Coke and Mustard Marinade

Watch the YouTube video!

Coke and Mustard Marinade

Very Easy Recipe

Prep Time: none

Cook Time: 45 min - several hours

This recipe is very delicious when used on a ham in a slow cooker or crock-pot, but has been successfully used on poultry and beef as well.

Ingredients:

1-3 Tbl Mustard 

2-3 cans of Coke

Seriously, that's all!

Step 1:

Slather your selected cut of meat with mustard. Any mustard you like can be used. For example, instead of yellow mustard, cajun spicy mustard or dijon mustard can be employed. Most hams and beef roasts take 1-2 Tbl of mustard to cover, but a whole turkey can take up to 5 Tbl.

Step 2:

Pour in the first can of coke and set the meat to cook on high heat for several hours. The sugar in 

the coke will balance out the mustard flavor nicely, the acid content helps to tenderize the meat.

Check the meat repeatedly to make sure that the liquid still covers 3/4 of the meat. When the liquid level drops, pour in another coke. 

The meat is done when it starts to fall apart. 

Don't be alarmed by the dark color of the outside, the coke has changed its color. When you pull the meat apart the inside will be a beautiful pink. 

Just wait until you taste it!

If you are doing a turkey, or other meat cut that doesn't fit into a slow cooker you can use the oven and foil method. 

Smother with mustard, set in the baking tray, pour the coke in and cover with foil. Repeatedly baste 

with the coke mixture in the bottom of the pan. Only 1 can of coke is needed for this method.

Southern Style Pecan Pie

Check out the YouTube video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx4G9UsO73Q

Southern Style Pecan Pie

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients:
1 9-in pie crust
1 1/2 cup pecans
3 lg eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar (dark is better)
1/2 cup corn syrup (dark is better)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preperation:
Rough chop half the pecans, leave the other half to decorate the top.
Preheat the oven to 350F

Mix the Filler:
Mix the eggs, sugar, syrup and spices together. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Fill the Pie:
Once the pie mix is fully integrated you can spoon it into the pie shell and decorate the top with the full size pecans. The pecans will float to the top of the filler, so don't worry about getting them arranged perfectly.

Bake:
Bake the pie at 350 (180 C) for 45 minutes. Check at the 30 minute mark; if the pecans are turning too brown you can cover the pie with aluminum foil for the rest of the bake time. The pie is done when a knife pressed into the center of the pie comes out clean. That is to say, that the pie filler doesn't stick to the knife or come out goopey.

How to: Chopping Vegetables

Here are some quick and easy steps to minimize prep time in the kitchen and allow you to get on the best parts of cooking: the eating!

Most importantly: Choose a knife that you are comfortable using. There are a variety of knives that "should" be used for specific purposes. I've never held to this belief, although to some extent using a thin boning knife is easier to filet a fish and using a shorter paring knife is easier to carve and peel. In general though, I recommend that you find a knife that you are comfortable using. If you are comfortable with your knife there will be less mistakes and the possibility of accidents in the kitchen. I prefer to use a knife with a heavy handle and a long and smooth blade for chopping.

Step 1: Slice the vegetables into manageable pieces. I like to chop everything in half first, which keeps the pieces from rolling around the cutting board. Keep in mind that all vegetables are made a bit differently, for example, bell peppers must be cored and de-stemmed and onions grow in layers.

Step 2: Slice your pieces into strips roughly the size that you want the final pieces to be. The wider the strips, the larger the final pieces. The thinner the strips the smaller the final pieces.

Step 3: Chop across your strips to dice into final pieces. Don't worry about making each piece the same as the last, your goal is to eat the vegetables, not show them in an art gallery. This is key to minimizing prep time in the kitchen. Just let your OCD go and chop!

Southern Louisiana Gumbo

https://youtu.be/kpWblmmeGww

Check out the YouTube video!

Medium Difficulty,

a simple recipe, but the difficulty lies in the amount of cook time.

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

8-10 Sausages
1 whole Chicken, quartered
1 medium Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 medium Green Bell Pepper, chopped
2 medium Onions, chopped
2 large stalks of Celery, chopped
1 cup Parsley, chopped
4 cups of Dry Roux (link to recipe) OR 2 cups of Wet Roux (link to recipe)
1 Tbl Gumbo File powder
1 Tbl White Pepper powder
1 Tbl Cayenne Pepper powder
3 Tbl Salt

Served over rice. I recommend 4-6 cups of rice made, depending on your usual rice serving. 

Step 1: Saute the Vegetables, set them aside to add in later.

Step 2: Brown the Meats, add them to to largest pot you have and cover in water, leaving a couple of inches from the rim of the pot free of water. Keep in mind that the gumbo needs to cook for several hours, so either cover the pot or be prepared to add in more water a couple hours in.

Step 3: Add Water, Roux and Spices, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Add Sauted Vegetables and Put Rice on to Cook, once the meat has begun to fall off the chicken bones. This is the determining factor for the gumbo. The reason it cooks for so long is so that the ingredients are all very tender and have the maximum amount of time to absorb the roux and spicing flavors. The vegetables cook very quickly in comparison to the other ingredients
so they should go in very last. After the rice is done, the gumbo should be ready to eat!

Serve over rice and enjoy!