Last Fall's Harvest, This Spring's Sunday Dinner.....

I harvested a very nice deer last fall in the Sierra and have been enjoying various ways of preparing the amazing flesh from that beautiful animal. I've avoided though the smoker. I'd never smoked wild game and was worried that I'd ruin it and it'd come out dry and tough. Most of the recipe's I'd found either called for wrapping the meat in an armor plate of bacon or in some way braising it in the smoker. I wanted this stuff to still taste like venison, not bacon.

Decided to give it a whack this weekend though with a roast that had a fairly good bit of thin silverskin running all through it. I didn't label it when I butchered the deer so I don't recall if it came from the shoulder or hind 1/4. I figured if I kept it low/slow long enough I could get that stuff to break down and contribute some moisture.

I Like Big Butts And I Cannot Lie.....Breasts too!

We decided to have a bunch of friends over on Sunday to watch the 49ers play the Texans on Sunday Night Football. Kathy & I are always game for an opportunity to entertain but if I get the opportunity to make it less work for her by doing a big part of the cooking, so much the better. In keeping with that and my desire to further hone my ability to run my new smoker I jumped at the chance to make some pulled pork sandwiches for the assembled crowd.

While I'm still working on trying to find the happy place with this cooker with respect to Low & Slow type cooking (~225deg range) I've quickly found the process for maintaining the cooker in the ~300-325deg range which is ideal for the "Hot & Fast" style of BBQ cookery which is gaining in popularity. Doing so allowed me to sleep in a bit on Sunday which I rarely shy away from and allowed me to get started at ~9am for a ~6hr cook instead of staying up all night for a ~13hr cook.

A New Smoker & A Quick Weeknight Cook

I'd been working with an old, inexpensive offset smoker for years. With a number of modifications I'd figured out how to get it to produce some pretty good BBQ. But, by virtue of it's cheap materials and how it was constructed it was horribly inefficient, it had seriously broad temperature variations in the cooking chamber, and it was very difficult to maintain reasonably consistent temperatures.  All of which should be expected of any of this sort of "Cheap Offset Smoker". See HERE for an detailed explanation as to why.



So decided to bite the bullet and purchase a quality offset smoker designed to run purely on wood or a "Stickburner" as they are called by the broad BBQ community. The type of smoker I was looking for had to be made of 1/4" thick steel, have reasonably consistent internal temps or a means of controlling/adjusting them and meet my expectations for quality workmanship. I'd considered a pellet smoker but decided that I rather enjoy the process of tending to the fire. Also of concern was the number of potential failure points in a pellet smoker what with electronic controls, motors, electric igniters etc. I shopped around, asked a bunch of questions on various forums and decided to purchase a 36" Lang Patio Model . It has just about the same total internal space as my previous smoker, but due to the consistent internal temps it has much more actual useable space. On the old cooker ~1/3 of the space was far too hot to use.

Most cookers in this category use tuning plates to control the internal temperature. The Lang however is a reverse flow design that provides the same result without having to adjust tuning plates relative to the temperature you wish to cook at. I was able to speak directly with the owner of the company, Ben Lang, who answered all of my questions and even made some custom modifications to the smoker that I wanted. The lead time from order to delivery was about 4wks and while the shipping wasn't cheap, it worked out to less than $1 per pound. I couldn't ship a pound of CA Apricots to Georgia for less than that. Every person I dealt with at Lang was really pleasant to deal with and they provided a very nicely constructed smoker at a price I felt good about.

Man Can Cook #24 - Boston Baked Peanuts

Full disclosure, this dish is not my idea but the recipe below is of my own creation. A few years ago my wife and I visited New Orleans and ate at a joint called "Cochon". This dish was served as a side and I made a point of figuring out how to make it for myself. It's not exactly the same as Cochon's but it's different and delicious.

Hardware:

Large Casserole Pan
Mixing Bowl
Whisk

Software:

2lbs Boiled Peanuts (shelled & peeled)
1/2lb Quality Bacon (cut into 1/4"x1/2" lardon)
1 Medium Yellow Onion (julienne)
1/2c Molasses
1/3c Brown Sugar
2tsp Kosher Salt
1tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1/2tsp Dry Mustard
1Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
5-6pats Butter
Hot water
Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper or a dash or two of your favorite hot sauce

Man Can Cook #23 - The Italian BBQ Fatty

I recently stumbled over a forum dedicated to the art of BBQ called "The BBQ Brethren". It's a great community with a ton of individuals who are more than willing to share ideas and assist each other in creating the best BBQ they can. It was on that forum that I was introduced to the concept of "The BBQ Fatty". A BBQ Fatty is a roll of sausage, often stuffed with various other ingredients and sometimes even wrapped in bacon. The ultimate expression is the "Bacon Explosion" which is a woven mat of bacon surrounding a sausage loaf, stuffed with crumbled bacon and cheese.

This weekend I took a crack at my own BBQ Fatty and using some of the awesome Italian Peppers from my garden and Marinara made from last years tomatoes created an Italian version of the dish.

Man Can Cook #22 - Cuban Porknography

If you know me personally or are simply a reader of this blog you should have come to the conclusion that I love pork in pretty much all forms. Over half of the cooking related posts here either have a pork product as an ingredient or are the primary focus of the dish. The pig is natures miracle beast and I dig it - Pulled Pork, Cured Hams, Charcuterie, Pork Sausage, Pork Ribs, Roast Pork, Pork Chops, Pork Loin, Bacon, oh my! - I love it all.

My absolute favorite is Kalua Pig. The Hawaiian method of cooking a whole pig in an Imu (pit in the ground) and over the years I’ve cooked a dozen or so by this method and if I can dredge up any decent photos I may do a post on that someday. But for this post, we’re talking about a different method.

Last weekend we cooked one of the dinners for an annual club event. We considered an Imu for Kalua Pig, but the location didn’t suit it so I decided to try something new and chose to cook the pig in a La Caja China. If you are unfamiliar with the device it is a metal lined plywood box with a tray on top that holds charcoal. The pigs (or other meats) are roasted inside the box by means of radiated heat from the coals above. 

Man Can Cook #21 - Red Beans & Rice.....for 70

Cooking a meal for 2-4 folks is one thing, doing it for a large crowd is quite another. Most recipes can be fairly easily multiplied up to the appropriate quantity. The problem, if you are feeding a large group often centers though on prep-time and cost.

Large parties are large work and you'd rather spend a bit of time at least enjoying the party as opposed to being exiled to the kitchen like Steve McQueen in Papillon......you imagine yourself as Steve McQueen too don't you? Of course you do.

The other factor is cost. When preparing a normal recipe for guests it's not a really big deal to spend a bit extra on top-shelf ingredients. Besides, you like to make things extra nice for guests. But when that recipe gets blown up 16x from original the costs can go up quickly.

Last weekend I cooked dinner for 70 at a party for a club that both Kathy and I are members of. The entree was a roast whole hog, but as a side dish I prepared a "New Orleans Style" Red Beans & Rice. I found a recipe to use as a framework then tweaked it here and there to keep the cost reasonable and still deliver a great dish for our friends.

In Search Of John Mueller......

As I've become more interested in BBQ I find myself seeking the unique. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and truly good BBQ is somewhere between rare and non-existent. Even excluding the rubbish served by the National chain restaurants most of what one does find trends toward the Kansas City style. The sweet/spicy, sticky, tomato & molasses based sauce is what most people associate with "BBQ" hence that is what most purveyors produce...especially in an area such as this where BBQ is scarce.

Paella-palooza

Our good friends Pam & Tom host an annual Spanish themed part at their beautiful home in Paso Robles. It's an awesome event. We get to make the leisurely drive south to Paso, do some wine tasting/buying and then enjoy a great party with a bunch of wonderful friends. The weather was gorgeous all weekend long and we had a spectacular time.

This year the ante was upped to 60 guests so the food got blasted into overdrive as well. A fantastic collection of tapas was created including; Spanish Tortilla (egg, potato & onion frittata with garlic aioli) by my darling wife Kathy & home made chorizo sauteed in Spanish wine by John.

Then for the finale, Mike, Vince, Tom and I each produced a Paella to share with the crowd. Just for laughs we decided to costume up like the encierros of Pamplona.

L-R Mike, Yours Truly, Vince & Tom....special thanks to Vince for masking my boiler.

Making The Old Into The New And In Turn, Into A Business.

Once in a while I post short films here that I find compelling. Usually they are focused on the work that someone does and they celebrate craftsmanship. I think this aligns quite well with that theme though in this case, rather than crafting a motorcycle from steel its the crafting of Old World food products.

Here is the story of an Austin, TX couple who discovered a passion that struck an all too rare balance between viable business model and an available niche in the market. Enjoy.



Charcuterie - A Documentary from Christian Remde on Vimeo.

A Weekend At The Top Of California - Loon Lake, CA

Hectic work schedules and a frantic early summer full of birthdays, anniversaries & graduations had both Kathy and I at the end of our collective rope. We needed a getaway, and badly at that, but didn't want to hassle with the 4th of July weekend crowds so on the following weekend we loaded up and headed to Loon Lake.

Resting at ~6350' above sea level Loon Lake is a bit of anomaly in large Sierra lakes in that there's always been a lake in the valley in which it resides. The valley once housed Loon & Pleasant lakes and the two were joined into one much larger lake by the 1963 erection of the Loon Lake Dam across the Gerle Creek outflow.

The name of the lake is a bit of a mystery. There are in fact Loons in California but not of the type associated with the Wilderness in Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Those are the "Arctic Loon" who's range does not extend this far South. You can find "Pacific Loon" along the California coast feeding in "near-shore" areas, bays and estuaries but they don't appear in the Sierras.... Perhaps someone just thought it a good name for a lake.

An Open Letter To The Food Network

It should be readily apparent by reading this blog that I dig food. I’m fascinated by the history of, and socioeconomic influences on legacy cuisine and I love learning about where food comes from and how to turn something mundane into something spectacular.

As I’ve aged, I’ve developed an intense intellectual curiosity about food and cooking. Along with that has come an increase in the sophistication of my palate and my desire to experience cooking styles and ingredients that I was never exposed to as a middle-class, white, suburban, California kid.

Luckily, my darling wife shares this passion. She’s a fantastic cook and I’ve learned a ton from her. Thankfully, we’ve had the opportunity to travel together quite a bit and have used those trips to expose ourselves to incredible new culinary experiences and brought home much of what we learned.

But there is so much more out there. So much knowledge, so many ingredients, so many preparations…..one could, if one could afford to do so, spend a lifetime traveling the world and only experience a fraction of it. This is why I was so excited when “The Food Network” was born. Initially it was highly instructive, the on-air personalities had unassailable credibility and there was the opportunity, though unfulfilled to really impact how people view food, how they cook and how they eat. But I think they’ve blown it.

Good Friends + Good Wine + Good Food = Great Weekend

This past weekend our great friend Patty hosted a weekend gathering at her families palatial "villa" in the hills up slope of La Selva beach. The theme for the Saturday evening meal was a Tapas stroll with each of the invited couples, and a few pairs of teamed up singles, creating a regional Tapas creation and pairing with an appropriate "adult beverage". When you get a bunch of really bright and creative people together and add excellent wines and other beverages and mix liberally with heavy doses of amazing food you have all the requirements in place for an absolutely spectacular weekend.

Man Can Cook #20: Oooooh, I love Paella!

I have a general affinity for what I affectionately call "Po-folks food". This is by no means a slight, as to me it is simply a general term describing the food of working people who learn to make the most from the least. In my opinion it's far more difficult to make something amazing from the cheapest ingredients than it is to do so from the finest.

Paella is just such a dish. It's a Valencian dish dating back to the early 19th century. It's the stuff of shepherds and orchardmen who cooked the dish, usually over an open fire, out of what was available, cheap and easy to transport. There are many different regional variations of the dish from those dominated by meat, to seafood. Each variation tends to take on the flavor of the region in which it's prepared and features local and/or seasonal meats and vegetables. The mere suggestion of deviation from those regional formulae is cause to "step outside" in some parts of Spain. They take their Paella VERY seriously.

BBQ Blues

I freakin love BBQ. Not grilling mind you, that's a whole 'nuther deal. I'm talking about BBQ. Cheap cuts of meat turned into amazing, moist, juicy, lip-smacking good stuff by means of a long, slow, low-temperature cook...and a bit of smoke for good measure. I'm far from an expert on the matter, the guy who runs this website/blog however is: http://www.amazingribs.com/  If you are looking to learn "how to smoke some meat" that is the best place to start. 

I'd characterize myself as more of an enthusiast. My smoker is nothing special but I've made a few modifications to it so it works far better than it ought. My recipes aren't traditional nor are they particularly original either. But I've put a little spin on things here and there to tweak them to my taste and that of my friends....who seem to like the end result.

Last weekend we hosted a going away party for a very close friend who is taking a temporary work assignment out of state and we were expecting ~25 guests. That's a lot of people to cook for no matter what you are cooking, but BBQ is IMO a bit easier to manage because the quantity of meat that can be produced at once is rather high and it allows ample time to do other things around the house while the smoke is going on. 

Man Can Cook #19: Gruyère Potato Pucks

Here is a simple but really tasty side dish that is the perfect accompaniment to a steak or similar hearty meat dish. It only takes about 45min to make.

Hardware:

• Mandolin
• Muffin pan (3.5" muffins)

Software:

• 1lb Potatoes (Red, Yukon Gold & Yellow work best stay away from Russetts)
• 1pint Heavy Cream
• 1/2lb Gruyère (grated)
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Cooking Spray

Man Can Cook #18: Say Cheese!

Cheese is part chemistry, part alchemy, part performance art. There aren't many things that we eat that we intentionally let get this close to dangerously inedible before consumption. For some cheeses, the closer they are to that point, the better they are. That kind of cheese making is better left to the experts. There is another  kind of cheese making is fit for rank amateurs like you and I.

Mozzarella is pretty awesome stuff. Anyone with 1/2 a taste bud though can pick out the difference between the rubbery rubbish in the "cheese" aisle (between the Velveeta nut-ball and the pepper-jack) and the good stuff found in higher end markets. What's the difference? Heat, chemicals & machines. The rubbery stuff is pasteurized, full of preservatives and is totally overworked by machines. The good stuff isn't. What do ya say we make the good stuff?

There are a few reasons to get after this as a project now, rather than later.

• Meddlesome douchebags don't want you to be able to purchase raw milk or have unpasteurized cheese. When was the last time you heard of someone getting sick from milk or cheese? Me either. Let's move on.

• Because of the above, those same meddlesome douchebags have conspired with the government to create nanny-state regulations which  have made raw milk tough to find. Locate someone who sells it, and make it worth their while to continue to do so. The stores that sell it, don't like to promote that fact so as not to draw attention. Just help keep them selling, by buying.

• Summer is going to be here in but a few months. That means tomatoes and that means caprese. You want to make sure you have this down PAT by the time your tomatoes are coming ripe.

So, my fellow Americans, let us stand together in defiance of douchebaggery. Give the finger to the "conventional thinking" of the nanny state. We've got no time for petty, parsimonious, pathogenic perplexities. We've got cheese to make!

Man Can Cook #17: Jump Out Da Gym Jambalaya.

Admittedly, March Madness isn't among my favorite sporting events. NCAA basketball has lost it's shine in my eyes since so many of the players leave early to the NBA and because there is just so much of it on TV during the regular season, I'm approaching saturation point by the time March rolls around and the coverage goes to 11. That said, I know most folks don't feel the same way and are totally wrapped up in it so I thought I'd toss out a good, quick recipe to help you out in the event you are having a bunch of folks over on a weeknight to watch a few games.

This Jambalaya recipe is pretty quick and easy. The prep only takes a few minutes and it's on the table in about 45min flat. I'll include a couple of options in case you'd like to spruce it up when you've got more time.

Man Can Cook #16: Cassoulet...it's French, but it's still manly!

I don’t do a great deal of traditional French cooking. Not for any real good reason other than a preference for the flavor profiles of Italian & Spanish fare of a rustic variety. If you thumb through Julia Child’s “Mastering” books you find that they are dominated by the “cuisine bourgeoisie” or the slightly higher-end of the French cookery landscape. There are exceptions to this of course, and Cassoulet is one of them.

Cassoulet is an old-world French peasants dish named for the vessel in which it is traditionally cooked, a “cassole” which is usually a deep, rather than wide, glazed stoneware baking dish. There are a number of variations according to region. The most common is the Toulouse variety which is dominated by Goose Confit as a protein with a bit of mutton. Not surprising as Toulouse is the heart of the Foie Gras production region. You gotta do something with all those geese once their ambrosial livers have been harvested. Other variations are the Cassoulet de Castelnaudary which features mainly pork and the Cassoulet de Carcassonne which often features Partridge.

Man Can Cook #15 - A Rustic, Wintery Duck Ragout

My summer garden is gone. It’s currently chopped up and breaking down in the compost bin and the only thing I’m doing out there now is keeping the weeds at bay and waiting for Kathy’s winter lettuce crop to sprout. The heater in the house is running most of the time now that the weather is getting cold and damp. Now is when I start thinking about hearty, rustic dishes that seem much more appropriate this time of year than in the heat of summer. Rich, dark earthy dishes that stick to your ribs and warm the soul rule the day and dominate the kitchen.

Duck Ragout is among my favorite dishes of this type. By definition a “Ragu” is simply meat added to a sofrito, puréed tomatoes or tomato paste and cooked for a good while via a low simmer. There are a number of different styles, the most common being a Bolognese sauce followed by a Napoletana (bigger chunks of meat rather than ground or shredded) and Barase which is usually made with horse meat…not an option. The majority of Duck Ragout recipe’s call for the use of skinned leg/thigh meat. I prefer to use duck breasts as it allows me to render off the delicious duck fat for use in other dishes. Follow along: