Tales from the Wandering Cook

[echoes]

So much has been going on, there has been cooking but there has also been 2 new bebe powners in the last 10 days. first, the cuteness tax. let's see if I can get this right:



So, this is Beau, he is a boy and he was born last Friday at 3ish am? lets just say that last weekend is a blur because Beau pooped out Friday morning, I went to work Saturday and was mostly useless and sleep deprived. Worked Sunday and that is when Toffee was born.



Now, Beau and his mama are Gypsy Vanter ponies. Mama is full grown and her name is Rain. So, you guessed it, we have Rain + Beau. Adorkable no?




Next we have Savannah and Toffee and they are Welsh Cob Ponies. Now, Savannah is full sized, she is just what is called a Section A Pony which means she doesn't get any taller than what she is in the picture. She is about 10 "Hands" tall and, with a hand being 4 inches, than means 40 inches (just over 1 meter) at the shoulder. Toffe came out around 5 hands, 20 inches at the shoulder so she is smol. Last time savannah had a bebe i named it nugget to annoy the fiance. Turns out it was the perfect name.


I  don't know how tall rain is, as she is not our pony. We foaled her for a friend of my fienace because said friend was pregnant and was about to have her own baby (Which she did two weeks prior and baby is fine.) Also, we have better facilities for foaling so we were on bebe watch.


In comparison, the horse I used to ride was 15.3 hands at the shoulder which is just over 5 feet or almost 2 meters.

So, food really quick and then we will be on our way. I made Latkes not to long ago and I blame, Beat Bobby Flay," for the desire to cook these little potato  fritter pancakes. For some reason bobby Flay looses more times than he wins when Latkes are involved (Unless it is his sous chef cooking the latke and then he might win.) In theory these are really simple to make andin practice they are a bit more difficult to prepare. First these are usually made with potatoes, onions and then a binder combination of eggs and either flour, potato starch or corn starch. Other than these foundaation ingredients you add spices in the form of salt and pepper.

The difficulty in preparing the food is getting all of the moisture out of the potato. Normally, when you mash or bake a potato you don't think of how much moisture makes up this vegetable. But when you shred the potato, which you do for making latkes, you find out how wet it actually is. ( that sounds vulgar. I digress.) Anywhy, you shred the potato ( and i used a cheese grater to do this) and then you have to get as much water out as possible. I wrapped the shredded potato in cheese cloth and squeezed out as much as I could before I set the shreds on a paper towel and pressed some more using two single serving sheet trays.

While this dries you shred an onion, scramble an egg or two and then get ready to add everything together. Potato and onion get mixed and then add flour or startch and spices. Finally add an egg and you will have a somewhat damp "meal" that you form into little flattened cakes. I have learned that you keep the cakes as thin as possible for quick and even cooking when they go into oil. You then pan fry the potato cake until golden brown.

I made these with a sour cream smear and a Keilbasa and Shallot hash. We recently got quail egg at work and I wanted to buy them to do a soft fried egg atop the latke but I resisted.

Anyway. I am off for now, I have to try and upload pics from my phone so, if you ead this and there are no pictures come back in a bit and look for the cute tax.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Also did a beer battered Chicken strip this week that was spot on and I will be sharing that here soon. I owed a post on latkes for a while so I got that up. Its been a busy minute here and we have torntial rain every ouple of days so there is, as you have heard before, a lot of mud involved. Also dealing with my  fiane's grandfather wanting us to renovate our house so he can comeback and live full time with us. That story is a made for netflix docu-series that has more twists than a pipe cleaner. Newest development is that he might be buying a piece of property close to where we live.

Well, oil change is about done so I am off for now.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Oh, and if you have questions or comments regarding the bebes feel free to post them to this thread.

More later,

E.

[echoes]

Going to take a minute and talk about one of the esoteric? sides of cooking and that is : timing. There was a recent holiday and so there was a family gathering at my arents house which included my sister and her family and myself with my family. So sis lives in the same town a mom and dad and is all of 5 minutes away by car in pure suburbs.If this were a major city in North America,or any major city inn the world really, I would technically be in the same city as them because I live 25 minutes up the interstate in another town. This is relevant because I did all the proteins for the meal. I did three different meats and then had to get them to my parents before they got cold. I also did mac n cheese, exciting i know, and deviled eggs ( more about the deviled eggs at the end.)

Timing comes into play whether you are cooking at home or in a kitchen as part of a job. Chef's and cooks develop the ablity to pace their cooking through expeience, trail and error, and more than one mistake. I started one meat 3 hours before we left to go to my parents, the next at 1 hour and 15 minutes before leaving and the last roughy 45 minutes before we left. All in the same over, all with the same heat despite two of the meats normally being cooked at higher temmperatures. Not ony did all the meats come out on time but they did not overcook during the 45 minutes it took for me to get to the parents house. Perfect temps and textures; I was pretty proud of myself because even with experience, it is so easy to fuck this up.

Even when not travelling, getting all the parts of meal to come up at the same time so that you can plate at home and keep everything hot, or cold if needed, is something that is part art, part prayer and a semi illicit blend of luck and skill. The smaller the cooking space and the more this becomes a performance and a display of grace under pressure. 

This all said, plan your meals, and test yourself, see how you do and how you feel when everything comes together at the end and you deliver. Its a good feeling.

More later, Back to work.

Cheers

E. 

[echoes]

So, I am not sure about everyone reading this, and I imagine some of you all are waaaaay more healthy than I am, but I don't know many people who don't like fried food. I mean, I know it is a  cliche that people in the "South" of the U.S. have yet to find a food they can't fry but I bet every culture around the world has at least one dish that ends up in a batter being dipped into hot oil. Recently I felt the need to deep fry something and I felt that homemade beer battered chicken tender was the way to go. Come on, beer and fried food is like a staple for most people in their early 20's and in their College/Uni years. The British have an entire pillar of their dietary pyramid dedicated to fish n chips and I can tell you, from personal experience, nothing soaks up a long night of drinking like something fried golden brown.

A long time ago, in another life, I worked in the food service industry and during my time in Cincinnati, Ohio I worked in a bar called McCleavy's up in Montgomery. Montgomery is a township to the Northeast of Cinci and is totally unrecognizable to me given the urban sprawl that has taken over metro Cincinnati. Anyway, back in the day this bar had something like 15 beers on tap, which made for a cramped as all hell keg cooler, but an amazing opportunity to make made to order beer battered shrimp. The shrimp basket was a crowd favorite and it could be made in minutes from any of the beers on tap. Here are some facts about making said beer battered shrimp:

Bass Ale, and to a lesser extent Killian's red, made for this amazing reddish copper coloured beer batter that also had a hearty taste.
Guinness made the batter almost black.
The most popular was Rolling rock for the beer batter and we used it as the default.

So, how easy is it to do beer battered chicken tender:

Ingredients:
1- 2 lbs of chicken breasts or precut chicken tenderloins
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to the taste you want (start with 1/2 teaspoon each and work up from there.)
1 Cup of beer
1 cup of corn starch.

Oil at least 1 inch deep in a deep walled frying pan and brought to 350 degrees or a deep fryer set to 350.

If using chicken breasts cut into strips around a 1/2 inch ( 10 or so mm) thick
dredge chicken in the corn starch and get an even layer, remove clumps.
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl ( flour, seasoning and baking soda) before slowly adding beer. You want a smooth batter that is not to thick so if you need to add more beer to get the consistency you want do so. Drink any remaining beer so as not to waste beer.

Once oil gets to 250 dip corn starch coated chicken in to the batter and slowly drop in pan. You made need to use a spatula to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan. Cook for 4-6 minutes, or until evenly golden brown in colour.  Pull from oil and set o  a plate that has a paper towel on it to catch excess grease. I would break one chicken tender open to make sure it is cooked evenly but I have found the sweep spot usually is 5 minutes for not frozen chicken in my fryer. Your mileage may vary so make sure you cook the chicken until it is cooked all the way through

Serve with honey mustard, ketchup or American Sauce ( ranch)

Ok, Time for me to get to work, I got in early and am getting this done just under the wire. I will be back to edit it this because I am sure there are typos.

Cheers,

E.

(there were lots of typos, and maybe more I missed.)

[echoes]

Well fuck me I was typing and didn't save what I was typing and now I have to start again. I am, what I call on my farm, a dumb powner.

Hi everyone, hope you are well and I am trying to be better about posting stuff. For those of you who are approved here I have been post bombing a music thread I have here and I am also trying to be better about posting here.

So back on post 118 of this thread I talked about glamping with my partner at an event called the  "Wild Dog" horse ride last year. What this event consists of is a lot of people showing up and riding horses on trails and they grind the miles. They ride hard and then drink harder. ( I counted 18 empty mason jars that had been filled with moonshine the night before on Thursday morning.) I swear, horse people are like alcoholics with a horse hobby. Now, for those who know a little about me, well, let me bring the rest of you into a secret. You may be thinking, "Horses, a farm ... country redneck." I would not spite you all that, especially those who are not in the states and may automatically assume I fly a confederate flag and listen to country music. So let's unfuck that perception. I am currently typing this wearing a Sister's of Mercy t-shirt that is older than some of the people on this site and just finished listening to Pusicfer and I am now listening to 21 pilots. That said, these are not me "people" but I had a blast last year and we are going again two weeks from now.

While my fiance goes out and rides I will be typing and writing stories when I am not mucking pens and making sure our site is tidy. I'm domestic as all fuck and I like things to be in order. I joke that I don't have OCD, I have CDO...It's like OCD but it is in order... AS IT SHOULD BE!.

Anyways. other than bringing an inflatable pool for my partner's Feral Girl Clan ( that's what I call all her friends because they are all women and they are feral as fuck when they go out) I will be there personal bartender and breakfast maker. The even brings a food truck/crew to do the evening meal and lunches are usually whatever is at hand when they are on the trails. I am going to share my plans for the drink menu and then some things I am working on to do in the morning.

Drink menu:

( I get down there Tuesday late after work, she will be down there Sunday)

Wednesday - Swirl margaritas that are homemade margs of my own recipe with premade Sangria that I am getting from Costco. This a drink that was super popular at a bygone Mexican restaurant that I used to manage called, Don Pablos.
Thursday - Bourbon Slush - a family recipe that I might share later. this shit is great
Friday - Pain Killers
Saturday - Cosmo slushes

Breakfasts will include a Croissant Bread French toast ( this may be a product review because this bread is a legit. Lots of eggs and bacon on different days. Biscuits and gravy with sausage links. Juevos Rancheros and skillet potatoes and then, maybe, if I am feeling froggy I will hop and make Beignets on Saturday. Saturday night is a potluck and I am debating bougie to fuck with everyone and make my deep fried risotto that I have talked about before just to flex a little. Some gourmet shit to sit with pulled pork and comfort food. May also do pan fried veggies and another side, or my deviled eggs with candied bacon. We will see. I haven't decided. Will keep you all in the loop if you want. I will also try to share some photos of the place because, well, its a trip for me.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I'm on holiday and did get some pictures of a simple breakfast this morning. Nothing has gone to plan in a totally positive way today so i did not get to write anything at all today. Instead I hung out at the Feral Girl Clan oasis and got sunburnt arms for all my troubles. I will post some tomorrow when my fiance goes out riding.

On another note, I'm going to be on a stage tonight for the first time in 30 years. Backstory: Every night there is live music, a dinner and then everyone gathers around and jams until the moonshine runs out. I don't play guitar but i brought a Cojon hand drum down this time and sat in for a couple hours keeping time.

Well, i made it up to the barn to try and write when the two guys who are playing tonight walked up and said, "hey, we were just asking about you." Turns out they were looking for me and asked me to join them on stage tonight to keep time for them. So, yeah, that's cool.

Tonight is going to be a night of: music, food, tequila and cigars. Will report in the morning.

Cbeers,
E.

[echoes]

I survived.

So, played music with other people, like on stage and not in a giant jam session, last night for the first time in forever. Had a blast and, you all might laugh at this and this is not an exaggeration, I think I only knew two songs that we played. I knew the Johnny cash song, and I was familiar with a country song about she's acting single and I'm drinking doubles. I do not know modern country music outside of maybe 4 songs and I'm familiar with maybe a few others. I know older country due to the parents so this is not in my musical wheelhouse at all. Luckily, being a drummer, all I need to do is keep time and stay in my lane. I did well enough and didn't make many mistakes. After that it was: tequila, cigars, beer and a small jam session to end the night.

I'm currently listening to Deftones ( "Tempest" if you wanted to know) to cleanse the audio palate.

Speaking of palate, did breakfast again and it was sausage links, fried eggs, scrambled eggs and pastries. One of the feral girls is a phenom with sourdough and brought a fresh loaf which was the perfect vehicle for the fried eggs. My entire plan for the menu this week has gone absolutely sideways and that is fine. I guess this is just another reason why I say that food is art. Baking is science, everything has it's place and you follow tried and true recipes to get the end result. Cooking is art, its creation or as I one time read, "No Rules, to recipes, no gods just cook."

Tonight I am going to make a bourbon slush and, if it goes over well I will share it tomorrow. The girls are out on a 12-15 mile ride today so I have time to type a bit. I've already cleaned up breakfast and mucked three pens so I am on free time until I go back to camp to set up a canopy and do some veggie prep for breakfast tomorrow.

Now to get on topic. This is going to be a product review today as I have not done anything crazy cooking-wise just yet.

Blackstone Grills

Blackstone and Trager are the big names in outdoor cooking now. I hate to say I jumped on the bandwagon but 2 Christmases ago I got a 24 inch tabletop grill that I finally got to get out, season and I'm using it this week. Last fall I used an electric griddle and I could have brought it again but I didn't do any grilling last year so I broke this out of the garage and finally got to use it. In the past I have always had traditional grills, whether charcoal or gas, that relied on grill grates and direct heat. When my last grill died I went without, mostly due to time, and never got off my ass to get back into outdoor cooking. Well, I can say I am very happy with this grill and will tell you a little about it if you are ever considering a new grill.

First:

Assembly was really easy. Screw on the handle to the cover, screw on four legs and remove all paper and plastic used to package the grill. Done. The gas connection is off the front right side and it comes with two connecter hoses. One can be used to hook up to a standard 20lb propane tank and the other hose can hook up to smaller lp tanks. I like that versatility and I have been using the 20lb hose for this trip.

It also comes with one scraper and 2 cleaning brushes.

Second:

Seasoning the grill, any grill, is super important so do not skip this step. Seasoning develops a nonstick patina on the cooking surface and is done to making cooking easier and consistent while also making it easier to clean the grill top later. I used a Blackstone product to season this grill but you can do it with any highpoint oil. The process is straight forward so do not be afraid of this step. Honestly everything is on Youtube now but here is the short version of what I did. I cleaned the grille with soap and water and then turned it on high. I added about 2 Tablespoons of the seasoning agent and used the scraper to evenly coat the entire surface of the grill. Then you wait for agent of choice to start to smoke and cook off. I lightly ran a towel over the surface and then repeated the process 2 more times. When I get home from this trip I will repeat the process one more time and will do the same every so often in the future.

Third:

Learn your hotspots. My grill has two separate burners one each on the right and left side. You will see in the pictures I will try to post where the patina is darker than other parts of the grill. You will learn where foods cook faster and then can utilize this knowledge when grilling in the future.

Fourth:
Clean up is really easy and I have yet to have to use anything more than soap and water to clean the grill. The seasoning is what makes this so easy so I cannot stress how important that step is. I didn't mention this in the set up portion but there is an aperture at the back of the grill, a rectangle in the back wall, and there is a drip cup that is removable that sits right under this opening. Scrape heavy debris towards the back and then clean the grill as needed. 

Last:
The grill comes with a "cover" hat is actually a fulling encompassing bag that will hold the grill handle, legs and all. I am going to place a 1/4" inch piece of wood in as a floor because I already know those legs will eventually try and bust through the bag. 

Here is a picture of yesterday's breakfast:



And another one here:



I am really satisfied with this grill. It is "portable" but it is on the hefty side. I have not weighed in but I can carry it easily in the bag due to two reinforced handles on the bag. This would be a great addition to a small deck or patio and, unlike standard grill grates, it doesn't produce a lot of excess smoke.

Lastly, here is a picture of the Feral Girl Clan Oasis:




More later,

Cheers.

E.

P.S>: My upper arms are totally sunburnt. Thought you should know.

[echoes]

Last day on holiday, tomorrow it is back to the really real world and I will be working at the job starting around noon. This means we are going to be up around 8 am tomorrow and hopefully on the road by 9. Not a bad trip overall and it was fun to get away for a bit. I got to drum, I got to make drinks and I cooked a lot of food. Here are some pictures of Huevos Rancheros:



My version of Huevos Rancheros is as follows:

Diced Green Bell Pepper
Diced Red Bell Pepper
Diced Yellow Onion
Eggs
Cheddar Cheese
Chili powder
Salt
Garlic
Pepper
Cholula sauce
Flour Tortillas

Sauté the peppers and onions until the peppers are tender and onions are just under caramelizing. Add in eggs and scramble. You can pre-scramble the eggs in a bowl or you can do it once you add it to the pepper mixture. Cook the eggs until they are to the texture you want and then add shredded cheddar cheese. Season to taste. Plate or throw on top of a flour tortilla and go to town

I must have had a theme yesterday because later that night I made Elote. This version of Mexican street corn on the cob was done as follows:

Precut 3 inch corn on the con
Mayonaise
Lime Juice
Chili Powder
Cilantro
Cotija Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Cholula sauce
Spices

Boil the cobs for 10-15 minutes and then place on the grill. Get a light char and slowly rotate to evenly char the cob. While doing that mix all the other ingredients and ad: Cholula, salt, garlic, cilantro and pepper to taste. Once a full rotation is done you start to brush the spread atop the corn and coat while doing a second rotation. Pull off the grill before it blackens and jab a skewer on as a handle.

Here is a picture of the corn with giant fuck off pieces of meat from last night.



Also, for those of you outside of the states, you may have heard of the term swimming hole and wondered, "Do people really swim in holes?" I am sure that the concept of the swimming hole may be international, but if not, this is a swimming hole:



Cheers,

E.