Pepper Vinegar and Brockian Hot Sauce

I don't usually have much success growing peppers, generally just winding up with only enough to put a few in salads and a pot beans every now and then.  This year I lucked out, however, and got a bountiful amount of two different kinds from two different sources. 

A friend of mine, Tommy Stone, has an incredibly green thumb, and donated some Jalapeños for the St. Peter's Church Youth to use for a fund raiser.  He said he had plenty more and gave me a grocery bag full. I decided that with such surplus I should make Brockian Hot Sauce. I first found out about this method of hot sauce production about 2 years ago listening to Sean Brock at the SFA Field Trip in Bristol.  Since this was the first time I've tried this, I pretty much followed the instructions.  I started them August 1st and on October 1st I stopped the fermentation process and added the vinegar.  Exactly two months after that I strained it off and here's what I got:

First I tried it some on a Ritz Crackers. It's pretty powerful stuff, but not insane.  The flavor reminds me of Green Smoked Tabasco, but it is significantly hotter. It goes very well with well with Collards!

Late this summer Mom and Dad began gleaning some at Barefoot Farms up near Belton.  Mostly they've been getting Okra, (lots and lots of Okra), but last month before the hard frost came,  they pulled up the last of the pepper plants.  They brought me probably close to a bushel of Hot Hungarian Peppers and a few fruits of various other kinds. We used plenty of them in cooking and making stuffed peppers,  and I made several bottles of pepper vinegar.  We haven't tried them yet. I figure I'll let them set about a month or six weeks, so they should be ready by Christmas. Don't they look real purty in bourbon bottles?

"MWBAA!?"

We went to Thanksgiving Supper with Alice's cousins, up in Owings, South Carolina. Thanksgiving Supper in Owings is a tradition that goes back at least half a century. Usually there's about 25-30 folks.  Cousin Hazel and her family provide the Turkey, Dressing, Gravy, Famous Christmas Rolls, and some other fixin's. The rest of the folks bring a variety of contributions: Potato Salad, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Corn, Green Beans, maybe a Congealed Salad. It is always a delicious feast. Alice's mom, Mama Lucy, always took a ham, so that’s what we brought this year: a  platter of porcine perfection produced by wrap cooking a Clifty Farms Country Ham. For dessert there is usually cake or cookies, and always, always, Hazel makes Boiled Custard. Always. It is something that she doesn't make often. In fact, nobody that I know of makes it often. Alice makes it several times a year, usually around the Holidays, or when someone has some sort of mouth surgery that makes chewing unpleasant. It is very good: kind of like egg nog without the spices. Very rich, not too sweet, a nice vanilla mellowness.  No booze, but you can add that yourself if you feel the need,  which we don't.

The newest member of the clan is Maggie, Cousin Hazel's first great-grandbaby. She's fourteen months old, and seems to be a fine child, being raised by fine parents. However, through a minor oversight on her parents, she had never had country ham, or the Boiled Custard. Well, that situation has now been rectified. Her dad did not give her the actual hambone to gnaw on, but she finished a substantial portion with enough enthusiasm there is no doubt she is in favor of it. (It's ok, it's ok. There was no fat on it.) After she finished the big slab smallish morsel of ham, it seemed to me she was kind of thirsty. So I offered her some Boiled Custard. It was in a punch cup, and she kind of eyed it suspiciously. She cautiously let me put it up to her mouth, and tilt it so she could get a bit. After a moment, her eyes got big and she snatched the cup out of my hands and with a glug glug glug, it was empty. Then she handed the cup back to me and said "MWBAA!?" Which apparently meant something like "Goodness Gracious, that was mighty fine! Would you please get me another cup? Right Now!" Which of course I did. She followed me around the rest of the night.

Now what makes you think I might exaggerate?

Mama Lucy's Legacy

I knew Mama Lucy for 30 years. She loved to cook, and loved to see folks eat what she cooked.  During the time I knew her she cooked for her husband, her five children, and her five grand-children.  Before I knew her, she apparently cooked for most of southern Greenville County, (a great deal of it in large amounts).  Her children’s friends were always welcome at her table, and from what I hear tell, she and JW did a good bit of entertaining in the 60s and 70s.

After JW (or Wilton as she called him) died 10 years ago, she spent a fair amount of time at our house.  She’d come for a month or three, several times a year, while Alice “tweaked” her medicines and such.  And a fair amount of that time was spent sitting at our kitchen table doing crossword puzzles, looking out the back window at the birds and squirrels, and talking about food.  She didn’t cook too much then, but she still loved to talk about food, and she enjoyed watching cooking shows on TV, and Lord, how she loved to read cookbooks!  She would read cookbooks like most folks read novels.  She loved to get books on different cuisines, but she also loved Southern cooking, and especially Creole/Cajun (lately she had become somewhat enamored with John Besh!)

(A couple of things she did cook in big quantities in the last few years:  She once made me a huge pot of chicken stew and 100 biscuits to take to Lutheran Men.  After that, we’d often tease her to “come help us make a hundred biscuits!” And in 2005, she and her daughter Beth made several coolers full of beef stew to send to Biloxi for Katrina volunteers. She had heard they weren’t getting enough proteins for all the hard work they were doing!)

One of my favorite things was finding a new recipe, telling her about it (many times she’d heard of something similar) and then trying it out on her. Most of the time, she’d love it.  She didn’t particularly like lamb or salmon, so usually those recipes were out, and she very most assuredly did not like rosemary or sage in large quantities, which I do!  I would often tease her about that, saying things like “why don’t we put a couple of tablespoons of sage in this?”  or “You’ll like this Mama Lucy, it’s got loads of rosemary!”  Her answer would many times be “I …. Don’t ….think so, Mr. Philip!”

Here’s just few of the culinary treats Alice and I owe to Mama Lucy:

• Craig Claiborne’s tomato soup (I thought tomato soup was only from Campbell’s)
• Baklava (She only did this once, and then talked Alice into it!)
• Apricot whip
• Biscuit mix (5lbs of While Lilly Self Rising flour + a small can of Crisco=Voila! You've got biscuit mix! All you have to do is add buttermilk!)
• Crème puffs
• Barbecue hash  (which did not involve smoking the pork in any way, shape, or form, but was still wonderfully delicious!)
• Chicken stew (this absolutely had to be made with hens!)
• Dressing made without sage or meat (this was total against my German heritage!)
• Tomato Pie & Candied Sweet Potato (I never knew about these until about 10 years ago!)
• She was the first person I ever saw cook a Lobster
• Tomato Aspic & Pressed Chicken & Home-made Mayonnaise (apparently this was de rigueur for bridge club parties in the 60s!

Mama Lucy snuck out on us Friday afternoon. You know the Big Feast that Jesus says awaits us all in heaven? Well, she’s helping make the biscuits for it right now.  She taught me a lot, and I’m going to miss her.

Locavore Lutherans and St. Peter's Picnic Plate

Over a year ago I saw a post by Bill Smith about Crook's Corner Picnic Plate.  Bill serves his up to folks in the heat of summer. It's all cold, and it's not uncommon for him to sell out every plate available.  I thought it one of the smartest things I've seen in the food & beverage bidness, and ever since then, I've wanted to try it for a Youth Fund Raiser at St. Peter's.  Well, Sunday I got my chance.

For the last 4 years, we've pretty much averaged right at 100 plates served for fundraiser meals served right after church.  We also have a meal before the Wednesday service that's usually about 30-40 people. My plan was to cook enough for 150.  We'd feed about 100 folks and have enough leftovers for Wednesday night.  I also wanted the kids to do a lot of the cooking themselves, since they really seem to love doing it, (and we have a blast with them in the kitchen!) This past Saturday we had about 20 of the Youth in the kitchen preparing the food. They did a great job.  It's always fun teaching them how to make biscuits or slice a watermelon.  They have such enthusiasm! We're very proud of them.

I'm also very proud that most of the menu featured local items, so please forgive me for possibly being the first one to coin the phrase:  Locavore Lutherans!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders

(Columbia Farms, Saluda County Hickory Hill Buttermilk, Adluh Flour)

Country Ham on Buttermilk Biscuits

(Saluda County Hickory Hill Buttermilk, Adluh Flour, Clifty Farms Ham from Tennessee)

Deviled Eggs

(Kershaw County Eggs, Dukes Mayo, Lexington County Chives)

Hallelujah Potato Salad

(Bell Peppers & Purple Onions from Gilbert SC, Jalapeños from Tommy Stone in Lexington, Kershaw County Eggs)

Home-made Green Tomato Pickles

(The Youth made these a couple of weeks ago with tomatoes from the slopes of Mt. Pisgah, near Waynesville, NC.)

Sliced Tomatoes
(SC State Farmers Market)

Watermelon Wedges

(Barnwell Country)

Chocalate Eclairs

(Kershaw County Eggs, Adluh flour)

Alice made the éclairs in stages throughout last week, and finished them off Saturday morning.  I wrap cooked the hams on Thursday, so all we had to there was slice them up. The only thing we did on Sunday morning was put the biscuits together and plate everything up. The service was over a little before noon.  By 12:25, we were sold out:  153 plates for over $1100.  Whooo Boy!!! The Youth were great! The congregation showed great support, as always!  Thanks folks!!!

From the Sea to the Mountains and Home again

We started off the first part of the month with Labor Day at Surfside, continuing our okra endeavors by creating Donald Link's Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.  I actually had some Andouille from Cochon Butcher Shop in the freezer, so it was almost like he was there with us.  Well, not really....  Anyway, it calls for 6 different kinds of pepper, but I cut that back to 4, and it was plenty hot enough!

We found a recipe in a Southern Living for a overnight soaked french toast that is baked.  Lately Alice has been making some artisanal french bread, and it is dense and very crusty. It turned out very well. It's got a moderately gooey praline topping, that I made with bourbon, because we didn't have vanilla.  Hey, September is Bourbon Heritage Month, so that worked out well, don't you think?

Speaking of Bourbon, Arnold Palmer came by, and I introduced him to W.L. Weller. We sat on the porch a while and looked at the Labor Day Weekend crowd on the beach.

The next weekend we went up to Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville. The house we stay at has great porch that looks out over the lake. It's perfect for picking out pecans,  so we wound up making more of Praline French Toast! Rambling up Highway 276 towards Mt. Pisgah, we came accross the local farmers market and scored a good deal on a new(to us) kind of apple.  A Peppin Fall apple is a large apple,  almost but not quiet as tart as a Granny Smith. We also got some fresh mozarella, and some acorn squash. That part of the wold is the world headquarters of  Sunburst Trout, so we brought back a small cooler full of beautiful  fillets.  Although you can get these at a few grocery stores in South Carolina,  its a dollar a pound cheaper up there You really should use a minimalist approach to Sunburst Trout.  Just a little bit of lemon juice & some mild seasoning. It's reminds you very much of salmon!

Last weekend we celebrated Alice's birthday.  Instead of a birthday cake, we had been talking about making a Croquembouche, but you have to use carmel candy for that, and the weather didn't look too promising for candy making.  Being the pragmatists that we are, we* went ahead with the pastry production, but turned them into cream puffs (vanilla & coffee flavored).  They were very good. So good, in fact, Alice is now modifying the recipe into eclairs.  More on that later. We also learned that they freeze very well, but you should NOT try to eat a frozen cream puff.  Really, trust me on this.

*When I say "we", read Alice.

For breakfast? Why, its OKRA!

Mama Glenda and Big Phil now have access to some fantastic OKRA. We have a standing order for 5 pounds any time they are coming this way. We are putting it up by blanching it for two minutes, dropping it in ice water to cool it off, then draining it well and truly.  We spread it out on a large cookie sheet, then place it in the freezer for a couple of hours or more. After it is frozen, we quickly bag it up in quart ziplock baggies, and back in the freezer they go. One large cookie sheet equals three bags, which are about a pound in each.  

The frozen okra chops up really easy for gumbo or Okra & Tomatoes, which we eat over rice.  It's a wonderful dish for the dead of winter.  With some cornbread or biscuits to kind of sop up the juices!


Our favorite way with okra is very simple.  Place a layer of okra in a pan with a top.  Add water so you've got about a quarter of an inch.  Sprinkle with  a little salt & pepper, and add a half of a jalepeno if you're into that, which we are. You need to add just a little oil or butter, say about  half  teaspoon for a large frying pan. You turn the heat on high and watch for it to boil. As soon as it boils good,  put the top on, turn the heat off and set the timer for 10 minutes. That's it, you're done. Serve immediately!  It cooks enough so that it is not crunchy, but it doesn't get slimy.  The Jalepeno kind of infuses through the okra, and oil helps keep it green and pretty. We love it this way!

Last Saturday morning I served this beside a couple of slices of NC tomatoes & a big dollop of steel-cut oats. Twas delicious!  Really, you should try it!

Fruits of the Season (with a side of Beets)

It started in early June really; we got a box of beets from Catherine Porth, thinking to make about 20 quarts of pickled beets. 

We  wound up with closer to 30, and still had enough beets to try perfecting a salad we sampled at AFWF.  It's got a little vinegar and oil, some yogurt, hazel nuts and micro greens. We've got the beet part down, but haven't yet gotten the hazelnuts candied to our satisfaction.

Then came the expedition to Callaham’s Orchard for blackberries and a few peaches. But it wasn't until around 4th of July the peaches really became plentiful in Lexington county. This year they are truly phenomenal.  We found a place out on Highway 1 near Gilbert that's been giving us great deals. We've frozen about 2 bushels at least, and lately Alice has been dehydrating them. In addition to just eatin' on them, we've made Bill Smith's Green Peach Salad, and his Peach Soup, Peach Cobbler, and a killer relish made with peaches, avocados and peppers.  

Alice and Catherine have also been picking blueberries. So far we've frozen about 4 gallons, made Blueberry Sorbet, a peach and blueberry cobbler and eaten them plain.  

One thing we hadn't really planned on was Pear Apples.  A couple of weeks ago we got almost a bushel from the tree at Mama Glenda's.  The bigger ones are the size of tennis balls, and if you let them sit for while, they are almost, but not quiet, like a Bartlett pear. They are too watery to do anything else with except eat, though we have frozen some to use later in smoothies, and maybe Sheri's Pear Soup.

Last spring I found out that Callaham's Orchard has nectarines.  As I have never, to my knowledge, eaten a SC Nectarine,  I got Suzanne to let me know when they would be coming in. Mama Glenda and Big Phil went by last Saturday: they brought down two huge boxes Andy Callaham had picked that morning. They are wonderful.  We have frozen them, made Ginger-Nectarine Preserves, Pickled Nectarines with Bourbon, and used them in along with the peaches in Green Peach Salad. And of course we’ve eaten them plain. Really, you all should go NOW and get some!

Yeah, Yeah, this post is too long I know. Sorry. I'll do better.  Next time:  Rumptopf?

A Fruity Foodie Old Friendly Fathers Day Weekend

A friend of ours from the SFA, Sheri Castle, from beautiful Carboro, NC. has just had her first cookbook published. She’s travelling around the South for 4 months promoting it, and we’ve been trying to meet up with her since April. Unfortunately when we’ve been headed to NC, she’s been elsewhere, and when she’s been in SC or Georgia, we couldn’t make it happen. About 6 weeks ago we found out that Heidi and Joe Trull of Grits and Groceries were featuring recipes from Sheri’s book for their June Dinner Club. Grits and Groceries is kind of in Belton, SC., just down the road a piece from Mom & Dads house in Williamston. Since this was Father’s Day Weekend, we called Mama Glenda and Big Phil to see if we could take them down for a celebratory meal. Now we’ve been fans of Grits & Groceries Breakfast for years, (Glenda and Phil rave about the Stuffed French Toast) but none of us had never been to Dinner Club.

Sheri’s book is all about using the South’s wonderful fresh produce. It’s arranged by crops, which is really pretty cool. So that got me thinking about farmers markets and such, which led my brain to Callaham’s Orchard, owned by some wonderful folks I went to high school with a hundred years ago.

As it turns out their Blackberry U-pick operation was in full swing. So Saturday morning we all went picking! The berries were absolutely gorgeous, and almost, but not quiet, at peak. In about 2 hours of not hard work, 5 of us picked 11 gallons of berries! We froze 3 gallons whole, kept one to eat on, and juiced the rest. We wound up with over 3 gallons!

You’re probably thinking I’m going to make wine with the juice. Well, I’m not. All that juice is reserved for Breakfast Smoothies in the dead of winter. (Although I will admit to using a small amount of whole berries for rumtopf.) I can’t say that juicing all those berries was a lot of fun, but it sure beat picking and canning couple of hundreds quarts of James Island tomatoes in a tiny un-air-conditioned kitchen on Folly Beach, which is what we used to get into this time of year! Big Phil wound up looking like he had the measles.

The event at Grits and Groceries was wonderful, ‘ceptin’ for a little bit of rain, which really wasn’t that bad, especially since Mama Glenda quickly grabbed the last available table inside! And Lo, there right inside the door was Bobby and Suzanne Callaham! So it was so good to see old friends, especially with such fantastic food all around. Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin with Fig Sauce, Squash Casserole with Swiss Cheese, Black-eyed Pea Salsa, and Peach Upside Down Cake were just some of the deliciousness they set forth for us to enjoy. Heidi and Joe did an impressive job with Sheri’s recipes. We came back with her book and have already started using it!

We’ll definitely be back to G & G for a Dinner Club, although it’ll have to be a while. Heidi and Joe have the good sense not to do outdoor events in July and August!

Painting and Eating at the Beach

I'm going to backtrack to May a bit here.Three weeks ago we had a dozen teenagers down at Surfside to paint our house. I'm talking about 19-year old kids.  We first approached them about doing this while they were on Spring Break, so we'd been thinking about this for a while. We've been feeding most of these chaps for years, and pretty much knew what they'd like. We developed a menu based on what we had in the freezers and pantry,  and what (we thought) would be pretty easy to fix, yet not be fast-food, or what they'd been eating at the college cafeterias.  Alice had all the recipes laid out and shopping lists made.  The kids took most of the meats down with them on Wednesday afternoon, but Alice still had to go shopping almost every day, especially for fruits, vegetables, juices and milk. I was supervising the painting, and didn't really get to see much of the cooking. That's pretty much all that Alice did every day: Go to Piggly Wiggly, the Seafood Market, and Walmart, and then come back and cook!

Top Sirloin Rare Roast

Athena Cantalope

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Smithfield City Ham

Apple Cranberry Casserole

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Marinated Carrot Salad

Roasted Green Beans

Spinach Salad

Oranges

Apples

Grapes

Bananas

Frogmore Stew

Roasted Greek Potatoes

Steak Tacos w/ Marinated Cilantro Slaw

Whole Grain Pancakes

Benton’s Bacon

Country Sausage

Scrambled Eggs

Stone Ground Grits

Buttermilk Biscuits

Country Ham

Cheddar & Scallion Biscuits.

Bratwurst & Semmel Rolls

Brioche Rolls

Butter Beans

Lasagna

Roasted Pork Loin & Brown Rice

French Toast

Home Made Cheese Bread

Lemon Bars

Home Made Ice Cream

They also consumed uncountable gallons of OJ, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Pineapple Juice, Milk, Café Du Monde Coffee,  V-8 Fusion, Turkish Coffee, and Fru-fru Drink!  They used 8 ladders, 30 Gallons of paint, 20+ paint brushes and rollers, 3 bottles of SPF 50 Sunscreen! There were no injuries, no sunburns, and the house looks great!

Atlanta Food and Wine Festival

Whooo Boy! Did we have fun at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival! It really was great. We were there for less than 48 hours,  but Alice and I went to about a dozen classes and demonstrations, catching the tail ends of 4 or 5 more. All the presenters were award winning experts in their fields, and (the best part) were incredibly welcoming to all! Folks asked lots questions, and everyone got a great answer. The events were filled with wonderful information and most had more than just a smidgeon of humor! Or a dollop, as John Besh says. Besh ordered tequila shots. . . . about 4 times. . . . .for the whole audience (50-60 folks). . .about a case and half.

The Tasting tents had just about everything good and Southern: Bourbon, Tequila, Crooks Corner, Shrimp, Peanuts, Jim ‘N’ Nicks, Cheeses, Bourbon, Pork Belly(lots and lots of pork belly!)*, Deconstructed Low Country Boil, Moonshine, Soft Shell Crabs, Co-Cola, Bourbon, Lamb, Beets, Sweet Potato Ice Cream, Deviled Eggs, Beer, Wine, and Bourbon. Did I mention Bourbon? They had some Bourbon, too, I think.

Here are some random names and thoughts:

Tim Love, Meat on the Grill and I volunteered for canola oil/Crown Royal shot roulette,  I lost, (or won, as the case may be!)

Vishwesh Bhatt, Indian riff on shrimp & grits 

Hillary White, beautiful pickles!

Three James Beard Winners breaking down a whole pig: Sean Brock, preaching the Southern Gospel of Cornbread, Country Ham and Bourbon.  Tyler Brown, created “SOCK” sausage! And, from Linton Hopkins: Pork belly is the gateway drug to offal!

Kevin Ouzts had some amazing pepperonis, salamis, etc!

Will Harris, burgers on the Viking Grill

Karen & Ben Barker, could it be any better than collards, peas & cornbread?

Chris Hastings, (pickled)shrimp & grits with Benton’s Ham

Greg Best, a wonderfully light Coke-tail called . . . .wait for it . . . The Pause that Refreshes!

Michelle Bernstein Ceviche with Lime. “If it’s got citrus in it, it’s cooked!”

David Guas Hot Pepper Jelly, Vidalia Onion Marmalade and Lemon Curd

Bill Smith carving famous North Carolina corned hams, topped with Green Tomato Relish

and probably my favorite of the weekend: Best Chef Southeast Andrea Reusing, Headcheese 3 ways: Vietnamese, Southern, and French! With Wine! Incredible! Awe inspiring, She made me want to buy a pig’s head on the way home! (But Alice was with me, and Stewart had all our big coolers)

In terms of culinary education and access to wonderfully friendly experts, this experience was phenomenal. There’s just soooooooooo much of it! Next time we might do all 3 days! Really, y'all should think about going next year.  They have all kinds of different packages.  We can't tell you how nice everyone was. . . . It makes you proud,  it .. . . almost makes you want to cry, it . . . makes you want to avoid your cardiologist for a while!

*and by lots, I mean a whole bunch, . . .really! Cubits? Oh wait, you wouldn't measure pork in cubits, would you?

Makin' Bacon!

Short Version: We made bacon.

Long Version: Two years ago while in New Orleans for the ELCA National Youth Gathering, we went to Chef Donald Link’s Cochon restaurant, which was incredible. Next door to the restaurant was Cochon Butcher, where they make a great deal of really awesome products, most of the porcine variety. It too was incredible, so much so that  I brought back a whole cooler full of tasso,  andouille, boudin, and pâté.

    Last year Chef Link came out with an award winning cookbook,  Real Cajun.  The award was the James Beard Award, which is like the Pulitzer Prize of Food. I got the book for Christmas, and one day in March Alice discovered that it had a recipe for bacon.  She suggested we should make our own. After about a week doing some research, we decided to give it a try, although our version would be the “wet” version endorsed by Alton Brown rather than Chef Link’s “dry” cure.  We also decided that we would use “cold” (70-80 degrees) smoke rather than “hot” (140 degrees).

7 lbs of pork belly from Caughman's Meats

Marinating in the brine for 4 days

Drying out so the pellicles can form.  Pellicles are kind of thin skin or membrane.  Think of the skin on Jello or pudding if you don't cover it in the fridge.  The smoke sticks to the pellicles. Without adequate pellicles, you get sooty meat.

The Hardware (Yes that's duct tape, but HIGH TEMPERATURE duct tape!)

The Hot Box

The Cold Box

The Smoke Pipe

Smokin'!

After 5 hours.

    It took less than a hour to put all this together. The boxes I got from work, and they were perfect, but it was a very windy day, so we really couldn't see how much smoke was being produced.  Next time I'll shoot for a calm day and hopefully be able to judge the smokiness better.  We thought the computer fan would work well, but it ate 9 volt batteries very quickly, so we wound up with a 4 inch personal fan plugged in. 

    How'd it turn out?  It was very good! It was not near as salty as regular bacon (maybe only 25%?) which is good, and it doesn't have nitrites in it, which is also good.  (Side note, when Alice was pregnant with the chaps, she had to give up nitrites, so she had to make do with sausage only, no bacon or ham!) We made excellent BLTs with it that night, and had it for breakfast the next day. We've since used it to make praline bacon with, which turned out very well. The only real drawback to me, was that it is impossible to slice bacon well and truly and hemingwayesque unless it is mostly frozen.  If it is totally frozen, you can still do it, but it takes a while!

    We will definitely do this again, but probably not right now, at least not this way. You really should not let the meat get over 80 degrees during the smoking, unless you're going all the way up to 140-150.  By the time I get around to trying it again, I think it will be too warm for that.

PI(E) Day

Sunday a week ago, we had Pi(e) Day at church as a fund raiser for the Youth Mission Trip.  We had sweet and savory pies, told pi jokes, sang American Pie(Lutheranized) and of course someone got  Pie In The Face!  We spent about 3 hours in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon, and about 3 more Sunday Morning! The Kids did a great job!

For Entrées we had Chicken Pot Pie and Chili Frito Pie, with sides of Strawberry Pretzel Pie, Tomato Pie, and Collard Pie with Hoppin’ John Crust, but the real stars are the desserts pies:

Key Lime Pie

Berry Pie

Kentucky Derby Pie

Pecan Pie

Peanut-butter Pie
Apple Pies

Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Chip Pie

Sweet Potato Pie

And of course, Moon Pies!

We raised almost a Thousand Dollars!  How cool is that for Pi(e)?

On a slightly different yet related note, Alice and I were unable to partake of all the festivities. We had just about gotten everybody served when Stewart called to say he had been in an accident in Catherine's car. Thankfully, nobody was severely injured, thanks to airbags and intervention by Ultimate Higher Authority.

Cabo's Fresh Tacos

We heard about this place a while back, but didn't get there until today. We were all very sorry we hadn't made there it sooner. It's less than half a block from work, which could be bad.  Today was Five  Dollar Friday.  $5 got you a taco, chips & salsa, and a drink with free refills.  We all got tacos, duh: Chicken, Grilled Shrimp, Fried Shrimp, and Veggie.  The tacos are double wrapped cornmeal tortillas, with a really good slaw in addition to the named filling. All the tacos were good, but the salsa was killer. Lots of roasted goodness in it, with enough heat to make you notice,  but not hurt yourself.  We also split a side of their Cabo Pups, which are hush puppies with Jalapeños, cheese, etc. Good, but not exceptional, and very filling(they're plum sized).  

We didn't get a chance to really study the menu, but we can do that next week, because beside the salsa, the really cool part is that they mark your receipt.  If you come back within 7 days,  you get 20% off. Not a bad trick, huh?  Cabo's is only open for lunch, sadly. 

I'm back!

Sorry it's been a while.  We had illnesses and surgeries of various sorts over the last month, but things are more better now! Lots of stuff to talk about and hopefully I'll catch up over the next couple of weeks.  

Spring Break started for the Chaps last Friday, so we were all at Surfside for a long weekend. Catherine's roomie, Anthea, had to go back to Charleston yeasterday, so as we drove down Highway 17 we stopped in Beautiful Scenic Awendaw for lunch at the SeeWee Cafe

My dad found out about this place when he was volunteering at the United Methodist Retreat center just down the road. His crew would come for breakfast and/or lunch. Excellent Salads, Fish, Scallops, Veggie Plates, and FREE HUSH PUPPIES! The Fried Green Tomatoes and Butter Peas were good, but the Collards and Red Rice stole the show!  The Collards were almost creamy, while the Red Rice had bits of smoked sausage that gave up a wonderful flavor.  Very Very Nice!

Bacon and The Book of Harold

Today's reading is from The Book of Harold, Chapter 3, Page 175:

Modern ham and bacon contain more moisture that the dry-cured versions (sometimes more than the original raw meat!) and about half the salt--3-4% instead of  5-7%.  Where slices of traditional ham and bacon fry easily and retain 75% of their weight, the wetter modern versions spatter, shrink, and curl as they give up their water, and retain only a third of their initial weight.
         The illuminating passage above comes from On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee.  If you do anything in the kitchen more than boiling water for Jello, placing Pop-Tarts in the toaster, or microwaving fudge sauce for the two month old vanilla ice cream in the freezer,  you really should consider getting a copy.  Mr. McGee can teach you something wonderful about anything you're doing or want to do. Really, you should.  If you aren't sure, go check out a copy from your local library.

So lets figure this bacon thing out.  Regular name brand bacon costs at least $3 a pound.(but it is usually sold in 12 oz packages--go figure).  You get about 20 slices per pound. That is 15 cents per piece. (usually pretty rinky-dinky pieces!) Artisanal bacon from Allan Benton or Caw Caw Creek is $6 a lb., but with them you get less slices per pound because it is a thicker cut. Last week I got 14 pieces that weighed in at exactly 7 ounces after cooking. That's 42 cents per piece. I would not be ashamed to serve only one piece to a guest: yes, it is that good. Cooking Light, (the magazine) amongst others, toast artisanal bacons for that very reason!  You will, for real, remember what you had for breakfast!

That's not all, brothers and sisters!  You get the bacon grease. You need to keep this! And folks, let me tell you one thing before you start in on the cardiovascular righteousness.   You don't have to use a lot of this. Use maybe a teaspoon to saute a whole big frying pan of onions, and you've got something that'll make any sandwhich stand up and take a bow. A pot of butter-peas never had such a friend! If you use a tablespoon of it for a whole pone of cornbread, (8-10 servings) you will not leave any crumb to fall by the wayside.You just can't do that with normal bacon drippings.


Can I get an AMEN?