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KOREAN-INSPIRED BARBECUE

Posted: May 9, 2019 in barbecue, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, Recipes
Tags: barbecue, BBQ, chicken, food, grill, Korean, recipes

I’ve always been fascinated by Korean barbecue. Every time I see it on TV or catch a recipe on an e-mail blast, my mouth waters and I say to myself that I’ve got to experience it some day. But the painful reality is: Korean barbecue can be really spicy…and I’m a total wuss.

Korean barbecue 101: Gogigui means “meat roast” in Korean, and it refers to the method of roasting beef, pork, chicken, and other meats. Meats can be marinated or not. Bulgogi is the name of the most common Korean barbecue. Meat is marinated with soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and pepper, and then grilled. Galbi uses beef short ribs, and adds onions to the marinade. And the hot stuff is daeji bulgogi, because the marinade isn’t soy sauce-based, but based on the hot-n-spicy Korean chili paste known as gochujang.

All of the marinades looked delicious, but the hot one with gochujang would be my biggest challenge, so I decided to start there. I found a great recipe, and quickly realized that I would have to turn the heat way down if I was actually going to try to eat it! For example, the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of white pepper. I totally left it out. And it called for a full cup of gochujang. Not only did I cut that part in half, I doubled many of the other non-spicy ingredients.

So is it authentic Korean barbecue? Probably not. But it’s my version of it. It’s got lots a flavor and still carries a bit of heat.

For gluten-free diets: finding GF hoisin and soy sauce is easy. Look for the La Choy brand. But I haven’t been able to find gochujang that has a GF label.

3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup gochujang
1/2 cup hoisin sauce (I use gluten-free hoisin)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon freshly grated garlic (I use a garlic press)
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
4 lbs. chicken pieces

Pre-heat the oven to 500 or its top temperature.

In a bowl, mix everything but the chicken pieces. Brush the sauce onto the chicken pieces, then wrap them in aluminum foil. (I like to tear a long piece of aluminum foil and lay it on top of a sheet pan. I place the chicken pieces on the foil, brush them with sauce on all sides, then fold the foil over the chicken, making one large pouch that holds all the meat.) Leave the pouch on the sheet pan and place it in the oven. Lower the oven temp to 350.

Cook the chicken for about an hour, making sure it’s almost completely cooked. Juices should run clear, not bloody, when you poke it with a fork.

Start a hardwood fire on your grill. Push the coals to one side of the grill so you have a hot side and a cooler side with no coals underneath it. Place the chicken pieces on the cool side of the grill (if you put it on the hot side, it will stick and burn), brush with more sauce, and put the lid on the grill, making sure you have the vents open for air circulation.

See those 2 black bits in the foreground? That’s where the chicken stuck to the grill because I placed them over the hot coals. Don’t do that.

After a few minutes, lift the lid, flip the chicken pieces over, brush them with sauce again, and close the lid. Keep doing this until the chicken is nice and caramelized, with tasty grill marks.

If you want to serve some of the sauce on the side, it’s important to pour some of the sauce off and set it aside in the very beginning, so you’re not using the same sauce that the basting brush touched the raw chicken with.

DELICIOUS OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN

Posted: May 5, 2019 in buttermilk, Carnivore!, chicken, Food, frying, Recipes, wings
Tags: chicken, food, fried, recipes, wings

I love fried chicken. And despite what most people think, fried food is really not that bad for you if you fry it properly. I use clean avocado oil every time, sometimes adding bacon fat or pork fat if I have it. And I get the oil to the right temperature: two key factors that will result in crispy chicken that isn’t bogged down with grease. What makes this recipe great is that I get all the benefits of crispy fried chicken without all the grease and without standing watch over it the whole time.

You can use any chicken parts for this recipe. Fry the chicken until it just turns golden brown and then finish it in the oven.

I use gluten-free flour (Cup4Cup is my favorite) for this recipe, and it works perfectly. If you’ve got someone you love who hasn’t had real fried chicken because they’re on a gluten-free diet, they will love this. If you’re not on a GF diet, feel free to use regular all-purpose flour.

10 lbs. large chicken wings or chicken pieces
Avocado oil, for frying

For soaking:

1 quart buttermilk
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)

For the seasoned flour:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano

Open the bottle or carton of buttermilk and add 2 teaspoons of hot sauce. Close the container and shake to combine. Place the chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag, cover with the buttermilk, and seal the bag, letting the chicken soak in it for at least several hours. Overnight is best.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder, basil and oregano. Mix well.

After the chicken has soaked in the buttermilk, remove the pieces one at a time, leaving the buttermilk on them as you toss the pieces into the seasoned flour. Shake off the excess flour, and then set the pieces aside on a metal baking rack placed on a sheet pan.

If you’ve got the time, and want to make the chicken extra crispy, let the chicken pieces sit for an hour, then re-flour them before frying. If not, go right to the next step.

Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stock pot to a depth of 1-inch. Heat the oil to 360 degrees on a thermometer.

Working in batches, place the chicken pieces in the oil, being careful not to overcrowd them. Fry the chicken until it is golden brown on both sides, then place each piece back on the metal baking rack set on the sheet pan.

Once all the chicken has been fried, place the sheet pan in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until it’s fully cooked and crispy.

Feast!

THE BEST OF TWO CLASSIC PASTA DISHES

Posted: April 21, 2019 in carbonara, fleur de sel, Food, guanciale, Italian, pork, pork jowl, pork jowls, Recipes
Tags: alfredo, carbonara, chicken, food, guanciale, Italian, pasta, recipes

Easter Sunday nightmare at the airport: my wife is stuck in Florida, and it looks like she won’t be home until after midnight. So, our Sunday brunch as a family will have to wait until another time.

My daughter just got back from a little vacation of her own yesterday, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to cook whatever she wanted. (I already knew it was going to be this dish!)

Spaghetti alla Carbonara and Fettuccine Alfredo are my daughter’s two favorite pasta dishes. When she couldn’t decide which one she wanted for dinner one night, I decided that she’d get both! (Yes, I spoil her rotten!)

The addition of chicken and peas made for a more balanced plate. This is now one of my go-to dishes when guests arrive, since many parts can be prepared ahead of time. And the gluten-free version tastes as good the original!

Start with the chicken…

The breading for the chicken uses gluten-free bread that I’ve toasted, crumbled and put into a food processor to make breadcrumbs. (I use Udi’s frozen GF bread, found in any supermarket.) I get a lot more flavor this way than using store-bought breadcrumbs from a can. I add gluten-free flour to it to lighten it up. Cup4Cup is by far the best GF flour I’ve tried.

If you’re not on a gluten-free diet, simply use regular breadcrumbs and all-purpose flour in the same proportions.

1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cut into 1″ pieces
1 egg, scrambled
1/2 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
1/2 cup gluten-free flour (I use Cup4Cup)
3 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
olive oil, for frying

Scramble the egg in a bowl. Cut the chicken into pieces, and add them to the egg, making sure they get evenly coated. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs, flour, parsley, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Fill a pan with about an inch of olive oil. Heat to medium-high, for frying.

In batches not to overcrowd the pan, take the chicken pieces out of the egg and toss them in the bread crumb mixture, shaking off the excess. Place them carefully in the hot oil and fry on both sides until golden. Since they’re small pieces, they should cook all the way through easily. Drain on a plate covered with paper towels. Do this with all the chicken and set it aside. Try not to eat it all before you make the rest of the dish! (This chicken can also be eaten as is–these are my daughter’s favorite nuggets–or used with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese to make a delicious chicken parmigiana.)

The carbonara factor…

Many recipes for Spaghetti alla Carbonara use pancetta or bacon. But the original recipe calls for guanciale: cured (but not smoked) pig jowls, or cheeks. It’s easy enough to find in a good Italian food store, but I cure my own. I buy raw heritage Berkshire pork jowls from a farm that raises the pigs humanely, and cure the jowls for about 3 weeks in a combination of salt, pepper and fresh thyme leaves. Then I rinse them, pat them dry, and cut them into portion-sized pieces, wrapping them individually and freezing until I need them. It’s a lot of work, but to me, totally worth it.

3 oz. guanciale

If the guanciale is frozen, let it thaw just a little, then cut it into the smallest cubes you can manage. Place it in a pan and cook them until they’ve browned and crisped beautifully. Keep an eye on the pan, as guanciale can burn easily. Use the fried meat bits for this recipe and save the fat for flavoring a future dish! Set aside.

The Alfredo sauce…

Despite what you get in crappy restaurants like Olive Garden, Alfredo sauce should not be runny or soupy. It should cling to the pasta and be rich in flavor. When making this dish gluten-free, I use Garofalo gluten-free pasta exclusively, because it tastes just like real pasta. (Believe me, I’ve tried every GF pasta out there.) I buy mass quantities at Amazon.

If you’re not on a GF diet, simply use your favorite regular pasta.

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter
Fleur de Sel or sea salt
1 lb. pasta, fresh or dried
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Put 2/3 of the cream and all the butter in a large saucepan that will later accommodate all the pasta. Simmer over medium heat for less than a minute, until the butter and cream have thickened a bit. Turn off the heat.

Drop the pasta in a bowl of boiling salted water. If the pasta is fresh, it will take just seconds. If it’s dry, it will take a few minutes. (Gluten-free pasta takes a little longer.) Either way, you want to cook the pasta even firmer than al dente, because it will finish cooking in the pan with the butter and cream. Drain the pasta immediately when it reaches that firm stage, and transfer it to the pan with the butter and cream, tossing the pasta gently for a few seconds to coat.

Turn the heat under the saucepan with the pasta on low, and add the rest of the cream, all the Parmigiano Reggiano, and a bit of pepper (no salt because there’s plenty in the guanciale and cheese.) Toss briefly until the sauce has thickened and the pasta is well-coated.

At this point, you don’t want the pasta to get to dry, so you add…

1 cup of frozen peas

…tossing gently to warm them through. Also add the cooked guanciale at this time.

Plate the pasta in a bowl or dish and serve the chicken alongside.

CHILI DOGS

Posted: April 18, 2019 in bacon, beef, Carnivore!, Food, Recipes, restaurants, Rhode Island
Tags: chile, food, hot dogs, recipes, weiners

Growing up in New York, we just called them chili dogs. But when I moved to New England, they called them Coney Island dogs. Here in Rhode Island, they’re hot weiners. In fact, the Olneyville NY System restaurant has made it to “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with Guy Fieri, “Bizarre Foods” with Andrew Zimmern, and even won the 2014 James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award.

A weiner. All that. Because it is all that.

Nothing beats going to the Olneyville NY System in lovely Olneyville, RI. But if you’re not fond of having your dogs lined all the way up the cook’s hairy arm…or if you’d rather just enjoy them at home…it’s really not that tough to do. You may not have the atmosphere that only a 70-year tradition can bring, but it’ll be pretty damn tasty nonetheless.

Of course, you can buy a packet of their special spices, but that’s cheating, isn’t it?

My chili sauce adds a few ingredients that you won’t find elsewhere. That’s OK. Yours should, too.

1 lb. ground beef (I use grass-fed beef, no leaner than 80/20)
2 strips bacon, finely chopped

1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chile powder

8 hot dogs
8 hot dog buns

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
chopped Vidalia onion (optional)
celery salt (optional)

I like to put the dog under the broiler to melt the cheese before I use the other toppings.

Leave the bacon grease left over from frying the bacon in the pan. Turn up the heat, add the ground beef and cook it all the way through, crumbling it up as much as you can. Add the chopped bacon to the pan and mix well.

In a large saucepan, pour in the can of tomatoes and chop them up with a spatula. Add the Worcestershire, onion flakes, garlic, mustard, black pepper, and chile powder. Mix well. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and add the cooked beef and bacon to the sauce. Keep chopping and breaking down the tomatoes every time you stir the sauce. (A potato masher works well for this, too.)

Cover the pot and let it simmer for at least an hour, stirring often.

What kind of hot dogs you should use for this is a matter of personal preference. The folks at Olneyville use their own special brand of all-beef dog. I love the pork hot dogs I get when I go home to Long Island and stop by the Forest Pork Store in Huntington, NY. It’s yet another amazing food store where my Mom would always go to buy cold cuts, especially liverwurst, and their delicious hot dogs and cocktail franks. They’ve been in that location for a long time, and it’s a must-stop when I go home to visit my Mom.

Ultimately, you should pick the hot dog you like! Being a native New Yorker, if I don’t have any of the Forest Pork Store dogs in my freezer, I go to the supermarket and buy the foot-long dogs from Nathan’s. Classic!

Boil or steam the dogs, place them on the buns (On your arm or not is up to you! Don’t blame me for any third-degree burns!) And pour some of the chile sauce on top. Sprinkle some of the cheddar cheese on top, and put the sandwich under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Then add the chopped Vidalias, and celery salt (optional, but I use ’em both!)

CURING AND SMOKING YOUR OWN BACON

Posted: April 14, 2019 in bacon, breakfast, Carnivore!, Food, frying, pork, smoking
Tags: bacon, carnivore, curing, food, pig, pork, pork belly, recipes, smoking

Well, it’s good to be back home after a nice getaway in St. Lucia. Please check out my previous blogs for my day-to-day adventures. I’ll have more to say in a future blog.

One of the first things I needed to do when I got home was to have a look at food items I needed to re-stock…and bacon was high on the list!

Fortunately, I started curing a beautiful slab of Berkshire pork belly a couple of weeks ago, and it was ready for the smoker today. With the doors open here at home, I can smell the hickory wood wafting through the yard. Hope I’m making the neighbors jealous!

Let’s face it: there are few foods as magical as bacon. Add bacon to just about any dish you’re preparing, and it elevates it to incredible new heights of flavor. The BLT is possibly the greatest food combination ever invented: just a few simple, fresh ingredients, when placed together, transforming into one of the greatest sandwiches on planet Earth.

BLT wraps: home-cured and smoked bacon, local farmstead romaine, home garden tomatoes.

If I’m buying bacon, I go on-line to Burger’s Smokehouse, a family run business in Missouri that has made great bacon for decades. The prices are good, and they include shipping. (www.smokehouse.com) I buy in quantity and freeze what I don’t need right away. My favorite is the thick-sliced country bacon “steaks.”

But nothings beats making your own.

Bacon comes from the pork belly, and they’re easy to find in any good butcher shop. But to get something a notch above, I’ll buy a heritage breed, like Berkshire pork, from Heritage Pork International. (www.heritagepork.com) I follow the simple curing techniques outlined in “Charcuterie,” a great book written by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

To cure bacon, all you really need is salt and sugar, and what they in the curing biz call “pink salt,” which is not to be confused with salt that happens to be pink, like Himalayan salt you would find in a gourmet store. Pink salt is bright pink to let you know that it’s a special salt that should only be used in small quantities for curing. The reason is: nitrites. Nitrites delay the spoilage of the meat, and help keep the flavors of spices and smoke. They also keep the meat nice and pink instead of an unappetizing gray. That’s good. But nitrites can break down into nitrosamines, which have been known to cause cancer in lab animals. But let’s face it: you would need to eat a ton of cured meat to really worry about this. (I buy uncured deli meats and hot dogs at the supermarket, because processed meats are a different story. But since I know exactly what goes into my own bacon, I’m not worried about the level of nitrites.)

To make the basic dry cure:

1/2 lb. kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar or turbinado sugar
1 oz. pink curing salt

Mix the ingredients well. An important note: all salts do not all weigh the same, so go by the weight and not a cup measurement. I keep this basic dry cure stored in my pantry, ready to use when I need it.

When it’s time to be making’ the bacon, I combine the above rub with other ingredients to make my bacon rub.

My bacon rub:

1/2 cup basic dry rub

1/2 cup brown sugar or turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

Mix these ingredients well (yes, there’s quite a bit of sugar there, but I like my bacon a little sweet!) Rub it generously all over the pork belly.

I have a large plastic container with a lid that fits one slab of pork belly perfectly. I place the belly inside it, put the lid on, and place the container in the fridge. The pork belly stays there for at least a couple of weeks, maybe three. I flip the belly every few days. You’ll see that the salt will draw moisture out of the meat and form a brine. This brine will continue to cure your pork belly, so leave it in there. Just flip it, put the lid back on the container, and back in the fridge.

In two or three weeks, once the pork belly has been cured, wash the brine off the meat, and pat it dry with paper towels. Now it’s time to cook. You can simply cook the pork belly at 200 degrees for about 2 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. I place the pork belly in a digital smoker, which allows me to set an exact temperature. I smoke it at 250 degrees for 2 hours, using hickory chips.

Bellies in the smoker.

Smoked bacon!

That’s it. You have achieved bacon!

The reward is so worth the effort. Just remember that you still need to slice the bacon and fry it. Don’t eat it straight out of the smoker. That first slice you cut off your bacon and toss in a pan to lightly fry for a few moments will be the best bite you’ve ever had in your life!

And if you’re making one slab of bacon, why not make it three or four? It freezes well. And…you will eat it. You know you will!

Frying in the pan!

PORK RIBS WITH A BALSAMIC BARBECUE SAUCE

Posted: April 5, 2019 in barbecue, Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
Tags: balsamic, barbecue, food, pork, recipes, ribs

Off on a vacation for a few days, so I’m posting this a bit early. But let’s face it: weekends are for ribs, and even if you don’t have the grill ready for the season yet, you can enjoy this recipe because the ribs bake in the oven.

The balsamic vinegar I use in this recipe is not the super-expensive stuff that should only be drizzled at the very end for a Caprese salad. I use the $9-a-bottle stuff that you can find in any supermarket. Good quality, and I try to find one from Modena, Italy, the world headquarters of balsamic vinegar.

3 lbs. pork ribs (I like the St. Louis cut)
4 cloves garlic, minced or through a press
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Place the ribs in a roasting pan, cutting the racks in half if you need to, to make them fit.

In a bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and salt, and then rub the mixture evenly all over the ribs.

Let the ribs marinate for an hour at room temperature or longer in the fridge.

Marinated ribs, ready for the oven.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat it to 425. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the roasting pan with the ribs and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Roast the ribs until the meat is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

While the ribs are roasting, make the barbecue sauce…

1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons hot sauce (I like Frank’s)
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

Place the balsamic vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook the vinegar until it is reduced by a third, about 8 minutes.

Whisk in the ketchup, apple cider vinegar, honey, mustard, molasses, Worcestershire, hot sauce and salt. Bring the sauce back to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer until it has thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

After baking, brush the ribs with the barbecue sauce.

Remove the ribs from the oven and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil.

Increase the oven temperature to 450 .

Brush both sides of the ribs generously with the barbecue sauce and bake them uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the sauce is browned and sizzling.

Delicious balsamic ribs!

Leftover barbecue sauce is great for dipping the ribs in!

PICKLING BEETS

Posted: April 3, 2019 in beets, Food, pickling, Recipes
Tags: beets, food, pickling, recipes

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.

A real time saver is a product called Love Beets, which you can find in any supermarket. If you use them, you can skip the roasting of the beets altogether.

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 (optional)
6 fresh dill sprigs

Pre-heat the oven to 450. Wrap the beets in foil and roast for about an hour, until tender. When they’re cool enough, carefully peel and quarter them. (If you’re using Love Beets, just open the package!)

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

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

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

“COPE” CHOPS: FEEDING HUNGRY DJs FOR ALMOST 4 DECADES!

Posted: March 31, 2019 in barbecue, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, Recipes
Tags: barbecue, chops, food, grilling, pork, recipes

“Cope” chops are the creation of my long-time radio buddy, Marc Coppola, who can be heard from Cape Cod to California. Cope and I started in radio at WBAB on Long Island back in the early 80’s. He had the afternoon drive shift, and I was on after him from 7 to midnight. After his show, Cope would remove a hibachi grill out of the trunk of his car, light some charcoal in the radio station parking lot, and he’d grill up the most amazing pork chops I’ve ever had. They were thin, but juicy and beautifully charred, with a wonderful saltiness. He called ’em “Cope chops,” and we’d eat them by the stack, wrapping the hot bone of the chop with a paper towel, and then just chowing down. It was a great memory, and one that I regularly re-live by grilling Cope chops at home even today.

After three decades, I’m not sure if my Cope chop recipe is the same as the original, but they are damn good and incredibly easy to make.

Ironically, for this recipe, I don’t go all out and spend big money on thick, expensive pork chops. I want them thin, fatty and with the bone in. This is not a low-and-slow process: the secret to the success of these chops is to cook them hot and fast, sealing in the juices.

Thin-cut pork chops

Dry white wine (I use an unoaked inexpensive chardonnay; many Australian brands to choose from)

Lawry’s seasoned salt

Place the pork chops in a flat bowl, and pour the wine over the top, making sure you cover the chops. Let them marinate for at least an hour at room temperature, flipping them over halfway through so that all sides get covered by the wine.

Light a hot hardwood charcoal fire.

Pour off the wine from the chops and discard. Place the chops on the hot grill and season the top with the Lawry’s seasoned salt. Once they’ve charred nicely, flip the chops over and season the other side. Grill until the chops are cooked all the way through, but not dry. Serve immediately.

The proper way to eat a Cope chop: wrap the bone in a paper towel and chow down!

MY TANDOORI CHICKEN ADVENTURE

Posted: March 28, 2019 in Food, frying, Recipes
Tags: chicken, food, Idian, recipes, tandoori

I love foods from all over the world, but I’m pretty clueless about Indian cuisine. My one experience at an Indian restaurant was in New York City many years ago, where I was served very dry, very spicy grilled chicken. It didn’t thrill me.

Recently, I spotted a recipe that looked like something I could handle first time around: “Indian Cooking 101,” if you will. It uses the traditional 2-step tandoori process of marinating: first, with the spices and then with yogurt for tenderizing. Using chicken thighs and drumsticks (as opposed to breast meat) meant the chicken would be flavorful and juicy. And frying in oil meant a crispy skin. I was ready!

Since the pieces of chicken I used were rather large, I fried the chicken only to get a nice golden color on the outside. Then the meat went into the oven to finish cooking all the way through.

This recipe requires marinating for a full 24 hours, so plan ahead!

5 garlic cloves, chopped
one 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
the juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying (I like to use avocado oil mixed with a little pork lard)
2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon later
1 teaspoon pepper
5 lbs. chicken thighs and drumsticks
1 1/2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups chickpea flour

fresh cilantro sprigs and lime wedges, for garnishing

In a food processor or blender, combine the garlic, ginger, lemon, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Blend until smooth.

Place the chicken pieces in a large Ziploc bag and add the marinade, mixing well so that every bit of the chicken gets coated with the spices. (I like to use gloves for this messy job.)

Place the Ziploc in the fridge and marinate the chicken for 12 hours.

After 12 hours, add the yogurt to the bag, mixing well, and return it to the fridge for another 12 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Set a rack over a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the chickpea flour and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan, heat about 2″ of the oil to 325 degrees on a thermometer.

When the oil reaches the right temperature, take the pieces of chicken out of the bag one by one, letting the excess drip off back into the bag before dredging the chicken in the flour. Shake off the excess, and carefully place the chicken pieces in the hot oil, working in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan.

Fry the chicken until golden brown, flipping once. You don’t need to cook it all the way through, just to brown it nicely. Place the browned pieces on the baking sheet with the rack.

Once all the chicken has fried, place the baking sheet in the oven and cook the chicken until each piece registers about 160 degrees.

Place the chicken on a plate, then garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

Other stuff…

Chaat masala is a spice powder mix that typically contains dried mango powder, cumin, coriander, dried ginger, salt, black pepper, chili powder and more. It’s commonly used at the end of cooking a dish like this as a sprinkling on top. Since the only jar I could find contained 1/2 lb., way too much for my needs, I chose to leave it out.

Despite that coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant, the two are not interchangeable in cooking. Coriander seed has a lemony essence when ground. Always good to have in the pantry.

CANTONESE DUCK

Posted: March 23, 2019 in Carnivore!, Food, Recipes
Tags: Cantonese, chinese, duck, food, fowl, recipes

This is basically my Cantonese chicken recipe, which I based on my love of Peking duck. But, for whatever reason, I never tried this recipe on duck before. Recently, I went home to Long Island to visit my Mom, and I stopped by one of the great food stores of my life: Miloski’s Poultry Farm in Calverton, NY.

I’ve been coming to Miloski’s since I was a kid. My Dad would buy his ducks there and Grandpa Miloski, the guy that started it all, would serve us. Over the years, grandpa made way for his son, and now the son is retired and the grandson has taken over the business. All along the way, one thing hasn’t changed: the excellent quality of their product.

My uncle Antanas passed away years ago, but when it came to being a true foodie, this guy put all others to shame. Besides being the only hunter in our family (my first taste of venison was at his table) he had several huge freezers in the basement of his Richmond Hill, Queens, home back in the day. He would drive to Miloski’s and buy 50 ducks at a time, and bring them home to freeze. Very often, after I finished Lithuanian school on a Saturday, my uncle would invite our family over for dinner, and we’d all sit around a massive table where no less than 5 ducks would be cooked and served, along with all the fixings. That’s just a taste of my Miloski memories.

I try to stop at Miloski’s every time I pass through. I bring cash, because Miloski’s doesn’t take credit cards! I have a long ride home, first on the Cross Sound ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT…and then an hour-and-a-half on the highway from there. I bring a cooler and I buy a bag of ice along the way.

Miloski’s sells all kinds of exotic meats, like wild boar and ostrich. But I go for their delicious kielbasa, pierogis, and now: duck!

1 whole duck, thawed, about 5 lbs.

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce

4 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Remove all the giblets from the bird and cook them up for your dog, like I do for my buddy, Fellow. (Leave out anything with bones, of course.)

Rub the soy sauce first all over the duck. (It will absorb the flavors better if you do it before you rub the bird with the oil.) Then rub the peanut oil all over the duck.

Rubbed and ready to go in the oven!

Combine the Chinese five spice, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Season the entire bird, including inside the cavity, with this mixture.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the duck in a pan lined with aluminum foil (cleanup will be easier.)

Reduce the oven temperature to 250 once you put the duck in the oven, and then cook it low and slow for up to 4 hours…or more.

Meanwhile, combine the hoisin sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. When the duck is about 15 minutes away from being done, brush it with the hoisin/sesame oil mixture. Cook it another 15 minutes until the bird has a nice dark glaze.

Let the duck rest about 15 minutes before carving.

Perfectly delicious!

Can you get salmonella from duck? In a word: depends! It used to be that salmonella was only found in the intestinal tracts of chickens. But because ducks are often raised in areas where chicken live, cross-contamination is very possible. Even if the birds live totally separate lives, cross-contamination can also happen in slaughterhouses. So…despite the fact that many say you can eat duck meat that’s pink, I prefer not to. I’ll tell you this: there’s quite a bit of fat in an average duck, so even if you cook the bird to medium-well, it will be delicious and juicy….and the skin will be fantastically crispy. Be safe!

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