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MARILYN MONROE’S STUFFING

Posted: November 24, 2013 in Food, Recipes, Thanksgiving, turkey
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Man, that’s a loaded headline if I ever saw one! Years ago, I read an article about how a Thanksgiving stuffing recipe credited to Marilyn Monroe was discovered. Apparently, she could also cook in the kitchen…go figure.

Dated around the time she was married to baseball great Joe DiMaggio while living in San Francisco, it was decided that the recipe was authentic for, among other reasons, its lack of garlic, which DiMaggio reportedly despised!

I tried the recipe years ago and tweaked it, adding garlic, of course. This makes a family sized platter of stuffing. Using a food processor to chop makes things much easier.

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Ingredients:

20 ounces sourdough bread

1 lb chicken livers

1 lb ground beef

1 tablespoon cooking oil

8 stalks celery, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cups chopped parsley

4 eggs, hard-boiled, chopped

1/2 cup chopped prunes or raisins

2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups chopped walnuts, pine nuts or roasted chestnuts…or a combination

2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary, chopped

4 teaspoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoons salt, plus more to taste

2 teaspoons black pepper

 

Break the sourdough into pieces and soak in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes. Wring the excess water out over a colander and shred bread into pieces.

Boil the chicken livers for 8 minutes in salted water, then chop until no piece is larger than a coffee bean.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the beef in the oil, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, so no piece is larger than a pistachio.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sourdough, livers, ground beef, celery, onions, parsley, eggs, prunes or raisins, Parmesan and nuts, tossing gently to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the Rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and scatter over the stuffing mixture. Mix again. Taste and adjust for salt.

Refrigerate, covered with foil, until ready to bake.

To bake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook 1 hour with foil on top. Remove foil and cook for 1 hour more at 300. Keep an eye on it. Ovens vary, and you want it out of the oven before it gets too dry. If it does get dry, sprinkle a little chicken stock or water on it, cover with foil, and heat for 10 minutes.

ROASTING A TURKEY ON A WEBER GRILL

Posted: November 20, 2013 in barbecue, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, Thanksgiving, turkey
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The concept of a deep-fried turkey sounds pretty cool. But for me, it’s just too much damn work: finding a safe spot in the yard to blast the propane-fueled fryer so that you don’t burn your house down, standing outside and freezing your ass off while it fries, and then disposing of gallons of used oil at the end of it all. And making sure the oil is at the right temperature so you don’t get a scorched turkey on the outside and raw turkey on the inside. Sure, they now have indoor turkey fryers, but I’m not crazy about that idea, either.

I get great results by cooking my turkey in my Weber grill. The standard Weber allows you to cook up to a 15 lb. bird–big enough for my purposes–and it comes out crispy, smokey and delicious. If you’re afraid to try this for the first time at Thanksgiving when it really matters, wait a few months and buy a turkey when you have the craving and try it out.

The charcoal chimney with hot coals awaits.

Although I’ve stopped using charcoal briquettes a long time ago, and now strictly use natural hardwood charcoal, this recipe works best with Kingsford. The idea is for the coals to cook slowly and evenly. And never use lighter fluid…always start your fire with a few pieces of crumbled newspaper under a charcoal chimney.

Needed:

Weber grill, with the dome top

Kingsford charcoal briquettes (do not use Match Lite or other pre-soaked briquettes)

Heavy duty aluminum pan (disposable)

Ingredients:

Whole turkey, up to 15 lbs, thawed and previously brined (see my blog about brining a turkey)

Olive oil (to rub on turkey)

2 yellow onions, chopped

4 stalks of celery, chopped

½ lb (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

Spreading the coals away from the center of the grill.

If you want stuffing, make it separately and cook it separately. (A great recipe in my next blog.)

Light 8 to 10 lbs of charcoal in the grill…depending on the size of the turkey and how cold it is outside.

Remove the giblets from the turkey. Place the bird in the aluminum pan.

In a small bowl, mix granulated garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper Add any other seasonings you like.

Coarsely chop onions and celery. Place in a another bowl. Mix with the melted butter and 1/3 of the salt/pepper/garlic powder mixture. Place a small handful of this “stuffing” mixture in the neck cavity of the turkey. Place the rest in the body cavity (where the stuffing would usually go.) You can fasten the bird with turkey skewers if you like. This “stuffing” is strictly to flavor the turkey…you don’t eat it!

The rubbed, stuffed and seasoned bird.

Rub the outside of the entire turkey with the olive oil and sprinkle the rest of the garlic/onion/salt/pepper mixture on the outside of the bird. Make sure you get the bird on the bottom as well.

When the coals in the grill have ashed over, spread them to the outside edges of the Weber equally. Put the cooking grill rack in place. Place the aluminum pan with the turkey in the center of the grill, keeping it away from the direct heat of the coals. If using a meat thermometer, insert the probe into the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to hit the bone. Place the lid on the grill. (You may need to bend your pan a bit.) Open the vents on the bottom of the Weber as well as the lid. Important to get air circulating!

My meat thermometer calls me from as far as 100 feet away when the turkey reaches the optimum temperature that I pre-set. Time for a drink!

No basting is necessary.

Now here’s the tough part: DO NOT OPEN THE GRILL TO CHECK ON THE TURKEY! (If you must look, shine a flashlight into the vent holes on the lid to take a peek at the pop-up timer, if there is one.) The whole point is to keep the heat inside the kettle. You’ll know your turkey is done when no more smoke or heat rises from the grill, and the turkey inside stops making sizzling noises.

Remove the turkey and let it rest at least 15 minutes before carving.

Beautifully grilled, cooked to 180 degrees in less than 2 hours!

BRINING A TURKEY

Posted: November 16, 2013 in brining, Food, marinade, Recipes, salt, Thanksgiving, turkey
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Brining is a simple process of soaking a hunk of protein in a flavored salt solution for a time before cooking, resulting in a much more juicy and flavorful final product.

It’s basic high school science: the brine has a greater concentration of salt and water than the molecules of the protein (in this case, a turkey) that is soaking in it. By simple diffusion, the protein molecules suck up the salty water and retain it. When you cook the meat, some of the water evaporates, but the meat still has far more moisture in it than it would have without the brine soaking, and the result is a moister, delicious bird.

Some people use giant syringes to inject their turkeys with crazy solutions, but I think that the old way is still the best way when it comes to brining. Get a big pot, fill it with the brine, and soak the bird in it. Done.

Here’s my tried-and-true turkey brining recipe. Once the brining is done, you can cook the turkey whatever way you like best. I use a method where I grill it inside a Weber grill with charcoal. It comes out smokey and absolutely amazing. I’ll have that info in the next blog.

Ingredients:

1 gallon of water
2 onions
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
1 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1.5 teaspoons whole allspice
4 bay leaves
1 gallon of ice water
14–15 lb turkey, thawed

Pour first gallon of water in a large pot. Quarter the onions, carrots and celery (no need to peel them) and add to the water. Add all the other ingredients, except ice water and turkey.

Let the pot come to a boil for a few minutes. Remove from heat and let brine cool down to room temperature.

Remove giblets from turkey and place the bird in a container just big enough to hold it and 2 gallons of liquid.

Pour the now-cooled brine over the turkey, then pour in the gallon of ice water.

Make sure the turkey doesn’t float up by placing a plate on top. Put turkey container in fridge for 5 to 8 hours, flipping the turkey over in the container halfway through.

Drain turkey, pat dry with paper towels, and then cook using your favorite recipe.

Next time: cooking your turkey on a Weber grill in a fraction of the time.

PRETZEL BREAD

Posted: November 12, 2013 in Food, Recipes, Uncategorized
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Pretzel bread has become a foodie phenomenon in a very short period: not just the bun of choice at your favorite fast-food burger joint, but the go-to bread in any upscale restaurant.

Making pretzel bread at home had one major stumbling block for me: the need for lye,  which has nasty corrosive qualities that I don’t want to deal with in my kitchen. Even special baker’s lye was not an option. So when I found a pretzel bread recipe that used baking soda, a much milder and safer alkaline ingredient that I could simply pour down my drain after using, I knew it was time to bake.

pretzel bread

Ingredients:

½ cup water

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, softened

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg, separated

Cooking spray

¾ baking soda

Kosher salt for sprinkling

Combine the water, milk and butter in a glass container and microwave about 45 seconds to melt the butter and warm the milk. Set aside.

I a mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, yeast, salt and egg yolk. Slowly add the milk mixture and mix until the dough comes together. If it seems too dry, add small amounts of water. Knead the dough until it is smooth and springy, about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Flip it over so all sides get oiled, and then wrap the bowl with plastic wrap. Place in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Turn out risen dough on a floured surface and divide into equal pieces. You can make 15 small slider-sized buns, 8 burger buns, 8 hot dog buns or any other shape you like. Once all the pieces have been rolled, cover them with a clean dish towel and set aside to rest.

While the dough is resting heat about 12 cups of water in a large pot. When it comes to a gentle boil, carefully pour the baking soda into it. It will foam and bubble vigorously.

Add the rested pieces of dough to the simmering water and poach them for about 30 seconds and then flipping them over for another 30 seconds. You may need to do this in batches.

With a slotted spoon or spatula, lift the poached buns onto a Silpat baking sheet (or a baking sheet sprayed with oil, then sprinkled with cornmeal.)  Froth egg white with a fork, then brush each bun with egg white. Using a sharp knife, make a few slits on the top of the buns, about ¼-inch deep. Sprinkle with Kosher salt, then bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHISKEY AND WHISKY

Posted: November 8, 2013 in Cocktails, Drinks, Food, mixology, Uncategorized
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As a kid, I used to read the side of a cereal box as I ate my breakfast. Nowadays, I tend to read the back label from my booze bottle as I take a sip.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the spelling of whiskey and/or whisky, but the use of the letter “e” (or the lack thereof) is not random. Here’s the best explanation I’ve found…
whiskeywhisky
The spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for those distilled in Scotland , Wales , Canada , and Japan. Whiskey (with an e; plural whiskeys) is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and in the United States as well. The BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) in 1968 specified “whisky” as the official U.S. spelling, but allowed labeling as “whiskey” in deference to tradition.  Most U.S. producers still use the “whiskey” spelling, though as you can see, Maker’s Mark chooses not to.
International law reserves the term “Scotch whisky” to those whiskies produced in Scotland. Scottish law specifies that the whisky must be aged for a minimum of three years, in oak casks. Whiskies produced in other countries in the Scotch style must use another name. Similar conventions exist for “Irish whiskey,” “Canadian whisky,” and “Bourbon whiskey.” In North America, as well as in Continental Europe, the abbreviated term “Scotch” is usually used for “Scotch Whisky.” In England, Scotland, and Wales, the term “whisky” almost always refers to “Scotch Whisky”, and the term “Scotch” is rarely used by itself.
And while we’re on the topic, what is bourbon?
Bourbon is a type of whiskey.
Today, ‘bourbon’ has a specific legal meaning that has little to do with its geographic origins.That definition, now federal law, has existed in its present form only since about the end of the 19th century. According to federal law, bourbon must be at least 51% corn, distilled at less than 160 proof, and aged for at least two years in new, charred oak barrels. (There are some other requirements, but those are the main ones.) Bourbon also must be made within the United States. In other words, a foreign product that meets all the other requirements still cannot be sold in the U.S. as bourbon.
Contrary to popular belief, there has never been a legal requirement that bourbon be made in Kentucky, which is why most Kentucky producers call their product “Kentucky Bourbon.” Today there are very few examples of non-Kentucky bourbon left: Virginia Gentleman, Bowman’s, and Woodstone Creek Straight Bourbon are a few.
Still confused? My advice is to sit back with your favorite glass of whisky, whiskey or bourbon…and just enjoy. Cheers!

PICKLING BEETS

Posted: November 6, 2013 in beets, Food, pickling, Recipes
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Growing up in a Lithuanian family, there was a small group of foods that I had to love to survive, since they constantly appeared on the dinner table: potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, herring, and beets. Fortunately for me, I loved them all, despite my Mom’s desire to boil everything to death.

One of the many uses for beets, besides a cold summer soup and a hot winter soup, was pickling. Pickled beets are an excellent side dish for any hearty meat dish. (I love ’em with kielbasa!)  Store-bought pickled beets pack way too much sugar in every jar, so it was time to make my own. The addition of hard-boiled eggs to the mix is a personal one. If you don’t like ’em, leave ’em out and add more beets.

beets

Ingredients:

4 to 8 beets, scrubbed (your favorite variety)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

3 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

1 red onion, sliced

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

6 fresh dill sprigs

Preheat the oven to 450. Wrap the beets in foil and roast for about an hour, until tender. When cool enough, carefully peel and quarter them.

In a medium saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer over moderately high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Let the pickling liquid cool to warm, about 15 minutes.

In a heatproof glass jar or container, layer the beets, onion, eggs and dill sprigs and then cover with the pickling liquid. Let stand at room temp for 2 hours, then place in fridge overnight.

They stay fresh for a week, but they won’t last that long!

SALMONELLA…SOLVED

Posted: November 2, 2013 in chicken, Food, Uncategorized
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I devour chicken at least three times week…fried, broiled, grilled, barbecued, smoked…it’s all good. But because of that, salmonella paranoia looms over my head, in part, because of the media hype: watch any cooking show and you’ll see the camera zooming in on the host, lathering up their hands, scrubbing them until they’re raw because they even glanced at a piece of chicken. It’s all to satisfy the panicky corporate lawyers so that nobody gets sued for something that can easily be avoided.

I use these steps to avoid salmonella worries in my kitchen…

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I open the plastic wrapper of the chicken in the sink. You won’t believe how much stuff splatters around when you simply unwrap the chicken. Do it in the sink and it won’t fly onto your countertop, windows, or fruit bowl.

I buy a set of very sharp and very cheap kitchen knives. These are the ones that are usually around 12 bucks for 3 knives. Unlike my expensive prized chef knife, I sanitize them by throwing them in the dishwasher and not washing them by hand. When they get dull, I toss them out and buy new ones. They’re not for every job in the kitchen, but they are perfect for any questionable food product like raw chicken.

While I’m at the store, I also buy a couple of acrylic cutting boards. The size and shape are a personal preference, but the idea is to use these boards when slicing and dicing chicken or any other nasty gooey thing. The muck stays on the board, which is easily sanitized by tossing it in the dishwasher. The last thing I want to be doing with my deluxe wooden butcher block is bleaching and scrubbing that sucker because I cut up a couple of chicken breasts on it.

Finally, I buy myself a box of cheap disposable gloves. I like the lunch lady style gloves. What? The main thing is to make sure they don’t slip off your hands while handling a sharp knife. When I’m done prepping the chicken, I just toss the gloves.

To be safe, I still rinse my hands with soap and water afterwards. But I don’t feel like I need to dip them in a vat of sulfuric acid to get them clean, and my kitchen workspace remains spotless.

Salmonella solved.

CORNED BEEF AND PASTRAMI BASICS

Posted: October 29, 2013 in barbecue, beef, brining, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, Recipes, salt, smoking, Uncategorized
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It takes about 3 weeks to make corned beef, but it’s not difficult to do. Doing it yourself gives you a better quality product than that nasty slab from the supermarket that is full of chemicals and preservatives.

Corned beef has nothing to do with corn. ‘Corning’ is a technique for preserving raw meats for long periods by soaking it in salt brine. This method was used before the days of commercial refrigeration. Back then, the large salt kernels used in the brine were called “corns.”

Brining is a time-honored way of preserving and it prevents bacteria from growing. Both pastrami and corned beef are made by this method. Both corned beef and pastrami usually start with a brisket of beef. Corned beef is then cooked–usually boiled–and served. Pastrami is made when the brined meat is rubbed  with more spices and smoked to add extra flavor. So corned beef and pastrami are the same meat, just treated differently.

Saltpeter is an ingredient that has been used in brining beef for years. It adds the traditional red coloring to the corned beef and pastrami meat. But since saltpeter can also contain carcinogens, I leave it out. The meat may not be the usual bright red color, but the flavor and texture of the meat will not be affected.

Brining the beef brisket

Brining the beef brisket

Step one: corned beef…

Ingredients:
beef brisket (about 8-10 pounds)
2 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup warm water
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mixed pickling spices
3/4 cup salt
2 quarts water

Place the brisket in a large container made of non-reactive material, like glass or plastic.

In the 1/4 cup of warm water, dissolve the sugar, minced cloves, paprika and pickling spices.

Dissolve the 3/4 cup of salt in the 2 quarts of water. Pour in the sugar/garlic/paprika/pickling spices mix and stir everything together. Pour the mixture over the meat in the container. Make sure the meat is totally beneath the surface of the liquid. (You may need to weigh it down to do this.) Cover the container.

Refrigerate the container and contents for 3 weeks, turning the meat once or twice per week. At the end of the third week, remove the container from the refrigerator and take out the meat. Soak the meat in several changes of fresh cold water over a period of 24 hours to remove the excess salt.

At this point, if you want corned beef, prepare and cook it using your favorite recipe. But I’m all about the pastrami!

Step two: making Pastrami…

pastrami

Ingredients:

Brined and rinsed corned beef brisket from above recipe, patted dry with paper towels

1/4 cup Kosher salt

1/4 cup paprika

3 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds

1 tablespoon white peppercorns

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

Combine coriander seeds, black and white peppercorns and mustard seeds in a spice grinder and grind coarsely. Place in a bowl. Add salt, paprika, brown sugar and granulated garlic. Mix well.

Rub the mix into the brisket well, covering all sides.

Heat smoker to 225 degrees and smoke for several hours using a less intense wood, like oak. When the internal temperature of the meat has reached 165 degrees, it’s done. It isn’t necessary to smoke pastrami as long as you would a regular brisket because the long brining time makes the meat tender.

It is very important that absolutely everything that comes in contact with the meat is very clean. (This includes your hands.) Also, make very sure that every inch of the meat reaches the 165 degrees before it is removed from the smoker. The corned beef is now pastrami.

CHINESE STYLE HONEY RIBS

Posted: October 25, 2013 in barbecue, Food, pork, Recipes
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You don’t have to stand by your smoker and cook for hours to have amazing ribs. As the glaze cooks down, it gets sticky, gooey and quite delicious…but use a non-stick pot if you can or you’ll be scrubbing when you should be eating!
chinese ribs
 Ingredients:
Marinade: ¾ cup light soy sauce
                     6 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
5 lbs pork ribs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks (3”)
1/2 cup honey
4 cups chicken broth
Mix marinade ingredients. Set aside.
If the ribs are large, cut them into pieces. If smaller, cluster 2 or 3 ribs together. Place in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain.
Place ribs on a sheet pan with a rack and coat with marinade. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake ribs in sheet pan with rack for 30 minutes.
While the ribs are baking, start sauce in a large non-stick pan or pot: combine lemon zest and juice, star anise, cinnamon sticks, honey and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
When ribs have finished baking, add them to the sauce pot and simmer (covered) for at least 15 minutes or until rib meat is tender.
Turn heat on high, uncover pot and cook until the sauce is reduced to a glaze that coats the ribs. Reduce heat as sauce thickens to avoid sugars in honey from burning. When the ribs are sticky and gooey, they are ready!

 

MAKING YOUR OWN COCKTAIL ONIONS

Posted: October 21, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, MARTINI, mixology, Recipes
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I love me my onions! Raw, sauteed, caramelized, yellow, Spanish, Bermuda, Vidalia, Texas Sweets, scallion, pearl, Crimini, Walla Walla…they can do no wrong. In fact, my wife and daughter gave me the Lithuanian nickname: “Ponas Svogunas.” ( “Mr. Onion.”) I answer to it proudly.

I also love me my vodka martinis! So if I’m going to buy a top shelf vodka like Stoli Elit or Chopin, I’m not going to ruin it with vermouth, whether it’s mixed in with the vodka or whether I find it inside a jar of store-bought cocktail onions.

I looked at several do-it-yourself cocktail onion recipes, but I wasn’t inspired to try any of them until I found a package of already peeled pearl onions at Whole Foods one day.

Once that time-saving ingredient was in my possession, I took the best ingredients of all the recipes I found, deleted the vermouth, and proceeded.

cocktail onions

Ingredients:

8 oz pearl onions, peeled

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seed

12 juniper berries

6 black peppercorns

3 allspice berries

3-inch fresh rosemary branch

small piece (1/4″) dried chile pepper

 

Add all the ingredients except the onions to a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, making sure the sugar and salt dissolve completely.

Add the onions to the saucepan and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the onions to cool to room temp in the liquid. Transfer the onions and liquid to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and store in the fridge. It will keep in the fridge for a month.

 

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