dream burger

Ingredients:

24 ounces fatty chuck steak, cut into 1-inch pieces (makes four 6 oz burgers)
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 slices American cheese from deli
4 soft(not too large) white hamburger buns, lightly coated with softened buter and toasted to a light brown, in a nonstick skillet over medium heat

Sauce Ingredients (combine to make sauce):

1/2 cup mayonnaise (full fat)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 cup dill pickle, minced (Mt. Olive)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Place all of the parts to the grinder in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before grinding
2. Put meat pieces on a large plate and put in the freezer 10 minutes before grinding
3. Meanwhile,line a baking sheet with parchment and prepare your grinder
4. Grind meat onto parchment Using smallest grinding plate (if using kitchen aid like me)
5. Slide the meat into four even piles, avoid picking it up, gently(!) press meat into 4 inch wide, 1/2 inch thick patties (patties should have rough edges and be very loosely formed)
6. Season patties with plenty of salt and pepper, carefully flip with spatula and season the other side (push back together any eat that has fallen off), place in fridge until ready to cook
7. Open windows and doors, turn off smoke alarm and turn vent on high (if you don’t want to smoke up your house, I suggest doing this outside on a gas range
8. Heat vegetable oil In a cast iron pan over high heat until smoking
9. Using a spatula, transfer one patty to the pan and cook without moving the meat for 2 minutes
10. Flip patty and cook for one minute, top with cheese and cook for an additional minute (or longer if you want it past medium),repeat with the remaining burgers
11. Reserve burgers on a warm plate until you are ready to serve (this will prevent buns from being soggy)
12. Put sauce on burger buns, top with burger and eat!

cheese steak

Now it’s just you and me, my blue friend

And you say that it’s you that she’s thinking of

And our affair must end

But if it’s you that she’s thinking of

I think my broken heart might mend

“Blue Chair” by Elvis Costello

Believe it or not, this is the meal that is most requested by my wife.  The weird thing is that she doesn’t normally like beef, I’m assuming it’s the gooey cheese that does it for her (maybe I should just ask her why).

Ingredients:

½ large yellow onion, cut into ¼ inch strips
1 green pepper, cut into ¼ inch strips
1 red pepper, cut into ¼ inch strips
8 slices of provolone
11/2 pounds rib eye steak, frozen for 2-3 hours and cut very thinly with a sharp knife
4 baguettes, split in half
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Pam canola spray

Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion, green and red pepper with a pinch of salt
3. Cook onion and peppers until soft, set aside
4. In a large non stick pan or on a griddle, brush with a small amount of olive oil and heat on high
5. Once pan comes to heat lay rib eye in a flat, single layer, lightly season with salt, pepper and garlic powder
6. Meanwhile, place baguettes in the oven
7. Once meat has caramelized, flip it over and season again with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, cook for one to two minutes
8. Place onions and peppers on top of meat and layer provolone on top of vegetables, cover pan with foil
9. Cook until cheese has melted 1-2 minutes
10. Place meat, veggies, and cheese in warmed buns

potato leek soup

Here in the trenches the fist of the Beast

For fear of an atmosphere poisoned deceased

With a gas mask to keep me from breathing my death

It’s American soil I hope for at best

But the duty I serve can’t begin to compare

To my ancestors battles and wars through the years

Though the loneliness strikes like an enemy shell

I pray for my home but still sit here in hell.

“Far Away Coast” by Dropkick Murphys

Tomorrow is St. Pat’s Day and we are having a shindig at work.  I’m making my all time favorite soup, potato leek. I have made this on many occasions and it always seems to peek its head out at Thanksgiving dinner.

What’s the secret to this soup? Love. Not really, it’s actually just copious amounts of dairy products (namely cheese, butter and heavy cream).

Ingredients:

6 c chicken stock
½ stick of butter
2 leeks sliced in ½ lengthwise (top and bottom trimmed), soaked in cold water to remove dirt, drained in a colander
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
1-3 t salt (estimate, to taste)
1/4-1/2 t pepper (to taste)
½ c heavy cream
5 oz. Boursin Garlic and Fine Herb cheese chunk

Directions:

1.Put butter in a large pot, heat over medium-low heat
2. Add leeks, cook until soft 4-5 minutes
3. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute
4. Add potato and stock and simmer for 30 minutes
5. Process with stick blender, add cheese and cream, continue to process until smooth
6. Add salt and pepper to taste

wisconsin style egg rolls

Oh Woman, oh woman, don’t treat me so mean,

You’re the meanest old woman that I’ve ever seen

I guess if you say so

I have to pack my things and go

“Hit the Road Jack” by Ray Charles

I made these yesterday to celebrate the Packers making it into the superbowl.  Sorry about the crappy photo, blame it on my iPhone.

Ingredients:

5 uncooked bratwurst, removed from casing
5 oz. shredded swiss cheese
16 0z. sauerkraut, drained and squeezed of excess juice
1 tablespoon sriracha
24 egg roll wrappers
Oil for frying

Directions:

1. Cook bratwurst meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat, making sure to break up any large chunks of meat
2. Remove from heat, place in a large bowl, let cool
3. Add swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and sriracha
4. Wrap about 2-3 tablespoons of filling into wrappers and roll, making sure to seal edges with water
5. Fry in 375 F oil until golden brown
6. Serve with ketchup and mustard

If there is anyone out there that reads this blog and has Wisconsin roots, I would love your recipes and suggestions.

Some previous posts on food from my favorite state:

Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet

Bratwurst, cooking

Bratwurst, making

Cheese curds

Egg roll, Wisconsin style

Potatoes, Escalloped with ham

Potato Salad, German

Sauerkraut

Summer sausage

Torte, Poppy Seed

italian sausage

The tax man’s taken all my dough,

And left me in my stately home,

Lazin’ on a sunny afternoon.

And I can’t sail my yacht,

He’s taken everything I’ve got,

All I’ve got is this sunny afternoon.

“Sunny Afternoon” by The Kinks

What could be better than making your own sausages? Well, probably lots of stuff but homemade sausage is always great.  Is it time consuming? Yes, but your finished product always tastes better than something from the megamart. Remember to thoroughly clean the casings by attaching one opening to the faucet and running water through until it is no longer cloudy.

It is baseball season, summer is coming, go forth, make tube meat.

Makes about 10 sausages

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork shoulder
½ pound fat
2 tablespoons fennel seeds (toasted) and crushed in a mortar and pestle
1 1/2-2 1/2 teaspoons table salt (to taste, test a little chunk of sausage in a skillet)
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh basil
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Sausage casings

Directions:

1. Grind pork shoulder and fat into a large mixing bowl
2. Thoroughly mix in the rest of the ingredients (minus casings), I think mixing with your hands works best
3. Stuff sausages

potato chips

She put nine hundred dollars on the fifth horse in the sixth race

I think its name is Chips Ahoy!

It came in six lengths ahead, we spent the whole next week getting high

At first i thought that she hit off some tip that she got from some other boy

We were overjoyed

“Chips Ahoy!” by The Hold Steady

The best thing about making your own potato chips is that you can control how cooked (or not) they are.  As you probably can tell, these do not look like the lightly fried chips you might remember from summer picnics, these are well done and have much more intense flavor.  I kept the chips pretty simple because it was my first attempt.  Obviously, the possibilities are limitless for creating your own special variations (I’m thinking cracked black pepper, chili powder and lime, etc.). It is of paramount importance that you season the chips immediately after they exit the oil bath.

A mandolin for slicing the chips and a spider for removing them from the hot oil is not necessary but does help immensely…

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandolin (or very carefully with a knife)
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a medium pot, place in oil until it reaches about halfway up the side
2. Heat oil to about 375° F
3. Place in a layer of potatoes and cook to desired color (2-4 minutes)
4. Remove from oil and immediately sprinkle with salt

always the bridesmaid

And I did not know her name, and I did not know here name

But I sure love the way that she laughed and took my money

And I did not know here name, and I did not know her name

But I sure loved the way that she laughed and called me honey

“Silver Train” by The Rolling Stones

Err…I mean best man….

Not a winner for my BLT attempt, but my photo has reached runner-up status on Mr. Ruhlman’s site.

bacon garlic aioli

Mean Mister Mustard sleeps in the park

Shaves in the dark trying to save paper

Sleeps in a hole in the road

Saving up to buy some clothes

Keeps a ten bob note up his nose

Such a mean old man

“Mean Mr. Mustard” by The Beatles

Continuing with BLT challenge week…

This picture was taken a couple of days later, that’s why it looks a little oily.

Don’t be afraid to make your own aioli, I have a couple of pointers for you.

1.    Use the freshest eggs that you can find, this will hopefully eliminate any chances of getting sick
2.    Use a squeeze bottle to add your fat to the yolks, this will help to ensure that you don’t accidentally add too much fat
3.    If your aioli does break, add another egg yolk, it should help everything come back together

Ingredients:

¼ cup bacon fat (from about 6 pieces of bacon)
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove of garlic, cut in half
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon dry mustard
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.    Combine bacon fat and olive oil
2.    In a medium bowl, rub the exposed garlic halves all over the bowl, discard garlic
3.    Add egg yolks and mustard, whisk together
4.    Slowly whisk in bacon fat/olive oil
5.    Season with salt and pepper

BLT challenge deadline

I, I love the colorful clothes she wears

And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair

I hear the sound of a gentle word

On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air

“Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys

I don’t think there is a better way to end tomato week than with a BLT…

Today was the deadline for the BLT challenge over at Michael Ruhlman’s blog. The challenge was to make all of the components for a BLT from scratch.  While this sandwich ultimately took quite a bit of planning, it was definitely worth all of the work.  The eggtotheapples entry was bacon gruyere bread with maple bourbon bacon, bacon/garlic/olive oil aioli and some tomatoes from the front yard.  The sandwich was awesome, I will be sharing the recipes for each individual component this week.

soft shell crab sandwich

Pedal down the foot hills

Wheelies on the front

P-p-pedal down the foot hills

Wheelies on the front

“Black Mags” by The Cool Kids

Soft shell crabs remind me of the infamous McDonald’s McRib sandwich…

When looking at a nicely breaded and fried soft shell crab, one might scratch their head and observe that the shape and texture does not really deviate from what a hard shell crab would look like after a hot oil bath.  Just like the McRib, the crab is deceiving, leaving no traces of shell or other non-molar-friendly crab parts.

Don’t be scared! Buy the crabs, make the sandwich, you will be happy that you did.

Here’s a good tutorial on soft shell crabs.

How to clean soft shell crab.

Makes two big sandwiches

Ingredients:

For crab:

4 soft shell crabs, cleaned
1 cup of flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon Franks hot sauce
1 cup of oyster crackers
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

For sandwich:

2 chewy rolls
Spicy brown mustard
Mayonnaise
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Directions:

1.    Place crackers in a large ziplock bag and crush until fine in texture, but not completely pulverized
2.    Add garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper
3.    Place cracker crumbs in a small bowl
4.    Place flour in another small bowl, season with salt and pepper
5.    Place eggs and hot sauce in a third small bowl, mix whisk with a fork
6.    Place enough vegetable oil in a large skillet to reach about ½ inch up the side
7.    Place crab in flour, then egg, then crackers
8.    Heat the oil over high heat until small drops of water spit (does this make sense? It does to me.)
9.    Fry crabs until golden brown on both sides, remove from oil, immediately season with salt, and allow to drain any excess oil on paper towel
10.    I think you can take it from here by looking at the sandwich ingredients