Easy Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

3 slabs St. Louis Style Baby Back Ribs

2 Ounces Tybee Island Southern Barbecue Rub

2 Fluid Ounces Coca-Cola( Not Diet)

Marigot Bay Mango Barbecue Sauce

For the Poaching Liquid:

2 quarts water or enough to cover ribs

3 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 lager beer

½ cup black peppercorns

Steps:

1.        Fill large roasting pan with water and poaching liquid ingredients. Bake in a 250°F oven for approximately 2 ½ hours, or until tender.

2.       Remove ribs from poaching liquid and allow to cool to room temperature.

3.       Mix Cola, and Barbecue Rub to form a paste

4.       Rub paste on ribs, and refrigerate covered, overnight for best results.

5.       Grill ribs over medium heat while basting with sauce. Turn often to prevent burning.

Serve hot with your favorite sides.

Iguana Isle Crawfish Boil

Ingredients:

½ cup fresh lemon juice

5 pounds yellow onions, peeled and cut in half

5 pounds small red potatoes, cut in half if desired

2 cloves garlic

2 pounds smoked Andouille sausage

8 ears of yellow corn, cut in half

1 cup Louisiana hot sauce

6 each bay leaves

4 ounces Bayou La Batre Crab Boil Seasoning

3 pounds + 1 cup kosher salt

40 pounds fresh crawfish

1 case of cold beer

2 each 10 pound bags of ice (use one to ice beer down, and one to cool your crawfish)

Steps:

Cut onions, and garlic in half and put to the side.

Fill large stockpot half full of water, and bring to a boil.

Add hot sauce, Bayou La Batre Crab Boil Seasoning, and 1 cup of kosher salt to the stockpot.

Add crawfish, water, and ½ of the salt to a large basin to purge the crawfish for 5-10 minutes. Rinse, and repeat the process a second time to make sure they are very clean.

Add lemon juice to boiling stock pot.

Add potatoes, garlic, onions to the pot, and boil for 15 minutes. 

Partake in a cold adult beverage to reward yourself for a job well done!

After allowing your vegetables to cook for 15 minutes add crawfish and corn to boiling water. Cover the stockpot with a lid and allow the crawfish to come to a boil.

Boil crawfish for approximately 3 minutes, or until bright red. 

Remove from heat, and add remaining ice to the stockpot to stop the crawfish from cooking. 

Allow to rest 15- 20 minutes while making sure all the last minute details are taken care of…

Grab a couple of cold ones, a bottle of tabasco and drain the crawfish so they can be consumed immediately!

Let crawfish soak for 15-20 minutes to absorb the proper seasoning level.

Laissez les bon temps roule!

Tybee Island Pulled Pork

Smoked Pork Shoulder

I’ve been planning my week around cooking, and eating the 18 pounds of pork I purchased to make snacks with, and I just realized that I never actually posted the recipe for how I make my pulled pork…..oops!

 

1 Pork Picnic Shoulder, or Butt( Approximately 5 Lbs.)

2 Ounces Tybee Island Southern Barbecue Rub

2 Fluid Ounces Coca-Cola( Not Diet)

Marigot Bay Mango Barbecue Sauce as needed to provide happiness……..

 

Steps:

 

1. Mix Cola, and Barbecue Rub to form a paste
2. Rub paste on pork, and refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 hours
3. Place in 250 degree smoker for 5-6 hours, or until tender. Should you not have the smoker available to you just use your trusty slow cooker set on low for 6-8 hours. Add 1/2 Cup of water to bottom of the slow cooker so the pork doesn’t stick.
4. Shred by hand, and serve with your barbecue sauce, and favorite sides…. 

Oyster Po Boy Sandwich

Ingredients:

 

1 Loaf fresh French bread

1 Pint Fresh Shucked Oysters

2 Cups Whole Milk

2 Large Eggs

1 1/2 Cups AP Flour

½ Cup Yellow Cornmeal

1 Teaspoon Amelia Island Blackening Spice Seasoning

Green Leaf Lettuce

Thinly sliced Berumda Onion

BeefSteak Tomato Slices

350 °F Deep Fryer for the Oysters

½ Cup Remoulade* Recipe Follows

Steps:

Whisk milk & eggs together and soak the oysters

Mix flour, cornmeal, and blackening spice together in a mixing bowl and stir well to incorporate ingredients evenly.

Dip oysters into seasoned flour, and toss to coat. Dip back into egg mixture, and toss a second time in seasoned flour to double coat.

Deep fry oysters until golden, and drain on a paper towel

Slice French bread lengthwise and toast

Spread Remoulade onto toasted French bread, and pile high with fried oysters.

Add lettuce, tomato, and onion as desired

 

 

Spicy Remoulade Sauce

2 Cups Mayonnaise

1/2 Cup Stone Ground Mustard.

1 Tablespoon Fresh Garlic, Minced

1 Tablespoon Sweet Pickle Relish

1 Tablespoon Capers

1 Tablespoon Horseradish

1 Teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce

1 Dash Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Chopped Parsley

 

Mix all of your Remoulade ingredients in the food processor and pulse until incorporated evenly

Cocoa Bronzed Salmon

Ingredients:

4 Salmon fillets (4 to 6 oz. each), fresh
1 Tablespoon Coconut, Olive, or Canola Oil
1 Tablespoons Kodiak Island Salmon Seasoning 1/4 Cup White Wine, Please use a good quality Chardonnay
2 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter, or Cocoa Butter(Food Grade Only)

Steps:

1.       Rinse Salmon under cold water; pat dry with paper towel. 

2.       Heat a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of salmon with oil, and season generously with Kodiak Island Seasoning.

3.       Place Salmon filets in heated skillet and cook, uncovered, about 3 to 4 minutes, until golden brown. Shake pan occasionally to keep fish from sticking. 

4.       Turn Salmon over and cook, uncovered, 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 1-2 minutes; add the wine to pan. 

5.       Continue to cook, uncovered, an additional 1 to 2 minutes, or just until fish is opaque throughout if you like your fish well done.

6.       Remove from heat, add butter to your sauce, and swirl pan to incorporate . 

7.       Drizzle sauce over Salmon when serving.

Linzer Torte

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups ground hazelnuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pinch ground cloves

1 cup cold unsalted butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/2 cups raspberry preserves

Confectioners’ sugar

Steps:

1. In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.
2. Cut in butter, using a pastry blender or knife, until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Add eggs and lemon zest; stir until mixture forms a ball. Cut finished dough into 4 equal pieces. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until chilled.
4. Remove two portions of dough from refrigerator; press each into an ungreased 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Spread 2/3 cup jam over each.
5. Between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper, roll one portion of remaining dough into a rectangle. Cut six 1-in.-wide strips; arrange in a lattice design over jam.
6. Repeat with remaining dough (return dough to the refrigerator if needed).
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and crust is browned.
8. Cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired prior to service.

Sausage Jambalaya

3 Cups Long Grain Rice

2 Pounds Andouille, or Smoked Sausage, Cubed

1 Cup Tomato Sauce

3 Cups Yellow Onion, Diced

2 Cups Bell Pepper, Diced

½ Cup Celery, Diced

1 Teaspoon Garlic, Minced

¼ Cup Parsley, Chopped

¼ Cup Louisiana Hot Sauce

½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

½ Teaspoon Delacroix Island Cajun Seasoning

1 Each Bay Leaf

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Cups White wine, If you wont drink it PLEASE DON’T COOK WITH IT!!!!!

Water As Needed

Sauté onions, celery and bell peppers in olive oil until translucent. Add Garlic, parsley, tomato sauce, and white wine. Add rice, sausage and enough water to make sure all the ingredients are covered by approximately 1” of fluid. Add remaining ingredients, and stir well.

Cook over medium heat until most of the liquid is absorbed. Cover, reduce heat to simmer for about 40 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID to peek until it’s done.

Christmas Cake(Iced Fruit Cake)

Ingredients:

For the cake

1lb 2oz sultana raisins

 9oz golden raisins

 7oz glacé(candied) cherries, halved

 4oz dried currants

 4oz cut mixed peel

 4oz  dried figs, roughly chopped

 4oz dried apricots,  chopped

 4oz dried pitted prunes, roughly chopped

 5fl oz brandy

 1 small orange, grated zest and juice

 9oz unsalted butter, at room temperature

7oz dark muscovado sugar

 5 medium eggs

 10 oz AP flour

 7oz macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

 

Finishing decoration:

3 Tablespoons apricot jam

 1lb marzipan

 5oz ready-to-roll white fondant icing

 Royal icing

 Candy silver balls, to decorate

Powdered sugar, to dust

 

Steps:

1. Put the sultanas, raisins, cherries, currants, peel, figs, apricots and prunes in a large bowl and pour over the brandy, orange zest and juice. Mix well, cover and leave to stand overnight. 
2. Line the base of a 23cm/9in cake tin with a double thickness of parchment paper. Line the sides of the tin with a double thickness of parchment paper, so that it rises 1½-2in above the edge of the tin. Wrap a sheet of folded parchment around the outside of the tin and secure with string. Stand the prepared tin on a parchment baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 300° F. 
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Add the fruit, its soaking liquid and the nuts and mix well. Stir in the flour, taking care not to over mix it. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake for 3-4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top of the cake starts to get too brown, cover with a sheet of parchment. 
4. When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin. Store the cake in an airtight tin, wrapped in greaseproof paper and foil for between two and three months. Feed the cake with brandy every 2-3 weeks until you are ready to decorate it. 
5. Pass the jam through a sieve and warm it in a pan with 1 tbsp of water. Invert the cake onto a serving plate or board. Use a little of the marzipan to fill any gaps between the cake and the plate. Brush the jam all over the cake. Roll out the remaining marzipan and lift carefully onto the cake, easing it around the sides. Trim off any excess with a sharp knife. 
6. Roll out the fondant icing to ¼” in thickness and cut out as many Christmas shapes as you can, re-rolling the trimmings. Set aside on parchment paper to harden. Meanwhile, make up a batch of royal icing. Spread the icing over the cake to cover it, then roughly peak it using a spatula. Arrange the stars on top and scatter over the silver balls. Leave the icing to harden, then dust the cake with icing sugar.

Royal Icing

It’s that time of year when many will head into the kitchen to bake a gingerbread house to decorate for the holidays. I am often asked what can be done to prevent the pieces from falling off, and the answer can be found in selecting the right icing for your project. If you’re looking for the perfect icing to use in the construction of your gingerbread house, royal icing will save the day.  Royal icing dries to a hard, smooth finish, and is used for decorating and frosting cakes and cookies. Royal icing is the perfect glue to attach pieces of your gingerbread house because it dries to a rock-hard yet brittle texture.  It has a crunchier texture than buttercream or store bought frostings, but can also be thinned with water to glaze pastries, or Bundt cakes. This glaze can also be spread with the back of a spoon to create the look of snow, or icicles hanging from the roofline of your house.

 

Ingredients:

3 ounces pasteurized egg whites (3 tablespoons meringue powder can be substituted)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

Steps:

1. In the large bowl of a stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy.
2. Add powdered sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn mixer to high speed and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. (This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.)
3. Add food coloring, if desired. Use immediately
4. Icing can be store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Yorkshire Puddings

I was asked to provide a recipe for Yorkshire Puddings that would equal the quality of those served in the United Kingdom. The secret to getting these little treats to rise is that all of the ingredients must be at room temperature, and the oven should not be opened while they are baking. Failure to heed these instructions will result in very dense and flat puddings.

Ingredients:

7/8 Cup All Purpose Flour (1 Cup minus 2 Tablespoons)

½ Teaspoon Salt

2 Eggs, Beaten

½ Cup Milk

½ Cup Water

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400˚ F
2. Sift Flour and Salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Create a well in the center of the flour, and pour the milk into the center. Mix well.
4. Beat the eggs into the mixture. Add Milk slowing while beating the mixture between additions.
5. Add water and beat until large bubbles appear at the surface of the mixture. Allow mixture to rest 5 minutes.
6. While mixture is resting, heat a 9 x 12 baking dish, or muffin pan containing about ¼ inch of beef drippings, or melted butter in the oven.
7. Pour batter into hot pan until it reaches a depth of just slightly more than ½ inch.
8. Bake for 20 minutes at 400˚F, and then reduce temperature to 350˚F.
9. Continue baking 10-15 additional minutes until golden brown.
10. Serve Immediately.