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Well, I certainly don't claim to be an accomplished cook by any means, I just like to cook and to
experiment and see how it comes out... I am sure the ladies in the Kitchen Chat room can outdo me in any category Maybe not in the smoker... I like to smoke things... Pork ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket, turkey legs, chicken whole or in parts... ham... Whatever I can chase down and catch that will fit in the smoker... and make Mexican stuff... and... and... whatever comes up that sounds good... And most of the time it is at least edible... |
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So, you start with an appetizer don't you? I like to do an antipasto but rarely do and usually the appetizer is something
to snack on watching TV until dinner... With a cocktail... Here some deviled eggs, that's an appetizer isn't it? Easy to do, anyone can make deviled eggs... |
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What's next, soup or salad? Well... Let's do soup... Mostly I do ham and bean soup after smoking a ham, do something
with that bone and extra meat, ya know? And simmer some carrots, onions and celery along with the ham bone... Yeah... some good stuff... |
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But I don't do much soup other than potato, celery and onion soup... So easy sauteeing the veggies in butter before
adding the milk... real comfort food... So... this is ratatouille.. but more of a vegetable stew rather than a soup... I do this one when there is an excess of fresh veggies from the Farmer's Market... |
| And then gumbo, that's more of a stew than a soup... This one was my first try at gumbo and pretty tasty, with sausage, chicken and shrimp and of course with okra and rice... |
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And what's this? Ahhh, carne guisada, now this is good stuff... Mexican stew, here with cubed pork shoulder and potatoes and onions, a bit of garlic and a spicy sauce...Ole... Bravo! |
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Here's my Chiles con Carne de Cerdo... Well, that's stew too... The Mexicans make a dish called Chiles con Carne which is
more of a soup with chiles and chunks of meat of one kind or another... I like to make chili with chunks of pork shoulder, and it's good for burritos and over pasta, whatever... But I also make beef chili like Mom, with ground beef for chili hot dogs and over enchiladas... You won't get any vegetable or chicken chili at my place... |
| And good old beef stew with nice chunks of beef and all the other good stuff... Hard to beat.. |
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Anything better than beef stew? How about good old pot roast? Whooo Boy! that's some good! |
| How about some Mexican stuff? Some REAL tamales, here just finishing up in the steamer... |
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Tedious to make, but you can't buy them like home-made... El Rancho Grande Cantina has some pretty good ones in the restaurant but the take home frozen ones aren't as good as these... |
| And here, a chili burrito and a couple tamales for a light lunch... |
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And... cheese and onion enchiladas I fry the masa tortillas in hot oil a few seconds, then dip in enchilada sauce, fill with shredded co-jack cheese and minced onion, roll and line up in the dish... Then cover with chili and more shredded cheese on top... Into the oven for a bit and then Caramba! I have standing requests to make these... |
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Did we forget the salad? Well, anyone can throw a salad together, whatever ya want in and whatever ya want on it... Here I left out the lettuce, with fresh tomatoes, green peppers, sweet onions, a little boiled egg on top... Who needs lettuce? |
| But potato salad, that takes a bit more doing... But Mom says mine is better than hers... HAH! |
| Bread? Nope don't do much bread... This is Irish Soda Bread, must have been for St. Pat's day, HUH? |
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Cake? Yeah we do cake now and then... And this was a so-so experiment making a fruit cake, didn't quite make the score... |
| But this one hit a Home Run! Got a recipe online that turned out to be the best fruit cake I ever attampted... |
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And then sort of a copy with a carrot cake mix without all the fruit, turned out pretty good... I added chopped dates and walnuts too... |
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And then my Birthday Cake... German chocolate with rum soaked raisins and walnuts with fudge icing... yeah... good! Excuse the writing there, maybe the extra manhattan on baking day? |
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And pie... Aye! A pie every now and then, but now using those refrigerated crusts for the most part,
they are pretty good, especially the Pillsbury ones... Here... Not Mom's apple pie.... it's Don's apple pie... Don't use a canned mix, I peel the apples too... |
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Then a gooseberry pie, not very popular now-adays... But I like it... But expensive, can't find fresh or frozen ones, and the canned ones are costly... |
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And this one is rhubarb... and I think I put strawberries in too, but I like the plain rhubarb better... I used to raise rhubarb when I had my garden, mostly made chunky sauce... and that was good at breakfast... |
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The annual pumpkin pies, always make at least two at Thanksgiving... But wouldn't one go good now in January? I just might do that now... |
| And my annual Christmas Mincemeat pie... and that's another expensive one, about seven bucks for a jar of prepared mincemeat... and I add a couple apples and some rum or bourbon and a few drops of Angostura. |
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OK, what did we leave out? Where's the beef? Well, most of the meat is already on my 'Smokin Page'... Though I did see a couple more dee-lishous things I can add to that page... |
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Hey, here's the beef, a nice beef meatloaf with some home made salsa on top... Wouldn't that go good today? |
| And one of those nice sales at the Price Chopper, all those chicken quarters for less than five bucks... |
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And a load of burgers grillin over charcoal... I can grill the burgers and steaks over charcoal in the smoking chamber too... |
| And some nice lean pork loin chops... so good! |
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And some nice smoked turkey legs any time of the year... Well... is that enough food for thought? Have to do for now... |
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