Marx's Foods Iron Foodie 2010 on Foodie BlogRoll

UPDATE: I was selected as one of the top 25 entries, so I'll get to compete in the challenge!  Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

The Foodie BlogRoll has presented a challenge that struck me at my core.  Partnering with Marx Foods, a company dedicated to providing premium restaurant supply food products that now sells straight to the public as well, they have given 25 bloggers the opportunity to create a custom dish with superb products.  I can only hope to be one of the chosen 25!  To enter, I have to respond to these five questions, so let's get after it.

• Why do you want to compete in this challenge?

Jay with some Louisiana boiled shrimp

I love a good challenge.  Anything that will stretch my mind's culinary capacity and get me to be creative in the kitchen is a good thing.  The idea behind this contest, receiving a package of eight surprise ingredients and then having to create a signature dish using three of them, is really a foodie dream.  Oftentimes the best meals are spontaneous and just thrown together, showing off more art than science in the kitchen.  Being creative and playing with food is what it's all about, and I'd be excited to see what I could come up with the eight Marx Foods ingredients!  Maybe I'll get a little seafood online like from an online fish market. Perhaps there won't be any seafood at all, but instead a bunch of different herbs and spices for which I'll have to break out my professional cookware.  Only time will tell.  Either way, I'll make sure to cook up something great!

• Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why? Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?

If I could spend a say in the kitchen with a chef it would be the late, great, legendary Justin Wilson.  Justin is in many ways the father of celebrity Cajun chefs.  He was an ambassador for Louisiana food for over 60 years contributing cook books, recipes, public television shows, songs, jokes, stories, and more.  Sadly, Justin, who was born in 1914, passed away in 2001.  If I could spend a day with him in his kitchen, I have no doubt that it would be a great time and that I'd learn a tremendous amount about Cajun cooking, "I garontee"!

• What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?

I like to get a little taste of everything at meals, so when I eat out at a restaurant or sit down to a big meal with family and friends, I like to sample as much as possible.  If somebody next to me or even across the table has something different than me, I'm gonna want a bite, no matter what it is.  Usually I'll offer to share some of mine in return for a bite off of their plate, but every now and then my fork just wanders over.  Sometimes it is something simple like a French fry or piece of buttery bread.  However, I've also been known to snag a shrimp, take a bite out of a burger, or swipe a morsel of juicy steak.  Don't worry though, it is all going to a good cause!

• Sum your childhood up in one meal.

Granny's pecan rolls

The meal to describe my childhood would begin with my mother's cheesy tortilla soup.  While I could eat it as a meal in itself, it would certainly have to be a starter to sum up my entire childhood.  The main course would be a Smörgåsbord of meats grilled over South Texas mesquite wood.  My father took me hunting a lot while I was growing up, and we always cooked outdoors at the deer camp over a mesquite fire with stars lighting up the Texas sky.  We'd grill steaks, ribs, venison chops, quail, dove, pork chops, and even an occasional rattle snake.  Mesquite barbeque would definitely have a place in my childhood meal.  For a side dish I'd have Granny's famous pecan rolls.  While typically a breakfast food, these sweet and nutty baked biscuits of deliciousness would go perfectly with the seasoned and smoky meats from the grill.  Finally, no meal is complete without dessert.  I'd give anything to end this childhood meal with one of Aunt Turtle's cheesecakes.  Her blueberry-banana cheesecake is a work of art, and if I'm not careful, I'll end up eating the whole thing even after this childhood memory feeding frenzy!

• The one mainstream food you can’t stand? 

People that are regular readers of Bite and Booze know one food I can't stand... pickles.  There is something about a cucumber soaked in vinegar that repulses me.  Pickles make me cringe at first taste or smell.  I can't even really watch other people eat pickles without my stomach getting a little queazy.  In Louisiana, we see a lot of fried pickles.  Everyone tells me that I'll love them... but I've given them a try, and nope, no good.  Dis-gust-ing!  Pickles often get misplaced on my burgers and poboys... and that is never fun.  The best thing for me to do is just avoid pickles at all cost.  Life is just better that way.

There!  I've done it.  Now I just hope that I'll be selected by the Foodie BlogRoll and Marx Foods as one of the 25 contestants!  Wish me luck!

Pork Shoulder Barbeque at the House

While most of the culinary conquests that I write about on this blog consist of restaurant reviews and delightful dishes that other people create, every now and then I do a little cooking myself.  I recently spent an afternoon barbequing for some friends where I experimented with some pork shoulder recipes and also threw in a little bit of grilled chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and some homemade biscuits.  Brent, Eric, Justin, and James all came over to enjoy the afternoon of sports and smoked meats.  Add some beers and few things in life could be much better!

Two Pork Shoulders Ready to be Seasoned and Smoked

I decided to use two different injections for the pork shoulders so I could play around a little bit and see which one came out better.  Since my blog is title Bite and Booze, my first decision was that each recipe should contain some kind of booze in it.  The first injection contained blackberries, honey, and bourbon.  I tried to make this one sweet instead of salty to see how the meat would turn out.  After combining the blackberries, honey, and Maker's Mark bourbon, I injected the liquid mixture into the pork shoulder and then rubbed the rest onto the meat.  I let the shoulder marinate like that overnight and in the morning I rubbed it down with a blend of seasoning that mostly contained Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning and brown sugar.

Honey, Blackberries, and Maker's Mark Used to Marinate a Pork Shoulder

For the second shoulder I decided to use more of a salty and spicy mixture to contrast the sweetness of the fruit and honey in the first injection.  I blended together some Worcestershire Sauce, Creole mustard, German-style Kölsch beer, and Louisiana-style hot sauce to create a unique injection liquid for the pork.  Specifically, I used Lea & Perrins which truly is THE Worcestershire Sauce as far as I'm concerned.  For the Creole mustard I used some Zatarain's that I had in my fridge.  As far as Creole mustards go this is pretty much on the top.  My good friends at Slap Ya Mama supplied provided the hot sauce.  There a lot of options to choose from when it comes to Louisiana-style hot sauce, but you can never go wrong with Slap Ya Mama!  Finally, the beer I chose is actually from Texas, but it is damn good and I have no problem using it with Creole mustard and Louisiana hot sauce.  Saint Arnold's Lawnmower is crisp and refreshing with good malt and fruit flavors.  I thought it was a good beer to use in this injection because it is full bodied but light enough to not mask the other flavors.  Plus, I got to drink the half that did not get injected!  Like the first shoulder, I let this one marinate with the injections over night and then I rubbed it down with a generous portion of my blend in the morning.

The Second Batch of Injection Ingredients Lined Up, Two Pork Shoulders in the Smoker

The smoking of the pork shoulders took quite a few hours, so there was plenty of time to enjoy the company of my friends, watch sports on TV, and drink some beers.  I smoked the shoulders over pure mesquite charcoal.  I really like mesquite because it brings me back to my childhood days at South Texas deer camps where my father taught me how to grill on open mesquite fires.  Mesquite smoke leaves a unique flavor and spiciness in meats that I've never found from any other wood. 

Two Pork Shoulders in the Smoker, Blackberry/Honey/Bourbon in the Back,

Worcestershire/Mustard/Hot Sauce/Beer in Front

While the pork smoked over the indirect heat of blistering mesquite coals, I got to work back in the kitchen to make sure I had lunch ready at a decent hour.  I seasoned a batch of chicken thighs with my rub from the pork that mostly consisted of Slap Ya Mama and brown sugar.  While grilling the chicken thighs over the mesquite, I sautéed some haricot verts in olive oil and lemon juice with a touch of garlic, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper.  In addition, I made a smoked Gouda mac and cheese with some grated Gouda and boiled egg noodles.

Lemon and Garlic Haricot Verts and Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

I felt a bit adventurous so I took a stab at making some biscuits from scratch.  I tried to use a recipe that I had stumbled upon for Popeyes-style biscuits.  They ended up having a pretty good flavor but they didn't rise like I wanted and wound up dense rather than fluffy.  Oh well, it will give me something to work on for next time!

Biscuits in the Oven, Plate of Lunch Featuring Haricot Verts, Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese, Grilled Chicken Thighs, and a Biscuit

After lunch, football, and several rounds of beers the time had finally come to take the pork shoulders out of the smoker.  The anticipation in my mind ran wild with thoughts about how great this pork could be.  While there certainly are some tweaks to make to the recipes, overall my expectations were met with great satisfaction!  The "sweet" recipe could have been sweeter.  The honey and blackberry didn't shine through quite as much as I had hoped and I found that I could have used even more sweetness in the injection and rub.  Next time I think I will try it with pure maple syrup instead of honey.  I also might use some blackberry preserves rather than trying to put fresh blackberries through a food processor.  We'll see though.  In the end the pork certainly ended up being juicy and tender, I just think it could have used more flavor.

Blackberry, Honey, and Bourbon Pork Shoulder

I found the salty and spicy shoulder to be the better of the two.  The flavor of this shoulder really came through with the spiciness of the mesquite smoke complimenting the Creole mustard and hot sauce.  If I had one complaint about this one it would be that I applied too much rub to the outside and it became a little bit over salted if you got a big enough piece of the crust.  I'll certainly need to work on my rub, though I thought it was really pretty darn good considering how easy it was.  All in all I had some really good food with some great guests while I worked on some barbeque recipes.  It is hard to get much better than that!

Tray of Pulled Pork: Worcestershire/Mustard/Hot Sauce/Beer on the Left,

Blackberry/Honey/Bourbon on the Right

The Man's Meal at the Marcantel's

I really love a traditional manly meal.  They take me back to my childhood days of cooking on open fires at hunting camps in south Texas with my father.  Most of my first memories of outdoor cooking, and certainly of grilling, come from those mesquite flames kissing the sizzling slabs of steak while foil-wrapped potatoes baked in the hot, glowing embers below.  Last week I was invited over to the Marcantel's residence where Paul recreated the man's meal and I just hung out and enjoyed the show.  I guess I did pitch in by creating the garlic-cayenne butter sauce for the corn, but we'll get to that later.  Brian and Michael joined in on the feast as well as Michael's newly born son, Levi, and Pam and David Marcantel, Paul's in-laws.

The potatoes were wrapped in foil and baked in the oven at a high temperature, the fresh ears of corn were shucked and placed on the grill, and beautiful slabs of raw beef were brilliantly seasoned by Paul and thrown on the pit to sear until reaching a medium-rare temperature.

Seasoned Steaks

Corn on the Cob and Steaks on the Grill

The corn was allowed to heat on the top rack of the grill for a while and was rotated at key intervals.  Paul likes to get a little bit of char on his corn so that the starches caramelize and the natural sweetness comes out a little more which is a fine way to do it, if you ask me.  When the corn was eventually moved to the bottom to give it a nice scalding, it was also coated with a garlic-cayenne butter sauce that I created out of nothing but butter, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt (credit goes to Courtney Holbrook for the idea).  It was about as simple as it gets, and mighty delicious on an ear of corn!

Man's Meal: Loaded Baked Potato, Garlic-Cayenne Ear of Corn, Medium Rare Rib Eye, and a Cold Glass of Sweet Tea (I had to rest my liver for a day)

The final meal was spectacular.  The loaded baked potato featured butter, sour cream, and cheese with a little salt and pepper.  The garlic-cayenne ear of corn came out perfectly seasoned and extremely flavorful.  It had just right amount kick to make your lips tingle while the sweetness of the caramelized corn kernels danced a tango on the tongue.  The steak was cooked to a perfect temperature with a warm red center that was tender and juicy throughout.  It was the kind of meat that needs no other topping or sauces and should be enjoyed for the flavorful piece of beef that is.  In the end, I left the Marcantel's house full, satisfied, and absolutely delighted to have eaten such a fabulous man's meal that both brought me back to my childhood and made me appreciate the food and friends of today.  Happy Eating!