Smoking Game - Pheasants & Quails

Birds brined

We had the incredible opportunity to smoke game hunted by our neighbors. Pheasant & quail that was, both fresh from the hunting grounds.

Lay out to form pellicle

We started by brining the birds for 24 hrs, and drying in the refrigerator for another 24 hrs.

Birds were smoked with Alder chips, 1.5 hrs for the Quails and about 3 hrs for the Pheasants, using the lowest temperature range for hot smoking. It is critical for the wet pan to have plenty of liquid to ensure bird don't dry out while smoking.

Birds smoked

Smoked Pheasants

The results were perfect. Meat was juicy and tasty, without overshadowing the sweet taste of the birds.  

We enjoyed them as appetizers served over toast pieces of breed, spread with peppered goat cheese, and topped with four berries preserve. An excellent combination to enjoy the delicate flavors of the smoked birds, and the perfect or' derv to celebrate Xmas Day in the great company of family and dear friends.

Blood Sausages / Morcillas



Fully cooked & read to eat

There are home-country items not available in the US. You can find some acceptable substitutes but at the end of the day they are not really that good to bother. Either you learn to live without them or --like we did-- you learn to make them! Blood sausages are on the list of many items we learned to make and enjoy abroad // Hay muchos platos Venezolanos que no se consiguen en EEUU. En ciudades grandes puedes encontrar substitutos acceptables pero en realidad no son tan buenos. Por lo tanto, aprendes a vivir sin tus platos favoritos (y de vez en cuando acceptas substitutos), o haacs como nosotros aprendes a prepararlos y disfrutartlos cuando quieras.

Fall season is here and with it comes time to make boold sausages // Llego el otoño, la mejor epoca  para preparar morcilas

Really really Good Cook Books

Have you ever tried to cook a great dish? You followed the recipe to the letter, and the end results were terrible? The aspect of your dish looked nothing like the picture? Not to mention whatever you created was not edible? I sure have, the problem is not that you cannot follow a recipe, but that not all chefs are willing to share their secrets in their books, and "forget" to share sequence of actions, and even some steps that happened to be critical for the success of the dish. Unfortunately, unless you start learning some way, you cannot master cooking to be able to cook w/o a recipe; hence the need to start with cook books and recipes.

Lucky for you there are some really really good Cook books out there that truly help you get to the end result, and have a dish that looks like the one on the picture. Below is a list of excellent cook books proven to given you what is on their picture and obtain meals that are tasty as they look!

Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang - For the outdoors aficionados
Mexico - Beautiful Cookbook – Excellent Mexican food made from scratch
Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlma & Brian Polcyn – For the more adventurous cooks that are ready to take their cooking skills to the next level
Bread from ciabatta to rye by Linda Collister – If you like bread and don’t mind the time it takes to make and bake good bread, this is the best bread book out there
The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – This guy is great! You will love this one

For any cook aficionado, there is nothing more frustrating than investing in ingredients, time and effort to have to throw your dish to the garbage. Many “simple” recipes shown in none cooking magazines, are very likely to be a waste of your time. If you are into mag subscription Saveur is one of the best ones out there.

If you like to watch cooking shows, anything with Alton Brown in it will be worth your while, especially if you are new to cooking; and as Alton would put it, anything you cook from his show or his books will be "Good Eats". Please stay away from Emeril, he never shows you the whole process, and the dishes he portraits in the show are not what he was cooking on TV.

I invite you to try some of these recommendations and have fun while you cook!

Baked vs. Just Refrigerated - How do you like your Cheese Cake?

There are basically two types of cheese cake. The ones you just pour and refrigerate, and the ones you bake; I am not referring to the crust, which is always baked. I am referring to the cheese base. I am a "baked" cheese cake fan, and have been one for as long as I can remember.

I learned to make baked cheese cakes from scratch since I was 13 years old, because New York style baked cheese cake was not available in my home town (only the refrigerated type), and I could only get the good stuff during vacation time while in the US.

Cheese cakes are tricky, messed up the order in which you mix the ingredients, bake at the wrong temperature, or under cook, and you will end up with a big mess. Also, toppings are critical, you cannot just put anything on top of a cheese case, you need the correct mix of flavors that will enhance the creamy cheese flavor, not overshadow it.

Recently I tried a new recipe, a hybrid approach, still baked but temperature ranges and bake time significantly different than the one I typically follow. To my surprise the cheese cake was outstanding! Only a few touches I would add to this recipe, based on my 30+ years of experience baking cheese cake. This recipe uses goat cheese, which is as you know, is very strong in taste. Hence, not all toppings would be appropriate. I have not tried any one topping yet, as I was a little incredulous about the recipe and decided only to try the plain recipe to fully appreciate the flavor without any other components added. Now that this is a recipe that can be repeated, will try a few exotic toppings and find the perfect match for this silk texture phenomenon.

Getting ready for some serious smoking

Pastrami and smoked fish are one of our favorite cold cuts to entertain. Thanks to the mild winter we have had to date here in SE TX, the weather is perfect for cold smoking fish.

The grouper is curing in salt while the briskets were just pulled out of the brine and drying in the refrigerator to form the necessary pelicle required for smoking.

We should be ready  to smoke these pieces tomorrow and Tuesday.

Fin de Año con clase // Year End with class !!

Tuvimos el placer  de cerrar en año en compañia de nuestros seres queridos. Desde mediados de Septiembre, y hasta mediados de Enere, recibimos la visita de casi toda la familia. Con tan buenos comenzales no nos quedo otra que cocinar! // We had the priviledge and pleasure of wrapping up 2011 in company of our loved ones. Since mid September, and thru mid January, we welcome most of our family. With such good "eaters" we had no other choice but to cook for them!

Cocinando desde pavo y pernil hasta piernas de cordero; tuvimos la oportunidad de mejorar recetas conocidas y probar nuevas recetas. Durante 2012 les compartiremos nuestro aprendizajes y nuevos tips. Despues de todo, la practica hace la perfeccion. // From Turkey and Hams to whole legs of Lamb, we master known recipes and venture into new ones. In 2012 we will share our learning and news tips. As you know, practice drives perfection.