Recipes

A very nice smoked queso that went well with several things.

1 16 Oz block Velveeta Mexican Cheese
1 7 Oz Can Chipotles Peppers in Adobo Sauce
6 Onion Tops
1 Serrano Pepper
3 tbsp Chipotle Sun Dried Tomatoes

Slice Veleeta into 1/4 slices and lay in an aluminum foil lined pan.
Cut up serrano and chipotles peppers (leave the seeds), spread over Veleeta, pour in the remaining Adobo sauce.
Spread the finely chopped sun dried tomatoes over the Velveeta.
Smoke at 200F for 2 hours

Not a lot of smoke flavor, but a very nice bite with flavor.

I am always trying substititions to try to keep both carbs and calories low. I'm not a big candy fan, but when I do reach for candy, my candy of choice is jellies/gummies.

Came across this recipe for making gummies with jello. If I use sugar-free jello, it is made with aspertame. This doesn't have sugar alcohols and does not raise blood sugar or produce an insulin reponse. Will have to have the Mrs pick up some sugar free jello and plain gelatin to try this. Only other ingredient is water -

mindovermunch. com/recipes/meals/snacks/homemade-gummy-bears-with-jello/

Has anyone done a pizza on a grill? Gas or charcoal?

I prefer a deep dish type or thicker crust pizza but I love 'em all- even cauliflower crust pizza.

I suck at a "from scratch" crust so for a home made pizzas I just buy a premade crust from the grocery store, or maybe a flatbread od some kind. Better yet- I have Mrs. G make the crust.

And clean up the mess. :-)

All the talk of pizza in the What's for dinner thread has me wanting to try making a cauliflower pizza crust. It's basically just cauliflower, egg and cheese. For me, the pizza crust is just something to hold all of the stuff I really want to eat.

I've seen some recipes that call for various types of gluten free flour. I was considering adding either flaxseed or almond meal, possibly both. Flaxseed is high in fiber and has pretty much no flavor, so would wind up being a more healthy meal and both are gluten free.

If you've never seen it and are gluten free and have a craving for bread, Google "cloud bread recipe". Tried it once and it was very interesting. As it's name implies it is extremely light and fluffy and kind of melts in your mouth.

FWIW - I'm not gluten free but do try to watch my carbs, so always interested in low carb alternatives, which a lot of the gluten free stuff is.

Great. Call me Mellow Yellow, but now I can't get the lyrics outta my mind...

I'm just mad about Saffron.

Saffron's mad about me...

(Electrical banana Is gonna be a sudden craze)

About the only things I use saffron for are rice pilaf and Moroccan meatloaf.

It's not very noticeable in the meatloaf - there are LOTS of spices in that - but I miss it when I leave it out.

The only things I've ever made with saffron - I prefer turmeric when I want something yellow, partly for flavor, partly because of cost - are a fish stew and a stewed chicken thing. In memory, they both turned out well and the saffron wasn't like any other flavor. Pretty sure I only made the fish stew once (pescatarian houseguests), but the stewed chicken got made regularly during pomegranate season until the saffron ran out.

So I bought a small amount of saffron.

I have no experience cooking with saffron. I have the standard Google results available- rice, polenta, etc. What have you personally ever cooked with saffron and what can you tell me about it?

Lol @ "dill dough"

Your dill dough recipe sounds like a deep frying batter- different than what DB posted, which is the way my mom pan fried fish too.

The absolute best fried fish is a good 'ol Canadian shore lunch, eh.

Pull the boat up on shore (find a spot with the least black flies), build a fire, fillet the morning's catch of pickerel, toss the guts to the circling gulls, eh. Put a BIG cast iron skillet over the fire, eh. Toss a BIG chunk of lard in the pan till melted good and HOT, eh. Drop the fresh pickerel fillets in till they look golden brown, eh. Fish 'em out with your fillet knife and toss them on a piece of white bread, eh.

And next time- remember the napkins, plates, forks, tongs, salt/pepper... eh.

I'd imagine it works well for bass, catfish and other rough fish, eh.

Yeah, I know, walleyes (or sauger)- but if yer cookin' Canadian, they're pickerel. Eh?

The thing that intrigued me about the Betty Crocker recipe is that it had no egg. The fish comes out extra crispy, but I suppose the egg just makes the breadcrumbs stick in DB's case.

We have a nice easy coconut chicken recipe, but it could be used for shrimp or fish. You need 3 containers.

The first has seasoned flour. I just use black pepper to season it. The second has a beaten egg, and the third has a mix of 2/3 cup of sweetened shredded coconut and 1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs (adjust amounts as needed). I usually add a little sugar to the coconut/bread crumbs.

Simply coat the meat with the flour, then dip in the egg, then in the coconut/crumb mix. Pan fry in oil till golden brown.

Yeah, that's what I meant.

I'm guessing you mean raw, beaten egg and not scrambled eggs - right? ;-)

I like my mothers version.

Dip the fish in scrambled eggs, then cover with cracker crumbs. Mom fried them in butter / margarine, but I use butter flavored Crisco, because it doesn't burn as easy.

That sounds great - if someone else is going to fry it!

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to fish - one of my favorites is to marinate catfish fillets in hot sauce, coat them with cornmeal, place them on a sheet pan with maybe 1/8" of oil and then flip them so all the cornmeal is oiled and bake at 425F for about 10 minutes.

One of the best fried fish recipes I've found came out of an old Betty Crocker cookbook. If you have one, look up "Fish and chips" in the index.

I do make a single substitution. The batter calls for water and I use beer instead. Other than that, I follow the recipe verbatim. The recipe I have calls for dried dill weed. One time I needed to make a double batch and I forgot to double the liquid. My wife noticed and said it looked funny, and I replied that it looked more like dill dough than dill batter. She laughed, and it took me a couple of seconds to figure out why.

I couldn't find it online so -

3/4 C all-purpose flour

2 t dill weed

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1 T vinegar

3/4 C beer

Yeah, there was a recipe thread.

Smelt are an invasive species to the Great Lakes. There used to be a shit ton in Lake Superior and the annual drunken smelt run parties of the 70's to early 80's were epic, but before I was old enough to participate. I did get to clean and eat some. Now it's just a trickle of a run and I don't go. I have to buy smelt. :-(

The reason for the mass quantities of that invasive species was due to another invasive species- the lamprey. The lampreys decimated the native lake trout population and other predatory fish that kept the smelt in check. The lamprey situation was eventually figured out and they were brought under control. The lake trout recovered and other exotic predators, salmon, were introduced. The predatory fish keep the smelt in check.

Oh, and the whitefish recovered too. They're really tasty when smoked. I make a pretty good smoked whitefish wrap. Too bad there isn't a recipe thread somewhere. :-)

I am certain there was once a thread called "Recipe Sharing". I went back more than 1,500 days (about 4 years) and still didn't find it. Maybe it was even longer ago than that, or maybe the thread got zapped, or maybe I'm imagining the whole thing.

One thing that I miss not living in Chicago is when the smelt run. There is nothing like going to the lake catching a mass of smelt and deep frying them on the shore. Some of the best eating and you can't get any fresher than that.

The element turns on and off depending on where you set the a dial It's not marked with a temperature, just variable from low to high.

There is a thermometer of sorts- it just says Low, Ideal and Hot. I occasionally use a real thermometer, but I usually just keep it in the low end of the "Ideal" range on the built in thermometer.

Yeah fish do not take long at all, but I smoke ribs for a lot longer than the time discussed earlier here. I remove them and finish them on the gas grill with BBQ sauce. I know, many people like ribs without sauce, but I like that "tongue will slap your face happy" kinda' cooking.

I prefer fried smelt. I prefer to smoke "fatter" fish- like white fish, lake trout, brown trout, salmon, etc.

Speaking of smelt- the local Lions' club has what they call the "world's largest smelt fry" every April- usually a 3 day event. 2 weeks away this year. I know they go through well over 2,000 pounds of smelt. Apparently because "the community has changed" there are going to be changes to the usual AYCE smelt, coleslaw, baked beans, roll, potato chip menu. They better not be messing with the AYCE deep fried smelt part.

I got this figured out- I put on my "stretchy pants" and head over about the last hour of serving time. Any sooner and the line is out the door and down the block. I hate long lines.

I go through the "refill" line twice (more if it's a stingy bastard handling the tongs) and I don't have to eat for at least another 24 hours.

The smoker fuel source Electric, gas or charcoal, doesn’t make much if any difference in my opinion..I smoke low and slow..you smoke wood of choice is way more important and can have dramitic outcome on the finished product

Goodenuff - "...and the food is done a lot sooner than with charcoal. "

When I first got my charcoal smoker, I did so because a guy at a sportsmans club I belonged to brought in some smoked smelt, and they were very good. I also smelt fished so figured I'd get a smoker. I asked how long he smoked them for and he said 3 hrs. I didn't think to ask him what kind of smoker he had.

I did read a recipe/instructions that came with my smoker for "small whole fish", and it said to smoke for 1.5 hrs. Well, small whole fish were meant to be trout sized, not smelt sized. So my first smoking attempt made dog treats. I later asked the guy what kind of smoker he had and he said it was electric.

I know little about electric smokers, but my impression is that they cooked slower than either charcoal or gas. Do they have a thermostat or is it pre-set and you just plug it in?

From my experience, charcoal smokers provide a better flavor but they take constant monitoring- adding coal/adjusting air- for consistent heat. I have a never used one one just sitting gathering dust- free to a good home.

I switched to an electric smoker. I find that electric produces more consistent heat and the food is done a lot sooner than with charcoal. Put in the food, occasionally add wood chunks. The type of wood depends on what I'm smoking.

We're talkin' smoke here Flip- Got wood?

:-)

I use a good old fashion Weber Charcoal Kettle to smoke in now...Used to have a dedicated Masterbuilt smoker but over the years kinda disintegrated...the kettle is more versatile to smoke in...we like the outcome