Category Archives: fun stuff to do…

beer can chicken???!!!???!!!

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I have been hearing about beer can chicken for years… I knew it was fun, I knew it was cheeky, I just never knew it was SO DELICIOUS!!! I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to make it!!! It is the perfect easy summer grilling dish. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!

This chicken is so juicy, so flavorful, and the skin is crispy (always a necessity for me!).

I figure this dish needs no further introduction, so if you haven’t yet… just make it already!!!

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of beer (use the good kind, drink half)
  • 1 shallot, cut in chunks
  • 5 cloves of garlic, smashed
  • 1 lemon, cut in half
  • 1 whole chicken
  • blackening spice
  • kosher salt and black pepper

Method:

  • Heat your grill. Keep the coals on one side, you will cook the bird over indirect heat to keep it from burning, and let it go slow and low.
  • Rinse the bird with cold water and don’t forget to remove the package with the liver and heart. Feed it to the dog.
  • Tuck the wings behind its head so it looks classy.
  • Take the top off the beer can with a can opener. Make sure you have drank half of the beer.
  • Drop the shallot, garlic, and a spoonful of blackening seasoning into the beer. Squeeze half the lemon into the beer. Drop it in as well if there is room. If not, toss it.
  • Stick the other lemon half into the neck of the bird to help keep the steam from the beer in the cavity while cooking.
  • Season the chicken with a light sprinkle of kosher salt and black pepper and the blackening seasoning. Take it easy, because a lot of pre-made seasonings already have salt in them.
  • Stick the can up inside the chicken and position it so it stands up.
  • Place the bird over the cooler part of the grill, over indirect heat. Don’t make the tragic mistake of letting it get too hot so you burn the skin.
  • Place the lid on top of the grill. If the lid won’t go on, try taking the grate off and putting the bird in a pie tin or cast iron skillet and just placing it near the coals.
  • Let it alone for about 1 hour or so, checking every once in a while to be sure it doesn’t burn or get too cool.
  • Test the meat with a thermometor (every kitchen should have one) and pull it out at 165*.

It should go without saying that you shouldn’t use a glass or plastic container for the beer, but I sometimes get crazy questions and don’t want to hear that one:)

Enjoy!!!

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Meaty Music: What’s on my Android Music Playlist

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What’s spining when the knives are slingin’? My music influences have certainly fluctuated over the years. 1970′s I’d spin my 45′s and 33 1/2′s (no those are the size tires I rolled on back then for all the youngin’s out there). From the Beach Boys to Sugarhill Gang, KISS, Led Zepplin, Woodstock Album, John Travolta (yes he has an album out there), KC and the Sunshine Band and too many others that I can’t think of at this time.

There was a brief moment in the early 80′s prior to my exposure to heavy metal was rap & break dancing music. Of course back then in my super fly windbreaker and parachute pants RUN DMC was in full effect along with Herbie Hancock, UTFO Crew, Fat Boys, Roxanne, Newcleus and I could bust out some top rock, windmill, crab, handspins, headspins and beat ‘em all out with a suicide flip…YO! No need to fight let’s break it out.

After that very brief moment in time I cut my funky fresh tail and began to grow out my hair. In the Beginning….Good always overpowered the evils, of all man’s sins…but in time, the nations grew weak and our cities fell to slums while evil stood strong... so ensued a long road into my long journey on the long-haired metal head road. Some may argue that it was my personal “Highway To Hell”!

My teen years I delved into music much more. and by mid-teen years I eventually got into a band and my appreciation grew away from  metal and more towards classic rock roots of the 70′s, 50′s and 60′s. Motely Crue (the early years) were my favorite. All that aside my tastes began to lean more towards Metallica, Alice Cooper, Grateful Dead, Blues Traveler, Aerosmith, Black Oak Arkansas, Skynanrd, Janis, Arlo Guthrie, Charlie Daniels and any other backwoods get down music. Pickin a six string on the top of a fire tower on top of a mountain or by the riverside just outside Elkins, WVa is quite an amazing experience. So there is few years when you get lost from your music tastes and get stuck in a rut, new music and bands sucked, the 90′s musically didn’t prove much and the new millennium didn’t bring anything great either. At least in this former amateur musician’s humble opinion.

Into my 30′s my tastes tended to stray back towards R&B and Rap mainstream and some off shoot west coast and Houston hood rap…yo G! Seriously though mainly because it was different and my 20′s and early 30′s I had re-listened to everything way to many times so music got boring to me. Now nearing my 40th I listen to whatever the hell sounds good and not like anything that is on…but has anything really changed?!

So on that note…here are 20 songs I cut meat, season meat, and stuff meat into intestines to. This is in no particular order and has no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever.

  • Only Girl  - Rhianna
  • Moment 4 Life – Nicki Minaj
  • Beeda Weeda – Turfs Up
  • Damage Inc – Metallica
  • No Remorse – Metallica
  • This is Why I’m Hot – Mimms
  • Airplanes-BOB
  • Bang Bang – Coka Nostra feat. Snoop Dogg
  • Fist Full of Steel – Rage against the Machine
  • Kick Start my Heart-Motley Crue
  • Hooligan – Big B
  • Turn it Up – Chamillionaire
  • Chillin – Wale feat. Lady Gaga
  • Live Wire – Motley Crue
  • Opposite of Adults – Chiddy Bang
  • Stupify-Disturbed
  • Grillz – Nelly
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls – Metallica
  • Not Afraid – Eminem
  • Mix of Classical Music – Ludvig Von
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Surprise rooster = Coq au vin blanc

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In celebration on Coq au vin day, (one of our favorite dishes), we offer a story of our little urban “farm/ranch” in the heart of Denver.

We belong to an amazing chicken co-op that provided us the opportunity to be involved from the ground up. We had 9 little chicks in our home from day two of their lives for a little over two months. We fed them their first food. We fell in love with them, loved them, named them, and we certainly had the most spoiled chicks in the city.

The chicks all live on a farm now as part of the co-op. 40 happy hens growing strong, someday to give us eggs. One rooster ended up in the group, and he was pretty aggressive with the hens. The day finally came to a head where the lives of the hens were in danger (his fault) and he was separated. Unfortunately due to the (very) early morning cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster, he had no place on the farm in the middle of the city, or in the back yard of our members.

SPOILER: if you have are sensitive about killing, plucking, or eating an animal, please skip on to another post. If not, read on.

I grew up in Boulder, CO. I never had the opportunity to raise chickens in our backyard, and certainly never had the chance to butcher one. I know where this rooster has been every day of his life, and exactly what he has eaten: Organic, no gmo, no soy feed and fresh Colorado water (and maybe a little poop, because chickens poop in their water a lot.) I was very excited about this.

I did a little research on youtube, asked some friends and sharpened up the knife. We grabbed a plastic container to hold the rooster, grabbed our gloves and got to business.

I talk a big game. I am down for every experience, but this time I got a little nervous. I have never had anything die by my hands before. I shuffle spiders out the door in lieu of smashing them. (I do, however, kill mosquitos). Mark gave me a little pep talk and we made it happen.

There are tons of videos on the web about how to do this, so if you are ever lucky enough to do it yourself, youtube it. I’ll just say, have your mise en place ready so you can move once it is started. I cannot believe that my Grandma Hunter used to do this all the time when she was growing up in Fargo.

It happened. He bled.

The video said to place the bird in boiling water to make it easier to pluck, but we just got plucking. This way, I could see which feathers were pretty for my father, who will use them in tying his flies. Its pretty easy to pluck. And a great excuse to use the word “pluck”. Like mother “plucker”. Mark cleaned out the insides, which was just one step too intimate for me.

Here he is drying out after plucking and before I burned off the feathers on out little gas burner. I broke down the animal.

The recipe for dinner was decided by Mark, he wanted coq au vin, which we love. Traditionally, this recipe great for an old hen. The red wine and the braising make the meat tender and tasty. Our bird is young, but it still sounded good to me. We used white wine instead (it is hot in Denver right now), and it turned out fantastic.

Talk about using the animal, here is where the bird ended up:

Feathers: to my Dad Jim for tying flies for fishing

Feet, bones: into the braising liquid for flavor and enriching the broth

Meat: enjoyed every bit of it.

Nothing was wasted. Thank you Mr. Rooster.

Coq au Vin blanc:

  • 1 rooster, cleaned and broken down
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 each, carrot, peeled and rough chopped
  • 1 each bay leaf
  • 1 small bunch thyme (pull from the herb pot outside)
  • 1 spring rosemary (herb pot)
  • 2 cups or so chicken stock
  • white wine (enough to cover the bird after the stock)
  • to taste kosher salt and black pepper

Method:

  • season the bird skin and sear on each side in a splash of oil until golden brown. Set aside.
  • place onion and garlic in pot. Saute until translucent.
  • Add bird, stock and wine. Heat through. Add herbs.
  • Heat for 1 1/2 hours or until rediculously tender and crazy flavorful.
  • Season to taste.

Serve with warm bread for dipping. The bread with the sauce alone was enough to make a meal!

 

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what exactly is a pop up???

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I have had number of people ask me what a pop up (or a sprout up, as I like to call them) dinner is.

A pop up is a dinner, usually in any kind of space that has access to a kitchen. It can be in a home, a barn, a farm, an airplane hanger or a brewery, you get the idea. The point is it is a fun and different way to showcase a chef and her (or his) food, perfect when they don’t have a brick and mortar restaurant and/or if they want to do something completely outside of what they do daily in their home kitchen.The level of creativity and originality that you see at these things can be pretty crazy because there is little risk. Dinners rarely are scheduled for more than a few nights, then the opportunity is gone.

These dinners are happening all over the world!

Often, these dinners are at a secret location until it is announced, usually a day or two before the event.

I have a dinner coming up at Studio F. Studio F is in the historic Icehouse building in Denver on 18th and Wyncoop.

This dinner is a celebration of food from all around the globe. I’m serving these dinners same week as the premiere of Around the World in 80 Plates, airing on Bravo on May 9.

The menu begins in Spain with a trio of tapas and moves on to Thailand so guests may enjoy (Il mondo Vecchio) lap chong paired with a beautiful cocktail featuring Mekhong, the spirit of Thailand. Attendees will move on to my favorite country, Italy, and work their way to France, finishing in Morocco with a one-of-a-kind m’hanncha, a snake-shaped cake surrounded by almond-stuffed dates and the partner to end most Moroccan meals, warm mint tea.

All of the cocktails and wines are paired with ingredients and origins from each country, and I’ve got music from each country to pair with the evening as well, as I really think that enhances the experience.

I’m thrilled to join on of my favorite Colorado chefs, James Mazzio, (one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs in 1999) as we celebrate the opening of Studio F and the debut of my new show. I want to give my guests a little bit of flavor from all of my favorite parts of the world.

Each evening will feature a seating at 6:00 pm. Please arrive early and have delicious libation as we will begin the experience on time. and tickets for the 5-course dinner are $100. Tickets may be purchased online by visiting www.studioflodo.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Culinary Tools: Selecting a Simple Set of Knives

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Covering more than just the tip of getting the right kitchen knives to adequately prepare foods in any setting. “Go purchase quality knives!” is what is often said… Let me just cut to the chase, that statement alone can be subject to a variety of personal interpretations. Here I’ll provide slices of basic information founded in my own beliefs and opinions.

How many knives? Three (3)

Which specific knives?

  • French/Cooks/Chefs or santoku knife 6 or 8 inch. These knives are the workhorses! I have found the 8 inch to be best suited to my personal needs in both professional and home settings. Jenna uses an 8 inch as well.
  • Pairing/Utility Knife: a good solid handled 4 inch blade paring knife for fine detail work, tourne, peeling, and shaping. Back in the day, before fancy machinery, we used this to make potato or turnip roses for parties of 200 – 800 servings (3 roses per person) almost daily.
  • Boning Knife: A six inch semi-flexible curved boning knife. Great all purpose boning knife that is short, direct, and maneuverable.

TANG: Not the breakfast drink of NASA: A knife handle is just as important as the knife itself. Go for full tang! What that (tang) means is that the knife blade portion that extends into the handle. The tang of a quality knife should be fully integrated into the handle and riveted or completely part of the handle.

Comfort is most important:

  • How does the knife feel in your hand? This is a very integral part of a knife. It is, in essence, the extension of you.
  • Materials of the handle: stabilized wood (epoxy/laminate/resinwood), molded or composition plastic, fibrox enhanced rubberized grip, smooth polished wood.
  • Should feel good in your hand, should not pose safety issues, and should be resistant to abrasions.
  • The shape of the handle, how it fits and feels in your hand. A knife should feel natural in your hand, it should not put any undue stress on hands or wrists when cutting for lengths of time.
  • The “balance” of a knife refers to where the weight is in a knife. Is it blade heavy or handle heavy? It should be evenly balanced especially with knives that are specifically used for multiple actions such as slicing/dicing. Again you will be able to “feel” this in your hand as you hold a knife.

Knife materials:

  • Stainless- not a good option, these tend to be very hard to sharpen and used by most that don’t care to tend to knives.
  • High Carbon Stainless Steel-most commonly used for knives holds a good edge but will need sharpening/honing frequently, resistant to tarnish/rust.
  • High Carbon Steel-Old school standby used by chefs that know how to take care of them. These hold a great edge but will tarnish/rust if proper care is not taken.
  • Damascus is for show and shine:  an expensive knife that is fashioned from a variety of steels layered together. A finishing touch is an acid etch that exposes lines in the surface of the steel giving it a artistic appearance. It is a tough blade with good edge quality.
  • Porcelain/Ceramic – Need I even say…the fact that it will shatter (in the kitchen!) if dropped counts this one as not usable in my book.

Remember… a more expensive knife does not mean that the user’s cutting ability will be any better. A knife must be cared for, used properly and feel comfortable while in use. In my next post, I’ll speak to the points of sharpening, as well honing your fine piece of cutlery.

My favorite knives over the years, what feels good in my hand, are as follows:

 

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How to propose marriage with a salumi, salame, salami ring!

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Although you may not be fortunate enough to make salumi, salame, salumi in an approved USDA facility like me, you too could still propose to the woman of your dreams and live meatliy ever after!

How do I love thee, salumi the way with a soppresate ring from il Mondo Vecchio

1. meet the best woman in the entire universe and fall in love.

2. make sure she loves all things meat (pun intended).

3. make sure that she talks about your meat to her friends on the phone while in the bathroom stall. (she actually did this the day we met at a food show!)

4. make sure she dreams about visions of your salami dancing in her head (she actually said she would do this upon leaving said food show!).

5. make sure she truly loves you back, communicates sincerely, shares the same dreams, envisions a quality life.

6. become close friends with the chef and crew of local bad ass restaurant (Restaurant Twelve and Jeff Osaka) give him the down low info and the slice of the precious preserved palate pleasing morsel.

7. have said chef and crew serve the meaty ring with one of the evenings courses.

8. when served, get on one knee and propose (hope she says yes, if she says no you can at least eat the ring!)

optional: for a more traditional approach invite the parents of most amazing woman in the universe over to dinner to ask them prior to asking said daughter for hand in marriage.

 

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Food + movies = our kind of fun

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We don’t really watch TV, but we do watch quite a few movies. Our favorites tend to include our main passion… food. Mark and I both got a nasty case of pinkeye yesterday, so we won’t be out the house for a day or two. We’ll be watching a selection  of our favorites, in no particular order. Fire up your netflix cue and pop some popcorn.

  • 9 1/2 Weeks. We prefer to forward through the rough, nutso sex and just get the food porn on. This one isn’t for everyone:)
  • Like Water For Chocolate. The only movie I’ve ever seen that was worlds better then the book. Spanish subtitles.
  • The Big Night . Anyone who is crazy enought to own a restaurant will tell you about the trials and tribulations. Here, you can also really see their passion for food!
  • The Last Holiday. I have a secret Queen Latifah crush. Here, see how she chooses to spend her last days… with her favorite chef!
  • Bottle Shock. Fun movie about wine, trusting talent and passion.
  • Chocolat France, food, love.
  • Ratatouille. Who doesn’t love a food cartoon with a rat chef?
  • Julie and Julia You can’t put Meryl Streep in a food movie about Julia Child and not make it a hit!
  • Mostly Martha “No Reservations” in German, much better and much more believable…
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The classic. (Sorry Johnny Depp.) This is the ultimate movie about living your food.

 

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