It’s (Now) Easy Eating Green

For anybody who is interested, today I received an e-mail letting me know that Snow’s Bend Farm will be accepting new applications to join their CSA starting this Friday!! Wooo Whoooo!!! I am pumped!!

What is a CSA you ask??? Rachel Zoe Insler (via the AG) gave a pretty good run-down last fall, but basically, if you live in or around Birmingham, Snow’s Bend will provide (and even deliver!) fresh, farmed fruits, vegetables, herbs, etc. all year long (ok, about 40 weeks long) for a (very reasonable) flat fee!

And since we learned in Food Inc. that all commercialized/industrialized food is sending us straight to Hell in a Corn-fed Hand Basket, a CSA like Snow’s Bend will help us do a better job of eating fresh and in season!

I Never Learned to Read

As if we don’t have enough things going on right now, my dear wife pointed out to me the other night that I’m currently “reading” A LOT of books (I had just received my preview copy of Linchpin by Seth Godin). I think I just get excited about starting a new book, and before I know it, there is a stack of four of five books on our bedside table. I guess this post is to call myself out (and hold myself accountable) that I will have all of these (non-cookbooks) finished by July 1st.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters – The LOML gave me this for Christmas, and although the beginning was kind of a downer, I think it will have some good points/perspective.

Kitchen Confidential – Robbie just finished this and mailed it to me. I started it yesterday, and I really think I’m going to want to quit my job and go work at some dive in Williamsburg after finishing it.

What the Dog Saw – A great book to start and stop. A collection of Gladwell’s stories that have previously appeared in the New Yorker over the last 10 years. "The Black Swan" was really interesting.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames – Another great book to leave and return to. Don’t ask me why, but I brought three books with us to the hospital, and this was the only one I actually touched. Sedaris’ dry observations make me LOLz.

Parenting By the Book – Go download his presentation @ St. Peter’s if you don’t have time to read this.

Linchpin – Godin is so hot right now. If only I could think of some multi-million dollar backed start-up, I’d go hear him speak and have him consult me during one of his VIP break-out sessions.

And then there are my new cookbooks (Merry Christmas to me!!)

Asian Bites – I’m a little hesitant to introduce some of these spicy foods to my little muchkin (and wife), but there are some really good looking “bites” in here.

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics – After flipping through, I realized I’ve already made a few of these recipes over the last year or so. And it looks like Ina is cooking a number of these on Food Network right now. Good stuff.

Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook – We tried their Elton Stephens’ Chocolate Soufflé on New Year’s and now I can’t wait to visit the Farmer’s Market after April 15th. Eating Local and Organic is also so hot (and hot) right now.

Frank Stitt’s Southern Table – Sure it’s over five years old, but like Chris Hastings’ Hot & Hot cookbook, Frank makes me want to A) become an artisanal/organic food purveyor for chefs like him or B) ask Frank (or Chris) for a job on his line.

I'm in Love with a Girl (Big Star)

I guess you figured out that the LOML and I had our little bundle of joy last week. Today actually marks the week anniversary (oh gosh, am I going to turn into one of those people that keeps track of week, month, etc. anniversaries??) since we welcomed our sweet little angel into the world.

Lately, I’ve really debated on what direction I want to take That Much Further ‘Ham. Do you want family/parenting stories?? Do you want cooking/food-related posts?? Do you want my thoughts on the current socio-political environment?? (Hint: no one, including myself, does) Well, to answer my rhetorical question question/dilemma, I’ll just say I want to keep posting even though this little munchkin is occupying most of our thoughts, emotions and attention:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the Mrs. and I are so abundantly blessed in all aspects of our lives, and one area that we won’t have to worry about for these next few months is MEALS!! Our wonderful community group at church has scheduled to bring us dinner three nights a week, BUT that means YOU the reader won’t be able to “enjoy” as many cooking/food related posts (since we won’t be cooking ourselves dinner as often). Busy Season started this week anyway, so it’s not like I could dedicate that much free time to cooking in the first place, but I just wanted to put that out there.

Baby Got Back

Sorry we haven't talked since Sunday . . . been trying to catch up on our sleep.

Bloggist

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve taken a sort of renewed interest in photography these last two years. I mean, I was a Yearbook photographer in high school (impressive, I know), but it really wasn’t until I read an article in USA Today, back in April 2008, about some site called “Strobist” that I started to seriously pick the hobby back up.*

After browsing around, it’s pretty easy to develop a case of G.A.S., but I’ve tried to space my purchases out over the last year or so. Well, this past week I purchased another pretty cool photo gadget, so I thought I’d show you some of my stuff.

First, here is my strobe (Nikon SB-26) attached to my lighting stand using an umbrella adapter. I’ve never tried any other external flash/strobe, but I am really pleased with the SB-26 (and since it has Strobist’s seal-of-approval, I won’t have any trouble trading it in, should I ever decide to do so). The LOML actually got me the lighting stand last year for Valentine’s, but it wasn’t until I (semi-recently) purchased the umbrella adapter, that I was able to use it for anything.

Next, are my new CyberSync Trigger Transmitter and Receivers I received this week. These handy little guys let me fire my flash remotely up to 350 feet away, and now my flash won’t be limited to my Nikon’s hot shoe. PRETTY COOL!! (PS – these were purchased with some of my Birthday/Christmas funds . . . Thanks, everybody!!!)

And, here is my umbrella. If you read David Hobby’s original thoughts on photo umbrellas, you can see he (originally) preferred silver, reflective umbrellas (shown), to the shoot-through, white variety. Two years later, and it looks like he actually would recommend the white variety, but there are obviously pros and cons to both.

* If you interested in learning more about off-camera flash, you REALLY need to check out Strobist. There is actually A TON of resources out there for the aspiring photog, and I’ve also recently discovered ProPhotoLife’s youtube video series (the intro music is pretty cheese, but I thought the info was very useful). Oh yeah, one last plug I’ll make is Zack Arias. He’s based out of ATL and will definitely inspire you to GOYA!

Bambino Watch

I think we’re in the final week!! Last night the LOML and I went with some of our friends to Lovoy’s Italian restaurant. Supposedly, if a (pregnant) woman orders the lasagna (near her due date), it will induce labor shortly thereafter. We actually went a few weeks ago (on the 29th or 30th?), but our waitress said it wouldn’t work that early (and she said it’s worked on every woman who’s worked there).

24(ish) hours later, and still no baby, so I’m not sure how much I believe it. Last night, our waitress did say the LOML needed to finish the entire meal for it to work, but since she took some of it home (garlic bread is so filling), I guess she’s disqualified.

Fresh Mozzarella, Unbound

A few months ago, after Gourmet announced it was shutting its doors, a new food blog popped up to celebrate the legendary (and influential) magazine. Since I missed the deadline for December, I was determined to submit something for January. Ironically (sadly), I had only been a subscriber since December 2008, but since I kept all my old issues, I turned to the January 2009 issue for inspirado.* (to find out what exactly I’m talking about, click here)

Why did I pick one of the most difficult recipes in this issue?? I don’t know . . . Is it because I like a challenge? Maybe it’s my Italian heritage?? Too much Schnookie and DJ Pauly D?? Whatever the situation was, I spent a good portion of Sunday afternoon trying my hand at HOMEMADE MOZZARELLA!

Fresh mozzarella only has 3 ingredients: Milk, Citric Acid, and Rennet. After calling every grocery in BHM (and a few kitchen supply stores), the only place I found that carried this elusive Rennet was WHOLE FOODS. A pack of 8 tablets was about $1.50 and the Citric Acid (in the hippie herb/supplements section) was around $5. The Rennet also came with a handy little recipe guide that had more recipes for homemade cheeses (so folksy!).

The Gourmet instructions/recipe seemed time consuming, but not overly difficult. You basically combine Milk and Citric Acid, Heat, add Rennet/Water, Heat, Stir Curds, Drain in Cheesecloth, and then form Curds into Mozzarella. To quote Tom Petty “The Waiting is the Hardest Part.”

I thought the first hour went pretty well. Looking back, I probably stirred my milk too often, but I did start to see some curds form. After the first hour was up, I stirred in the warm water and Rennet mixture, and waited for the magic to happen . . . and waited . . . and waited. Another hour went by, and I never achieved the “stiffened milk mixture.” I mean, I achieved a few more curds, but nothing firm.

I might not have achieved mozzarella curd perfection, but I decided to strain what little I had and drain them in the cheese cloth. If you had seen the pictures in Gourmet, it looks like you would get about a basketball sized portion of curds from 1 gallon of milk. I got about a tennis ball’s worth. Maybe.

After hanging around for about three hours, the curds did lose some moisture, and even looked to be compacted into a little mozzarella ball shape. But this final step is where the curd really becomes mozzarella.

You’re supposed to ladle hot salted water on top of the milk curds, and let it slowly melt into a gooey mixture, which you’re then able to form into mozzarella balls (before suspending the process in cold water). I’m sure my curds weren’t robust enough in the first place, but when I placed them in warm/hot water, they just seemed to dissolve. And I definitely couldn’t form them into a ball.

After a minute or two, I ended up draining the curds and wrapping them in saran wrap to shape into some type of ball. The consistency was about the same as really soft, milky cream cheese, but not exactly what I had hoped for.

Looking back, I don’t think it was a complete loss. I bet my “cheese” would be half-way decent on pizza, but I’ll definitely try this again. What else am I gonna do with all this rennet and citric acid???

* For January 2009’s Pancetta & Pea Risotto I made last year, click here.

Help me, Help you!

After fellowshipping with some of my high school friends in Memphis last week, it’s come to my attention that everyone does NOT use Google Reader (or other RSS feed readers)?!?!? Come on people now!! (smile on your brother, everybody . . . )

I’ve (subconsciously) pushed and prodded you to move towards Google Reader (here, here, and here), but now I think it’s time for a full out tutorial/explanation about the BENEFITS of using RSS Feeds!

(If you already use Google Reader, feel free to browse away . . . or catch up on all those old Seth Godin posts you “Mark as Read”)

Do you ever wonder what that icon is that looks like the North Face Logo?? It’s the RSS logo, and basically means you can add that website to a RSS feed reader.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I was going to type up some long, drawn out explanation, but I just found a really good youtube explanation here:

Another couple of neat/cool things you can do in Reader is to star and e-mail articles (I feel like I do this a lot) and check out your Trends. Here you can see which sites are most frequently updated, inactive, or obscure (click to embiggen). Thank You, 33 Blog Subscribers.

Anyways, if you find yourself checking the same sites every day, expecting an updated post (Big Girl, huh??)*, only to leave feeling sad and lonely, you might want to check this out. Srsly.

* RJOH, I love you!!

Cookin' with Ben, Brian, John & Roy

If you're looking for some tasty Mexican/Peruvian cusine, you should definitley check out Sabor Latino (on Greensprings). Tonight, when I was picking up some take-out for the LOML and our friends Fef & Clay, I decided to kill some time in the Tuesday Morning next door (ok, ok, i was checking to see if they had any Le Creuset on sale). And what did I happen upon in aisle 3???? LUCERO FREAKING OLIVE OIL!!

Hellz yeah, I bought a bottle!! And at $6.99 a bottle, I think it was a steal . . .

Merry Christmas from the Family

Hope you and yours have enjoyed a very Merry Christmas!! Earlier this week, we took a whirlwind two night trek to Memphris to see my fam and high school friends, and then wrapped up the last 24 hours (not that I'm counting) with my wonderful in-laws. The Mrs. an I constantly talk about how we feel blessed beyond measure, and we really do have such loving friends and family. Oh yeah, my Mom also gave me Guitar Hero: Metallica for Christmas (and nothing celebrates the birth of our Lord like "Master of Puppets" on Christmas night).

In baby news, the LOML turned 37 weeks today and you know what that means . . . "STOP THE PREGNANCY PICTS!!!" But seriously, she really does look great, and starting tomorrow, we're going on a steady diet of spicy food and long walks around the block to see if we can squeeze out a (healthy and fully developed) tax deduction before New Year's.

Me Roll You Long Time

Even though I only discovered them maybe 5 or 6 years ago (thank you, Pho Saigon), I’m a pretty big fan of Vietnamese Spring Rolls (I’ve also noticed I’m pretty fond of the phrase “pretty big fan of”). I’m not sure how “authentic” egg rolls from most (American-ized) Chinese restaurants are, but I feel somewhat-local when eating these fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls (gỏi cuốn).

Last week, Food Woolf posted some gourmet airplane food ideas, and since the recipe/idea seemed pretty easy, I thought I’d try to make some of these on my own. This was also my first experience with rice paper, and I’m really starting to appreciate living 2 minutes from the International Market.

TMF’H Spring Rolls
Rice Paper (try your local Asian market)
Pulled Pork (leftover and thawed out)
Sliced Chicken (cooked)
Napa Cabbage
Carrots
Cucumber
Cilantro (Basil would be tasty, as well)
Bean Sprouts

I found it was easiest to pre-slice all the veggies, prep the meat, make the dipping sauce*, and have yourself a (merry) little assembly line. When everything is in place and ready for assembly, dip the rice paper in warm water for maybe 5-10 seconds then set it on a plate, and let it soak in the water for maybe 30 seconds (I mistakenly left my first piece of rice paper in for close to a minute, and it got CRAZY pliable!!). The first item you want to lay down is a piece of Napa for support. Then add your meat and other veggies, and wrap the roll up “burrito style.” Since the Rice Paper is pretty sticky (almost saran-wrap like), they’ll stay wrapped pretty tight. I ended up making 8 (some chicken, some pork) and storing them on top of damp paper towels, while finishing the others.

Peanut/Hosin Dipping Sauce
½ C Hoisin sauce
2 Tbs peanut butter
½ Tbs rice vinegar
“Dash” or two of garlic powder
1/8 tsp Sriracha (you could add more, just be warned)
(a few) Tbs warm water (to reach desired consistency)
Peanuts, chopped

Combine all ingredients, except the peanuts, and stir until you get the right consistency. In the words of Jay, this sauce “was the fire” and really easy to make. I would dip the spring rolls in the sauce, and then place a few chopped peanuts on top before each bite.

These rolls seriously were AWESOME!!!!!** Go to your kitchen and make them tonight!!!!

* Adapted from Bee Yinn Low

** The LOML will also attest how tasty they were – and preggers friendly!!!

It's Gonna take a lot to Take me Away from You

For those of you who still care (Beuller . . . Beuller?) what other ethnic food we had two weeks ago . . . the winner was . . . NORTH AFRICAN!!

Even though I’m a HUGE foodnetwork fan, I really don’t get into the Next Foodnetwork Star. A few months ago, the LOML and I watched as Melissa d'Arabian beat out the spice smuggler, Jeffrey Saad, and after stumbling across this, I thought I’d try one of her recipes (I do want to get some harissa after watching Jeffrey’s final presentation).

One thing I’ll say before I type up the ingredients/recipes. These meatballs were a lot harder to brown and stay firm and spherical than I thought they should have (is that sentence grammatically correct?). I don’t know if I was shaking the frying pan around too much, but they tended to turn almost triangular?? Anyways, I think I saw Alton Brown bake his in a mini-muffin pan on Good Eats, and I might try that next time. Either way, I do think this would make a great meat sauce on its own, IMO.

North African Meatballs (adapted from Mellisa d’Arabian):

North African Sauce
2 Tbs olive oil
2/3 C small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ Tbs lemon juice
1 C pitted and chopped (kalamata) olives
3/4 C chicken stock
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
Pinch ground cinnamon
Salt/Pepper

Meatballs
1 egg
3 Tbs tomato paste
3 Tbs (rough) chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1.5 TBs crystallized ginger
1.5 tsp ground cumin
Pinch ground cinnamon
1 lb ground beef
1/2 C finely ground rolled oats
Salt/Pepper

To make the North African Sauce, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat, until soft, about 3 minutes. Next add the lemon juice and olives and cook for another minute. Stir in the stock, canned tomatoes, sugar, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon, and simmer to blend flavors, about 7 minutes (I omitted the wine and just used more chicken stock).

To make the Meatballs, add the egg and tomato paste and stir until smooth (was this where my meatballs went wrong – too much tomato paste??). Add the cilantro, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon and mix until well blended. Stir in the ground beef and oats, season with salt and pepper, to taste (was I supposed to taste RAW MEAT???), and combine gently after each addition. Rolling with your hands, make about 20 meatballs, about 1-inch in diameter. (I have NO idea how Melissa got 32 meatballs out of this recipe, especially with .75 lb ground beef)

In a large sauté pan, heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium heat, and brown the meatballs in batches until golden on all sides. Drain on paper towels, and after all meatballs are cooked, transfer the meatballs to the pan with the sauce and let simmer for 20 minutes.

We had this with Couscous (and some leftover apricots thrown in). There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do.

Mary, Did You Know?

Do you ever check out the “Explore” tab in Google Reader?? Today in “Popular Items,” the World’s Best Ever helped me realize I’ve been committing a major faux pas when enjoying my sushi (dumping Wasabi into your soy sauce).

(click to embiggen)

I’ll also admit, I used to put the pickled ginger on top of my sushi. I know, I know. I’m embarrassed for myself.

What puts the Ape in Apricot?

Last week was BY FAR the most ethnic week of cooking we’ve had at the TMF’H household. Monday we had Chicken & Apricot Curry and Wednesday we had . . . (you’ll have to come back – I know the suspense will be killing you).

So I’ve already told you I’ve become a Penzey’s Spices apologist. Now that we’re on the mailing list, we get their catalog every couple of months, and although most of the recipes have a 1980’s Midwestern feel to them, I still like flipping through and looking for some inspirado. And since I’m trying to find uses for the ingredients I bought in August, we went with the Chicken & Apricot Curry (or the less-impressively named Carol’s Easy Chicken Curry) for dinner. Sorry, I’m not typing up all the ingredients/instructions; you’ll have to go here for the details.

A few notes though . . . We cut this recipe in half and used boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I don’t think we missed any of the flavor). Also, I didn’t think the curry was that tart at all, and we didn’t add any additional sweeteners (the thought of aspartame in this gives me the shakes).

Did it pass the pregnant wife test?? Yes (although I don’t think she’ll be requesting it again in the next week or so). Until then, the search for ethnic ingredient use continues.

(Clever title involving Butternut Squash)

So every year my firm has a Thanksgiving pot-luck lunch. It’s actually pretty awesome b/c you end up with around 100 side dishes and desserts, plus more gallons of sweet tea brought in than necessary. Last year I brought a butternut squash casserole, and a few weeks ago a friend of mine at work asked if it would be making a triumphant return. With that question, I knew I’d have to bring it back.

I pretty much pulled this recipe from a bunch of different sources (mostly sweet potato casserole recipes). Like I mentioned before, I ended up making this twice last week.

The first attempt was made with the squash roasted still in its skin. I wouldn’t recommend this method b/c it was pretty difficult to get all that good squash flesh out. I didn’t take a picture of my remains, but there was a lot left in the skin.

For the family version, I ended up skinning the squash first and cutting it into large chunks. Although it took some more time on the front end, I would go with this approach in the future. As you can see from these pictures, I roasted a lot of butternut squash (and I did experience some temporary Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) dermatitis – don’t be alarmed. it eventually washed off).

TMF’H Butternut Squash Casserole
Butternut Squash (a lot - you can guesstimate how much from the pictures)
1/3 C Orange Juice
2 Eggs
½ Stick Butter (melted)
¼ C Brown sugar
1 tsp Salt
a “Dash” of Cinnamon/Nutmeg*

After peeling and quartering the squash, I roasted it for about 45 min to an hour @ 425. It came out fork tender and then it went into the Kitchen Aid. First I added the melted butter and OJ, and let it mix/puree on medium speed. I could have used more OJ, but I wanted the squash to retain its butternut-iness (of course, I lose that with the delicious crumb topping to follow). I cracked two eggs into a separate bowl and took some of the hot squash mixture to temper the eggs down. Afterwards I added the egg mixture back and mixed in the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon/nutmeg. You could check the mixer every couple minutes to make sure it was mixing to your desired consistency, and after I was satisfied, it went into a greased dish. I baked it for about an hour @ 350 (here is what the office version looked like before going into the oven).

So, my office kinda got the raw end of the deal on the topping. I didn’t really look into my “crumb” topping and ended up just throwing random amounts of brown sugar, flour, oats and chopped pecans in a bowl and then sprinkling it on top before putting into the oven.

For the family version, I poked around on the internet and found this.

1 C Flour
½ C Oats (not instant)
1/3 C Brown Sugar
½ tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Salt
1 stick Butter, cut into small pieces

Basically pulse all the ingredients in a food processor, and after the butternut squash has baked for 30 minutes, take it out and sprinkle this on top. Afterwards it looked like this, and smelled like an apple pie.

And then we had a Happy Thanksgiving.

* I know no straight man would ever use the word “dash” (or sprinkle, for that matter) when describing anything. Please forgive me.

Take this quarter, go downtown . . .

I really like toothpicks. I think this all started when I saw Uncle Buck when I was little. Remember when they were at the Bowling Alley and that guy was trying to be all cool, flipping the toothpick around in his mouth, and then it got stuck? I was really pumped when I got old enough (or my mouth grew large enough) to be able to do that. Yes, I know this really isn’t all that impressive.

Anyways, I just realized my office keeps a cup of toothpicks in the kitchen. I know I probably look like a red-neck, but I’ve been enjoying chomping on them the last few days. Man, this is an awkward shot of my nose . . .

Bourbon. Milkshake.

Before I get into any more winter squash recipes (and I KNOW you are dying for that butternut squash casserole post), I have to tell you about, what may be, the single tastiest and most indulgent drink I’ve ever had . . . BOURBON MILKSHAKES!!

I read something about a bourbon milkshake a month or so ago, and thought, dang, that is awesome. I actually read an article about a Guinness milkshake (thank you, Alamo Drafthouse) back in spring in the Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine, and thought I’d like to try one of those, too (SEC Championship, anyone??).

Most of the Bourbon Milkshake recipes I searched for try and give you some homemade ice cream recipe. I’m not going to. I don’t have time to churn homemade ice cream in the winter, and this “Homemade Vanilla” ice cream from Blue Bell was awesome. Here’s my “recipe”:

1 pint Vanilla Ice Cream*
1 shot Bourbon (roughly, I didn’t really measure it)

Let the ice cream soften a bit. Put everything in the blender. Blend. Stir it around with a spoon. Blend some more. Put it in the freezer if it’s too soft. Enjoy.

If I had discovered these in college, I would probably be a lot fatter than I am today. I know it doesn’t look like much, but I actually only had half of this Saturday night, and the rest Sunday afternoon, which by the way, I think was even better after a night in the freezer. It was like soft serve Bourbon ice cream. Awesome-town, USA.

PS – these glasses have some type of decorative brown ring on the top. They were not rimmed with chocolate (although, now that you mention it???).

* My first attempt at a Bourbon Milkshake was about a month ago, when I used some Low-fat Vanilla Frozen Yogurt we already had in the freezer. This was probably the dumbest thing I could have done. It was awful, and I ruined a perfectly good shot (or two) of Maker’s.

The Spaghetti (Squash) Incident?

Hope everyone is having a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Have you been to your local farmer’s market lately??? They’re practically giving away WINTER SQUASH*

Last week, I picked up about 27 lbs of Butternut, Spaghetti and Hubbard squash for $4 . . . yep, it was fill up as much winter squash you can fit in a box for $4!!

I’ll end up making two butternut squash dishes for Thanksgiving(s) this week (office and family), but Monday night the LOML and I took our first stab at Spaghetti Squash. I had never cooked Spaghetti Squash before, but have read/heard a lot about it the last few years.

The market had Spaghetti Squash of all different sizes/shades of yellow. The farmer told me the larger and more brightly yellow the squash is, the better it will be. He was right. I split both of our spaghetti squash (you can experiment, when they’re this cheap I guess), and the larger one definitely looked more appetizing.

It was a little overwhelming to figure out what to do with it, so we basically roasted it (face down, for 45 minutes @ 400 degrees), with a little olive oil and salt/pepper. It was good (I probably could have omitted the pepper), and we served it with some black beans and sautéed spinach/mushrooms. Also, I wasn’t sure how much I could get out of one squash, but it was A LOT. Just an FYI.

* You’ve probably noticed Winter Squash will be the hot foodie blog topic these next few weeks (Clotilde had some great ideas/suggestions this week and made a REALLY good looking gratin out of hers). Glad I can contribute my part.

I like Pork Butts and I Can Not Lie

So I’ve been on a pretty big Boston Butt kick lately (I think we’ve cooked 6 since the spring). They’re easy and feed a lot of people. We ended up cooking two (16 lbs total) this weekend for the 6 couples in our small group, and I think they were a big hit. I’m sure not all of these steps were necessary, but this how I rolled (I’m so white).

First I rinsed off the butt, and patted it dry. Mmmmm, that’s a fine lookin’ butt.

Next, I rubbed it down (Man, this is starting to sound like a Danielle Steel novel) with yellow mustard and put Willingham’s Dry Rub all over it. I saw the yellow mustard trick from a special on foodnetwork a few years ago, and I think it’s a divided topic on serious Pork Butt smokers/cooks. I’m sure any dry rub would be good, and I know the Neely’s have a really easy recipe I’ve used before. Anyways, I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and threw it in the fridge over night.

Sunday, I sliced 5 or 6 onions (about 1 inch thick) and layered on the bottom of the crock pot. Then I put the (unwrapped) Pork Butt on top and poured in half a beer (Pete’s Wicked Ale, for this butt).

The amount of liquid is kind of deceiving b/c the Butt is sitting on top of the raw onions, so it seems like there is not a lot of liquid. But after 5 or 6 hours, that meat will weigh down the cooked onions and the liquid will come about half way up the meat. If you’ve got time, I like to set the slow cooker on LOW and let it cook for 8 hours (but you could get HIGH for 6 hours).

Now, I’ve read that once you set the crock pot to cook you DO NOT lift the lid to check out your meat!! That would release all the built up steam and just add more time to your cooking. Amirite??

Well this weekend, my fam was in town for the LOML’s baby shower. My mom is a great cook and probably the biggest inspiration (man that sounds so cheesy to type) behind my love for cooking. I know everyone says their mom is a great cook, but mine really is. So we were hanging in the kitchen Sunday afternoon, and I turn around and she’s lifted the lid and is all “Mmmm, that looks good”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?! Seriously, I didn’t yell at her, but it was a stern what the heck????? Anyways, she didn’t know you were supposed to keep the lid closed, so I thought I’d let you know. KEEP THE LID CLOSED!

After the meat had cooked (check after 8 hours, it may need a little more time), it was time to shred (but that meat will still be HOT). As you can see the bone EASILY came out (you can see some of the beer-soaked onions, too), and It was pretty to pick out the meat from the fat. After all was said and done, it looked like this:

BOOM goes the dynamite!

My Baby’s Got Sauce

So we had folks over to our house Sunday night for Core Group and we decided to cook some Boston Butts (aka Pork Shoulder). I know this could be considered heresy, but I cooked mine in the Crock Pot (slow cooker). I know, I know. I would love to smoke some butts on a BGE (or some other type of smoker), but I don’t have one. Anyways, before I post the pictures/recipes from the Butts, I thought I’d post about the sauces I made (and I realize nothing is more exciting than posting pictures of sauces).

First I made an Alabama White Sauce (as deliciously seen @ Miss Myra’s, Moe’s and Saw’s BBQ). I had never seen or heard of White BBQ Sauce before moving to Birmingham (thank you for the introduction, Anne McCrory), but it is GOOD. The ingredients/instructions are pretty easy (via White Trash BBQ)

1 C mayo (I used Duke’s Light)
1 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice
1.5 Tbs cracked black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt, finely ground (I used sea salt)
¼ tsp cayenne

After I mixed it together, I realized this was A LOT runnier than what I’ve found in restaurants, so I ended up adding maybe another cup of Mayo, and mixed some more. WTBBQ says to store overnight, and mine sat in the fridge about 20 hrs before using. It was tasty.

I’ve been playing around with (traditional, tomato based) BBQ sauces since our 2008 Fourth of July party, and as far as ingredients/measurements go, I’m not precise at all. For this one, I started off sautéing half an onion, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and a red bell pepper in a little olive oil for 5 minutes. Then added:

2.5 C Tomato Sauce
¾ C Tomato Paste
1.25 C Apple Cider Vinegar
½ C Brown Sugar
¼ C Honey
3 Tbs Worcestershire
3 Tbs Brown Mustard
5 Tbs Paprika
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
2 Tbs Black Pepper
2 Tbs Salt

I didn’t add all this at once. Basically it was add a little of something/taste/tinker/mix/repeat. I’d heat it up, and then simmer it down. After a while, I took the extra OCD step of putting the sauce in the blender to puree all the larger onion/pepper/garlic pieces. Did it need it?? Nope. I just like dirtying extra dishes (according to the LOML).

I think our guests would say both turned out good, but I wish I could find the extra ingredients to make it as tasty at Willingham’s. Mmmmmm, Cajun Hot . . .