Tag Archives: beer

Recipe

Southern Fried Buffalo Wings

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        Southern Fried Buffalo Wings sounds crazy doesn’t it? Its like I could not make up my mind on whether to make fried chicken or buffalo wings. Yet the truth is that right after Saint Patricks’ day I had some leftover  buttermilk. I had no idea what to do with it until I decided to make a small batch of buffalo wings for myself. I soaked the wings in some buttermilk that I added Franks Red Hot Sauce to and after coating them in flour and spices, I fried those bad boys up and coated them with sauce! Turns out, they were delicious.

        I told my nephew about my new recipe and promised him I would make another batch soon. Well, last night was soon enough and I cooked up a fresh batch of wings for him and my sister-in-law. These wings are extra crispy and I covered them in my famous buffalo style wing sauce. I served them with lots of carrot sticks, celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on the side. I also made Jennifer a batch of boneless wings using my boneless wing recipe and we all ate some of those too!

        Here is the Boneless Buffalo Wings that I have already published here boneless-buffalo-wings. See below for the Southern Fried Recipe. The chicken is free-range chicken that I purchased from @ImperfectFoods along with the carrots and the celery.

Sothern Fried Chicken (wings version)

Serves  4 to 6

INGREDIENTS:

Coating:

2 pounds of chicken wings

          (Three packages from Imperfect Foods)

3 cups of flour

½ cup of cornstarch

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp salt

½ tsp. white pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. onion power

Marinade:

2 cups buttermilk

¼ cup hot sauce

Sides:

1-pound carrots

1 bunch of celery

1 package Maries Blue Cheese dressing

On quart of peanut, canola or vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

The night before you are to fry up the wings, place them into a zip lock bag. Add the buttermilk and hot sauce in the bag with the wings. Close the bag and squeeze thus mixing and coating all the wings evenly. Place the wings with their “marinade” in the meat draw of you regenerator and let marinate over night.

The next day, begin by peeling the carrots and cutting into “sticks” or thin strips.  Next wash and cut up the celery into strips. Place the carrots and celery in a bowl of ice water and place the bowl in the refrigerator. This will insure your celery and carrots are nice a crunchy later when the chicken is done.

I a clean zip top bag add the 3 cups of flour, ½ cup of cornstarch, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. white pepper, ½ tsp. garlic powder and ½ tsp. onion power. Close the bag and shake well combining all the ingredients.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and drop 3 to 4 wings into the bag with the flour mixture. Close and shake the flour bag well to coat the wings. Repeat the last step repeatedly until all the wings are in the flour. Once all the wings are in the flour, close the bag and let stand while the coating adheres to the chicken.  

Now fill your cast iron pan half way with your preferred frying oil. Heat the oil to 350 to 375 degrees.

Place 6 to 7 wings in the hot oil. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until a light golden brown. Remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels or brown paper bag.

Wait until the oil returns to 350 degrees and add you second batch to the hot oil.

Repeat the last two steps until all the chicken is fried once. Then you can begin to make the sauce. Next, fry the chicken a second time just as before but this time they will be a deep rich brown and extra crunchy. Place the chicken in a large stainless steel bowl and coat with the sauce.

Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks, blue cheese dressing and lots of cold beer.

The Drunken Chef Russ

NOTES: I own a large and extra deep cast iron pan given to me by a coworker and follower. I love this pan and use it often. For me, aside from a professional deep fryer, this is the perfect vessel for frying chicken.

© Russ Ahrens and The Magic of a Perfect Pairing, 2022

Recipe

WELCOME MARCH and corned beef

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        March is a favorite month of mine. Many famous book, poetry and music all refer to March such the idiom; “In like a lion out like a lamb.” Which as many of you might know refers to the weather of March and how it is freezing in the first weeks and noticeably, “supposed to be”, warmer in the last. This however is not always true. I have seen snow in New York City just before Easter back in the seventies and again the eighties. Then there is the famous expression by some guy named Will; “beware the ides of March.” Which back then, March 15th was considered Roman tax day.  I wonder why the United States chose April 15th?

I digress, March is a wonderful month filled with food. There is Saint Patrick’s Day, in which here in New York, we celebrate with and overabundance of corned beef, cabbage and boiled potatoes that is made in a very large pot. This is a recipe I will be making and sharing with you all now.

I always prepared this this meal on March 17th, regardless of it falling on a Friday during lent. As a matter of health, more so then anything else I choose to eat fish every Friday during lent. It give me a good excuse shall we say, “to make all these terribly stinky dishes that smell up my house all day.” Those are my wife’s words, she prefers me to cook fish OUTSIDE whenever possible. She would have me cook the corn beef outside if I could. Therefore, I should be posting a few fish dishes this month. Including but not limited to, fried flounder, stuffed flounder, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, potato wrapped sea bass, and the ever-popular tuna salad, to name a few.  After all, there are only like seven weeks until Easter and I am forced to stop cooking MOST fish recipes in the kitchen of my home.

Let get to the first recipe we discussed, Corned beer, I mean BEEF. (ugh a corny joke)

Saint Patty’s Day Corned Beef

Serves 4 to 6

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS:

1 Extra Large Stock Pot

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 thin cut corned beef brisket (I like the Freirich brand)

1 onion

2-3 carrots

2-3 stalks celery

 2 heads of cabbage

12 oz. Bottle Beer (Guinness Harp or Sam Adams October fest if you have it)

1 whole clove garlic (peeled)

6 – 8 pepper corns

1 tbsp. pickling spice or seasoning packet from corned beef

5 lbs. Red Bliss Potatoes or small white potatoes

Frozen corn on the cob

Water

DIRECTIONS:

In an extra large stockpot, add corn beef with juice from package (and the spice packet). Add enough water to cover corned beef.  Add one 12 oz. bottle of beer, preferably NOT dark, perhaps one you are serving with dinner (Sam Adams Oktoberfest I saved from the fall).  Add carrots, celery, and onion that has been cut into large pieces. Add the whole clove of garlic. Cook on low 2 hours. After cooking the meat two hours you can now add potatoes and the cabbage. Turn heat to high. Return to a boil. Now lower heat and simmer one hour longer. Remove meat to cutting board to rest. Test meat for doneness to see if it is tender, meat should pull away will a fork. If it still too chewy cook it longer!

When the meat is done cover and let rest. It needs it. Turn the heat up to high on potatoes and cabbage to boil and add the corn. Cook corn in the same hot water for the recommended time on package.  When corn is ready it will also be “seasoned”, slice meat and serve with cabbage, potatoes, corn.

Serving suggestion: Serve with bakery fresh rye bread, whipped butter and a nice spicy brown mustard like Guldens.

NOTES I don’t remember ever eating corned beef with my mom until I was a teenager. I don’t think anyone else in my family liked it back then. Everyone except my sister who ate with her eggs for breakfast but let’s save that recipe and story for another time.  See St. Patrick’s Day Menu or SPRING

NOTES: Remember corned beef shrinks when you cook it. Why? I don’t know! It just does, so buy extra, plus I have a few recipes for that leftover corned beef that you DON’T want to miss out on!

ENJOY!

The Drunken and now hungry Chef

Recipe

Turkey Burger

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I made turkey burgers last night. The recipe is below. I do recommend these. I’m not saying make these just as a healthy alternative, or not because ground turnkey is cheaper then beef right now but because they taste DAM good! Enjoy.

The Drunken Chef

INGREDIENTS:

4 Brioche hamburger buns

1 package ground turkey

1 large whole egg

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 onion

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Begin by heating a large pan over medium heat. Butter the inside of four hamburger buns. I prefer Brioche buns for this. Now place the buns in the HOT frying pan and cook. You are frying them like a grill cheese sandwich. This will make all the difference to the taste of your burger in the end.

Once your buns are toasted and removed to plates peel and slice an onion.

Fry the onion in 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat.

While the onions are cooking, mince 1 carrot, and 1 celery stalk. I use my Pampered Chef chopper for this.

Right after the onions have cooked (begin to brown) I return them to the cutting board and chop them up finely using a large chef’s knife.

Return then onion to the hot pan on medium heat. Add the carrots and celery. Cook on medium heat for two minutes. Adding more olive oil if necessary to keep them from sticking to pan.

Mince 1 clove of garilc. Add garlic to the onion mixture in pan and continue cooking one more minute.   

In a medium size bowl. Place the ground turkey. Add 1 lightly beaten egg, salt and pepper to taste (but don’t taste it). Mix in the onion mixture a little bit at a time (1/8th ). Dumping all of the hot onion mixture, all at once, will cook your eggs and you will have scrambled eggs and raw turkey, ewe, you don’t want that.

Now that all the vegetables have been carefully mixed into you turkey, you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the frying pan and heat it over medium heat until its hot again.

Form a meat ball and press into the pan forming a round patty using a fork or back of a spoon. Repeat with one or two more meatballs but do not over crowd your pan. The burgers will not brown but will steam. They will be good, but not perfect.

After frying burgers on one side without moving them (This is how the brown) for two to three minutes. Flip burgers over and continue to cook on the other side for two minutes. Adjust temperature under pan so the burgers cook through WITHOUT burning yet turning a nice brown like a burger should.  Test the burgers with an instant read meat thermometer. They will be done at 160 degrees. They start getting dry after that.

Remove burgers to bottom bun and “dress up” you burger however you like. You can add more grilled onions (if you made extra) or lettuce, tomato and a slice of red onion or cold slaw, pickles or just ketchup or hot sauce. It all up to you. It’s your burger!

Server with a cold beer and French fries or waffle fries.

Restaurant Review

THE SUNDAY RESTAURANT REVIEW

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Emilio’s

Jericho Turnpike, Commack, NY

Sunday night (of last week) I had dinner with my sister in-law, my nephew and my wife. I have been here a few time over the past few years even before there was such a thing as Covid and I always find me way back here. That’s because the chef never seems to disappoint me.

We arrived just a tad before 6pm and we were all promptly seated. Although, the restaurant had quite a few guests, although it was not the packed, with a long line as I remember from a few years ago.  I think at its busiest it was three-quarters full.  They did seem to have enough staff, as we felt well-attended to as the waiter was at our table often enough to keep our water glasses filled at the very least.

When the waiter first arrived, he was carrying a basket of bread and butter for the table, nice. Then as we perused the menu’s he brought over warm focaccia bread (pictured below). It was then that we ordered our first course. We ordered the very large chopped salad for the table.

The salad appeared faster than I could have anticipated. It was served family style along with separate salad plates. My wife dished out the salad rather than passing around the great big bowl.  It came with a delicious creamy balsamic dressing. There were four of us and more than enough salad to justify the $21 price tag.  Just don’t fill up on salad because you will miss out on eating their amazing and huge portioned entrees.

Jennifer ordered the Fettuccini Alfredo. This is a favorite of mine as well. However, I ordered the Homemade Rigatoni Chicken Marsala. This is small bites of Chicken, mushrooms, Sicilian Marsala wine sauce, homemade mozzarella and fresh made pasta. My Nephew, Adam, ordered The Rigatoni St Terese with homemade pasta. Rigatoni St Terese is Chicken, fresh spinach, pink tomato cream sauce, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese. This too I have had many times. Yum! Lastly, Debbie ordered the Eggplant Parmesan. This comes with a side of spaghetti with tomato sauce. 

The entrees arrived shortly after are salad was gone but not too quickly that I felt rushed. My Chicken Marsala was delicious and I paired it with a huge glass of Peroni beer that went perfectly. They even presented it in a Peroni beer glass which added an extra nice touch.  Everyone enjoyed their meal.  Unfortunately, none of us had ANY room left for dessert.  The meal was spectacular and the service was terrific. Even the bill was not astronomical for the amount of food we received. I do like to have a large portion with left overs to take home.

I highly recommend Emilio’s for not only dinner but their pizza is also excellent!  I also recommend reservations on a Friday (date night), Saturday or Sunday.  

So if you go, tell them The Drunken Chef sent you or maybe not, they may think I’m just a pain in the ass.

Here is to your good eating, good wine, and good health,

Enjoy!

The Drunken Chef

Focaccia Bread
Chopped salad
Chicken Masala
Fettuccini
Rigatoni
How to Cook "American Style", Recipe

Chili Recipe

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Let me begin by apologizing for being gone so long. Yes, I have been cooking. It just has not been anything new. I have not been sleeping well and have been rather tired. I even did take out once or three times. I will hopefully be cooking some new things this weekend. Let’s see how it goes.

I have been making my own chili for years. The recipe has only changed in instances where I am trying to accommodate other people’s tastes who are eating it with me. For example, I did not make hot and spicy chili for the cub scouts or my fellow coworkers. Those batches were milder. Now that a have made it this year it is finally time I can share it with you guys my loyal readers.

The recent batch that I made and heated up for lunch I could actually put green peppers in. When cooking at home I never use green peppers. Jennifer does not like them and more importantly she is allergic to raw peppers.

So now here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it.

Chili

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

1 Big Ass Pot

INGREDIENTS

4 lbs. chop meat (option: substitute 2 lbs. chop meat for ground turkey)

2 medium onions diced

1 small green pepper – seeded & diced (optional)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 16 oz. can tomato sauce

1 16 oz. can of water (option: Sam Adams Octoberfest Beer)

1 can red kidney beans (optional) this was not in the camping chili

1 can cannellini beans (optional) this was not in the camping chili

1 can black beans (optional) this was not in the camping chili

1 box Carroll Shelby’s Chili Mix

            If no chili mix is available double this:

2 tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

½ tsp. cumin 

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper and/or Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Cook onions and green pepper in olive oil over medium low heat until translucent in a large heavy pot.  Add chop meat to pot and stir in onion. Cook chop meat until no longer pink and drain off most of the fat. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and add Carroll Shelby’s Large Spice Packet, ¼ of the Small Cayenne Pepper (hot) spice packet, and some salt. Save the Masa packet to throw away at the end.  Add garlic powder, onion powder, and fresh ground pepper. Cover and let simmer on low stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. Cook 30 minutes. If the chili is not to thin and watery then throw away the Masa packet and your chili is done. If the chili is too “soupy” then add the Masa in thirds to thicken (I’ve never had to use it) and cook 10 more minutes.

Serving suggestions: Serve hot chili in crock pots and cover with grated cheddar cheese. Melt cheese under broiler and then top with diced red onion and serve HOT! Also an excellent hot dog topping!

NOTES

This is great as a hot dog topping (particularly without the green bell pepper) in winter or at a summer barbeque.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe, Wines

Spinach Salad with Shrimp Tempura

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I recommend this salad with a nice Chardonnay. I have one to recommend.

Serves 6

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of baby spinach

1 head of romaine lettuce

2 – 3 packages of frozen shrimp tempura (12 shrimp)

1 bag of candied Pecans

1 cucumber (diced)

1 small can Mandarin oranges (chilled)

Mandarin Balsamic Vignette

DIRECTIONS

Begin by making the Balsamic Vignette. The recipe can be found by clicking the link above.

Wash and destem the spinach before placing it on 6 salad plates. Wash and coarsely chop 1 romaine lettuce heart. Place lettuce on spinach. Peel and deseed one large cucumber. Dice the cucumber and place on the salads. Sprinkle on some chopped candied pecans.

Fry the shrimp tempura. Cut it into thirds discarding the tail. Evenly distribute the shrimp on top of the 6 salads. Garnish with cold mandarin orange segments.  

Serve with Mandarin Balsamic Vignette on the side.

Wine: Chardonnay

Beer: Sam Adams Oktoberfest

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

How to Cook "American Style", Recipe

Grilled Skirt Steak

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Grilled Skirt Steak

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Barbeque

INGREDIENTS

Skirt Steak

Marinade I (Teriyaki) or Marinade II (Rose & Bills)

DIRECTIONS

If your butcher has already pealed and cleaned the skirt steak for you then all you have to do is add it to the marinade of your choice. Let it marinate overnight. Turn the meat over every four hours except while sleeping. If they have not taken the time to remove the fat and silver skin off the meat, you will have to do it yourself. The silver skin will make it extremely chewy and unpleasant to eat.

After the meat has marinated. Preheat the grill. Add skirt steak onto the hot grill and cook on high with the lid open and grill for one minute. Turn down the grill to medium. Cook 1 more minute. Turn steaks 90 degrees. Cook one minute. Flip. Turn heat to high. Cook one minute. Turn down grill again. Turn meat 90 degrees. Turn grill to low and cook two more minutes or until your beer or meat is done. Thin skirt steak will be well done. Fatter pieces will be medium and pink. Let the steaks rest only long enough to serve with grilled potatoes and beer.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and enjoy Septemeberfest!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Blog Post

GROCERY SHOPPING

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Grocery shopping in the 21st century has not evolved into anything less time consuming since the Supermarket was first invented by Michael J. Cullen in 1930 in Jamaica Queens, New York. I started working for King Kullen supermarkets as a teenager and continued through my twenties. I watched as these family-owned stores grew in the eighties into mega-markets. This is the same time when big hair, big clothes, and big cars were the all the rage, as was the way the supermarkets were going. They now were turning into these huge mega-stores that included bakeries, seafood departments, floral shops along with the usual deli and meat departments all under one roof.

It’s true what they say: “bigger isn’t always better”. Parachute pants AKA “Hammer pants” are a fine example of this. King Kullen did add a bakery department inside their stores in the nineteen-eighties but it could not replace the wonderful Italian Bakery around the corner from my childhood home. The bakery was called Everbest bakery. If I remember their slogan correctly, it was “everything tastes better with butter” or was it “everything is baked with butter” or something like that. All I know is it was good and there were all kinds of the best tasting baked goods. These bakeries, even here in New York, are hard to find now but I seek them out for their excellent selection of fresh baked goods.

Supermarket bakeries are okay. However, they are not outstanding. After a short time, everything starts to tastes the same. The bread and rolls are not the same quality as the old-fashioned hard roll I ate when I was a child. The Italian bread in a supermarket bakery tastes exactly the same as its rolls. Don’t get me wrong, I still purchase these items for what they are and I have a use for them but to me there is nothing that can compare to walking into a family-owned bakery and taking a deep breath. Buying top quality food was always a top priority for my mother. Places like A & G bakery in Deer Park or Dolci Momenti Bakery in Patchogue reminds me of a simpler time when you weren’t overwhelmed by the enormity of a huge building but instead you can focus on your senses and that fine aroma of cinnamon buns fresh from the oven. To me it is one of those aromas of childhood. Like the smell of pine on Christmas morning coming from the tree. Now, due to allergies and other various reasons I own an artificial Christmas tree and burn a pine scented candle for effect. It’s just not the same. Once again I digress.

The Supermarket has always had its meat department. Now here in the 21st century the family-owned meat markets/butcher are all gone too. My mother shopped at a place called Spot Light. I went with her occasionally when school was out. The cashier was the butcher’s wife and she would give me a penny from the register to get a gumball. Holy shit! Who does THAT anymore? Can you imagine the cashier at Kroger’s giving some kid a buck for a pack of gum out of her cash register? For one, the mother would have a cow and scream: “Don’t give my kid that sugary treat you bitch”! Then it would be a whole big thing…I digress yet again. Today, I still go to a butcher. This new place I found has that old time wonderful smell I remember as a child. It’s just missing the saw dust on the floor. This butcher shop is mainly a restaurant supply wholesaler, but they allow local customers to come in a buy there meat. The place is called Mathews and it even has my favorite number 10 size can (32 ounces) of Italian plum tomatoes for Spaghetti Sauce.  This shop does have some great beef and chicken, but it has a lot more. Frozen seafood and some Greek gyro meat. Not to mention fresh eggs and other restaurant quality items.  Best of all is friendly service. They treat everyone just like you are one of the family!

It is still important today to purchase only good quality food items for your family and yourself. Shopping is an art or it can be. Some people are good at buying clothes and dressing nice. I tend to spend my energy on buying more groceries and eating well then looking like I do. Just like clothes, name brand stuff is usually better than the store brand but not always. Somethings like cheese are unique to the brand. An example of this is mozzarella cheese. I have tried many brands over the years but I prefer getting Polly-O brand when it’s on sale. I even freeze what I don’t use right away because it is what like to use on my chicken parmesan and baked ravioli so it is always good for me to have extra on hand.

Produce too has always been in the supermarket. At least as long as I can remember. Some supermarkets have better produce then others, but no one can beat the local farm stand for freshness and taste, and you are also supporting your local economy by buying fresh from the farm. Besides that, I have read that eating local produce is healthier for you in terms of cutting down your allergies. As you eat more local produce and honey, the local pollen is absorbed by your body and this helps you to withstand those heavy pollen days when the local flowers and trees are in bloom. This is not a bad thing. This of course is not truly a medical definition but you get the point I hope. Local produce is good for you.

I do enjoy being able to buy vegetables out-of-season in supermarkets. I rarely buy fruit this way, as it is usually is tasteless, although once in a while it is nice to have grapes with cheese in the middle of winter. Buying produce locally while it is in season can’t be beat. To this day I still cannot buy a single peach from any place other than the farm stands on the east end of Long Island or I find them mealy and dry. While I’m all the way out there I might as well get a bottle of wine or maybe a case. This whole fresh fruit thing is why I make apple pies in the fall when the fresh apples are in abundance. Peach pie is perfect at the end of summer and blueberry pie is baked in spring…etc etc.

Another thing supermarkets sell is cold cuts from their deli counter. Most of the time these are mass produced pieces of cured meat and were terrible coming from supermarkets. Even back in the eighties, much to my surprise was the fact that my favorite cold cut company, BoarsHead, is not found on sale everywhere across the country. I distinctly remember my mother having to go to yet another store just to by the cold cuts in the Boarshead brand we all enjoyed. Even when my Aunt Betty and Uncle Harry moved to Florida in the seventies they ask us to bring down cold cuts and bread with us whenever we visited. We never had the money to visit Florida from New York often but when we could, my mother always packed as much stuff as far as bread and cold cuts as we could carry on the plane. At the time no supermarkets carried the Boarshead Brand and not every deli has this brand or sold it in sufficient quantity to keep it fresh so you had to pick and choose where you went to get it. The second item at these local deli’s were there “homemade” salads. Particularly the potato salad, cold slaw, and macaroni salad.  I am always looking for ways to improve my own recipe for these salads to match the taste and flavor of the ones I grew up on in my local deli. If memory serves me and it usually does when it comes to food. These salads were always found to be the best in large German-owned delicatessens two or three towns away from where we lived. Yes, I too went there to buy cold cuts as soon as I was old enough to drive. Even our pickles came from a specialty store because we were just so dam fussy. That place is no longer in business and we all miss that Sterns family store terribly.  Now I know where I get it from! Uggg! I’m crazy!

Fish to me is also a summer season food. I don’t know why, but I guess it stems from when I went fishing here on Long Island or out to dinner by the water. We used to have the best calms and scallops around until we polluted the water in the Great South Bay. Now I have to get stuff from as far away as Maine or Alaska. I don’t even fish much anymore but I used to love it. My taste and pallet for fish has increased too, especially with the addition of Sushi. Sushi is one of those things I don’t make myself and leave that to the experts. I do really try and make more fish, but no one will eat it. Partially during the spring I like eating fish grilled. The fall however is a good time to try and fry it. So I think I need to make more Fish and Chips or fried flounder or even fried shrimp. I buy this all at a local fish store in Amityville. Something about a fish store being right down by the water makes them seem more authentic and fresh even though everything arrives by truck these days.

I think since I started writing this article I have lost track, I cant remember the total number of stores my mother used to travel to, to buy our weekly groceries. Even our beverages were not purchased at the local supermarket, which was call Food Fair back then. For that stuff she travelled to a place called the Beverage Barn two towns away in an opposite direction from anything else just because it has the best prices on beer and soda. They even helped load up her car because she was in her late fifties early sixties buying multiple heavy cases of bottled beer.

I am looking forward now to the fall months if only for its abundance of apples and Oktoberfest Beer of course. So go shop. Eat as local as much as you can and buy those name brand things you love when they are on sale. Don’t limit yourself to only shopping at the super-mega market, rather take some extra time to patronize your local shops, you’ll be happy you did!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

STUFFED Baked Potatoes (ala Barbecue)

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Happy Thursday. Yesterday, I had hot dogs with my famous spicy onions. That’s a recipe that already here (just click the link above) but here is a new one.

This recipe can be done on the barbeque or in the oven. So it is versatile and yumerific!

Stuffed Baked Potato Recipe

        Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Microwave

Barbeque or Oven

Cutting Board

Vegetable brush

INGREDIENTS

8 extra-large Russet Potatoes

2 pounds Bacon

1 large head of broccoli

16 ounces sour cream

8 ounces butter

Fresh chives

Olive Oil

Coarse Salt

Cheese sauce (click here for recipe)

DIRECTIONS

I selected my russet potatoes at the local farm stand from the loose pile sold by the pound.  Scrub the potatoes with a vegetable brush under cold water. Coat the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle on coarse ground salt (McCormick salt grinder). Pierce the potatoes in several places with a fork. I think this step helps to prevent the potatoes from “popping open” while they are cooking in the microwave. Place oil covered and forked potatoes in a microwave safe bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Poke a hole or two in the plastic to let some steam to escape. Microwave these suckers for five to fifteen minutes on high or until the potatoes just begins to give to the touch a little. Check the potatoes after each five-minute interval of cooking for doneness. My six pounds of potatoes took the full fifteen minutes.  Be careful both the bowl and the potatoes are hot! Remove from the microwave using oven mitts. CAREFULLY remove plastic wrap. This whole microwave step speeds up the cooking time of the potatoes so they cook faster. After the microwave, you can transfer the potatoes to a four hundred degree oven for thirty minutes or very hot barbeque. Be careful not to burn the potatoes on the grill. I turned the burners off that were directly under my potatoes and finished cooking them just as if they were being “baked” in an oven.

While the potatoes are “baking” it time to steam the broccoli. Wash the broccoli under cold water. Cut the stems away from the head of broccoli. Cut the head of the broccoli into bit size pieces. Place the broccoli florets into a microwave safe bowl. Add a ¼-cup of water to the bowl. Cover with a paper plate to keep steam in bowl or plastic wrap and cut slits in plastic to let some steam escape. When the potatoes are cooked, (thirty minutes have passed) begin cooking broccoli in the microwave high for six minutes.

Remove broccoli from the microwave using oven mitts. Carefully remove the plastic or take off the paper plate.

Carefully slice open each potato and place on a plate. Add one half tablespoon of butter to each half. Add the steaming hot broccoli then cover with shredded cheddar cheese. Add bacon, sour cream and chives to finish it.

Cheese sauce option: For true over indulgence, make a fancy ass cheese sauce, like the one shown on the potatoes above. Instead of grated cheese, cover the whole potato with cheese sauce at the end. Mmm. Yummy.

Serve this with your favorite wheat beer like Weihenstephan or a Blue Moon.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and may everyone be kind to you.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

INSTA-POT PULLED PORK (CARNITAS)

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Below is the recipe for pulled pork from an Insta-pot that I promised a while back. I use it for tacos, burritos or even nachos.

Carnitas Recipe

Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Insta-Pot

Chef’s Knife

Cutting Board

INGREDIENTS

SOFT TACOS

8 flour tortillas

1 large tomatoes diced

16 ounces cheddar cheese shredded

1 head lettuce (shredded)

1 jar taco sauce or Cholula hot sauce or both

Pitted and sliced black olives (optional)

Guacamole or sour cream (optional)

PULLED PORK

2 Loins of Pork

1 small can of chili peppers (pictured below)

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 container of low sodium beef broth

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black pepper

4 tablespoons Olive oil.

DIRECTIONS

PULLED PORK:

Cut the meat into large pieces. Season by sprinkling with onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper. Let the seasoned meat marinate for a minimum of two hours in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator.

In a 6-quart or larger Insta-Pot add just two tablespoons of olive oil. Turn on the insta-pot to Sauté and brown the meat in two or three batches. Return all the meat back into the pot. Add an onion that has been peeled and quartered to the pot. Add three cloves of whole garlic. Pour in enough beef broth to almost cover the meat.  

Cover and Cook for one hour on the “stew” setting. Move the meat without the cooking liquid to a bowl. It should fall apart easily. Use meat for tacos, burritos or nachos.

SOFT TACOS or BURRITOS:

Add cheese to a flour tortilla, add meat on top, and add guacamole and/or sour cream. Pour on the sauce of your choice (Cholula hot sauce or taco). Top with shredded lettuce and diced tomato. This also goes well with grilled red bell peppers and onion instead of the lettuce and tomato. 

NACHOS

Fill a platter with chips. Add grated cheddar cheese on top and melt in oven or microwave. Top with meat, guacamole, sour cream, sliced black olives; or add hot refried beans and jalapeno peppers for an additional extraordinary culinary experience.

This can be paired with a nice old vine red zinfandel or an Icey Cold Modelo Beer.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and may everyone be kind to you. 

The Drunken Chef (Russ)