BBQ Skirt Steak Kabobs Mad Scientist Style

My boyfriend is a mad scientist. It says so on his business card. He specializes in metal finishes at a furniture/fixture design and fabrication firm. He mixes up chemicals for special patinas to make new things look old. Though sometimes he uses chemicals to make things look really new.

The mad scientist has cleaned off his patio and fired up his charcoal for a summer of BBQing. Today I'm sharing one of his grilling recipes. In true mad scientist form, he doesn't use recipes. I had to translate his "a little bit of X" and "some Y" into actual measurements for the rest of us traditional recipe followers. Because his directions weren't exact to begin with, you can take some comfort knowing that you can't really mess this up.

The only ingredients are brown sugar, rye whiskey or bourbon, some salt and pepper. The brown sugar caramelizes with a rye or bourbon flavor and through the Maillard reaction it browns the meat into wonderful melt in your mouth flavor. The mad scientist recommends skirt steak for a good kabob. He says it is the most underrated cut of beef. I trust him on this - he once worked as a butcher and sold a rib steak to Julia Child.

BBQ Skirt Steak Kabobs
From the Mad Scientist

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons rye whiskey or bourbon
1 1/2 pound of skirt steak cubed for kabobs
1 medium onion chunked for kabobs
skewers

Directions
Mix salt, pepper, brown sugar, and rye (or bourbon) in a small bowl. Place cubed steak in a larger container (a ziploc bag works great!), pour marinade over the steak. Marinate for about 30 to 60 minutes.

Wet the skewers by placing under running water for a bit or by soaking in a container of water. Wetting the skewers helps to prevent them from burning. Build your kabobs, alternating a steak cube and an onion slice. You can also put together other kabobs with your favorite veggies -  red peppers and mushrooms are shown in the photo below. In general, it's a good idea to make separate meat skewers and separate veggie skewers, since they often cook at different rates.

By this time you should have fired up your grill - or perhaps 30 minutes ago if you use charcoal. You need high heat - so be sure your coals are red hot. Place the kabobs on the grill. Turn the kabobs - grilling each side until brown. Remove from heat and let rest. Enjoy.

Bacon Bourbon Caramel Corn

 I saw a post somewhere today (maybe on DailyCandy?) advertising Bourbon Bacon Caramel Corn and couldn't stop thinking about it all afternoon. When thinking about what to have for dinner, all I could think of was sweet and bacony crunchy popcorn. These thoughts were fueled by the actual presence of bacon in my refrigerator and some popcorn kernels that had been sitting in a Tupperware container on my counter since 2 ears of dried corn showed up in my farm share last summer.

A search on google only found the product for sale, already made. I was only able to find a recipe for caramel corn and used this for my starting point.

I haven't made popcorn from without a microwave since I was young. It was fun to relive these memories. Did anyone else sneak homemade popcorn in brown paper bags into the movies when they were younger? 

Some things I learned while making this recipe:
1. 1/3 to 1/2 cups of kernal popcorn yields 3.5 quarts
2. Don't try to reheat unpopped kernel - the ones that do pop are sadly disappointing, they half pop, kinda like those fireworks that go up and explode into one spark and make you say "Booooooo" instead of "Ooooooooooo"
3. Don't try to taste test boiling caramel sauce, it's still really hot even after you've removed it from the stove for 5 minutes.
4. Try not to burn your bacon. I just got a new griddle. It captured and held heat so well the bacon was done before I knew it.

Popcorn and Bacon

3-5 strips bacon
3 Tablespoons canola, peanut, or grapeseed oil (high smoke point oil)
1/3 cup of high quality popcorn kernels
1 3-quart covered saucepan

Instructions
1. Cook the bacon until crispy, place on paper towels to remove grease, cool.
2. Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat.
3. Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.
4. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. This step first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.
5. Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper). Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl. With this technique, nearly all of the kernels pop and nothing burns.

6.  Crumble bacon. Add bacon to popcorn and toss.

If you don't want to add the caramel and bacon you can....
7. Add butter, you can easily melt it by placing the butter in the now empty, but hot pan.
8. Salt to taste.
 

Makes 2 quarts, a nice amount for two people, or for one hungry one.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1/2  cup real butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup (or light corn syrup)
1 to 2 Tablespoon Bourbon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Bring butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Reduce heat and boil for 5 minutes; remove from heat.

4. Stir in boubon, vanilla, salt, and baking soda and mix.
5. Pour over popped corn and bacon.

6. Spread coated popcorn into (2) 11" X 9" X 2" baking pans.


7. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

8. Cool for 1 hour, then break up before storing.

Bourbon and Maple-Glazed Salmon Fillets

For those of you who are looking for some healthy eating, this one's for you. Salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids, the good kind of fat. And if you are calorie counting, here are the nutrition facts: 315 calories (44 percent from fat ), 15 grams fat (2 grams sat. fat ), 8 grams carbohydrates, 35 grams protein, 360 mg sodium, 96 mg cholesterol, 0 grams fiber .

I've made salmon this way a few times and it always turns out well. The flavors are smokey and sweet. I recommend using individual fillets as the recipe suggests (instead of a whole piece of fish as shown in my photos below). Using smaller fillets allows for the glaze to coat the side of each fillet serving, ultimately giving you more flavor with every bite. Fillets will also cook faster than a whole piece of fish.

BOURBON AND MAPLE-GLAZED SALMON FILLETS
Source: Witchita Falls Crave.com
Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons bourbon
4 (about 6 ounces each) salmon fillets with skin on
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Rinse the fillets under cold water and pat dry.
In a small bowl combine the oil, Dijon, maple syrup and bourbon. Set aside half the glaze.
Place the salmon fillets in a shallow dish and brush with half the glaze. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to 3 hours before broiling.

Preheat the broiler to low. Coat a broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place the salmon fillets on the pan, skin side down. Season with salt and pepper. Broil for about 8 minutes. Brush with the reserved glaze and continue broiling, another 4-5 minutes* depending on the thickness, until the salmon is just cooked through. Remove the salmon by sliding a spatula between the flesh and skin, leaving the skin on the broiler pan.

* I had to broil about 3 to 4 minutes longer when using this larger piece of fish.

1. Salmon marinading
2. Reserve glaze
3. Salmon after broiling 8 minutes

Dude. I'm hammered. The Bourbon Brie was a HIT!

First off, thank you, thank you, dear Cassie, for extending the invite to guest blog. I can only hope I do your site justice.

For those of you who do not frequent the comment section of the Soused Chef, you should know that recently when Cassie described her journey with Drunken Pumpkin Bread, I commented that I, too, had a bourbon recipe, mine with brie. There was an invite to guest blog and a subsequent jumping at the chance. It was only the next post, her fifth total, that I began to notice a theme and wondered if I should slip a pamphlet for a twelve step program in the mail truck up to Philly. I wrote a comment to the affect, she wrote one back, I googled the term “soused”, and then felt pretty stupid.

Why am I always the last to get it??

Sigh.

Anywho, I give to you:

(Ta-da!)

Brie with Bourbon

First off, I need to give credit where credit is due. This recipe originated from the Junior League of Wilmington Cookbook, which I was given several years ago as a kind-of-joke, but has since proved itself unsurpassed, in terms of giving me smug, brag-worthy, party hit recipes. If you have ever had my hot onion dip, take a moment to pay homage to the ladies of the Junior League and their hoop skirts. It came from them.

The recipe from the book is as follows:

1 large wedge of Brie, room temperature

1/2 c chopped pecans

1/2 c packed light brown sugar

1 - 2 shots bourbon* and **

sliced french bread and/or crackers

Combine ingredients 2 - 4.

Spread on a microwave safe serving platter. Nuke dat shit (really, the ladies of the J.L. actually do say that) for 30 - 45 seconds. Place Brie on top of mixture, nestled all awesome-like. Nuke it again for another 30 - 45 seconds, until the brown sugar mixture is slightly bubbling and the Brie is just starting to melt out. Serve hot with crackers/bread in one hand, cocktail in the other. Discuss how this season the country club is “going downhill fast, now that they’re letting just anyone in.”

A few learnings/ modifications.

1. The cheese lady at Whole Foods let me know that if I’m topping my brie with something, I can somewhat sacrifice the quality. That being said, I went with a mid-grade, 70% brie blend, that ran for roughly $4.00 a wedge.

2. Since I was rolling into a dinner party of approximately 20 people, I tripled the recipe. As you will see from the before and after photos, that was the right call.

3. * The bourbon amount called for is ridiculously off, as my first attempt through I tripled the pecans and brown sugar, but started with just the 2 shots called for in the single recipe. The result was a soupy mess that smelled like a drunk hobo who just found himself kicked out of Cold Stone Creamery. Luckily, I had enough ingredients to start over. Add the alcohol 1/2 a shot at a time, until you get the consistency and strength you want. It should look like this:

4. ** I actually used brandy instead of bourbon, because this is what I happened to have in my house.

5. Pack everything up to assemble at the hostess’s house. (Side note, anyone wanna weigh in on the paint samples I have up?)

6. It is preferable to slice your bread ahead of time, just before you leave, as nothing irritates a crazed hostess more than another person getting in the way in her kitchen. However, if a lazy Saturday afternoon prohibits this, well, I suppose it can’t be helped.

I give to you, the final product:

....aaaaaaand about twenty minutes later:

Thinking Cassie’s on to something with this drunk cooking thing,

khop

Spiced Pumpkin Bread with a Twist

Here is my attempt to drunken my famous pumpkin bread. I halved the recipe because I didn't want to waste my fresh pumpkin puree on what could be a drunken disaster. Top this bread off with bourbon cream cheese frosting and everyone will forget all of their worries.

When serving this, slice the bread and then cut the slices in half. Place the frosting in a ramikin or another similarly cute dish. Then arrange decoratively on your favorite IKEA serving tray.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from Epicurious

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (or solid packed pumpkin from can)
2 tablespoons bourbon

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour one 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin and bourbon. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaf out onto racks and cool completely.

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons premium bourbon

Preparation

Beat softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and bourbon. Beat until creamy. 

Some Kitchen Tips: 

To Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree:
Here is detailed blog post about making Pumpkin Puree, pictures and all. Or you can use my quicky method below.

1. Choose the right kind of pumpkin of the many pumpkin varieties available.  
• Decorative pumpkins which are used for Halloween are grown with color, structural strength, a flat bottom, and a sturdy stem as their main attributes. The flesh tends to be bland, watery, and fibrous. 
• Culinary pumpkins have firmer flesh and a sweeter taste. There are many varieties of culinary pumpkins, including Small Sugar, Winter Luxury, Golden Cushaw, Cinderella, Fairytale, Jarradale, Sandman or Cheese Pumpkins. 
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Cover each half with foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven, foil side up, 1 hour, or until tender.
5. Scrape pumpkin meat from shell halves and puree using a hand blender, regular blender, or food processor. You can strain to remove any remaining stringy pieces if you like. I've also just used a potato masher, knowing that further mixing will take place during any recipe I make.
   
6. Measure into quantities for your favorite pumpkin recipes, usually 1 to 2 cup portions and place into freezer bags.
7. Label contents, date and quantity and store in freezer until ready to use.

Sifting Dry Ingredients

I can remember learning how to bake from my mom. She makes fantastic pies and brownies. When the recipe called for sifting the dry ingredients, we would dig deep into the cabinet and pull out the hand sifter. I dreaded this contraption. It was old and well use. It was difficult to clean and had small bits of crusted flour in the mesh from previous uses. Not that was a huge health hazard, but it grossed out the 10 year old version of me. It required repetitive squeezing of the handle to push the ingredients through the mesh. My wrists and fingers would cramp up.

Luckily they now make a battery operated version of the sifter and sifting is a more enjoyable experience for me. I bought my sifter at Fante's, one of the best kitchen stores in the U.S. which happens to be 3 blocks north of my house. You can buy both of these sifters and several other versions at Fante's dedicated web page of sifters.

And why is sifting important? It keeps things airy and light. It also helps to evenly mix multiple dry ingredients that may have different weights and grinds. One could say sifting helps to marry the dry ingredients. Luckily I know the Deaconess of Desserts when I need help with marrying things.

Holla World, Holla Whiskey Bread

About 2 years ago, I came up with the idea of writing a cookbook that contained recipes that used alcohol, any kind of alcohol as one of the ingredients. With fervor, I started collecting recipes and experimenting with ways to add alcohol to some of my favorite recipes. Well, time has passed and there is no cookbook, just lots of notes, and a 15 pound weight gain which I blame on all the desserts I made in those first few months of trying out recipes!

I recently bought some pears from the Greensgrow Farm up in Kensington. As they sat uneaten and quickly ripening on my table, I was motivated to return to the alcohol cookbook project. This Hooten Holla Whiskey Bread was one of the first recipes I worked up. It originally called for raisins, but I substituted pears. This recipe is added to my banana bread, pumpkin bread recipes and completes my dessert bread trifecta. The molasses and nutmeg give it a good spicy taste to offset the sweetness. If you like gingersnaps or whiskey, you'll like this bread.

Pear Whiskey Bread

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup bourbon, plus more for you (I used scotch whiskey because that's what we had in our cupboard)

1 cup pears, peeled

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preparation:

1. First, take the bourbon or whiskey out of the cupboard and pour yourself a shot. I like mine on ice.

2. Now, pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 1/2 -by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan.

3. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the beaten eggs, a little at a time.

4. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg, and add to the batter. Then beat in the milk.

5. Combine the molasses and baking soda and mix into to the batter. To help prevent the pears and pecans/walnuts from sinking, dust them with flour, shaking off the excess. Mix them, along with the bourbon, into the batter until combined.

6. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes up clean, 1 3/4 to 2 hours. Yes, it really is that long, maybe even longer. Makes 1 loaf.

NOTE: According to the original recipe, whiskey cake keeps practically forever, wrapped in aluminum foil, in your refrigerator. It gets better and better too, if you juice it up once in a while by using an eyedropper to add a little more whiskey. Unfortunately, I have lost the copy of the original recipe which I blame on the second shot of whiskey. I'm sorry I can't give credit to the original author of this recipe.