Author Archives: Texas Style Cuisine

Fiesta Rib Cook Off

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Fiesta in San Antonio is a huge celebration. It is 100 different events over 11 days in late April every year. One of the annual events is the Culture Fest Rib Cook Off  hosted by St. Philip’s College. I had entered a few years ago and really enjoyed myself with a 3rd place finish. It took very little convincing to get Bar Cross to enter it this year. We decided to enter both beef and pork ribs and to sell plates. I made a run to Restaurant Depot and picked up 30 slabs of spare ribs and six slabs of beef. We usually never cook beef ribs so we practice on a few racks prior to the cook off and came up with what we would be a good recipe. We have been working on some new recipes so we decided to enter two teams, Bar Cross and Bar Cross Too.  We got to St Philip’s around 3:30 and started the fires. The pit was warmed up and cruising about 250º so we loaded up the pit with 30 slabs of pork and 6 slabs of beef that had already been rubbed the day before. About 10:45 we turned in our competition ribs. Team 1 turned in our sweet pork rib recipe and some spicy beef ribs. Team 2 turned in some spicy pork ribs and sweet beef ribs. Soon as we turned in we started selling plates. $5 would get you potato salad, borracho beans and a nice juicy rib. We had a good line of people buying plates when we were called for the awards ceremony. We were busy and did not go so they sent for us again. This time my cousin Fernando went to represent our team. The rest of us continued selling plates. in about 15 minutes we hear Fernando calling. We spot him coming through the crowd with his arms full of trophies. He yells out “We Won It All”. He was not kidding. We won 1st place beef ribs, 1st and 3rd place pork ribs and the Student Choice Award. Not a bad day. From the time we were announced as the winners we had people in our line until 1:30 when we ran out of ribs. Then we started selling sausage plates until they were all gone. So by 3:00 we had won every 1st place and sold out of food. Also we had a chance to try out the pit since we had moved it to the new trailer and made a few changes. It all worked out and we had a great time. St Philip’s did an excellent job hosting the event. We got to meet many of the Fiesta dignitaries, the president of Fiesta, the President and some of the deans from St. Philip’s and King El Rey Feo. We also wound up on TV here in San Antonio. WOAI TV 4 came by for a live shot for their morning show, and David Sears from KSAT 12 dropped in and tried some ribs while filming the trophies. It was great fun for us and we made good money selling plates, we just did not bring enough. But next year we will know and we will bring twice as many ribs.

Team Bar Cross BBQ

Pappy and I slicing ribs

The new trailer

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cast Iron Cookie

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I had one of the kids come in and ask me if I could cook a huge cookie in a frying pan. Well of course I can, I told him.  I checked the dry storage and we were out of chocolate chips. But we were in luck, one of the kids had some World’s Finest Chocolate bars for a fundraiser. So we bought two bars and got after it. I grabbed an 8″ skillet and melted a stick of butter. Next I stirred in 1/2 cup each, of white and brown sugar. After the sugar was melted in I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. We pulled the skillet off the stove. This is where you have to be careful, you can’t add the egg to soon. If you do you will cook the eggs. That is why you cant get the skillet to hot. Cast iron holds heat, so if you get it to hot it will take a while to cool it off. While the skillet was cooling, I chopped a World’s Finest Chocolate Bar into pieces. We had the chocolate and almond bar and that worked great. Then we sifted 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and mixed them together.. Next I whisked one egg into the sugar and butter. Then the flour was poured into the skillet to form the dough. Once the flour was incorporated totally I pressed the dough out evenly across the skillet. I then scattered the chocolate across the dough and placed it in the oven. The cookie was baked for 20 minutes at 350 and it came out a beautiful  golden brown. Now the best way to serve it, I believe, is with a few scoops of ice cream on top. We had no ice cream so we cut it up and found a little milk to drink with it. On a whim it was an excellent dessert and a great lesson for the kids to experience. Now if I was going to make a few of these I think I would make the dough and add it to a warm skillet. A much easier and faster way to cook these excellent cookies.

Categories: Dessert, Texas Style Cuisine, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Southwestern Quiche

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I spent the day making Quiche. The French teacher brought his classes down to try a little french cuisine. I had a few quiches already made, so I would make one for the class then let them help my students make a few more. So by the end of the day we had made about 20. I had the kids cook a classic ham and cheese quiche, a spinach one and a broccoli one. We also made two southwestern quiches. They were all excellent, but as you would guess the spicy ones were my favorite. If you have never tried quiche then it’s about time and this is an easy one to make.

Southwestern Quiche
  • 1/2 lb                 Diced Kiolbassa Sausage with Jalapenos or Hot breakfast sausage
  • 1 1/2 Cup          Monterey Jack Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup            Cheddar Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup            Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilies
  • 1  Cup               Milk
  • 3                        Eggs
  • 1/4 tsp             Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp             Salt
  • 1                        9″ Pie Crust
  1. Pre heat oven to 400
  2. thoroughly mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and rotel
  3. Place pie crust in 9″ pie pan
  4. Spread cheese evenly in the crust
  5. Spread the sausage over the cheese
  6. Poor egg mixture over the cheese and sausage
  7. Place quiche in oven for 30 minutes or until eggs are set
Categories: Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A sweet little Fattie

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Now I am sure that many of you wondering what in the heck is a Fattie. Basically it is a meatloaf stuffed with your favorite fillings wrapped in bacon and then smoked. I made two of them, one was an Italian, stuffed with red and green bell peppers sweet onions, mushrooms, ricotta and mozzarella. The other was stuffed with fettucine alfredo, mushrooms and jumbo shrimp. They were excellent. The way I make them is I place my meatloaf in a ziplock bag. Then I make a woven matt of bacon. The stuffing is placed inside of the meatloaf and rolled up, using the bag. I slice the sides with a sharp knife so it can be opened up. The meat roll is then place on the bacon matt and rolled up. Roll the fattie in plastic to firm it up, then put it on the smoker for about 2 hours at 225.

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Grilling, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

BBQ Chicken Test

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Sunday I figured I would throw a couple for chickens on the UDS. I wanted to try out a couple of new rub recipes. I also wanted to try a mustard slather. I cooked each bird with the same rub but I only slathered one half. I wanted to see how it affected the flavor. The first bird was rubbed with mustard and McCormick’s Grill Mates Cowboy Rub and the other half was coated with EVOO than rubbed with the same rub. The other bird was coated the same way and I used an Ancho chili rubbed that I put together on it. Both birds were a success. After about an hour and fifteen minutes on the grill at 300 degrees they were 165, so I pulled them. The winning flavors with both birds were the one with the mustard slath. I have always been told that you can’t taste the mustard but my judges said they could taste a little mustard on each one. The appearance was good on each half, but the one with the EVOO seemed to be a little darker in color. I don’t think any of the four halves were to light, but the mustard ones were lighter.

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rattle Snake Round Up

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Wild times were had in Sweetwater at the Annual Rattle Snake Round Up. Julie Richards, of Waco and Julie fame, was on the winning team. Midkiff Mafia BBQ had a great day. They place 1st in rattle snake, 2nd in brisket and 10th in chicken. That gave them just enough points for the Grand Champion call in this Lonestar Barbeque Society event. Julie was going to make a snake meatball using my Chipotle Bomber recipe as a guide, but they were thrown a curveball and had to change the recipe at the last-minute. This year the judges decided to make the teams turn in snake on the bone, so they could be sure it was indeed snake. So it’s a little tough serving meatballs with bones, so she changed at the last moment. I will try to get some pics up later of the winning team. Julie had to take off early because her and Waco were singing over in Midland. So she missed the awards. Check out the link from here to Waco and Julie’s site and go see them sometime if they are in the area. Congratulations to Bernie Phillips and the Midkiff Mafia BBQ team.

Categories: Appetizers, BBQ, Competition, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Picante Fish and Red Chilie Shrimp

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

 

I had some old friends drop by and visit the other night. They showed up hungry and expecting something great. I chose a recipe I got from a friend and one of my own. While I was in the outdoor kitchen taking care of the seafood the wife fixed a couple of sides in the house.

Picante Fish

  • 1   Onion
  • 1   Stick of butter
  • 1   Bunch of cilantro
  • 10 tilapia fillets
  • Picante Sauce
  • Fajita seasoning
  1. Start fire
  2. Slice onions into rings
  3. Slice butter into thin slices
  4. Season fillets
  5. Make a foil boat to cook fish in
  6. Place onions on boat over the fire
  7. Spread butter pats around on the onion rings
  8. Place fish on the rings
  9. Pour sauce over the fish
  10. Sprinkle cilantro across fillets.
  11. Cook till the fish heats through and becomes flakey

While the fish was cooking I prepped the shrimp and started cooking it. I had already peeled and deveined the shrimp, I just had to season and cook the shrimp, the shrimp cooks much faster then the shrimp. Remember shrimp is cooked when it curls into a C and is overcooked when it curls into an O.

  • 3 lbs   Shrimp (peeled and deveined w/tail)
  • 4-6        Serrano Chilies (red if you can get them) sliced thin
  • 6        Garlic cloves minced
  • TT     Spanish Paprika
  • TT     Sea salt
  • Olive Oil
  • White wine or sherry
  1. Heat oil in cast iron skillet
  2. Add chilies and saute
  3. Add garlic
  4. Add shrimp
  5. When shrimp is almost cooked, add paprika and salt
  6. Toss shrimp in the hot oil and seasonings
  7. Add wine till warm

With the shrimp and fish finished we headed to the house. We had a great salad, squash and red potatoes.

Categories: Appetizers, Entrees, Grilling, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Texican Paella

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I spent the day teaching the kids how to make paella. Paella is a dish from Spain, it originates from the Mediterranean Coast. Many people consider it the national dish of Spain. Paella is make up of rice, vegetables, and usually sea food, although rabbit, chicken, pork and chorizo are also found in it. Today we are making a Texican style of the dish. We have included shrimp, oysters, crawfish, and muscles for our seafood. I have used these items because this is the type of seafood immigrants would have found when they came to Texas. I have also chose to use polish sausage instead of chorizo and chicken wings. I also have used some roasted poblano peppers, cilantro and seasoned with cumin to give it the Texas flair.

First we added about a cup of oil and browned the wings in the paella, the pan is called paella also. Then we added the sausage cut into rounds, about 1/4 to 3/8 inches thick. next we sautéed the vegetables. When all the vegetables were translucent we added the rice and cooked it until translucent also. Then we add the stock.

sauteing the chicken, sausage and vegetables.

Adding rice

Adding the seafood stock and seasonings. The yellow color comes from saffron.

Next bring everything to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 minutes then turn down to a simmer. After 5 minutes you can now add the seafood. I will now tent the pan and cook it for about another 10 minutes.

Bringing stock to a boil.

Categories: Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Chicken Fried Chicken with Cream Gravy

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I had the media Dept. come by today to get of shot of my kids in action for the website. The problem was we were cleaning the kitchen today. So I quickly put together a little demonstration and the filming began. The had three of the students prepare chicken fried chicken and a cream gravy to go with it. These were culinary one students and they had never done it before, but they did an excellent job. I got some pictures of the process so I figured I would post it up on here for everyone to give a try.

Chicken Fried Chicken

  • 2         chicken breast
  • 2 C      flour
  • TT      salt, pepper and garlic ( for flour, egg wash and chicken)
  • 2 C      butter milk
  • 2         eggs
  1. Set up breading station.  one pan flour, one pan egg and milk wash with seasonings and one with seasoned flour.
  2. Trim breast and pound to an even thickness. (use a rolling-pin to pound the breast)
  3. Season chicken breast.
  4. Cover with flour in first pan.
  5. Dip in the egg wash.
  6. Place in third pan and coat with seasoned flour. Press hard on the flour and chicken to coat well.
  7. Place breast in skillet of hot oil to cook. The oil should be deep enough to cover 2/3rds of the chicken breast.
  8.   Cook until golden brown. The chicken should reach 165 degrees.

Place the breast in a bag or under plastic wrap when pounding

Flouring the chicken

Looking for a nice golden brown

 

Cream Gravy

  • 1/4 C   Flour
  • 2 Tbl   Chicken drippings
  • 2 C         Milk
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Place oil and flour in skillet heat and mix to form roux. (for a proper roux mix equal parts of fat to flour by weight)
  2. Stir and heat roux until desired color is obtained. The longer you cook the darker it will become. (heating the flour will get rid of the raw flour taste in your gravy)
  3. Add cold milk and stir rapidly untill the mixture is thickened and smooth.
  4. Add seasonings.

Making the roux

Adding the milk to make the cream gravy

Categories: Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Alpine Cowboy Gathering

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

West Texas Sunset

Libby and I headed out west to see the boy and enjoy time with friends. The drive was excellent, a beautiful day for the 350 miles out to Alpine. We hit town about 3:30 and went straight to the football field to catch some of the teams workout. When that was finished we greeted John, his friends and a couple of the coaches. We headed to check in at the motel and John headed home to clean up. We had reservations at The Reata for 5:30. now for y’all that have not heard of it is the claim to fame for Grady Spears. Grady is the author of a series of cookbooks on Cowboy Cooking, the most popular I would say is Cowboy in the Kitchen. Now last time we were there I was less than impressed, but this time it was excellent. Sorry for no pictures at the Reata, I was so excited about seeing the boy and celebrating his 21st, which was last Friday, I forgot all about it. The place was packed and we sat out on the patio. It is still a little cool out but with the help of a nice fire and some propane heaters we had a wonderful time. We started out our meal with some bacon wrapped shrimp, served with pico and onion jam. John ordered a New York strip with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, Libby got the chicken fried chicken with he same sides and I got the carne asada and enchiladas served with rice and beans. The food and service were excellent and we had a wonderful time.

Jeff Gore and some of his family were in for the weekend also, Jeff was performing at the Cowboy Gathering. So we met up with them and had a great visit and we decided to meet at 7:30 the next morning for a chuckwagon breakfast. Saturday started with a beautiful sunrise and a cool temperature of 34 degrees. Jeff, Libby and I were the only ones to wake and make the breakfast. The chuckwagon folks were serving scrambled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy along with some stout coffee.

One of our host with a big pot of coffee

Might not be gourmet but it's good

Jeff at the campfire getting a coffee refill

A couple of the dutch ovens our breakfast was cooked in

After breakfast Jeff headed to pick up his family and get ready for his performance, Libby and I headed downtown to the Grandada to look over the items in the auction, that was supporting the Museum of the Big Bend. There were many nice items but nothing that got us really excited so we headed down the street to some of the shops on the main drag of Alpine. After picking up John we headed to the Cowboy Grill a new place out on the Marfa highway for burgers. We had a nice meal, then headed to the campus of Sul Ross for some of the cowboy entertainment.

Jeff performing in the University Center

John wanted to have supper at his house instead of going out. So we headed to the grocery store and picked up some supplies for the evening meal. Libby grabbed items for baked potatoes and green bean casserole. John and I went to the meat section and picked up 10 T-bones and 4 New York strips. I had brought some stuffed jalepenos and roasted corn and poblano salsa with me. So we got to John’s and started cooking. Well actuallyl we started cleaning the kitchen so we could cook. John had invited a few of his friends, Jeff Gore brought his family over along with Robert Barge so we started the fires outside and the ladies got going in the kitchen.

Starting the fire in the Texas Hibachi, a barrel grill

The steaks seasoned up and waiting on the grill

Steak Rub

  • Kosher Salt
  • Course Ground Black Pepper
  • Dark Brown Sugar

Steaks are ready and so is the crowd

Rob looks happy

Earnest with a full plate

John enjoying his birthday dinner with friends and family

Saturday finished great. Libby and I headed to the motel, so did Jeff and his family. Robert headed home and the boys laid back and rested a full belly. We will be up early Sunday for church then lunch and head back to Lytle before to late.

Categories: Appetizers, BBQ, Entrees, Grilling, Hors d'Oeuvres, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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