SWEET & SOUR PORK RECIPE

There are three reasons to try this great recipe. First, this recipe is made in the slow cooker, so it's super easy. Secondly, this recipe is very cheap to make and thirdly, it gets rave reviews whenever I make it. What more can you ask for?

 

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You should know that I am not a big sweet and sour fan, but I love this recipe. It is extremely moist and just the right amount of sweet to sour ratio.

 Walmart sells a small vacuum packed 2 pound pork roast that is perfect for this recipe. The package says "pork loin rib eye pork roast" and even here in Alaska, it's only $4.50!!
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2-3 pound lean pork roast
1 cup granulated sugar (seems like a lot, but it mellows out)
½ cup white vinegar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons ketchup
20 ounce can crushed pineapple (drained)
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Brown the pork roast on all sides and put it in your slow cooker. Mix everything else and bring it to a boil, then pour it over the meat.
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Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until very tender (spoon the sauce over the meat every once in a while).
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That's it...super easy!! At the very end of the cooking time, I thickened the sauce a little with a slurry of cornstarch and water (right in the crockpot). To serve, slice the meat and spoon a little of the sauce over it; it's great with rice.

Now this last suggestion is not for everyone, but my picky-picky hubby absolutely loves it. On day two, I pull this pork apart and mix it with a little of the sauce (make sure you include some pineapple out of the sauce). While its still cold, I roll it into a large burrito size tortilla (folding in all the ends) and then I brown the whole sandwich in a little butter until its piping hot. Hubby is extremely UNdemostrative when it comes to food, but he ooohhh'd and ahhhhhh'd about this sandwich until the last bite.

NOTE: Sorry about these photographs. This is one of those recipes that, no matter how hard to try to get a good photo, it just doesn't work. You'll just have to trust me that it is delicious.

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Happy Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day we thought we would share a recipe from Doe Run Farm. A lovely end to any Valentine's Dinner.

Beet Pie

1 pie crust
2 cup mashed beets
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon quatre-epice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Combine the the dry ingredients to incorporate the spices evenly.

In a bowl, beat the eggs.

Stir in the mashed beets and the dry ingredients

Add the evaporated milk a bit at a time to fully incorporate

Place your pie shell on a heavy baking sheet

Pour the mixture into your pie shell

Add to a hot pre-heated oven -- 450 -- and bake for 15 minutes

Reduce heat to 350 and bake for about 40 minute


Horseradish Whipped Cream

1 pint whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish; added a teaspoon at a time to insure you don't over power the cream.

Enjoy.

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MICROWAVE BROWNIE FOR ONE !!

 They say that you are not supposed to reward yourself with food...OK, I get that. But every once in a while, I crave something deeply chocolate, deeply warm, gooey and rewarding. This recipe fills that bill perfectly and since it is only a single serving, there isn't a whole pan of calories calling your name the rest of the day.

 

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I've been looking for a single serving brownie recipe like this for a long time because Hubby doesn't like brownies. I've tested lots of contenders with little satisfaction until now. The best part of this recipe, is that it is ready to eat in less than 5 minutes. The most "dangerous" part of this recipe is that it is ready to eat in less than 5 minutes...hahaha!!
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MICROWAVE BROWNIE FOR ONE
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¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)
1 tablespoons pecans (optional)
2 tablespoon chocolate chips
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In a small microwave safe bowl, mix everything together until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Cook in the microwave.
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Now here comes the only tricky part of the recipe. Total cooking time in the microwave is one to two minutes depending on how powerful your microwave is. My microwave is a 1000 watt machine and it takes one minute 20 seconds. You will have to watch yours carefully the first time you cook this treat, so you don't over bake it (use the toothpick test for doneness the first time). LET THE BAKED BROWNIE SIT FOR ABOUT A MINUTE.
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NOTE: I am embarrassed to say I know this recipe by heart now. Any flavored chocolate, peanut butter, white (etc.) chips will work well.
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NOTE: The recipe doesn't say you have to, but I bake mine in a little ramekin that I spray with cooking spray.

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The Canapé Book

In 1934, Rachel Bell Maiden wrote the very first book on the canapé, appropriately titled The Canapé Book. Most of the canapés in this little book involve ingredients pulverized into a paste and spread on toast with the occasional shrimp perched atop the paste.

I mean this description to be in no way lax. Maiden not only used her own recipes but she traveled to many a famous hotel to get their recipes for canapés. Here are a couple.

Hotel Gotham, New York

Gourmets

Chopped cooked ham seasoned with mustard and butter, Spread on toasted whole-wheat bread.

Or perhaps this.

The Mayflower, Washington

Yarmouth Canapé

Make a mixture by joining equal amounts of Yarmouth bloater paste (Crosse and Blackwell) and sweet creamed butter. Spread on thin, freshly made graham toast.


Alas, I believe Crosse and Blackwell is no longer in the business of making bloater paste so you will need to buy Shippam's bloater paste.


The most charming elements of the first canapé book are the illustrations by Lucina Smith Wakefield. While a few of them are less than politically correct in today's environment, they are quite eye catching.




So get out there, make some paste and have yourself ...

...of your dreams.

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GLAZED DONUTS...Live a Little!!

This is my "go to" recipe when Hubby asks for homemade donuts. I have tried many, many donut recipes over the years and this is his favorite; it is simple, delicious and it has never failed me.

 2 envelopes of dry active yeast (I use 2 scant tablespoons)
¼ cup warm water
1½ cups warm milk
½ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco
5 cups all purpose flour
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it stand for 5 minutes or until foamy. In a stand mixer, mix 2 cups of the flour, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and yeast mixture until well mixed (takes just a minute on low speed).
Beat in the rest of the flour, ½ cup at a time, until the dough doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl anymore. Once it is at that stage, knead for about 5 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased (I use cooking spray) bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and sit it in a very warm part of your kitchen for an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently roll it out to ½" thickness. Cut with a floured donut cutter (see note below). Set cut out donuts on a square of parchment paper that you lightly sprayed with cooking spray. This will help you tremendously when it comes time to lift the donuts into the cooking oil.
Spray the tops of the donuts with a little cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap for a second rising (takes about 45 minutes to an hour). Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer (see note below) to 350 (I cooked mine at 375) and gently lower donuts into oil. Fry until they turn nice and golden then flip them.

Drained cooked donuts on a baking rack and before they cool all the way down, dip them in a simple sugar glaze (or cinnamon sugar).

SIMPLE SUGAR GLAZE
1/3 cup melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons hot water

Mix everything together (starting with 3 tablespoons hot water, then adding the last tablespoon if you need it).

NOTE: My donut cutter is a small pineapple can that I've removed the top & bottom from. For the center hole, I use a small circle cookie cutter.

NOTE: I heat my oil in an electric frying pan so I can regulate the temperature (and it doesn't take as much oil as a deep fryer).

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The Wild Table

What happens when 1960's foraging guide, Stalking The Wild Asparagus hooks up with 1990's darling, The French Laundry? The most attractive love-child -- The Wild Table. Connie Green has been a long time forager who began offering her bounty to chefs in California. Needless to say, they were thrilled. The foraging grew into a flourishing business: Wine Forest, one of the first and largest wild foods companies in America.

Clearly, the more foraging, the more cooking. Connie Green joined forces with Sarah Scott who spent many years as a chef at the Robert Mondavi Winery. Together they have created a cookbook that combines the rustic simplicity of living off the land with the sophistication of fine dining. The mesh is mouth watering. While there is some leeway in substitution, one really should approach this book with the desire to cook the recipes with the actual ingredients. Sure, grilled mushrooms are grilled mushrooms, but an overly simplistic desire to substitute common ingredients for their foraged brethren seems defeatist to the very nature of this cookbook.

Instead, strap on your books and and head out into the woods. (If you are not used to the woods, one might benefit from signing up with a foraging guide to lead your enthusiastic venture. Frankly, you might be surprised just how many people out there participate in such foraging, even in such unlikely places as New York City. But don't expect to find ramps in Central Park. you will need to come to West Virginia for the best ramps.)

So here is a Matsutake mushroom recipe. Make it with Matsutake mushrooms! Seriously.

Foil-Wrapped Matsutake with White Soy and Ginger


3 tablespoons white soy sauce or 2 tablespoons soy sauce plus 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sake
3 tablespoons mirin
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 green onion, white and pale green parts only, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vegetable or peanut oil, plus more to brush packets
1 pound matsutake mushrooms, cleaned

Whisk together the white soy sauce, sake, mirin, ginger, green onion, lemon juice, and oil in a medium bowl.

Slice the mushrooms lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices. Layout four to six 12-inch square pieces of aluminum foil on a flat surface. Brush the surface of the foil with oil. Divide the mushrooms among the foil squares, fanning the slices slightly in the center of each square. Brush the soy mixture over the mushrooms, enough to coat them generously. Fold in the sides of each packet, then fold the opposite sides together, rolling or tucking in the edges so that the mushrooms are snugly enclosed and the liquid won't leak onto the grill.

Prepare a grill to medium heat.

Place the aluminum foil packets over the heat, fold side up, and cook until they are fragrant and sizzling inside, about 8 minutes. Check inside a packet at this point to make sure the mushrooms are tender. Continue cooking for 1 to 2 more minutes, if needed.

Remove from the grill and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

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EASY ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

This is a great comfort food classic that I turned into an easy, quick fix casserole. You can easily double or triple the ingredients for a big crowd. The flavors are great and it reheats extremely well.

MEAT FILLING
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ cup water
4 oz. mild green chilies (I use Ortega brand)

Brown the ground beef and drain. Return to pan and add everything else, stir well and let this simmer for about 10 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
 ENCHILADA SAUCE

(1) 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups water

Mix well and simmer for about 15 minutes...set aside

ASSEMBLY

In a greased 9 x 13 pan, place TWO layers of soft corn tortillas; cover with a little of the enchilada sauce. Space large spoons of the meat filling 2" apart on top of the sauce, and sprinkle with a little cheese like this:



  Top with TWO more thickness' of soft corn tortillas that have been cut into diamonds, like this:

Ladle some more sauce over the soft tortilla diamonds, then repeat with the meat and cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 35 minutes. You can make this early in the day and then just pop it into the oven at dinner time. If you do that, add about 10 minutes to the total baking time.

NOTE: We are pretty shy when it comes to spicy, so I use 1/8 teaspoon cayenne and it is very mild. If you like "heat" add more.

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The Art of Wood Fired Cooking

Andrea Mugnaini didn’t invent cooking on a wood fire but she has become a leading importer of wood fired ovens for home and restaurant use. Since she sells the ovens it is only natural that she offer up instruction on how to cook with one.

Cooking at home on a wood fired oven is much different than an oven that is used by a restaurant. A restaurant oven is typically larger offering more space for different cooking areas. It also has the advantage of being used every day, so starting the oven and maintaining a even cooking temperature is much easier than a home oven that may be lighted only for a weekend.


After years of working and teaching others how to cook in their wood oven, Andrea Mugnaini has taken the tricks that she has perfected and collated them for the novice wood oven cook.

The book has that we-live-like-Italians-in-Napa lifestyle vibe to it. (Not that pretending to be Italian at my house with the big wood-burning oven in the Napa Valley would be a bad thing.)


You have to hand it to Andrea Mugnaini, she doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to force you buy one of her ovens. She clearly states that if you have the book, you probably have a wood-burning oven. Frankly, the book is way cheaper than a Mugnaini Oven, so if you don’t have one, just cook in the fireplace. Mugnaini also points out that there is no “specific” recipe to cook in a wood burning oven, that most anything can be converted to cook in such an oven. Conversely, most any of the recipes in The Art of Wood Fired Cooking can be tweaked to cook in an oven, though they will be lacking in the lovely char and smoke of wood heat.

Now, part of having that Italian/Napa vibe is the need to make great, unfussy, lovely food. There are no foams, or complicated sauces. The food is painfully fresh and straight forward, and this is one of the best.

Wood-Roasted Butterflied Shrimp

2 pounds large shrimp, shell on
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Remove the shells up to the tail segment and remove the vein from the shrimp. Cut through the shrimp to open like a book, being careful not to cut all the way through. Repeat until all the shrimp are butterflied.

Place shrimp in a medium bowl and add the remaining ingredients; toss together. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and place onto a sheet pan, cut side down with the tail curled over the shrimp. Place in the oven and roast 3-5 minutes or until pink and firm to the touch.

There is a problem. If you do not have a wood burning oven, my advice is not to buy this book, because the second you start looking at the recipes, you will be understandably tempted to get a wood burning oven for your yard, whether your yard is in West Virginia, Alabama or even the Napa Valley. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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Cooking for Many

Most cookbooks offer up recipes for serving two or four or six, but few cookbooks provide recipes for large events. Longtime cookbook author, Charlotte Turgeon, filled to void of a cookbook to feed larger crowds from 10 to 200 in her book Cooking for Many.

Cooking for Many is divided up in the way you might think it would be, in menus for special occasions such as Christmas and weddings. Each menu features a nifty shopping list, so when you out and about trying to make casseroles for 200 you won’t forget to pick up the bay leaves or sherry.

Since the recipes call for large amounts, many of the recipes transpire over several days or take on an interesting approach of diving the recipe into a “sooner” and “later” division of time for such involved undertakings.

This is an offering for a church gathering. I can remember eating a lot of turkey tetrazinni or “tetrazzone” at many a church gathering, though I am quite sure that it was never made in such a large quantity. But if I ever need to whip up a batch for 200, I know just what to do.

Turkey Tetrazzone

2 20-pound turkeys
1 bunch celery
1 pound carrots, sliced
6 large onions (1 1/2 pounds)
12 cloves
3 tablespoons salt
12 peppercorns
4 bay leaves 1 teaspoon thyme
20 pounds egg noodles

Sauce:

2 1/2 pounds margarine
3 pounds (12 cups) flour
2 gallons turkey broth
2 gallons milk
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons white pepper
3 cups sherry
10 8-ounce cans sliced mushrooms
1 pound grated Parmesan cheese
large bunch parsley

First Day: Place each bird, which has been quartered by the butcher, into a large kettle. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, skimming off any matter that comes to the surface. Divide the seasoning between the two kettles, sticking the cloves in the onions. Poach the turkeys for 3 hours or until tender but not over-cooked. Remove to large pans. Peel off the skin and put it back in the kettles, and boil down the stock until there is a little more than a gallon in each kettle. Strain into one large kettle. Cool and refrigerate the broth and the turkey overnight.

Second day: Skim off the coagulated fat from the top of the broth and heat the broth along with the milk in a large kettle. Heat margarine in another kettle but do not let it brown. Remove from the fire and stir in the flour. When well mixed, add I gallon of the hot liquid and stir until well blended.
Add the seasonings and sherry. Simmer over low heat for thirty minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Using as many kettles as feasible, cook the noodles – not more than 2 pounds at a time in one kettle – in large amounts of boiling salted water for 6 minutes. Run cold water over the cooked noodles.

During these procedures, the cook’s assistant should be boning the turkey and cutting the meat into thin strips.

Drain the mushrooms.

Arrange 20 2-quart casseroles on the working counter. Into each casserole put a 2-inch layer of noodles. Cover with a layer of turkey and pour 2 cups of sauce over it. Repeat. Spread a thin layer of mushrooms on the last layer of sauce, cover with a film of sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and store overnight in the refrigerator.

Serving day: Bake each casserole for 1 hour at 375 F. Reduce the heat to 200 if the casseroles need to be kept warm. Garnish each with a small bouquet of parsley before serving.

If you are planning to feed a big crowd for the Super Bowl, this should help you out. But you need to start today or you won't have it on the table by Sunday.

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THE ULTIMATE POPOVER

I have been playing around with popover recipes for a while now, so I thought I would "get serious" and buy a popover pan. The pan makes a huge difference, not so much in the taste, but in appearance and how big the air bubbles are inside of the popover. These popovers could not be easier or cheaper to make, and they are such a treat, hot out of the oven with honey butter or strawberry jam!! If you do not have a popover pan, see note at the end of this post.

This recipe is fool proof as long as you follow it closely. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. I put my popover pan in the oven while it preheats (do not grease before you preheat).

While your oven/pan is preheating, whisk together:
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of milk (see note)1 tablespoon melted butter

NOTE: If I have whipping cream, I put about ¼ cup of whipping cream in a measuring cup and then fill the rest of the way with 2% milk...if I have no cream on hand, I just use 1 cup of 2% milk).
After the above ingredients are whisked together well, add one cup of all purpose flour (spoon flour into measuring measuring cup and level off with straight edge). Whisk everything together for about 30 seconds or until it looks very smooth & creamy.
Take the popover pan out of the hot oven and spray each cup with vegetable spray. Put a small chunk of chilled butter (roughly ½ teaspoon but the exact size is not crucial) into the bottom of each hot cup. Fill each cup half way full (makes six big popovers).

Bake popovers at 425 for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove popovers from pan and poke a tiny hole (I use a toothpick) in the bottom of each popover to relieve a little steam (not totally necessary if you are going to eat them right away).

 NOTE: If you do not have a popover pan, you can use 6 ounce (oven safe) custard cups (I used the clear Pyrex ones, for a long time, with great success). I placed them all on a cookie sheet for easier handling. The popovers will not get quite as tall (as they do with a popover pan) but they taste every bit as good.

Someone from outside the USA wrote and asked me what a popover pan was, so here is a photo. As you can see, it is almost like a cupcake pan, but the cups are a lot deeper and spaced far apart so the hot air can circulate around each cup.

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Betty Crocker’s 101 Delicious Bisquick Creations

Betty Crocker’s 101 Delicious Bisquick Creations


Southerner’s love their Bisquick. I love my Bisquick. I am convinced that there is no better way to make pancakes. The house specialty at Doe Run Farm is our famous 3 "B" Pancakes – Buttermilk Bisquick and Bacon Pancakes.



Bisquick is also great for biscuits, scones, dumplings, and even shortcake.


Since I have a great affection for Bisquick, I am please to share with you this little pamphlet from 1933. It seems that I am not the only one who loves their Bisquick. Fashionable hostesses from New York to Chicago to Los Angles are also big fans as well as some big box office stars.




I can’t tell you how happy I am to find that Gloria Swanson was home making cheese biscuits with little more than a box of Bisquick and some grated cheese.



It seems the Comtesse de Fries of New York and Palm Beach loves her Bisquick waffles. Here is how she makes them:

Waffles

2 cups Bisquick
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp. melted butter (if desired)

Beat eggs well with rotary beater. Add milk and Bisquick. Beat with the egg beater to mix batter very thoroughly. Mix in the butter if a richer waffle is desired. Pour into hot waffle iron (3 tablespoons of batter make 1 waffle). Bake until golden brown. To get a crisp waffle the waffle iron must be very hot.

Now the truth be told, you can assemble a fine substitute for store-bought Bisquick. In fact rumor has it that Bisquick got its stat when a sales executive watched a train porter pre-mix flour and shortening for a quick way to make biscuits. So if you are feeling a bit like a porter today, try this:

Train Porter's Baking Mix

9 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups shortening

Mix to a fine crumble and store in a cool, dry place. Some folks add a tablespoon of sugar to the mix.

Either way you and the porter and Gloria will be having a wonderful time baking away.

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