Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!
Well folks, as I write this column it's the 8th of July and I've got my summer kitchen set up under the Black Oak trees and I'm finally cookin' out under my favorite roof - namely, God's trees and blue sky! Sure feels good to go out there just as the sky starts "pinkin' up", pour a big cup of Cowboy Coffee and sit there watching a rib steak cooking over the fire while you heat up the griddle for the hotcakes and eggs! We always have a big summer breakfast here in the mountains! This retirement is just a whole lot of OK at times like this!
The day after I got home from Grass Valley my back went out on me again for a couple of weeks. Thankfully my Chiropractor is just across the river from me, about 20 minutes, so after some "intense" visits, I'm about 90% back to abnormal! But, on the 10th I'm flying back to Colorado Springs, Colorado where Ron Thomason will pick me up and we're going down to Westcliffe, Colorado to the High Mountain Bluegrass Festival. I'll report more on this next month, seeing as how it will be old news by the time you read this.
Anyway --- I've survived another week at Grass Valley, not too much worse for it all, so come on out here where its nice and shady, reach over there in that ice chest and grab you a bottle of ice cold Shiner Bock Beer (made in Shiner, Texas, and available at Albertson's); drag up a chair and we'll "make medicine"! (I stole that line from my ol' Texas buddy David Ligon.)
For all of you regular readers of this column, you know how I like to feature a lot of barbecue recipes in the summer and fall months. To barbecue meat properly, you have to be there almost 100% of the time to tend the meat as well as the fire, and it is really labor intensive and time consuming. After working a long, hot day, coming home and firing up a hot fire and cooking for 2-3 hours is not on your short list of favorite things to do, I'm sure!
Well not to fret friends and neighbors, because I've got a recipe for barbecued beef short ribs that you cook all day in the big Crock Pot you save for church potluck suppers! And --- here's the good part! If you have one of those handy propane fired barbecues, when you get home from work, fire it up, throw the ribs on it for a few minutes to add a nice, deep color and glaze the sauce to the ribs. Mix up your favorite Mint Julep, skim the oil from the sauce, strain it and serve on the side! By the time you've finished your Julep the ribs will be done and you'll be as hungry as a mama wolf with ten pups!
Crock Pot Beef Short Ribs
(Zest factor medium)
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/4-cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
24 ounces beer
1-quart barbecue sauce
1/2-cup rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons liquid beef bouillon
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
1/2-cup honey
1 orange, sliced in 1/4-inch slices
1 medium white onion, sliced in 1/4-inch slices
4 picked jalapeno peppers, sliced in 1/4-inch slices
2 canned chipotle chilies, whole
12 pounds beef short ribs (8 3-rib pieces)
Sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
In a mixing bowl, dissolve dry mustard, sugar and garlic in beer. Add remaining liquid ingredients and mix well.
Place the orange, onion, jalapenos and chipotles in the bottom of an 8-quart crock-pot. Salt and pepper the beef completely, place ribs into the crock; add the sauce to cover ribs completely.
Set the cooker to low and cook ribs for seven hours.
Serves 8
I cut this recipe out of the Stockton Record newspaper, but it was originally from the June 2002 Chile Pepper magazine based in Fort Worth, Texas. I must get that magazine!
This next recipe is one I cut out of a magazine somewhere, sometime ago? What caught my eye was the name of it - Taco Joe Dip!
I thought - "Can it be?" Alas, it wasn't from our beloved Taco Joe (Pedilla), who for many years served the finest burritos ever made by human hands at our Father's Day Festival. Although it wasn't from "our" Taco Joe, I had to give it a try and I'm sure glad I did. This makes one fine Bean Dip and can be used as a base for a wonderful southwestern style soup. (A bowl of this soup on a cold, snowy December evening will make you go to sleep in your favorite chair - especially in front of my fireplace!)
Taco Joe Dip
(Or Soup)
1 can (16-ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-1/4-ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15-ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2-ounces) stewed tomatoes
1 can (8-ounces) tomato sauce
1 can (4-ounces) chopped green chiles, drained
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup chopped onion
Tortilla chips
In a slow cooker, combine the first eight ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours. Serve with Tortilla chips. Yield: about 7 cups.
To make Taco Joe Soup, add a 29-ounce can of tomato sauce to the slow cooker. It will serve 6-8.
Serve this with fresh cooked Tortilla chips and Margaritas as an appetizer before dinner and your guests will beg for you to adopt them. Whatever you do, don't ever serve this to an itinerant Banjo picker, or even one that is un-itinerant, because they'll never leave!
When you've barbecued up a summer supper, you've just got to have some good old-fashioned potato salad! (My ol' pickin' pardner Vern Williams just called me tonight while I was sitting here writing this for you folks. He sez, "What you doin' J.D.?" I sez, "I'm jes sittin' here writing my column for the August Breakdown." He sez, "What recipe you writing?" I sez, "Old Fashioned Tater Salad!" He sez, "Yum, yum! I never met a Tater Salad I didn't like!" These two ol' Arkansas boys agreed on that!)
Here's an old-fashioned potato salad recipe that you'd slap your Granny for!
Old Fashioned Potato (Tater) Salad
4 cups cubed peeled potatoes
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2-cup sour cream
1/2-cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2-teaspoon salt
1/4-teaspoon pepper
Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until tender; drain. Place in a large bowl; add eggs, celery and onions. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Yield: 6-8 servings.
Folks, making a batch of this is about as easy as butter'n up a hot Martha White Biscuit and pouring honey over it! And just as good too! Well, almost as good. I know it sure goes good with those barbecued ribs!
Now we've covered the appetizer, the main dish and the salad (or soup) but as my Cowboy Partner, Pat Russell would say (even at breakfast) "What's for dessert?"
Well son, you've just stepped into my office! In the dead of summer there's only one thing to fix for dessert! Homemade Ice Cream!
Next to Chicken Fried Steak and Biscuits and Gravy, homemade ice cream is my favorite fruit! (You call it what you like, I'll call it what it is!) There's no doubt in my mind that all of the aforementioned is fruit of the land! Amen! I can hear the Amen section echoing with a resounding AMEN! Especially if there's from the country!
I cut this recipe out of the Stockton Record last month and believe me this is one of the best recipes for ice cream you'll ever find. However, there are a few guidelines you really need to follow to make the best ice cream you'll ever experience! Don't put chunks of whole fruit in it. They freeze into big icy chunks! Get your favorite fruit from a farmer's market and make sure it is dead ripe! Puree just enough fruit to flavor the ice cream well, and add to the mixture. For toppings, cook some of the fruit in a sugar syrup and use as such.
Also, after cooking the mixture, refrigerate overnight before freezing it in your ice cream freezer. This gives everything time to meld together real good. Freeze up a batch of this ice cream and be prepared to go to "country boy heaven"!
Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups cream
1-cup milk
1/2-cup sugar
1/4-teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean, sliced in half and scraped
4 egg yolks
Bring the cream, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla bean to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Meanwhile, whisk the yolks together.
Once the cream mixture has come to a rolling boil, turn off the heat. Take 1 cup of the hot cream mixture and steam it slowly into the yolks, whisking constantly.
Slowly pour the egg cream mixture back into the saucepan. Whisk well. Turn the flame on low and cook until the base thickens slightly (about 2 to 3 minutes). Be careful not to overcook, as the mixture will curdle.
Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and chill for 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Serves 6.
Well folks, there's a compete summer supper for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Before I close for this month, I'd like to tell you about one of the best places in California to eat -- "The Chatterbox Café" in Sutter Creek, California. They're located right on Main Street (Highway 49), about four or five doors south of the Bellotti Inn. They serve breakfast and lunch and dinners on a catered basis. They also bake their own breads and hamburger buns daily. Talk about good! I'm here to tell you that this café serves the very best hot cakes that I've ever had the pleasure to wrap a lip around, in a restaurant, anywhere! They make their own batter from scratch and they're worth the trip alone!
The Chicken Fried Steak at the Chatterbox is about the size of a hubcap off of a '55 Buick and tender as a mama's kiss. The hash browns and gravy that accompany the steaks are like Manna from Haven! The biscuits are the size of three normal biscuits and light and fluffy as an Angel's Kiss. To say that I like to eat at the Chatterbox is an understatement!
Folks, do yourself a favor and head up to the town of Sutter Creek, California and enjoy some of the finest home cookin' in the Mother Lode!
Lynn, you and Marshall are in all of our prayers. Get well soon honey and come back out here to pick and sing for us as only you can!
May God grant us all peace and health and don't forget to pray for all of our servicemen and women.
Yer friend,
J.D. Rhynes
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