BabyAlice Pug enters a Halloween costume contest... I think she should win it...

BabyAlice needs votes...

Yes, I am using my platform here for shameless self promotion, well, not MY promotion but the promotion of BabyAlice pug in her Halloween pumpkin hat that I made her.

So, go here:

https://www.facebook.com/dixiepugsoftn/photos/pb.158573234329766.-2207520000.1445871355./461733700680383/?type=3&theater

and LIKE her, c'mon we can do it!

then I"ll cook more and post it for you :D hahahahah

THANKS!

My version of "Russian" burgers, I like mine with cheese, lots of it

I love cheeseburgers.  I hate making last minute cheeseburgers.  This poses a serious problem in the life and times of me.

I read lots of posts about cheeseburgers. Russian, German and Polish specifically and have developed this version of a combination of all of them.  Don't yell at me about authenticity, this is simply my version of a morph of many ideas and many methods, the final result of which is the recipe I share with you below that quite simply makes me a happy burger eating soul.

Seriously, make these.  Make a ton and freeze them, make a ton and serve a crowd.  They are absolutely worth the try.....

Tracy's "Russian" Burgers

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs Ground meat, beef/pork combo, or all of whatever meat floats your boat.
3 thick slices of white bread, broken up
1/4 cup milk
1 grated onion
salt, pepper
Fresh breadcrumbs to coat the meat
Beef stock cut with water, enough to generously cover the pan you'll hold your burgers in
plain oil

COMBINE the bread milk and onion in a large bowl, leave them to soak up together for about 10 minutes or so,

ADD the meat, salt, pepper

MIX well and divide into whatever size meatballs you like.  Use the bun you're going to contain them with and make them the size to fit inside.

ROLL the balls in breadcrumbs and leave them set and dry, on the counter for about 15 mins.

HEAT some oil in a shallow pan.  Use enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan.

FRY the meatballs, pressing them down slightly to look more like a burger and less like a meatball before you drop them into the fat.  Fry them until they are dark brown and lovely.

Don't worry about trying to cook them through, this is the makeup portion of cooking.  We just want them pretty.

Heat stock and water (1/2 1/2) in a pan large enough to hold the burger.

As the burgers cook, place them in the warmed stock, single layer please!

Cover the pan when they're all done and pop them into a 350 oven for about 30 minutes.

DONE

When you want to eat, take out however many burgers you want, cover them with cheese and pop them into an oven till the cheese melts, put in fresh buns with whatever toppings makes you happy and eat and eat and eat.

These freeze beautifully, hold for days and heat up in the microwave if you have to on a whim.

Here's the play by play beauty shots:

Here's the meatballs, slightly squashed and coated in breadcrumbs, just hanging out.

drop a few breadcrumbs in the oil to be sure it's hot.  Add the burgers gently and cook them till they're beautiful 

  

Do this in batches and transfer them to the warm stock as they're done 

  

oh, look at the action shot...  yes, i crowded the pan, it works anyway :)  

  

Covered and into the oven, 350 for about half an hour.  This is what they look like after 1/2hour, they actually plump up.  Leave them covered in the broth at room temperature until you need them.....

SO, when you want to eat, grab a couple of the burgers and put them on a sheetpan, cover them with Gouda cheese, seriously, it has to be Gouda. 

HEAT the burgers till the cheese melts.  WHILE they warm up, toast your buns and slather a little homemade aioli on them or whatever toppings make you deliriously happy.

SERVE up the hot melty burgers on the toasty soft yummy rolls and devour with abandon and joy in your soul. 

      
look at these beauties.  I love how the cheese oozes down the sides and makes a round burger coat of melty cheese for our soft, juicy delicious burgers.
  

Tell me how much you love these!! 

/tracy

CHECK your fish before you leave a store, I expected better HEB

So, the first post back is a moaning one.

I shop at the "new" "green" "high tech" HEB located at Meuller in Austin.  I asked for four 'similarly sized" fillets at the counter.

I came home to this:

SERIOUSLY? 

I tried to email the store, without success, we'll see if this gets anyone's attention 

SERIOUSLY HEB, between the bad, old, soggy, broccoli heads and the lack of legitimate fresh produce in your store, the security guard who YELLED at me for dropping my son off to run in for me (yes, I did move immediately), the VERY expensive live lobsters I bought that DIED within 30 minutes (oh SURE they'll live outside the water for a day), and now THIS?

Someone fix this, I am not a happy camper

/Tracy

OH and HI! :)  I'm back 

Hot Smoked Salmon, the best thing I ever made. Ever. Truly. Ever

I love seafood, I could eat it every meal.  I love salmon but find it so often overdone to the point of being dusty in my mouth or chewy... euwww.  I am constantly on the hunt for salmon nirvana.

One of my favorite appetizers out in the world, when I get to go out to eat, is the smoked salmon at Pappadeux.  It's expensive so I don't get to go often. I never thought I'd be able to reproduce anything even close at home.  I did.  I might have done it better.

I own a smoker.  I know where to buy salmon.  How hard can it be? Let the experiment begin.

This is a quickie, I'll tell you now, the experiment was more successful than I could have imagined.  You're going to want to add salmon to your shopping list, now.

TRACY'S HOT SMOKED SALMON 

2 lbs salmon (it was on sale!) cut into 1 1/2 pieces
salt
pepper
sugar

smoker
apple wood chips (soaked)
water

Rub salmon with seasonings, leave to 'dry' on the counter.  Put the salmon on tin foil, it'll cook on it.  Don't make it too big, just enough to be a nice plate for the fish.  Leave it about 30 mins, the time it takes the Masterbuilt smoker to preheat to 250.

When it's hot, fill the wood chip delivery box thing with SOAKED applewood chips.
Pour some water in the bowl of the smoker to keep everything moist.  I didn't want to muddy the flavors.

Slide the fish into the smoker, on the foil, and turn the temperature down to 200.  The hotter start allows the smoker to be hot enough to actually smoke the chips.  Open the damper on the top half way and let the smoke draw up around the fish.

Lock and load, set the timer for 40 minutes.  Prepare for nirvana

Here's the beauty shots and commentary
Here's the 2 lbs sliced thickly. Just salt, pepper and a little tiny bit of sugar on it, I want it to taste like salmon.
 

OH MY GOD, the fat in the salmon slowly ooooooozed up and through the fish, you have NO IDEA what an amazing this this does to the texture of the fish.  I've never experienced anything quite like it.  The flavor is slightly smokey but only slightly, I wanted it to taste like fish that'd been kissed with smoke and that's exactly what I got
 

I took it out of the smoker and let it rest, to come back to room temperature.  I didn't want it hot.  

It was easy to de-skin (?is that a word?) each piece.  Turn it on it's side and the skin peels off in one piece and doesn't take an ounce of flesh with it, oh yeah, that's the way to do it!

Then I served it up on a plate, then added some aioli and some hollandaise, because, well you know, I had some in the fridge

  

Then I put some on a crusty roll, it's almost spreadable!

Then I flaked it on top of pasta with lemon and a thought of cream, crazy.

  

Best fish I have ever EVER made.  It's worth trying, it's worth doing, I hope you love it as much as I do.  I love it.  Crazy love. Wow.

/enjoy

Smoked (BBQ) Pork Ribs in my Masterbuilt Electric Smoker, a few minutes prep and you're golden by dinnertime!

RIBS!  there's not a soul who doesn't love RIBS!!  PORK RIBS!

I prefer St. Louis cut to baby backs, I think they are meatier and tastier.  I got some on sale today so it's smoked/BBQ ribs for dinner!  I'm making my potato salad to go with and a large, icy cold, beer.

TRACY'S SMOKED RIBS (in an electric smoker)

Get your hands on some ribs and yank the membrane off the back, season them up however you like.  Today, I used:

salt

pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

smoked paprika

cumin

coriander

oil

rub it in all in

Throw in on preheated (225) (I have a Masterbuilt) smoker with apple wood chips (soaked) for about 4 hours. 

I keep top vent slightly open so the smoke draws through and I can tell when there's no more smoke.  I refill 2-3 times about every 90 minutes.  I don't like TOO much smoke so I don't smoke the last while. 

EAT

Here's the picture heavy INSTRUCTIONS and chit chat

RIBS! 

As always, I cut the back membrane off the ribs, cut them into hunks with scissors and toss them in an immaculately clean sink.  Why dirty a bowl?  

Sprinkle whatever dry spices you want on them and then drizzle with oil.  Rub it all in, I love that part, I feel chef-y and involved.  Considering there's nothing to DO while these things cook/smoke, I feel as though a good rub in the beginning makes me matter to the whole affair.  Leave them to rest about half an hour, luckily, that's about how long it takes the smoker to be up to temperature, 225. 

 

Throw them in the smoker, on different shelves, with loads of space between (I didn't take pics of that) and smoke them 4+ hours.  I am not going to test them before 3 1/2 hours. 

Go have some wine, make a side dish or get online and cyber chat with people you love and miss who are far away.

I tested and decided I wanted them to go longer so at 4 1/2 hours I pulled them.  We ate them like cavemen, here's some beauty shots.

I pulled from from the smoker and threw them on a sheet pan, I tore one and cut another so you could see the insides and how they were.  They are tender but don't fall off the bone, you have to bite them, you have teeth.  They are soft and unctuous and meaty and tasty and there's some crispy fat on the edges that sort of seeps in, yeah, they're crazy good.  I don't put sauce on my ribs but if you are so inclined, you can have sauce on the side after they are done OR you can thin some BBQ sauce and paint them about 30 mins before you are going to eat to let them glaze.

   



The man liked them, I got a fist bump and a "good ribs".  High praise around here indeed!  o_O

That's how I do ribs, pork ribs.  I am going to try a pork butt later in the week and make some bread for pulled pork.  My plan is to grab a nice fatty brisket next and smoke it about 24 hours then yank off the fat and make some burnt ends, you're going to want to be near me when I do that one! :)

Go smoke something,

/enjoy

Smoked Pork Tenderloin in my Masterbuilt Smoker

Ok, ok, ok.  I had no intention whatsoever of smoking a tenderloin!  A regular pork loin, oh sure, but not a tenderloin.  My husband brought a package (of 2) home, I think he thought it was a loin.  He said I should smoke it, I thought not.

Just as a quick back story, I own the Masterbuilt 30inch Smokehouse, 4 rack, in case anyone is keeping track.  I got it last week, this is my second foray into the world of smoking.  I may be hooked.

He left to go to work and I was searching around the fridge for stuff to smoke and there they were, the little tenderloins staring at me.  I usually brown then, rub with good french mustard then roll in Panko and roast them high.  Crispy and pink, that's how I like my tenderloins.

LOOK at what I did!!  SERIOUSLY?! 

I figured I'd give it a try anyway, i didn't want a neon pink smoke ring, that's not why I'm in this smoking thing, I'm in it for flavor and juicyness and tenderness.  I achieved all three in spades today. You want some crazy tender, juicy and lightly smoked pork tenderloins?  Cook them like this:

TRACY'S SMOKED PORK TENDERLOINS

2 pork tenderloins, dried and silver skin removed
whatever rub you want, mine was a soft but definite sprinkling of:
salt
pepper
smoked paprika
garlic powder
onion powder
ground coriander
ground cumin
a good drizzle of plain oil

QUICKIE INSTRUCTIONS
Rub seasoning on meat, smoke at 225 for 2 hours with applewood smoke and beer in the water bowl.  I checked the temp and it was 140, that's MORE than enough for pork tenderloin.  I took them out, wrapped them in foil and let them sit for about 15 minutes.  Slice. Eat.

INSTRUCTIONS, WITH PICS
Rub the tenderloins with the spices and leave them in the sink to soak them up while the smoker heats to 225, it took about 20.  Oh and the sink? It's where I season all my meats, I can clean it well before and after and there's no dishes!

I took the rack out of the smoker and put the meat on it in here, that way it's faster to just pop it in the slot and not futz with placement, just shove the rack in and close the door.  Less heat loss.
  
I had preheated to 225

See how easy, just slide the meat into the smoker and I poured a beer in the water bowl.  I soaked the applewood chips, filled the hopper and slipped it in the side and dumped it immediately
  
I set the timer for 2 1/2 hours but knew I would check at 2


AFTER 2 hours, I snuck a peek and shoved a thermometer into the meat, it was a little better than 140, my high end temp for tenderloins.  I took them out and wrapped them in foil to rest for about 15 minutes.  The smell is AWESOME.
 
The FIRST person to complain to me that there's no smoke ring is banned for life.  I wasn't looking for dusty, dry, neon pink rimmed, deeply, thickly, smoked pork.  I was looking for delicately smoked piece of meat that still has the flavor of PORK and a light rub and painfully juicy and tender meat.  That is exactly what I got, I'm thrilled. :)

I'd made my scalloped potatoes as a side and it's what Connor and I had for lunch.  I will post the potatoes recipe separately.

Here's the beauty shots. There's absolutely nothing else to say.  Nothing.
    

Smoke some pork tenderloin.  Really.  Wow.

OH and buy one... this is the one:



/enjoy