Red-Eye Crock Butt?

Don’t throw out that unused coffee in your pot! Ever had a really good pulled pork sandwich? It’s expensive to buy one at a place like Armadillo Willy’s. I love smoking my own pork butt (shoulder roast) but since returning to the U.S. I haven’t replaced my smoker. The other day I had an idea. Want to get that pulled pork butt flavor without going to the trouble of smoking it all day long? Maybe it’s too cold to deal with the outdoors? I have a great recipe from a book called "Smoke and Spice" by Jamison called “Red-Eye Butt”.

The recipe is made for smoking but I discovered that you can take the same recipe using strong coffee, molasses, and cider vinegar and convert it to a very easy crock pot recipe. Put the exact same ingredients inside the crock pot set it for 10 hours before you go to work and come home to a tender pork shoulder roast that will fall off the bone and be ready for shredding with a fork. Just spread the shredded pork out on a cutting board, salt and pepper and serve on buns with barbecue sauce. It’s a super easy meal for about the price of one pulled pork plate at Armadillo Willy's or Dickeys.

Convert “Healthy” to “Good Tasting”

My sister in law works as a nurse for the elderly.  She cooks meals for my mother in law every week.  If you taste one of these meals, unless you’re 80, you’ll find them quite bland.  But don’t be fooled, she is a good cook.  Her recipes just need some slight modifications in my humble opinion.  That’s the case for a lot of health conscious people.  I’ll bet every one of us has at least one recipe book called “Healthy Eating” or “Cooking for Health” or something of the sort.  One I have on my shelf is called “Joan Lunden’s Healthy Cooking”.  Like my SIL, Joan’s recipes just need some slight modification to make them tasty…probably not as healthy as Joan’s but tasty.  You can see a meatloaf recipe below complete with my modifications.  The premise is basic.  Ground turkey (I hate that crap!) is substituted with a mix of ground beef, pork, and lamb.  Skim milk (I hate that crap!) is substituted with heavy cream.  Egg whites (WTH?) are substituted with a whole egg (go figure).  What results is one of the best recipes for meatloaf recipes ever.  Don’t thank me, thank Joan Lunden.  Remember, unless you’re baking, there’s no reason to leave ingredients you hate in a recipe...or ingredients you love out of one.

Spin Class for the Poor

OK, so you don’t have to be poor to follow this advice.  Maybe you just don’t have room on the shelf for another kitchen gadget?  The gadget I’m talking about is a salad spinner.  If you don’t know what one is, it’s a spinner to get the water off your lettuce after you wash it.  And yes, even bagged lettuce needs to be washed unless you enjoy salmonella and e. coli.  On that pleasant thought…  A salad spinner works great and keeps your salads crisp and fresh…no standing water on the bottom of the bowl.  It also works great with herbs like parsley and cilantro when you’ve washed it and need to chop it dry. 

The problem is, a salad spinner is about the size of a large cooking pot.  Simple solution…use a pillow case.  Go out and buy yourself a pillow case that will be dedicated to kitchen greens only.  Please don’t take the pillowcase from the guestroom and use that.  You can buy specialized bags from gourmet markets too but a simple white pillowcase will do the same thing.  Put your lettuce, parsley, cilantro, whatever inside then step out your back door and swing that thing around.  The greens will come out like they just…well…went through a salad spinner.  When you’re finished, turn it inside out and let it dry.  Then fold it up and put it in a drawer for next time.  When you need to wash it, do it in the sink with dishwashing liquid, not the washing machine.  Try it and enjoy your better tasting salads!

Quick and Easy Apricot Pepper Glaze

Here’s is a quick recipe that you can use for pork loin or chicken. Sure you can buy this in the store but, as always, it’s better and cheaper if you make it yourself. But a jar of apricot jam (you can substitute any jam you want if you don’t like apricot…weirdo…jk). While you’re there buy a red jalapeño and a green jalapeño. And if you don’t stock vodka make an appointment with your psychiatrist and then buy a bottle.

1 jar apricot jam (any jam will do)
1 red jalapeño
1 green jalapeño
10 whole peppercorns
½ shot of vodka

Dice the jalapeños and place in bowl with the peppercorns and vodka. Stir in the jam and return to jar and refrigerate if not using immediately. You should be able to fit almost all the jam back in the original jar. Eat the rest if you want but spit out the peppercorns. Make sure you label the jar so your 6-year-old doesn’t make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with it. If he does…milk or yogurt, stat!

This makes a great glaze for a pork loin or roast chicken. Apply liberally a few times during cooking.

Music to listen to while preparing this:

That’s Not What Your Cardamom Said Last Night!

Cardamom…the forgotten spice? If you dig far enough into your pantry you’ll probably find an old spice bottle or tin full of cardamom and wonder, “Did I ever use this stuff?” Let me share a few things with you. First, that bottle or tin probably needs to be thrown out. If you open it and smell it and it smells like dust, it’s gone. That whole fresh spice thing is another blog though. Second, it is used frequently in Indian foods. Third, it’s expensive! (about $12 a bottle for ground cardamom) I haven’t done a complete investigation but cardamom rates right up there with Saffron as far as cost. Not to worry. I’m talking about if you walk into Safeway or Lucky’s it’s expensive. If you search a bit for an Indian or Asian market near you, you’ll find it’s much more affordable. If you travel through Dubai by any chance…pick it up there. If at all possible, buy it whole and grind it yourself. I prefer “green cardamom” to the regular brown cardamom. I think it has more aroma and flavor. You can find recipes that include this exotic spice here. It can be used in pod form with cinnamon sticks and saffron for a nice aromatic rice or it can be used in ground form to make a nice, spicy pulao (Indian rice). Whether you’re making fresh bread, curry, lamb or chicken, if you’re tired of the same old-same old try using cardamom in your next meal.  Try grinding it (1T cardamom, 2T cumin, 1/2t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg and maybe one star anise) for a good pulao spiced rice.

This just in…cardamom at Whole Foods is $42 per pound.  Don’t worry, you won’t need a pound and that’s a pretty good price.  But, I just found it at Peet’s Coffee (of all places) for $6.95 a bottle.  Also a good price.  And the comparison with saffron?  Whole Foods: Cardamom = $42 lb., Saffron = $15,000 lb.  Yes that's 15 with three zeros.

No Smoking Inside! Baloney!

A while ago I discovered a kitchen device that I pull out happily a few times each year. Again with the smoking Denny? Yes. Especially with smoked fish like trout or salmon it’s overkill to fire up the outside smoker for a 15-20 minute cook time. This stovetop smoker is the answer to a quick and easy smoked fish. You can use it for other things too but I like what it does for a trout. You can put the in whole fish or two or three (cleaned of course), drop in some wood chips and smoke away for like 20 minutes. Make sure you use a light wood like alder for the smoke. Hickory or Mesquite will overwhelm the fish. The result…a nice brown on the outside, smoky on the inside fish.     Your house may smell a little smoky for a few minutes but, is that a bad thing? I like this smoker so much, it was one of the cooking implements I did not give away but rather carried it with me to Kenya and back. I think it cost about $45. it puts smoke flavor into meat so fast I’m thinking that that pork butt recipe could be finished well with about 5 minutes in the stovetop smoker. That’s the time for the hickory or mesquite. You can buy the wood chips at any good barbecue store or use the link below.

Food Nation Inspiration

Do you ever feel like you’re in a rut when it comes to cooking?  Ever hear “Spaghetti again?” from your family members?  Then it’s time for some inspiration.  It’s pretty easy to find inspiration almost anywhere you look.  I find that television is a great place.  There are so many food shows on TV now that it would be hard to not find a show you like. 

For the reality people there are shows like “Hells Kitchen” (is Gordon Ramsay great or what?), “Master Chef” and “Iron Chef America” (although too much Bobby Flay and not enough Cat Cora IMHO).

For the more adventurous, don’t miss “No Reservations”, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”, and “Man v. Food”.

Looking for instructional TV shows?  Try “Chef at Home” (this guy has a pantry to die for), “Nigella Kitchen” (no health food here...just a BW that gets into her food), “Ten Dollar Dinners” (frugal and fun...can you do it too?), or “Chinese Food Made Easy” (easy Chinese and what a cutie!).

Note: I’m giving you some obvious shows and some not-so-obvious ones.  Many of these can be streamed from YouTube or Hulu.

If you’re more of a reader, you can’t beat Gourmet or Bon Appetit or (for those of you in Kenya) Tupike. The pictures are great inspiration.  Don’t let them intimidate you.  Often the recipes are easier than you think.

If you want to get up close and personal with your food, visit Whole Foods Market (my all time favorite) or Ranch 99 (one of my new favorites).  Even Trader Joe’s can be a great place to wander around.  It’s OK to shop impulsively as long as you don’t (a) buy for more than one day and (b) go to the market hungry.

Well I could write a blog on every one of these links above but I promised to be succinct.  I hope some of these suggestions inspire you.  Don’t forget to cook a little bit outside your comfort zone.  What’s the worst that can happen?  In my family we have just two ratings; “keeper” and “not a keeper”.  There are too many recipes to keep a marginally reviewed dish.  Take a vote and don’t get your feelings hurt.  Enjoy!