Open Faced Breakfast Sandwich

I love snow and snow pictures and nearly every morning during the winter, I sign on to Wunderground, click on the webcams, and check out the snow shots. The header is one of those webcams from Moose, WY with the majestic Tetons in the background.

I’d thought about this sandwich for several days, but it had been to easy to reheat the corned beef hash and cook eggs, but when it was all gone, it was time for the sammy.  To begin I diced up a half link of SouthsideMarket sausage, and finely diced two small rounds of hot sausage from Butcher Boys in Nacogdoches, Tx – this stuff is really hot. I sautéed it with some chopped onion and removed from the pan when the onion was soft.

After splitting the roll, heating, and adding mayo and pouring the eggs in the pan, I realized my plan would not work.  No way could I put all of the stuff on the roll and eat it as a sandwich, so I spread the meat mixture all over the top of the eggs and had it open faced.

It wasn't especially pretty, but it was very tasty with just the right heat.

I lifted this from Fat Johnny's Front Porch the other day - it's not often I get to identify with a cartoon :-).

Header photo - Iron Mike

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Using Up The Pastrami

Two years ago: Rib Eyes For Dinner

Larry

December BBQ Day

I love snow and snow pictures and nearly every morning during the winter, I sign on to Wunderground, click on the webcams, and check out the snow shots.  The header is one of those webcams from Moose, WY with the majestic Tetons in the background.

I had a pretty light load for this BBQ day with most of it headed to Rhett’s, when we went over to tend his kids for a week.  I cooked a small pork butt, a few chicken breasts and thighs, 3 slabs of baby backs, and about 10 # of wings.  Here's the butt - some are black on the outside when finished, but I prefer the deep mahogany color.

The juice was all saved, defatted, and added back to the pulled meat along with some SOP and it needed no additional sauce for the SIL and me.

Two of the rib slabs got my usual treatment of Head Country Championship Seasoning and nothing else and the third slab, at Rhett’s request, was a repeat of the Asian ribs I’d done last month and over cooked.  This time they turned out very good (maybe could have stood another 3-4*) - I had to cut one off for a sample.

I think it would have been even better had I basted it a couple of times with the marinade while cooking.

Prior to smoking, I just salted the wings and tossed them in canola oil.

The chicken breasts and thighs were rubbed with Wolfe Citrus Rub.

For my wing sauce, I’d been using Anchor Bar Wing Sauce (inventors of Buffalo wings) but I'd used it all and went on-line looking for a recipe and found this clone at Food.com.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce (Frank's)

1/4 cup margarine , not butter (Blue Bonnet squeeze bottle)

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1/8 teaspoon celery seed

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used 1/8)

1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

1 dash black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 -2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I used ½ tsp Sriracha)

Directions

The Sauce: This makes enough for about 30 "wingettes." Mix all the ingredients in a small sauce pan over low heat until the margarine is completely melted. Stir occasionally.

I made up one batch just as the recipe is written and after tasting thought it was too tart, so I added another round of everything but the vinegar and Srircha and thought it was about right for the medium heat level requestor.  I smoked the wings at 250* to an internal temp of 170 then tossed his wings in it.

Then I added 1 tsp Srircha to what was left and tossed the remaining wings in it.  A thigh tossed in it worked well for lunch.

I would use this recipe again, but omit the vinegar and then use Tabasco and add vinegar to taste.  Interestingly, the customer advised they weren’t quite tangy enough for him.  Also, the sauce needs to be quite a bit hotter to taste for it to be right when put on the wings – after tossing with the wings, the hotter sauce was just right for the medium hot request.  My next step is to buy some of Anchor Bar and Hooters sauces, decide which I like best, then try to replicate at home starting with the recipes available on the internet.  IF YOU HAVE A TRADITIONAL BUFFALO WING SAUCE RECIPE THAT"S SIMILAR TO ONE OF THESE, I"D APPRECIATE GETTING IT.

Final wing comment - My customers usually cook them again over high heat to crisp them up.  After smoking, I like to give them a quick grilling or deep frying, for crust development, prior to tossing in the sauce.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Homemade Eggnog

Two years ago: Christmas Comes Early To "Almost Heaven South"

Larry

A Little Drive Thru The NC Pines

During our visit to Ft. Bragg we found it was located in the pine forest area that runs up the eastern US coast and it’s pretty much the same in Georgia and the Carolinas, so it was no surprise that “pine” was included in several local names, such as Whispering Pines, Southern Pines, and Pinehurst. 

I haven’t been a golfer for 25 years but still knew Pinehurst was noted for golf, but I had no idea how much.  The 9500 person village, along with the towns of Southern Pines and Aberdeen make a triangular area that is home to 30 rated and 13 more golf courses and is known as the "Home Of American Golf."  The Pinehurst Resort, alone, has eight courses and you can pay up to $450 for a round of golf – now I know why I gave it up.

Being the map person I am, I found a back country route that runs along the northern boundary of the post and we were blown away as it was a beautiful drive thru the pines on very good roads.  As the crow flies, it’s located about 7 miles west of the post boundary, but since we had to exit on the eastern side and drive around, it took about an hour to get there.

And about 10 miles prior to reaching Southern Pines, we came upon beautiful horse farms – almost continuously and they all seemed to be into jumping.  I didn’t know NC had a horse industry – add that to the muscadine wineries that were an equal surprise.

You know you’re serious when you have a long fence decorated for Christmas.

We went on thru Southern Pines to Pinehurst and found it pretty full of people, but I just wanted to drive around and see a few things.  It looks like it was another one of those playgrounds for the wealthy in the early 1900’s and is now the home of the still pretty well off.  This is the village main street.

The Pinehurst Resort Carolina Hotel is located at one end of the street and the golf courses are at the other end and the spa is next to the hotel.

You know you're elite when you don’t even have a sign at the entrance to your golf course and it's pretty unimpressive.

From there it was back to Southern Pines for lunch to a place that was recommended by the girls other grandparents.  Sweet Basil is a small place owned by siblings John and Pepi– he does the baking and she does the cooking and they can both do their parts very well.

After hearing the ingredients, Bev jumped all over the daily special of chipotle chicken sandwich with a salad.

The sandwiches were halved and we swapped a half so I can say with certainty that it was delicious.  This is the second salad we’ve had in the area serving leaf lettuce (just like I grow in the garden).  I ordered a cup of roasted red pepper soup and a reuben and both were very good.

We asked the server some details about the chicken and she advised us to talk with the lady in the white apron for the details and she just happened to show up.  As it turns out she was Pepi, the cook/ owner, and she freely told us how she made both the sandwich and the soup, which I wrote down and plan to try at home.  As we left, there was a line waiting along the building and I can see why as they are serving delicious homemade meals, with fresh ingredients at a reasonable price – especially for a tourists area – and the service was every bit as good as the food.   If you’re ever within 50 miles of Southern Pines, this is a must try place.

After lunch, I walked up to the railroad station and Bev disappeared into the first shop.  The station is still served by Amtrak with one train per day in each direction - one end of the station is the Town's Welcome Center.

Here’s a shot of mainstreet from the depot and it is a nice little town converted to a tourist destination and nestled in the southern pines.

And of course no great day trip is complete until you’ve made the requisite stop.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Eggnog Crème Brulee

Two years ago: Butter Beans Ala Mary

Larry

Meatball Experiment

I’d been wanting pasta and for some reason, and about 9pm, Bev decided to make up a batch of meatballs  - our minds are obviously in sync.  She didn’t get them finished and left the forming and cooking to me the next day while she was committed to something else.  As is her usual for meatloaf, meatballs, etc, she doesn’t really use a recipe but rather combines the ingredients the way she thinks they should be, nukes a sample, tastes and adjusts and by the third tasting she‘s usually where she wants to be – I told her these were her best ever and maybe, the best I’ve eaten. This is her best guess at a recipe for 28 meatballs:

3# ground chuck
1# breakfast sausage (we were out of Italian)
1 medium onion, finley diced
1 medium green pepper, finely diced
1 medium red pepper, finely diced
1 - 1 1/2 cups fresh breads crumbs (more or less to get the right texture)
2 large eggs, beaten
6 cloves garlic, minced
Small can tomato paste
1/2 tube sundried tomato (paste)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (more or less to taste)
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
2 tbsp dried Italian Seasoning (add 1 tbsp then add to taste)
2 tbsp fresh diced parsley
1 tsp roasted garlic hot sauce (Guavaberry)
S&P to taste

What she actually did was add all of the fresh ingredients in several small batches to the food processor and run to get the size she wanted.  Then add everything to a large bowl and mix just enough to bring it together.

Sorry this is so long but scientific experiments require lots of words.

My mom always browned hers in a skillet in batches, then dropped them into the pasta sauce, so I have no idea how done they were coming out of the pan.  We’ve done them this way and baked them in the oven until we reached some point, but I don’t know what it was either.  Since I’ve become a more serious meat cook and try to cook everything to temperature, I did a little web research to find this guidance for meatballs:

Cook somewhere between 140* and 170* internal temp - Cook in a 350* oven for somewhere between 25 and 60 minutes - Cook in a 350* oven for 30 minutes or 160* internal.

As you can see, not exactly a real science so I decided to make up my own, realizing that some would go into the freezer and not immediately into sauce so I wanted them fully cooked, in case they only got warmed up later, but not over cooked – wherever that was.  I like the idea of the reverse sear I use on other meats to create an even internal doneness so I decided to try it with these and I thought an internal temp of 150* would have them plenty done while leaving a lot of the fat and moisture in them – like a juicy hamburger.

I first formed one to the size I like and weighed it – 2 ¾ oz, so I weighed them all and formed at 2 ¾ -  2 7/8 oz – this added about 10 seconds per meatball.  Since they had lots of pretty big ingredients and I wasn’t planning to cook them real done, I rolled them tightly - I believe re-cooling the mix overnight made them easier to shape.  I put them on a Pam sprayed rack over a foil lined pan and preheated the oven to 225* (convection bake setting) with an internal probe thermometer in a center one and an outside one, for comparison.  They wouldn’t all fit on the rack so I decided to cook the last 4 in a skillet for another comparison – can you believe the very last one weighed 2 7/8 oz.

They went into the oven at 11:31 and an internal temp of 56*, and I cooked the others in a pan over medium heat turning on 5 sides as they browned then over low heat with a lid on the sixth side, turning one more time to the least cooked side at about 150*.  I’d planned to take them off at 155* but they cooked at different temps and they ended up 155*-160* and I ate one at 160* and thought it was perfect.  Note that I got meat cubes rather than meatballs and they incurred some tool damage.

So my plan was to cook those in the oven to an internal temp of 140*, remove them and crank the oven up to 500*, put the meatballs back in and cook for 10 minutes, watching the internal temp.  However, after tasting the pan fried one I wanted them to end at 160* so I revised my plan and pulled them at 145* - rotating the pan at 100* and the two probes stayed within one degree (hooray for the oven).  They came out a 12:13 pm, nicely browned, still round but without a crust and my bet was they looked the same all the way through and they only went on up to 146*.

I turned the oven up to 500*, but when I noticed the meatballs had dropped to 123*, I decided to put them in at 450 fearing they would burn before the internal temp got up – back in at 12:25 - and set the timer for 10 minutes and the meatball probe alarm for 155* - there will be more carry over cooking from the 450* surface temp of the meat.  Here they are out of the oven and as it turns, out the oven didn’t do as well at high temps and I ended up with 165* meatballs (after carry-over cooking) on one end and 175* on the other (but with more crust) - should have rotated the pan.

Here’s the inside of each one (more done one on the right) which I tasted, and like any professional, I threw away the un-tasted portion – yeah right.

Here are my conclusions which are recipe dependent, especially the meat ratio.

1.    I couldn't tell much if any different between the samples and both were still moist and creamy, but dryer than the 160* pan fried one.

2.    Pan cooking developed a better crust than the low then high temp oven – maybe should have stayed with 500*.

3.    Due to the use of hamburger and the other fillers, oven reverse sear is likely a waste of time.

4.    They need more high temp time in the oven to develop a great crust.

5.    They are very forgiving and I now understand why such varying opinions from my web search.

6.    Oven cooking makes a prettier, rounder, more evenly cooked product and it’s less time consuming.

7.    For a complete oven cook, next time I’ll put them in a 350* oven and cook to 155* internal believing they will end up in the low 160’s with a good crust and if not I’ll crank it up in 25* increments until I get the crust I want - after I try #9 that is.

8.    As best I can tell, I didn’t prove much of anything except this type of experiment needs to happen such that the sampling occurs at lunch time J.

9.  Since we both prefer the more carmelized crust from the skillet, I think I'll try cooking them in the oven to about 145*, where they should hold their shape, then give them a quick skillet fry for the crust - more of a true reverse sear.  I should end up with round, evenly cooked meatballs with a nice crust.

As for the final product, it was your basic spaghetti and jarred Barilla marinara, with some really great meatballs, and I tossed in a few links of Southside Market beef sausage - the meatballs and sausage both helped the sauce, but I prefer Italian sausuge here and the beef sausage other ways.  I hope Bev can replicate these meatballs next time.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Just A Little Steak And Eggs For Breakfast

Two years ago:  Fish Followed By Seafood

Larry

Ft. Bragg Visit - Winery Visit

Once again, Rhett needed someone to look after the grandkids, while he made an army business trip to South Korea.  Bev’s sister accompanied her the last time but she was unavailable this time and I got drafted, so after a week home from our RV trip we headed for Eastern NC.  Fortunately I’d taken advantage of a few days of warm weather to winterize the RV and do a few other things to get ready for cold weather, so I was available.

Much of our traveling has been associated with visiting our kids in different parts of the country and the world, so I was looking forward to my first trip to Bragg and this area.  Ft. Bragg is located adjacent to Fayetteville, NC, which is about 60 miles south of Raleigh and about halfway between Charlotte and the Atlantic coast.  The fort is named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg and it covers over 251 square miles (650 km2) in four counties (it’s roughly 22 miles long by 11 miles wide). Like most military bases, it has many units housed here, but it is primarily known as the home of the US Army Airborne Forces, Special Forces (Green Berets), and Delta Force.  The post has also taken over the adjacent Pope AFB and it’s now their army airfield.  In his new job, Rhett  had to become a jumper and said it’s just not natural to jump out of a perfectly good airplane – I could not agree more – but he’s made six jumps and is still walking upright so I guess he’s learning how.

This day the weather called for some rain, so we put off some of our other plans and went winery visiting instead – one of Bev’s favorite things to do.  Surprisingly to me, there are several wineries in NC, with the ones in this area seemly committed to making wine from the native grape that grows well here – muscadine.  After a little research we discovered the oldest and largest winery in NC to be only 1¾ hours from us and since we had limited time we decided to visit just it.

The Duplin Winery, is located in Rose Hill, NC which is near, well nothing actually, and it is owned by the 3^rd generation of the Fussell family – check here for more details on their story.  Upon entering the winery tasting room, we were greeted by a very bubbly lady who explained things to us and then secured our tasting pourer – he was totally devoted to us.

I took a few shots around the winery and the tasting began.  They offered a free tasting (unusual anymore) of 12 wines, all or mostly muscadine, then we tasted about 4 more.
 

We made our selections, 3 cases worth, and headed for the onsite Bistro restaurant, of course recommended by the bubbly greeter.  This is the entrance to the Bistro and part of the seating.

The waiter took a shot of use at the table.

Our salads were made with some leaf and iceberg type lettuces and we both ordered the homemade muscadine, tomato, and basil dressing which was somewhat sweet but a nice vinaigrette.

We both ordered the special of chicken parmesan over penne pasta.

It was good and for a non-Italian restaurant, at a winery, in the middle of nowhere, it was probably outstanding.  We got a slice of Mama Ann's Grape Hull Pie to go and ate it at home - good and unusual.  Rather than just a stop-by-and-try-our-wines place, they've turned theirs into a tourist destination - brilliant business plan I thought.

We would like to have spent more time and taken some shots of the cotton tuffs along the road from the recent harvest and some of the scenery, but we were pressed for time.

Header Photo - From Wikipedia – “Iron Mike is the de facto name of various monuments commemorating servicemen of the United States military. The term "Iron Mike" is uniquely American slang used to refer to men who are especially tough, brave, and inspiring ...”

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Chicken And Dumplings

Two years ago:  Crappie With Brown Butter Prosciutto Caper Sauce

Larry

Texas Rv Trip - Wrap-Up

If you've been reading, you know it was a mixed bag of highs and lows on our first big RV trip.  Surprisingly to me, the lows were all associated with the RV chasis rather than the coach.  Other than the fridge door, everything on the coach performed fine and the major chasis issues were road condition related - no vehicle of mine will ever travel another Arkansas road and by far the best roads we traveled were in Tennessee.

The basic questions then became "do we want to be RVer's and if so is this the vehicle we want to do it it" - for sure it's no unless the slight play in the steering and drivers seat can be made right.  The coach suits our needs, but I will also have to know the vehicle is reliable as I'm not interested in too big of a project.  Lot's of research and discussion will need to take place before spring, but the immediate tasks were to unpack and winterize the water systems.

I've given our restaurant experiences some thought and while we had a some very good meals, several of them were disappointments and I think I know why.  Our last trip to Texas was before I'd learned how to BBQ and before Bev and I decided to try to make really good food at home, so our standards were lower.  It's not that the food wasn't good, it's that our definition of very good has raised considerably.

After the three RV road incidents, we had a very pleasant experience and liked being able to have the dogs along and have our house with us - on the way home, we even stopped at a rest stop, reheated some soup on the range, warmed up the coach with the furnace, and didn't even turn the engine off.

On the way home, and not wanting any more shaking and driving narrow lanes between concrete walls, we took a 30 mile detour on US-11 to avoid 10 miles of construction on I-59 that friend Joe had just traveled and warned us about.  It was a beautiful drive up a farming valley and I was totally comfortable driving the two lane road - nothing like a couple thousand miles behind to wheel to help with that.

A major learning for me, which will require a serious attitude adjustment, is that RVing needs to be about the journey not the destination and getting off the interstate is the way to do that.

It's been a couple of weeks since I first wrote this and Bev has since said she wanted to take at least one more big trip in this RV before she's ready to answer the two questions, so I'll be about seeing if I can get some of my issues taken care of and I've got several potential trips planned - all heading west.

Thanks for tuning in and sharing the trip with us.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Snow Dogs

Two years ago: Red Beans And Rice

Larry

I Am So Spoiled

The other morning after letting the dogs out, I was heading for the kitchen to fix me some breakfast, when a voice called out from the bed - "don't cook anything, I'm making you a special breakfast."  Having heard these words before, I've learned not to ask any questions and just go sit in my chair, read the paper, drink my coffee, and smile with anticipation.

As it turns out she'd had the grocery store deli wack off about a 3/4" slab of corned beef which she chunked and ran thru the food processor to chop up.  We still have a few potatoes, sweet peppers, garlic, and onions from our garden and some of them got diced and went into the hash.

She topped it with a couple of sunny side up eggs and it was delicious.

And since she made a alot, there was plenty leftover and the next day I added some cheddar to the hash and nuked, then topped with a couple of over easy's and some homemade pickled jalapenos - delicious again.

For the third day, I reheated the hash in a pan, made wells for the eggs and added a lid.  I then topped with shredded cheddar and chopped green onion and parsley.  I took the shot in the pan because I knew it wouldn't get to the plate looking the same - and it didn't (our non-stick skillet isn't any more but it has served me well and needs to be retired) it's a little blurry.

Feel good five of five.

An eye witness account from New York City , on a cold day in December, some years ago: A little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said, 'My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!'

'I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,' was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel.

 He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks.. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him.. She patted him on the head and said, 'No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.'

As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her:

"Are you God's wife?"

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Crock Beef Shanks – Part 2 

Two years ago:  None

Larry