The Nugget has arrived and the dust has settled...a bit.

Well, my loyal followers, it's been nineteen days since the last installation made to my blog.  I apologize but we've been making moves around this place.  Our little bundle of joy arrived, a bit unexpectedly on March 19th, 2011.  He is healthy weighing in at 7# 10oz. and 20.5 inches.  Chicken legs and all, he looks pretty darn good.  For those that want to get to the food portion of this post skip to (Section II).  For those that are curious as to how the birth went down, keep reading.

So, Mrs. K. was watching the UK Wildcats vs. Princeton University Tigers during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  And it was a true nail biter.  So much so that Mrs. K was so wound up that she felt like she couldn't come back down from all of the excitement.  She came home feeling the anxiety but thought that she'd just try to sleep it off.  Well, it couldn't be slept off so we made an appointment with her OB/GYN for the very next day.  Well, it turned out that the baby was fine, still kicking around but Mrs. K's blood pressure was a bit elevated.  We waited around so that they could check it again and it was a little lower but still high.  We met with our original OB's partner who went ahead and checked Mrs. K's BP once more and said, "It's still high, we should induce today!"  "Okay, no problem, but would it be possible to run home to get a couple of things and to straighten up a bit?" I asked.  She said, "No, she's gotta go right now in a wheel chair."  Okay, no problem, the house is a disaster, Mrs. K's family high tailed it out of Kentucky to get down here and they were going to see how Mrs. K and I really live.  Oh well, they'll get over it.

Time lapse.....Mrs. K on Pitocin, a plug ripener of some sorts, (don't ask, I ripen produce in a brown paper bag, I don't know how they do it in a hospital), and  a well placed epidural.  We wait....and wait, almost 24 hours later and she isn't dilating beyond 8 cm.  Our OB says, it's time for that cesarean section.  Off to the OR she goes and I follow shortly.  I walk in to see Mrs. K on the table and the entire OR staff taking jabs at me already.  Okay, so it's going to be like that.  I get it.  No, in all seriousness, we all were having some fun in there.  Our OB is of Asian descent so we were trading Asian mom stories.  She apparently has more of a spark plug of a mother than I do.  The Techs were making sure I didn't botch the announcement of whether it was  a boy or a girl, etc. etc.  So, a mere fifteen minutes later, a boy is born!  5:30 PM March 19th, 2011 to be exact.  I didn't mess up the announcement.  Whew!  He was healthy and still is, actually.  Mrs. K was healthy and still is, actually.  She's healing well and is getting more and more mobile every day.  Now, let me just tell you, I never thought that I'd get emotional at my child's birth but, really, I've never been more emotional in my life.  Now, I didn't cry or nothin' but....ahem.  Okay, I got pretty choked up.  We'll leave it at that.  So, there you have a bit of a Cliff's Notes version of what happened the day my boy was born. 

So, three days later we come home to a cleaned house, from top to bottom.  While we were in the hospital, Mrs. K's mother and sister took the liberty to clean our house.  I don't know if they were trying to be nice or couldn't stand staying in a dusty, dirty house.  But seriously, they are awesome.  It was so nice to come home to that.  Not to mention, Mrs. K's mother cooked for us while her father kept us entertained and the sister-in-law looked after the baby.... a lot.  It was great!  Thank you so much you guys.  Okay, again, I ramble.  Now that the dust has settled a bit and the in-laws are gone it is my turn to cook for us.  So, today, I decided to do a little bit of Bar B Que.

(Section II)

Here goes:

A couple of days ago I was at Costco just cruising the aisles to get out of the house for a few.  I came across some boneless beef ribs that looked really good.  Perfect excuse to do some smokin'  I really like to age beef for a few days so I went ahead and applied a dry rub to the meat and stashed the meat in the meat drawer for a day.  I only did it for one day because of all the salt and sugar in the rub.  Had I left it on for any longer, I would be a little concerned that too much moisture would be pulled out of the meat and too much salt would be absorbed.  So, on day two, I fired up the charcoal chimney, soaked some Hickory and let the meat come up to room temperature and apply a little more rub before putting it on the smoker.  Grill, actually, but there is plenty of space in there to smoke a whole pork butt in indirect heat so there was more than enough room to smoke a couple of pounds of ribs.

I like using lump charcoal like the kind found at Publix.  It seems to burn a bit cleaner and doesn't have any chemical smell to it at all.  Because there are no chemicals, you can add raw charcoal throughout the smoking process without fear of the fire putting off any noxious odors:

Once the chimney gets things nice and ashey, I dump it out and add some more charcoal to "feed" the fire for a while along with those soaked hickory chunks:

Actually, add the wood chunks and raw charcoal just before putting the meat in the "Smoker"

This is the meat coming to room temp. Trust me, it's okay to let raw meat come up to temp.  I've been doing it for years in restaurants and I've never poisoned anyone:

This is my dry rub mix.  I seem to have lost the recipe so when this batch is gone, I've gotta come up with another one, sucks, oh, by the way, this batch of meat formed a really nice pellicle on the surface.  What this is is when the protein comes to the surface of the meat when moisture is drawn out by aging.  This forms a tacky surface that really grabs the smoke while in the smoker.  It gives the smoke particles something to stick to:

Applied liberally to both sides:

Be sure to press it into the meat:

Meat placed away from the fire and  a little heat shield made from a disposable hotel pan.  This keeps the meat from burning on the edges:

The carb is opened 50% on a windless 48 deg. day.  This yielded a smoker temp of around 225.  A little cool so I opened up the carb a bit more to achieve a temp of around 250-300.  So, these ribs have a flavor and texture very similar to brisket but is a lot less picky about smoker temp and meat temp.  In other words, it requires a lot less baby sitting:

Right where I want it, but it takes a little bit of maintenance to maintain.  Not too much though.  A little addition of wet wood and a tweak of the carbeurator:

With two to three hours to kill while the meat was smoking I started on some cole slaw.  I mean, slaw and barbecue is like peanut butter and jelly.  I can't have one without the other.  The recipe I have is one that I found on the net transcribed by someone that pretty much figured out the slaw recipe from KFC.  Man, I love that stuff.  Their chicken has become so bad that I go to KFC just for their cole slaw.  If anyone wants the recipe I can post it.  Just let me know:

I forgot how much I love this knife.  I haven't used it in months.  It's a 10" Whustoff Classic.  Just perfect shaped and weighted for heavy duty chopping like cabbage.  A little clunky for fine knife work like mincing carrots though:

I learned this mincing trick for carrots by watching my mother when I was young:

Everything combined.  Oh, by the way, I make the slaw dressing separately and mix it in with the veggies:

Done and packaged.  You can get these quart containers from a Sysco Cash 'n Carry or you can ask the deli department at your grocer for some.  They'll usually give them to you for free because they don't know how much to charge you for them.  Sweet deal.

Did I mention that Mrs. K was taking a much deserved nap while me and the boy were cooking away?  I miss having someone to cook with in the kitchen.  Mostly, I miss the kitchen banter.  You know, stuff like commenting on the "new" server, how much we drank the other night,  how bad the guy on sautee sucks at what they do, etc, etc.  In the case of my "sous chef" I got no reciprocation.  I was talking to myself, it turns out:  (baby was posed for the sake of the photo.  No one was injured during this exercise).

"Hey, shoemaker, hook me up with a carrot!"  "Git your own, sucka!"  Nope, nothing:

Look at that mahogany goodness:

Pull meat off the smoker after a few hours and wrap it up tightly to rest before slicing:

I can just hear Guy Fierri now, "Would you look at the bark and smoke ring on that?" "Ground Chuck, 80/20?"  Okay, so the next time you watch Diners Drive-ins and Dives notice that whenever anyone, I mean, every time some one cooks a hamburger or a meat ball, anything that involves ground beef, Guy always, always, always asks in statement of sorts, "80/20?"  I mean, every single time.  So, 80/20 refers to 80% lean meat to 20% fat.  It truely is the best ground beef for burgers.  Whenever you buy ground chuck check the butcher's label and it will tell you the ratio or lean to fat.

On a bun with some slaw.  I didn't realize we didn't have any pickles or they would've definitely made an appearance these sandwiches:

 So, there you have it.  An easy exploration into barbecue, the new boy and the beginning of my own personal kitchen brigade.

UK and March Madness, Y'all!

Mrs. K is beside herself now that that the SEC and other regional tournaments are going on.  She seems to feel that her pregnancy ailments are "a little more bearable" as she gets to relax and take in some NCAA basketball action. 

So, last night our Alma Mater, The University of Kentucky Wildcats took on Ole Miss and walked away with a victory!  Go Cats!  In honor of The Cats Mrs. K and I had a Wildcat Fan couple over for an early dinner, beers and some tournament action.  Mrs. K had her sparkling cider so that she could feel like one of the cool kids.  For dinner I wanted to make some Kentucky culinary delights.  Namely, Hot Browns and a Kentucky Silk Pie.

The Kenucky Hot Brown is an open faced sandwich created at the legendary Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville Kentucky.  It consists of toasted bread, roasted turkey, tomatoes, a Mornay sauce, cheddar cheese and bacon.  I hadn't had one of these little coronary destroying culinary delights in years and, like I've said before, when I crave something I just cook it!

To finish off the meal I prepared a Kentucky Silk Pie.  Now, I don't know the history behind this dessert but it would be easy to assume the silk has something to do with the Kentucky Derby.  You know, jockey's silks.  I don't know considering A silk pie is a general Southern confection and could refer to the silky smoothness of the filling.  But what makes this pie a little more special is the fact that the "crust" is not an ordinary butter dough or a graham cracker crust.  Rather, it is a meringue that takes on the consistency of a candy of sorts.  It is a really unique texture and would probably work with just about any custard pie filling. 

So, let's take a look at the preparaions:

First things first, when whipping air into egg whites you want to make sure your mixing apparatus is free from any oils and fats.  Since I know I've used this stand mixer many times whipping butter, cookie doughs, cake batters, etc and I hand wash all its parts I knew that there would be some traces of fat still in it.  So, I use some white vinegar to wipe it all down to remove any oils.

Egg whites and cream of tartar gettin' busy.  Did you know that Cream of Tartar is that crystalline stuff you sometimes find on the end of a wine cork?  Next time you open a bottle take a peak.  Chances are it will be there.

The Cream of Tartar helps the egg whites hold their stiff peaks.  This is where you want to be for a meringue.  Do not over whip or it will become dull and dry looking.

Once stiff peaks are achieved, add sugar slowly.  Oh, and don't throw those yolks out, we are going to use them for our custard filling.

Meringue formed into a pic crust.  After adding the sugar it should have a pearlescent sheen to it.  Once you see it, you'll know what I mean.  This is basically marshmallows except it doesn't have any gelatin in it.  We'll talk about that on another day when I make a smoked s'mores pie.  In to the oven this goes.  I had some left over meringue so I made some meringue cookies as well.

 

When the double boiler comes out we know that there is going to be some serious whipping involved.  In this case, I made a chocolate custard thickened with flour and egg yolks. 

Milk, cocoa and some Bourbon for that traditional Kentucky flavor.  I had to use cocoa powder because I completely forgot to get some unsweetened bittersweet chocolate.  The cocoa powder did its job but the flavor is not very distinctive.  Had I used a quality chocolate I think that the filling would have come out much better.

Liquid added to flour and sugar on top of the double boiler.

Don't stop mixing or you will get clumps and crusties all in this.  It's amazing just how thick this custard gets with just a little bit of flour in the recipe.

Flour "gelatinized" and egg yolks added and cooked into the mix.  Oh, I added a nub of butter to kinda round out the sweetness of the custard.

Meringue shell baked at 225 F for an hour and dried out in a warm oven for another hour as well as bruleed with a torch to give it a bit of a campfire marshmallow flavor.

Ready for the filling which I let cool and fill just before service.  I didn't take any pics of the finished product for some reason.  I don't know why but use your imagination.  It looked like the above picture with a brownish filling.  Oh, also, I added a  bit of whipped cream very lightly sweetened.

Now, on to the Hot Browns:

For the Mornay Sauce I added grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  I mean the real stuff.  The Kraft "Parmesan" Cheese just doesn't cut it for me.  I mean, c'mon, they can't even spell Parmigiano correctly.  So, yet again, an American marketing person takes another country's greatest culinary contribution and butchers the name.  "Crescent" roll anyone?  So, buy yourself a wedge of the real stuff, it's a little pricey but well worth it and if left in the block form, it will last for months in the fridge.  Just shave off whatever you need and rewrap it.  You can even pretend you are a server at Olive Garden. You know you have the real stuff if the rind of the cheese says "Parmigiano Reggiano" in little laser etched dots.

So, roux made, flour cooked a bit and milk is added and whipped feverishly to avoid lumps.

Once the sauce is smooth and cooked out, add the Parm:

Whenever I get a Hot Brown at a restaurant, the tomatoes are generally raw.  Well, I hate tepid food so I went ahead and sauteed the 'maters in a little Olive Oil to give them some caramelization and to cook them through.  Oh, when I cook with tomatoes I take the seeds out by cutting the vine end off and jamming either a chopstick or my finger into the compartments to get the seeds out.  I mean, in general, the seeds don't add anything to the party anyway and it would take much longer to get color on the tomatoes due to all the water.

Is this as boring as watching bread toast?

So, here's a little trick to cooking bacon at the house without having to degrease the kitchen afterwards.  I use a griddle pan and line the bacon up all nice and neat.  I cover the bacon with parchment paper and then cover the paper with a half sheet tray.  The sheet tray keeps the bacon nice and flat as well as making spattering bacon grease non existent.

Trust me, the parchment paper will not catch on fire.  Oh, and DO NOT USE WAX PAPER.  It is a completely different animal than parchment paper.  Parchment is silicone impregnated paper.  Don't ask me how that's done but it is what it is.  Wax paper is paper coated with wax which WILL MELT onto your food.  Now, it is completely benign and non-toxic but unless you want your food to taste like ski wax, don't cook with it.

Using a microwave to cook bacon is ultra convenient but for some reason, I think that a lot of the flavor gets zapped out of the bacon.  I don't know if it's the paper towels that suck the fat out of and away from the belly or what.  I think that cooking bacon slowly in its own fat really keeps all that bacony goodness intact

So, a base of toast, I actually snuck in grilled cheese sandwiches instead since the bread that I got was too thin for one slice and may be a bit cumbersome to eat if there were two slices.  I went to the Publix bakery and asked them if they had any Pullman loaves and the lady looked at me with a blank stare and as if I had just asked her for some donkey bungs, or something.  I know all of my readers know what a Pullman loaf is but for the sake of rambling:  A Pullman loaf is a white sandwich bread a little denser than just plain old sandwich bread.  It has square shoulders and is the perfect white bread for sandwiches, in my opinion.  If anyone has access to an asian bakery get yourself a loaf of Japanese Pan.  It is a very similar dough, a little sweeter and is just amazing stuff.  Soft, yet dense.

Mornay Sauce on top, a sprinkling of cheddar, broiled and topped with some smokey, crispy bacon and green onions.

Kinda makes you want to go to Kentucky doesn't it?  If you can't get to the Bluegrass State.  Don't fret.  Just make this dish at home and you'll be whistling "My Old Kentucky Home" in no time.  Oh, by the way, The Wildcats pulled off another victory today!  Go Cats!