Frogmore Stew

So the last couple of weeks have been a little bit hectic and I am just getting around to a lot of things I wanted to share. One of which being my latest outdoor cooking adventure.

My aunt Cindy had the great idea to do an old-fashioned low-country boil, otherwise known as Frogmore Stew. We ganked this from one of Paula Deen's cookbooks so we knew it would be fun and filling.

So one beautiful weekend day, I broke out my turkey frier and fired it up for a more noble pursuit than deep-fried poultry.

We started with five quarts of water and about a quarter of a cup of Old Bay and various other spices.

It took about twenty minutes or so to get it boiling, then I added the halved red bliss potatoes. After letting them cook for about 10 minutes, we added the ears of corn and smoked sausage pieces.

We let this all cook until the potatoes started getting tender and then we were ready for the shrimp. We had about four pounds in all. These only needed to cook for about five minutes or so. Additionally, I added my own little extra flavor kick in the form of a white onion soaked in Worcestershire sauce and covered in Old Bay. This is something I think really makes a difference when steaming shrimp and it brought the same flavor to the boil.

Once the shrimp were cooked through, I yanked it off the burner and drained the water from the pot.

Here is where I made my biggest error of the day. I drained the pot onto the lawn in the backyard not even thinking that the boiling water would do anything to the grass. The big dead patch says otherwise.

We served the finished product with fresh french bread and covered the whole mess with more Old Bay. We're from East Baltimore and we can never get enough Old Bay.

All in all, it turned out great and was super easy to do. Plus its fun to eat.

This can be done on a range but I think its more bad-ass to do it outside. Plus I get to run around with a bandana tied around my head and look busy and harried. I think that goes over pretty well and it makes me feel better about myself.

I think this one will make the cut and become a regular addition to our outdoor menu. I'd also really like to do a more traditional seafood boil where we can add mussels, clams and the like.

Hopefully, I will get to do this one again very soon.

Hot Grill on Grill Action!

Occasionally, we at the manor dismiss the help for the evening in an attempt to live like commoners. The other evening my sister Kendra (the Baroness of Essex) and I decided we would have a Veggie Night and prepared all the trimmings for vegetable quesadillas on the grill.

After a quick snack of Esskay hot dogs (We're in Baltimore, son!) we were ready to rock.

We went with a nice mix of red, yellow and orange peppers, mushrooms and red onions that I seasoned with a mix of chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro and other shit.  We used the fun grill pan/basket thing, which is a blast to grill with. I like the taste of the fire-roasted vegetables. Its very earthy and common. Plus I like to cook with fire.

We then made up the quesadillas and popped them on the grill. A few minutes per side to toast the tortillas and melt the cheese and we were good to go.

The quesadillas were pretty good, but I was all filled up from my hot dog snack so I only ate the one. 

Then we got milkshakes from Chik-Fil-A. They now offer smaller sizes as a direct result of my sister complaining to the corporate headquarters. My regular-size shake blew up in the driveway though, which was a major bummer. I couldn't even save any of it. The top shot off and it erupted everywhere. The bottom of the cup even blew off, making sure that every last drop exited the cup. 

I was pretty pissed.

First Burgers of the Season

"There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not."

Francois de la Rochefoucauld

I feel that the above quote perfectly illustrates my deep, true love for the hamburger. Despite recent attempts to reduce my meat intake and eat healthier, I always fall back into the arms of my first love. While she may be a harsh mistress, she is mine and I couldn't be happier that she is back in my life.

It was with great anticipation that I fired up the grill last week for the first backyard burgers of the summer.  I decided to go no frills for the first time out, making normal All-American burgers. (I'll sometimes experiment with marinades, Juicy Lucys, etc.) Using my secret recipe for the ground beef ( salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce, but you didn't hear that from me) I whipped up my heart's desire.

One of my favorite summer pastimes is grilling so it was like slipping into some old shoes.  The smell coming off the grill was pure heaven and once I got the burgers dressed up with cheese, I was ready to rock.

I went with plain mayo for the first burger. It was nice and juicy.

The second was ketchup and mustard. It wasn't quite as good because I was a little full at this point. Apparently there is a limit to how much meat I can consume. I did eat a lot of fries too.

In any event, the first foray into grilling has gotten me totally stoked for the rest of the summer, where I do the majority of my creative cooking. I'm looking forward to making my old favorites like Beer-Butt Chicken and maybe looking into some new ideas. I'm toying with the idea of buying a smoker. That way I could slow cook ribs, pork shoulders, etc. over the course of several hours. This may mean that I would have to sleep next to the smoker all night and check it every hour, but what are you going to do? 

We suffer for our art.