Well, no matter what I do, mine don't taste like that...

Have you ever tried to recreate a meal or a recipe that you've had somewhere else ? It might be a pot of soup that you had at a local deli or your grandmother's meatballs, the odds are, you're not going to 'Nail It'. Now it might be good. It might be better than the original but there's something missing. It's just not right... Well there are several things that contribute to this.


I used the examples of soup and meatballs simply because that's the 2 things I've tried to recreate with some success.


The soup, Beefy Lintel... A deli in Pulaski Tennessee called 'The Yellow Deli' has the best that I've ever had. I wrote about this place a couple of blogs back. BUT, before you go up there thinking that you have to try it, call first. Its not on the menu every day. They have a 'Soup of the Day' and if your lucky, beefy lintel will be on it, when you go.

The above pic is my cookbook collection. I read through just about every cookbook that I have, researched on line recipes and when it was all said and done, I combined 3 different recipes to come up with something, that to me, was better than what I had there but it just wasn't the same.




The meatballs belonged to Dorothy Hutchenson (my grandmother). They were so simple, no secret ingredients (just ingredients... we'll get to that in a minute). Ground beef, onions and tomato juice. I've made these meatballs several times over the years and they're always good and go great with a pan of cornbread.


Before my sister passed away, she and I and my mother would talk about things my grandmother made and how we missed her cooking. Her fried pies, her fried chicken... her meatballs. The joke is ALWAYS her biscuits. Could possibly be the worst that I've eaten. They were so heavy. Full of buttermilk and lard but anyway, back to the meatballs. Like I said, all they were was ground beef, finely diced onion and an egg for binder, rolled into a ball and browed slightly before she would pour tomato juice over them, cover and simmer until done.


It wasn't until about 2 years ago, while watching Anthony Bourdain, that it was made crystal clear as to why my meatballs don't taste like hers. You see, she used simple ingredients and so do I but I have no idea where she got them or what brand she used. Was her beef ground special for her, at the grocery store ? Did she like a certain cut of beef ground into burger ? Where did she get her eggs ? We're they fresh eggs ? Did they have the same stuff pumped into their 'laying chickens' back then (antibiotics and steroids) ? I'm going to say absolutely not. Were her onions locally grown or possibly grown in her back yard ? You see, we can use the same ingredients in a recipe but they might not be SAME ingredients. On the episode of his show that day, he was eating meatballs that a little old lady in Italy had made. She was explaining to him that her and her daughter make meatballs exactly the same but they taste different. Now this gets a little weird but true, she claimed that the oils in their skin were different therefore, when rolling the meatballs they would absorb the oils in their skin, adding to the flavor of the finished product and I think she's right.


You see, you can do everything in your power to recreate something and not get it right. Don't be too hard on yourself. Embrace the fact that you make it good and that you'll always miss the recipes and the loved ones that made them before you. Now if your fortunate enough o know exactly how someone made something and you've nail it or have the EXACT recipe, congratulations to you !!!


These past conversations, with my mother and sister, inspired my mother to write 2 cookbooks. She wrote them and had them printed and we all have copies, family and friends. She's taken the time to write down just how she does what and so for many years to come, her family and friends can and will enjoy the recipes that she's made for us over the years.

The white paperback was her first and man have we used it. I don't even keep it with my other cookbooks. It stays in a drawer right next to the stove...


So there you have it, why your recipe might not taste just like what you want it to BUT, it still taste good and one day your kids will say, I wish I knew how HE/SHE made this or that, talking about you so I urge you to spend time with them in the kitchen. Teach and show them what your doing. Make those memories !!! I guarantee, it will be time well spent. There's an old country song and the pivotal line is "She thinks we're just fishing'... Let them think that your just cooking. The rest will sink in later...

Discovering New Vitamins

This past Tuesday night, some great friends of ours came over for dinner and brought fresh made Torta's. Our friends are Hispanic and referred to the sandwiches as 'Mexican Subway'... They brought the sandwiches, filled with steak and pork, fresh lettuce, sliced tomatoes, fresh sliced avocados and 2 different types of sauce (red & green). About half way through the meal I told them just how good I thought they were and David told me that in the Mexican culture, this is how they get vitamin t (torta). He went on and on listing letters as he referred to them as vitamins but had an Hispanic dish of food that started with that letter. We had a great laughs with some great friends and great food.


 I was first introduced to the Torta about a year ago. A friend of mine from work was talking about a 'drive thru' Mexican restaurant in Decatur that was supposed to be fantastic and as authentic as anything around, so we gave it a try. Now like I've said before, my middle daughter Shelby and my oldest daughter Ashleigh, will try absolutely anything once so when I headed out to El Palomino for a Totra De Lengua (tongue sandwich), I had Shelby in tow. Now I ordered tacos (chorizo x 2 and tongue x 2), Shelby ordered the Torta De Lengua and we kind of shared our lunch so that each of us could get a taste of what the other one had ordered. My friend was correct. The food was delicious and as fresh as any place that I've ever been. The lettuce was crisp and avocado was beautiful green but not mushy and the meat had been prepared as we waited. Great experience. If you want to try this place, they only have outdoor tables (NO DINE IN), so you'll want to make sure the weather is cooperating or get it to go. I've added a pic of the Torta. At the time I wasn't planning on blogging and posting pics so the detail is lacking...

After dinner, I had baked an iron skillet apple pie (Southern Living) and made homemade cinnamon ice cream (Ree Drummond). The combination worked really well together. I was able to capture a pic of the pie, right out of the oven, but once I combined them and started plating, they got gone in a hurry..

Pretty simple pie to make and the recipe is easily found on-line. Its basically butter and brown sugar in the bottom topped with a store bought crust then 4 lbs. sliced apples tossed in cinnamon and sugar poured over the bottom crust and topped with the other store bought crust (they come 2 in a pack). Brush the top with a frothy egg white, cut about 5 slits and bake for about an hour.... It cuts more like a cobbler than an actual pie but believe me, the taste is there !!! The ice cream recipe can also be found on line (Ree Drummond or The Pioneer Woman). Its a basic ice cream recipe with a lot of egg yolks, half and half, heavy cream, cinnamon and vanilla. NOTE: On the show, she used vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks to steep in her cream mixture. When I was doing my shopping, I discovered that whole vanilla beans were $11 each (jar of 2/$22.00). I went the written recipe route and used a good vanilla extract but the choice is yours. There is already a teaspoon of ground cinnamon in the recipe so you'll actually not see the vanilla beans (inside scrapings) as much as you would think and the extract taste really good in this recipe.

My wife and I finished up our week, like we normally do, on a date night. We went to a cool little place in Madison for dinner called Stem's and Steins but hey, that's another blog post that I'll get to later.

Hope you run out and get some tongue tacos or a tongue torta and then head home to make pie and ice cream... You won't regret it !!!



You're planning on cooking what, how ?

Cook (kook) verb
     1. to prepare (food, a dish or a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways.




You've probably heard someone say "oh, I cook, I don't bake" or vice versa... Well, as you know, it's all cooking but the methods and preferences vary greatly.




I've always told people that I don't really grill and that I'm way more comfortable in the kitchen but the fact is I do grill, just not a lot. Whatever I cook on the grill seems to always turn out and be edible but its still not my passion. I give the marinades all the credit... the rest is just a heat source. Now I do get the fact that food cooked over charcoal taste great and that adds tons of flavor. I totally understand that. I myself, have both a charcoal grill and a gas grill (as well as a smoker) and my go to is the gas. Its quick, convenient and its gets us to the table quicker.

The above pic is a couple of grilled venison tenderloin slices. I grilled them on a screaming hot grill for 3 minutes a side then placed them in a 400 degree oven for 3 minutes (then allowed them to rest under tented foil for at least 10min). There's a couple of things that I give most of the credit to. First, when I'm fortunate enough to harvest a deer, I have the tenderloins sliced 2 inches thick. That seems to help keep them moist and second, the marinade. I marinade 99% of the wild game that I cook in the following;


1 cup ginger ale
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
2 T brown sugar
fresh ground pepper
garlic


The sugar will allow your meat to get that great tasting 'char' pretty quick. The soy has plenty of sodium so salt isn't really necessary. The green beans are home canned, the potatoes are out of a pack, 'Idahoan' instant. They are absolutely FANTASTIC and cost less that $1 per pack. I'll usually take the pan drippings and make a gravy for them.


Another great marinade for ANYTHING grilled and please try this, you won't regret it...


1 bottle zesty Italian salad dressing
1 bottle A-1 steak sauce
(equal parts)
mix together and marinade, brush, baste or dip anything grilled into this mixture. Really, its good on wild game, chicken, beef, pork and vegetables.


Like I said before, I'm more comfortable in the kitchen and with that said, I do very little baking. For those that know me well, that might come as a bit of a shock. I'm very OCD, with some things. Everything in my garage has its place. The lines in the grass, when I mow, have to run a certain way... you get the point. In the kitchen, I'm not that way with the food. Now I want all my utensils, knives and gadgets where they are supposed to go but that's about it. See, the way I view baking is that it has to be perfect exact measurements. The amount of soda you use works perfectly with the amount of flour that the recipe calls for. The egg count is perfect as well as the vanilla. (HINT), I have taken some cooking classes and its been told that room temperature eggs work better in your baking recipes, than cold ones do. I like to cook and just add a little of this and a little of that. You'll see that when I write about chili... I'll put almost anything in a pot of chili but I believe I've got a winner recipe and its only took 2 decades to get it just right.


About the only thing I really enjoy baking is a certain cheesecake. To be honest, I don't know if I enjoy baking it or decorating it more. I truly think its simply because everyone that gets to try it raves over it. It taste really good and the presentation is stunning. Below is a pic of a Banana Pudding Cheesecake that I baked a while back...

You can get this recipe online. Just google 'Banana Pudding Cheesecake Southern Living'.


I really enjoy cooking period, no matter the heat source. I've even 'cooked' ceviche. A method of cooking fish and small diced vegetables in lime or lemon juice. The acid in the citrus fruit actually cooks the fish. No heat source required. You're really just marinating it.


The next picture is one of my favorite meals. Not just because of the preparation or flavors but the fact that I home canned the pinto beans and sweet potatoes. The potatoes I canned in a sweet syrup and the beans I cooked down with some bacon fat and a couple pieces of smoked sausage (from Louisiana). The collards were cooked down for about 30/45 minutes, until tender, then I added some brown sugar, a splash of bourbon, red pepper flake and just before serving, a splash of cider vinegar. The vinegar will take away that small bitterness that collards sometimes have. The cornbread is one of my beautiful daughters (Shelby) responsibility. She knocks it out of the park... This particular day, she poured half the batter into a cast iron skillet that was passed down to me form my grandmother. She then added about 1/2 pound of browned breakfast sausage and a hand full of mild cheddar cheese then topped of with the remaining batter. When its golden brown, you have sausage stuffed cornbread. The mac and cheese is on the edge of gourmet. Its Publix store brand and my baby girl (Rebekah) absolutely loves it and wants it with every meal. Now my wife (Nicole) adds a little extra flavor to it by adding a couple slices of American cheese and from time to time she'll add a little cream cheese.

Before I shut it down for this week I'll tell you about our 'Go To' dessert. Ready ??? Its Marie Callender's  'Razzleberry'  pie served with Vanilla Ice Cream... That's it. Easy and delicious !!!

Now, do some reading and get you some recipes to try. It don't matter if you fry, bake, broil, boil, smoke or grill, just cook something....

The Bucket List

One thing that I would encourage of everyone, have a bucket list of food items that you would like to try as well as restaurants that you would like to eat at. It don't have to be anything crazy, although I hope it is, and it don't have to be an expensive restaurant. When my wife and I are planning 'Date Nights', 'Family Vacations', 'Weekend Getaways' and even the occasional business trip that she'll accompany me on, we start googling the restaurants in the area. A great tool, if you watch Food Network, is the show 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives'. I hit pay dirt one time just outside of Anaheim CA with a little mom and pop Italian restaurant called 'Mama Cozza's'. I had seen it on triple d so when we were there we thought that we would give it a try and it didn't disappoint.


Now over the years my bucket list has gotten smaller, which it should because I'm always trying to check stuff off but I'll also add items along the way. My latest addition of things to try is squid ink
(I get a lot of items from watching Andrew Zimmern). I saw him eating it one day and thought I would like to give it a try. A few days later, I had squid ink pasta delivered to right my door. Amazon is pretty cool... you can get anything you want from them.

The Nduja, will be the base of the pasta sauce. Its a spicy, spreadable pork salami that I'll combine with tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, fresh chopped parsley and shrimp. My whole family is anxious to try this one and I for one cant wait.


Just a few more of my 'bucket list' items that I have knocked off over the years include Sea Urchin, Goat, Fried Grasshoppers, Fried Grub Worms, Calf Fries, Tripe, Rattlesnake, Turtle, Marmite (vegemite), Chitterlings and Souse Meat just to name a few. I've always said, I'll eat anything that don't crawl too fast. If I can catch it, I'll eat it and most of these listed are not a one and done. I'll continue to eat them regularly, if they're on the menu.




Nicole and I were on our way home from somewhere and the 'Men at Work' song came on the radio. Next thing you know, I'm at the grocery store buying 'Marmite' (the same a vegemite). You remember the line in the song "He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich". Marmite is a spreadable yeast extract that's very popular in Australia and from all that I have read, its an acquired taste and you either love it or hate it. But that's not true, everyone at my house tried it that night and 3 out of the 4 (including me) came to the conclusion that we could take it or leave it. Its wasn't bad at all, just a little strong. We didn't make a sandwich with it, not really. We just had it on a piece of buttered toast. If you try this, don't be heavy handed with it... Crawl before you walk !!!

Someone told me last week that as much as I like to try new things that I should try the game 'Bean Boozled'. I'm sure it would be a tremendous amount of fun and I can only imagine just how hard we would laugh but for the life of me, I have no desire to eat a jelly bean that taste like ear wax...or dog food...or dead fish...or skunk spray...or spoiled milk.


With that being said I would like to let everyone know that my two oldest daughters are my partners in crime, when it comes to eating stuff that's really out there. Shelby and Ashleigh are a lot like me and will try anything once. My wife Nicole will get out there with me sometimes but she has defiantly drawn a line in the sand. No innards of any kind... She's not eating liver, kidneys, tripe, chitterlings or anything else form the inside of an animal.


When you make your list, that don't mean that you have to sit down and eat a whole plate of anything. I had rather pick blackberries naked than eat a whole plate of Sea Urchin. That's possibly the worst thing that I've ever eaten and it didn't taste that bad. I cant get over the texture but hey, that's just me.


As far as a list of restaurants, just do some research. One of the coolest places we've eaten at in a while just came up in a conversation between me and a friend of mine. We were talking about eating out and he suggested we try the 'Yellow Deli' in Pulaski TN.

Now this is a really cool place that's open 24 hours a day (mon - thurs). They close on Friday afternoons at 3 pm and re-open on Sunday at noon. My favorite combination is the 'Deli Rose' sandwich with a bowl of 'Beefy Lintle' soup. They have root beer on tap and the sodas are all natural. The bread is baked fresh as well as the desserts. At the register, you'll also find a good selection of homemade goodies, soaps, lotions, teas, toothpaste and candles (all made by the owners).

Now, go get you a list !!! Get you a list of places to go and things to try and by all means, HAVE FUN WITH IT....