June Cooking Club Challenge: Hunan Smoked Beef Ribs

INGREDIENTS:•

•  2 Racks of Beef ribs, 8 Bones each rack
  • 9 cups apple wood chips 6 cups soaked in cool water for 1 hour and drained.
  • 4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp lightly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp chili flakes
• • 2 cups Hoisin sauce
  • Juice of 3 oranges
  • 2 tbsp grated ginger
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:
1. To make the rub, combine all rub ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine evenly. Rub this mixture evenly all over the ribs using slight pressure of the hand as to tear the micro fibers of the meat. Place the rubbed ribs in a large re-sealable bag and place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight
2. The next day prepare the sauce by combining the Hoisin sauce in a medium bowl; add the grated ginger, garlic, orange juice, sherry and sesame seeds.
3. Strain the wood chips. Place 1 cup (250ml) of dry wood chips on a large sheet of aluminum foil mix in 2 cups (500ml) of the wet until evenly distributed. Close the foil up loosely and make a sealed pouch. Pierce the pouch in several spots top and bottom. Repeat to make 3 pouches in total.
4. Remove the ribs from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Prepare barbeque by removing the grates, placing a drip pan on one side of grill and placing a smoke pouch on the other side. Replace the grates over the drip pan only.
5. Preheat the grill for indirect cooking by leaving the 2 burners off under the drip pan and putting the heat on under the smoke pouch. Allow to heat to a temperature of 220F (104C) heat. Once smoke beings to form, lift the lid and place the ribs on the grill over the drip pan where there is no heat. Close lid and smoke for 2.5 hours, changing the smoke pouch when smoke dissipates.
6. After 2.5 hours baste the ribs with the sauce. Close lid and continue to cook for 1 hour basting every 30 minutes. Ribs will be done when you can pull them from the bone with ease.
7. Remove ribs from grill loosely tent with foil and let rest for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve with left over Hunan sauce.

I was a little nervous going into this one.  To me, smoking meat in the BBQ seemed like a mysterious art and my sad little BBQ was, well, rather uninspiring.  My hubby was convinced it wouldn’t even hold the proper temperature needed but while it did run a little on the hot side, it did do a pretty good job even with an amateur like me at the helm.  Look out Rob Rainford!  Ha ha ha!

I never was able to get 2 racks of ribs so I made do with beef ribs that had already been cut apart.  Prep only took a few minutes and really all the effort was in keeping the temperature steady and changing the smoke packs.  Easy peasy!  The ribs were quite tasty with a great smokey flavor combined with some fabulous heat from the chili’s in the rub where you were aware of the heat in your mouth but not to the point where your tongue was on fire.  I really loved the texture of the ribs, tender and sticky.  To me, that is what BBQ’ed ribs should be like.  :0)

I had a ton of basting sauce left over so I did up some chicken breasts as well.  They worked really well with this and the kids enjoyed them too.

I give this recipe a solid 7.5 chips out of a bag of 10.

The Daring Bakers June Challenge: The Bakewell Tart/Pudding

The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it’s overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It’s a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn’t have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you’re grinding your own almonds or if you’re mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

I looked everywhere (and I mean EVERYWHERE) for a proper tart pan for this challenge, to no avail.  I really really wanted to have pretty scallops for my pastry but my ever trusty pie pan would have to do.  And it did.  But the next time I go the Big City, I am getting a Real Tart Pan.  So there.

First off, I messed up the crust because I am mathematically challenged and couldn’t convert grams/ounces to cups and what not.  Well, thankfully I caught my errors before I filled my crust so I was able to make a second crust with the help of my digital scale (a tool that I don’t use that much but am so glad now that I have it!).  The crust came together really easily and rolled well.  It is very forgiving so if you tear it or anything, it is easy to patch.

I used a lemon jam from the grocery store as requested by my husband.  He is a huge lover of lemon desserts and since I made this on Father’s Day weekend, I thought it would be sweet to do accomodate his request.  As I had some scraps of extra dough, I also made to chocolate/nutella ones in ramekins, just to play around cause you can’t go wrong with chocolate and nuts.

The frangipane did have a curdled appearance once you add the eggs, but like the recipe says, “Don’t panic”.  It’s all good.  Just keep mixing and take your time.  Nothing bad is going to happen here, Chippies. 

For the cooking time, I took out the ramekins out after about 20 mins and the pie pan out after 25.  The top was browning quite a lot and I didn’t want to burn it.

The result?  I loved the nutella one but it was too “nutty” for my hubby.  He’s not a nut fan anyway (though he IS one!) so he’s really not much of a judge on this one.  On the other hand, he really liked the lemon one.  It was tart  and the frangipane was slightly sweet and spongy.  I only wish I had had some whipped cream on hand at the time.  Would have been perfecto.

We give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Pizza!!

This month’s mouth watering challenge was brought to us by Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums.  The following is her post as presented to the Daring Bakers.  Please note the recipe includes a gluten free version as well:

As strange as it might appear, until now, there has been no DB challenge focused on learning how to make real “Pizza Dough”. So, this month we are all going to play pizzaiolos and I can assure you that it’s going to be fun!

For this challenge I chose an easy to follow recipe for “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” which yields a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, yet chewy pizza crust.

I’m sure you’re going to like (well, I hope…)!

THE CHALLENGE: You have to use the tossing method (as explained below) for at least 2 Pizza Crusts. If you are not comfortable with it, then you can switch to the rolling method, but you HAVE to try the traditional method and exercise it, using at least two dough pieces. You should also capture the moment by either filming or photographing yourself while tossing the dough.

THE RULES: This month’s recipe leaves you with much freedom! You can either make the Pizza Dough gluten-free or the normal way. You may use the sauce (anything liquidy, saucy and spreadable like cream cheese, flavored oils, pesto, Nutella, Peanut Butter, pumpkin puree, etc…) and toppings of your choice, may they be savory or sweet, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian or non-vegan/vegetarian. You must use BOTH (sauce & toppings).

JUST USE YOUR IMAGINATION!!!

EQUIPMENT: Stand mixer with paddle and dough hook attachments (optional, see recipe), cooking thermometer, baking sheet, parchment paper, cooking oil, plastic wrap, pizza peel/scraper, pizza stone or pan.

RECIPE SOURCE:  “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.  Copyright 2001.  ISBN-10: 1-58008-268-8, ISBN-13: 978-158008-268-6.

***************

~ BASIC PIZZA DOUGH ~
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled – FOR GF: 4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast – FOR GF use 2 tsp
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar – FOR GF use agave syrup
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Or

2.  FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.

3. Flour a work surface or counter.  Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them.  Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

Or

8.  FOR GF:  On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator.  Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Or

10.  FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Or

11.  FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Or

12.  FOR GF:  Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

Or

13.  FOR GF:  Follow the notes for this step.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

We went a little crazy with this month’s challenge and did up 5 different pizzas.  We were going for 6 as I did have 6 balls of dough but I burnt one in the oven so we have 5—OOOPS!  We made a plain ham and cheese one for the kids, a BBQ chicken version (BBQ sauce, topped with chicken and cheddar), a Thai pizza (peanut sauce, chicken, pea pods, carrots, mushrooms and green onion), a hot buffalo chicken one (ranch dressing as the sauce topped with spicy chicken and monterey jack cheese) and a dessert pizza (a cream cheese base with apples and caramel on top).

Here is a shot of me attempting to toss the pizza dough (it was really hard as the dough was so soft):

My thoughts?  Well, even though it takes 2 days to make this dough, there is actually very little work involved.  The dough itself is gorgeous and provides a thin pizza crust which I love.  Next time I will freeze some of the dough though so I don’t have to eat pizza for days on end!  LOL  It was fun, though, and thanks to Rosa I now have a great home made pizza dough recipe under my belt.

As for the toppings, which we were allowed to come up with on our own, they were all good.  For the savoury ones, I really enjoyed our Thai version.  My husband devoured the hot buffalo chicken one but it was waaaaay to hot for me (burn the tongue right out of your mouth, make your sweat kind of hot but my hubby goes for that so he was happy!).  The dessert pizza was the flippin’ bomb!  OMG!  It was soooo goood!  I will have to try to replicate it so I can actually get measurements for everything rather than doing it on the fly as we did.

Here’s a shot of our savory efforts:

And here’s one of the scrumptious apple dessert pizza:

Check out the blogroll to see how the other Daring Bakers fared.  I will tell you now, you will be drooling all over your keyboard so get a nappie!

I give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10.  Viva la Daring Bakers!

Grandma Williams’ Raspberry Syrup

If you only make one syrup in your life, do this one.  You will swoon over this ruby red gem!

Ingredients:

• 10 cups raspberries
• 5 cups water
• 6 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Lilywhite cornsyrup (Grandma says it has to be this brand)

Put raspberries and water into large pot and simmer until the berries are soft and mushy.  Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve.  You don’t want seeds in your syrup.  You will need 4 cups of juice from this process to continue on.

Put juice back into the pot and add the sugar and cornsyrup.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 mins. 

Serve either warm or cold.  Works wonderfully as a topping for pancakes (obviously!), ice cream and I even dip my toast into a puddle of this in the morning.  Pure delight!

You can also substitute other fruit for the raspberries such as blueberries or strawberries.

I give this recipe 9 chips out of a bag of 10.  I adore it–thank you Grandma Willams!!

Sweet Delight

My friend Michelle was surfing the ‘net one morning and came across this site:

http://charssi.com/

After drooling over the wonderful photos of spoon fudge, we decided to take the plunge and order some fabulous indulgence for ourselves.  Michelle choose the lavender and peanut butter while I headed for the orange and raspberry flavors.  After a few days in the mail, the spoon fudge arrived and was none the worse for wear.  I have to admit being a little concerned that it would freeze during shipping and be ruined. 

Opening the jar which had the cutest little spoon attached, I inhaled the wonderfully sweet chocolate orange aroma.  Ooooh!  Stabbed the little spoon in and let the sugary delight glide over my tongue.  Truly lovely and I would definately order again.  The shelf life of the fudge, once opened, is short (they recommend eating it within one week) but I don’t think anyone would have a problem eating a jar of it within that time.  Alone.  Without sharing.  Hoarding it for themselves away from greedy husbands and small children.

I give this 8.5 chips out of a bag of 10.  Can’t wait to try the raspberry one!

Chocolate Passion

If you are a lover of chocolate, I am trying out 2 new recipes tomorrow so stay tuned! 

And one is even for breakfast!  :0) 

A couple more birthday pics…

This first pic would be of the lucky (and happy) birthday boy.  The second is of Princess Peach, Luigi and Mario.  What a fun bunch!

It’s Birthday Time!

Today is my son’s 4th birthday but we aren’t having his party until tomorrow as his Dad had to work today. He, my son that is, is REALLY into Super Mario brothers.  I was lucky enough to find a Mario cakepan on Ebay for a good price and set about piping my first cake today.   Let me tell you, I was very nervous about it.  My friend Michelle told me to just buy the frosting you can get ready made at the grocery store, which I tinted and loaded up into my piping bags. Iit worked beautifully!  The only real problem I had was temperature.  The frosting kept getting too hot from the heat of my hands and started running a bit but a quick toss into the freezer seemed to do the trick.

I also have to say the Wilton dyes were awesome!  Way less frustrating than trying to tint frosting with food colouring. 

Overall I am really pleased with the cake, especially since it was my first effort.  I can see that I have lots of room for improvement but my little guy loves it so it’s all good.

How this blog got it’s name

I bet some of you are wondering why I called my blog “I Smell Chips”.  Well, first off, I do love chips.  Yummy artery clogging beasties that they are.  But this is the more important reason: we discovered my daughter had some fairly serious hearing problems (almost deaf in the one ear and the other had problems too) but she has the nose of a bloodhound!  LOL  One day our whole family was in the car on a road trip and my hubby broke into a bag of potato chips.  My daughter never heard the rustle and crinkly sound of the bag but she piped up in a very excited voice, “I SMELL CHIPS!”    It struck us as hiliarous at the time.  They are her favorite junk food too, just like me and that little episode is one of my favorite food memories.

p.s.

My daughter has since had ear surgery and hears much better.

My First Post

I wish I had something profound to say for my first post but since I am new to this whole blogging thing….well, sorry.  No deep and life changing revelations today.