Taco Salad

I was hungry for taco salad and I have some leftover chili, queso dip, and salad fixins. I took some flour tortillas and formed them into bowls, then baked in the oven. Assembled the salads with fresh avocado slices on top. Oh yea, ate every bit.

Metal cutting time

Finally after a long hiatus I fired up the plasma table to cut some metal. I got a job to enhance some old saws for a resale shop. I made up some text that would fit on the saw and went to cutting. It was fun but not using to equipment for such time was a challenge for success. It didn't take long to get it back in sync tho. I hope they sell well for them.

Hummus patty

I was pressured into bringing a dish for St. Patricks Day luncheon at the office. I volunteered to bring some hummus dip. Nothing special goes into the dip but I wanted to make it special for the occasion, so I added green food coloring. It tastes great but does not look so appetizing. I will see if they still eat it.

Sausage Time

I procured a couple of pounds of venison and thought this would be a great addition to my homemade sausage endeavor. So I set to making a batch of smoked cured sausage.
Ingredients:
Venison, Pork, Bacon, Chipotles, Jalapenos, curing salt, garlic/onion powder, cumin, ground mustard seed, and spices.
I chopped the chipotles and jalapeno in the food processor then mixed all ingredients in bowl. Sent through to the grinder to get it all mixed and sized. Stuffed in natural hog casings, and hung on a rack to go to the smoker. I am smoking them with charcoal and pecan wood.

You can really smell the smoked chipotles before I cooked them. I am just guessing on how much peppers to add for the batch. I want it to be spicy but not painful.

Here we go.

Smoked pork loin

The next episode on the pursuit of the best pork loin. I picked up a large loin at the local supermarket big meat sale. This is a 1/3 of the loin and I am smoking it in similar fashion to the last.
So dry rub with brown sugar, paprika, garlic/onion powder, crushed red pepper, black pepper, salt. Put in the smoker for X hours.

Red meat

Is ribeye steaks tonight. The bucher was having big sale so I picked up a 15lbs chunk of boneless ribeye, cut into 1" slices, and stacked the freezer. Onto the grill with with some sweet potatoes. Good stuff.

Salmon snack

Last night I loaded the smoker with pork steaks, salmon, bratwurst, stuffed mushrooms, and scalloped potatoes. All were wonderful and we stuffed ourselves. I had a partner coming over for a lunch meeting today. So I made a quick snack plate using the leftover salmon, some cheese slices, and olives. Nice refreshing snack, and that salmon is so good after sitting in reefer over night.
I can't wait to get my cold smoker built so can smoke some cheeses.

Hunting season is over

And I get to reap the spoils. I did not hunt anything this year but many folks I work with did. There is an unnoficial contest to see who has the best deer sausage. This is great for me, as I don't have to do anything except sample the exhibits. Good stuff.

Guy Feeaties new restaurants website doppleganger

So Food Network star Guy Fiero opens a dive of his own called Guys American Kitchen and has been getting some not so great reviews from the esteemed critics. But real folks love the gust busting menu.

So a programmer with time and a sense of humor buy s a domain name that is similar to the real business name and puts up a menu that argurably more accurate and well done.
An exerpt from the menu:

The Blitzmas Beast

Two jumbo Big Gulp Slurpee cups filled with nacho cheese and tied to each other with 25 bacon strips..


check it out at: http://guysamericankitchenandbar.com/

Good job Bryan Mytko.

Creme Brulee

 A while back I received a Creme Brulee kit as a gift. I finally got it out and gave it a go. Fairly simple recipe.Heat whipping cream, Half & Half, and the mix until boils then place in ramekin and chill. Then sprinkle caramelizing sugar (not sure how differs from regular sugar but I will find out) on top and torch until golden brown.

The torching was fun as anytime you get to play with fire is a good thing. Overall the taste was good. Sweet and creamy with crunchy sugary surprise. The custard did not firm up as much as I think it should have. For my next batch I will make custard from scratch instead of the mix. A nice dessert.

Smoked Pork Loin

  I had some pork loin I wanted to cook up for supper and I was thinking of a way to prepare. Standing on the porch it came to me, the smoker. I did a quick search for smoked pork loin and found a photo of one wrapped in bacon. Well that sealed it for me and I went to work.

  Created a basket weave of thick cut maple bacon, covered with pork rub seasoning. Wrapped up the loin and secured with small dowel rods. I had two loins so I made one unwrapped. Into the smoker @ 200° and cooked to internal temp 140°F. This took about 4 hours, because my temp in the smoker went low for a bit and I didn't realize it. I then rested the meat for 15 minutes under some foil.

  When sliced up you could tell how tender the meat was. It was buttery smooth and very tender. U could smash the meat with your tongue and would come apart without much chewing needed. The smoke flavor is very strong and bit spicy with the rub. The bacon is a little treat that tops off the dish. I served with Green beans. Great dish and I will make it again for sure.