My take on Country Fried Steak

Here is my take on a good old home cookin' classic. Any suggestions, post em.

6 slices of Cubed Steak
1 Cups Water
1 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 tbsp Old Bay
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
1/2 Large Sweet Onion

Easy does it on this one. Heat oil in skillet to medium high heat and make sure it is hot when you drop the steak. Dredge the steak heavily on both sides in Flour, pepper, salt, and garlic powder mixture. Drop into oil and fry both sides until golden brown on both sides. Remove the steak onto a paper towel lined plate. Chop the half onion into slices about eighth inch thick pieces and break up. Add onion to grease in pan and cook the onions through. Once the onions are beginning to be transparent, add the remaining flour that you dredged in to the mix and mix and stir into a rue. Stir constantly until deep brown and add water slowly. Add water until medium thickness is reached and add some more salt and pepper. Add Steak back to gravy and cook on both sides of steak for 2 minutes to get the gravy cooked into the steak. You're done. I like to make some mashed potatoes to go with the gravy and some form of green vegetable. Rice also works if you want that instead of potatoes.

A submission by Jason Gilbert. I've tried it and it definitely is worth the time and effort.

Here is a London Broil or Beef Roast stewed in Guinness. Flavor on this will make you want to smack your loved ones in their mouths. I tried a bit of it that was made with a Chuck Roast instead. You might want to use the chuck because of the fat content of the meat. It makes the meat much more flavorful.

London Broil Stewed in GUINNESS
1 2-pound piece of London broil, cut at least 1 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 strip breakfast bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 plump clove garlic, peeled and cut lengthwise into small spikes
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cup stout or dark ale
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. 2. To prevent the meat from curling, trim off and discard the integument that surrounds it. Pat the meat dry with paper towels and sprinkle it all over with half the salt and pepper. Dredge with the cornstarch, patting it well into the meat. Pierce the beef through in half a dozen places. Press the thyme leaves into the bacon pieces and force a piece of bacon and a garlic spike into each of the holes in the meat.
Lightly oil a heavy-bottomed braising pan. Place the bay leaf in the center of the pan and the meat on top of it. Pile the onion slices on top of the meat. . Mix the stout, honey, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and pour over the onions. Sprinkle on the rest of the salt and pepper.
Cover the mound of meat and onions with a sheet of waxed paper. Seal the pot with two thicknesses of foil and press the lid down firmly . Put the pot in the oven and bake, undisturbed, for 3 hours. Serve the beef hot, with the thin sauce poured over it. Carve it at the table.
Author's Note:
The natural sauce from the beef will be full-bodied but thin. I sometimes "finish" it by adding 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and a thickening of 3 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in 3 tablespoons of cold water. When the sauce has cooked and thickened sufficiently, salt it to taste and pour it over the meat.

Yield: 4-5 servings

Easy Red Beans and Rice

One thing I like to do for quick and easy meal is Red Beans and Rice. This is my mom's recipe and I grew up eating this stuff and it was always one of my favorites. Very easy to do and just all around good stuff. Here's your list:

1 package of smoked sausage
2 cans of light red kidney beans
1 stick of lightly salted butter
1/2 cup of Flour
3 cups of cooked rice
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
oregano
basil
salt
black pepper

Dice up the smoked sausage or Kielbasa and brown in a stock pot. Once browned after about 4 minutes stirring regularly, remove the sausage to the side and keep the drippings in the pot. Melt the stick of butter in the pot and then add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Yes a wooden spoon. Stir and cook the rue that you just created until it turns a light brown color and then add 2 cups of water. Add 2 more cups of water once mixture thickens again and then add another cup once that thickens until the mixture cooks in and will the spoon with a slow drip. Add the sausage back in and the 2 cans of beans, juice and all. Add the spices and herbs and add 3 dashes of hot sauce and reduce heat to medium low for 10 minutes. Add in the rice, mix in, and you're ready for dinner. This should take approximately 30 minutes from start to finish including the rice. Enjoy it.

The Infamous Butter Burgers.,

While I would like to say that this venture will be a healthy one...it definitely isn't and I'm going to tell you to not eat these things regularly because it will eventually and most likely cause you some major health issues. However, the taste of these things is nothing short of freaking awesome. Yeah, I said butter burgers. "What is a butter burger?" "It sounds disgusting," and "I want one but I'm scared of what it might do to me." These are statements that I got about this one but even this is something that I've never seen Paula Dean accomplish, but it would make her absolutely blush. Here are the things that you need.

2lb of Ground Chuck
11/2 sticks of salted pure Butter
1 block of sharp cheddar cheese
8 slices of bacon
4 seeded buns or hamburger rolls
1 egg
Worcestershire Sauce
bread crumbs
bbq seasoning
garlic powder
dry mustard
smoked paprika
Black pepper
white pepper
1 cheap pie pan.
Ok, Mix all the wet ingredients and bread crumbs as a binder together and throw in the egg yolk and all and mix into the meat. Make 8 equal size burgers and make them extremely thin. Take the 1/2 stick of butter and dice it into small cubes. On top of 4 of the burgers, spread the butter cubes on them and put the other burgers on top of the buttered topped burgers. Pinch them closed so that the butter is encased into 4 burgers. Mix seasonings together and sprinkle all sides of burgers with seasoning mix. Lay burgers down in a medium high heated skillet and cook on both sides of burgers for 1 minute on each side until spices are seared in. Remove from heat momentarily. Take another 1/2 stick of butter and melt it in pan. Add burgers back in and reduce heat to medium and heat burgers about 5-6 minutes per side for medium and add 2 minutes per side for more done. Now the next part is a little tricky. Melt the remaining 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave. Put 2 slices of precooked bacon on each burger and thinly sliced cheddar cheese on each and poor half of melted butter on top of burgers and put the pie pan on top of them to steam the burgers for 1 minute or until cheese is melted. Spread remaining melted butter on buns. Take the burgers out. and steam the buns in the same pan face down then remove the buns. Put on your favorite toppings and chow down on something that will make you wanna do harm to someone. I know that this is nasty sounding, but don't knock it till you try it. We've tried these with mushrooms and grilled onions. Bacon and bbq sauce and many ways. Just try them sparingly. It is definitely something we don't do often. If you want to try a version without making them. You can get what is called the buttery cheddar burger at any Steak and Shake restaurant. They are good but not as good as home made.

New potato salad recipe that is truly wicked.

I was messing around one night and was going to do my normal potato salad and didn't have all the stuff at home so I just took what I had and experimented a little. What came out of this idea was nothing short of something that would make your tongue do back flips. Here are the things you'll need.

3 Large Idaho Russet Potatoes (diced)
4 slices of thick cut bacon (optional)
1/2 a Jar of Marinated Fire Roasted Red Peppers
3 tablespoons of minced Garlic
1 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup of whole grain Mustard
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp Hot Sauce
1 tbsp Fresh Ground Pepper
2 tsp Coarse Sea Salt

Boil diced potatoes until fork tender in salt water. While potatoes are cooking your going to build the goodness that goes into this ridiculous potato salad. The bacon isn't necessary but it gives the salad a really good kick of smoke flavor that is another addition to the already complex flavor profile that this salad has. Your going to pre-slice the bacon and chop it up really fine. I suggest Wright Brand Bacon but any super smoky bacon is good. Fry up the bacon bits until crispy and remove it from the pan. Drain off excess grease and use the remaining coating in the pan for the peppers and garlic. Chop the marinated peppers really fine and put them into the pan on medium heat until completely cooked through and slightly seared. 2 minutes before you take the peppers off add the garlic and toast it with the peppers. Remove the mixture into a small bowl or something that will just hold the contents for a little while. Once the potatoes are fork tender drain and put them in mixing bowl and place them in the freezer for 10 minutes to shock the temperature down. Mix in the bacon, pepper and garlic mix, mayo, mustard, Worcestershire, Hot Sauce, Salt, and Pepper into the potatoes and mix until all potatoes are coated in mixture. Cool until dinner time and serve cold.

A different spin on Hoppin' John's Blackeye Peas and Rice

This is a fairly easy recipe to make a version of Hoppin' John's that I use quite often and it is very good while taking a lot of cook time off of other recipes. Here are the items you will need. I won't put quantities on the additives on here because you will need to eyeball them.

1.) 2 cans of blackeyed peas
2.) 1 pound of Andouille Sausage (polska kielbasa will work if you don't want it too spicy)
3.) 1 large carton of Beef Stock
4.) 1 large onion
5.) 1 stick of butter
6.) 3 cloves of garlic (I use 4 tbsp of pre-minced garlic)
7.) Hot Sauce
8.) Cayenne Pepper
9.) Worcestershire Sauce
10.) Smoked Paprika
11.) Oregano
12.) Basil
13.) Thyme
14.) Garlic Powder
15.) Salt
16.) Black Pepper
17.) 2 Cups of Cooked Rice
18.) 1 12 oz. Beer

The first thing you need to do is dice the large onion and put it in a pan with the melted stick of butter and add sliced or diced sausage right after the onion. Once onions are transparent and sausage is browned, pour a quarter of the beer into the pan to deglace. This should be done on low heat because you don't want to burn the beer in the pan. Line the pot you will cook this in with olive oil and add the sausage and onion mixture, the rest of the beer, the carton of beef stock, the peas and the seasonings that I had above. I personally use either Louisianna Brand or Frank's Red Hot Sauce but if you use tobasco you might want to use less as its a little hotter. Please refrain from using Texas Pete for this recipe. Even though the taste is good, it doesn't taste right in this recipe. I use probably 4 tbsp of Hot Sauce or more because I like a kick, put less in if you can't handle the pain. Just a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce will work. About a tbsp of Cayenne and just add the dry ingredients as you feel necessary. It will turn out well. Just experiment with it. Cover and simmer this soup like mixture for about an hour on low heat until all the flavors have married in and the alcohol has cooked out of it. Add the cooked rice into the soup and stir until there isn't any more standing liquid and all rice is coated and let the mixture bake in the oven for about 10 minutes and you are ready to chow down. I also like to eat this stuff with some good cajun style cornbread or garlic toast. This is true southern comfort food at its best and is very tasty.
Enjoy :)

A very good way to fix corn

I just wanted to add an interesting twist to an already good accompaniment to any BBQ. I like to take ears of corn and wrap them in foil with butter, old bay seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Make sure you baste the corn and wrap them well because it doesn't take long to cook the corn once their wrapped like this. Turn them often and cook them on the grill for about 15-20 minutes. This combo of flavors is really, really tasty. If anyone may have other creative ways of cooking corn, let me know.