, something that make the body meet the soul as I cook. Go on Spotify and look for a playlist called "Chatckee," here are some of the songs:

Sucker- Jonas Brothers
Cake by the Ocean - DNCE
South Side - Moby
Dance, Dance - Fall out Boy
Feel it Still - Portugal, the Man
Hey Look Ma, I made it - Panic! At The Disco
Nancy Boy - Placebo

I want something that make makes me move while I cook. I want to step and swerve as I get the food groove on. I want something upbeat and, for the most part happy. Back when I worked in a restaurant I wanted loud and driving. I wanted NIN, Ministry, White Zombie and Sister of Mercy. I wanted something to drive me and the others around me to get a tempo. Now I want the feels, the vibe or whatever else kids call it today. If I want a groove I go to a playlist called "Sunday:"

Remedy - The Black Crows
Always on the Run - Lenny Kravitz
How you Like me Now - The Heavy
Your Loves Whore - Wolf Alice
Lighten Up, Francis - Puscifer


And yeah, I step, I swerve and I get into the moment as I boil pasta and burn meats. Breakfast, lunch and dinner I groove. I don't drop to the ground, fuck me Im old and I have never been able to do that, but I could work at a gay bar and make bank as a CIS tease. I like the feeling of letting go and singing along as I make food. Maybe it makes it better, maybe it doesn't but that is all immaterial as feeling good while you do something is what it is all about.

So, there, that is out there. As always you are welcome to send me a PM regarding my posts. I hope that the next time you cook you put music on, something you want to hear, something you want to feel, and you let go a bit. Dance like no one is watching. Sing along and make a meal you want to get into. Hell, get the NIN going and make hate food you will regret later but need ... RIGHT... NOW!

Anyone who is reading this, and there are a few of you, hit the companion thread and tell me what you like to listen to. I don't care if it is something from " Two Steps from Hell," or "She thinks my Tractor's Sexy." you are welcome to share here.

Night all.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I have more food pron coming for you soon. I made herb infused butter this week along with an amazing Fettuccine with Garlic and Gruyere. I have a play on a chicken scallopini that s both simple and a giant pain in the ass but it takes it up a level.

More soon. beer now.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

so, more food pron....


I decided that I wanted to try something different and I would make butter. let's just say that we take this very simple food for granted. I mean, who doesn't like butter? ( I can already hear Paula Dean saying " No One" but she is kinda sketch and I am not in her boat.) It is the basis of a lot of different styles and ways of cooking. From the beginnings of  a simple Roux to the coating of a really good baked potato, butter is important to so many aspects of cooking. We easily shell out several dollars for one pound, four sticks, in grocery markets around America and, while I do not know the conversion rates around the rest of the world I bet that it is similar. Now, yes, you cook with oils, and Ghee, and other "fat" products but butter is a staple in American Households.

So, what is "butter?"

It's manipulated heavy cream with additives. When I say Additives I mean salt and herbs and occasionally another oil. The salt and herbs add flavor and the oil can make it spreadable and less dense. When I say "manipulated" I mean it is beaten or agitated until it separates is liquid ( buttermilk) to become a solid from a liquid. Now, I am not a fan of buttermilk itself but I can use it to cook, this, however, is not about buttermilk.

So, let's get into making butter. What do you need? simple. Heavy cream, the higher the fat count the better. a little salt and herbs for flavoring if that suits your fancy. How hard is it to make? It is not hard but you need a few things:

A mixer or butterchurn
Cheesecloth or something porous but not a colander
time

So to make butter I used a stand mixer and threw in about a quart of heavy cream. set it on medium speed and let it do its work. Note to self: do not use a high speed or that shit is going to go everywhere. let is run, and run, and run. First you will make whipped cream and resist the urge to add sugar and enjoy homemade whipped cream. that is the bomb when you make it fresh. Let it keep going and going until the mixer starts to separate the liquid from the solid. it will happen in an instant, especially if you are not watching it but in my case it took about ten minutes.

important note here.... USE A PADDLE AND NOT A WHISK!!!!!!! trust me, do not use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer or you will spend more time trying to beat the solid out of the whisk than you do making the actual butter.

So, the liquid start to separate and at this point you have butter curds. when you see this happening you need to get an ice bath ready. Ice and water in a big bowl and have it ready. Stop the mixer and use a spatula, or your hands, and gather the butter up and away from the remaining liquid. What I did then was drop the solid mass on the cheesecloth and wrap it up before immediately soaking it in the ice bath. Squeeze and work the butter in the cloth in the ice bath. What you are doing here is squeezing out the last of the liquid that could be hiding in the butter. You want the liquid out because if you done the butter could go rancid. From here you then get the butter out of the ice bath and you add salt. do it to taste. add herbs or whatever you want.

This is my new heterosexual man crush, no really, I love this guy. Just look how happy he is making butter. Anyway, watch this ( I did) here. I wanted to make my own and youtube came to my rescue. Try it , trust me, the fresh butter will beat anything you can buy in the store and you can season it to however you want. Also, this will show you that even professionals make mistakes. I'm an amateur and I fuck up all the time. I still suck at making bread but when I made my last try at butter I made a rosemary garlic bread to  go with it. British bake off would have said the flavor was there but it was "stodgey" / dense, the taste was amazeballs though so points for that. Also, fresh bread and homemade butter is the bomb.

Ok. so that is it, I'm a little buzzed and about to rock some Back4blood with a friend but I wanted to drop this in here.

As always
Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I didn't realize that I have been adding posts to this thread, I still don't see it as a "traditional" blog, for over a year now. For those who have checked in and checked out what I have been doing.

Well.

Thank you.

I try to live a boring life overall. I just turned 50 this month and I am sooooo not trying to keep up with all the dumb stuff my 20 something self did. I am very glad that my youth happened before the age of instant gratification and instant crucifixion because the internet rarely forgives and it never forgets. That said, I do not find food or drink boring so I am always happy when cooking and having cocktails. Now, when I say cocktails I am not talking about the era when you had bourbon neat for lunch and dessert was a cigarette style cocktails. Overall, I am a beer person at heart but I enjoy the occasional mixed drink. Being that it is fall I plan to experiment with a play of three different drinks and once I get some results I will share them here. So, keep an eye out for the following:

Salted Caramel Appletini

Sazerac

and maybe something pumpkin spice but I will have to get a review from the S/O as I do not like pumpkin anything.

Again, thanks for following along. I really appreciate that and I hope you have found something here that made you want to try cooking on your own. I have some more recipes coming up and, Yeah I know, I need to learn how to do pictures and all that jazz. I hate to say I am a bit lazy in that regard, well, that and I forget to take pictures while I am cooking.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So have not forgotten the thread, trust me, I think about cooking a lot. I've just been crazy busy as of right now. I have people coming over on Saturday this week and then next week I am cooking for a Hunt group. What the actual F is a "hunt group?"

Well you all prolly have figured out from reading this that my GF is a horse person and she is part of a group based in Ohio that is a "Fox" hunt group. They ride horses, dress up in formal hunt attire and ride over the country side while occasionally jumping over things on their horses. They also eat like a Roman Bacchanal and drink like Van Halen on tour in the 80's.

This week I am doing a homemade pizza buffet and next week is a Kebab buffet. If you all are interested what I will do is try to write down all the marinades I use for the Kebabs. There will, as always, be vegetarian options to go along with the variety of grilled meats.

More Later,

Cheers.
E.

[echoes]

Sazerac

The name sounds exotic, just as one might imagine a drink originating in Antebellum New Orleans might sound. Along with its geographical pedigree comes the taboo nature of one of its ingredients. This cocktail is made using Absinthe; whose over inflated psychoactive properties gave the dink some mystery that still hold until this day. Then, finally, there is the preparation, a combination of showmanship and pomposity that this newest generation of cocktail artists eats up.

First, the ingredients:

Cognac or a Rye Whiskey/Bourbon
(I use Basil Hayden's Rye Bourbon)
Absinthe ( Herbsaint can be substituted here)
A Sugar Cube
Bitters ( Most use Peychaud's)
Ice

The mix.

This is where is gets kinda hoity in here. First you need two Old fashioned glasses, also called lowball glasses. They are the glass version of your 8 oz plastic cups for you heathens out there. In the first glass you add about a half ounce or so of Absinthe and you swirl it in the glass to coated the sides. Then add crushed ice and let it sit.

In the other glass you place the sugar cube and bitters. Muddle the two and then add the bourbon or cognac. Finally, add more crushed ice to this combination and mix

Finally, with the first glass you give it one more swirl and then pour everything out. Strain the mix without the ice from the second glass into the first and then add an orange peel for garnish should you wish.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The Absinthe has a strong Anise flavor that pairs with the rye or cognac giving the cocktail a distinctive aroma and taste. I have found that if you do not like Anise ( which I normally don') you can change this out with a strong orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Contrieau.

More drinks soon.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

I'm just going to get right to it and give you a terrible idea. Caramel infused vodka. Now, I do not know which camp you are in, the Care-ah-mel or the Car-mhel, but this is something that absolutely sounds like an enabler of bad decisions later in the night. This is the basis of my salted caramel Appletini, it is easy to make, andI am going to tell you the cheat mode on how to do it.

First, the normal way:

1 oz Salted caramel candies
8 oz of evil potato liquor. ( or wheat liquor)

Place both in a seal-able container, shake or agitate and then let sit and dissolve however long it takes.

DONE!

Second, the fast way:

2 oz of liquid salter caramel topping ( I used Godiva's that can sometime be found in the coffee aisle )
8 oz of the same evil clear liquor.

Mix and let sit for 12-24 hours.


The Salted Caramel Appletini

2 Oz of the above vodka
1 oz Hard apple cider
2 oz of normal apple cider
splash of lemon juice
garnish with a salt rim and apple wedge

Mix the liquids and shake over ice. Pour through strainer into glass and garnish..

Again

DONE!

I had an off night cooking tonight, I felt the dinner was a bit substandard and didn't feel as if anything came out perfect. also cut myself right on the tip of my index finger. Was it a knife? No. that would have been respectable.... if was on a jagged piece of foil from a wine bottle. MF! This has been the first night I have been "off" in a while and it was a bit frustrating. Sunday I am cooking for about 50 people so it is probably good that I got it out of the way tonight. I am doing a breakfast and a dinner on Sunday so I need to get my cooking game on point.

I will try for a better looking post later, maybe not till next week, but I need to get back in the saddle of writing and I have been real slow getting back on that horse.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

A little about me cause right now I am running a pretty decent food "high." I cut my teeth in an Applebees back in 1993. I was the expo, the food expediter; this is the mook who gets the plates from the cook line and gets them associated with various tickets. We add garnishes, sometimes make salads depending on the brand, and we yell for servers from the time we get to work until we leave. I guess the position is now made famous by Gordon Ramsey's "hell's kitchen" as the "pass" but to me it will always be expo. I was a good expo, a corporate trainer, and could roll a friday or a saturday solo if needs be ( and they did more than once.) How good was I, well, I was good enough to get into a shouting match with a GM when he fucked the kitchen so hard that we bled ( had a cook cut himself.) Old boy saw dollar signs one night and filled the entire store up in a stupid short amount of time. He  wouldn't put us on a wait, he wanted us to turn and burn tables and I went out and asked the hostess to start a wait cause she was killing us. Said GM was back in the kitchen 5 minute after me talking to the hostess, yelling at me that I should never raise my voice at a hostess. Now, 1 ) I didn't I went out begging, 2) and I hate to sound sexist but she was a mid teen, blonde and with amazing breasts; She cried and he came for blood. I looked at him and pointed to the "rail" that held the checks and told him he was going to buy everything past "x" check because we were slammed and in the weeds. I told him I will do my best, he could fire me, he could take over for me and I would leave no questions asked, and he could comp everything or he could put us on a wait and throw and apron on and help us get out of this shitshow. That night, luckily for me, I did not get fired, he put on an apron and helped us climb tooth and nail out of the weeds.

Later that night I signed my write up for talking inappropriately to a manager. I also wrote down why I did so, how the hostess exaggerated what I did and finished my peace with, "But I was right."

I never got fired from there, I left on good terms a year later to go full time at a club in town as an assistant manager and DJ. I never fulling left kitchens and the food bizz until 2005 when they closed a store down, with another concept, that I had been at for 8 or 9 years. the company closing that store down broke my heart. I had an employee who I hired as a hostess while she was still in high school who was about to graduate college. I had a kitchen where I had ZERO, that is NO turnover, for 2 years. Those of you in the industry know that is crazy, its nearly impossible, but I did it. I had everyone in the "heart of the house" ( the kitchen) cross trained on at least 3 positions and no one let ego get in the way of getting shit done. Yeah, we were dysfunctional in ways but we were on fire most of the time. These were my people, my second family and we spoke English and Spanish at all times. When they closed us my store had run for a year with no GM ( General Manager) and ran with 3 Assistant managers. We figured out a way to rarely work more than 50 hours a week, 2 days off, and if you didn't get 2 in a row you got a weekend day off. We all took our vacations and we didn't kill ourselves. Again, those in the industry, read that and realize what we did. When they finally gave us a new GM it was basically to set us up for the end. They were to get us to a point where they could close us down,

The reason for this was, despite being paid off as a store, we did not generate enough sales to keep us alive. We were and older location and we couldn't support the needs of a company that had screwed up its financials by making bad business choices. I still remember going to the final meeting with my then GM, the Area manager and HR  and them trying to sell me a story of how the company would bounce back. I was already on my Area Manager's shitlist cause I had called him out a few times for things he did and I knew he didn't really want me to stay. As the meeting began I cut off his spiel and looked right at the HR rep and asked her what the severance would be. Finding out I would get 9 weeks pay, vacation pay and 1 extra week I said I was out and where do I need to sign. I think he was relieved but what he didn't know was that as soon as the ink was dry I went and told the other two assistants who I worked with what I did what I got and that I would be at a nearby bar having a drink. A half an hour later they were both there with me, both of them having said "deuces" and a Big FU to the GM and the area who was counting on both of them to stay.

My work was done.

This is all a intro into my point, and that was, I was a beast at prep even more than expo. I can cook, I can throw down plates but I have always been good at getting everything ready for a service. Tomorrow I am cooking for 40 - 50 people and at home tonight I ripped off a F-ton of food. Mandarin orange and sriracha beef, Rosemary Ranch Chicken, Tequila lime chicken, Balsamic and honey pork, veggie kabobs, Tuscan style potatoes, pasta salad, mac and cheese, Hot brown biscuits, homemade garlic butter and herb butter and a few more foods in under 4 hours. I also packed up all the resources I need to prep and finish cooking at the event tomorrow. packed 2 cars and loaded a grille. I only have one sink side with dirty dishes, a dishwasher running and the other side with drying dishes.

back in the day I pissed one of my cooks off because he came to work and I was doing something that was really dumb; and I am sure is a violation of health code. I was at work, in the kitchen, in cut off BDU's ( so now cargo shorts) in socks and sandals ( don't cringe) and I prepped 5 or 6 sauces, rice, beans and I can't remember what else that day. Then I cooked on line until I left. When I left the white socks were still white, I had no food on my legs or shorts and he was covered from boots to waist in the remains of the service.

So yeah, at 50 I still got it. I can still prep food on short order while dancing and bopping to music. Was doing techno remixes and then a retro rock set with everything from "Kashmir" to "Fame."

You know what.


I feel good.

Tell you about service tomorrow after the fact. let see if I pull this shit off. I am up at 5:45... its 11:18 right now for local time and I am am about to pretend I am in my 20's again.

Cheers all, thanks for reading . I really appreciate it.

E.

[echoes]

I'm trying to get in the habit of writing every Monday night and this is going to be my first concentrated effort to do just that. While I don't always post here I am going to at least try and post somewhere on the site. Tonight, instead of talking about cooking I am going to mention some stuff I find that I am always using and list it here. Nothing will be crazy obscure or esoteric, that would be pointless for most of us trying to figure out what we want to make for dinner on any given night. So here are somethings I always try to have on hand:

I will skip the staples; sugar, flour and the like but I will say I usually have several sticks of both salted and unsalted butter. Now, funny truth about me; I have lost part of my sense of taste and smell as they are linked together. Back when I was 24, actually on my birthday, some person I didn't know gifted me a broken nose along with several other nasty gifts. I will tell this story another time but I will say, and you won't believe me, I wasn't drunk. No really. There were reasons for that but again, another time. One of the byproducts of this, or at least that I attribute to this night, is that I cannot taste or smell certain things. Now, in some ways, this has been a boon ( I was unable to smell what my once teenaged son's room smelled like is a good example) but it also means I miss the nuances that can separate a good cook from a great chef. I'm from the land of Bourbon and those who can pick out all the subtle flavors and aromas can get quite hoity in regards to their tastes in Bourbon. Everything tastes like varying degrees of burn to me... luckily I like the burn and so I still like Bourbon. So the salted unsalted is less about taste but more about what a recipe might call for.

Outside of the staples I usually have a carton each of Chicken, Beef and Vegetable broth/stock on hand. I don't have time to make my own, though I have in the past, but these three can elevate food. Mac and cheese noodles cooked in half water/ half broth takes it up a notch. For those of you who like hot dogs, same thing with beef broth and water. Boil the dogs in this until the swell and then put them on the grill and one) you will never have a dry dog again, two) the flavor really comes out or so I am told.

I usually have a pint or quart of heavy cream in the fridge because homemade whipped cream can be made to the sugar content you want and the freshness beats store bought every time. Also, as I posted earlier in this thread, fresh butter is so good.

Lemon Juice - this ends up in so many things to bring out other flavors and enrich a dish. Just a splash here or there can make something pop. Now, fresh lemons are best but in a pinch the juice works almost as well.

Spice wise I have grown to really like Paprika along with my Quad of: salt, pepper, powdered onion and garlic. I keep Paprika in my fridge because I think it keeps it fresher. Think of Lawry's seasoning salt and Paprika along with Tumeric give the salt the red color. Also, the above 4 are the basis of Lawry's so if you don't have Lawry's try adding a dash of garlic and powdered onion to your next batch of fries and enjoy.

I always have Olive Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil around. Butter I use for cooking but oil is for when I saute.

Those are some simple things I always keep about, cooking without them seems weird now.

More Later.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So my trying to get in a habit of typing every Monday failed so hard my teeth hurt because of it. To be honest, fuck me; what a shitshow the last 20 days has been for me. I won't bore you with details but lets just say my emotional tampon has been full since the week before the last American holiday and it shows no signs of letting up. Almost every aspect of my life has taking a body blow but I'm a sucker for punishment and to quote Ducky from the TV show NCIS, "When going through Hell, don't stop."

So I haven't but I also haven't been doing anything new and crazy cooking wise. Been making lots of soups and the weather here is staying between the high 30's to low 50's (0-10-ish Celsius) and has been really damp and grey. Shirley Manson may be only happy when it rains, and she is not wrong, but right now the only thing I'm growing on the farm is mud. And let me take a moment here to tell you this, nothing, and I mean nothing outside of fresh alfalfa hay or a full bukkit, is more enticing to a horse than a big ass patch of mud. One of our horses is a paint and she is most white most of the time. Now she is mud. Her name is Daisy and she is a 1200 pound Labrador Retriever with no concept of personal space. So. if you go check on her you will come back wearing mud because she loves you.

Anyways, back to soups. Have done the Butternut Squash soup, the Chicken and Dumplings soup and a few others but what I am going to talk about tonight is one of my favorite dishes to make:

Gumbo

So, I mentioned earlier in the year that a lot of people associate food form New Orleans with heat and I made the assertion that heat is secondary to flavor. I continue with that line of thought and, while the dish had a back end heat that was lovely, the flavor of the dish was one step past amazeballs. So, lets get to it:

Ingredients:
Bacon Drippings ( about 4 ounces)
4 Oz butter
1.5 cups of flour
1.5 lbs Andouille Sausage
1 lb Rotisserie Chicken ( I used only the breast because the g/f doesn't like the thighs or legs)
1 lb 31-33 Shrimp
1 White or yellow onion
4 cloves or garlic or 2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic
1 carrot ( small dice)
2 stalks of celery ( small dice leaves and all)
1 green bell pepper ( medium dice )
1 red bell pepper ( medium dice)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-4 cups of veggie or chicken broth/stock
2-3 tablespoons of tomato Sauce ( optional )
Seasoning
salt
pepper
white pepper
parsley
Cayenne pepper
paprika
oregano


*About the shrimp, and a funny story as well.  31-33 means how many shrimp per pound so a higher number means smaller shrimpies and a lower number bigger shrimpies. I used the 31-33 because they are easily noticeable which was require because my g/f, despite being a Navy brat, does not eat seafood. I  have mentioned that before but I told her she had to deal with it, I am not cooking gumbo without shrimp and she can pick the shrimp out. She did just that.

Instructions:

1st.
Find good music and turn up to medium loud. You gotta cook Cajun from the heart and so get your mood in the right direction. I was in an American Grind kind of mood and had Clutch, The Black Crows, The Heavy, The Black keys, Lenny Kravitz, Mother Love Bone and more helping on through the day.

I didn't have access to fresh  Andouille  so I used Johnsonville's Cajun brats and cut them down the middle before making buts about every 4 mm/ 1/4 inch. Heat up the bacon drippings on medium high heat and get the sausage browning in the drippings. Once the sausage starts to caramelize add in the diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, the green and the red bell peppers. let this cook down together for about 5-7 minutes.

I then strained this hot mess into a bowl and returned the liquid to the pan before I added in the butter. Once the butter melted I dropped the heat to medium and added in the flour. Now, this is something that is key to developing flaor, lower heat means the roux that you are making will take longer to finish but that is ok. I made the roux and lowered the heat down to medium on the low side and let it cook, stirring it every time it seemed to thicken a bit more. You want the roux to darker in colour which will release a nutty flavor from the flour. The longer you cook the more intense the flavor. Instead of a pale roux I wanted this to be almost caramel in colour.

Once it reached that spot I started adding in the  stock which, at first will make the Gumbo seem to get super thin. Resist the urge to make a slurry and add more flour, trust me, heat will do the work here in a minute. Once the stock was added I turned the heat up to medium high again and returned the Sausage and veggie mix to the gumbo. Then I added in the chicken and the shrimp. The chicken was precooked but the shrimp was raw so let it cook the shrimp before you start adding spices and taste testing.

Once the shrimp are cooked you start with the spices, this is where your taste preferences come in. Resist the urge to start with salt and cayenne, those should be last. Start with pasley and oregano and then black and white pepper. finally at the end get you salt profile to your taste and finally add the Cayenne. Toss in the lemon lemon juice and reduce heat to simmer.

The gumbo will thicken over time and this is where you can add the tomato sauce if you wish. I did this strictly for color. Tomato is not the dominant flavor so do not over do it. The result should be a lovely sandy blonde color that ought to smell like heaven.

Now, I cooked 2 cups of white long grain rice and some corn bread to go with this. To serve, scoop rice into a bowl and ladle generous amounts of Gumbo atop it. Cornbread can go right in or on the side as you like it.

Its easier than it seems it just takes time, I think it was about an hour and a half from start to finish but totally worth it. If you need a good meal, a soup that eats like an entree, then this is a good one to do.

More later,

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Did anyone guess, by my last post, that i suck at formatting these posts? No? Oh well, cool.

So, not doing a recipe tonight, going to talk about a science project I did this year which involved growing most of my own herbs. Now, before I get much farther in talking about my little garden, I need to post one of may favorite comedy lines from Eddie Izzard:


Herbs

I built two horizontal planters this year and set out to grow my own little herb garden here on the farm. I got a spot, right against the sidewall of the garage that had good light, exposure to rain and was easy to observe because it was on my way to and from where I normally park when at home. Now, you might be asking, "If you have a garage why are you parking outside of the garage when it rains? The reason, is that half the garage is taken over by my g/f's horse stuff and I park a tractor and a zero turn inside the garage because neither of those machines has an enclosed crew cabin. Simply put, maintenance due to exposure to the elements is not something I can afford on the regular where a car or truck is self contained. I may baby the tractor a bit but that is because I can't afford to just go out and buy a new one should something happen to it.

The planters have a planting area that is about 8 inches deep by 8 inches wide and then 3 feet long ( 20cm x20cmx 1 meterish.) The inside of the planters has a layer of landscaping fabric and then a "bed" of gravel about an inch ( 2-3 cm) deep. There is a gap along the back wall of the planter of about 1 inch for drainage. A year ago I had only made one of these, I made the second one this year, and while there was a promising start last year I did not have the planter in the best location. What happened was the spot I picked ended up getting hyper-saturated by a gutter overflowing atop it and washing it out. So gutters also got cleaned this year and I picked a different spot atop that. I stacked up 4 "legs" made out of 3 cinderblocks each, leveled them and set the planters on top; so far, so good.

I used a mix of top soil, potting soil, sand and dirt from the yard and basically "boxed off" 6inch sections using door shims. I wrote the name of the herbs on the shims and did the following herbs:

Basil, Cilantro, Cress, Dill, Lemon grass, Marjoram, Opal basil, Parsley, Oregano, Peppermint, Sage and Thyme.

Everything was planted and then I made my first mistake. For those of you outside of the states you may have different mode of garbage/waste pick up so I will explain part of how our system works. In my state we have a series of bins with cute names like: Herbi, Lenny and Rosie that are waste specific for: Garbage, Yard Waste and Recycling. These are just hard plastic containers with a set of wheels that you can roll down to the curb the night before your waste pick up is to occur. We don't have a Lenny because I repurpose almost all of our yard waste into compost and our service does not have an efficient recycling program so we don't have a Rosie. We do, however, have 2 Herbi's and they are filled on the regular. My mistake was parking the two Herbi's right beside the planters. While you are thinking that something gross happened with garbage and the herbs you will be disappointed. You will, however, get a laugh knowing that an enterprising trash panda ( raccoon ) used the planters as his highway to the Herbis and he began to raid out garbage on the regular.

It took me a day or three to figure out why I kept coming outside to find trash strewn everywhere. I, at first, blamed the boys in the house, then the doggos, only to catch a racoon leaving a Herbi one day. I put additional cinderblocks atop the Herbis to keep the lids closed an hoped that would be enough to dissuade the Raccoon from his continued pillaging. The next day I went out and that little furry fucker had uprooted every planted seed in both planters. There was dirt and sprouts everywhere and I was seeing red. I don't condone casual animal death but let me tell you I was considering a Game of Thrones moment of violence. Instead I remained calm and moved the Herbis elsewhere before starting over.

In all, I had a really good first season with the Herbs and here is what I learned:

Basil: Lovely pepperish smell about it, full bodied leaves grew early in the season and then slowed down

Cilantro: got two really good cuts but after the second did not want to grow any more.

Cress: Never really recovered after the Raccoon event

Dill: Grew and grew until the summer heat set in and it burned easily without shade. Lovely taste and smell, super fresh and pungent.

Lemon grass: Didn't really produce as much as I had hoped, got one cut and that was it.

Marjoram: Under performed but did come up. Did not get to use it as much as a few others. 

Opal basil: This was a star and what I was most happy about. Large leaves with amazing texture, smell and flavor. Used this a lot during cooking this summer.

Parsley: Easily the heartiest herb I got several cutting off of the parsley and it kept producing more.

Oregano: Solid producer, got two cuttings and was nice to have as a fresh element on various flatbreads

Peppermint: Never recovered from the Raccoon

Sage: Not as strong as I expected and I am not sure it liked the regular watering like the other Herbs did

Thyme: Got one good cut and then a smaller second cut. I did not like it when it got to much sun

In all I was happy that I grew something and I was able to use the various herbs on the regular. They really rocked in Olive oil as a coating for the breads I was playing with this summer. I was able to use them in a lot of dishes and I look forward to growing them again next year. I need to look into better storage, possibly freezing them instead of just refrigeration them for longer shelf life.

That's what I have for you tonight, will see you all around.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Wow,

So my life has been caught somewhere between a hot-mess and shitshow. Don't worry, I'm still here and in all, things are working out fine. Now, to share with you some stuff you never wanted to know. For those of you who did not know, the hierarchy of how messed up your life is and it goes like this :

Hot-mess: the most tame because, well, alone or with friends you can sometimes get the mess cleaned up.

Shitshow: This is a more intense hot-mess and, even after cleaning up, you still have to deal with shit so, yeah, it is worse than a hot-mess.

Dumpster fire: Implies potential injury and, or, peril. A fire can hurt, it can kill, and so it ranks the highest of the trials of life.

(I really hope someone spit their drink out while reading that and, If you enjoyed that, wait until I explain the hierarchy of the Buttload to fuckton. That, however, is for another day.)

So despite the disgusting nature of the above break down lets talk about the kitchen for a bit and then I will let you get back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Caprese

The italians do love themselves some tomatoes and cheese and this is something that can look really impressive while also being exceptionally simple to make. For the vegetarians out there, I do always hit you guys up but this one is good for you as well as the rest of the omnivores out here.

Usually this is called a Caprese Salad though really it is more like an anti-pasto and it is super simple. Roma or Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and fresh Basil is the most basic form of the dish. It is then topped with either a dressing ( Italian dressing or a Balsamic Vinaigrette) or possibly a pesto and it can have other additions in the form of olives or Arugula. In all, this is great as a starter or as a side to compliment a larger meal.   

Now, if you are entertaining, or you are going to a pot luck for the holiday season and you need something on the fly ( Note: "on the fly" for you non-kitchen people means exactly what you think it means; in a hurry. Everyone prolly knew that but I am doing my due diligence here ) and on a budget then this is for you.

1 container of Bel Gioioso Mozarella Perals ( 8oz) runs you about 5 bucks. get two of these
2 Containers of Fresh Basil leaves @ $2 each
1 container cherry tomatoes, or for more color a grape tomato medley will run you $5.
1 bottle Bertolli Balsamic Glaze is $4 ( this is found in the section that has vinegar and oil.)
Skewers

Preparation :

Rinse the tomatoes and the basil. pull the stems off the basil so on the leaves remain.
Take a skewer and go like this :
Tomato- Mozzarella pearl - Leave of basil - Mozzarella Pearl - Tomato
Do 2 sets of the above combo per skewer with space in between the two sets.
Break or cut the skewers to get to servings.
Arrange the skewers however you are going to serve them and then drizzle the Balsamic glaze atop the skewer. You can also place extra glaze in a cup for this who want to dip and dash.

Now, you are done here and the prep for this takes make 10-15 minutes and you are done. You have options here and this comes down to personal taste. You can take a pinch of salt and lightly ghost it atop the cheese to really bring out the Mozzarella flavor. You can dash Parsley atop everything if you want to. Presentation is all about what you feel like.

Music wise I suggest "Figaro's aria," From The Barber of Seville. Good Times and don't be afraid to pull your best "FIGARO" when you are done.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

My partner, because saying girlfriend after being together for eleven or twelve years sounds a bit inaccurate, is a behavioral health specialist (nurse) with the local University. Now, I don't know about other states, or countries, but here they tend to work 12 hour shifts that range from 7 to 7. Sometimes they can work shorter shifts but that is the norm for nurses here. In our time together she has been labor/delivery ( ie: baby-catcher) and adult psych but now she mainly works with children and adolescents with behavioral health issues. She works the overnights because the shift differentials add up and monies are good. I am telling you all this because the most common meal I cook for the family is breakfast and that is what I am going to talk about tonight. Makes sense, right? local time is 7pm and nothing seems more natural than to get people Jonesing for waffles and pancakes. Don't worry, I'm not going into all that. Anyway, I tend to cheat on the waffle and pancake side and I use a pre-made dry mix (Bisquick for those of you in the States) thought I do make hella good french toast.
What I am going to talk about are one of the most simple foods that tend to show up everywhere. A versatile ingredient that is in all the major elements of a meal such as: desserts, entrees, appetizers and sides. Of course I am talking about:

Eggs

We have several chickens here on the farm and they are all egg laying but one and he is the sole rooster. At one point we had almost 20 chickens but due to the family letting the, free range that population got reduced to 9. It used to be that we had to give away eggs because the chickies were over achievers. After a rash of raccoon, dog and hawk decimation we now have enough that provide just for us. I imagine that most people get their eggs from a grocery or a market but if you ever get a chance to have farm fresh eggs I strongly suggest you try them. They will come in a variety of shell colors but I truly believe that they are far richer and with a much silkier texture than store bought. Because these eggs have not been processed they still have a membrane that covers the shell which protects the egg itself. These eggs can be stored in a carton on a countertop without issue though I would avoid extreme temperatures. I tend to store the eggs in a fridge out of habit but that is not necessary.

Oddly enough I hated eggs as a kid and I think its due to the texture back then. While I like them now I am still an absolute heathen because I like my eggs scrambled well and dry. Some egg purist out there is prolly cringing because that is like ordering a Filet well done; you just don't do that. So, what I am about to talk about will seem odd, considering that I don't eat the eggs in the manner I am about to describe but, hey, I've become quite good at what I do.

Fried Eggs and the toad in the Hole.

First things first regarding eggs. Much like finishing meat off in an oven low and slow is the way to go. I never cook eggs on more than medium heat and more often not the dial is set at a tick or two under medium. Second thing is that I have a dedicated egg pan that I use for eggs. This one happens to be an anodized non-stick pan with shallow edges. Finally do not skimp on whatever "fat" you use when frying your egg. I tend to use unsalted butter but I will also use a spreadable butter if I want a fluffier egg.

Cooking the egg is relatively straight forward though I will add in a few tips for those of you out there that don't always cook breakfast. get two bowls out before you do anything else. The purpose for the bowls is straightforward in that one is a staging area for the egg before going into the pan and the other is for shells. The reason for the staging area is twofold: 1) If any shell falls in with the egg you can get the shell out without dealing with a hot pan and 2) if there is something off about the egg you can discard it and start again.

What I am about to say may seem dramatic but how you crack the egg is actually important when doing fried eggs. I'm sure you have either seen someone crack an egg at an angle against the side of a pan or a bowl. When doing fried eggs this is a no,no. There are a couple of reasons why this is to be avoided and the primary reason is that you can puncture the yolk which will cause it to mix with the white. This defeats the purpose of having a a fire white with a gooey center and pretty much shoots the fried egg in the foot. Another reason is that cracking an egg like this has a tendency to create little shards of shell that will inevitably sneak into your egg. Crunchy shell is a no bueno when added to your meal. Crack the egg against something flat and then separate above one bowl and then discard the shell into the second bowl. If you do end up with a piece of shell in you egg do not try to get it out with your fingers; this is an exercise in futility. Instead you will use a solid piece of the remaining shell to scoop the offending piece out. For some reason the remaining yolk will trap the shard to your makeshift scoop and this will work far more efficiently in removing the offending piece.

If you have seen breakfast cooks, or watched waaaaaay to many street food videos on YouTube, you have seen prep cooks do this one handed and it looks pretty impressive. they can have an egg in both hand and they just crack eggs like a machine. I cannot do this, I have tried and failed for thirty some years and I still suck at this now as bad as I did when i started cooking eggs.

Anywho, once your egg is in the bowl, and the pan has heated add in your fat. Again, my go to is butter but occasionally I want a different texture, and added flavor, and I will use bacon drippings. Get this melted and then add the egg. keep the bowl close to the pan and just let it slide out and onto the heated surface. Set up a second egg and repeat if you are doing two but I don't do more than two at a time in the pan I use. If you pour the egg out of the bowl from any type of height you risk making a mess and breaking the yolk. From here resist the urge to mess with egg and just let it cook.

The break down of fried eggs is like this:

Sunny side up: The egg is not flipped and only cooked on one side. Residual heat make the yolk safe to eat but it is going to be very wet and runny. Cook this way if you are going to use bread, biscuits, scones or something else to soak up the yolk. Liquid consistency is like soda.

Over easy: Cook one side and then flip the egg and cook the other. The yolk's viscosity will change and become thicker but still be runny. Liquid consistency is like a good syrup.

Over medium: This is where the Girlfriend wants her fried egg and , while some will protest, I do four flips at a couple of minutes on each side. you might get a little browning on the yolk, which i think is ok, and the center will still be running but not like before. Liquid consistency is like karo syrup or molasses.

Over well: six flips to as not to overly brown the whites and the yolk is now pretty much a solid so it is an unscrambled egg with yolks and white separate. Liquid consistency - dry.

Get a good spatula for the flipping, something really thin and wide and, if you are using a nonstick pan, coated so you don't scratch the pan. I actually use a Teflon coated fish spatula that works great. Seasoning comes down to preference but a light dash of salt and pepper usually does the trick.

So that is my take on fried eggs and, as always, your mileage may vary. don't be afraid to experiment and see if one style works better for you than another one. If you are the kind of person who wants to use a bread product as the fifth utensil (the fourth being your fingers after the triumvirate of: a fork, a knife and a spoon) then this is the egg style for you.

The Toad in the Hole

So you may have wondered, "what the Actual fuck is a Toad in a Hole?" I know I did when the Girlfriend first asked for this. I am sure this has a dozen or so different names depending on where you are from but it goes like this:

Take a piece of bread, I suggest a medium sliced Brioche but a slice of white bread or wheat will work, and cut a "hole" in the center. I have a child's cup that is the perfect diameter to cut a hole without breaking any edges of a normal piece of bread. Press the cup down or free cut a circle out of the center of the bread. After adding butter to the skillet center the bread in the pan and pour your prepared egg into the hole made in the center of the bread. The hole should be big enough that the egg fits without spilling on the bread itself. Note here: do not use Texas toast ( a thick slice of bread) because the egg should be level with the bread or it will not cook evenly. After the egg is in you will cook the bread and egg together until you can see the white of the egg start to solidify and grow solid white and not clear. Toss the extra "round" of bread into the pan and toast it up on the side. Flip the bread and the egg with your spatula in one motion. The whites should hold onto the bread when you so this. What you are doing is creating a vehicle for the yolk to spread into once you cut it. I suggest the over easy or over medium for this meal as you want the egg to spread. Season as you would normally and then, when you are done, take a little dab of butter and drop it on the center of the egg. it will melt and add a richness to the egg.

So that's it for tonight. Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I usually don't do this but I'm going to warn anyone reading this that there is talk about violence and addiction in this post.

When I started this little project of mine I put a disclaimer right there on the front page that says I am not a chef and, well, that's the truth. I never went to a culinary school, I do not have a degree that says I am allowed to do anything greater than boil water, and I am an amateur even after cooking for years. I doubt you will ever see me on a cooking show and I am never going to be InstaTiKFaceSocialMediaPlatformofChoice famous. When my food comes out I am not thinking about a picture, I'm thinking about where to stab it with a fork. I can cook, yes, and I have opinions, yes, and that is about it. So, here is a bit about me and my opinions.

Why didn't I ever considering going to a culinary school? This might be a question you have wondered, or maybe not, being that I write about food. Well, like many people throughout life, I initially worked in restaurants to pay my bills and to hang out with a group of potential alcoholics. That was it, food service paid the bills. I never was much of a cook during my teen years and I learned how to cook the most rudimentary of things in early adulthood. The family I grew up in was the most white bread, Salt is the only spice, everything comes out of a box, middle of the road family you could find in terms of food. Every ethnic food tried: tacos, fried rice an so on was Americanized and I didn't know any better. Remember, this is pre Food Network or the cooking channel. Everything recipe-wize came from Southern Living, Good Housekeeping or a grandmother's cookbook/ recipe stash. Even after I moved out I tended to survive on left overs from work. I only really started to cook regularly once I got married and I had a purpose to cook for someone other than myself. I was cooking for a wife and also a newborn son. That is when I realized I actually liked cooking, I liked creating with food. Now, oddly enough, I was not so old that I couldn't have gone to some community college to get a degree revolving around food while still working. I could have done this, I think, but one event stopped me and I didn't even realize it at the time.

So, back when I was opening restaurants I happened to open one where a corporate trainer from another store and I started to sorta hook up. This was not against the rules as we technically worked in different locations. We kept it quiet but she decided to take me out on my birthday while we were opening up said store. It was me, her and two of our female friends. If any of you are queuing up a porn soundtrack I will admit I may have had at least one thought, maybe two, about something similar. I will now disappoint everyone here and tell you that scenario did not happen. Instead, and I will add the caveat that I was sober all night, I would end up getting one of my eyelids almost torn off, a broken nose, a split lip, a couple of lacerations and a hairline fracture right below my nose and above my gums. See, a young gentleman, who was drinking, took offense that I was out with three women when he was out with none and blind sided me as I was leaning up against a car. He got in two shots and, when I did not go down, he potentially had a moment of clarity and decided to run after committing an assault.

Three outcomes of this event:

1) The young woman I was seeing took off after this guy and chased him for several blocks in 4 inch heels. Once I heard about that our relationship went up a notch and I eventually ending up marrying said woman. I mean, that's kind of impressive when your partner is willing to throw hands for you defense. Especially so if they are in 4 inch heels

2) I did not get that potential fantasy lived out and spent the next day in an ER once I realized the severity of the damage done.

3) I would come to find out that I lost part of my sense of taste and smell.

That number three right there is a big reason I never seriously considered going to a culinary school. There are some things that I cannot smell or taste. I used to indulge in the rare bourbon or scotch or even tequila and now I stick with simpler brands. Not rot gut stuff, that just tastes like paint remover, but I don't worry about finding the rare and limited edition bottles when I won't get the experience they supposedly provide. This is about 40% of the reason I did not go on to become a chef. The other 40%, get ready to laugh a bit but I think this makes sense while also being insane.

The other 40% is because there are some foods I just cannot stand. I am straight up biased against them. Not only that, but I'm completely illogical in my dislike for said foods. Here is an example: I can't stand tomatoes. Even when I cook with them I am not a fan. I am not a huge fan or marinara and I tolerate the puree on pizzas and in soups. This said, I can eat my weight in salsa. As you well know, tomatoes aren't a big part of salsa other than being the main ingredient. I don't know why but I can lie to myself and eat salsa non stop at any time. I love cucumbers and hate pickles BUT, if I get canned Tuna I will add pickle relish to the mayo to make a Tuna fish sandwich.

I hope you are having a moment of WTF? dude. Some of you prolly should get up, stretch and take a moment to consider what I just said but it won't change. Loss of taste and smell plus food bias means I would not a great chef make. Hell, I may not have even graduated classes based on those two traits of mine.

Now, for those keeping score I said 40 and 40, or 80% and while I suck at math I already know that we are working towards 100%.

I respect people who have the title of Chef, you all earned it, and I know like any other industry you have your good and bad examples. But, in all my dealings with food service people, I have only met one or two more addiction prone groups of people in my life. I would say that at least 60%, maybe more if I take time to sit down and actually try to remember all the stories, but at least 60% of the chefs I have known battled an addiction, or two, at one point in time or another. I don't know about every professional field out there but I do know I have an addictive personality and that was just too high of a number for me. So that last 20% may have been self preservation.

I always joke that the professionals who like to play god, or think they are gods, have a top five pantheon of : Doctors, Pilots, Chefs, actors/actresses and DJs. Doctors and Pilots literally have people's lives in their hands and Chefs tend to think they do as well. Theater people and DJs have what I call the "Tupac Syndrome" in that "All eyes on me." I've mentioned before that i was a DJ, also played in a band and have done some theater stuff behind the scenes. I was also an art student, and was debating that as a minor when I first went to college, as well as a club kid in the 90's. To say that i could have spiraled into a addiction is like saying a greasy spoon hamburger is an amazing idea at 3 am after an all night bender. The writing on the wall was done in fluorescent colors and the black light was on. Cue the base and break open a glow stick, time to dance.

So, that's a little bit about me if you were interested. And, if not, then I just stole five minute from life and I am willing to sell it back to you for a modest fee. There might be a couple more posts between now and the New Year but if you don't make it back here between now and then I hope everyone has a safe new Years.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

While I will be doing some cooking next week ( imagine new york strips cooked like prime rib and you will be close to what I am going to do) I am not doing any tonight. I am ending out the holiday season getting a more than decent buzz and killing zambehs ( zombies ala Back4Blood and maybe Left4Dead) because this is a holiday tradition for me. before you ask " How does your partner tolerate this tradition?" I will tell you that she has picked up holiday differential pay by going in to work. Add that to weekend and overnight differentials and yay paying off bills. I lie, she will spend it on her powners ( horses.)

As to why it will be L4D and B4B, see, I went through a divorce back in 2008-2009 and I won custody. Doing this I did sacrifice some things because I was trying to be amicable with my Ex. I would have him live with me, even after moving back home 6 hours and a state away, but she would get him all summer and on Christmas. So, from 2009 until 2017 my son was always at his mom's and I spent the holiday with friends online. L4D was released back on November 17th, 2008 and L4D2 was release one year to the day later. My friend got me into the game to hang out with them on line and they saw me through my divorce. These people were my extended online family and we still play when we can to this day. I even got my son playing with them once he was old enough which I really feel, because we were older and represented all genders and none, that he was bit more mature and not /as/ toxic as teens can be when he was online.

Tonight I will be playing with one of that group along with my former work "sister." So it will be a night of "Pew pew Motherfuckers!" ) Holly B4B.

Now that the excessive preamble is done this is the real reason for the post. No matter what religion (or holiday) you ascribe to, or no religion (or holiday at all) at all, I hope you and yours are safe and happy tonight. I want to thank each and every person who has stopped by this thread in the last year and I hope to see you come back next year. I hope everyone has their drink of choice, alcoholic or non, and is able to spend at least one moment with: friends and/or family, tribe, coven, partner, booty-call and so on. Be careful out there cause it is right on the verge of a dumpster fire in a lot of places around the world. Eat food, try something new, and I will see you next week. Here is to the communal hangover that will be tomorrow.

Slàinte Mhath.

E.

[echoes]

I'm on a roll I guess cause I thought about this at work today and figured I would share. This is a super easy appetizer and will more often than not get demolished at any get together. 5 ingredients and can be throw together in  about 25 minutes. You can do this for about $15 bucks American. I just went through previous posts and didn't see it there so here we go.

E's easy cheesy pull apart meat bread!

Ingredients:
1 loaf ( or two, you do you) rustic bread. You want something with a bit of a firm trust so this retains its shape when you cook it. I use a load of Bread you can get at Costco which is their rustic loaf. You get 2 for about $5 bucks
1 block or Gruyere ( though other cheese's can work so adapt to your taste as needed) which is about 8 ounces and is about $4 bucks.
8 Ounces of Black forest ham. Get deli style thin sliced either pre-sliced or sliced fresh for you. This runs about $5.
A Half stick of butter ( $1)
Garlic powder
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 (177c)

Get a cutting board and you are going to make slices down through the bread but not al the way through. Use a serrated knife here and make you slices leaving about an inch ( 2.5cm) attached at the bottom of the loaf.

Melt the butter and then mix in the garlic until you get the taste profile you want. Note, butter will be hot, do not burn yourself. Then  use a brush to coat between the slices of bread untill all slices are coated and the butter is all gone. if you do not have a brush you can drizzle the butter and use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread the butter out.

grate your cheese into a mixing bow and set aside.

You now want to shred your ham, or you can dice it up but pulling it apart and leaving it rough actually looks pretty good in presentation, and mix it in with the cheese.

Take the cheese and ham mix and try to evenly stuff/layer/ fill in between the slices of buttered bread. Do not push the cheese all the way down to the bottom of the bread, it will get there when it melts.

take a pinch or two of salt and lightly sprinkle atop the bread.


You have two options at this point. wrap in foil and place on a sheet tray and bake for 10 minutes, check at this point and see if the cheese mixture has melted to where you want it. Or, line a sheet tray with parchment paper  and set the bread atop the paper and back just like mentioned above. Add more time as needed to get the melt you want but watch the bread so that it doesn't burn.

This is an easy app that even with cook time can be done on the quick if you need a last minute monchy.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Hey everyone,

So I have wandered South from home to spend the new Years with friends in a place called Big South Fork Tennessee. Its is right across the boarder of Kentucky in a Oneida and this is the same place my girlfriend and I spent last New Years. The difference is that the fluke weather of last year, which was waaaay warmer than it should have been, have been replaced with the normal cold and grey of December/January. New snow but sleet and near freezing rain appears to be on the horizon.

So we will spend three days, starting yesterday and ending Sunday,  with two other couples to ring in the New Year. There will various distractions along with a lot of food and drink that takes up our time until we have to leave on Monday morning. Some of the meals will be extravagant, while others will be pure comfort, and the drinks will be everything from single barrel bourbons to margaritas. On a quick aside, and collectors you may hate me for doing this, but I made the choice this year to open a bottle of Scotch that i had been saving. For you Game of Thrones fans who read this you may, or may not, have known that before the end of the series there was a limited edition run of Scotches from several different Distilleries throughout Scotland. I happened to land 2 bottles that represented House Stark and House Targaeyan and this year I decided to open house Stark. The Scotch representing the Starks is a Dalwhinnie and the reason it was chosen to represent House Stark is because it is supposed to be the coldest distillery in Scotland.  For those of you wondering which distillery represented House Targaryen I will let you know is was Cardhu. The reason for was Cardhu has a history of being run by women and is the only distillery at that time to be headed by a woman. The Dalwhinnie is absolutely lovely and surprisingly did not have the peat overtones that Scotch is known for. It is sweet, smooth and with a combination of that I cannot really make out.  Paired with a cigar, and I might have had one of those last night, and it was a wonderful end to the day.

So, on to food because it is about to be the end of 2023 and, to be honest, I am so ready for this shitshow of a year to be done. I say that and I get to go back home on Sunday so I can start out 2023 by spending $300 getting new tire rods installed on a vehicle.  Anywho, I am responsible for dinner tonight and everything that I had planned got changed at the last minute because of supply chain issues. ( ie: my brother in law forgot to get a piece of meat I had asked for from one of his customers. I will say right here, the man works harder than anyone I know so I am not even mad. He is a great partner to my sister and the nicest person once you know him. The family business is a food service that he is buying from his dad just like his dad bought from his grandfather. He works crazy hours and so if this slips under the radar its all good. I'm flexible.) So I am doing a White wine and mushroom chicken with prosciutto risotto and some type of veggies. I am going to make flatbread to surprise the G/F and we bought a cheesecake from Costco so I am off the hook for dessert. I will do a spring mix salad with various fixings so that people can create their own but it will be the line up that you have read about previously on this blog: Walnuts, Feta, Sun dried tomatoes and Craisins as toppings with a Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.

Now, all the above said, that is not what I am going to talk about today when it comes to recipes. We are going to talk about, and get a simple recipe for a dish that was first recorded in the late 1600's and would wait three hundred and sixty years to make a big splash in the United States. I am talking about the melted cheese goodness of Fondue.  this, of course, is a Swiss communal dish that involves a pot with a mixture of cheese, wine and spices light heated to keep it in a creamy liquid state. You then take skewers, or little pitchfork style forks, and load up with bread or veggies to dip into the cheese. Unless you hate cheese, or are severely lactose intolerant, this is an awesome appetizer. it appeals to the goodness that is cheese while also assuaging any violence fetish you might have as your skewer helpless veggies before scalding them alive in a semi molten liquid.

I think I just made Fondue metal.

Cool. 

Fondue, like so many other foods, has a lot of variants based on what is added, or taken away, from the basic combination of cheese, white wine and spices. Usually the cheese is a combination of Gruyere and Swiss or Gruyere and Emmenthaler and the white wine is just a simple dry white. Nutmeg and salt, flour and sometimes shallots finish out the rudimentary recipe. From here you can change cheeses, add mushrooms, truffles, onions or change wines. There is a version with eggs, and another with peppers, but the end result is the same: Creamy cheesy goodness. Then, the second part of this interactive meal, is what goes into the Fondue. A selection breads and vegetables is limited by only what you like. Sourdough and Pumpernickel, carrots and celery: it's time to get your dip on.

Recipe time:


Shallots
Garlic
White Wine (theoretically dry)
Gruyere Cheese
Emmenthaler Cheese
Nutmeg
Lemon Juice
Salt
Corn Starch

Start by grating at least 8 ox each of your two cheeses, or a 1 lb. to 8 oz ration of Gruyere to Emmenthaler. once grated add 1-2 Tablespoons (Just enough to coat the cheese) of corn starch  to the cheese and shake well in a bag. Set aside.

Create a double boiler using a pot with water on medium high and bowl set atop the pot. Add 1 cup of wine and let it heat up.

While this is heating you need to peel and mince the shallots. You want a fine dice of about a quarter cup. Then you can either peel and mince 1 clove of garlic, or portion out 1 tablespoon of already minced garlic, and have it at the ready.

As the wine begins to steam you add the shallots and the garlic and let then soak for a moment before adding about a half cup of cheese. Stir and let the cheese melt, take your time and do not try to add the cheese all at once. this will be when you first consider the salt and nutmeg. Just a little so as to build taste.

After this continue you add cheese, a half cup at a time, and you stir and incorporate completely before adding more. Once all cheese is in, and melted, you splash the mixture with lemon juice and season with nutmeg until you have the profile you are looking for. less is more here, don't heap the seasoning on. Pinches will do when it comes to salt and nutmeg.

Once you get the flavor where you want it, and the consistency is good, you take the bowl off the pot and check the water level, add more if you need to before placing the bowl back on the pot. Turn the heat down to medium and let everyone grab something stabby.

This is also fun with melted chocolate and things like pound cake, rice crispy treats, brownies and so on but that is not Fondue. Fondue be cheese.

All of this takes about 20-25 minutes from start to finish and can look really bougie. Its fun, a communal dish, and its cheese; hard to go wrong with cheese.

Before I sign off, I just hit 20,000 views which is about 19,000 and some more than I thought I would get. Takes to everyone who has been by. I hope everyone has a good last few days of 2023, safe days, and that you ring in the New Year with friends, Family, food and drink. Wherever you are ring in the New Year and don't look back.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a solid New Year and that you all made it out not in jail; or worse. I spent the weekend with my partner and two other couples in a cabin in Tennessee. This is kind of our thing, its our anniversary ( or what we call our anniversary) and we choose to spend it with a few friends and escape. I know that this is a public forum so I won't add details on what all went on but we had good times; fuck me they are very good times. No, we are not swingers, so those of you hoping for that, well, sorry to disappoint.

I will say that there was a lot of food, a lot of booze and a lot of naked people.

There was rack of lamb, finger foods, fondue and all sorts of other good eats. There were Bourbon Old Fashions, Scotch and a lot of tequila involved in the drinks. I'm going to talk about what part of what I cooked on Saturday even though I have mentioned it before.

Risotto

Risotto is a rice dish but it really cooks like a super dense pasta. It was, I think, made popular by Gordon Ramsey's television show, "Hell's Kitchen," but that is not it's history. This staple existed well before Gordon, and his show, but what he highlighted, in said show, was how difficult this can be to cook. He was always pissing on someone about how this dish was cooked and there is a reason why. This specific food is a right awful bitch to do right. You have to have patience and you have to take your time which, in a speed driven show, this not a good thing. This is why I am going to share what I know about the dish.

I have finally unlocked, at least in my world, the secret to Risotto but first left talk about what it is. Arborio rice is originally from the area known as Lombardy, Italy. It has a stupid high starch content and because of this is really dense. When you are cooking this you need to keep in mind something more than just the end product. You have to think about what you are doing with the ingredient before you actually use it.

So, how to actually get this shit done without wanting to kill someone.

Rices need a liquid to cook. That is a fact. When you read any number of instructions on the back of a box, or bag, you see how much rice to how much water and then you go. Risotto cooks differently in that you continually have to add liquid and cook slowly instead of adding all the liquid at the beginning. Here, now, is what I learned as the secret:

Have the liquid hotter than what you are cooking.

So, I usually use chicken stock but you can use beef or vegetable stock as long as you have it hot. Don't boil it but keep it right below the boil. The reason you do this is simple. If you just pour stock, or water, or anything else into your Aborio, then you lower the temperature of what is cooking. This will delay the cooking of the risotto and make it more dicey as well as taking longer. The true secret is keeping the liquid you are adding hot.

My common fallback is a Prosciutto and spinach rice that ends up super creamy and amazing as a side. I take Prosciutto and slice it as thin as I can. before I start anything in the Risotto pan I start a pot, on medium high heat with Chicken stock. I want this to be steaming and just under boiling before I need to use it. Now, butter in a pan and on high heat before I throw the meat in. I add diced shallots, or onions, as well as minced garlic. I keep the temp high until the meat starts to brown just a bit and then I add white wine. I add about a cup and then I cook on high and let it reduce.  When there is only about a half cup not evaporated I add the Aborio. I stir and mix everything in and let it sit ofr a minute or two. Like rice pilaf I want it almost get brow before I add the first round of chicken stock. I add enough to cover and stir while dropping the heat to medium. From here on out it is about adding more stock every time the level of the liquid gets below the top of the Aborio.

you are going to do this anywhere from 15-20 minutes, adding more liquid every time it gets under the level of the rice. You may have noticed that I have not suggested adding any seasoning; You save this till the end. and after about 15 minutes you need to start tasting and testing the texture. You want al dente, a slight firmness but not crispy. Once you get close to this you can add salt, pepper or any other seasoning you want. You can add, as I do, spinach or something like Parmesan cheese. Risotto, by itself will be creamy do to the release of starch ( unlike most rices) so you do not have to add anything to make it thicken.

So, after all that is said, this is a dish you have to pay attention to, you have to manipulate and work, but it will pay off if you do this. It will be something that can compliment almost any kind of meat or vegetable. It can stand on its own or support something else. It can be as bougie as you want or just a side.

that's what I got tonight, I'm getting my buzz on and now I need to kill a zombie.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I'm going to try and be more active this year; here in this blog and elsewhere on the site. I've already got a little piece up in the ST Cafe and I warn you if you go look for it; NSFW. It's the first real thing I have put out in a really long time and it is still very unedited so I need to go back an visit it at some point. I hope to be more prolific there, and off site as well, as long as keeping this little project moving forward.

The weather has been absolute shit here with our version of a winter storm being consistent, cold and wet "meh" rain. Now, for those of you who have never been to Seattle, or who imagine that all of England has never seen the sun, I define "meh" rain as the following: not hard enough to soak you and not weak enough to leave you alone. Its just enough that you don't want to wear a jacket and yet it beads on the skin and chills anything it touches. Me, I love a good thunderstorm, and this doesn't even rate as foreplay to a good storm. Wear I am, and I think most people have figured it out, we have thunderstorms when it snows and come summer our storms can shake windows. I love them, I never get better sleep than when it storms. But this is just me digressing because I have been running in and out of this wanna be drizzle for about three hours while working on mucking horse stalls and dealing with electrical issues with my house. Pro Tip: Water and electricity don't mix and so this added to more annoyance, and an overabundance of caution, on my part. Its been hovering between 37 and 40 degrees (2.6-4.4C.) which is enough to tease freezing while not doing it. Because of this I wanted comfort food, I wanted to heat and so I decided to tackle something that I always seem to get close to and just miss.

Chicken Etouffee

I am told that Etoufee comes from the French verb, "etouffer," which means to choke or smother. In this case, with this dish, you are smothering a protein with a classic blond roux. Traditionally this is a shellfish and rice dish most commonly associated with New Orleans, Southern Louisiana and other coastal states such as : Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. I didn't have access to fresh Crayfish, or shrimp, tonight so I did a play on the traditional by using chicken. This is also because I was cooking the girlfriend and she doesn't do seafood. The key to this dish is the roux, the right consistency and its ability to coat the protein, and the accompanying veggies, is the key to the dish. In the past I never let the roux develop correctly and I always thought it was lacking something; tonight I struck paydirt with the meal.

Ingredients:

2lbs of chicken ( cause I made left overs on purpose )

bacon drippings

Butter

Flour

1-2 yellow or white onions ( 1 large, or 2 medium)

Celery

Red bell peppers

green bell peppers

flour

Salt

pepper

Garlic powder

onion powder

cayenne pepper

paprika

Italian seasoning ( pre made mix)

veggie stock

water

bay leaves

flour

lemon juice

Now, other than the chicken, I didn't weight anything out cause I am a slacker but that is the heart of the meal. This is served with rice and, like an idiot, I didn't have any long or short grain on hand so I did Basmati rice. I will talk about rice another time because every rice cooks a bit differently, as well as cooks similarly, but that was the vehicle to help carry the entree and not the entree itself.

Prep:

I trimmed the chicken down to 1/4 inch chunks and removed any excess fat along with the little solid white tendon that is always in pre-cut boneless/ skinless chicken breasts. I set these pieces in a colander to drain extra and set to making my dredging mix. I want to say it was about a cup, maybe a cup and change of flour with all the seasonings added in dashes and shakes. Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, parsley and Italian seasoning added to the flour and then mixed generously. All the dry was then dumped on the chicken and mixed so that everything was coated. There should be excess flour mix after coating the chicken and that is important for later.

In a medium large pan I melted bacon drippings along with 2-3 tablespoons of butter on medium high heat. Once everything was melted I sifted the chicken to remove excess flour and added it to the heat. I cooked this until the flour on the chicken started turning a light brown ( about 8 minutes) on the medium high heat. While this was going on Rinsed and cleaned the earlier used colander and then lined it with paper towels. before the chicken was cooked all the way through I pulled it out of the pan and added a bit more butter along with another round of bacon drippings. Once melted I added the remains of the dredging flour into the mix and this started my roux. I dropped the heat to low and mixed until I got a "slurry" that was not yet a past. I dded a bit more regular flour, and then a bit more butter (Pretty sure Paula Dean is getting turned on somewhere as I talk about the butter) until I got a nice "thick" but not solid consistency.

While this is cooking on low ( it's going to do this for about 10 minute with constant stirring) I peeled and cut my onion, cut and de-seeded the peppers and cut the celery. You want a smaller dice, not a mince, but below a 1/4 inch for the veggies. Once the roux had changed colors to a darker brown, but not yet a caramel color, I added the veggies and this almost instantly turned the roux from a slurry into a paste. This is fine, its what you want to happen, and I continued to cook for another 8-10 minutes to soften up the veggies. at this point you have almost a caramel color and that is right where you want it.

Add the chicken back in and then add liquid enough to cover the chicken. Now, I did veggie stock and water to add more flavor but not over do it. You want the liquid to just barely coat and cover everything and, as soon as you add it, the paste will break down and make a thick sauce. If you want to go all water, you can, or you can go all stock. bring the heat up to medium high and toss in a couple or three bay leaves. leave it on the heat you a boil starts and then drop the heat back down to low. Cover and let cook for another ten or so minutes.

Here is where you get creative. I splashed in some lemon juice and they it is time to taste test. I have mentioned it before and I mention it again: Cajun/Creole/Arcadian food is not just about heat. it is about taste, seasonings working together to tempt you to take another bite. Going salt forward is just as bad as going pure unadulterated heat. Balance and complementary flavors is what you are looking for with a nice warmth at the end. Add judiciously, pinches instead of spoons, and get that flavor where you want it. Add a bit more butter if you want, or not, but what you should have is a stew like consistency that coats the chicken and the veggies. 

To plate you can mound the rice in the middle and spread the Etouffee around the island or you can pour it directly on top. I made cast iron cornbread to go with this and the sweetness of the cornbread helps cut some of the heat.

I think that is everything but I have a light buzz and I need to work on that some more. Hope everyone is doing well.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Oh for the love of Dog and all that is Holy; can we please have some more rain!

So, the tags on my profile should give away to where I live in the States. For those stateside: rabid basketball fans, bourbon and and horses can be found here and there but there is really only one place that is famous for it. That said, our normal bluegrass is currently Mud. Green grass: Mudd. Yellow, brown and any other hue you want to find.... Mud. For those of you outside of the States; my farm currently grows one thing and that is, of course; mud.

The horses are covered from nose to tail and some of them, I am talking about you Daisy, seem to revel in making sure their normal coats only display the height of Winter fashion in the for of... Mud. Daisy is a "white paint," which means she is normal white with grey hues and some black patches. She is adorkable and thinks she is a puppy... except for she is about 1100 pounds. So imagine a horse so happy to see you that she comes running only to remember she has to stop before turning into all ankles and you have my Daizurs.

Back to the weather, and then to food.

Rain... more rain, and then some rain to go on top of other rain. Its like a perverse version of the "Shrimp" scenes from Forest Gump: We got warm rain, cold rain, sleet rain, heavy rain.... and so on. For days, weeks now, and with more in the forecast. England called my state and said, in that lovely proper sounding accent, "You must slow down, pace yourself, light rain, a mist even, you youngsters are always trying to hard." And, in typical American fashion my state went. "Oh yeah, hold my Bourbon."

So, why the set up? I have been in a comfort food kind of mood for a bit now and oh does my girlfriend hates when I get in that mood. (Did you roll to detect sarcasm? ! Good you are beginning to know me and that should terrify you.) So yeah, last night was Fondue, Charcuterie and various breads. Most of Eastern Europe was going, "Cheese, meat and bread; we so no problem with this." I've done breakfast for dinner, various pastas and anything that will fill you up and make you wonder if a food coma is a bad thing. Today I broke with the trend and made something, via proxy, that was a little different. I have been at work since 12:15 and just got home around 10:00 PM ( 22:00.) What was cooking was in the over for 6.5 hours and was prepared by my girlfriend's brother who live with us. 

Now, a note about her brother: we are his caregivers as he is Autistic, has anxiety and a list of other conditions that are all doctor certified. I say this because I have made the mistake of reading Reddit and every other person who posts on there is on the spectrum. I dislike when people do self diagnosis because I think that takes away from those who truly had conditions. Anyways, this person fixates and does not do well with changing plans. he is terrified of trying recipes because he is scared to make mistakes and yet, tonight, he was responsible for the entree.

He did great.

Blade End Slow Cooked Pork Loin

I trimmed a pork loin and froze it not to long and ago and spent the last two days thawing it out. Today, over the phone, I gave instructions on prep and it turned out lovely. You can use this recipe
on any part of the loin: Center Rib, Center Loin and Sirloin End.

Prep:

Take a fork and work out you anger issues by repeatedly stabbing the meat all over. This is to break up fibers in the meat . Once done you get a bowl and drop the now pin-cushioned meat and let it sit for minute.

Ingredients:

2-3 lb piece of pork

Olive Oil
1.5 Tablespoons Sea Salt
.5 Tablespoon coarse black pepper
1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Oregano
( You can other spices like dried mustard, Basil, Parsley but I kept it easy for him)

Ok, the olive oil is what I called 2 "gluggs" or a 2 count pour. Pour directly onto the meat and coat all surfaces. Mix the spices in a bowl until well combined and then massage all spices onto the pork until it is evenly covered. Set aside and cover.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  (82.2 Cel.)

Once the oven is up to temp take the pork and wrap tightly in foil. Place said nugget on a sheet tray and stick in the over. Forget about it for about 6ish hours. At about 5 hours temp the meat and you are looking for a core temp at 145/63 degrees. You know your oven better than me and ovens do cook differently.

Once finished you pull it out of the over and let sit for 3 -5 minutes and then you have options. You can slice slabs and place of Brioche, add cheese and you have a sammich. You can shred and then mix this with any number of sauces ( Hawaiian, BBq, Fajita and so on) and place of rolls for little sliders. You can cut the piece into chops and have with mashed spuds.

if you want to make an accompanying sauce, you do you.

He did a great job and now, 4 hours after it was done, it is still tender and has great flavor. Easy to do and versatile, this is something you can do when you need to bring something to a pot luck and you want to be a little fancy.

More food in the future.

Cheers,

E.

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