Turkey Time is Nigh

Like it or not it is almost that time of the year again – that time to invite Uncle Mert and Aunt Millie and watch them swap their one pair of dentures back and forth so they can take turns demolishing the turkey. Then there's Fred and Tom, both in a turkey coma in front of the football game where the lions are getting their asses handed to them once again. Somethings never change, including the star of the show – the turkey. While there is no law you have to have a turkey, and there is some thought venison was the big seller at the first Thanksgiving, it has become a tradition and the folks wining their way to your bash will be hankering for some bird.

I'd hold off rushing out to the market at this point to grab a bird for it is a little too early for that and right now there is more Christmas crap in the store than there is Thanksgiving accouterments. It is a good time to decide if the turkey will meet its fate or perhaps tofurkey will save his bacon, so to speak. Once the market managers get their massive pre-turkey day shipment choices will be abundant. This is the first hurdle of Thanksgiving prep – the hunt for the bird, and as with nay hunt it is important to know what you're hunting for in a bird. Frozen, fresh, in a bag in a box, on train...well, you get the idea.

The frozen bird is the most ubiquitous. It will literally choke the freezer bins in the meat aisle, different sizes, different brands, free range, in a gilded cage, and so on. It can be overwhelming, but you can narrow the field if this is the road you wish to travel. The first limiting factor is how many freeloading relatives are you expecting and how are their appetites. This will help determine the size of the fowl so there'll be enough to send Fred and Tom off to sleepyland in front of the Detroit Lions' demise. The recommended portion is a pound per person, a pound and a half if you don't want leftovers ( ) .

There is another way to limit the amount of turkey leftover – buy smaller. There are boneless turkey roasts or just the breast (kind of boring that). There are also fresh turkeys, wild turkeys if of the Fudd persuasion, and fresh bits and pieces – in short supply at the present, but I assume the section will grow as the holiday approaches. I've never done a fresh turkey, but have smoked drumsticks, so aside form the thawing I don't expect the cooking process would differ. There is even turkey for the cooking challenged – pre-smoked to be warmed and Jenni-o Turkey roasts with either just breast or breast and dark. Even has gravy include, but a warning to you – if you make one of these there is something about hem where you will wind up eating the entire thing before you notice it's gone. For the hopelessly inept many markets will offer fully cooked meals. That would be incredible sad, but there you are.

Personally I like the boneless roast, just for the ease of not dealing with the carcass, that is not very romantic and I have been required to do a “real” turkey for Thanksgiving so the kids can enjoy the experience (of eating it, not cooking it though that will come). I've eaten wild turkey and it is excellent, though scarce in these parts so I will use the frozen option, but more on that as the time draws closer.

Talking the Talk, Smelling the Smoke

I never mind stopping for a bit to chat about barbecue – I will probably learn something new and the wondrous smell of smoking meat is free. I can't get enough of that beautiful smoke and can't learn enough about the art and science of smoking meat until tasty moist and tender. Speaking to the owner of “Hog Heaven” was no exception.

While sampling the smokey goodness coming from his smoker, I learned the fellow was from Missouri and we bemoaned having to pay for hardwood, especially because we both had haunted woods full of beautiful oak, maple, and hickory through our childhoods. Here in Arizona mesquite is easy to come by, but gives the food a little bitter flavor, part of it's appeal, though it doesn't work well with everything. Starting with hickory and finishing with some fruit wood was the plan he used and I can vouch for it being an excellent technique. Oak is good and can be found in Arizona, hickory not so much and I have yet to see any apple trees – lots of citrus, but I have heard the smoke from citrus wood is a trifle toxic, so I avoid it.

The proprietor of Hog Heaven had things to do so I left him to it, thinking about picking up a pork butt and smoking it over some hickory chunks and finishing it with some apple wood chunks I had at home. I'd also like to try tossing corncobs on like they do in South Dakota where corncobs are easy to come by giving steaks a nice finish from what I understand. I do use mesquite, mainly because my son-in-law has a mesquite tree and I get it for free, but I would still finish with hickory (purchase din chunks from a big box store. The trouble with Big Box Stores as a source for wood as they are all headquartered in places that have seasons, unlike Arizona where there's no excuse fro not barbecuing or grilling every day. The inflatable Santas and Christmas trees go up and the grilling supplies all but disappear – this happens around the end of September, but seems to get earlier every year.

Anyway, use what you have on hand, but don't be afraid to try something a little different if the opportunity presents itself. The final problem I had with finding wood for my smoker was trying to convince the flight attendant that my Shagbark Hickory stump was carry on...

TOTTS AKA Talk of The Town Asian DIner

Lucky Cat

Chinese are famous for ancient pottery, human rights violations, and the great wall, but before all that there was the food. Ever anxious to leave a country where the government is even more overbearing and corrupt than ours, many immigrated to America to work the rail road, open laundries, and cook. Fortunately brought their recipes with them, but unfortunately many of the ingredients they used didn't come along for the ride, so being clever they persevered with what was on hand and this morphed into the carryout of the modern day.

There are many Chinese joints scattered throughout the valley, but one standout is TTOTs or “Talk of The Town,” and that's not just a catchy name. They offer large quantities of high quality food at low prices and do it rapidly. The menu is pretty inclusive, with all the standard favorites to please the sweet and sour pork set but also offer Asian Fried Sole and a credible Pad Thai. They have the usual appetizers and  offer Asian lettuce wraps and pot stickers to die for. There are noodles and curries, and Lucky Citrus Tarts for after. All good, all served up with alacrity and a smile. On the downside there is only one location in the East Valley. leaving we po' folk in the Far West Valley shit out of luck. There are nice Chinese places in the Far West, such as Chen Wok and the Tasty Kitchen, but for variety TTOTs has them pretty well beat.

The joint itself is clean and inviting -- you can see into the  kitchen so they can't drop your food on the floor  without being caught in the act (not that they would). The staff is happy, clean, and efficient. Altogether an enjoyable eating experience, but if one is antisocial carry-out is available.

Bottom line, if rubbing elbows with East Valley folk in Chandler and finding yourself hungry for something beyond the pedestrian Panda Express swill, give the place a shot.  

Talk of the Town Asian Diner

The Chow

Kitchen

4030 W. Ray Road, Ste E-1

Chandler, AZ

480-897-7928\

Hours:

Mon-Thu  10:30 to 9:30

Fir-Sat      10:30 to 10:00

Sun           11:30 to 9:30

Roll 'em if you got 'em: Tortillas

Finished (if thick) torillas

It is fun to try something new and wonderful in the kitchen, and I decided to take a shot at making my own tortillas with a recipe I stole off the interwebs. Normally I like to confer with the aide in my wife's class, a world class Mexican cook, but decided to just wing it this time. To share a shameful secret I have had a tortilla press stuck away forgotten in a cabinet for years. Always thought I'd use it one day, and that day finally came. Sadly I wasn't too impressed with the results.

The recipe called for the tortilla to be rolled out, but being a man I blew of the directions so I could use my toy, and truth be told the finished product came out thicker than I would have liked. Either I need to tune the press up a bit or swallow my pride and get the rolling pin out. I'll eventually get with my Mexican cooking expert and find out how she does it (which I should have done in the first place) and probably wind up selling the press to some other sucker. But I am getting ahead of the game here.

The first step is to bring the ingredients together. I've listed the recipe I purloined (my apologies to whomever came up with the original) at the end of this for your viewing pleasure – don't like the recipe, go steal your very own, there are a bunch out there. It's basically flour, salt, baking powder, oil and water, Nothing fancy, just basic stuff. The recipe instructs the cook to run the dough hook to ensure all the dry ingredients and then add the wet and mix away until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. From there it's a matter of separating the dough into 16 balls of relatively equal size and allowing them to rest for a bit before rolling them out.

The process went smoothly and the dough came out well – now this may seem some pretty straightforward stuff, but I am here to tell you my baking sucks. I divided the dough into 16 balls o' fun and then squished them in my press – important note, I used a plastic cutting mat I vandalized by cutting in half to protect the plates of the press and also protect me because I am more than a little suspicious of the metal they used making the thing. After the first two I noticed it made some really cute tiny tortillas, suitable for diet tacos, maybe. So I took it upon myself to reconstitute a pair of dough balls in to one big dough ball and squishing them into a near normal small tortilla.

As I flattened one tortilla out I was cooking them on a cast iron skillet (AKA comal) flipping them when pale brown spots brown spots appeared on the surface. As stated earlier they came out a little thicker than I would have liked, but they tasted fine. Topped with some homemade refrieds, sliced olives, and cheese they were good to go despite being a bit thick and not terribly flexible.

After conferring with the expert and revamping my technique I will definitely try this again. It was a bit of bother, but I didn't wind up with a huge pack of tortillas and the ones I made tasted a lot better than the factory made ones. They do store well, so far, and I can pronounce everything that went into them. Once I get this perfected it's back to trying gorditas again (the first time was a bit of a fiasco, but the fire is out so no harm done). Looking for toppings/fillings -- pulled pork and brisket works really well...

Tortillas

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the dough hook attached mix dry ingredients until well combined. Add oil and water with mixer running at a medium speed. Mix for 1 minute, stopping several timesto scrape the sides of the bowl. After about 1 minute, or when mixture comes together and begins to form a ball, decrease mixing speed to low. Continue to mix for 1 minute or until dough is smooth.
2. Transfer from mixing bowl to a well-floured work surface. Divide dough in half, then in half again. Continue until you have 16 fairly equal portions. Form each piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand as much as possible. If dough is sticky, use a bit more flour. Cover flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.
3. After rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Roll each dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will get soggy.
4. When pan is very hot, place one dough circle into pan and allow to cook about 1 minute or until bottom surface has a few pale brown spots. The uncooked surface will begin to show a few little bubbles. If tortilla is browning too fast, reduced heat a bit. If it’s taking longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on underside of tortillas, increase heat a bit. Flip to other side and cook for about 30 seconds. You want the tortilla to be soft but have a few small pale golden brown spots on surface. Remove from pan with tongs and stack in a covered container or zippered bag till all tortillas are cooked. This will keep them soft and pliable.
5. Wipe out the pan in between tortillas if flour is started to accumulate.
6. Serve warm or allow to cool for later use. When ready to use, place a slightly damp paper towel in the bottom of a container (with a cover) that will hold the stacked tortillas. Microwave, uncovered for 15-25 seconds (start with 15) or until warm, then cover to hold heat while serving.
7. The tortillas will keep well stored in an airtight container or zippered bag at at room temperature for 24 hours or can be frozen indefinitely. To freeze, separate tortillas with parchment paper or waxed paper and place in a zippered bag before placing in freezer.

Once again, my apologies to the original author of the recipe.

Preparing to squish and cook

cooking

Getting Sloppy in the Kitchen

First there was the lowly steam burger, nutritious but the blandest thing on god's green earth. It was a staple in South Dakota dished out of large hot Nesco Roasters, though I never saw its like in the WI of my childhood -- we had the “Sloppy Joe.” I grew to hate that thing, right up there with the Wednesday meatloaf with Special K cereal as filler. Not so much the dish itself as the constant repetition. Basically both dishes are another way to feed feed lots of people quickly, not exactly fishes and loaves, but a miracle in and of themselves.

Leaving mythological events behind, the Sloppy J became kind of a convenience food of it's time. A combination of ground beef, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, and perhaps a dash of hot sauce it was the 1,2,3, you're done dish of it's day. Now they have a box of crap with a goofy puppet hand on it you can add to your meat, but trust nothing that has spent most of its life in a box. They have made a stab at canning the Sloppy J as well, but with little success. Really there's no point as the dish can be made up ahead of time, or even spur of the moment it doesn't take but a few minutes. Brown the meat, pour off the grease, add the crap, stir until incorporated and and cooked through, then plop on a bun and voila, you're done. Not something I'd serve day in and day out, but good enough when in an occasional bind.

As my wife loves Sloppy Joes I make them primarily for her, though I will eat them however begrudgingly. I did upgrade mine a bit using a poppy seed hard roll, but kept fairly traditional beyond that.

1lbs       ground beef

1/3cup   ketchup

1tsp       brown sugar

1/2 tsp  Worcestershire

1/4tsp    hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

McCrap, I did it again...

Long ago and far away there was a place called George Webb and a section of the Milwaukee Journal known as “The Green Sheet.” What does an oddly colored comics page and a restaurant have in common – that's an easy on e, the George Webb coupon of course. Clip that baby out (it was usually right under “Ask Andy”) and then off to the hamburger parlor for the six burgers for a buck deal, with fired onions!. That was fast food at the time and was looked down upon as is fast food to this very day. I can well remember cruising to an aging aunts house with the car windows down in the dead of winter so she wouldn't find out mom had feds us George Webb for dinner.

Truth is George Webbs was (and is still) one of the best burgers around, though sadly one has to travel all the way back to Milwaukee if interested. It was a place that actually gave a damn about its food and though rapidly prepared, there was still quality. Enter the Clown. I can;t be sure when it happened exactly, but the Golden Arches sprung up on Highway 100 and Burleigh bringing cheap greasy burgers filled with mostly ketchup and mustard as well as a pedofilic looking clown named Ronald. In my mind clowns have as much to do with hamburgers as a squintchy eyed sailor has to do with fried chicken. The idea was to get them start young and keep them coming back for more, and keep coming they did as the sign touted, “Over a Billion Burgers Served.” The burgers (not promising anything here meat-wise) were horrid and the deluge of condiments they were served with did little to hide the nastiness within, but they were fast and cheap as Charlie Sheen's dates.

Now fast forward from the Triassic to present and I do still find myself eating there from time to time. Perhaps my rapidly fading memory keeps me from remembering the greasy salty disaster called the Big Mac, that sits at the bottom of my stomach like a lump of wet concrete. The burger I had today had to have been dredged in salt then dropped in a hot grease pit for cooking. Shamefully I admit I ate it, and yes, the lump of wet concrete is there. The young lad that sold me the McShitwich convinced me that I should get a cup with a sticker on it. Not sure what was important about the sticker, but he seemed adamant so I went along. Turns out it was a contest – I was hoping to win a free stomach pump, but as with the food, I was a loser.

The cure for this particular malady is to find better spots to eat, and perhaps wear a rubber band on the wrist to be snapped viciously to remind oneself that the join is mcpoison on a bun. Sadly up in the Far West Valley here there aren't many choices, as yet. Mostly chain restaurants and few if nay of the wondrous Ma and Pa cafes – certainly (and sadly) no George Webb.

I Can Beer Can

 

You won't see Beer Can Chicken on the menu at the Ritz-Carlton, there won;t be a category for it at the big barbecue cook-off, but this unassuming dish is as tasty as it is easy to make. There are two main ingredients, a chicken and a beer can doesn't get much simpler than that. It'd be handy to have a grill, doesn't even need to be a 500LBS cast-iron smoker in the shape of a pig, any grill with a cover will do as long as the chicken will fit upright when the cover is on.

The first step is chicken prep and it can be as involved as you like. I found a technique on line where you sprinkle the skin of the chicken very liberally with salt, wrap the rascal and place it back in the fridge for two hours. Now, I hope I don;t have to tell you to keep everything sparkling clean, including your mitts when you are working with poultry, if you don't realize this by now you've probably already killed someone (or they wish they'd've died). Don't go fussing about all that salt either because we're going to rinse it off really good later. The salt helps the skin retain water while breaking down proteins and helps for a crispier skin later in the process. A lot of chicken I've made and had tastes like it was wrapped in a rubber wetsuit.

Moisture is the key and anything done to help introduce it to the chicken is welcome. The can, besides acting as a cooking implement, is filled halfway with beer – what happens to the rest of the beer is up to you, but the beer will help flavor and moisten. To help the breast meat along, as it has a habit of coming out dry, is to gently work the skin away from the breasts and insert a couple slices of bacon, or if a porkophobe, a couple pats of butter. I will also make the bird a designer jacket to go over the breast in the initial stages of the cooking to allow the dark meat to get a head start.

You can introduce any flavors you like at this point. Shove herbage up into the cavity (remember to leave room for the can), give it a rub with your favorite BBQ rub or snake some herbs up in between the skin and the breast meat. Don't forget you can inject as well to bring both flavor and moisture into t he meat itself. I'm going to leave this bird alone, relying on the beer in the can to help to flavor and moisturize. If a first timer it might be wise to refrain from introducing too many variables at one time, just to see how it goes.

Time to set up the old grill. We'll be wanting indirect heat on this one, that is to say coals on either side of the chicken, but none directly under it. The can will be providing moisture, if you didn't drink all the beer, but it wouldn't hurt to put a drip pan under the bird to catch any escaping juices. Once the coals are hot and distributed, shove the can where the sun don't shine (on the chicken, that is) and use it as a stand with the legs to help stabilize the fowl, sort of a meaty tripod. Oh did I mention putting a bit of spray oil on the can to help with separation later? You'll really want to do that.

And now we slap the cover on and bid a fond farewell to our bird, trying to keep the heat between 250 and 300. I'll want the internal temperature of the thigh meat to be approaching 170 before I pull the bird, removing the can and covering the chicken with some foil to rest and cruise up to 170.

Now you're a real BBQ hero, the trickiest part of the whole operation is carving the bird and not leaving it look like a prop in a slasher movie. After adding this to your repertoire you can set your sights on the Thanksgiving Day Gobbler (not Cousin Frank, but the turkey) and introduce the big bird to your grill. .   

Mr. Chicken sporting the latest in foil fashion wear, which also help shield the breast meat and keeps the NSA from reading the chicken's mind. 

Taking the bird's temperature insures you won't kill any of your party guests with underdone poultry.

Ribs on the Grill

It is hard to find anything more alluring than a great rack... of pork ribs, that is. Especially if they've been smoked over a little mesquite for a couple of hours. I have tried several methods and find starting them out wrapped in foil to trap moisture, then later in the process opening the foil and dropping wood on the fire seems to work best. Haven't won any awards, but haven't had any complaints either so unless I see a better method I'll stick with the way I have done it in the past.

Used to be there were some pretty decent shows on about grilling and barbecue, but after they ruined “Pitmasters,” and we went “over the top” waving bye, bye to over priced cable forever it's tough to find any new info. Checking Youtube is a pretty big gamble, if I can even understand the yokel in the video he doesn't tell me anything new. So it's time to just try things and see how they work or don't as the case may be. I still use a rub to help in the seasoning department. Mostly paprika, sugar, salt and onion and garlic powders it works pretty well. Sometimes I use mustard to kind of lubricate the meat, adding moisture and flavor, but either way it works well.

Best advice is nothing ventured nothing gained. Read what you can, there are a lot of good books on the subject of BBQ, but don't lock yourself down on one method. Indirect low heat and patience are the only other things needed to ensure a good rack.