Glo's Garden

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup

who has become a hidden treasure.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

A blog mostly about quilting,
cooking, poetry, prose and a little gardening,
Tutorial on how to make 5 panel Boxer Shorts.
Check out "A MYSTERY IN THE MAKING"
A mystery quilt designed with the novice in mind.

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

an intro to baking for kids.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

TEA TIME

This week the postman left a package. I wasn't expecting anything and it wasn't a birthday. I couldn't imagine what it contained.

The return address was from my sister, Kathie. Hmm, Why would she be sending something?

It came at the right time. I had been needing a perk me up. Unexpected fit the bill. It could have been anything and I would have been thrilled.

The contents were something I'd been obsessing over, TEA. Any tea, especially naturally flavored no caffeine tea.

She unknowingly had picked the perfect surprise for me.

We have this mobile cart with five shelves. I originally bought it to put assorted plastic ware in the pantry. That stuff made the pantry like "Fibber McGees" closet.

The day we received it and assembled it I was making tea. We had a cabinet we stored all our teas in, but every time I went to get tea, it seemed the one I wanted was behind the others.

We keep our teas in deli-salad containers we have washed and labeled. They stack nicely in the cabinet. When I touched them I thought, their length is about the depth of the shelves. Eureka! A place to organized the teas where we can see at a glance and grab the one we want.

A plus; the top shelf was just the size for my everyday teapots, hot pads, and a couple of canisters. (The brown canister contains sassafras roots we dug from our yard.)

On the left it has hooks which I hung our tea tray and one of my grabbers. (These are a necessity when you have back surgery. They are also great for reaching the far back of a cabinet .) The red hanging on the other end is my apron with lots of pockets!

After we choose a tea of our liking and have chosen what pot to use, the cart slides right back into the pantry, "out of sight not out of mind". Take time out for a relaxing cup of tea.

TEA COZY AND HOT PAD

Other blog sites by me:

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup

who has become a hidden treasure.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

CHARBROIL BIG EASY TURKEY FRYER: CHICKEN

Each time I use the Big Easy, it is just that! Easy is an understatement. The ease of clean up is a major thing. Cooking in it is a breeze. It is called big, but it isn't even as big as our Shop Vac.

The picture on the left is the chicken we did on the weekend, 30 minutes after we took it out of the cooker. You should have seen how glistening the skin was as we removed it from the cooker. It was as scrumptious as it looks.

We have prepared chicken in it before, but we didn't have the extra basket. We procured the inner basket through Amazon. Previously we have cooked two chickens side by each, breast to breast. The backs of course got good and crispy but the sheltered fronts left a lot to be desired. The you tube videos show it done this way. Cooking time for the birds in this position was 2 1/2 hours.

This is our first time using our new bed basket. I looked for videos showing using of the extra basket for two whole Chickens, nada. Either that or I didn't ask the right question to get the right answer, anyhow, we got to the end, toute suite. The two 5 1/2 lb chickens cooked in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Along the way I have procured some knowledge I hadn't read before about using the Charbroil Oil Less Big and Easy Turkey fryer. (BTW, one chicken takes 1 hour 15 minutes to cook. We just cooked two for the price of one.) Remember the two facing each other, breast to breast took 2 1/2 hours the same as cooking a turkey.

One of the facts not mentioned in the directions is, there is a dead zone on the bottom. I hadn't realized that, I saw the note on a you tube. All the things we have cooked in it have come out to perfection. If there were some underdone moments then the whole item was on the blue side. Not the fault of the cooker, but the lack of expertise of the cooks. Next use, we will jerry Rig something to hold the food an inch or so higher. Another recourse would be try to find one of the single shelves to install above the bottom of the basket.

As you can see in this previous blog we roasted a leg of venison. We had to use skewers to hold the leg in position.

http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/2017/01/big-easy-turkey-fryer-venison.html

This Blog is about our first experience with the oilless turkey fryer.

http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-big-easy-oiless-turkey-fryer.html

The chickens above are now devoured. The breast was as juicy as the thighs. The only dry meat encountered was the kneecaps. They were on the chewy side. When one of the breast was sliced for sandwiches the next day it was comparable to the "deli sliced chicken" that is succulent when sliced wafer thin. The next day the leftover slices had not lost any of their moistness. Until this moment we had nearly sworn off our beloved white meat because the breast always turned out dry. We thought it was because we were so used to farm raised chickens. We are now past the stage where we like to raise chickens for consumption. I will tell you that a free range chicken is far more succulent than a cage raised bird.

How did we prepare these chickens for the cooker? Brought them to room temperature (took the refrigerator cold off them.) Washed them well. Dried them, and applied a wet rub inside and out.

The rub I used is not strong flavored. We wanted only to enhance the basic chicken flavor not be easting the rub flavor. I rubbed both chickens thoroughly outside and sort of inside.

My recipe I used : 6 TBS Olive oil, 1 teas salt, 2 teas cumin, 3 teas garlic powder, 1 teas paprika. The only change I would make next time is to increase the salt and the garlic powder. I would also like to put some bay leaves under the breast skin.
The hour and fifteen minutes we cooked the chickens was with the wire lid on the charbroil.

HINT: Before you preheat, place the basket in the cooker and spray oil the basket and the liner of the cooker. Remove the basket and preheat burning off the oil and sealing your cooker from rusting.

There are a zillion rubs around and you probably have a favorite. If you don't like the burnt skin I suggest not use anything with sugar in it (if you do add it the last of the cooking).

We have found the cooker is very economical on gas, using much less gas than a BBQ. On windy days we build an enclosure around it. Rainy days we have a piece of plywood suspended between two lawn chairs for a roof (the board never gets even warm.) This day was 60 degrees and very windy. We had wind breaks two sides.

If you are inclined to invest in something new for your kitchen repertoire. This item fits the bill. I can't wait to try roasted veggies in it. BTW, we have found it is not kin to fried turkey, or a BBQ, or a smoker. It's its own self, producing delicious food, efficiently.

Have fun. I hope this blog helps you enjoy a little more good eats in your life.

Other blog sites by me:

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup

who has become a hidden treasure.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-big-easy-oiless-turkey-fryer.html

an intro to baking for kids.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

BIG EASY TURKEY FRYER, VENISON

On December 31, 2016, we ushered in the new year using our
CHAR-BROIL BIG EASY TURKEY FRYER for the second time. It continually amazes us. Yes this is another product endorsement!!

Hanging in the basket you see the Venison leg from a 10 point buck we harvested on our property this year. (Three deer were taken from here in 12 hours). It made up for last year when we and our hunter friend didn't even see one deer during all the deer seasons.

The leg (I didn't weigh it) weighed appx 5 pounds. We cooked it for an hour and 45 minutes. I checked it at an 75 minutes using the suggestion for beef of 15 minutes a pound. The Thermometer said 140. I left it another 30 minutes and whoops the thermometer read 165. I thought we had over-done it. Nope, the thickest part of the leg was medium rare next to the bone. It was gorgeous (It may have weighed more than the 5 lbs). It was juicy (Deer legs do not have much fat on them). What did we do to prepare it? Not a thing except use a small amount of the rub I had made for the Turkey in this blog:

I think I could have studded it with garlic cloves in the thickest part.

The light application of rub was perfect.

To support the roast in the basket I used several skewers and rested them on the bars of the basket.

They weren't long enough to reach from side to side in the basket. The skewers were to hold it upright so no part would be touching the sides of the basket putting it closer to the walls. My theory was it would cook more evenly if it was dead center.

Would I do anything different with the next leg? Yes, I would hang it with the larger end up. Why, because when reading (googling the cooker) I have read the cooker is hotter at the top. That would keep the narrower end from being over done and I would be able to put the lid on and cook the thicker end faster. Mind you the above is just a theory, but I do have a couple of more legs to experiment with. (The dog loved the terribly over-done bits on the narrow end.)

You can see in the picture, the basket still looks brand new. I am sure wiping the rungs with an oil saturated paper towel made the clean up a breeze. I only had a couple of places I used steel wool and I could have probably gotten the places clean with one of those rough scrubby sponges. (BTW Dollar tree has the best buy around for Steel wool pads. They are smaller so you don't feel bad about throwing them away if they start rusting.) BTW, you can put the baskets in the dishwasher on their side and even put stuff inside to wash. It gets hidden grease off.

Clean up in the barrel...easy peazy. I used a wooden spoon when we took out the basket and scraped up the hot drippings..left them in the bottom of the barrel till it cooled....it gets hot having your arm down in there....even with the gas off. When cool I removed the barrel and put a tablespoon of oil in the bottom and further scraped with a wooden spoon the bottom. The oil helped to lift the scrapings off the bottom. Then I took more oil soaked paper towels and wipe the sides thoroughly and cleaned out the bottom of extra oil and burned drippings. Then I took a clean paper towel and wiped off the excess remaining oil, leaving a light film for protection.

After this experience I recommend this item as the ultimate gift for your hunting significant other.

I can't wait to try it with a plain old chicken and some foil covered sweet potatoes.

Other blog sites by me:

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup

who has become a hidden treasure.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

an intro to baking for kids.

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.

I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .

Please do not copy without permission

Monday, December 26, 2016

THE BIG EASY OILESS TURKEY FRYER

WOW!!

Yes, this is a product endorsement.

(No, we are not getting paid for or reimbursed for it...it sure would be nice though if we were.)

Wow is not a big enough expletive to describe using the apparatus or the product issuing from the basket. We should've taken pictures. You can go to "You Tube" and find lots of videos describing the use of the cooker and how to prepare the "meat" and cook it.

(Look at several for lots of ways to use the "fryer".)

A bit of history: We were at our son's Navy retirement ceremony.

He had bought one of the

CHAR BROIL BIG EASY OILESS TURKEY FRYERS.

I didn't pay much attention to the assembly but less than 3 hours later there was a turkey sitting and cooling it's heels on his kitchen counter. To say it was a gourmet delight is to put it mildly. To say that cleanup was a breeze is an understatement. I have reached that stage in life where I don't want to buy another cooking gadget. Technically I have about all the cooking utensils I need. We also do not have need to be cooking for more than two people. So when you hear me say, "Hunny, when I get home we have to invest in one of these." You know I am serious about it.

It was our Holiday gift to each other. We ordered it through Amazon. We also have Amazon prime. Our gift arrived on Monday (we ordered it late Saturday). The big box sat in the living room awaiting the grand opening. We were having zero temps with below zero wind chills so we figured "NOW" was not the time to fire it up. The temps were supposed to be moderate by the end of the week. Our turkey was put to thaw in the fridge. It was just under 14 lbs.

The Eve of Hanukkah/Christmas the day was supposed to be almost 50. It barely made it over 40 but we knew we had to do that turkey and I wasn't about to dirty my oven and spend 4-5 hours basting and making dressing and giblet gravy.

Hunny, assembled the cooker. I sat the turkey out to come to room temp. Then re read how we were to treat the bird before cooking. Rubs and injections were suggested but said to not be necessary. We didn't have an injector and had not purchased rubs (we don't like pepper, most purchased ones have pepper and sugar....it says sugar burns sometimes in the cooker.)

I proceeded to make my own rub. I used 1/2 cup fine ground canning salt (not a kosher salt). Then I eyeballed about 1/4 cup garlic powder, 1/8 cup paprika, and 1/8 poultry seasoning.

The cooker was seasoned and burned off and the Turkey covered in vegetable oil and sprinkled heavily with the dry mix, and put in the basket and lowered into the cooker.

Suggestion: (which I never saw in the book or videos). They say, spread the birds legs; which we did. We also folded the wings down so the tips wouldn't stick out the sides of the basket and burn. When the legs were spread, it tilted the breast forward. The breast got darker than we wanted, because it was close to the side of the cooker. Next time we will be making sure the back bone of the bird is resting against the side of the cage. BTW. We used an oil saturated paper towel and oiled the rungs on the basket. I think that did contribute to the ease of the basket cleanup.

Due to the cold we arranged our metal lawn chairs around the cooker and put up a ply wood surround and a sheet of plywood over the top (made a little hut for it). Yes, we checked periodically to make sure nothing was reaching a temp where it would ignite.

We set the kitchen timer to 1 hour and 20 minutes and then we were going to check to see if we needed to put the lid on. Nope, the bird was looking superb and just a little over 1/2 done. Went back in and set the timer for 60 minutes. Went about straightening up the kitchen, had to reach over the stove to put some spices in the upper cabinet...I didn't realize I had bumped the button on the timer...geesh....how long had it cooked. We went out with the Thermometer and inserted it...it sky rocketed way over 165....Whoops...get the hooker and get that bird out of there!
(BTW, we never had to use the lid).

It was set on the counter to cool for 20 minutes. The drippings on the tray were clear so we had no worries it was done...Our worry was, had we, literally cooked our goose .

We began deconstructing the left side of the bird. Laying out the pieces and of course sampling as we went. We had not scheduled dinner, we had a ton of left overs in the the icebox. Needless to say the left overs are still there. We sampled turkey all evening. It was a pickers delight! (The breast wasn't over cooked or dry).

What happened to the right side of the turkey? We called friends to see if they wanted a half of a turkey to have for supper. Yes, we could have frozen it but it was so much fun sharing.

We can't wait to try other meats and I will have to get one of the baskets to double my pleasure in the cooker. (There is a basket available to hang inside the other one for two tiered cooking. Veggies can be done too, just like you do on the grill.)

Okay...final cleanup of the cooker did require a little elbow grease and a wooden spoon to scrape the residue off the bottom of the cooker after we burned of the inside but it was nothing like the cleanup of an oven or the broiler pan from roasting a turkey. I don't think it took us 10 minutes to clean and put away everything.

What would I recommend this item for? Do you need a gift for a wedding and they live in a small apartment? Do you live in a climate where it is always hot and using the oven is a detriment? Do you hate standing by a smoking Barbeque? I can't think of any reason not to purchase this item.

We are only two old people (over 70) who wonder when they will be able to enjoy a life of leisure. While we are waiting for this to happen we will be eating very well and cooking won't be monopolizing what time we have left.

This "Grill" is handled by most of large retailers and various sources on line. Our experience purchasing through Amazon has been exemplary. Our Son bought his at Walmart. The plus in purchasing through a brick and mortar store is you have somewhere to return it to if something should go wrong. BUT...we can't for see anything going wrong with this well designed cooker.

Other blog sites by me:

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup

who has become a hidden treasure.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

an intro to baking for kids.

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.

I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .

Please do not copy without permission

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

GREAT COOKING PANS FOR WOOD STOVES

FISHER BABY BEAR

Warmer days, snow's gone,
Mother Nature, this time won,
Nights, towards morning, chill,
Getting out of bed a thrill.

Breezes through windows drift,
Giving us a spiritual lift,
I shiver, starting a fire,
Fulfilling immediate desires.

Frying pan, on the stove set,
Bacon, ready in minuets,
Perfection, over easy eggs,
Fried in the bacon dregs.

My day began with a chill,
I'm warm now, on my hill,
Breakfast over, soup pot's on,
All the dishes, are now done.

I can't tell you how happy I was when I awoke to the furnace coming on. Why, the why is because that meant the house's temp was cold enough I could start a fire in the wood stove. We don't have the stove for heat all the time. It is a little stove, not the size to heat the 1000 square feet by 19 ft tall area. If the electric is off in a storm and it is Zero outside it will heat the area as long as I am there to feed it wood and keep a roaring fire in it.

This morning I went to look up info on our little stove to share with you. I received a surprise. My stove has become a collectors item. Except for needing a good exterior cleaning and painting our stove is in great condition. We bought it probably the second year they were manufactured. It has been in yearly use since then. We also bought a Mama bear stove. It is in our basement (I wish we had used it upstairs.) We can't switch them because we had the flue out the back go directly into the fireplace system. It has its own chimney with the fireplace and the other stove.

As you can see in the picture, we have a small "camp" oven which fits on top the stove. It does an admirable job of baking if it is cold enough out side to crank up the fire really hot.

These muffins weren't made today. They are from a colder morning. The challenge with the little oven is to find pans which fit the shelves. They are not removable. I do have another oven which has sliding shelves but it doesn't have a thermostat, it is a very ancient one.

It doesn't have the insulation the one I am using does. This one bakes with a more even temp.

The muffin pan you see barely fits. I have a square stainless pan which works. Several of my corning wear dishes work well. Of course cake pans and bread pans work well.

This brings us around to pans for the stove top. Cast iron of course are fabulous. Sometimes it takes a lot to preheat them to cooking temp.

I am crazy for "All Clad" Pans but recently I have found two pans which outshine them on the wood stove and on the conventional stove (we have electric). I happened on one pan at the re-sell-it shop. It was a medium size skillet. Everything I have is either small or humongous I hadn't a medium size frying/sauteing pan. This pan had a thick disk on the bottom and I wondered if that would help or hinder. It was made by Revere ware in 1986. It was called "Triply" It has been discontinued. They designed it for use with the new flat top stoves which came out then. This is my very favorite pan, it's only draw back it doesn't come in a larger size with straight sides.

If you have a wood stove you like to cook on, I recommend you procure one for yourself. The series came in a stock pot and a 9 inch fry pan and a 1 quart sauce pan. The pan comes up to cooking temp almost immediately. If the stove is real hot I have to use my antique heat diffuser to control the heat. The pan works even better on an electric stove. I can crisp fry things on the low burner setting once it has been preheated.

I was wishing I had the stock pot when a local grocery ran a promotional. It was earn points through purchasing groceries and exchange them for cook pans. I really wasn't interested but we shopped there anyway so the points were collected. Hunny does the shopping so I hadn't seen the items. When it came time to redeem the points I told hunny to get the stock pot I can always use another large pot to blanch in.

It turned out to have a triply disk on the bottom. I had never heard of the brand before so was skeptical of the quality. It was "Thomas Rosenthal professional cookware". When I looked it up it evidently is mainly sold through promotional events. The stock pot was 8 qts stainless steel with a glass lid. It did not have Teflon interior (which I would have thoroughly rejected).

Both of these pans I highly recommend. They are almost no stick when you use the old adage, "Hot pan Cold oil, food won't stick." They hold heat and cook at lower temps than other pans I have tried.
Clean up has been a breeze. If there are cooked on bits....a little soaking or light scrubbing with a plastic scratchy pad usually takes care of it.

Happy cooking. BTW...I have no affiliation with any cookware manufacturer I am just a very satisfied consumer.

Other blog sites by me:

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup who has become a hidden treasure.