Meal No. 725: Korma Sauce for Chicken

I didn't think this was all that great when I made it about a month ago, and I thought even less of it tonight. This recipe is going to be crossed off the list.

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"Classic Korma Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 158.

Meal No. 724: Kamado Grilled Pork Tenderloin

My own early impression of using Smoke & Spice as my guide for kamado grill cooking was that, unless I got started on it the night before, I'd have few options. But there are a few recipes that can be prepped and served within about two hours, which is not bad when it comes the barbecue/smoking realm.

This evening's choice is a butterflied pork tenderloin with Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub, the same rub I used last night on the beer can chickens. (That's handy, because I had about three tablespoons of it reserved.) I served it with some leftovers, though: last night's sweet onion corn bake and last weekend's smoky onion sauce. I threw in garden peas to give me green on the plate.

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"Weeknight Pork Tenderloin" (p. 80-81), "Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub" (p. 171), and "Smoked Onion Barbeque Sauce" (p. 360). In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

"Sweet Onion Corn Bake," by Jeanette Travis of Fort Worth, TX. Published in Taste of Home, April/May 2003, p. 37-38.

Kamado Meal #5

Meal No. 723: Chicken on a Throne

...or as some people know it: beer can chicken.

Although it's a drizzly rainy grey day, I'd already put into motion plans for some folks to come and help me sample using the new kamado grill to smoke some chickens that cook while sitting on beer cans. Given how yucky today's weather is, I'm glad you ain't got to mess with the grill much once you get it going!

Late last night, I mixed up a batch of Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub; then I prepped the two fresh young chickens and covered them inside and out with the Wild Willy rub. They sat overnight in a bag in the fridge and then I brought them to room temperature this afternoon before setting them up on the smoker.

Thanks to Amazon.com, I'd already obtained a couple of beer can mounts for these birds, and they'd been washed and prepped. Instead of a full can of beer, you drink or save a portion of the brew and then add in garlic, onion, cider vinegar, and some spices.

The birds cook at a low temp for around four hours and come off looking like this:

With five folks 'round the table, I needed to have two chickens. Especially since there were good appetites in the mix. The gang had a choice of two sauces (and most of us sampled both): Alabama Great White Sauce and Smoked Onion Barbecue Sauce (from a few days ago).

Sides included baby lima beans and Jeanette Travis's sweet onion corn bake.

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"Chicken on a Throne" (p. 171-173) and "Alabama Great White Sauce" (p. 362). In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

"Sweet Onion Corn Bake," by Jeanette Travis of Fort Worth, TX. Published in Taste of Home, April/May 2003, p. 37-38.

Kamado Meal #4

Meal No. 722: Grilled Porterhouse with Steak Fries

The promised rains did very little to materialize today. Just sprinkles here and there that hardly made a difference. Since I put some time into yardwork on this great Saturday afternoon, it put me in the mood for a big solid pile of porterhouse. With the deep fat fryer still set up and ready for use, I added hearty steak fries to the plate and called it a meal.

Meal No. 721: 'Bama Chicken

'Bama Chicken, Lima Beans, and Stuffing

Dessert: Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler
(Good enough to have two weekends in a row!)

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"Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler," by Carla Prysock of Malvern, AR. Published in Carla's Kitchen Confessions on Facebook and attributed to a 1950s cookbook. Thanks to Paul Long, a fellow native of  Harnett County and Buies Creek, for posting it to his wall.

Work-Related Cookie Batches

For my last trip up into Virginia before I start my May-cation at home, I whipped up some cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies to share with folks in my training this past Wednesday and at James Wood High School on Thursday:

Tomorrow, I have an afternoon session with coaches in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School system, and so tonight I made a double batch of Cap'n Crunch cookies to take along.

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"Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies," from Hershey's Kitchens. Also available on the Hershey's website: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=6197&name=Oatmeal7Cinnamon7Chips7Cookies

"Cap'n Crunch Cookies," found online at The Capitol Baker, with credit going to The Sugar Plum Blog for inspiration and the source of the adapted recipe.

Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

A recent easy delicious dessert was a great old-fashioned peach cobbler:

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"Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler," by Carla Prysock of Malvern, AR. Published in Carla's Kitchen Confessions on Facebook and attributed to a 1950s cookbook.

Strawberry-Lime Cake

Last night's delicious smoked beef brisket was capped off with a new recipe for dessert: strawberry-lime yogurt cake.

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"Strawberry Lime Yogurt Cake," by Cindy who blogs at "Hun...What's for Dinner?" Recipe also found on Honey Bee Hive blog.

Meal No. 720: Dallas Dandy Brisket

It has been cool but gorgeous this April weekend, and there was no reason not to make a little more kamado grill action happen. I went with a beef brisket that I picked up from Costco and got a marinade for it made last night.

Before putting it on the grill this afternoon, I added a heavy spice rub to it.

This was a five-hour smoke: three of them, bare on the grill; the final two, with more rub added and wrapped up in foil.

This here was another outstanding meal and the plates around the table ended up licked clean (practically).

When I was smoking yesterday's pork ribs, I threw on a large onion so that I'd be ready to make the smoked onion barbecue sauce this evening. It really did add a nice flavor to it, but not a particularly pronounced one.

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"Dallas Dandy Brisket" (p. 107-108) and "Smoked Onion Barbecue Sauce" (p. 360). In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

"Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese," from Cook's Country, April/May 2007, p. 11.

Kamado Meal #3

Meal No. 719: Cajun Country Ribs

Last weekend I got to break in the new kamado grill, with a batch of hearty 23-hour smoked barbecue made from a Boston butt pork shoulder. This weekend, I got up around 5:30 am and put a Cajun' Ragin' rub on some country style pork ribs:

Mid-afternoon, I got the natural lump hardwood charcoal started up and took it to a nice-and-easy temp of around 200°F. I also put some hardwood hickory chunks in there and got a heckuva lot of smoke going. With a little more rub added on for good measure, these ribs hit the smoker for a good three hours.

Before they came off for the appointed dinnertime of 8 pm, I put together the Creole Classic Barbecue Sauce that's recommended for these ribs, although it turned out a bit thinner than I would have liked. The sauce did not do a good job of clinging to these ribs. But it was packed with flavor and a touch of heat.

Smoked gouda mac-n-cheese and a pot of corn were perfect sides for the meal.

I'd say the Roediger House is now two-for-two on kamado pork smoking! It all just tasted fantastic.

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"Cajun Country Ribs" (p. 76) and "Creole Classic Barbecue Sauce" (p. 358). In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

"Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese," from Cook's Country, April/May 2007, p. 11.

Kamado Meal #2

Meal No. 718: Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

When Donna Whitley-Smith shared some recipe magazines with me a while back, I don't suppose she anticipated I'd become fixated on one recipe in particular. The record to date would suggest that I have, though.

But it's just so good! So tonight was another batch of braised chicken over Brussels sprouts, although I think it is much better with dark meat than with the split chicken breasts I used this evening.

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"Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts," in Everyday Food, Issue 97, November 2012, p. 22.

Busting Through the Porch Flooring

For a little background on this evening's update, you can refer to a blog post from almost two years ago detailing issues with the renovation of the upstairs porch. The short story of it is this:

Because my general contractor, Peter R. "Pete" LaRoque of Mocksville, NC, refused to coordinate his roof repair with the re-attachment of the LeafGuard gutter in the middle of the front porch, the water is not "caught" and channeled. Instead, it runs and drips constantly onto the porch decking below.

Today, the long-term effects of this were made clear:

Diagnosis on Cyprus: Hypothyroidism

When Cyprus arrived at the Roediger House, at the end of May 2011, she looked like this:

May 2011

At the time, the best guest of the veterinarian that she was around 2 years old. I did not look back at the records, but I think she was just under 50 pounds.

A year ago, in April 2012, she showed she'd begun to put on some weight. It's true that I don't walk her nearly enough, and it's easy to over-treat her. And I wasn't measuring her food so there's no doubt she was getting over-fed. There's a particularly awful-looking picture of her that I can't bring myself to post again, but you can look back at it by following this link.

April 2012

Cyprus's latest vet appointment was on April 2, and she weighed in at 77 pounds. This shocked me, because I've tried to cut back on treats and I've also started measuring her food (and she's really cut back!). When I had to report that weight to the vet tech, after weighing Cyprus, I asked if it was possible that the crazy cat lady who'd just left had managed to put her foot on the scales.

April 2013

The vet decided it was time to check to see if her weight issue was related to low thyroid, and that's what the tests showed. Now, in addition to her monthly Trifexis for fleas, ticks, and heartworm, she now gets a twice-daily thyroid medication. Since it's a rather small pill, this has proven to be a fairly easy and uncomplicated task, especially with the handy pill-popper recommended by friend and colleague Jeremy Craft.

Now, if I could find a more satisfactory way to administer those comparatively huge Trifexis pills...

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake

I'm trying to catch up on some of what's been coming out of the Roediger House kitchen, especially since my stretch of days at home over Spring Break and the Easter holiday gave me a chance to whip up more stuff. While friends Karissa and Jon Piper were with me for that vacation, it gave me the impetus to try out this recipe for a cinnamon-roll-inspired sheet cake. It was completely gone in less than 24 hours.

I'll have to play with the recipe a bit: the cinnamon-butter-sugar ooze was too heavy and the center sunk down into a sinfully delicious sludge, leaving a border or frame of sturdy cake all around it.

By the way, Jon Piper approved:

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Recipe first found at The Recipe Critic [http://www.therecipecritic.com/2012/07/cinnabon-cinnamon-roll-cake.html].

Printable PDF of recipe found at The Lady with the Red Rocker: http://ladywiththeredrocker.com/2012/03/08/cinnaboncinnamon-roll-cake/

Pepsi Cola Cake

In the Roediger House, there is no Coca-Cola. There are no Coca-Cola soda products, and it's unlikely any of their drink brands will show up here. So when I decided to try out a recipe for the famous coca cola cake, I reached for a Pepsi. And not just any Pepsi: this delicious chocolatey dessert was made with the real cane sugar of a Pepsi Throwback.

This was the ending of last Sunday night's grilled ancho leg of lamb, and it was quite well received by the crew in attendance.

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Recipe based on and adapted from "Coca Cola Cake," from Southern Living, August 2002.