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!