Chicken Tacos

A little hung up on this boneless / skinless Chicken Kabob thing but we're just enjoying it so much we're finding more and more uses for it. I used Mojo Grillo marinade for 3 hours and I credit the marinade for keeping the meat moist. I cooked it on the grill at 425 for about 30 min turning a few times. We never ever order chicken tacos anywhere when eating out and considering that what we make at home almost always is better than the top restaurants, doing these tacos would be a good choice for us. I grilled the chicken to 165 and chopped it before frying it in a little olive oil. Cooking meat twice is common in Mexican cooking around here and it sure adds more flavor especially cooking with wood, as you might imagine. Something else we learned a long time ago is that lightly sautéed onions as opposed to chopped onion on your tacos is a nice change and you want them to still have a little crunch to them, so you need to start with hot skillet. These were served with Salsa Verde, Cilantro, avocado, and Lemon (we like it better than lime). A good crumbling cheese like Feta would have been a great addition.

Cheesy German Potato Casserole

This is ABSOLUTELY the BEST potato dish I think I've ever had and that's coming from a long line of Potato Salad lovers. I like the flavor of German Potato Salad so I guess that's why I like this dish so much. You just can't beat a potato casserole with cheese, boiled eggs, onions, garlic, apple vinegar, and BACON! Here's how to make it: just boil potatoes the same as if your were going to make regular potato salad and instead of the ingredients you normally add use a large onion, 6 or 8 boiled eggs, 1 lb of bacon (fried, drained, and crunched up). Make your dressing with a cup and half of mayo (Krafts please - there is a reason it's called REAL Mayonaise), 3 or 4 tbs of apple vinegar, couple tbs of Worchestershire, splash of tabasco. Mix it all up and pour half into a casserole dish and add a layer of white Velvetta cubed or sliced (1/2 lb) then the rest of the potatoes, then another 1/2 of the cheese. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper where needed like I do sometimes and bake till heated through and browning a little on top. It's easy as can be and you don't have to chop celery. For the real recipe google German Potato Casserole.

Meat Loaf

This was supposed to be the best meat loaf I ever cooked. Everyone experiences a disappointing cook sometimes I'm sure, as I was with this Meat Loaf. I was impressed with the results of Cook's Illustrated All Beef Meat Loaf and used their method. I rounded up the recipe by doing a search of copycat recipes, as Cook's Illustrated requires you to pay for membership to their site. What I liked about it and why I wanted to cook it this way was mostly the way they did their glaze. Instead of putting a thick layer on at the end of the cook that generally just sits there much the same as when you brushed it on, they started with a thin glaze when the meat first went in the oven and then several more glazes as it cooked which made it cook into the meat. The recipe also had a large amount of onions and used bread and eggs and they cooked the onions, I never do any of that with mine. I do use onions but don't cook them nor do I use bread or eggs. Bottom line is my next meat loaf will be MY meatloaf with the only difference being that I glaze throughout the cook.

Chicken Kabobs

Yeah I know, I know, I'm hung up on the Mr Yoshika's Sauce / Marinade, but not really - it's a big bottle. Seriously I love the flavor on a lot of things and besides doing breast as Kabobs was a nice change. You get a lot more flavor that way and you know how hard it is to do that with boneless skinless chicken breast. Besides think of all the things that can be done with it - serve on speghetti, subs, salads, etc. The directions on this product suggest marinade time to be 30 min to 1 hour, I suggest 12 hours or overnight for anything I've used it on and with these Kabobs I also basted them with it while they were on the grill. Try it sometime.

Wings

I've said it to myself many times and I'll say it here "I'd give up cooking on a grill / smoker at home if I didn't have a Traeger" (or some other Pellet cooker). I have always loved Hot Wings and they turn out so good in the pellet cooker. The method I use now is to let them sit out on the counter about 45 min then season them with any old bbq rub, and put them in the cooker indirect with the temp at about 350 for about 45 min. I actually checked these whole wings with the wiggle test to see how done they were based on how loose they were at the joint. A second test for doneness provided a treat for the cook when I pulled one off and tried it. When cooked to my liking, I then used half margarine and half Texas Pete heated enough to mix well and dipped the wings in the sauce and returned to the cooker for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Mr Yoshidas

Here's a product I can recommend that will provide a unique flavor and a beautiful color to your grilled chicken, beef, pork, etc. These Tri Tip roasts were marinated in Mr Y for 12 hours, wiped off the excess, sprinkled with a steak rub and cooked on high (475 - 495) on the Traeger Pellet grill for about 25 min. Use one for Steak Night and refrigerate and shave the other one for the most wonderful steak sandwiches you will ever have. Note: I have found that simply refrigerating is not enough to facilitate shaving beef and about 15 min in the freezer makes all the difference in the world.

Brined & Smoked Chicken

I cooked the best chicken I've ever cooked yesterday and I contribute the good results to a good brine and proper doneness. Whole chickens were used but I cut them in half before doing anything else. I used a simple brine that included pickling spices but added a couple of very aromatic herbs to it - both the pickling spices and the other two spices where whole and I ground them in a coffee grinder. I did not want the brine to make the chicken too salty so I limited the time in the brine to two hours. I roasted them in a pellet cooker set at 275 until the breast meat reached an internal temp of 170. A remote meat thermometer was used in the thickest part of the breast. The flavor from the brine was very pronouced and very good. Once they reached 160 I brushed on a light coat of Apricot BBQ Sauce and held them in a warm oven while the side dishes were prepared. Fried Green tomatoes, German Potato Casserole w/Benton Bacon, Carolina Vinegar Slaw, and rolls rounded out the meal.

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Memory Lane Restaurant Review

Ann's Place use to be no more than a mile from our office and we went there some but not so much. The food was always good but her old place was so small and well I my as well say it - she was "different" and was extra "saving" with everything from her napkins to her butter, if you needed an extra napkin or pat of butter you had to ask and if you did you'd always just get ONE more at a time. Any way she had to move way across town due to road construction and we hadn't been since. I always liked her and liked giving her my business because I felt she was not cut out for the job but tried her dead level best to put out good home cooking. Her and her husband make more of their stuff from scratch than any other meat and 3 in town, he makes the cakes and pies and she makes the rest. I have been wanting to visit and see how she is doing and found that today was the day to do that since my lunch partner was off today and she wasn't warming up to the idea even though she liked Ann too. I had Chicken and Dumplings, Turnip Greens, and Pinto Beans with Cornbread and Sweet Tea. No doubt the Dumplings were from scratch and just as good as you could ask for, as was everything else. I don't know how you tell for sure if Pinto Beans and Turnip Greens are made from scratch other than judging by how good they are and if that's the only way, these were definitely good enough to pass that test. As I would have guessed there was no pepper sauce setting around for the greens and I didn't ask for any but I found out I didn't need any, in fact if I didn't know better I would have sworn they had some pepper sauce cook in them - they were GREAT. The beans were actually cooked instead of the usual meat and 3 canned version just heated up a little. What I had was so good and I hadn't been to her place for so long, I went ahead and got a slice of that homemade Peanut Butter Pie. It wasn't as good as Edna's over in Chatsworth because he didn't put the mirange on top, but it was good with a light creamy filling on a graham cracker crust and very peanut buttery. Good Sweet Tea that was not too sweet and good cornbread muffins. She has plenty of help including a grill guy that will make you any one of the many grilled items on the menu from burgers and dogs to all kinds of sandwiches including breakfast sandwiches. If anybody ask me I'd tell em to check her place out as it is the real deal and she's good old gal to boot.

July 4th Rib Tibs

So, everyone knows hamburgers, hotdogs, and watermelon is traditional July 4th food, but I kinda think anything cooked on a grill or smoker passes, or at least it does with me. I decided it was a good time to cook all those Rib Tips from the last couple of contest and I didn’t weigh them but let’s just say my little pellet cooker was FULL. In case you were not aware, Rib Tips were gaining in popularity even before the down economy was a factor and I’ve always thought they were good myself, just needing a little getting use to eating around all those little bones. I have even heard that some people cut them up into small pieces before cooking and I may try that next time I cook them as I always have some thin smaller pieces that dry out a little and that could help get them all done at the same time. Mine were rubbed and into the smoker right out of the fridge and cooked for 3 hours, then foiled and cooked another 3 ½ hours before slathering on a coat of Apricot BBQ Sauce and cooked another 30 min. I have a new favorite side dish that goes good with just about anything that we paired with it called “German Potato Casserole”.

Whole Pork Loin

Everyone has always followed the U.S.D.A. instructions on when meat is cooked to a safe minimum doneness temperature, especially with pork (160), out of fear of a meat borne illness which I can't seem the think of the name of it at present but perhaps you know what I'm referring to. Now it has been changed and you can read about that and other facts about pork from the U.S.D.A on the link Well no one has ever accused me of always following all the rules and I've always cooked certain cuts like Loin and Tenderloin at quite a bit lower done temperature than 160 and have always been credited with them being better than average. So I'm telling everyone I know with confidence now, to please try these at a lower temp and see if you agree that they are far better that way. But that's not all - I have always like 1 1/2 thick center cut loin chops and a week ago I tried a new tool that gave even better results than before - it's called a Jaccard Tenderizer. Now I'm telling everyone I know to cook to the new 145 degree doneness AND use a Jaccard Tenderizer. One more thing...try a Whole Pork Loin with Souvlaki Seasoning and go heavy on the seasoning. I liberally covered mine and wrapped in plastic wrap for several hours and just before putting it in my Traeger Pellet Grill I liberally covered it again and cooked as I said to 145 degrees internally. Try it just as I've said and you may have found the best piece of pork you ever put in your mouth and I promise it will be moist and fork tender.