My Man’s Meat..

Smoked Pork .. Nummy Nums!!

Oh.. get you’re mind out of the gutter!!!

Those pictures are on my other blog!! LoL!! Just joking!

I was cleaning out my camera and found these pictures of pork butts that Chief was smoking.

We had a catering order back in November for a country line dance night at the local fire hall.

When we catered it last year, they wanted the standard stuff :: roast beef, meat balls, stuffed shells :: which were all good but when they came in this year, he talked them into a menu that was kind of related to country music more then stuffed shells were.

So he came up with Carolina Pulled Pork, Chili Braised Beef Brisket, Black Bean and Corn salad, Smokey Baked Beans, Spanish Rice and Home Made Corn Bread.

Oh. And salad.

Not having a real smoker didn’t stop him. He used our charcoal grill and some of the huckleberry wood from our tree out back.

NOTE: You can use any fruit tree to smoke but DO. NOT. USE. PINE. WOOD. like I had suggested because DUH! Where do you think Pine Sol comes from?? LoL!! THIS is why HE is the chef and I’m not!!

He let it smoke for something like a day.. going out every hour or so to flip them over and to baste them with a mixture of  cider vinegar, crushed red pepper, salt and water.

Oh.. before he even started to smoke it, he rubbed the meat down with brown sugar, cayenne pepper, salt and chili powder.. wrapped it up tight in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for two days.

Let me tell you something, the aroma was AMAZING and everyone in our neighborhood was salavating!

Too bad it was for a catering gig, huh?

No worries, he had made another one for us!!

But seriously, it was really.. really easy to do and the meat just split right off of it with a fork.

I never had anything soooo good in my life!

So if you get the ambition to give it a try, let me know how you make out.

No.. in fact, invite me over for dinner and I’ll let you know myself!!

Need Something To Do With Left Over Mashed Potatoes?

For some reason, I always have mashed potatoes left over.

Well.. not really for “some” reason. I know the reason. I don’t know how NOT to make a lot of mashed potatoes.

I don’t use the boxed stuff.. or the frozen stuff.. or the pre-made stuff. I mash using the age old recipe of potatoes, milk and butter. It’s actually cheaper that way.

Anyway.. so the other night I had mashed left over and decided to get a  little creative with re-serving them.

Chief may be the culinary school trained chef .. but let me tell you something, this chick has got TALENT in the kitchen!! LOL!!

Anyway.. I came up with this on my own and not only is it pretty damn simple but everybody went gaga over them..

Even the culinary school trained chef.

And let me tell you something.. I get the jollies when I do something that he never did and he can’t get enough of it!

LEESE’S POTATO MUFFINS (ok.. what the hell else am I suppose to call them?)

Take your left over mashed and mix in chopped up bacon. As much or as little as you like. We like bacon. Then, mix in some sour cream, if you hadn’t already used it when making your mashed :: I normally don’t but this time I did :: and then mix in some shredded cheddar cheese.

Ok. Now you need some of those biscuits that come in a can that you have to wack on the counter top to open? You can either use the flaky ones that peel apart in layers or you can just use the non-flaky ones that don’t pull apart in layers. Or you can make your own.. it’s up to you.

But take your biscuits and use them to line the cups of a muffin pan. I had them over-flowing the edges a little but it doesn’t matter if it does or not.

Then take your mashed and fill each cup in the muffin pan. The ‘taters won’t expand so you can make them as high as you want and then top them with more shredded cheddar.

Bake for about 20 minutes and WHA fucking LA!

They should pop right out of the muffin pan and the boys loved them because they could literally hold them while eating them because of the biscuit cup holding in the ‘taters.

I would have taken a picture of them but they were gobbled up too damn fast.. in fact, Cheif was talking about them today still.

Give it a shot and let me know how you like them.

It be good eatin’!!

RECIPES: Herbed Steak with Horseradish

This was also on the Birthday Dinner menu…

It’s quick.. easy.. almost fool-proof.. and if the people you’re making it for DON’T know how easy it is .. they’d never guess.

Give it a try and leave a comment letting me know how they liked it!

HERBED STEAK WITH HORSERADISH

Ingredients:

• 2 12- to 14-oz. beef top loin steaks, 1-inch thick
• 2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon-style mustard
• 2 tsp. snipped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp. snipped fresh thyme
• Broiled Cherry Tomatoes (optional)
• Broiled sweet pepper strips (optional)
• Herbed mayonnaise (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler; season steaks with salt and pepper. Place on unheated rack of pan. Broil 4 inches from heat 7 minutes. Meanwhile, combine horseradish, mustard, parsley, and thyme.

2. Turn steaks. Broil 8 to 9 minutes more for medium. The last 1 minute of broiling, spread with horseradish mixture. Serve with tomatoes, peppers, and herbed mayonnaise. Makes 4 servings.

NOTE: My ghetto supermarket did not have fresh thyme OR Italian leaf parsley so I just used regular parsley and dried thyme and it came out just as good. Another thing, you may want to make a little more of the horseradish sauce since I don’t think I had enough .. but then again, I live in a house of horseradish eaters so there is NEVER enough of the stuff!

RECIPES: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Okay…

So I may not be a renown 5 star chef like Chief is … but I sure as hell know my way around the kitchen!

If there’s two things this man can’t live without, it’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter … so for his birthday :: September 15th :: I opted out of the traditional birthday cake and made this instead:

PS – He’s still having an orgasm in his mouth from it… it’s that good!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup light-colored corn syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
• Pastry for single-crust pie
• Frozen whipped dessert topping , thawed (optional)
• Semisweet chocolate pieces (optional)
• Chopped peanuts (optional)

Directions

1. For filling, in a mixing bowl beat eggs lightly with a rotary beater or a fork until combined. Stir in corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix well.

2. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup chocolate pieces over the bottom of an unbaked pastry-lined 9-inch pie plate. Pour filling into pie shell. Cover edge of pie with foil.

3. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes more or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cover and chill within 2 hours. Garnish with whipped topping, remaining chocolate pieces, and peanuts, if desired. Makes 10 servings.

NOTE: I’m not a big chocolate OR peanut butter fan and I loved it!! Give it a try and let me know how you liked it!