Potato Soup

Today was the first significant cold front of the season. The gray skies smothered the region and stepping outside causes that instant shiver. There are freeze warnings out....

...and predictably, the brand new furnace that we had installed last winter didn't work when we turned it on today.

I needed simple comfort food and homemade potato soup sounded like a great option.

Greg of SippitySup had a nice potato and leek soup, but I had no leeks. I suppose I could have asked a neighbor if I could take a leek in their kitchen, but that didn't sound too good, so I just winged it. (The past tense of wing isn't wung, is it?)

My Potato Soup

Ingredients
1 ea Yellow onion peeled and diced
1 ea Carrot peeled and diced
1 stalk Celery finely diced
3 tablespoon Butter
6 ea Potato peeled and cut into 1" cubes
6 cups Chicken broth
1 teaspoon Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Sage
1/2 teaspoon Basil
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
2 cups Half-and-half cream
2 tablespoon Parsley fresh, chopped

Instructions
Melt the butter in a stock pot and saute the carrots, celery, and onion for about 8 minutes, until the mirepoix is tender.

Add the broth and potatoes then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender.

Removed from heat and stir in the half and half cream.

Garnish with parsley and some home made garlic pepper croutons.

Ahhh, yes, this hit the spot, warming the body and soul!

Potatoes, Goodness Unearthed
(You know the peanut people are kicking themselves for not coming up with that slogan.)
We do eat a lot of potatoes at our house. They store well compared to other forms of produce, they stretch your food budget dollar, and they just taste good!

But I did learn a thing or two browsing the U.S. Potato Board's website. I didn't realize that potatoes are as nutritious as they are. To be honest, I thought they were empty calories. I'm Full of It
Another thing I learned was about the satiety of food, which is the "psychological and physiological feeling of fullness". I always perceived that some foods left me feeling fuller than others but didn't know there was a term for it.

According to that article foods that were high in fiber and moisture content had higher satiety index ratings (or leave you feeling more full). In addition to potatoes, other items were fish, oat porridge, apples, oranges, steaks, baked beans, and wheat pasta. I guess Chinese take out has a satiety index of 0.

Anyway, you might want to check their website out the next time you have a tuber conundrum. They have a library of potato recipes and a wealth of information about nutrition, care, and preparation of potatoes.

October Is Senior Q Month: Request for Help

Three years ago KCBS, National Barbecue News, and many other organizations teamed up to designate October as Senior Q Month. I'll let the text from Hawgeyes site explain:


Why are we doing this?

The answer is simple. To raise awareness of the importance of our elderly as a national treasure. To let them know that's how we feel about them. In short, to let them know we still care. If we make one person smile, the effort was worth it. If we make one thousand people smile, it was history.

The concept is a simple one. Show people that later in life they are still important to us, using BBQ as our "canvas". It doesn't matter if its' an individual, or a group of people that are recognized. It doesn't matter if its' an individual, or a group of people that are giving the recognition. It does matter that the recognition is given!

We need your help. We are asking for volunteers from across the Nation (and Globe) to participate. Any Group, Organization, Team, Company, or Individual will be welcome to cook. Any selected Senior Citizen Individual, Group, or Organization will be the target recipient. Be creative. Work with Nursing Homes, Care Facilities, Meals on Wheels, or the Widow down the street who lives alone. The sky is the limit. Coordinate your efforts to get family members involved. Get sponsors involved, organizations involved, or just do it alone. When you figure out your goal, make it happen.

I want to make this happen here in the Knoxville area in 2009. I made some preliminary calls today to the O'Connor Senior Center and their Meals On Wheels unit. Monday I'll be talking with their dietitian and kitchen people to explore this idea.

But the initial possibilities look like providing a lunch at one of the local centers (she told me the various sites range from 50 to 250 people) or maybe just supplementing the meals on wheels one day, as they serve 900 people a day and there's no way I could organize 900 meals.

I could do a simple lunch of pulled pork and two sides for 50 by myself. But I was thinking if we could get 3 to 5 Knoxville area barbecue enthusiasts to participate, we might be able to put together a nice two meat lunch with multiple side dishes for a slightly larger center. It would spread the cost and work out between the group.

So my request for help is this: If you are a local and are interested in helping, please let me know either in comments or by email. Or if you already have an event scheduled, I'd love to just participate in yours instead.

Easy Chicken Paprika

Before I write about the food related stuff, one of the things I like to do every now and then is the One Minute Writer. Every day they give you a topic and you're supposed to write about it for 60 seconds. Sixty seconds flies by fast.

I thought today's OMW was food related: What good thing could you have too much of?

My response: Circus peanuts, plain and simple. They are my favorite candy as a kid but damn, they could make me sicker than a trash eating dog! I never knew which would get me first, the artificial banana flavoring or the sheer quantity of that thick marshmallowy [BEEP time up].

So why the heck was an orange candy peanut flavored with banana anyway? It doesn't make sense when you think about it.


Anyway, here is a very simple dish that we found on BigOven a few years ago. It works in a pinch and the boys have liked it each time we made it. Far from gourmet but it is perfect for "middle of the week cooking from what's in the pantry night".


Easy Chicken Paprika
Easy elegance: Browned chicken is added to a creamy mushroom sauce enriched with sour cream and seasoned with paprika and red pepper.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Butter or margarine
4 Boneless chicken breast
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 teaspoons Paprika
1/8 teaspoon Ground red pepper
1/3 cup Sour cream

Instructions
Heat butter in skillet. Add chicken and brown on both sides. Take chicken out and place into a greased casserole dish. Add soup into skillet along with paprika and ground red pepper. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream and then pour over chicken. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 covered with foil.

Serve with spatzle or buttered noodles.

Like I said, easy comfort food.

Back to the one minute writer question: What good thing could YOU have too much of?

Stuffed Pork Loin With Tomato Cream Sauce

Dave over at My Year on The Grill has done a few spiral sliced pork loin posts lately and he motivated me to finally get around to trying one myself. Spiral slicing is a technique in which you convert a round pork loin into a flat piece of meat. Check out this post of his for actually HOW to do it, but definitely use the sharpest knife that you have.

Here's how my 2.5 lb pork loin roast ended up. TIP: have your cooking strings laid out under your meat before you start to stuff it. That way when you get ready to roll it back up, you don't have to fiddle with them.

I made a quick red sauce, Maria's Twenty-Minute Tomato Sauce from the Joy of Cooking (pg 305). Maria is either a liar or can't tell time, it took me 37 minutes but I'll let that slide since it tasted good. I ladled some of the sauce onto the flattened roast,

then topped it with mozzarella cheese,

some fresh halved basil leaves,

rolled it all back up, tied it, and topped it off with some more herbs and pepper.

Then it was onto a grill set up for indirect heat at 350f for just about 1 hour or until the internal temp is 140f. TIP: You will want to put foil or a drip pan under this baby.

While it is roasting, I made a simple tomato cream sauce, also from the Joy of Cooking (Pg 48). It is simply 2 cups of chicken STOCK (not base, broth, etc) reduced to 1/2 cup and 1 cup of heavy cream reduced to 1/2 cup, whisked together. Then I added 4 tablespoons of the tomato sauce that I had made earlier and simmered another 5 minutes.

This is why I warned you about foil or a drip pan! Ooey gooey cheese, glorious cheese.

I pulled the roast and let it rest while the rice finished up.

Sliced and served with the tomato cream sauce, wild rice with sun dried cherries and green bean almondine.
I was very happy with the flavors. But I took the roast to 147f before taking it off the grill. So after it rested, it was a bit over done for my preferences, but that was my mistake and I can fix that the next time. It was still good, just not as great as it could have been.

Little Pigs BBQ - Asheville, NC

You might have noticed I haven't been cooking much the past few days. We've had one thing after another and today's "thing" was a wedding in Black Mountain, NC.

On our way back, we stopped at Little Pig BBQ in Asheville. It's located on the corner of MacDowell and Doctors Ln near the Biltmore Estate.

Little Pigs is housed in an unassuming brick building. You can see the pit from where you order and that's a pretty sure sigh you're getting genuine BBQ, not baked, boiled, or roasted pork. Be advised that they are "cash only" but they do have an ATM on site.

A chalkboard menu lists their offerings, a standard smokehouse menu of pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and sides. You can get the usual sandwiches, plates, or bulk take out.

One notable difference is that they serve broasted chicken instead of smoked. Broaster chicken is a crispy pressure deep fried chicken that has always been juicy when I've had it. Not sure why a BBQ joint would sell broasted chicken, instead of smoked.

When we arrived at the ordering station, they were pulling two shoulders (picnics, not butts) so we ordered pork sandwiches and onion rings. Their pork comes topped with slaw and sauce unless you say otherwise while ordering.

I tried a plain piece of pork first. Cooked right with a tender texture but not mushy. The amount of smoke was just about right.

As a sandwich, the slaw, sauce and pork were balanced well in taste and texture. We both really like the slaw.

They have two sauces on the table. The red sauce is a Piedmont style sauce that was okay. Neither good nor bad, just okay. The South Carolina style golden mustard sauce had the expected twang to it. We both enjoyed it and even dipped our onion rings in it.

Speaking of onion rings, theirs have a cornmeal batter, something I'm not used to. They were cooked well, but I just prefer flour based batters. That's just a personal preference, nothing wrong with their rings.

So Little Pigs BBQ was good enough that I'd come back to try their other items the next time we're in Asheville.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Dead End BBQ

"Are we really going to Dead End BBQ after the game," Trevor asked, calling Alexis over to the side of the football field tonight during a break in tonight's game.

"I don't know," she replied, teasing about a weak arm tackle earlier, "are you going to hit someone out there and wrap up?"

He smiled and ran back out onto the field. A few plays later, he recovered a fumble on his team's 2 yard line, ending a long drive by the other team. (True story!)

Trevor was excited because Dead End BBQ opened in Knoxville this week and we were eating there for the first time tonight. That's him under the sign.

I was excited too, because I had met one of the partners this past May at a BBQ competition. I was intrigued when George Ewart told me of his plan to open a BBQ restaurant that serves competition quality BBQ every day.

I'll do a full review of the restaurant in the coming weeks after their Grand Opening. But I can tell you that even during this "soft opening", I was thoroughly impressed with the facility, staff, and food. But in the mean time, I was able to get this interview in an email exchange with George earlier this week.

You’re a BBQ enthusiast at heart, an architect by trade, and now a restaurateur. Did you do the design work on the building and what are some specific features based on your bbq experience that other architects would have missed?
I did do the design work and what we incorporated was the process of smoking bbq into the building. Our kitchen line is open to the dining area and the smoke room is also viewable enclosed with glass windows. This way the public can see us working on the meats.

Tell me about the building, is it a remodel or totally new construction?
We bought an existing building and renovated it. Our goal was to make sure it remained a reclaimed building. After some research we found the building was the local grocery store for the Pond Gap Community and later added a barber and beauty shop in the building. In the mid 70’s it became a convenience store selling gasoline until we purchased it.

Did you encounter any special challenges during the construction/renovation?
Our goal as I mentioned was to make it look like a reclaimed building and once we removed the siding that was applied to the front façade we found the original brick. This was a pleasant surprise and allowed us to keep within our concept. Since this was an old building the roof was a big challenge after we found that there were three different roofs installed on the building, so we removed them all and put a new one on.

Dead End BBQ Society is a competitive team and now a restaurant. Does the team own the Dead End BBQ restaurant or is this a different partnership?
My other two team members elected not to be a part of the restaurant. There three partners currently- me, Jim Cornett and Robert Nutt. I bring the bbq knowledge and recipes; Jim has been in the restaurant business for ever and started Wok Hay which was bought by Ruby Tuesday’s; Robert and I have been friends for over 20 years and he is a very successful business man who created Concorde Microsystems which he sold to Siemens.

What has surprised you during opening this restaurant?
The number of people who have shown up with out any advertising on our part. We put our sign up on Wednesday prior to our opening that we will open October 5 and that day we changed the sign to say we are open. We projected through our trail/ training periods we might expect around 350 people the first day total and we served 275 lunches alone. It was unbelievable!! We have been blessed to have a steady crowd since Monday and pray that it continues.

What was completely expected?
We have hired a very well trained staff and our management team is superior! They have been able to handle all of our adversities in a positive manner and are working everyday to make things better for the customer.

What has been harder to learn so far, BBQ competition or running a BBQ restaurant?
Both have their challenges. I think it was competitions since I have had Jim to help out with the restaurants side.

How has competing prepared you for the restaurant biz?
I learned through competitions that it is not what I like as far as taste it’s what 6 different judges like. So we created rubs, sauces and techniques to offer varying tastes within each meat. The goal is for someone that likes spicy, someone that likes sweet and someone that likes mild to get all of those flavor sensations in the same meat.

In what ways do you think your BBQ com petition may benefit from the restaurant side?
It will allow me to experiment with new recipes and see what the general public likes or dislikes.

What’s different about Dead End BBQ than your run of the mill BBQ franchise restaurants?
Simple, we cook food like we are in a competition everyday!

How does Dead End BBQ compare to roadside stands?
The Dead End Society was formed within our neighborhood in order for us to get together and have fun. This is our goal to have a neighborhood party atmosphere in our place every day and night!

You are reaching for the BBQ holy grail, producing competition quality BBQ in a restaurant. How has that driven your choices in personnel, equipment, ingredients, and other areas?
We wanted to have our personnel to reflect our fun atmosphere and we have been able to do that through our strong management team. Our equipment that we choose to smoke with are Fast Eddie Cookers by Cookshack which are one of the top smokers on the circuit. We have used all of the same ingredients we have perfected over the years.

BBQ is a very regional cuisine. What influences or styles does Dead End BBQ use for it’s meats and sides?
We want to create a style of BBQ and sides that do not reflect a regional per say style other than competition or Knoxville style. I think people get caught up sometimes on the style instead of if it is actually good or not. People ask me is it dry or wet; Carolina or Memphis, I just say our style is good.

Will Dead End BBQ do take out, catering?
We will do take out and catering eventually adding things as we go, for example within the next couple weeks we will start doing take out. Catering will mostly like be within the next two months. We are concentrating on getting the restaurant right before we start adding things.

What are some of the signature main dishes?
We have won awards in every meat category so all of them are special to me. My favorite dishes include brisket, last year we finished 12th in the world in brisket!!! The Tennessee Beef and Cheddar sandwich is off the charts.

What are the standout side dishes?
Mac’n’cheese, slaw, beans, greens as a matter of fact all of them are great. The bbq queso and nachos are very good appetizers.

Does Dead End BBQ utilize local suppliers when possible?
Yes that is our goal.

Do you anticipate expanding to selling commercial Dead End BBQ rubs/sauces?
We anticipate selling our rubs and sauces by the end of this month

How many local jobs did opening this restaurant create?
62 local jobs were created!

I have so much more to cover but I'll save that for later. For now, I'll just say, if you live in Knoxville or visit, I strongly recommend visiting Dead End BBQ.

Chok' On Dis Blaz'n Glaze

[Standard review disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, I have no affiliation with and received no compensation from restaurants or product manufacturers reviewed and paid full retail price for the item reviewed.]

A little over a week ago my curiosity was piqued by a review Brian did over at Hot Sauce Daily on a sauce called Chok' On Dis Blaz'n Glaze. Enough so, that I ordered a single bottle from the company's website at Bisummo.com.

I laughed at their company mission statement, " 'cause we're tired of being po' ". The shipping was very prompt, well packed and included a hand written note of thanks from the owners.

I won't try to do a hot sauce review, because that's Brian's specialty. But I will give you my thoughts.

First, this is NOT a hot sauce so to speak, like Tabasco, Franks, etc. It is a finishing glaze and dipping sauce. Second, I am not a chile head and don't crave the extreme burn like some people do (i.e. Brian, LOTW, or Adam Richman of Man vs. Food). I like more of a "robust spicy flavor" than worrying about how many scoville units I can handle.

That being said, I like to taste my sauces, glazes, etc straight from a spoon before I try to use them in a meal. My initial impression went from sweet to heat in about 0.5 nanoseconds. The habanero caught the back of my throat off guard and I literally chok'd on dat. Honestly, I was worried I might have gotten something too hot for my tastes.

As a Dipping Sauce
Saturday night I grilled up a couple of ribeyes and tried the Chok' On Dis as a dipping sauce. I was impressed! The obnoxious heat I felt drinking it straight the day before wasn't there. It was a perfect complex layering of flavors. The fruity sweet peach and habanero mash heat complimented the steak very well, instead of taking center stage.

As a Glaze
This is where Blaz'n Glaze hit's it's stride. I seasoned some boneless pork chops with my normal pork chop rub and then grilled them on the Big Green Egg at 500f. I brushed them with the sauce in the last few minutes. The thin sauce (compared to bbq sauces) cooked onto the meat exceptionally well.

I served them up with some franconia style potatoes and green beans.

The result of cooking with Blaz'n Glaze was kind of like riding the elevator at an old-fashioned department store (what us old folks shopped at before Walmart and the internet), with the various floors being smoky, bold, sweet, and a bit of a kick. I loved it.

I'll definitely buy some of this again and I can't wait to try it on some wings. And for what it's worth.....I like their label Brian :)