I’ve been having fun playing with my new food dehydrator, thanks to Chef Talk. I don’t know that the infatuation will last but it is fun right now, and, at the very least, I think it is something that I will pull out occasionally and play around with, even if it never becomes a “vital” appliance in my kitchen.

This weekend I got a chance to play around with making jerky, and I have to say, I was rather pleased with the results. It sure beats out most of the big name brand jerkys out there and is a heck of a lot less expensive than buying any of those “gourmet” jerkys you see at fairs and festivals. I made both a Spicy Asian jerky, marinating it in soy sauce accented with Chinese 5 spice powder and Siracha (a spicy chile garlic sauce). I also made a Southwestern Chipotle Lime jerky, using ground chipotles to add a nice light smoky accent to the jerky. Of course you can always smoke your jerky before drying it in the dehydrator. I can be smoked afterwards but the meat will take up more smoke, more readily if you smoke it while still raw.

A couple of things to remember, if you are making jerky. First off you will yield about 1/4-1/3, by weight, of the original amount of meat you purchased due to the drying process so purchase accordingly. Secondly, it’s very important to remove as much outer fat as possible and choose meat with as little interior marbling as possible as the fat as a tendency to go rancid sometimes. For longer term storage I suggest placing in the refrigerator. I did not use any curing salts (nitrates or nitrites) in the making of these jerkys so long term storage, at room temp might be problematic. I wouldn’t worry about leaving it out for a day or 2 but for longer storage, play it safe and refrigerate.

Spicy Asian Jerky

1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. Chinese 5 spice powder
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. Sriracha (chile garlic paste)
1 lb. lean beef (I used an Inside Roast roast)

Chipotle Lime Jerky

1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. lime juice
1 lb. lean beef (see note above)

For each recipe, combine all the ingredients except the beef. Slice the beef so it is approximately 1/4″ thick then into strips about 1 1/2″ wide. Toss the beef in to the marinade and mix to coat. Because the Chipotle marinade is more of a paste you will really need to work at getting it distributed evenly. Tightly cover and allow to marinate for 10-12 hours in the refrigerator, stirring it every few hours.

Spicy Asian Jerky in marinade

Chipotle Lime Jerky marinating

Place meat in dehydrator, blotting off excess moisture from the Asian Jerky. Dry following the manufacturer’s directions. You will want to dry somewhere between 140F and 160F.

Drying time will be anywhere from 3 1/2 to 10 hours, depending on several factors, but if you made sure to cut your meat 1/4″ thick it should take 3 1/2 – 5 hours. To test for doneness remove 1 piece of jerky and let it cool to room temperature. It should crack along the grain when bent but it shouldn’t break apart. When done remove to a cooling rack, blot off any excess fat that rendered out and allow to cool completely before packing it way.

I’ve recently be playing around with dehydrating as a form of preserving food, and making tasty treats thanks to my new dehydrator from Chef Talk. In the past, dehydrating hasn’t held a lot of allure for me, but I am the curious sort (for both better and for worse) and am always looking to try new things and experiment with new, at least to me, techniques.

Of course, one of the first things I’ve tried is fruit leather (beef jerky will be this weekend) as I have always loved those fruit roll ups. I wanted something a little more sophisticated, flavor wise and remembered the numerous bags of cranberries that were sitting in our freezer. Cranberries alone weren’t going to make a good fruit leather so I decided to pair them with apple, a classic paring and to spike it with just a hint of cinnamon. The resulting leather reminded me of those classic fruit roll ups but with a more complex, less overly sweetened flavor that adults would enjoy.

Apple Cranberry Leather

1 pound cranberries, fresh or frozen
4 pounds apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (choose apples that are both good baking and eating apples, I chose Braeburn this time)
Apple juice, or cider
corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Puree the cranberries, in a blender, until smooth, adding just enough apple juice to get the cranberries blending. Repeat this process with the apples, again using just enough juice to get the puree started. You want it to be thick enough still that you will need to stop the blender occasionally and push the contents down. Combine the cranberry and apple purees, stirring to combine. Add the cinnamon and just enough corn syrup to sweeten the puree to your liking. Use corn syrup as opposed to sugar as sugar tends to recrystallize making the fruit leather brittle. Flow the manufactures suggestions for making fruit leather in your dehydrator, making sure that the puree is no more than 1/4-3/8″ thick. Do yourself a favor and lightly oil the tray you make the leather on. It will help in removal when done. Dry at 130F for approximately 6-9 hours. The length will depend on a lot of variables including humidity, ambient room temperature, how much juice you added, etc. The leather is done when it is still pliable, but no longer tacky to the touch. Remove trays from dehydrator and allow to cool slightly. Remove fruit leather from trays and roll in plastic wrap.

This past weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday. I wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Sure, I’ve come to the realization that I’m not as young as I used to be, but I also came to the realization that you are only as old as you feel. I certainly don’t act and feel like I thought 40 year olds act and felt, when I was a teenager.

The weekend was rather low key. No major party, just good times with family. My parents made the trip up from Indiana and my brother and his wife came up from Madison, WI to help me celebrate, and to have our family “Christmas.” Hey, better late than never. We filled the weekend with good food, plenty of games, and lots of laughter….and the occasional Hurricane.

We also filled with weekend with plenty of good food. For my birthday dinner, I chose hamburgers, done on the grill. Yes, I know, it’s not fancy, and surely doesn’t do justice to a chef’s birthday dinner, but I love burgers and besides, we had a big day of eating ahead of us the following day. The following morning started with coffee and Eggs Benedict, using another batch of homemade English Muffins. Eggs Benedict are another one of those dishes that I never tire of, and if I wasn’t afraid of what it would do to my arteries, I’d probably eat it a couple times a week!

Our main meal of the weekend was a full blown holiday feast with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, in other words, the whole works. Over the last few years I have forsaken roasting the turkey and, instead, grilled the turkey in my Weber grill, flavoring it with hickory smoke. As usual, everyone ate too much, especially my brother who refuses to listen to both his body and our warnings about his past years’ gluttony.

Sunday lunch, leftovers, was saved by my brother and his wife, who had brought along a bunch of home canned pickles and relishes, including their fabulous Dilly Beans.

Overall, the weekend was a wonderful success and there were plenty of food highlights, as there always is when my family gets together. One of the standouts was this wonderful pie my wife created. She conceived of the idea a week or so ago while eating a snack of banana and peanut butter pretzels. While, at first, it might seem a little strange, the flavors work quite well together. The pie is ready a few hours after being made, but I found that allowing the pie to sit overnight allows the flavors to meld a little more. The best part is that the pretzel crust was still crunchy 3 days later, though I doubt the pie will last that long.

Peanut Butter Pie with Preztel Crust

FOR CRUST:
2 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed
3 Tbspl brown sugar
3/4 cup butter melted

FOR FILLING:
3/4 cup peanut butter, creamy
1 package (3oz) cream cheese, room temp.
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 container (12oz) whipped topping, thawed
3 bananas, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all the ingredients for the crust and mix well. Save 1/4 cup of pretzel mixture and spread the rest into a 10″ pie tin,working all the way up the sides and making sure that the crust is even. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely before filling. Sprinkle remaining pretzel mixture on s cookie and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter and cream cheese. Add 1/3 of the whipped topping and the sugar and beat until smooth and no lumps remain. Add remaining whipped topping and gently fold in until well combined. Fill crust with 1/2 of the filling then top with sliced bananas. Top with remaining peanut butter mousse. Garnish with remaining crushed pretzels and chill for 3 hours or overnight before serving.

I can’t believe that this is my first stew recipe here on “Once a Chef…” I love stews and usually make them often during the cold, winter months, but I’ve been slacking in that department this year, it seems. There’s just something so comforting about a big pot of stew cooking away on the stove top when the wind is howling, the snow is blowing and the temperatures plummet. While I like all types of stews, I have to admit that I am partial to simple beef stews chock full of hunks of meat, carrots, onions, potatoes and other root vegetables.

Like so many of the recipes I offer up here, stews can easily be modified to suit your tastes. Add a little red wine, or mushrooms. Vary the herbs, or add a whole variety of root vegetables. Finish the stew with sour cream, yogurt, or a little fortified wine, or leave it plain. The possibilities are endless and you can build it to suit your own tastes and cravings.

I’ve kept this one rather simple, but have added a bit of flair by using Guinness in the dish. The maltiness of the beer helps to elevate the sweetness of the rutabage, while the caramel tones compliment the well browned meat. The bitterness just kind of fades into the background, but be careful how much you use or that bitterness can ruin the dish.

Beef & Guinness Stew
serves 4 with a few leftovers

1 1/2 pounds beef (I usually look for chuck or round) cut into 1 1/2″ cubes (fat and sinew removed)
4 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 medium onions, peeled, large dice
2 ribs celery, large dice
3 each carrots, peeled, large dice
1 1/2 bottles Guinness (that leaves 1/2 a bottle for drinking while cooking because it would be a shame to waste good Guinness!)
2 cups water
1 medium rutabaga peeled, large dice
3-4 potatoes peeled, large dice
1 each bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
salt
pepper

Season the flour with salt and pepper, and toss with beef to coat. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy bottomed pot heat the oil over high heat. Add half the floured beef to the pot and cook until deep brown on all sides (people have a tendency to want to stir meat too often as it is browning-once added to the pan let it cook for 3-4 minutes before stirring, then only stir enough to mix it around so that other sides brown, allow to cook a few minutes before stirring again). Once meat is sufficiently browned remove from pot and cook remaining beef. Remove that also and add onions, carrots and celery. Add a little more oil if necessary and cook until lightly browned. Deglaze pan with the beer, stirring to scrape up all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cook for 5 minutes then add the beef, along with any juices that have accumulated, the water, bay leaf, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a hard simmer, reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer, slowly, for 1 1/2 hours. Add the rutabaga and potato, cover, and cook until meat and vegetables are tender, about another 30 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. If the stew is a little thin for your tastes (I like my stew pretty thick) mix a couple of tablespoons of flour with just enough water to make a thin paste. Add to stew and bring back to a brief boil to thicken. Serve with homemade biscuits.

This may sound strange, but I can remember the first time I ate an english muffin. I was rather young, but I remember that I had decided, like so many kids do, that I did not like english muffins though I had never tasted one before. Why I decided I didn’t like them I’ll never know. Then, when I was around 5 or 6, I believe, we had a family get together. For one of the breakfasts, someone had toasted up a whole platter full  of them. I refused to eat them, but was told that it was the english muffins or nothing as the general rule with our family was that the kids were to eat what the adults ate. You either ate it or went hungry until the next meal (not to worry as, when we have family get togethers, its usually not long before someone is cooking up something again!). That left me with no choice, but to try the things. So I slathered one up with lots of butter and jelly and tentatively tried it (there were probably a few tears involved also, but I don’t remember). One taste and I was hooked. I couldn’t believe I had wasted all that time not eating english muffins.

As far as I am concerned, the english muffin is the perfect vehicle for butter and jam or jelly. Split open with a fork, the interior is a landscape of nooks and crannies just waiting to be filled with lakes of melting butter and seas of jelly. When properly toasted the english muffin harbors the perfect ratio of crispy outside and soft moist interior (a big plus for me if you haven’t realized that from some of my other posts).

I have always been satisfied with just buying my muffins at the store, but after having just made Lime Marmalade I thought that the homemade marmalade really deserved a homemade english muffin to go with it. After reading numerous recipes I created one that I felt would give me exactly what I wanted. While not perfect, by my standards (the crumb-interior texture-is just a little too dense and uniform), this recipe creates a muffin that easily rivals any store bought brand, and in my opinion surpasses all but the best of them. I will be making these again this week and I think a little longer first proofing will take take of those 2 small issues.

English Muffins
Makes 9 or 12 muffins

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup water heated to 110F
1/2 cup milk heated to 110F
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. salt
cornmeal
vegetable oil

Place yeast, sugar, water and milk into the bowl of a mixer. Allow the yeast to proof until the it is foamy-about 5-8 minutes. Add the flour, butter and salt. Using the dough hook, mix, on low speed, until everything is combined and the dough starts to come together, about 2 minutes. Increase to medium high and knead for 5-7 minutes. Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and place in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 2 hours. Gently punch dough down then divide into 9 or 12 pieces (the recipe really should make 12 english muffins but I like mine a little larger and a little thicker for I only portion it into 9). Shape the dough into balls then flatten to about 1/2″ thick. Place on a cookie tray that has been dusted with cornmeal (I like to use coarse ground for added texture but the regular fine ground works well also). Flip the muffins to coat both sides with cornmeal.

Cover and allow to rise slightly, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat a griddle to medium-low to medium. Lightly brush the griddle with vegetable oil and add the english muffins. Allow to cook until a light golden brown on bottom. This should take about 5 minutes. Any less and the interior might not get cooked all the way through. When browned flip over and gently press down, just slightly to flatten the bottom. Cook for 5-7 minutes longer. If you have portioned the dough into only 9 pieces the cooking time will be slightly longer. Remove to a cooking rack. Allow to cool completely before placing in a bag for storage.

To serve, split with a fork to help create the uneven surface that does so well at catching all that butter. Toast to desired darkness and butter while still warm. Top with your favorite jam, jelly or preserve.

I have no idea why I decided to make Lime Marmalade today. The idea popped into my mind yesterday though I don’t know why. I think the idea first took seed last Friday (New Year’s Day) as we were sitting at our regular breakfast place, waiting for our food to arrive. On the table were those little packets of jelly, one of the flavors being Orange Marmalade. I’ve seen it there many, many times but that day for some reason it caught my eye and stuck with me. The funny thing is, I don’t even really care for marmalade all that much. I don’t dislike it, it’s just not my first, second, or even third choice when choosing a preserve to slather on toast or bread. Raspberry jam is always my first choice (well actually Spicy Raspberry Jam is even better), along with strawberry, and apricot, though my wife makes a killer spiced grape jelly. Again, though, I am not overly particular, and can’t remember coming across a preserve that I couldn’t stand.

For whatever reason I latched on to marmalade this week, I knew I didn’t want to make orange. It was either grapefruit or lime. I love the flavor of both, but ultimately decided I was in the mood for something lime flavored. I have made numerous jellies and jams before, but can’t remember ever making marmalade so I headed to my bookshelves and the internet to study up on making marmalade and to develop a recipe.

I have found 2 schools of thought when it comes to making marmalade. Some recipes call for a 3 day process where you boil the citrus in water for 10 15 minutes then let it sit overnight, repeat, and then on the third day you finish the marmalade. The other school of thought is to do it all at once, but with a long cooking time to ensure that the peel is tender and that all the pectin is extracted. I chose to do the one day method, though in the near future I want to try the other method and compare the two.

I was very happy with the way my first batch of marmalade turned out. Sweet, tart, with just a bit of a bitter edge this marmalade makes a great spread for toast, english muffins, scones (especially berry studded ones) and a whole host of other “breads.” And I expect it will make a great ingredient in a whole host of other dishes and applications.

One thing about this marmalade; it has a slightly soft set to it. It definitely is not as thick or as tight as many jellies and jams you might be used to eating. That’s the risk of not using store bought pectin. If you want a firmer set you can try adding some liquid pectin, towards the end of cooking, but I rather like the slightly looser set of this preserve.

Lime Marmalade

2 pounds limes, washed under warm water to remove any wax if not using organic limes
4 cups water
3 pounds sugar

Zest all the limes. The easiest way to do this is to invest $7-$10 in a citrus zester. They come in handy quite often so are well worth the few dollars. If you don’t have a zester the thinly peel the limes with a peeler trying to avoid as much of the white pith as possible. After peeling the limes cut them into very fine strips. If you had a zester, you would have been done 15 minutes ago!

Cut the limes in half and squeeze all the juice into a nonreacative pot along with the lime zest. Finely chop the remains of the limes, including all the membranes and pith. You can also roughly chop them and put them in a food processor to finish the job, just don’t turn it into a puree. Place the finely chopped lime into a cheesecloth or muslin jelly bag.

Tie it closed and toss into the pot along with the juice, zest and the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours. During the last half hour remove the lid. Remove the pulp filled cloth and carefully squeeze out all the liquid that remains the in pulp. Add the sugar to the liquid in the pot, increase heat, bring to a boil and cook until a thermometer reaches 220. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Remove all scum that has floated to the top and pour into jars. Cover, and if not processing, place into the refrigerator once they have slightly cooled. If you want to process the marmalade then place in a bath of boiling water that comes at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars and process for 10 minutes. Remove from bath and allow to cool. Check seals on jars and if one didn’t seal properly, move to the refrigerator.

One January 1st, I posted about the dish, Hoppin’ John, and how, in many households, it is eaten on New Year’s Day to bring good luck. I could have chosen any number of recipes, from around the world, that are eaten for the same reason- to bring luck in the new year. I think one of the reasons I chose Hoppin’ John is because I’ve been thinking about my time down South for a few weeks. What got me thinking about my time living in Atlanta and New Orleans is the fact that a few weeks ago I got a craving for Hurricanes.

Anyone who has spent any time in New Orleans should be familiar with the bright red, potent drink carried all through the French Quarter in gigantic plastic “to-go” cups. It’s the drink that made Pat O’briens famous. The story goes, that in the early 40′s Scotch and Whiskey were hard to come by because of the war. Liquor distributors down south would force bar owners to purchase numerous cases of cheap rum, from the Caribbean just to get a case or two of the other liquors. Pat O’brien, facing a mountain of rum created a new drink using rum, orange juice, passion fruit syrup and lime juice, put it into hurricane shaped glasses (so named because they resembled hurricane lamps) and thus created the Hurricane. The drink became very popular among sailors as it was cheap and potent and remains popular today, not because it is cheap-Pat O’briens charges a hefty price-but because they still pack a mean kick.

As a young cook in New Orleans, me and my friends usually tried to stay away from the touristy spots in the Quarter, most often seeking out those shady, less wholesome (and that’s saying a lot in a town not known for its wholesomeness) bars that border the Quarter. Occasionally though, we would venture into the the heart of the Quarter in search of young ladies who had come to New Orleans to party. Hey….I was 23 years old, unattached, and we lived by the motto “work hard, play hard.” We struck out way more often than not, but that was okay in our minds. We still had a great time….I think. Many of these nights found us hanging out at Pat O’briens, throwing back hurricanes with wild abandon. Luckily, my roommate and I lived just off of one of the major bus lines that ran 24/7 so we always had a ride home no matter what time of night or morning.

Looking back on those nights, at Pat O’briens, those hurricanes were pretty nasty. All alcohol bite with a lot of sugar and just enough fruit juice to make them palatable. The drink has come a long way from it’s early days and unfortunately it hasn’t weathered well. Nowadays, you can even purchase a powdered drink mix so that you can take the taste of New Orleans home with you. Don’t bother unless you are the kind of person who also doesn’t mind subsitituing orange Kool-aid for orange juice in your Screwdrivers, Mimosas, or Captain & OJ.

Searching the web for recipes is quite confusing also. While there are a number of sites that give some great recipes, there are also a ton of sites out there that are offering up recipes, for Hurricanes, made with vodka, gin, tequila, amaretto, or worse, all of those alcohols together, in the same drink.

Just because a Hurricane is potent doesn’t mean it’s an “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of drink like a Long Island Iced Tea, Bahama Mama, or Alabama Slammer. Like so many of the cocktails created in the first half of the 20th century, the Hurricane requires only a handful of ingredients, mixed in proper proportion to create a well balanced drink. Be careful though, this drink is still quite potent and it’s easy to overdo it as they don’t taste nearly as strong as they are.

Hurricane
4 ounces gold rum*
3 ounces passion fruit juice or puree (I use Looza brand juice as that is what I can get most often, if you can get puree, then even better though if you use puree you might want to also add a splash of simple syrup as the puree is rather tart)
2 ounces orange juice
1/4 each lime
2 Tbsp. grenadine

Fill a hurricane glass or pint glass with ice and set aside. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all the ingredients. Shake to mix then strain into prepared glass. Garnish with a cherry and orange slice.

*Many tropical style cocktails benefit from the use of gold or dark rums as opposed to white rums as gold and dark rums bring much more flavor to the drink and add a nice complexity. While this drink would still be good made with white rum, personally I would never substitute more than half the rum with white rum.

I was born and raised in the North, but I spent a good portion of my cooking career down South, in New Orleans and Atlanta. While I prefer the North, especially for the 4 distinct seasons it offers, I came away from my time south of the Mason-Dixon Line with a great appreciation of southern culture and of southern foods. Just like in all regions of the US, southern food is a wonderful mix of native foodstuffs, foods brought to this country by colonists, Native American dishes, and a whole lot of ingenuity. What makes a lot of southern cooking so different, and wonderful is the heavy influence of African accented foods, both directly, in the form of foods eaten by slaves in the early years of our country and indirectly through the filter of the Caribbean. While these influences permeate a considerable bit of southern food it can really be seen the cuisines of New Orleans and in the coastal cuisines of the Carolinas and Georgia.

One of my favorite dishes, found throughout the south, but especially along the coastal areas, is Hoppin’ John, a variation on rice and beans, a dish found throughout the South and Caribbean. In this version, rice is paired with black eyed peas (also known as cowpeas) and bacon or ham. While eaten year round, it is often served on New Year’s Day and is considered a lucky food. As the peas are symbolic of coins, eating the dish is supposed to ensure a posperous year ahead.

Hoppin’ John, like so many great regional dishes, can be a very controversial dish with each family claiming that theirs is the proper way to make it. Some recipes cook the rice and the beans separately and then only combine them at service time, some recipes don’t include tomato, some say that ham is traditional, while others might claim that only bacon or fatback is traditional. I won’t make such claims. I openly admit that my version takes from a number of recipes, incorporating what I like and discarding what I didn’t. Is it “traditional?” Maybe yes and maybe no. It all depends on who you ask. Either way, it is quite tasty.

My wife had never had the dish before so I decided that New Year’s Day would be the perfect time to introduce her to this simple, yet satisfying meal. Served with greens, which are also thought to bring money, if eaten on New Year’s Day, and cornbread, you have a hearty soul satisfying meal

Hoppin’ John
serves 4-6

2 slices bacon, thick cut, diced
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 each bell pepper, diced
4 cups water
1 pound black eyed peas, frozen (if you can’t get frozen the buy dried-soak 1/2 pound overnight then cook until tender but not mushy, about 2 2 1/2 hours, then proceed with the recipe)
2 1/2 – 3 cups Ham, diced
1 each bay leaf
1 can (15oz) diced tomato
1 cup rice
1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
3/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. cayenne (depending on your tastes)
1/4 tsp. oregano

I a pot combine the bacon and onion. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add the ham, bay leaf, black eyed peas and 3 cups of the water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the rice, tomatoes, remaining cup of water and spices. Season lightly with salt, remember the ham and bacon will bring a considerable amount of salt to the dish. Cook, covered, until the rice is tender, about 15-20 minutes longer. Check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary.