A Foodie's Adventure

Hooray! I've Burnt Dinner Again!

2008-08-13T20:01:00.001-07:00

With Wifey away at Puppy School tonight, I thought I'd whip up something nice for her to come home to - a steak variant of one of my all-time favorite dishes: schnitzel. Honestly, if I had boneless pork chops, I would have tried making traditional schnitzel, but one must do the best one can with the resources available, so beef was the target of my culinary deviancy.

The recipe was pretty simple - beat the meat to desired flatness, dredge in flour, dredge in beaten egg, dredge in bread crumbs, then fry in a skillet with 1/4 cup oil.

Yeah, right... I prepare the meat, do the proper dredging, heat the oil, and "start to set the meat to cookin'! YeeeeeeHaaaaa!" For one shining moment, I am the Dinner God. For one brief moment in time, I feel like all the celebrity cooks I've ever seen on TV. I feel like I'm Bobby Flay, whipping up some obscure Cuban dish with talapia and roasted chili peppers. Or Rachael Ray, fighting back the urge to turn to some non-existent camera and say how easy this meal is to prepare in under 30 minutes. I threw the first "faux schnitel" in the pan, thinking that a couple of minutes on each side should adequately complete the cooking.

As it turned out, I preheated the oil at a much higher temperature than should be used. After a couple of minutes in the oil, one side of my first "faux schnitzel" was damn-near black from charring. I quickly flipped it over, thinking to myself, "if I reduce the cooking time for this side, I should be able to salvage this shipwreck of an entree'". No such luck, the damage was done. The first cut of meat emerged from the skillet looking like something I had intentionally set ablaze in the morning, then left it to burn for most of the day, just to come back, scratching my head, and asking, "I wonder why THAT happened?"

The second and third pieces of meat were, in turn, added to the frying pan. I was rewarded with similar results, despite turning the stove's burner down "a notch". Careful planning and preparation on my part has yielded three charcoal-like hunks of breaded meat the likes of which would more likely be appropriate as spare pucks in a minor-league hockey game. They're hard enough!

Without missing a beat, I started baking some tator tots in the oven. At least we can enjoy an item from the typical school lunch menu! If there's one thing I can do, that's tots!

Radioguy's Original Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce

2008-05-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe for my original Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce. It's a variation on my Original Ricochet BBQ Sauce.

Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
12 ounces tomato paste
12 ounces beer, any brand
1 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ounce liquid smoke

Directions
In a 2-quart saucepan or pot, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lime juice, vegetable oil, Worchestershire sauce, tomato paste, and beer. In a food processor or spice grinder, mix the onion and garlic, then add to the sauce mixture. Heat all ingredients to boiling, add liquid smoke, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Radioguy's Original Ricochet BBQ Sauce

2008-05-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe for the first of my wildly successful line of BBQ sauces.

Radioguy's Original Ricochet BBQ Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
12 ounces tomato paste
12 ounces beer, any brand
1 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions
In a 2-quart saucepan or pot, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lime juice, vegetable oil, Worchestershire sauce, tomato paste, and beer. In a food processor or spice grinder, mix the onion and garlic, then add to the sauce mixture. Heat all ingredients to boiling, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

To add extra "heat" to the sauce...
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
hot sauce (to taste)

Radioguy's Sweet & Tangy Ricochet BBQ Sauce

2008-05-09T18:05:00.001-07:00

This one doesn't use any ketchup or other tomato-based items. I call it Radioguy's Sweet & Tangy Ricochet BBQ Sauce!

Ingredients
1 packet taco seasoning
1 cup white sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cilantro (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (optional)
1-2 dashes hot sauce (to taste)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small pot. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour into releasable bottles and store in the refrigerator until needed.

Radioguy's Sweet & Smokey Ricochet BBQ Sauce

2008-04-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here's another BBQ sauce for you to enjoy:

Radioguy's Sweet & Smokey Ricochet BBQ Sauce

INGREDIENTS
2 cups ketchup
1 tbls. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup + 2 tbls. brown sugar
1 tbls. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbls. lemon juice
2 tbls. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tbls. steak sauce (optional)
1/4 tsp. dry mustard

DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot. Place sauce pot on stove at medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1 hour, or to desired thickness.

Radioguy's Ricochet Raspberry BBQ Sauce

2008-04-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

Just in time for grilling season, here's a new BBQ sauce from Yours-Truly:

Radioguy’s Ricochet Raspberry BBQ Sauce

Ingredients
½ cup raspberry jam
½ sugar
½ cup honey
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
20 drops hot pepper sauce
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp liquid smoke
1 tbs. vegetable oil

Directions
In a saucepan, combine jam, sugar, honey, Worcester sauce, ketchup, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt, pepper and vegetable oil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened.

Radioguy's Mustard & Molasses BBQ Sauce

2008-03-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

With the weather getting warmer, and the BBQ season approaching, I've begun my yearly ritual of concocting homemade sauces for ribs, steaks, chicken and fish. My first attempt of the year, which occurred Saturday, was to recreate a great sauce of mine for use in an "all-day crock pot country ribs" recipe my wife does brilliantly. The sauce is a mustard and molasses sauce. Here's the recipe:

Radioguy's Mustard & Molasses BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon salt or salt substitute
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup black strap molasses
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation

Combine dry ingredients in a food processor and mix/grind until the mixture obtains an even consistency (ground pretty fine), then place dry mixture into a medium-sized saucepan. Add the wet ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (so as the molasses and sugar don't burn the bottom of the saucepan). Pour into a glass jar (I use an empty 16 oz. beer bottle with a ceramic stopper).

This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months. It is also great with chicken, hot dogs, ham, etc.

Sweet Rice - Thai Food Fun

2008-02-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, Wifey and I were invited to Oak Harbor for the grand opening of a new Thai restaurant there - Sweet Rice. Great atmosphere, great food!

As I found out, the restaurant is a family affair, with the cooks and most of the wait staff from the same Thai family. We were greeted warmly, served complimentary glasses of "Thai Iced Tea" while pondered over the menu, and one of the family's daughters, a friend of Wifey's who served as matre'd, sat down with us to discuss the food and make sure we were happy diners. Now, I've had Thai food on only a few previous occasions, and none of it was made from scratch, as was the food at Sweet Rice. Talk about fantastic!

We thought it wise to start with the appetizer sampler plate. Within a few minutes, we had before us a great selection - crab rangoon, chicken satay, crunchy tofu, calamari, and spring rolls, with three dipping sauces (a sweet pepper sauce, a Thai peanut sauce, and what I think was a spicy Thai BBQ sauce).

For a main course, Wifey selected curried prawns and scallops - one "star" out of four for hotness - and I chose the Phad Kea Mao (stir fried broad wheat noodles with assorted veggies) - four stars for me. While it is not uncommon for me to order my food extra spicy, I did go out of my comfort zone by ordering my stir fry with squid, which I seldom ever do, as I usually get rubbery seafood. Not so with the squid at Sweet Rice. The food was amazing! And the portions were incredible - we ate until stuffed, and still had more on our plates (which we promptly took home for later). I also must mention that the prices were very reasonable - the full meal for both of us cost less than $50, which, for food of that caliber, is a bargain.

A sad reality is that the majority of new restaurants tanking within months of opening. I dearly hope that Sweet Rice is among those that not only succeeds, but does so greatly. I don't get out of the house much, especially to go somewhere to eat, but as I told my wife, Sweet Rice was worth the drive!

Fried Love

2008-02-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

A few years back, I got my hands on a home oil fryer. One of those "perfect for making french fries at home" affairs.

Excited to fry half of the foodstuffs in the refrigerator, I set to work... And failed miserably. After following the fryers directions to the letter, and preparing deep-frying batter per recipe, I attempted to fry something simple, yet common to the "batter fried stuff" family of foods - veggies. The soggy, flammable result of my first attempt was quickly thrown out, as to not embarrass myself in front of my wife, who had been quick to remind me just how much we had paid for the fryer in the first place. I was on a mission, then, to make the investment really worthwhile.

Month after month, I came back to the deep fryer, trying different batter recipes and foodstuffs to fry, resulting - time and again - with soggy, over- (or under-) cooked food.

Tonight, I seemed to hit the proverbial jackpot. A simple batter for shrimp, oil heated to the right temp, and some baby shrimp to fry. Three minutes of frying time for each batch of 10 small shrimp, and the result was a lightly battered, oh-so-crispy and not overdone entree', as part of a larger pan-asian meal for my wife and I.

Hooray! I've done it!

The Quest For A New Knife Continues

2008-01-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

Whilst Shun and Global knives seem to be very hard to come by (locally), I'm starting to investigate getting some knives from F. Dick. Check out their website here.

BETTER ENJOY YOUR FOIE GRAS NOW

2008-01-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Confidential

2008-01-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

My sister, bless her heart, got me the audiobook version of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" for Christmas. I had just read the book, and she was concerned that I wouldn't like her gift to me. By no means did I not appreciate it! I started listening to it on the way home from our family Christmas gathering, and I've not only finished the audio book (listening to the CDs in the car and at home), but I'm listening to it a second time. The more I hear it, the more I soak in.

One Good Knife

2007-12-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

As an amateur cook for many years, I have always, always, been frustrated by the quality of the knives at my disposal - "chef knives" included in less-than-sturdy sets of cutlery in wooden knife blocks along with serrated "utility" knives, bread knives, and steak knives. All-in-one collections of mediocrity. Over the years, as I have replaced one dull set of knives with another, those knives that actually held any sort of an edge migrated from the knife block to the top drawer in the kitchen closest to the stove-top. About twenty years of trying to cook the right way in my own home have resulted in a few half-decent knives, but nothing truly worthy of the recipes I have attempted or wish to attempt. What I want, what I need, is one good knife.

Anthony Bourdain, in his tell-all/memoir, Kitchen Confidential, implores to the reader that the primary tool a home-chef needs in order to cook like the Big Guys is one good chef knife - this simple suggestion of his hit me like a crack over the head with a full bottle of merlot - getting my hands on one really good chef knife would free me of the small armory of crap I've built up over the years. His suggestion spoke to the amateur cook in me in a manner that has started me on a quest to rid myself of the cutlery baggage I've accumulated from years of buying knives in bulk. Bourdain suggested a single chef knife from Global. Alton Brown, another of my favorite TV Food personalities, swears by Shun knives. Both brands are incredibly good, but very expensive.

Family Foodstuffs

2007-12-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

The Holiday Season, for most, means family gettogethers. And that, if you're like me, means lots of family foodstuffs. At Christmastime, my mother's side of the family (a stocky clan of half-Swedish, half-Norwegian ancestry) gathers at my parents' home in Auburn, overlooking a small swath of the Green River, and we eat... a lot.

And most of the food we eat is the same food we grew up with - small teacakes, deviled eggs by the gross, baked beans slow-cooked with pounds of bacon, and some "old-world" favorites, like Swedish pancakes, krumkake (pronounced, "crum-kaka"), and other flour- or cream-based sundries that are white in color and go great with lutefisk or a cured ham. Nothing fancy, dressed-up, or "gourmet" at the dinner table for my family - it's simple food, most of which comes from recipes handed down from generation to generation. A good deal of our Christmastime eats are really a kind of semi-ethnic comfort food.

Before, during, and after our yuletide meal, conversation across the dinner table usually centers on food, but (except for the occasional, "these are great beans!") not about the food we are eating. With the recent advent of the celebrity TV chef, my family tends to talk a lot about who their favorite Food Network chef is, or how TV cooking show host Paula Deen seems to start every recipe with two sticks of butter, or the virtues of store-bought southwestern spice mix versus making the same from scratch using a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. And a lot of the non-traditional dishes my family brings to the table indeed come from watching too much Food Network. "Oh, you like that bean casserole? I got the recipe from Rachel Ray." This year, during the "who's your favorite TV chef" conversation, I threw a monkey wrench into the mix, much to the quiet dismay of those within earshot. The conversation went something like this:

"Paula Deen has got a great recipe for ham", one family member would say.
"Have you watched Semi-Homemade Cooking? The host of the show does interesting things with cans of creamed corn", another would say.
"I found a great low-carb recipe for something or other", comes the voice next to me.
Seizing an opportunity to contribute to this session of fawning over chefs, I pipe in with, "yanno, I've been watching this great program by Anthony Bourdain. He travels the world, eating a lot raw fish and hooves and snouts. Great stuff. I'm halfway through another book of his, and he really makes those Food Network folks look like non-chefs."
The silence afterward was palpable and lasted for what seemed like an eternity, only to be broken with another "those baked beans you brought are wonderful! Did you get that recipe from Paula Deen?"

Now, I'm not saying that anything you may glean from watching one of those Food Network folks is not good food. Hell, at Thanksgiving, I wanted to bring a quick-to-prepare spinach souffle-in-phyllo-cups affair I got from watching the obsessive compulsive Sandra Lee one afternoon. It's good food, and in most cases, an easy thing to whip together for a quick family meal. My comments about Bourdain were merely to imply that, to me, those TV recipes are a starting point toward better things, and not something to replace the time-honored family recipes that family gatherings hinge upon. Still, though, I'd much rather have a two-sticks-of-butter dish in front of me than jello-mold.

Uber Meat

2007-12-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

Recently, my wife treated me to a treat I can only describe as Uber Meat. Ah, Uber Meat, the flavorful, just tender enough, meat-eating experience that can only be obtained by consuming a thick, medium-rare cut of cow. No chicken breast, nor pork chop, nor cut of seafood, no matter how seasoned and prepared, can compare to a heapin' hunk of beef that cries "moo" when you dive in with knife and fork.

My journey toward Uber Meat enlightenment has spanned my near 40 years of existence on this plane. Decades of medium to well-done steaks, under the precautionary banners of "fear of food contamination", "fear of food poisoning", and "just cook it through to make sure it won't kill you afterward" dotted my quest for moo-meat Nirvana. Growing up, I was blessed with parents who loved to cook a delightful array of dishes, but when it came to beef, what I come to consider Uber Meat was not on the menu.

A journey to Canada a couple of years ago, and my first plate of true prime rib, changed my perception of moo-meat forever. That simple dish introduced me to a bevy of flavors and textures that danced on my tongue like a caffeine-addicted Beatnik poet out of control until his brain explodes. With the first bite, my perception of what makes a good hunk of meat changed forever. Yes, it was that good. I had, finally, obtained the paragon of meat-loving goodness that is Uber Meat.

Fast-forward to present-day. When BBQ'ing or otherwise preparing a thick cut of cow, I insist on having mine medium-rare (some restaurants I have frequented cook their beef a touch more than tradition dictates, so I tell them, "make mine rare, you scorchers of cow!")... This week, my wife (who loves Uber Meat as much as I) cooked up some thick steaks just the way they should be done - broiled in the oven until medium-rare, and served with a simple side dish, in this case a rice pilaf. Such a prepared steak does not need sauces or spices. The flavor of the meat speaks for itself, almost to the point that a side dish would distract from how damn good the meat is. When prepared correctly, serving anything with Uber Meat merely provides a means to have an item in your meal that's from another food group. Nutritionists insist on veggies and such with your dinner. I say, "hell no!" For an orgasmic experience for the taste buds, all that's necessary is the Uber Meat.

A Foodie's Adventure

2007-12-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks for checking out this new blog of mine. For years now, I've working and managing blogs that deal with everything from political audio posts by a member of the Band of Brothers, to video clips from across the world wide web, to miscellaneous and sundry items. This blog is intended to chronicle my journey from mere food-lover to full-blown foodie. There's lots of cuisine to cover. I intend to submit lots of recipes for my fellow food-lovers. Perhaps my entries can inspire you to become a foodie, too.