Steak Chili!!!

     Ok heres my recipe for Steak Chili with Beans!

     Steak Chili with Beans:

large stock pot
4 anaheim chilies cored and chopped
4 pasilla chilies cored and chopped
9 yellow chilies cored and chopped
1 large onion chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
4 lbs beef shoulder or chuck, trimmed and cubed
1 lbs andouille or hot link sliced
4 heaping tbs chili powder or your favorite chili seasoning
2 heaping tbs cumin
2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
3 12oz beers
1 29oz can of each black, kidney, and pinto beans drained and rinsed
1/2 cup flour (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

     If you want thick or watery chili is where the flour comes in. If thick is what you want then flour, salt and pepper the beef. Coat the bottom of a large stock pot with oil of choice, I used olive oil, brown andouille to render fat. Then add beef and brown over medium heat.

     Once meat is browned add onion, garlic, and chilies.

 Cook until tender then add tomatoes, chili power, and cumin. Simmer for 5 minutes.

     Add beer, stir and simmer on a medium low heat for 2 hours or until beef is tender and fully cooked. Taste to see if additional seasoning is needed.
   

     Then add beans, simmer and stir for another 30 minutes and serve. Enjoy!!

Sauerkraut Project!

     Now that my Kosher dill pickles have finished! I can now try my had at making sauerkraut! Yep, its another 3 week long fermentation project...Again.... But the family and I love the stuff and its, set aside the 3 week fermentation, quite easy to make!

     Sauerkraut:

2 large heads cabbage

3 tbs pickling or kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds (optional)

1 large glass jar or crock

     Wash and core cabbage. Quarter cabbage and thinly slice it. Place sliced cabbage in a large pot or bowl. Add salt and caraway seeds, mix with hands, kneading and squeezing cabbage to release water and wilt cabbage.

     Once cabbage starts to release its water let it rest for 20 minutes. The cabbage should be thoroughly wet at and wilted at this point. Pack cabbage firmly in a large clean glass jar or crock.

    Now you need a weight to keep all the cabbage submerged. I used a ziplock baggie filled with water. Once weight is added cover jar with a paper towel so gasses can escape and nothing can fall in. keep at room temperature for 3 weeks.

     Wish me luck!

Last Two Weeks!!!

     Sorry to no post last sunday. I was really going to type this awesome blog about this steak chili that I had made. Only to be grounded by bitter unripe green chills that made the whole pot of steak chili beans BITTER!!! But I didn't quit and throw the whole batch away. I pulled some knowledge from friends and internet groups and had a solution!!!! Having this bitterness was a first for me, I have made chili beans several times and have not had this problem. The only difference was the store where I had purchased the chilies had changed.

     After the pot finished cooking I put a lid on it and allowed to cool overnight. I do this with all my pots of chili before I serve them, its just better the next day. during that time the bitterness mellowed out considerably! I guess the residual heat broke the bitter chilies down, but still was noticeably bitter. The next day I reheated the chili and added some sugar and salt. sugar to cancel the bitterness and salt to make sure its not too sweet. It was still bitter, just not as noticeable. Not wanting to waste the batch of chili I canned it! The next morning at work I gave a quart of the chili to a good friend who has more knowledge cooking with chilies, to see if he can fix the problem. The next day he had only one word for me. Ketchup! He said he heated it up, tasted it, then added 2tbs. ketchup and simmered. Said it was some "GOOD ASS CHILI!" his words. So being relieved I can actually post this recipe with the advice of adding ketchup if its bitter!

     Also Last week I checked my kosher pickles hopping they were done, sadly no, as you can see from this pic the cucumber hasn't quite turned completely green. So it needs another week!

     Did I happen to mention that I also that weekend had my smoker going, smoking a brined chicken and smoked a chuck roast! Yeah I had too many irons in the fire per-say. I belong to  Facebook group for people who BBQ like me. Someone posted a pic of a smoked chuck roast. It looked like a brisket when finished. So I thought heck, I can do that! It came out very nice, just not as moist as I had wanted. But it had lots of FLAVOR!!!

     Moving forward into this weekend, I had to plan for the holidays. I dont have to cook Thanksgiving this year! For once I get to be that guy that shows up to eat! Im actually excited about Thanksgiving! Eating other peoples food gives me perspective! I get to experience someone else's style of cooking and that gives me new ideas on cooking!

     Also the day after Thanksgiving my family and I attend the annual Christmas parade in Niles. Its a small town in Fremont, CA where I live. On the boulevard where the parade is held there is a tea shop called Tyme For Tea & co. They will be having a pot luck that day and guess who got an invite? Yep! So I can't just show up empty handed! So today I smoked some ribs and made some sauce to go with it! So the only thing I have to do when I get off work on friday is reheat the ribs and sauce! I hope they like it!

     I also checked on the kosher pickles That have been fermenting or pickling for the last three weeks! In my opinion they taste pretty good! My family isn't too crazy about the pickling spice flavor. They like the sour vinegar dill pickles. Oh well!

Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

     Heres a recipe for hawaiian sweet rolls. I used to go and buy those costco sized sheets of the King Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for all my cookouts. One day I was surfing the internet and came across this recipe. I no longer buy Sweet rolls anymore!

Hawaiian Sweet Rolls:

     1/3 cup warm milk

     1 tbs. active dry yeast

     2/3 cup packed brown sugar

     1/4 cup olive oil

     1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter melted

     2 eggs beaten

     8 oz. can crushed pineapple (DO NOT DRAIN!)

     4 cups bread flour

     1 tsp. salt

     In a large bowl (I use a stand mixer) add milk and yeast, mix and let rest for 5 minutes. Then mix in brown sugar, olive oil, butter, eggs, and crushed pineapple (juice and solids). Mix till smooth. Mix in bread flour 1 cup at a time to form dough. knead dough for 10 minutes. Dough should be sticky not gooey. Add 1/2 cup more flour if gooey. Proof dough for 1 hour in a warm place to double in bulk. Once doubled, punch down and divided into 12 even balls. Grease a 9 X 13 pan and place balls in pan touching each other. Proof for another hour to double in bulk. Once finished proofing, Preheat oven to 350F. Brush an egg wash (mixture of equal parts water and egg) over the top of the rolls. Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown on top. Remove from oven and brush tops of rolls with butter. Enjoy!

Clam Chowder

     

     The wife and I had been talking about making clam chowder for some time. My wife showed me tis recipe off Serious Eats. It came out DELISH!!! We used all fresh ingredients except for the clam juice.... Im not going to juice a clam. With jokes set aside, here are the things you will need.

New England Clam Chowder:

     1/2 lb. salt pork or bacon (I used bacon) cut into 1/2 inch cubes

     2 tbs. butter

     1 medium onion chopped fine

     2 stalks celery chopped fine

     1 cup clam juice

     2 1/2 lbs. any fresh clams for steaming

     1 quart whole milk

     1 1/2 lbs. yukon gold potatoes cubed

     2 bay leaves

     kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

     1 cup heavy cream

     Combine bacon and 1/4 cup of water into heavy pot or dutch oven, over medium heat. stir till that water had evaporated and bacon starts to brown and crisp.

     Add butter, onions and celery. cook until soft. then add clam juice and stir. Once mixture begins to boil add clams. Close lid and steam for 3 minutes.

     Once clams begin to open use tongs to remove them to another bowl. Once all the clams are removed add milk, potatoes, bay leaves and salt and pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring on occasion.

     Meanwhile use a strainer to drain the clams, reserve the juice. Once clams are drained roughly chop them and place in a bowl. Once potatoes are tender poor then entire mixture through a strainer separating solids of liquid. place in separate bowls. Poor the reserved broth into a food processor or blender on high to emulsify for about 2 minutes.

      Return emulsified broth, solids, and clam drippings to pot. Reheat and stir. Add heavy cream and stir. Add additional seasoning if needed and serve!

Feeling accomplished!

     Hey there gang! Saturday basically did some minor shopping for todays cooking. Also had to buy a battery for my wife's car. It basically took a dump on thursday. So, I had to go to multiple stores to get what I needed. The plan for the weekend was to make clam chowder on saturday and can the leftovers that night. Then sunday was going to smoke a shoulder (pulled pork). Serve it with mac-n-cheese and hawaiian sweet rolls. Well needless to say time had gotten away from me, so the clam chowder got pushed to sunday, on top of all the other things I had planned. Oh well, thats life for ya! Gotta roll with it!

     The first stop was was Costco to get a battery for my wifes car. Good thing they had it there and was half the price i would of payed anywhere else. Got fresh clams and some cheese. Got some Wisconsin aged cheddar to try in my mac-n-cheese. I like to switch it up a bit making it! Plus Im stuck with a Costco sized heavy whipping cream. Good thing I used most of it for the mac-n-cheese and clam chowder!

     Second stop was Dale Hardware! Its a local mom & pop hardware store. There had to get some canning supplies and WOOD!!!! They had oak and almond that day WOOHOO!! So I stocked up!

   
      The last stop was Safeway. There I needed clam juice and some sourdough bread!

     Doing all that running around took up most of the day! So when sunday showed up at my doorstep. I had to crackin..WRONG!! I ended up sleeping in, so who had a late start in the day? Thats right... this guy! Doesn't matter. I still had an awesome day with the family and got to spend the day doing what I love to do.

 I made some clam chowder!

     Pulled pork!

     Mac-n-Cheese!

     Hawaiian sweet rolls!

     All in one day so I need one of these!!!!

    Not to forget about my Pickles! I have been keeping the pickles in my garage so it can have a dark and cool place to ferment. The garage also works well because I walk through it every day, so in passing I can check the pickles. The brine got cloudy on about day 3. It still smells very much like pickles when I open them. And according to what I have red. The cloudiness is normal. Its the lactobacillus working in the brine making the pickles sour, instead of the commercial vinegar pickles.  Will post another pic on next sunday.

Kosher Dill Pickle Project

    

     Hey guys! If you had read my first post, I have been learning how to can goods. One of the things I had wanted to do was make a good pickle to go with my BBQ. My first attempt at canning pickles, resulted in a not so flavorful and mushy pickle. So it was back to the drawing board! Got me a book on canning and watched some Youtube videos. So the plan here is to go old school and ferment the pickles. This process takes about 3 weeks. Yeah I know, long time to wait for some pickles. Plus I got my hands on some pickling spice, which in my first attempt I didn't have, it was just garlic, dill and a LOT of vinegar!

    So for this recipe here are some of the things this recipe calles for.

     A large crock, glass jar, or any non reactive container that has a 2-3 gallon capacity. 

     1 gallon filtered water

     1/2 cup pickling spice

     1 bunch fresh dill

     7 lbs. pickling cucumbers 

     4 cloves garlic (whole, peeled)

     1 cup cider vinegar (5% acidity)

     3/4 cup kosher salt

     I chose to use this Costco size pickle jar because its inexpensive and I have had it lying around to make sun tea. So I didn't have to go and spend money on a crock.

     The next step I did, was wash the dill and cucumbers. Be sure when picking cucumbers that they have no blemishes, bruises, and are very firm. After washing them cut off the flower end of the cucumber. If you can't tell which end it is, be safe and cut both off. After that I gave them an ice bath while I prepped the brine.

     In a bowl mix I mixed the kosher salt, cider vinegar, and water. Mix until salt has completely dissolved.

     Prepping the container I cleaned it with soap and hot water. This is important when you plan to ferment anything. All your equipment or anything contacting the object you are fermenting needs to be CLEAN!!!! After washing the pickle jar, in the bottom I places 1/4 cup pickling spice and 1/2 bunch of the fresh dill.

     If you cannot find pickling spice at your supermarket, I got mine at Penzeys Spices. They got AWESOME spices there, but they are also EXPENSIVE!!!

     After inserting half of the spices, I started packing the cucumbers. Pack them as tight as possible! After packing, on top I placed 1/4 cup pickling spice, 4 cloves garlic and the rest of the dill.

     After all that I poor in the brine till it covers everything. move jar around to free up any bubbles on the bottom. If you have any cucumbers that are floating, which they will. Take a small zip lock bag, fill it with water or left over brine and stuff it in the top of the jar. This will act as a weight to keep everything submerged under the brine!

     The book I am reading says to keep the lid loos enough to allow gas to escape. Now all i can do is store in a cool dark place and check every 2 days and skim foam off the top. Ill keep posting What happens as the weeks go by. Wish me luck!

Vegetable Beef Soup

     Making some vegetable beef soup today. Ive been waiting for an excuse to use my pressure canner. Also I have had some homemade beef stock in the freezer that needed to be used. But for those of you that dont have a beef stock recipe here it is!

Beef Stock:

     Beef soup bones

     Beef neck bones

     4 large carrots

     4 ribs celery

     1 large onion

     4 cloves garlic peeled

     1 tbs. pepper corns

     1/4 cup sea salt

     1 1/2 tsp dried basil

     1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

     1 1/2 cup red wine

     Start of by placing beef soup and neck bones in a roasting pan and roast in a oven at 425F for 1 hour, turning them at 30 mins. This will give more flavor to the stock.

     Wash carrots do not peel and wash celery. Cut cut carrots and celery into large chunks. Peel and quarter onion.

     Fill a large stock pot 3/4 full of water, bring to a boil. Add beef and neck bones. Then add all remaining ingredients.

    Reduce heat and simmer for 5 hours skimming off foam when needed. Once cooking is done, strain and reserve stock.

     Ok now that you have the stock down time for the Vegetable Beef Soup!!!

Vegetable Beef Soup:

     Beef stock
     1 large onion
     3 large carrots
     3 ribs celery
     1 rutabaga
     3 parsnips
     3 medium yukon gold potatoes
     4lbs. beef shoulder or chuck roast.
     2 14.5oz. cans diced tomatoes (drained)
     1/3 cup pearled barley

     Trim and cube and season beef with salt and pepper. Sear beef using olive oil in a large stock pot until meat is brown.

     While meat is browning wash, peel, and chop onion, carrots, celery, rutabaga, parsnips and potatoes.

   
     Once beef has browned, add beef stock to pot, bring to a boil. Once the stock is boiling add onion, carrots, celery, rutabaga, parsnips and potatoes to stock. Then add the drained canned tomatoes to stock. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour skimming top and stirring occasionally.

     After an hour of cooking add the pearled barley. Continue cooking for another hour still skimming and stirring. At this point taste soup to see if additional salt and pepper is needed.

     This last step purely optional. Some people like soup with a thin stock, some like it a bit thick. So to thicken your soup make a cornstarch solution. Mix 3tbs. cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water. Add cornstarch solution to soup while simmering and stir to thicken.

     And there you go a nice hearty vegetable beef soup. Enjoy!