BBQ Sauce for beef, pork or venison©

After experimenting and testing BBQ sauce recipes for a number of years, we found that this recipe is the best all-around BBQ sauce for beef, pork, and venison. With the wonderful subtle taste of juniper from the gin and the added juniper berries, this sauce is a real treat, it will tenderize an old army boot, and the toughest cuts of meat. If you have a REAL tough cut of beef - like a shoulder or arm, add the gin and vermouth at the very end when the sauce has thickened and further simmer for only 5-minutes.




2 Finely chopped onions
6 TBS Butter or bacon fat
1 Cup Ketchup
½ Cup Vinegar
5 TBS Brown Sugar
1 6-Oz. Can Tomato Paste
1 Cup Water
Dash of Cinnamon
2 TBS Sweet Vermouth
3 TBS Mustard
6 TBS Worcester Sauce
Ground black Pepper
4-5 Dashes Angostura Bitters
½ Cup Gin
Hickory Salt to taste
4 Dashes Tabasco Sauce
3 TBS Molasses
2 Juniper Berries

Melt butter. Sautee onions in butter until very soft. Add remaining ingredients and stir/mix well. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens.

Thinly slice meat while still partially frozen. Cook in sauce until it nearly falls apart. Serve on Kaiser Rolls. (Recipe posted here)

Side dishes that go well are cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, potato chips, 10-bean salad or whatever suits your fancy

Home

Chicken Khorma

This is one of many meals that are served in the Muslim world on Eid, the festive holiday that breaks the year's 30-day Ramadan fast; a time when the faithful abstain from food, drink, and ALL other worldly pleasures. Food never tastes better than when you're hungry, and this particular dish is no exception. It is deliciously flavorful, easy to make, and very tasty.


1 whole chicken, cut up in small pieces, skinned (2 1/2 pounds) (*)
1/2 cup fried onions
3/4 cup plain yogurt
2 teaspoons ginger paste (gingerroot peeled, chopped and crushed)
2 teaspoons garlic paste (garlic cloves peeled, chopped and crushed)
5 cloves
4 cardamom seeds
1 1/2 sticks cinnamon
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 heaping teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup oil

Heat oil in 12-quart pan; add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Immediately add chicken, ginger and garlic pastes, and cook uncovered on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add coriander powder, cayenne pepper and salt, and cook for another 10 minutes, uncovered. Puree fried onions and yogurt in blender or food processor with 1 cup water. Add to chicken. Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until chicken is tender.

This recipe is wonderful served over steamed Jasmine rice or egg noodles.

(*) In lieu of a whole cut up chicken, you can use drumettes or halved-boneless thighs. This way, there's no fighting to get individually selected parts, and everyone is a winner. :-) Be sure to remove the skin on whatever cuts of chicken you decide on.

German Apple Cake © King Arthur Company

This recipe has been authorized to post here by the gracious permission of the King Arthur Company, in Norwich, Vermont. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/
It is one of the best cakes I've ever had. With a large scoop of ice cream, or a HUGE dollop of whipped cream, you will never forget the wonderful flavor and texture.

Home

Ingredients:

Apple filling

2-3 large apples cored and peeled- Granny Smiths are great
lemon juice (optional, to sprinkle over apples)
5 TBS sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Batter

3 cups unbleached All Purpose flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 c sugar
4 eggs
¼ c apple juice (On this baking, I used pineapple juice and have used V-8 Splash in the past. Mmmmmmmmm!)
2-1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Filling:

The filling is made before the batter because it’s layered into the cake. Peel and core apples. Cut them in quarters and then again in about ¼” chunks. You can sprinkle them with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. Mix the apples, sugar and cinnamon together and set aside.

Batter:

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, beat the oil and sugar on high speed for 2 or 3 minutes until it’s creamy.

In a separate small bowl (or a large mixing cup) beat the eggs until light. Add the juice and the vanilla, mix well and add it to the sugar and oil, beating thoroughly. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together.

Assembling & Baking:

A tube tube pan works very well here. The cake rises quite a bit, so you'll need something fairly tall. You could also use a bundt cake pan.

Butter the pan then powder with a coating of confectioner’s sugar. Pour one-third of the batter into the pan, then add a thick layer of apples and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar; repeat process, ending with batter - sprinkled with additional cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer or wooden toothpick comes out clean. (1)

The cake should be completely cooled before cutting into it, otherwise it may fall apart. Dust with additional powdered sugar.

(1) Depending on the amount of moisture in the apples, baking could take up to 70-minutes. If not done after 55-minutes, reduce heat to 325F. and continue baking until skewer comes out clean. Check in 5-minute intervals.

Home

Callaloo and Shark 'n Bake

After having been on a consulting and training assignment for a month in Trinidad and Tobago a few years ago, the typical ‘soup and sandwich’ that we’re all so familiar with took on an entirely new meaning. Callaloo – a spinach-type soup and mainstay in the Caribbean, combined with ‘shark and bake’ served together, is hard to top. They take minimal time to prepare and I guarantee, once you’ve had them, they will become a regular meal in your household. Below are listed recipes for both.
Shark-and-Bake

This specialty is served by many fine restaurants and roadside vendors throughout the island. It is a T&T version of fish and chips. It's relatively easy to duplicate at home, and if shark is not available, substitute halibut or swordfish.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

Juice from 1 lime
1 pound shark meat, cut into pieces about 3 or 4 inches long and 1 inch wide
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced chives or green onion tops
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour seasoned with salt and pepper
Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

Sprinkle the lime juice over the shark meat and let sit for 5 minutes. Combine the garlic, chives, thyme, and salt and mix well. Rinse the shark with water and dip the pieces first in the spicy mixture and then in the flour, coating them well. Fry the shark, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil, turning often, for about 12 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve wrapped in bakes. Sprinkle the shark-and-bake with your favorite hot sauce.

Variation:

The shark can be marinated for 2 hours in a mixture of lime juice, onion, garlic, thyme, and minced Habanero or jalapeno pepper.

Bake:

This is the bread that is served with shark to make the famous Maracas Bay shark and bake. The bakes are simple and quick to prepare. Yield: 4 to 6 bakes

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon sugar
Water
Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the shortening and sugar, and mix with a fork. Add enough water to make a dough and knead gently. Cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces (depending on how large you want the bakes to be) and roll each piece into a ball. Let stand for a few minutes.

Flatten the balls of dough until they are about ¼ inch thick, and fry in hot oil until they are brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Kind of like a pita bread.

Callaloo:

This remarkable, bright green soup is often called "the national dish of T&T." It features callaloo (taro leaves or dasheen), but spinach is an excellent substitute. Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients:

3 bundles callaloo or 3 bunches fresh spinach, washed, tough ribs removed, coarsely chopped
4 cups coconut milk
2 cups milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
¼ pound pumpkin or Hubbard squash, peeled and coarsely chopped
¼ pound butter or margarine
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a stockpot or soup pot, combine all the ingredients and boil for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes. If too thick, add more coconut milk. Remove from the heat, cool, and puree in a blender in small batches. Reheat the soup and serve.

NOTE: If you can get 2-3 medium to large live crabs, clean them, soak briefly in lime juice, and add them to the soup at the beginning. Now you have shark and crab. Makes for a very delicious and filling meal.

Corned Beef Hash

With St. Patrick's Day is here, many households will have scads of corned beef left over. It's hard to beat a corned beef sandwich on deli rye. But there is always corned beef hash which make a wonderful breakfast or brunch with a few poached or fried eggs on top.

1 – 2 Lbs Finely Shredded/chopped corned beef
1 - 2 Lbs quarter inch diced, cooked potato
1-2 TBS Chopped Parsley
½ Cup finely shredded onion
½ garlic bud shredded
¼ Cup melted butter
Salt and Pepper to taste


Just mix the meat, potatoes, parsley and melted butter in a bowl – taste it – and add salt and pepper. Put a generous amount of butter or bacon fat in a skillet and get it hot over medium-high heat (or high-medium heat if you prefer) and add the hash. You can add a little oil to the butter if you are scared of burnt butter. Fry it until it’s nice and browned on the bottom and crispy around the edges. Don’t pester it! If you keep moving it around and fooling with it - it will not brown properly. you can either cook it in one big batch or form it into patties. When it’s browned and crisped to your liking turn it and do the other side. Top it with a couple of poached or fried eggs and you have a world class breakfast.

This is best if all ingredients are combined, then put through a grinder WITH THE COURSE setting. .