Saw this at BustedKnuckles. Now I need to make them.

 

Elk bones

 A friend of mine got an elk last Monday.  I helped him pull it off a mountain, and then I helped him butcher it and package it up.  He gave me quite a bit of elk for my trouble, as well as the hide and the bones.  He was going to throw the hide away anyways.

The hide is currently scraped and salted, and sitting in the garage waiting for me to soak it and tan it.  I got a commercial tanning compound, as I forgot to get the brain from the head.  We left the head on the mountain, because I didn't want to pull any weight down that I didn't need to pull.  The bones are currently in the smoker.  There's nothing like a smoked bone to throw in soups or stews.  Not only do you get the smoke flavor, but all the marrow and other nutrients that modern America throws away are all there in the bones.  Do you wonder why your chicken soup doesn't taste as good as grandma's?  Add the bones.  Red beans and rice?  Ham bones in the beans.  Ever had pho?  Beef and pork bones used to make the broth.

These bones will get sealed up and put in the freezer until we need them for a soup or a stew.  I use every bit of an animal, and quite frankly I don't know why other people don't.  But I'm old fashioned, and I know it.

UPDATE:  The bones are smoked, and vacuum sealed.

Toss one of those in a pot of chili, or a good beef stew?  Boy, you don't know what you're missing.

The Ragin' Mrs and I made this. It was awesome

We put a caramel chocolate espresso frosting on it.  Yes.  It was awesome.

If you want to learn how to cook, or cook better

This guy here is about the best chef on YouTube for learning.

I so want to do this recipe:



Yeah.  No politics today.  I'm busy.

Well, this is rare

The Ragin' Mrs and I have sampled multiple variations of Boudin sausage, and I think it's safe to say that we don't quite enjoy any of them.

This may piss off multiple Cajuns, but it's all a matter of opinion.  We like what we like.  And although we can make an authentic boudin, it's not something that we want to do.

Andouille, on the other hand....

Easter Ham

The Mrs. is allergic to nitrates, so we typically don't eat much ham at the Raging Casa.  Unless we make it ourself, which is a rather time consuming process.  But we figured what the hell, let's do this.  So we got a pork shoulder, rubbed it down with salt and spices, then set it in the fridge and just drained the liquid off every now and then.  Today it's going on the smoker for twelve hours or so.  Once that's been accomplished, we're going to cure it in wine for two weeks.  It's a cross between an old Italian method and a standard American method.

Bake it on Easter, and yum yum yum!

I like fried okra

But a co-worker just gave me about two pounds of the fresh stuff, and I have no earthly idea what else to do with it.  I mean, fried okra is the bomb, but I don't need that much.

So c'mon, you Southern gents, give me your ideas.  The Ragin' Mrs. and I are thinking about cutting off the tops and filling them up like jalapeño poppers.  I want to cut them in half, stuff them with sausage and make little tasty boats out of them.  Anybody got any good recipes?

Dinner last night

Ground my own beef.  Made burger patties.  Cooked up some Black Forest bacon.  Drained pan, cooked patties in the little bacon grease left over.  Flipped patties, added a good Irish cheese.  Added pickles.

Plated burger on donuts left over from church.

Oh yes, it was damn good.

Yes, I ran this morning.  Why do you ask?

Stuffed beef

Some time in the past I wandered over a blog post at CMBlake's joint that showed a gent with a beard stuffing ground beef with all kinds of goodies like onions and mushrooms and topping it with cheese, and then grilling them for an hour till they were done.

"Self" I said to myself, "You can do that."

So I did.  And it was good.  This particular dinner was ground beef filled with onions, mushrooms, pastrami, topped with smoked mozzarella and wrapped with bacon.  I had it in the grill, off-set from the coals at about 325 for an hour.

And then the Ragin' Mrs looks at me and says "Hey....  what if we tried this with a few different concepts?  Like maybe spaghetti and meatballs?"

"Self", I said to myself, "You can do that too!"  And so I did.

I made the bowls out of ground beef and our home-made Italian sausage (hot).  I made a red sauce with onions, garlic, and various Italian herbs.  I cooked up some whole-wheat pasta.  Whole wheat pasta seems to hold firmer than most other kinds, and since this was going to be cooked twice I wanted to make sure the pasta held up.  I filled the bowls with sauce and pasta, then topped it with finally shredded pecorino-romano cheese.  Here's the pre-grilled pic:

And here it is on my plate, along with a small loaf of bread:

Once it came off the grill I topped it with a bit more sauce.

Yes.  It was good.

Now go forth, and GRILL!

(Link to the post at CMBlake is here.  Found it!  They called it "Beer Can Bacon Burgers")

OK, so...... I need some cash.

Just enough to get to Korea.  And then enough to buy this sammich.

No, you don't understand.  I must have it.  Now.  Like right now.

Look, I won't stay there for long, just enough to have one or two hundred of these sammiches.  So, like, a month, tops.  Maybe three.

Want.  Badly.

Mmmmmm.... Breakfast

A post over at C&S made me think back to the first time the Ragin' Mrs. made the Breakfast of the Gods...

Bacon

Cooked up some bacon this morning.  The house smells awesome.  The dogs are vibrating.  And I'ma gonna eat me some bacon.

And yes, the Ragin' household has a can in the fridge for bacon drippings.  Of COURSE we do!  What kind of barbarians would willingly throw away bacon drippings?

Saturday Night

I'd seen a burger/sammich somewhere on the intartubes, probably at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical, and just had to try it.  So I brought the idea up to the Ragin' Mrs., we spoke with some friends, and we came up with dinner for Saturday night.

That, my friends, is a bacon cheeseburger (with home-made bacon!) between two grilled cheese sammiches.  With home made bread.

And yes, it was DAMN good.

I won't even get into what we had for dessert.  I will just say that I think I gained fifty pounds this weekend, and now have to run my ass off.

Just for fun

In honor of Bigot Boy (so dubbed by the Ragin' Mrs. because his favorite word is "BIGOT!"), who called us "no better than Hitler", I made a batch of German Hard Rolls last night to go with lunch today.

Although I used whole wheat flour, so that whole "white purity" angle just went out the window. Because I'm all about the diversity.

Thatisall.

The Celebration of Pork continues!

Since the Federal Government is porking it up, I'm going to continue to showcase pork for a little while. You've seen the Breakfast of the Gods, the Breakfast 'o Gods Ragin' style, and today I give you freshly smoked Andouille sausage.


Now, all you Andouille purists, no, this is not made with beef, nor is it stuffed in beef intestine. It's pork, pure pork and spices, because I can get pork for $1.29 a pound and so that's what I use to make sausage. But the spices are pure Andouille, to the point where I just ate some and my ears are burning. Great flavor, great kick, and it was smoked until fully cooked over a mix of hickory and black walnut.

Mmmmmmmm, porky goodness!

In honor of the PORK

Since the government is all about the pork, here's some porky goodness. Click to make it bigger.




The Ragin' Mrs. says it needs eggs. I'll have to take pictures of the version she makes and throw them up on the blog.

Hey, after my arteries clog up, the government can deny me treatment under their new Five Year Healthcare plan!

The Norwegian Battle Sammich

One of the military forums I frequent has a recipe called the Norwegian Battle Sammich. The Ragin' Mrs. cooked 'em up for dinner tonight.

Wow. Tasty, filling, who the hell cares if it's authentic or not, it's damned good! The wife used boneless porkchops for the filling, but we both think it would go better with ham.

So, since it was so damned good, I've decided to pass it on.

1 grilled chicken breast split down middle
(add/substitute turkey, ham, beef, lamb, venison, etc.)

1/2 packet bacon, grilled

4 eggs scrambled (omelette style)

2 slices Swiss Cheese

1 slice tomato

2 leaves Romain lettuce

A1/Heinz 57 (I think we could substitute a good mustard)

1 Kaiser Roll (or one of any good sammich rolls)

Have I mentioned just how spoiled I am? Yes, I am! I admit it! And I'm rubbing it in! HAAAAA!

The sweeter side of Mexico

My Brother in Law(BiL) has been talking about Mexican Sweetbreads almost since I got here. We *finally* made it to the shop.

It was a small hole-in-the-wall bakery with maybe 20 feet of counter space. We went in the afternoon and they were still bringing out new sweetbreads. The American pastries have nothing on these. They are not too sweet, very tasty and despite everyones insistence otherwise I am sure quite laden with fat. I have no way of knowing for sure since I was told they do not share the recipes with *any one*. This is a long time established business with original recipes from Mexico.

But, I digress, these are AWESOME. The Raging_Dave will get his treat soon enough. If you are in the Phoenix area, I *highly* encourage you to stop in. Ordering by pointing is acceptable. I don't know how much English they speak as my BiL did the ordering. But, he says they are better than *any* of the shops in LA!

So, here is the 411 on this bakery:

La Purisima Bakery
4533 W Glendale Ave
Glendale, AZ 85301
(623) 842-1400