This post is being generated on a spare computer, with no images, that I can spice this thing up with eye candy, mind altering images.

It has been a while since I’ve posted something significant, earth shaking, brilliant, mind altering tasty.  This may not fit Nobel sensibilities, but if you heed this recipe, your tummy will appreciate it.  Yes I am teasing about this awesome-spicy-creamy-clucky-mac-n-cheese.  Images will have to be added later, since in the interest of full disclosure…I ate it all before I thought about blogging the recipe.

As you are aware, I am the driver of the culinary clown car, and with it are monumental responsibilities.  Well not really.  But my creative loafing will become your Big Game Go To dish.  So without further fanfare here is the recipe for Mother Clucker’s (product placement) Buffalo Wing Mac & Cheese.

You’ll need the following:

1 big pot of boiling water, prepped for fancy noodle cooking.

1 greased 8X8 baking dish

1 medium sauce pan

1 8oz package of small elbow macaroni noodles

2 8oz blocks of Pholadelphia Cream Cheese

1 can cooked white meat chicken (get over it) (drained too) (get over it)

1/2 bottle of Mother Clucker’s Buffalo Wing Sauce

1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (for desired creaminess)

1/4 cup bacon pieces

1/4 cup minced onion

dash of smoked paprika as garnish

Directions:

Cook noodles according to directions, however under cook a bit, so the baking of this dish will finish cooking of the noodles.  Rinse and cool cooked noodles, set aside.

In sauce pan, slowly melt cream cheese, milk mixture.  Reserve some milk in case you would like a creamier version.

When cheese milk is melted and warm add Mother Clucker’s Buffalo Wing Sauce, and drained canned chicken, and bacon pieces to warm up a bit. Do not let this, in any stage, get to a boil or you will be eternally sorry.

Add minced onion and reserved cooked noodles, mix everything well and pour into greased baking dish.  Level the ingredients in the pan, like you would with brownies (to keep uneven over baking to happen).  Sprinkle over the mac & cheese in dish with smoked paprika as a garnish, you can also drizzle a thin stream of Mother Clucker’s in some fancy geometric design for dramatic effect.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.  Or until the cheese mixture is bubbly.  After about 15 minutes check partially cooked mac & cheese for consistency, if looking a bit dry, add more milk to dish and incorporate well, that should make it dreamy creamy.  Sprinkle top with more smoked paprika if you are a stickler for proper garnishment in your dishes.

Serve hot.  Then have some in the morning like the cold pizza junkie you know you are

If you do not have Mother Clucker’s Buffalo Wing Sauce, please look for it in those few stores that carry our products or have it in stock to ship to you.  Regardless, please ask your local specialty store to look into this and our other tasty products that need to be a part of your pantry.

Once again, my apologies for no candid action images.  If you are so interested in my motives, I’m planning to make this dish again for Super Bowl Sunday, so photos will be taken then and inserted in the doo dad shortly thereafter.  Thanks for viewing.

It’s been a while since I’ve attempted blogging.  Let’s see if this wordpress stuff comes back to me.  I have a grilling recipe using a brand new item, with some snazzy photoshopped images.  Let’s see if this pulls together.

This image is for the express uses of namedropping. Any similarity to people, alive or deceased is purely coincidental.

Today I’m highlighting another product that we don’t produce, but I’m sure the big-mega-multi-national corporations known for keeping the man down wouldn’t mind the publicity until their lawyers get involved.

Here  goes the post…

I received an email notice that I could get a free case of  Frank’s Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce.  Recently I’ve been putting Sriracha on anything that doesn’t move anymore.  So I snatched up the opportunity to try this like the glutton I truly am.

Sauce ready for slathering action.

For my first attempt I mixed some Frank’s Sweet Chili Sauce with some French’s Mustard.  Then I brushed them on some Salmon Burgers (swanky store bought Sandra Lee style) that I was planning on grilling sometime soon anyway.  Just prep your grill for burgers, sprinkle a bit of lemon juice on each side of the salmon burgers, light the charcoal and wait for the fire to be righteous.

Here is the proportion:

1 part Mustard

3 parts Frank’s Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce

I just mixed it in a juice glass since I was doing just three salmon burgers, so I figured I has more than enough.  I chose to add mustard for the simple reason that practically any grilled, baked, or broiled salmon recipe includes mustard, and so as to not get called out by the salmon police, I held to the great salmon covenants of Food Networkiness and paid true homage to the Mustard Gods for this.  Probably the sweet chili sauce would have been OK, but since I think the Sweet Chili Sauce is more of a sweet heat dipping type sauce than a cooking ingredient, doctoring seemed appropriate.  This Sweet Chili dipping sauce from Frank’s Red Hot is probably good for Fried Chicken Tenders and Crab Rangoon, but not a strong enough-center of the plate type sauce.

This was the first time in a while that I used this natural charcoal to grill with instead of Kingsford.  A couple reasons for that.  First, all natural charcoal is way hipper to grill with if grill snobs drop by, and secondly, I got a great deal on a humongo-bag of the stuff from our U.S. Foodservice salesman.  I think it was 7 bucks a tree or something.  All natural charcoal burns hotter and starts faster, so be prepared.  After a while I’ll get back into this natural charcoal routine to become the grillzilla again.  Time for another action photo.

Salmon Burgers with sauce glazing in progress.

When the fire is hot.  Spray a nonstick grill grate spray and then simply grill the salmon burgers a few minutes, each side on a covered grill to get your marks on.  If you are just making one mark instead of creating that checkerboard pattern, you might want to leave on the grill for about 3-4 minutes.  On the final two turns, slather (southern term) the burgers with an ample brushing of the mustard-sweet chili sauce.  Time for the finished product shot.  Extra napkins please…

salmon burgers, plated and ready for nom noms

The sauce has a bunch of sugar (corn syrup) in it, so I would recommend slathering just the two times before plating, because it makes fora messy carbon build up, even on a pre-lubricated grill grate.  For the plating, we used a poppy seed kaiser bun with a bit more mustard-sweet chili sauce to give the leaf lettuce something to adhere to.  AND just to make it tragically hip we placed lovingly I might add, some wicked awesome bread and butter pickled green tomatoes.  Yup they were mighty tasty.  Get your grill on and try these soon.

Today I’d like to enlist your tastebuds on a gastronomic sleigh ride.  Watch us as we journey thru the seasonal bounty of apple cider by fusing it with a little bacon and maple.  Huh?  Oh yeah.  Spiked maple bacon apple cider.  Now you can use that left over bacon as a garnish for something…

The ingredients are redily available (if you don’t live in a dry county).  For this cider recipe you’ll need the following:

1 Half Gallon Apple Cider

1 Bottle of Berentzen Apple Schnapps

Wrights Maple cured thick sliced Bacon

1 bottle of maple flavoring or pure maple syrup (we used flavoring to not make the potion too sweet)

hickory smoked salt

This is a two step process.  The first step is infusing the bacon dripping into the apple schnapps.  This is a real easy, virtually painless process, but it will need to be done the day before cider making.  The first step in the infusion is to fry about half the package of bacon.  Fry it slowly, so the rendering, which you’ll be using won’t get a burnt flavor.  Strain off the rendering to get the chunks of meat left in the cooking process out of the rendering. You should do this while the grease is still hot enough to handle safely.  Now that you have just pure bacon rendering left over, pour a bit of schnapps into a glass to make room.  Put 1/4 cup of the liquified rendering in the bottle of schnapps.  Fill the bottle back with the schnapps you poured out initially.  Re-seal the apple schnapps bottle now and place on it’s side in a safe place overnight.  Shake it occasionally.

The next day, empty contents of the bottle into a large plastic cup or pitcher that will hold all that liquid.  You might need to warm up the apple schnapps to soften the bacon rendering to pour out of the bottle.  Place that cup or bowl into the freezer for a few hours so the bacon rendering will congeal and rise to the top of the container you are using.  When done, the top of your container should have a solid film on the top and especially the sides of the container, scrape off the film and solids and pour remaining liquid thru a filter (we use a coffee maker with a few paper filters inside).  Pour liquid thru filter, back into the bottle if you so care and procees to the fixin’ cider part.

To prepare the cider beverage just put all of this into the pot and bring to a near boil and serve.

The half gallon of cider

1/2 cup of bacon infused apple schnapps

a few drops of maple flavoring to taste*

a pinch of hickory smoked salt

* we put a cocktail straw into the bottle part way, placed a finger on the top, and draw back straw and place on top of the cider in the pot and release your finger.  The liquid will pour out and empty into the pot o cider.

Serve with a crisp slice of bacon as a garnish.  HUZZAH!  Merry Christmas from the Oxford Falls family.

Thanksgiving is a tradition bound in family cooking history.  Dishes are delegated, using some mother’s heirloom recipe gently passed down from generation to generation.   That tradition goes on dish after dish throughout America until the cornucopia known as Thanksgiving Dinner is served.  Flavor abounds, but usually it harmonizes and is quite monolithic.  Try this recipe to shake things up.

Hushpuppy Dressing

2 pounds of thawed jalapeno hushpuppies

3 pieces sliced sandwich or french bread

1 teaspoon applewood smoked salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon rubbed sage

3 eggs-beaten slightly

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 can cream of chicken soup (26oz.)

1 stick of butter-sliced

1 can chicken broth (14oz.)

Crumble hushpuppies in a large mixing bowl.  Chip up bread slices into the bowl.  Add remaining ingredients except liquids.  Mix well by hand.  Add beaten egg and cream of chicken soup and smush thru your hands like a mudpie flashback.  When sufficiently incorporated, add chicken stock and transfer all this mess to an 8X8 greased pan.  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or so at 350 degrees.  Check along the way to see if you might want to add more liquid to the dressing.  I found this unnecessary, but different strokes…

If you have a few spare hushpuppies, you can cut them in half and place on the dressing before baking in any arrangement.  I did a smiley face.

Enjoy.

Wait until you get a look at how we did the turkey.  It is rumored to include bacon….

Yes I did.

Picture the Pillsbury Dough Boy hooking up with the Queen of Semi-homemade. Yup, Sandra Lee.  I guess lately she’s been a bit busy campaigning for Andrew Cuomo, so imma gonna pick up her slack.  Today we are featuring some vibrant fall flavors-Apple Butter, Dulce de Leche, and toasted Pecans.  Curious?  OK, I know you are saying Dulce De Leche?  Mexican Caramel?  No habla season?  Isn’t caramel good anytime?  To that question we reply…Oh heck yeah.  Nuff said.  The nice thing about making this caramel treat is the simplicity of making it.  I’ll show you how in a moment…

Now on to the Dessert d’ Resistance.  You’ll need:

1 tube of Pillsbury flaky crescent roll dough

1 jar Apple Butter

1 can Borden’s sweetened condensed milk*

1 handful chopped pecans.

Say Jim, I have all this stuff gathered. Now what do I do now?

Put pecans in skillet and toast on medium high until brown and crunchy, be careful not to burn.  Should only be a few minutes.  Set aside to cool and just tempt you.

*Now how do I turn sweetened condensed milk to dulce de leche?  This trick is amazing, and nobody needs to know how easy this is.  Get a quart pot of boiling water and just drop the unopened can into it for two hours.  From time to time, you’ll have to check the pot and add water to fill above the line of the can.  After 2 hours, it turns into a rich creamy caramel your guests will love.  If you are interested, you can put three cans of condensed milk into a one quart pot, so you can triple the caramel shenanigans.

Now that you have dulce de leche, you can get this show going.

Open can of crescent roll dough, lay pieces out on work table.  Spread an ample amount of apple butter on the triangle pieces of crescent roll dough using a spoon.  Roll dough triangle from the large end to the smallest part of the triangle.  repeat until they are all rolled up and place on cookie sheet.  Follow recipe directions for the crescent roll dough to bake.  Pull the apple butter crescent rolls out when recommended or when they are golden brown.  You might need to bake a bit longer than specified, since there is a filling in them.  Place on rack to quasi cool.

To serve place apple butter crescent roll on a small plate.  open a can of your homemade dulce de leche and drizzle on top of crescent roll.  Drizzle fancy lines or just pour to cover like the mad caramel fool you know you are.  Garnish with those toasted pecan pieces.

If you have made up some dulce de leche in advance, this recipe can be cranked out in minutes.  Good holiday thingy to have in mind for impromptu gatherings.

Now of course you can modify this recipe.  Perhaps try some cherry conserve, or pumpkin butter from House of Webster.  If you do use pumpkin or sweet potato butter, try topping the crescent rolls with Nutella.  You could even garnish with candied bacon pieces.  Sin to win.

No I’m not going to show you the  dollar store crafty tablescape.  Consider yourself spared.



Yes it has been far too long since I’ve posted something about the goodness of bacon. This time I’ve created a kielbasa tubular baconny vessel. This incredibly simple addition to a smoked sausage was just out of this world. The process is quite simple:

1 package of Hillshire Farms kielbasa
1 package of thick cut peppered bacon
A few toothpicks
A charcoal grill
A handful of hickory chips

First step it to cut the Kielbasa in half-on the loop end, to make the sausage pieces as straight as possible. Prick several places with a fork, so the juices have a place to vent. With each sausage piece you’ll need 3 strips of peppered bacon to wrap around and cover the sausage. Start the bacon wrapping process by placing a toothpick on the end piece of the bacon as it is posed on the end of the sausage. In an homage to my Canadian friends, wrap the bacon around the sausage like you would a hockey stick. When the bacon is done, overlap the next piece about a three quarters of an inch behind the first piece of bacon, stab with toothpick and keep on wrapping. Repeat process for the third strip of bacon until the sausage has a bacon spiral cover. Insert final toothpick to anchor all your efforts. Now do the same thing for the other sausage piece.

Start the grill. I used a small Weber, partly for sport and partly because it is an appropriate size for this meal. Place coals o one side so you’ll have a cool or smoking zone. If you place bacon on top of burning embers, you’ll have a visit from the fire department because the flames from the bacon fat will be visible from outer space. Place the hickory chips in just prior to placing the sausage on the cool zone to render maximum smoky goodness.

Two caveats. One=>place the coal side towards any wind you have with the lid over the sausages to channel the smoke. Second=>I’d suggest using any wood that is similar to the wood used to smoke the bacon, to amp up a bit that smoky flavor profile consistent to the flavors already introduced.

The grilling process takes about a half hour to 45 minutes. About halfway, you might want to flip over the sausages to insure evenly cooking. It’s easy to determine doneness solely based on how you like your bacon cooked. When it’s crispy enough for you, just pull off the grill, pull out the toothpicks and dig in. I highly recommend as a side dish (Sandra Lee homage) Just a simple boxed macaroni and cheese but spiked up a bit with chipotle pepper and a pinch of Mexican oregano. Bun is optional. Dress anyway you wish. Oh, the bun too…

Thanks once again for viewing my blog, even though it is not hawking any of our items we produce this time-stay tuned. Ms. Sue Davis just sent me a recipe with one of our finishing sauces involved and I’ll translate and share this week.

This is the fun part; look Ma, no bacon.

Developing new recipes for new items is interesting. It requires imagination, a good working knowledge of flavors, and identifying compatible ingredients.

We are currently working on a new finishing sauce, hopefully to be introduced this winter or early next year. This version is tentatively named Mango Ginger Wasabi. It is an intriguing blend of the aforementioned items along with a few spices that will simply titillate the senses.

OK great, but now what do you do with it?

We found an interesting medium with a shrimp poboy. The New Orleans version of a sub, grinder or hoagie. Start out with a basic shrimp poboy. Fried shrimp, (size is not really relevant, just make sure it is ample.) on a fresh baked hoagie roll. Toast the roll prior to assembly. On the top-a bit of mayonnaise, and shredded lettuce. The bottom has loads of fried shrimp then topped with our prototype Mango finishing sauce and a little bit of toasted coconut. What did we serve alongside the poboy? Sweet potato fries dusted with cardamom and more toasted coconut. You can actually see the cardamom in the image. Yes. It was Delicious.

This is just a little preview of what is in our future for you. We’re always cooking, always dreaming. Please be a part of our guerilla marketing strategy and simply ask your specialty store manager to inquire about us. Thank you for viewing.

In honor of a friends recent blog post…

Special thanks to Marye Audet, a sweet lady laden with talent, humor, and mad sniper skillz (which are important in Texas). Her blog www.restlesschipotle.com is fascinating reading, featuring droolworthy recipes and photographs.

Her latest post features our Comeback Dressing. She’s a foodgician.
Please see for yourself right now. I won’t spoil the ending for you.

Since She graciously posted about one of our items in our arsenal of foodthingys we thought we’d reward the planet by offering….

10 percent off until the Friday before Labor Day. Yup 10 percent off on cases of our tasty treats. Store owners should jump on this, maybe load up for tailgating traffic that’s soon to hit the town. Tailgating in the South IS “a Big Effin Deal,” and we are loaded with items to compliment even the most persnickety of tailgaters. All anyone has to do is contact our crack sales team at 1.800.524.2338 or local 662.323.9696 and use the code FOOTBALL while ordering to receive said discount.

Thanks to you and a special thanks to Marye for her glowing review of our Comeback Dressing. Try some. We’ll make some more.

Introducing our brand spanking new creation:

We are pleased to announce that after months of development, our new salad dressing is now available. Steak Remoulade is a variation of a Creole dressing, but specifically targeting beef instead of seafood. Our Steak Remoulade is made with Mayonnaise, Cornichons, Capers, Pimenton (smoked paprika), Tarragon and a wicked Dijon Mustard. It pares the sweetness of tarragon, with the savory pimenton and capers. The Dijon mustard adds yet another layer of intrigue to this dressing or dip.

Yes dip. Simply put our Steak Remoulade in a ramekin, or sauce cup to enjoy with that freshly cut steak morsel. Heaven forbid you have leftover steak. But in the event you do, slice thin, and place on a bed of spring greens, romaine lettuce and top the salad mix with your sliced steak, a bit of goat cheese and drizzle our Steak Remoulade sauce over the top.

This might be the dog days of August, but this salad is a keeper year round.

Being a small company, we need you to help us in this product roll out. Our arms probably don’t reach your market, so your favorite specialty food store or grocer probably has never heard of us. Please strike up a conversation with the store manager and ask him/her to inquire about this item and perhaps, our entire product line.

Soon we’ll post some introductory propaganda to help you help us.

Thank you for viewing this post and feel free to browse around, snag a recipe, or post a comment.