Monday, April 27, 2009

Spatchcock Chicken

Everyone talks about "beer butt chicken" or "drunken chicken" like it is the ultimate in grilled/roasted chicken. Part of the hype is just the entertainment value. Ha ha we stuck a can up a chicken's butt, ya get it? The other spiel is that the moisture contents in the can guarantee a juicy bird.But in my opinion, in order to get the best grilled chicken ever, you don't need a fancy rotisserie grill and you don't need to put Milwaukee's Best up Rhode Island's finest. The one thing I don't like about beer butt chicken is.....well here let me show you with this scientific graphic developed at a leading think tank.Okay, I might have made this one myself....

Most grills, smokers, and cookers have a temperature difference between the dome/cover temp and the actual temperature at the grate where the food actually cooks, because duh, heat rises. The difference with the Big Green Egg is about 25 degrees between dome and grate temp. So with beer butt chicken, the chicken isn't cooking at even temps from top to bottom.

So how do you ensure a juicy, evenly cooked bird? Three steps.

First

Brine the chicken for 6-8 hours. I use a simple brine of
1 gallon water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon black pepper

Rinse and dry the bird.

Second
Spatchcock the chicken. This means butterflying it by cutting out the backbone and flattening it out. That way it cooks at an even temp from top to bottom. I was going to do a video but this one does it perfectly.

Third

Season the bird with your favorite poultry rub and cook it on indirect heat (this night I put a deep dish pizza pan between the fire and the chick chick) at 350f degrees until the internal temp of the chicken registers 165f in the breast or 180f in the thigh. Even if you do this in an oven, it's better than sticking a whole chicken in a roasting pan.You'll have a succulent, evenly roasted chicken that will ROCK.To serve, I quarter mine by splitting down the breastbone in half and then cutting the halves at an angle under the thigh.

I have to say that my smoked chicken is even better but that takes 3-4 times as long so in the middle of the week? This works for me!

Sometimes I make an extra chicken just to make sure we have leftovers for things like fettuccine alfredo with roasted chicken:) (yeah, we went way too heavy on the sauce tonight, my bad)
So give a spatchcocked chicken a try for the perfect roasted chicken! And on that I'll leave on a quote that I once read on a food forum:

"I told my father-in-law that I spatchcocked a chicken and he said, 'Oh yeah? I just bitch slapped a sirloin'."

For printable version, click here:
Spatch-cock Chicken

Sunday, April 26, 2009

When pigs fly.....

uh oh, too late, swine flu!

For the record, the Centers for Disease Control assures you that:

"Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe."

I want to further assure you that despite my affinity for all things pork (ribs, chops, tenderloins, shoulder), you can not contract swine influenza A (H1N1) from reading this blog.That is unless you happen to be using a computer that was previously used by an infected hog that sneezed on his/her pig feet without washing or pickling them before using the computer. If that's the case, you're on your own.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Brick Oven Beef n Swiss Meat Pies

[Guess who got his camera back yesterday!]

One of the best things about the Big Green Egg is its versatility. Sure it's a smoker AND a grill. But it's also a wood fired oven that is great for making pizzas and bread, similar to the brick ovens thanks to the Egg's thick ceramic construction.

Tonight we took one of my childhood favorites (cheeseburger turnovers), put an adult spin on them, and baked them on the Egg. You can do these in a 425f oven and they'll still be great, but fresh off the Egg they were AMAZINGLY good!

Brick Oven Beef n Swiss Meat Pies


Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef (turkey or pork would work as well)
1/2 ea vidalia onion, chopped fine
1/4 ea green bell pepper, chopped fine
salt to taste (we used about 3/4 t of Kosher coarse salt)
pepper to taste (we used about 3/4 t)
2 cans of refrigerated biscuits
10 slices of baby swiss cheese

Instructions
In a preheated skillet, brown the meat, onion and bell pepper. Drain well, you don't want a soggy pie do you?
Flour a surface, take two biscuits, overlap them and then roll them out into a figure 8 kind of like this:
Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture onto on half of the dough and top with sliced cheese like this:
Pull and stretch the empty side over and onto the mixture. We find it helps to slightly moisten the edge of the dough with water first. Then crimp the pie closed with a fork like this:
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you to preheat your oven or Big Green Egg to 425f. If you're using the Egg, set it up with the plate setter LEGS DOWN with a pizza stone on top. If you're using an oven, a pizza stone would help but you can use a baking sheet if that's what you have. If you don't preheat the stone, the bottom of the pies will be a bit doughy, so take your time and get it hot (if Michael Scott was here, that'd be a "That's what she said!" line).Bake the pies for 8-10 minutes each, until golden brown all over.Mmmmmmmmm FREAKING AWESOME COMFORT FOOD!!!
This is a great dish to get your kids to help with. You could do a "meat pie bar" at a party or event where people pick their own ingredients to go into the pie. You can do any variations you want, such as:

Cheeseburger turnover: meat, onion, & American cheese
Taco turnover: meat, onion, taco seasoning, and pepper jack cheese. Dip in taco sauce.
Gyro Turnover: gyro meat (google Alton Brown gyro), red onion, & feta cheese. Dip in tzatziki sauce.
Club Turnover: ground turkey, bacon crumbles, small diced tomato. Dip in a flavored mayo.

For printable recipe, click here:
Beef and Swiss Meat Pies

Monday, April 20, 2009

Name That Chicken Poll

I couldn't decide on a name for the Thai cornish hen recipe that I came up with tonight so I need some help. Can you tell I like punny recipe names? Vote for your favorite over there >>>>>> in my sidebar or feel free to write in your own idea in the comments section.

The options so far are:
  1. A Little Bird Flew (special rub - H5N1)
  2. Little Bang! Cock (Bangkok)
  3. Phuket Chicken (Southern Thai province)
  4. I wrote a better one in your comments.
The menu tonight was
Yet to be named cornish hens
Stir Fried Broccoli
Thai Noodles with Peanut Sauce
Excuse the crappy pictures...waiting on my real camera to come back in the mail. Ive quit even bothering with lighting or presentation for now.
'

Thai Cornish Hens (to be named later)

Ingredients
2 cornish hens, thawed and halved
1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c brown sugar
1 1/2 t peanut oil
1/2 t sesame oil
2 t thai fish sauce
2 t oyster sauce
1 t ginger, fresh ground
1/4 t black pepper, fresh ground
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t basil (dried only because our fresh basil is too young to start plucking yet. I would use 1 T of fresh)
1 T cilantro, chopped

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except the hens. Marinade the hens in the mix for 2 hours.

Put the halved hens on a raised rack into a 350 degree oven. Reserve the marinade. The raised rack lets the hot air circulate around the hens instead of just across the top. I swear this makes a difference compared to just slopping them into a casserole dish.
Boil the reserved marinade for 60 seconds. Baste the chicken every 15 minutes with the marinade. Pull and rest after about 1 hour, when a thermometer stuck into the thigh reads 170f. Using a remote probe thermometer is great so you don't have to keep opening the oven door.

Stir Fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
(Joy of Cooking 1997 version pg 352)
Ingredients
1 head Broccoli chopped into 1" pieces
1 tablespoon Peanut oil
3 cloves Garlic finely minced
1 tablespoon Ginger finely minced
1/4 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1/3 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Oyster sauce
3 drops Sesame Oil

Instructions
Heat oil in wok. Stir fry garlic, ginger, and pepper for just a few seconds. Don't let the garlic brown. Add in broccoli (wet from rinsing) and stir fry for two minutes.

Add chicken broth, cover tightly, and steam for four minutes.

Add oyster sauce and stir fry for 3-5 more minutes.
(This is our family's favorite broccoli dish. It works great adding in thin sliced beef for beef & broccoli.)

Thai Noodles With Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
3 teaspoons soy sauce
3 teaspoons peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
3 garlic
8 ounces spaghetti
1/4 cup green onion
1/4 cup peanuts


Instructions
Combine broth, ginger, soy sauce, peanut butter, honey, red pepper, and garlic in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until peanut better melts and is heated through to a smooth consistency. Add to noodles to coat. Garnish with green onions and peanuts. (My notes: I don't know where I found this recipe. Based on it's Americanized version of a foreign dish, my guess it was from some cooking magazine. This is a decent base side dish and is actually surprisingly flavorful & spicy. But it needs some color, like some cilantro and red bell pepper. It's just visually dull.)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

BBQ Pork Loin Back Ribs

This little piggy came from the market
This little piggy came homeThis little piggy came out of the Big Green EggThis little piggy was Yum!***
This recipe is based on my first successful attempt at baby back ribs about 6 years ago. I went old school today and I know it didn't taste this dang good back then! I guess I've just gotten better! Here's the short version and one video tip.

Ingredients
2 racks loin back ribs (aka baby back ribs)

Rub
1 teaspoon granulated garlic, coarsely ground (not garlic powder although you can use it)
1 teaspoon Onion powder
1 teaspoon Chili powder
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
1/2 teaspoon White pepper
2 teaspoon kosher salt, coarse (very important to use coarse for texture)
2 tablespoon turbinado sugar (aka Sugar In The Raw)

Mop
1/3 c apple juice
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c yellow mustard
1/3 c brown sugar

Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. I made a quick video to show you how.


Thoroughly coat both sides of the ribs with the rub. Toss them on a smoker, bone side up (or grill set up for indirect heat) at 225f grate temp. [Another tip: Since heat rises, there is usually a difference between the temp where your temperature probe is and the level of the grate. With the Big Green Egg, it's about 25 degrees so if your thermometer reads 250f, the grate temp is really about 225f. Get to know your cooker.]

Baste both sides every hour with the mop. This should be the only time you open the cooker, in order to keep temps stable. Remember the adage, "If you are looking, you are not cooking!".

The ribs should be done between 4 (way early) and 6 (a bit long) hours. Today, these ran right at 5 hours.

How do you know for sure? You can't exactly stick an instant read thermometer into ribs to get an accurate read due to the thinness of the meat and bones. One thing you'll see is the bones start sticking out as the fat content renders down. But the best way to tell is to grab about 1/3rd of a rib end with tongs and lift the rib up. If it bends easily at the half way point, they are done!

If you like your ribs "dry" or "naked", they're done at this point. If you like wet ribs, baste them with your choice of BBQ sauce and let them cook for another 20-30 minutes.


***My real camera is coming back from Nikon as we speak, so no more of these crappy point and shoot pics.

For printable recipe, click here:
Baby Back Ribs

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Chris' Dip and Flip Grilled Chicken

This recipe is one I came up with based on Alabama white bbq sauce, specifically a twist on this clone *** of Big Bob Gibson's White BBQ Sauce. You can also buy the sauce bottled, find several other "clones" of it, or even find other white BBQ sauces.

When you first look at the ingredients, your reaction will probably be like mine when I first read about white bbq sauce in Southern Living a couple of years ago. A MAYONNAISE BASED BBQ SAUCE????? Ewwwwwwww gross! I didn't even TRY a white sauce for months, just because it sounds so odd.

But now, this has become our favorite chicken recipe ever! It's tasty, zesty, and open to lots of variations. You do NOT taste the mayo or the vinegar. Plus it is fun to cook and entertaining for others to watch with all of the dipping and flipping! My wife swears it's the cooking the sauce onto the meat instead of just dipping it at the end that makes the difference.

Chris' Dip & Flip Grilled Chicken

Ingredients
5 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless

Rub
2 t Old Bay Seasoning
1 t black pepper, fresh cracked
Sauce
1 c mayonnaise
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1.5 T black pepper, fresh cracked
1/2 t kosher salt, coarse
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 T turbinado sugar

Instructions
Set up your grill for direct heat at 350f with your cooking grate about 8" from the heat source.

Here are some tips.
-Don't use liquid starters. I like using a MAPP gas torch ($25 at Lowes) to start 3 areas and let it go. Chimney starters are also a great tool. (The wood used here is cherry.)-Make your thermometer easy to read. If you can spin your thermometer, rotate it so your target cooking temp is at 12 o'clock. Can you read the thermometer in this pic? Me neither but because I rotated it with the 350 mark at the top, I know it's at 350 at a glance and from a distance. Makes it easy to see quickly if you're over/under.Season your chicken with the dry rub.
Mix the sauce in a blender. Divide sauce into two large bowls.

Place the chicken on the cooking grate & close the lid. Two more tips.First, notice that all of the chicken thighs are same side up. This helps you keep track when "flipping and dipping" so you DON'T put the same side down twice. Second, place the thicker part of the thighs closer to the center of the heat source for even cooking.

So here's the game plan.
After 5 minutes, flip the chicken & close the lid.
After 5 more minutes (10 minutes total), dip the chicken in bowl 1 of the sauce, flip back onto the grill & close the lid.
After 5 more minutes (15 minutes total), dip the chicken in bowl 1 of the sauce, flip back onto the grill & close the lid.

At this point, discard bowl 1 and change to clean set of tongs.
After 5 more minutes (20 minutes total), using clean tongs dip the chicken in bowl 2, flip back onto the grill and close lid.
After 5 more minutes (25 minutes total) remove the chicken and let it rest.

See? It does NOT turn out dripping in some white goey sauce. You can plate it as just grilled chicken...but it also works as a chicken sandwich (with bacon, lettuce, tomato) or sliced and tossed into fettucini alfredo.

***Having spent some time with Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson's BBQ the weekend of May 9th, I can tell you that this is NOT a true clone of their white sauce. This recipe still works as written, but to get a true clone, buy a jar at the link already listed or buy a copy of his new book, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hello, my name is Chris...

and I'm a crouton addict.

When I was a wee lad, I fell in love with these magical crispy crusty pieces of bread. I didn't realize that they were for salads, I thought they were snack food! I would voraciously bore through a whole box of Brownberry Seasoned Croutons.

I am pretty sure that God invented croutons just to keep lettuce from overtaking the planet. Why else would you eat salad except to get the croutons?

Is there anything better than fresh homemade croutons? They turn an easy premixed salad into something wonderful.

Last night I made up a quick batch for an easy salad, just for a snack, so this is a single serving.

2 dinner rolls
1 T olive oil (the one I used has lemon in it)
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t granulated garlic
1/4 t dried rosemary

I heated a saute pan and added the spices, swishing them around for about 15 seconds. I swear this does something to release their "goodness". Then I added the oil and made sure it heated up, about 15 seconds. The olive oil I used was a gift from a friends trip to Spain and it had lemon in it. Wow, great flavor. I gotta figure out how to replicate that with the regular stuff.

Then I tossed in the bread, stirring and tossing it quickly so all of it gets an even coat of the oil spice mixture. Once evenly distributed, I try to let it sit for about 20-30 seconds, toss, sit again, etc until all sides are evenly toasted and brown. The trick is not letting any one piece get too soaked with oil or too browned.

I removed them to a plate to cool for a few seconds so they didn't wilt the lettuce but I still wanted them warm.

I topped a simple organic premixed baby spring mix salad with a blue cheese vinaigrette dressing and put those croutons on top. Simple but so freaking good!

Guess what I made again for my dinner tonight? :)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Nina, the Pinta, and the Spinach Maria

I couldn't stand spinach as a kid. It was all ick with a side of ewwwwwww.

But now one of my favorite side dishes is Spinach Maria. It's a rich, creamy, yet spicy casserole. It is a perfect sidekick to beef roasts and steaks. Once I even mixed some Spinach Maria in twice baked red bliss potatoes and it was crazy good!

I first found Spinach Maria about 10 years or more ago. It was bundled in an import from Meal Master software. Here is that recipe (now in my BigOven software), Spinach Maria. There's also this alleged knock off of local restaurant, Calhoun's Spinach Maria. It looks good too but I prefer the first recipe for it's simplicity.

Yesterday I tried this version that was in the paper last week from Big Fatty's Catering Kitchen. On restaurant reviews people raved over their spinach maria.

Spinach Maria ala Big Fatty's Catering Kitchen.


Ingredients
8 ounce cream cheese
3 cups heavy whipping cream
2 (10-ounce) boxes frozen spinach (thawed, and excess water squeezed out)
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
Salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
granulated garlic


Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat cream cheese and whipping cream on low heat and whisk until mixture is smooth.

Add spinach, soup mix and seasonings to cream cheese mixture. Stir until fully combined.
Pour into greased casserole dish and bake for 50 minutes.
It was a lot runnier than ours at this point. I didn't want it to taste better than mine. They used a packaged soup mix for pete's sake! But I have to admit, this was some good stuff, at least just as good as ours;)
We used about 1 teaspoon of each for "to taste" for the pepper, salt, and granulated garlic. It wasn't pretty but it was fantastic. Next time I would cook & serve it in individual ramekins.

The rest of the plate?
Oh, that:) It was a little rib roast that crusted with coarse kosher salt for 1 hour.
[I should have trimmed the fat wedge off before seasoning and cooking, then tied it. That's why part is medium and part is medium rare. Lesson learned.]Then I rinsed it off, dried it, and rubbed it with the cajun beef rub is the same one I used here. Then I cooked it with indirect heat on the Big Green Egg at 350 for just over two hours. The smoke was from Jack Daniels oak chips. I LOVE JD oak chips, they are made from actual whiskey barrells, have a great fragrance and put off a nice smoke. I highly recommend them. The drip pan underneath it catches the drippings for an awesome au jus dipping sauce.I pulled the roast off to rest once it hit 130f internal. I normally like mine more rare but my son's girlfriend is a BAD FOOD PERSON....errrr...I mean she doesn't care for rare or even medium rare (ha ha). So I compromised and did medium rare, the put her cut back on for a few minutes.
The potatoes are roasted red bliss potatoes with garlic & rosemary from this post.

Yeah, not a "Jenny Craig" meal, but I thought of that in advance and ran 3.2 miles at Cherokee in Knoxville earlier that day as a pre-emptive attack:)

Fighting Global Warming, One Cow At A Time

This article reports that the 283 million cows of India and the methane gas they produce is a serious contributor to global warming. I guess I'm now an activist....I'm doing my part in the fight, I have a ribeye roast (boneless prime rib) in the fridge for dinner today.Eat Mor Chickin my arse.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Honey Nut Roasted Pork

I'm embarrassed to admit this but this recipe was totally inspired by my laziness. I left a can of honey roasted peanuts on the staircase to "take down to the kitchen later". After about the 10th time past them, I thought about the pork loin (NOT pork tenderloin) I had thawing downstairs and KAPOWW! A "you got your peanut butter in my chocolate" idea was born. Or I guess it was more of a "you got your peanuts on my pork" idea.

Honey Nut Roasted Pork

Ingredients
2 lb pork loin
3 T peanut butter (smooth)
2-3 T white wine vinegar
8 oz honey roasted peanuts
1 t cayenne pepper

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350f. (holy shit! he's not doing this on the Big Green Egg?)

Whisk the wine vinegar into the peanut butter into a smooth mixture. Honey might work with this too. Glaze the pork loin with the mixture like this:In a blender, food processor, or ziplock bag pounded by a mallet, grind peanuts and cayenne pepper together. Rub onto the pork loin for a thick crust. Place on a roasting rack into the oven.Roast until the loin is 150f internal. Pull and let it rest for 15 minutes.Slice and serve.
The meat was perfectly tender and juicy. The crust rocked with flavor and just the right kick of heat! This is a definite repeat!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Steak & 'Taters

Weber Grill Chicago Steak Seasoning
[Standard Review Disclaimer: This product review is based on my subjective opinions only. When it comes to food, what one person finds to be the best ever, someone else will call horrible. I have no business affiliation from any product reviewed and have paid retail price for the product, unless otherwise noted in full disclosure.]

I tried Weber Grill's new Chicago Steak seasoning tonight on some ribeye steaks that I had cut from my spring splurge, a whole ribeye. Alexis bought a jar of it at Sam's Club this past weekend. (Again, excuse the photos, my good camera is still at Nikon. These were taken with a pocket camera.)
I did two with the Weber's and one with my homemade cajun beef rub.Did them all on the Big Green Egg over 500f direct heat for 2 minutes, flipped, 2 minutes flipped, 2 minutes, took them off and let them rest for 10 minutes.

My Opinion: I really like the fact this product uses whole spices and the integrated grinder grinds them up (that's what grinders do, right?) as you need them. I liked to use a fine grind at first to get a good coating and then switch to a coarse grind to get a nice surface texture on the meat. The flavor was good but not as strong as I thought it would be (I went light on the rub). Next time I would use more.

Franconia Potatoes
I wanted to do something I haven't tried before so I thought I would try the Franconia Potatoes from the Joy of Cooking (97 version). The quick version of their recipe was parboil potatoes, put them in a pre-heated cast iron pan with 3 T butter, 3 T of oil, and parsley. Cover and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 more minutes. Blah blah blah.

I did it a little different. As you can see from the steaks I sliced (but had not yet trimmed), they had a bit o' fat on them. hmmmmmm butter....oil....fat.So instead of using oil & butter, I diced up some of the beef fat and tossed it into a cast iron pan that was already in the 350f oven to let it render for about 15 minutes. I added the parboiled potatoes to the pan and did the 20 minutes covered, 10 minutes uncovered deal.Overall? Close. Very close. I'd change it up next time. I'd swap thyme, basil, rosemary or ANYTHING other than parsley and I'd add a tablespoon of kosher salt.On the other hand, it was a pretty damn good dinner:)

Update: Made the same thing Thursday night. But instead, used a mixture of 1 diced shallot, 2 stems of fresh thyme, 2 sage leaves chopped, and kosher salt. I waited to add the mixture until the last 10 minutes (when the lid comes off). MUCHO BETTER!

Monday, April 6, 2009

NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship

So it seems that my favorite college team participating in my favorite spectator sport has found their way to the championship game on Monday Night. March Madness has turned into April...uhh...uhhh....April Anarchy!

We're having some folks over tomorrow to watch the game and here is the menu (click on it if you can't read it) I finally came up with. We were going to do a dinner but come on.....this is the one sporting event that I LOVE every year (okay, this and the Tour de France). So snack foods it is!I planned it out so I can prep much of it in advance and use my Big Green Egg, oven, range top, and an electric griddle all at the same time. If you're in Knoxville, stop by!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Giving You The Finger

Last night was the Final Four and the mighty North Carolina Tarheels (my favorite collegiate team) advanced to the NCAA Championship Game tomorrow night. A lot of people will be having parties for the game so I thought I'd play with some finger food tonight. Literally....oven baked chicken fingers. Plus, this one is easy! (Yes Brandi, even you, a bona fide member of PEAS would like it!)

Done a million times? Yep.
Pedestrian? Sure.
Is that going to stop me? Nope!

Final Four Chicken Fingers
4 ea chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (can substitute breasts but thighs are so much better)
2 sleeves butter crackers (Ritz, Townhouse, Club, etc. A sleeve is one of the cellophane packages inside of the box, I'd guess about 20 crackers in a sleeve.)
2 TB spices (see note in instructions)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 TB lime or lemon juice

The spices: Use whatever you want. It could be half/half kosher salt and pepper. A mix of salt, pepper, basil and oregano would be good. Here's my favorite poultry rub recipe. It can be a bought mix, tonight I used Weber's new Kick'n Chicken.

Cut the chicken thighs into thirds to make strips. Season with 1 TB of the spices. Set aside.

Grind crackers with the remaining 1 TB of spices into crumbs in a blender (or put them into a ziplock bag and pulverize them with a rolling pin, rubber mallet, hammer, anvil, whatever).

Melt butter and add lime or lemon juice.

Dip each strip one at a time in butter with one hand and put into a plate of the crumb mixture. Use your other hand to coat the piece and place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet. (Using one hand for the butter dip and one for the crusting lets you do this without getting both hands covered in a gooey swampman looking mixture!)

Bake them at 350f for 45 minutes. Flip them 25 minutes into the cooking. Here's what will help them not get soggy, remove them to a cooling rack over a piece of newspaper.

Don't have a cooking rack? Sure you do, pull out the wire rack from your grill or even a toaster oven! (Can you tell I was once a bachelor and didn't have the proper kitchen tools?)

Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I took blue cheese dressing for mine.My honest opinion is that they aren't as crispy and crunch as FRIED chicken fingers but it is less messy. I added the lime juice because I thought it would give a bit something different to the same old chicken finger and it did, but subtle. Supposedly oven baked is healthier than deep frying, from what I hear, but I have a soft spot in my heart for fried food. Or maybe that is a soft spot in my heart FROM fried foods..... ;)
GO 'HEELS!