ManCave Test Kitchen

So many of you have been asking the Doctor (that’s me) to get off my butt and get this running again, so here you have it.  Ya’ Happy now?!?!?!?  I doing this a bit differently now, with some new recipes and flavors, but still with my own personal signature “mad scientist” flair.  This blog is simple, easy recipes for the guys who can’t cook, but wants to impress his friends and dinner dates. That being said, let’s get cooking.   We’re going to get this New year’s party started right, with a really tasty meatloaf recipe that’s built for parties.  I like to make these in muffins tins so they’re finger food-ish (well for me anyway), or you can roll these into 1-2 oz meatballs and serve them in Romesco Sauce, a nice pepper coulis, or, my favorite, the good old Italian Gravy (Romesco and Pepper Coulis Recipes to follow soon.)  Before we get started, remember there are many types of chorizo, I used a hot Salvadorian style Chorizo form my buddies shop in Arlington, VA, but you can use any fresh Chorizo you like.   Let’s get to the cutting board.  You’ll need:

1/2 c. Onions, small diced (not minced, you want everything uniform so it cooks evenly)

Chorizo Goat Cheese Meatloaf, Pepper Coulis

1/2 c. Bell peppers, small diced
1/4 c. Chopped Cilantro
1 tbsp. chopped oregano
1 c. crumbled Blue cheese
5 slices of toasted potato bread, diced (It’s works trust me)
1/4 c. mushrooms, chopped,
1 clove garlic crushed
3/4 lb. Ground beef
3/4 lb. ground chicken
6 links Chorizo sausage , uncased.
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
2 tbsp olive oil, or vegetable oil

1. If you haven’t’ already, just stick the bread into the toaster (trust me).  when you’ve cut it up, take mixing bowl, pour the milk over it, mash it up and stick it in the fridge so it can soak up.

2. Take you olive or vegetable oil, and get it into a saute pan, on medium low heat.  Add your garlic and let it sweat for a minute or so (you’ll know when it’s ready when it starts to smell nice and mellow).

3. Add the rest of your vegetables to the pan and left them cook down, you want all of the water evaporated from the onions and mushrooms.  if you want you can add some wine, but just remember it has to be completely dry before it comes off of the stove.  You’ll have to toss or stir this around every minute or so.

4. When the vegetables are down, put hem into the same bowl with the bread and milk and stir it around, with the herbs.   Let this mixture sit for about an hour.  If the bread doesn’t absorb all of the milk  don0t’ worry about it.  The goal is to make a pananda (softened breadcrumbs) but it doesn’t have to be perfect for a meatloaf. This is also a good time to get your over pre-heated to 350.

5.  Next is my favorite part, the meat, take all 3 meats, get some gloves on (if you want) and dump it all into the bowl.  Season it with salt and pepper, add the goat cheese and eggs, and GO TO TOWN.  that means mix it.  I prefer to do this one my hand so you still have some goat cheese hunks in there.  if you want to use a mixer, partial freeze your goat cheese crumbles so they don’t dissolve.  Remember TASTE, TASTE, TASTE.  You can take a bit of the mix and pop in the nuke machine (that’s microwave for you newbs) to make sure your sample if safe to eat.

6.  When everything is mixed, spray down (or even better, butter) your favorite muffin tin and place in the oven for 35 minutes.  If’ you’re  making meatballs, just take a 1 oz cookie scoop, and form them with that.  You’ll only cook the meatballs for 15 minutes.

7.  Serve these puppies up on your favorite platter with you favorite side.  I recommend home fries, (yeah those awesome potatoes cooked in butter with onions and bacon), or some healthy veggies if you like.  If you’re looking for just saucing  it, you can find a good Ceasar vinaigrette and puree some roasted red peppers into it for an excellent sauce.

Stay tuned, because you mooks get a bonus recipe for new year’s.  What is it.  for those of you that know THE DIP, you’re gonna learn how to make it.

Happpy Eating, I’m going back to the lab

-The Doc

Da butt. Yup, Pork butt. For those not familiar, the pork butt is actually a shoulder. It needs to be cooked low and slow to bring out its intoxicating and addicting natural aromas and flavors. All of the fat in the meat needs to melt through muscle tissue and permeate it with it’s goodness, to fully enjoy everything about the pig. Below is a recipe that takes a while, but it’s basic and very versatile. You can use it for sandwiches, throw some spices on it and do some pulled pork for BBQ (like with my watermelon BBQ or any other of the sauces you’ve seen/will see from me), or use it for tacos. I’ll post some more recipes throughout the months using this as a base.

Way slow cooked pork shoulder.

1 5 lb. Pork butt, cut into 10-12 oz pieces
1 tbsp ea Salt and pepper
4 tbsp Paprika
2 tbsp Garlic powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

1. Combine the oil and all of the spices into a bowl. Roll each piece of pork in the bowl until it’s well coated with spices.

2. Place the meat in a piece of foil and wrap the foil around it so you have kind of a meat pouch.

3. Cook the pork at 325 for 3-4 hours or until it’s super tender.

By itself this pork is delicious, and very versatile. You’ll see me refer to this recipe a lot when doing recipes with pulled or roasted pork.

So it’s getting to be cookout time. My favorite thing to drop on the grill, is a nice juicy pork chop. The key to making pork great, and not just good, is your brine. What’s a brine? It’s a salt and sugar solution you let the meat soak in before you cook it. Almost like a marinade, but better. Brines are very versatile and once you get the hang of making a basic one, you can get creative with what you put in it. Here’s what I use in the summer:

4 ea 8 oz pork chops (bone in or out, depends on what you like)

Brined chop done under the broiler

2 cups good old H2O
1 c brown sugar
1/3 c Salt (Kosher or Sea Salt, not that iodized table crap)
1 tsp whole peppercorns
5 sprigs thyme
5 sage leaves
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 each star anise (optional)
2 cups ice

1. Put all of your ingredients in a pot, except the ice and pork chops.
2. Bring everything to a boil, and stir until the salt and sugar have all dissolved.
3. This is where the ice comes in, it’s a great time saver. Transfer the liquid you just boiled into some kind of container. Drop the ice in and stir. Your liquid should be about room temp.
4. Now for the pig. Drop your pork chops in and let them sit about 2-3 hours.
5. Get your grill ready and just cook. I leave them on until they’re about medium. (about 6 minutes each side)

You can use this brine with any light meat you want. Roast a chicken with it, turkey breast, pork loin, whatever. This is an easy way to impress your friends at your next cookout.

Later,

The Doctor