Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

This is the best way to do wine tasting. Go to California (Sonoma/Russian River, Anderson Valley, Paso Robles west in the hills were my favorite destinations. Napa not so much. Some excellent wines but they are too full of themselves) in March during the week. Nobody is there and you get personal attention. And they can get you "ins" at places that don't normally have walk in tastings. Also a great time to go to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

In 1990 I was in France for a scientific conference and then spent some time in Bordeaux. The chateaus don't normally have public tastings but I talked my way into a few by driving to the working area and talking about wines I have had from that chateau (none of the first growth ones but all in the original classification) and got tours from assistant vintners. It was mid-summer so not a lot of activity. I wasn't looking for a tasting but just a visit. At one place I got a barrel tasting. That was unexpected.

 

A client of my wife brought her two bags full of very ripe tomatoes. I don't know what variety but the are the size and shape of beefsteak and with the caprese salad we had last night with one of them I am guessing that they are beefsteak.

I thought about making tomato soup out of them. LOL. And I don't like making Italian tomato sauce out of tomatoes like these. Then I said to myself I could make tomato pie. Now tomato pie is like BBQ and varies by region. I grew up in Chicago and it was more of an Italian thing using plum (roma) tomatoes. These being beefsteak-like tomatoes I will do it Southern style with a sharp cheddar cheese and mayo topping with some chives and basil.

BTW last night was brats with hot German mustard and sauerkraut to go with the caprese salad. Kind of mixing up cuisines but it worked.

Got to think about ways to cook chicken with a series against the Gamecocks. I suppose that I should make something using capon. LOL.

 

Last night we were getting pork bowls from Mi Apa to eat during the game. Since we had lots of ripe tomatoes my wife asked me to make pico de gallo as a salsa with chips to snack on during the game. Because my Publix had perfectly ripe avocados on sale I bought some for making guac.

Anyway a good friend was in town and joined us for dinner. He went to San Antonio for the Final Four and could regale us with stories.

Anyways he tastes my guac and says "This is the best guac I have ever eaten and I was just in San Antonio and had a lot of guac". He also ate at Burrito Brothers when he was a student at UF but I never thought their guac was that great. I told him that I pretty much followed the Rick Bayless (that guy knows Mexican cuisine) recipe but I use extra cilantro. And fresh lime juice is a key ingredient. He calls for it but many people don't use freshly squeezed and how much to use depends on the acidity of the lime. Also I always use serrano peppers instead of jalapeno. Another "art" to good guac is that amount of salt to add. Add just enough to brighten the tasty but don't make it taste at all salty. A delicate balance.

As he left that night he said "If you get me anything for Christmas I want it to be some more of this guac."

I happened to luck out and got it perfect. I had come close before but this was magic.

 

Smoking two chickens today and taking a bit longer than the usual 4 hours but no big deal.

One will be cut into pieces and served with a citrus salad. The other and any leftovers will be shredded for chicken enchiladas and chicken salad. Smoked chicken makes an awesome chicken salad.

 

Smoked chicken enchiladas with victory margaritas.

 

I looked up how most folks smoke chickens on ceramic (kamado) grills and I don't do any of that. I don't brine and yet my chickens come out very juicy. And not salty! I smoke them low and slow (250 F) using apple wood smoke. Everybody else cooks them much hotter. There is no need to cook low and slow to melt connective tissue like with a pork butt (shoulder) but low and slow doesn't dry out the meat and gives the smoke time to penetrate. And the ceramic grill (Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe are the most popular but there are others) retain a lot of moisture. I don't even use a water pan and they come out moist. No need to "beer can" a chicken cooked this way. It will be moist.

One thing that is missing with this method is crispy skin but getting the skin really dry before putting on the grill helps somewhat with that. And one could set up the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the skin if that is an issue.