Rye Bread First and Second Try

Rye Bread First Try

Rye Bread The Second Try

I decided to have some more fun with the bread maker.  I figured I would try doing some rye bread.  The first try I used the recipe for rye bread that came with by bread machine.  I was not so happy with it.  It only had about an ounce and a half of rye flour to about 17 1/2 ounce of bread flour.  I found it tasted to much like white bread and the texture was a bit dense.  For the second try I increased the amount of rye flour to about 9 oz to about 10 oz of bread four.  It seems much lighted and has more complexity.  The only small issue I had with the second try is I cracked the cre\ust when pulling it out of the pan, but it is just cosmetic.

Recipe:

10 oz bread flour

9 oz dark rye flour

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp margarine

3 Tbsp sugar

12.5 oz of water

1.5 tsp dry yeast

Throw it all in the bread machine and let it do its magic.

Burger of the Week

Here we go, top to bottom:
Top of toaster hamburger bun
Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce
Beef Fry
Sauteed Onions
1/2 lb beef patty
1/2 Sour Pickle
Romaine Lettuce
Chipotle Mayo
Bottom of the bun

Friday Night Postmortem

Friday Night Postmortem

Chicken and Dumpling (basically chicken soup with matzo balls): The soup was a little bland and the dumplings a bit mushy

Proteins:
Skillet Fried Chicken: Moist but soggy
Texas Style Dry Rubbed Brisket: Actually decent after I resurrected it by drowning it in stock after it dried out while cooking.

Vegetables:
Collard Greens: I was not a fan.  I am not sure if they came out right or if I just don't like collard greens
Green Beans: A tad under done

Starches:
Potato Salad: More than a tad under done.
Baked Beans: OK but really just doctored up out of can.
Corn Bread: Under baked

Dessert:
Fruit Cobbler: Decent

Pecan Bars: Pretty good.

There are a few morals here.  Don't try to rush your cooking and squeeze you cooking into to short of a time and not get enough sleep.

Also, don't try to many new dishes that you have never made before in the same meal

Tentative Friday Night "Southern" Menu

Tentative Friday Night "Southern" Menu
Appetizer:

Chicken and Dumpling (basically chicken soup with matzo balls)

Proteins:
Skillet Fried Chicken
Texas Style Dry Rubbed Brisket

Vegetables:
Collard Greens
Green Beans

Starches:
Potato Salad
Baked Beans
Corn Bread

Dessert:
Fruit Cobbler

Hopefully recipes and pictures to follow tonight and tomorrow.

Burger of the Week and Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce Recipe

Burger of the Week:
Bollio Roll
Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce
Sauteed Onions
Fried Salami Strips
1/2 lb beef patty seasoned with fresh ground black pepper
1 half  sour pickle cut into rounds
shredded lettuce
Schug Mayo

Recipe for Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce:
1 Cup Dr. Pepper
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp of black pepper

Boil the Dr. Pepper until it coats the back of a spoon.  Turn down the heat to medium, add all the rest of ingredients, and stir until combined.

A Trio of Latkes

The Classic:

Makes about 12

5 Large Potatoes

1 Large Onion

3 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the onion and potatoes in a food processor.  In a bowl combine potato and onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Grab about a baseball's worth of the potato mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Sweet Potato Leek:

Makes about 12

2 Large Potatoes

2 Large Leeks

5 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the leeks and sweet potatoes in a food processor. In a bowl combine sweet potato and onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Grab about a baseball's worth of the sweet potato mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Parsnip Zucchini:

Makes about 12

2 Large Parsnips

2 Large Zucchinis

3 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the parsnips and zucchinis in a food processor. In a bowl combine potato an onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Grab about a baseball's worth of the parsnip an zucchini mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Burger of the Week

Burger of the week: A 1/2lb hand formed beef patty with cripsy corned beef, onions, schug mayo, sweet and sour ketchup on a kaiser roll.

Chulent results and my award winning chulent recipe

I went with the name "Vegetarians Need Not Apply" and I won!!!!! Here is the approximate recipe:




This makes roughly the equivalent of 2 deep 9X13s




3 lbs of potatoes pealed

3 large onions sliced

1 bags of barley

1 bag of beans

3 boxes of beef stock

1 large garlic sausage (think about a foot long and an inch thick) sliced

2 medium sized Italian sausages sliced

2 lbs beef stew meat

Fat and meat for 2 lamb breasts

2 small kishkas

2 lbs assorted smoked cold cut ends (my local butcher saves the ends of their cold cuts and sells them at a discount)

1/2 an envelope of onion soup mix

Paprika

Chili Powder

Black Pepper

Honey

Ketchup

Saute the onions with the lamb fat and meat on medium heat until they start to brown and then let cool.

Add the beans, barley and beef stock to a very large foil pan (the ones that are about twice the size of a 9X13).

Quarter the potatoes and add them.

Add all the meat products, making sure that all pieces are roughly the same size.

Add both kishkas, breaking on up, and adding the other whole.

Add the onions with the remaining lamb fat and lamb meat.

Top with the onion soup mix, honey, ketchup, chili powder, pepper, and paprika to taste.

Mix, cover with foil, and cook at 225F for about 24 hours.

Name My Chulent

I am entering the Chulent cook-off for my shul.  They have asked us to come up with a name for our chulents.  I am looking for suggestions.  Please post your ideas in the comments to this post.

To give you an idea about my chulent, but not give away all my secrets, it should be rich, with a smokey note, and touch of heat.

Thanksgiving, it just never ends and I think I like it

OK so the past few years we have been invited out for thanksgiving, so I did not get to be in charge of the big meal on turkey day.  While I did make green beans and cranberry sauce for the meal we went to on Thursday, I passed on making the turkey and dragging it over to our host.  I did not want deal with it, or pay for it.

But of course I could not, not make turkey for the season, so I decided so make Thanksgiving part 2 Friday night.  We were a smaller crowd so I did a bone out, butterflied, stuffed, and rolled turkey breast.

The stuffing recipe was very basic. I sauteed 4 large onions, in way more oil then is healthy, about an inch worth, until the onions are golden. At that point add matzoh meal until it absorbs most of the oil, but is not dry. Continue cooking the the stuffing until it is lightly browned. Cool and and stuff it in the turkey.

I recommend getting it boned and butterflied by your butcher.  I tied it to keep its shape.  I wrapped it in beef fry to help keep it moist.  I roasted it at    350 *F covered until it hit an internal temperature of about 160*F. 

I put a layer of onions, celery, and bell peppers under the turkey and added some chicken stock to the pan to keep the turkey from drying out.