I don’t know about your house but here the last part of the Thanksgiving dinner to go is the turkey meat. The mashed potatoes and stuffing are long gone but we still have turkey meat. I like this recipe to use the last of it up. Continue reading Turkey Hash
Sometimes you need the basics, no fancy sauces or displays, just good classic food. My mom used to dredge fish in flour and then fry it. I loved it for good reason. It gives the fish a great crust and looks nicely browned. It was usually accompanied by home fries. I needed some! Continue reading Pan Fried Haddock and Taters
Why not try something different for Thanksgiving this year! Try cooking your turkey in a smoker! It gives and additional level of flavour and has a certain cool factor! Continue reading Cooking Your Turkey in a Smoker
I posted another chicken lollipop recipe a couple of days ago, Mexican Drumstick Lollipops. I had bought a large tray of drumsticks and only used 1/2 of the tray. I decided to try the other 1/2 with some changes for comparison. Continue reading Barbecue Chicken Lollipops
I grow my own potatoes so I get a lot at once. That creates a problem. Potatoes store well for months but they eventually get to a point where you have to use them. You can either eat potatoes for every meal or you can find a way to prepare and store them. This recipe is a delicious way to store potatoes. It also means I have a convenient potato casserole on hand when I need one. Continue reading Frozen Mashed Potato Casserole
Meat is expensive. There are fewer and fewer “cheap” cuts. One that is only obscenely expensive is chicken drumsticks. But how do you make them into a classy meal or appetizer? By trimming them into Drumstick Lollipops. Add some Mexican Seasonings and you have Mexican Drumstick Lollipops! Continue reading Mexican Drumstick Lollipops
When I buy a Mexican Seasoning Blend it usually tastes more like taco seasoning or chili powder. When I’ve been to Mexico, their seasonings are a lot more varied than these choices. When I was on the Mayan Riviera, I was served dishes that had more herbs, a heavy onion and garlic hit and just a touch of heat. This is my attempt at making a similar seasoning. Continue reading Mexican Seasonings
I really like Fleischmann’s yeasts site, Breadworld. They have many tested recipes and I have never had one of their recipes fail on me. So, when I was going to a friends for wine and wanted to take a treat that would travel well. I went to their site. I found a recipe for Fresh Apple Pockets and gave it a try. Continue reading Fresh Apple Pockets
The 8th episode of my community TV program on ShawTV , You Can Make It, has me making New England Hot Dog Buns and Blueberry Pudding Cake.
I really liked smoke cheese but there are two problems with it. First, it is expensive to buy. Second, if you are going to make it yourself, it helps if it is cold outside.
I made several batches last winter but not enough. By the time it got cold here in the Canadian Rockies, I was totally out!
So, when the temperatures dropped last week, I bought some old cheddar, havarti and extra old marble cheddar. Home smoking works better with cheese that is at least somewhat firm.
You want to expose the cheese to smoke but the temperature has to be cool enough to not melt the cheese. Generally, you have to keep the temperature in the smoking chamber below 70 F. This means you want the temperature to be well below 70 F because most methods of generating smoke create some heat. I have smoked with warm outside temperatures but I have put blocks of ice in the smoking chamber to keep the temperature down.
The next thing you want to do is choose a smoking chamber. Some electric smokers like the Bradley Smoker allow you to burn wood pucks without turning the heating element on. Alternatively, you can use your gas barbecue or any closed container that allows a decent airflow. You want the smoke moving around the cheese.
If your smoking chamber does not have a method of generating smoke, you will need a smoke generator like the A-Maze-N Tube Smoker or Pellet Smoker. These allow hardwood pellets to slowly smolder and generate smoke with minimal heat production.
I used my Louisiana Grills smoker as my smoking chamber. I didn’t turn it on, I just used is as a chamber. I filled my A-Maze-N Tube Smoker with Oak Whiskey Barrel pellets. You can use any pellet you like but most people prefer milder smokes like apple or cherry.
I lit the tube smoker and put it in the chamber with the cheese. I let it smoke for 3 hours. I brought the cheese in and sealed it in vaccum bags.
You need to know that the cheese will taste like an ashtray immediately after smoking. All the smoke is on the surface and it takes time to spread through the cheese and that helps the smoke flavour mellow. You need to let it sit in the fridge for at least two weeks, eight is better.
After a couple of weeks I opened one of the packages and had a nice cracker and cheese snack.
The Verdict
This is one of my favourite snacks. Cheese has that nice sharp flavour that seems to blend with smoke. I will make sure to make more this year!
The Old Fat Guy