Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days everyone. My computer seems to have contracted a rare disease called “OSfailureitis.” I’m waiting for the local best buy to open this morning so that I can go get a brand spanky new Windows XP disk and repair the damage once and for all. After that, I’ll get back to my regular routine of posting, and I’ve already got a few things in the queue, so don’t be alarmed, I have not, in-fact, dropped off the face of the earth.

I’ll have posts up later in the day if all goes well. Until then, it’s off to do a little housekeeping before the store opens and I’m stuck here all day re-installing everything I use on a daily basis.

Popularity: 1% [?]

While chili (particularly “Texas Red”, and yes, that means no beans.) is the official state food of Texas, there is little doubt that the unofficial state food of Texas is the chicken fried steak.

I’ve known the wonderful delight of chicken fried steak all my life. While I grew up in California’s wine country, my family and many others were originally dust bowl immigrants from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Southern cuisine was my staple as a boy, mixed with a strange variety of Italian, Mexican, Hungarian and Asian influences. The restaurants of Northern California don’t serve “country fried steak” they serve chicken fried steak, and that’s the way we like it.

Read more…

Popularity: 3% [?]

O.K. I wasn’t “officially” tagged with this meme, but Lisa over at The Homesick Texan basically tagged the entire food-blogosphere with it, and I thought I’d go ahead and dive in. So without hesitation or further ado, here are 5 things you probably didn’t know about me.

Until now, that is.

Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

White gravy is a staple of Southern cooking. In the South and Southwest we use it to top everything from biscuits to French-Fries. Every family has its own unique method of making Gravy, and most families will tell you theirs is the best gravy ever made. (They’re all right, by the way. It’s a family thing.)

Then of course, there’s the stuff you get in restaurants across the country. In the South and Southwest it’s pretty close to what’s made in homes all across the area but once you start moving North, the story changes. The gravy starts turning into a floury-tasting ooze with all the culinary soul of preschool paste. This affront to gravy is usually made from a pouch or bag by someone who has never had real Southern gravy and has probably never cooked anything for themselves at home.

Some companies have obviously noted that this foul mix needs more attention. I’ve seen it labeled as “Southern style with ham” in which tiny bits of processed ham are added in an attempt to mask the utter blandness of it all, and I’ve seen the same done with bacon and sausage.

It doesn’t help, it’s still awful and there’s no getting away from that. It’s usually too thin. It sets up like mortar if not eaten promptly, and is usually used to hide even worse attempts at biscuits or other southern staples.

So restaurant owners, listen up and let me tell you how to do it right! I was raised on white gravy, and I just can’t take it any more!

Read more…

Popularity: 29% [?]

Mrs. seat of her Pants took the kitchen out of my control over the weekend, and with stunning results, I admit! she whipped these out Sunday Morning in lieu of the normal “fried spuds” which of course I made on Saturday.

Though we just made these to snack on, I think they would be outrageously perfect if paired with seafood, especially shellfish or chowder.

Read more…

Popularity: 35% [?]

Texas has its own rules when it comes to cuisine. I’ve seen foods here that I’d never heard of prior to meeting and marrying a Texan, then moving to her state as well. (O.K. She’s an Expat, we’re just stationed here, her license plates are Alaskan.)

This little gem is a tribute to football games, warm Texan nights and the fact that foods, especially snack foods, change by region.

Ladies and gentle-people, I give you the venerable Frito Pie!

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Ever since I made my version of Kielbasa Stew from the recipe at La Mia Cucina, I’ve been dying to try out a version that used different types of sausage. Knowing that, I suppose it was somewhat advantageous that a tummy bug caught hold of me earlier this week, and that a good soup was the only thing on my mind. It was also fortunate that even though it was the day before payday, I had everything I needed in the larder to whip up a soup.

You keep calling it a soup. I thought the recipe was for sausage stew?

OK, you got me. It is a stew, but only in light of the absolutely outrageous amount of meat and chunky veggies it contains, and the fact that they were stewed. Usually I would have made a roux before adding the stock, but as I said, I was having tummy trouble, so I avoided thickening the broth at all.

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

I wanted to make something special for Mrs. seat of her Pants this Valentine’s day, not just your run-of-the-mill dessert. I must have hit every site on Google before I stumbled on this recipe. I was looking for a way to use up some of the Sherry or Sweet Marsala we have lying about, but this just looked so decadent that I had to do it.

It’s also my entry for Sugar High Friday #28, hosted by the lovely jasmine over at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict. If you were planning on entering, you’ve only got 4 days to get your entry in!

Let me warn you in advance, this is by no means low calorie or diet friendly. This is a heavy cake with a rich flavor that will linger on your palate for quite a little while. Not too sweet, but definitely all kinds of chocolaty satisfaction.

The sauce recipe is my own adaptation, mostly due to a lack of ingredients, but I think it’s probably a better compliment than the original would have been.
Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Brown Rice and Barley are good for more than just soups. Barley is overlooked in American cooking. The most common uses of the grain in the U.S. are actually Malt production for beer and animal food products. I think that’s a crying shame, and I’m on a mission to prove it. (Though I won’t ask them to stop making Malt, I do like me a beer now and again. O.K. A little too often, but that’s a different issue altogether.)

I originally put this recipe together as a side dish for some turkey thighs we had on hand, but there was just so much of this that Mrs. seat of her Pants and I ate this by itself, and it was wonderful as a main dish as well.

*Please note, the recipe as shown is made with Chicken Stock, though substituting Mushroom Stock, Vegetable Stock or water will convert this omnivorous version into a vegetarian version in seconds.

Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

I hope that your mornings are all going well. Mine has started off with a bit of high stress work. Namely, I just transferred this domain from my old host to my new host. (And I highly recommend RimuHosting if you have a need for your own virtual server.)

All seems to have gone well, but there is always a possibility that something somewhere on the site will not act as expected. If you run into a problem, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jerry (at) jerrydrussell [D0T] com and let me know so that I can get it fixed as quickly as possible.

Having said that, now that I have everything moved and functioning as expected, I’ll be upgrading this blog to the newest version of WordPress in the next few weeks, so expect a bit of a new look and feel from it. I hope you’ll like the changes.

Thanks, and Y’All have a great day!

Popularity: 1% [?]