Real Men Cook

[bmuller]

Ok, so I know we've been throwing around the idea of a recipe topic for a while so I thought I'd go ahead and kick it off. Below are two of my favorite recipes for chocolate bourbon pecan pie and chili.


Being a southerner, I've eaten a lot of pecan pie and it has become one of my favorite desserts. I haven't actually made that many pecan pies but this one has turned out pretty good for me in the past.

Pie

1  9-inch unbaked deep dish pie shell      2 cups fresh pecan halves
3 large eggs, beaten                            3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup dark corn syrup                       1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Maker's Mark bourbon       3 ounces ghiradelli semisweet chocolate, chopped


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cover bottom of pie crust with pecans.

Whisk together eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar, bourbon and the chopped chocolate, and stir until combined. Pour over the pecans and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes or until pie is set. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

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Living in Texas, I've also eaten my share of chili. This is the best homemade recipe I've found, enjoy.

Chili

2 tbsp olive oil                                             2 lbs sirloin steak cut into 1 inch cubes
½ lbs lean ground beef                                  1 lbs chorizo(pork), casing removed
1 large yellow onion, chopped                         ¼ cup chili powder
1 tbsp garlic salt                                          2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp minced fresh basil                               2 - 14.5 oz cans whole tomatoes, undrained
2 - 14.5 oz cans beef broth                           1 cup chopped cilantro
3 bay leaves                                               1.5 tbsp yellow corn meal
4 cloves garlic, minced                                  3 fresh jalapeno peppers, stemmed & chopped
2 fresh poblano peppers, stemmed & chopped    3 fresh serrano peppers, stemmed & chopped
3 fresh habanero peppers, stemmed & chopped


Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven, and brown sirloin cubes on all sides in batches making sure not to over-crowd the meat. Once done, remove sirloin with slotted spoon and set aside. In same pot, add ground beef, chorizo, and onion. Break up meat and cook until browned.

Add sirloin back to the pot, and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Skim grease off top, or not, then remove bay leaves and serve.

[Driy]

that chili sounds goos I'll have to make it thx

[sentra_dude]

Mmmm, sounds good! I love pecan pie too, although I usually just get one from the supermarket. My grandmother used to bake pecan pies. There was a pecan tree out front, and her policy was, "if you gather the pecans and crack them, then I'll make the pie!"

That Chili sounds pretty tasty too. I usually use the Joy of Cooking's Chili Con Carne recipe, with some other things added in...I'll have to try this one next time. 

I don't really have any of my own personal recipes to add, most of the stuff I cook is pretty standard.

Bmuller, do you like red beans & rice? I've been looking for a good recipe for that. The last couple times I made it just didn't come out that well (probably just my fault)  but if you know a good one I'd like to try it!

[DMF]

bmuller, do you do takeout? I'd rather have someone else cook 

[Thamar]

And how spicy is that chili?  

Don't they also put red beans in chili or am I mistaken?

[bmuller]

sentra_dude, I love red beans and rice but I've never made it. I love all seafood but especially cajun seafood. Jambalaya, gumbo, crawfish boils, and etouffee are some of my favorite things.

Thamar, the above chili is pretty spicy but not as much as you'd think. Once it simmers for a long time, much of the potent heat is cooked out of the peppers. It has a good latent heat that builds when you eat it, but it won't blow you away. Also, there are a lot of different types of chili, but mine is a Texas style chili, so it doesn't have any beans...just meat.

[novass]

I meant to contribute to this thread when it was opened but I have been super busy and kind of just forgot.

Im glad I remembered though, as I completely forgot that I wanted to try the recipes bmuller posted. 

Anyways, here a couple of recipes from me.

Chili
The beauty about chili is that you can put whatever you want in it depending on what you can find.   

Ingredients: 

2 lbs top round steak, cut into 1/2" cubes               1 tablespoon cumin
1 Pasilla (or poblano) pepper                                 1 tablespoon Maple syrup
1 Jalapeno                                                         2 tablespoons semi sweet chocolate
2 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce                         1 bottle dark beer (I use negro modelo)
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder                            small handful of corn tortilla chips
1 Habanero                                                        1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large yellow onion                                             1 tablespoon chili powder
1 14.5oz can of tomatoes, blended                        2-3 cloves garlic
5 cups chicken stock                                          1 can El Pato tomato sauce added to tomatoes(if you cant find it, just buy a bigger can of tomatoes)
Olive oil                                                            Salt/pepper (preferably sea salt and fresh cracked pepper)

Heat about 3 tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven.  Season meat with salt and pepper.  Add meat to Dutch oven and brown (do in batches if you dont have enough room).  Add cumin and cook for a couple of minutes.  Remove meat and deglaze Dutch oven with beer, bring to a boil, add chocolate and cook until beer is almost completely reduced. 

In a separate large pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add onions and cook until soft.  Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Add pasilla pepper, jalapeno and habanero and cook until soft (~5 minutes).  Add chipotles, ancho and chili powders, cook 2 minutes.  Add chicken stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Cook for 15-20 minutes or until peppers are soft.  Puree with an immersion blender (if you dont have one, get one!).  Add cinnamon and crushed tortilla chips.  Add to the Dutch oven with the beer mixture in it.  Add meat.  Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or so until meat is tender.  Add maple syrup. 

Serve plain or with a little sour cream, cheese or some diced avocado.






Chilled Banana Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Basmati rice, rinsed and drained                1/2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom                           1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg                               1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups whole milk                                              1 cup cream
1 banana

Melt butter in a sauce pan over low hear.  Add cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and sugar and cook for about a minute stirring frequently.  Add milk, cream and rice, raise heat to high and bring to simmer.  Reduce heat to maintain simmer and cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes until rice in tender.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temp ~45 minutes.  Add diced banana when cooled, cover and refrigerate until cold.




Hopefully I will add some more soon.   




 

[Ronin005]

ahh great topic!!

I will be graduating culinary school this june and am currently doing my externship.


pork loin encrusted in crushed mustard seed and panko crumbs, salt and pepper obviously, seared then braised.
baby veggies sauteed in apricot glaze and a side of mustard greens with a lemon/mustard vinaigrette.

as per ingredient quantities, I kinda just eye-ball stuff unless I am baking.

for the crust that will go on the pork loin, or for any crust that you would typically do, you would taste it before hand for seasoning before putting it on what ever it is your putting it on.
so, take the panko crumbs, throw in some salt, some black pepper, mix it up good and taste a little pinch of it so see if it needs more or less, then add some crushed mustard seed, about half of the panko amount, so its not a over whelming mustard taste.

enjoy!!

[gucom]

wow great topic, I totally missed it untill now! I'll try to put some of my fave recipes in writing. The banana pudding looks like a very nice dessert, I'm gonna try it soon!

[bmuller]

Not sure if there are any other spicy food fanatics here, but I absolutely love spicy food. Just received a shipment in the mail last week from a company called Blair's that I've been pretty excited about. I ordered the 2 hottest products on their website; one is a sauce called Ultra Death and the other is an extract. The sauce comes in at ~800,000 scoville units, but the extract is a whopping +2,000,000 scovilles of pain. The ultra death sauce is very hot, but I was actually expecting something more. I tried it on some wings the other day and was a little underwhelmed. The 3AM Reserve extract is another story completely. I have yet to try it, but to be honest, I am scared to. The second pic under the 3AM reserve is the warning on the outside of the case that it came in. If you're interested in purchasing some liquid hurt for yourself, or just curious, the website is http://extremefood.com


Ultra Death


3AM Reserve

[gucom]

holy @#$%! you're slightly underwhelmed by an 800.000 scoville sauce?!? The spiciest peppers I ever use are called Madame Jeanette / Ajuma, they're about 350.000 I think, and I use them carefully! 2.000.000 would be insane, I really dont wanna use anything like that... I'd be at the toilet for a week!

[Saadie]

those bottles look dangerous .. i woudlnt touch them

the problem with me is hyper sensitivity .. just the slight amount of spices make my mouth burn .. which means burnt  taste budds red mouth red tongue red watering eyes flowing nose ....

i would run away if i see that without a 100 miles of me ... 

[ARMAN]

I actually hate to eat what I cook, someone else cooking just the same food tastes much better to me than if its done by me

I used to like very spicy foods but then realized that it actually not good for my tummy and dont eat it anymore i wouldnt try that spicy sause even for a bet

[bmuller]

holy @#$%! you're slightly underwhelmed by an 800.000 scoville sauce?!? The spiciest peppers I ever use are called Madame Jeanette / Ajuma, they're about 350.000 I think, and I use them carefully! 2.000.000 would be insane, I really dont wanna use anything like that... I'd be at the toilet for a week!

What I find interesting about these is that the 800,000 SU sauce contains ghost chiles(bhut jolokia), the hottest pepper in the world. Just one of these raw chiles comes in at ~1,000,000 SU. However, the hotter, 2,000,000 SU extract is made from the less potent red savina habanero, but no ghost chiles...

You also need to keep in mind that this extract is only the second hottest extract they've made. They are mostly limited editions, but their hottest liquid extract is the 6AM reserve which ranges from 10.4-16 million SU. They ultimate is of course their 16 million reserve which is actually 100% pure capsicum crystals These reserves sell anywhere from $30-$50 brand new, but have been known to resell for thousands of dollars.

[Ronin005]

LOVE LOVE spicy and I plan on buying some Ghost pepper (hottest pepper in the world) seeds and grown my own!!

[Ronin005]

What I find interesting about these is that the 800,000 SU sauce contains ghost chiles(bhut jolokia), the hottest pepper in the world. Just one of these raw chiles comes in at ~1,000,000 SU. However, the hotter, 2,000,000 SU extract is made from the less potent red savina habanero, but no ghost chiles...

You also need to keep in mind that this extract is only the second hottest extract they've made. They are mostly limited editions, but their hottest liquid extract is the 6AM reserve which ranges from 10.4-16 million SU. They ultimate is of course their 16 million reserve which is actually 100% pure capsicum crystals These reserves sell anywhere from $30-$50 brand new, but have been known to resell for thousands of dollars.

well for the 800k sauce they might of toned done the ghost pepper effect with some other ingredients and as for the savina extract being hot, well its a extract which is typically a lot more potent. so, in theory it all makes some sense.

[MartinR]

Those recepies sound delish! Hmm...should I maybe trie out the chilli this weekend?

[Saadie]

^ yes . torch yourself 

[novass]

I love spicy food!  Growing up, my friends father always had random hot sauces, even grew some of his own chilis in the yard.  Eating at there house was always an adventure 

I hope more people will contribute a few things.  It would be nice to get some recipes from all over.

[gucom]

What I find interesting about these is that the 800,000 SU sauce contains ghost chiles(bhut jolokia), the hottest pepper in the world. Just one of these raw chiles comes in at ~1,000,000 SU. However, the hotter, 2,000,000 SU extract is made from the less potent red savina habanero, but no ghost chiles...

My guess is that habanero peppers offer the highest amount of capsicum per dollar (jalapeños are way less potent, ghost peppers probably much more expensive?)... capsicum is capsicum, if you're gonna make an extract of it, it doesn't matter how hot the original peppers are, just how much you can get out of them.

You also need to keep in mind that this extract is only the second hottest extract they've made. They are mostly limited editions, but their hottest liquid extract is the 6AM reserve which ranges from 10.4-16 million SU. They ultimate is of course their 16 million reserve which is actually 100% pure capsicum crystals These reserves sell anywhere from $30-$50 brand new, but have been known to resell for thousands of dollars.

16 million would be about 3 times as strong as law-enforcement grade pepperspray, according to wikipedia