For quick biscuits that taste so close to homemade, I gotta give two spatulas up for Grands! Southern Style Biscuits.  These frozen biscuits go from hockey pucks to fluffy rich biscuits in 17 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  The resealable bag means that you can prepare two or three biscuits now and have more for later.

I’m a huge biscuits and gravy fan.  Growing up in Northwest Iowa, it wasn’t a staple breakfast.  Now I, it is my go to comfort food.  So, I have to admit, that my Grands! Biscuits were put to good use under a bucket of sausage gravy.  All is right with the world.

52 Teams

1st Overall

2nd - Chicken
4th - Ribs
2nd - Pork
6th - Brisket

This was the first contest of the 2008 season, and what a way to start. We were cooking with the new BBQ trailer that had only been in our possession for 6 days. As someone said, a great way to christen the new BBQ rig.

My good friend, Andy Groneman joined me for this contest. It was my second Grand Championship and Andy’s first. It was the first time that I’ve had top 10 calls across all four categories in a single contest. It was an amazing feeling for both of us.

For the BBQ’er who has everything, how about a billet aluminum hitch insert for their truck or SUV? Made from aircraft grade aluminum, these inserts fit neatly in any standard 2″ hitch receiver.

Each catches the eye, but you better think about a locking hitch pin, or you may see it on your neighbors truck one morning.

These affordable BBQ hitch inserts can be found online.

If Austin Powers has lost his Mojo again… I’ve found it. Goya brand makes a wide array of amazing products. I recently found their Chipotle Mojo Marinade. Great flavor with not an overwhelming amount of heat. My wife is fairly adverse to spicy food, but she loved the Mojo marinated chicken and chops we did on the Big Green Egg.

The chicken and chops sat in the Chipotle Mojo for 24 hours soaking up all of that goodness. We made grilled sandwiches with Baby Brie cheese and roasted red peppers. Added a teaspoon of the marinade reserved from the bottle to some mayo for a complimentary condiment.

Our son, Michael embarks on his first BBQ competition on April 4.  He’ll enter chicken wings and a hamburger.  My wife and I thought it would be fun for our boys to have their own logo.  This was done by Patrick at www.BBQLogos.com.

My four year old son has been seeing the many TV infomercials running on the cartoon channels for pancake puffs. “Dad we need to get some of those!” I hear it every time. Doing some quick research (thanks to Google) I learned that they are a traditional Danish snack. Having a Danish Great Grandmother, I was surprised to have never heard of them.

Aebleskivers, or pancake puffs to my son, are a cross between a donut hole and a pancake. The round balls are as fun to make as they are to eat. Traditionally, they be eaten cold as a snack with jam and/or confectioner’s sugar. They can be stuffed with jam, creme filling, pudding, etc.

The key is the aebleskiver pan. It looks like you’d use it for egg poaching and can be found in antique stores. Our cast iron Danish pan was a $10 eBay find. With a little clean up and seasoning, it was ready for action. Here’s a video showing how aebleskivers are made.

This dish was inspired by Rick Stein’s recipe. A co-worker who lives on and operates a small family farm, offered me some fresh ground lamb. The lamb was organic and free range. It was wonderfully fresh, flavorful, and tender. Kefta is known throughout the Middle East as spiced meatballs. The meatballs, tomatoes and onion were baked in a Tagine at 250 for a two hours. The meatballs were browned first. The onion was sauteed in olive oil before adding.
Meatballs
1 pound ground lamb
1 T Panko bread crumbs
1 t cumin
1 t Hungarian paprika (Spicier than the Spanish or California variety)
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 t cumin
1 t Hungarian Paprika
salt and pepper to taste

The dish was served on garlic toast with a poached egg.

Its been 15 months since I bought this old cabinet for $4 on an auction. Its been a year since I bought the maple lumber to build the top. My table saw needed repairs for the better part of the year, but mostly, I don’t get much time in my wood shop and the winter months after Christmas seem to be the times when it is mostly likely to happen.

The top is over 2″ thick, made of laminated hard maple. The darker color is from maple turned on end so that you see the end grain. This is preferred on a butcher block instead of edge grain because of the way the fibers run. When the end grain is used, the knife cuts into the fibers. When the longer edge grain is used, the knife cuts across the fibers. This creates splinters and a place for bacteria to grow.

Like anything I create, I love to use my brand. It was a gift from my wife on my very first Father’s Day.

Here are some other pictures.

Here’s what the original $4 cabinet looked like.  From trash to treasure.

If you are allergic to shellfish or intolerant to dairy, I feel for you. One of life’s culinary treasures is seafood alfredo. A little more more high end on the comfort food scale, the dish is a splendid marriage of delicate scallops and a rich, creamy sauce.

My Souse Chef, Christian (age 2 1/2), helped me watch over the scallops which were seared with bacon grease under high heat in the Big Green Egg. The results was some excellent caramelization.

Once the scallops were done, the shrimp was toss in the skillet. They began to sizzle immediately. Just a couple of minutes and it was time to flip. They were so close to being done that the skillet was pulled from the grill. The residual heat finished the cooking process within another minute or so. By the time I finished flipping the final shrimp, it was time to pull the first shrimp. Overcooking shrimp is so easy to do.

The souse chef joined me in the kitchen to finish the pasta and the alfredo sauce make with cream, butter, Pecorino cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and pepper.  A California Merlot from Viansa Winery was all that this feast needed.  The souse chef had a Dr. Pepper.