Chargrilled Wing Things

Of all the ways I have done Chicken Wings, I think this is the first time I've made Chargrilled Wing Things.  I spent all day working on the garden, and I was looking for a quick dinner.  The Baby Q is a little hotter than the oven, maybe 600 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.  So it should cook the Wing Things faster than the oven.  Yeah, worked good, the Wing Things were done in fifteen minutes.

It took longer to make the salad.  There is a green salad which has Iceberg Lettuce, Cilantro, and Vidalia Onion.  Then the rough Guacamole is Avacado, Tomato, cleaned chunky Jalapeno, and Sea Salt.  I used my usual spice rub on the Wing Things which is Tony Chachere's season salt, and black pepper.

Next time I do this I will probably cook them quicker.  They were maybe a little overdone at 15 minutes.  Over this last month I have been cleaning up the yard, and patio.  I cleaned out the Baby Q, and the burner.  Now all ports are burning, and making even heat so the Baby Q is cooking great...

2016 Chiles

I got some Chile plants in the ground yesterday.  This time I found Kung Pao Chile, and Habanero Chile.  I'm still looking for Cayenne, and Jalapeno.  Rosemeade Market happened to have Kung Pao this year.  I've never seem them there before.  I did find Bhut Jolokia there in 2013.

This year I have the Chiles along the Garden Fence.  There are Sugar Snap Peas, and Cucumbers that grow on the fence wire, and this set of Chiles is just inside the fence.  The reasoning is that the western most part of the garden gets the first light in the morning.  I'm having to trim my Oak Trees back so the garden can get more light.

I found some Garlic growing down at the end of the Garden where Harlz is in this picture.  This year there is a motley assortment of plants including Bok Choy, Daikon Radish, Romanesco Broccoli, Kaleidoscope Carrots, Sage, Rosemary, Cilantro, Thai Basil, Onions, and Mustard.  A little of this, a little of that.I don't have any Tomatoes this year, and I may have to change that.  Going back to Rosemeade Market today for more plants.

Shrimp and Egg Breakfast Tacos

Wild Texas Gulf Coast Shrimp are the cornerstone of this mainstay.  I got acclimated to those farm raised shrimp, and was blown away at how much better the Wild Texas Gulf Coast Shrimp are.  I gave them a bit of a Scampi taste with Garlic this time.  I'm using large, raw, peeled Shrimp cut into pieces.  Melt some butter in the pan, add Shrimp, and Garlic.  Saute for 5 minutes, then add eggs, and cook till done.

This is something that I first tried at Fuzzy's Taco Shop.  Now I have a need for Shrimp, and Egg Breakfast Tacos with Habanero Sauce.  I usually have a griddle going for the side stuff.  Got a couple Hash Brown Patties, and the Blanco Tortillas with melted Cheddar.  Griddling the Blanco Tortillas gives them a little krunch on the outside.  I've got two sauces this time.  Melinda's Extra Hot Habanero Sauce, and Mrs. Renfro's Habanero Salsa.  They are both a good burn...

Jalapeno Cheeze Burger

This is why I like my Baby Q.  I can make burgers like this in 10 minutes.  This time I added Black Pepper, granulated Garlic, and Sea Salt in the burger.  Grill on high, just a few minutes on each side.  The bread is griddled Sourdough, from Village Baking Co., in butter, then sprinkled with granulated Garlic, and Sea Salt.  There is Jalapeno Mustard on both sides of the Sourdough, with thin sliced white Onion on bottom, and thin sliced fresh Jalapeno on top with the Cheddar.  Its a Texas thing...

Peach Glazed Spare Ribs

These Spare Ribs have the name of another location.  Well, I think I need to make them my own, and change that name to Peach Glazed Texas Spare Ribs.  This is probably the fanciest Spare Rib dinner I have evar made.  I spent $4 on the meat, and spent nearly 5 hours preparing it.  Salty, spicy, sweet, tart, but it sure is Nomlishous.  Harley is beside himself trying to get a taste, puppy tease...

Were going to start with the regular, off the shelf, vacuum packed, other city name, spare ribs.  Peel the silver skin off the inside, then I am going to use my usual rub which is Tony Chachere's, and fresh cracked Black Pepper, but a light dusting.  So this is going to start like the BBQ I usually make.

I am lightly dusting both sides.  I typically don't make ribs, and would much rather make a pork butt.  The original idea for this was a Peach Glazed Pork Butt.  But, heh, when I was at the store today spare ribs were only $0.99 a pound, so I changed course there.  The same concept would apply to the Pork Butt.  In the meantime I have got a Charcoal, and Hickory fire going in the Pit.

Next we're going to get the Ribs into the Pit.  My Pit runs about 275 degrees Fahrenheit.  Its just where it likes to go.  What matters is consistent heat, and not so much the precise temperature.  Ribs want long, and low, and 275F is fairly low.  If we brought the temperature down it would take a lot longer for the temperature to penetrate the ribs.  I want to eat it tonight, and not tomorrow morning.

Now, while the ribs are smoking, we're going to start the Peach Glaze.  This is the Apex of Peach Season in Texas.  I have four large, small stone, freestone, Peaches from Rosemeade Market.  They aren't overly sweet, and have a nice tartness.  There is only a small time of the year you can get Peaches this good, and that is now.

There is another place to get peaches around Dallas, and that is Ham Orchard's.  These aren't as good as Ham's, but the have a little more tartness.  The Peaches from Ham's are perfectly ripe right now, and are best eaten fresh.

Next I'll break the seeds out of the Peaches, and quarter them.  Then they are going through the Juiceman, so I can have the Peach juice, the base of the Peach Glaze.  This is going to be a very basic Peach Sauce, if I cooked it a little longer, and cool it, we would have Peach Jelly.

I would up with around three cups of Peach juice.  The juice comes out of the Juiceman rather frothy, but the froth will cook off, and leave us with a mainly clear liquid.  Since the Peaches are kinda tart, I'm going to add some Honey for sweetness, and a few shakes of salt just to brighten the flavor a little bit.  Adding just a little salt to fruit is something I never agreed with, until I tried it, and it makes a difference.

This is a compote, sans the fiber, or if you prefer, a jelly recipe. Serve it hot, and its a glaze, cool it, and let it solidify, and it will be jelly.  This is a true Holiday preparation, because I am into it about four hours now, but the rewards will be awesome.  I may have to make something like this at Thanksgiving.  Now that the Peach Sauce is started, I need to check on the Spare Ribs.

OK, now we will ping back to the glaze.  The froth on the Peach Juice has a tendency to boil over, so it needs constant attention, until it starts to reduce, and the froth gets cooked off.  One the froth is cooked off, and the Glaze starts forming you can turn the heat down to a slow simmer, and let it get nomlishous.

Bing!  Three hours are up, and its time to take the Spare Ribs out of the smoker.  Man, they look good.

I gave them a taste, and they are salty, spicy, savory, and we're going to marry that with the tart, sweet Peach Glaze.  This is gonna be great.  I'll tent the Spare ribs with plenty of foil, and put them in a really slow oven, around 170F, so the ribs can re-incorporate their juices, and can wait indefinitely, until the Peach Glaze is done.

I have to add a video of the Peach Glaze simmering here.  It looks very good by itself.

Here is a shot of the assembly.  It has been a long time coming, but well worth the effort...

Chile Garlic Shrimp

We went to get Pho at Photai, near Super H-Mart yesterday.  I had some leftovers, and needed to add a little something to them.  Also had some raw, shell on, Texas farm raised Shrimp, and have been experimenting with the shell on Shrimp lately.  So this is a pan seared version of these Shrimp.

The shell on Shrimp are whole except for the heads.  So they need to be de-veined, and marinated before cooking.  We'll slice them down the back and rinse out the vein with a dribble of cold water, dry them, and put them in a bowl to be marinated.

I have some fresh Cayenne Chiles, and Garlic to dice up really fine.  Then add some Sea Salt, and Olive oil.  Mix them together, while trying to work the marinade between the shell, and the meat.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to get a skillet hot over medium heat.  The leftover Pho needs a little attending to also.  I'll add some Fish Sauce, and water to get a little more liquid into the Pho because the noodles soaked up some of the broth, and I though it needed a little more broth.  Then heat the leftover noodles up in the microwave.

The Chile Garlic Shrimp then go into the hot skillet for a quick sear on each side.  I tried to get all the Chile, and Garlic in the skillet as well.  When the Shrimp turn pink they go on to a platter next to the Pho, and the remaining Chile, and Garlic go into the Pho.  TexViet nom-nom-lishousness...

Beef Jerky

Been thinking about this one for a while.  Beef Jerky is a good traveling food.  I find myself relying on quick snacks more as I have less time to be in the kitchen.  This recipe is relatively simple, marinate the beef then "cook" it with a long, low temperature process.  Easy right?

I'm going to start with a London Broil, which is the Top Round cut of Beef.    This cut has the grain in a longitudinal direction, so I can make the slices across the grain.  The Steak is 1.67 pounds to start.

After I got the Steak home from the store I put it in the freezer for a couple hours to get it nearly frozen.  This helps the slicing process.  I looking to get about a quarter inch slices.

This cut was trimmed nicely by the butcher, and there is little fat within the meat, perfect for Beef Jerky.  Next is the marinade.

I started with a base of Soy Sauce, and Worcestershire Sauce, a half cup of each.  Then for the heat I added a tablespoon of Melinda's Naga Jolokia Sauce, and eight Cayenne Chiles, so this one should be pretty hot.  Then round off the spice with a tablespoon of Honey, and some Black Pepper last.

All the marinade ingredients go into a gallon size ziplock bag.  I ground the Cayenne Chiles with a Coffee grinder.  Then we can start adding the Steak slices.

I coat each slice as it is added to the marinade.  We want to get every piece coated evenly, so none miss out on the fiery marinade.

 Once all the Steak is in the marinade push the extra air out of the bag, and seal it.  This will marinate in the refrigerator for a day.  Then we'll put it in the food dehydrator tomorrow.

I added the strips of Steak in one layer per rack.  I didn't think I would have enough room in the food dehydrator, but I probably could have done twice as much Steak, about three pounds.  I ran the food dehydrator for around 12 hours, until the Steak strips seemed dried to what I think of as Beef Jerky.  Its good, and has a lingering burn of those Naga Jolokia Chiles.  I started with about 26 ounces of fresh Steak, and with finished weight is about 10 ounces, so the Beef lost about a pound of water.