Open Source Cook

This recipe originally came from Relish and while it sounded good, I had to make a few adjustments since I don’t have a food processor. Here’s the description from the original article:

Seasoning grilled meat with garlic and a sugary marinade produces a Thai-style barbecue that works well with pork loin or chops. Adapted from The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen (Workman, 1998).

So, the changes I made….one of the first instructions was to use the food processor on the garlic and sugar to form a paste. Well, I completely skipped this step. Instead, I put all the ingredients (minus the pork chops obviously) into a blender instead and just liquidized it. The garlic didn’t get mashed up as much as it would have in a food processor, but I also didn’t add as much garlic as they did either. We’re also giving this to our son, who’s only 18 months, so we didn’t want it too garlicky; but we still wanted the flavor, so I added about half of what is recommended.

I think we only marinated it for about 45 minutes and it still came out pretty good.  I’m not a fan of pork, so I really didn’t have much, but the bite I did have was pretty good.  I’ll let Jesse give an accounting for the taste, so check for his comment.

Ingredients:
4 (1-inch thick) or 8 (1/2–inch thick) pork chops (2 pounds total)
1 head garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Make 1 or 2 cuts in fat side of each chop to prevent curling.
2. In a blender, combine garlic, sugar, soy sauce, honey, wine, sesame oil, ginger, salt and pepper. Spread over both sides of chops, place chops in baking dish, cover and marinate in refrigerator 1 to 2 hours.
3. Preheat grill to high. Brush and oil grill grate. Place chops on grate and grill until brown 6 to 8 minutes per side for thick chops and half that time for thin, or until temperature on an instant-read thermometer is 160F. Serves

I can’t remember if this recipe was given to us or if I found it on his website, but this courtesy of Dev_null, a friend of Jesse’s from #asp. This makes so much chili that I made it once for four and there was so much left over, we were still eating it a week later. This is one of those recipes where you make it for a pot luck or whenever you’re trying to feed a bunch of people. Don’t get me wrong, this chili is great, but it makes a LOT.

So why am I posting about chili during the beginning of summer? Well, Jesse was thinking about it the other day and he showed the recipe to some of his co-workers and the next thing I knew, it was being requested. The only problem is, neither Jesse or I drink beer. Well, I used to (and on some occasions will take a sip or two), so I have no idea what kind to use. Plus, what beer I did drink was imported and I’m not sure if Corona would taste all that great with it (I learned how to drink in Mexico, give me a break). When I made it before, I used chicken broth which was fine. However, I’m going to leave it up to the people who are going to be eating it. Do I use beer or chicken broth? If I use beer, what kind do I use? The plan is to make this in two weeks, so people have two weeks to give their input.  There is a poll in the sidebar, so go cast your vote.  I’ll be back in two weeks to give commentary on the recipe while I make it.

Ingredients:
3/4 of a lb of bacon
1 lb of chicken breasts
1 lb of stew beef
1 lb of sausage
1 can (24 oz) of chicken broth or beer
1 can (32 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (16oz) kidney beans
1 can (8oz) tomato paste
2/3 tsp black pepper
2 bouillon cubes
2-2/3 tsp ground cumin
1-1/3 tsp garlic powder
2-2/3 tsp mustard
2-2/3 tsp oregano
2 celery stalks
1 large green bell peppers
2 large onions
5 oz cornstarch (optional)
16 oz Salsa (garnish)
24 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese (garnish)
12 oz sour cream (garnish)
24 flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Chop the stew beef and brown. Add to crock.
2. Chop the bacon into small pieces. Fry bacon preserving grease. Fry the vegetables in the bacon pieces. Moisten mixture with beer. Add to crock.
3. Brown the sausage. Chop the chicken into small pieces. Fry the chicken in the sausage. Moisten mixture with beer. Drain fat from sausage/chicken mix. Add to crock.
4. Add diced tomatoes, bullion cubes, and spice (to taste) to crock. Add beer to keep mixture moist.
5. Simmer for 2-4 hours.
6. Add tomato paste and beans. Add beer as needed to keep moist. Add cornstarch if you added to much beer. Simmer more. (total 12-24 hours)
7. Serve with tortillas, salsa, cheese and sour cream. Substitute chicken broth for the beer when needed

This came out really good. Even though I’m not a big fan of green peppers, they were really good in this recipe. I diced them finely, so you could still taste them, but you never really bitE into one. I prepared this last night and I baked it this morning…it was so easy. Plus, I can do so many variations to this. Instead of ham, I could use sausage. I could do a vegetarian and not include any meat. Or i could add different kinds of veggies and meat. This is one I’m definitely going to make again.

I took the base of this recipe from Betty Crocker, but I added and changed a few things and I think it came out better with the changes.

Edit on 3/23: My father tried this for Easter weekend, however he made two different versions. My sister doesn’t like green peppers, and he was making a ham to go along with it, so he didn’t add any meat to either batch and he left out the veggies in one of them. I have to say, without the meat and veggies, you need to cut back the liquid.

Edit on 4/26: I tried this recipe with maple flavored sausage and I think it would have came out good if I hadn’t also used southwestern flavored hash browns. Needless to say, the two flavors together didn’t work out well. Using different flavored hash browns is good, but you need to make sure the meat doesn’t clash with it. I’m hoping to try this recipe with sausage again, but with the correct hash browns.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, diced Ham
1 pkg Hash Browns (Betty Crocker Seasoned)
Green Bell Pepper
Onions
2 cups shredded (8oz) Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Bisquick
3 cups Milk
1/2 tsp Pepper, black
4 Eggs (or 1 cup egg product)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease rectangular baking dish, 13×9x2 inches.
2. Layer ham, potatoes, bell pepper, onion and 1 cup of the cheese in baking dish. Stir Bisquick mix, milk, pepper and eggs until blended. Pour into baking dish; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
3. Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown around edges and cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes.