Good things

I’m a college graduate

This month, I completed my undergraduate at University of North Texas. I’ve leaked word to most of my friends already, but for those who don’t know, I plan to be in Seattle by the beginning of July. I’ve begun selling all of my furniture and belongings to put some cash in my pocket for the move. So, If you’re looking for any electronics/media/furniture, let me know. Until then, you should make sure and give me a call to catch up before I hit the road. Let’s get together while we can.

Here’s what I’ve been cooking:

Cinnamon Belgian Waffle w/ Nutella

Blue Cheese Stuffed Venison Burger w/ Bacon

Andes Dinner-mint Ice Cream

Also, JJ hosted a crawfish boil, this weekend, in Austin:

Yummy Crawfish

More pictures from that trip on Flickr.

Homemade Sauce & Meatball Subs

Spaghetti Squash in Red Sauce

Store-bought sauce is for suckers.

Making sauce at home is retarded-easy and cheap. Plus, it’s way better than any of the shite you’ll get out of a jar. I made a spicy red sauce for a Spaghetti Squash dish, and a sweet red sauce for homemade meatball subs. Although, I did not make the baguettes for the subs,  those meatballs are homemade–beef, Pork, and Lamb with a little spinach. Provolone on top for yummy cheese goodness. Way better than you are even imagining.

Red Sauce Mirepoix

Red Sauce Reduction

Homemade Meatball

Homemade Meatball Sub

It’s the Week of Bacon!

I can’t stop the bacon-train.

It seems like all I’ve been cooking this week IS bacon. Not that that is a problem….I’ve just noticed the trend.

So, the other day, during my lunch break I made a bacon peanut butter sandwich on some Country Sourdough bread from Ravelin’s. It’s so easy and delicious; it’s great for lunch of breakfast. It goes perfectly with a tall glass of milk.

And then last night I made the only thing that one-ups S’mores….Bacon S’mores. I cooked these sweet little babies in the oven, so they came out perfect. The only complaint was ‘these need more bacon.’ I rest my case.

Baconburgers

Nathan had the idea to grind up slabs of bacon and make a hamburger patty out of it.

We ended up with a patty that was 60% ground chuck and 40% ground bacon. I cooked the patties on a skillet and they ended up with a really nice, thin layer of crunch, that made you think you were really eating bacon. The next experiment is to make a patty from 100% bacon. Before making these babies, I had never heard of anyone trying it. It has since been brought to my attention that other people have definitely had the same idea. Oh well, so we’re not the first–these burgers are still DEEEELICOUS.

Ginger Honey Bacon

Ginger Honey Bacon

By Justin Wilson

Weeks ago I purchased myself some curing salt to be prepared for my cured meats bonanza. Ever since taking Garde Manger class in school, I have pretty much become obsessed with the idea of preserving meats by way of smoking and curing. Bacon is one of my most favorite things in the world, standing up right next to Pho. It amazes me what some salt, spices, and a few days of waiting can do to a piece of meat. I finally found some pork belly at a local asian supermarket, which was strange enough in itself. My mind had been racing for a long, long time about what I would do should I finally get my hands on some. I decided to use two of my most favorite ingredients as the main flavors, honey and ginger.

After rubbing a mixture of kosher salt, curing salt, grated ginger, honey, and crushed juniper berries over the raw meat. I let it sit for 4 days, flipping it every other day to make sure the curing mix penetrated evenly. Curing salt is an interesting thing, it is colored pink to avoid accidentally being used as regular salt. Why? Because it not only contains a very fine grain salt, but also sugar, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite (the last two give the pink hue and stops bacteria from going crazy). Sodium nitrate and nitrite have also been linked to nitrosamines, which cause cancer. However, you’re pretty safe eating these unless you decide to consume a whole lot of it. The general guideline for using curing salt is 1 oz per 25 lbs of meat so there is very little of it in any application that you may find. In fact, you probably eat it a lot more than you think. Unless you’re one of those nasty vegetarians. Ever wonder why ham is pink?

And the final product…

Zucchini Carpaccio

Parmesan Zucchini Carpaccio with Balsamic Vinegar

Parsley as Garnish

Last Night: Fettuccine Alfredo & Eggplant Steak

Fettuccine Alfredo & Eggplant Steak

Tomatoes Provençal (and Canapé)

Dinner tonight: Tomatoes Provençal & Canapé

Bacon & Maple Syrup Icing Cupcakes

I posted a recipe for these little babies back in July08, but I never posted pictures. The idea and recipe came from the lovely people at Vanilla Garlic. I think a lot of people I fed them to were scared of the concept of mixing bacon with a dessert, but I thought they came out pretty good. Bacon lovers rejoice!

Battered & Fried

I really outdid myself this time.

With the ice storm raging outside, my first thought was Ice Cream. But, I decided to whip up a funnel cake batter and fry everything I could get my hands on. We have more fried foods in this house than the goddamned state fair. Fried Mint Oreos, Fried Bananas, Fried Twix Bars, Fried Milk Way Bars, Fried Reeses Cups. And oh, yes…..FRIED BACON. Nothing could be more divine. Tons of pictures after the jump to the Flickr.