Rigsby's Chicken Curry

One of my best friends provided me with a wonderful Chicken Curry Recipe.
Gary Rigsby was a fellow SONAR technician stationed with me on our tour in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Living in the barracks is never fun so Gary visited my Ewa Beach home very often, sometimes for weekends at a time. One day, while discussing what we wanted for dinner, Gary offered to make his Chicken Curry. So in between turns on my Xbox 360 Gary prepared his creation. Within minutes of being placed in the oven, my Hawaiian home's ocean breeze odor was replaced by an exciting and appetizing scent of curry. The recipe is huge and yeilded a opportunity for a second round lunch. And with all curry recipes the dish got better with age!
The best aspect, other than the flavor, to Rigsby's Chicken Curry is it's simplistic preperation. It is also very inexpensive and yeilds a large amount of food making it perfect for a pot luck lunch or for a large family.

Rigsby's Chicken Curry

6 boneless chicken breasts
6 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups shredded cheese
4 tbsp curry powder
3-4 cups prepared white rice

Preheat oven to 350•f
In a large pot add chicken breasts and completely cover with water. Over medium-high heat boil chicken for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.
Drain and let cool completely.
Shred chicken.
In a large mixing bowl add chicken, cream of mushroom soup, cheese, and curry powder mixing enough to fully incorporate curry powder.
In a large baking dish add curry mixture and bake for 1 hour.
Serve family style over rice on a large serving dish.

Serves 6-8

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Did You Say Curry Or Did You Mean Chili powder?

Now I'm sure this will be brought up many more times in future posts but the best part of American cuisine is the multitude of cultural influences that have been added to it's evolution.
As we learn early in history class, America was built by immigrants. A land considered a melting pot of different cultures and ideas. Some cultures and nationalities were brought here against their will while others transplanted themselves here to search for a better life.
One of these nationalities are Indians (that's dot not feather). When talking about Indian cuisine with other food lovers two topics always arise, and somtimes are debated, which are the heat of Indian cuisine and curry powder.

There is really not a right and wrong list of ingrediants when it comes down to making curry powder. There are however, a few ingredients that seem to be main stays in traditional curry powder.
Widely used in Indian cooking, authentic Indian curry powder is freshly ground each day and can vary dramatically depending on the region and the cook. Curry powder is actually a pulverized blend of up to 20 spices, herbs and seeds. Among those most commonly used are cardamom, chiles, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel seed, fenugreek, mace, nutmeg, red and black pepper, poppy and sesame seeds, saffron, tamarind and turmeric (the latter is what gives curried dishes their characteristic yellow color).
One very interesting item I found when researching what really made "curry" curry was how close chili powder was to traditional curry.
Chili powder really could be called American curry powder.The chili powder spice mix contains hot chilis and often mild paprika chilis as well, and other ingredients which usually include cumin, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. It may also include any or all of the following additional spices: black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, mace, nutmeg, and turmeric.

Indian food really has made a large leap in popularity since it's boom in the 1970s. By searching numerous sites I narrowed down a small list of the best areas to eat this wonderful food. The clear winner, followed closely by some regions in New York, was the San Francisco bay area. The areas in New York were Flushing in Queens and Jackson Heights in Brooklyn. Some notables were Edison New Jersey and suprisingly Charlotte North Carolina.
I really do promise Rigsby's Chicken Curry recipe will be in my next post!!!

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My First Mastery...Meatloaf!

One of the first things I learned to cook in my tiny kitchen was meatloaf. It came about because I needed a meal that would feed my 5 roomates without straining my wallet. It was not uncommon for me to make a 6lb meatloaf. After I moved from my Hawaiian kitchen, it was just me and my old lady so the recipe was reduced to 2lbs. The early recipe was not really all that bad, but I was striving to wow everyone I cooked for so I continued to tweak the recipe until it has become what I believe to be a restaurant quality meatloaf. Now I am not too fond of onions and my old lady absolutely hates both onions and bell peppers. So I was lacking the slightly crunchy texture that is present in classic meatloaf. Out of pure experimentation I found that diced carrots were a great substitute. They added the crunch I was after as well as adding an interesting sweet flavor that added a style all my own to the loaf. When I make the loaf for my friends, the onions and peppers are added or removed based on their tastes however the carrots are always included.
So without furthur ado....

Shown with Garlic Smashed Potatos and Brian's Skillet Corn
(Recipes to follow)

Brian's Bodacious Meatloaf

2lbs ground Chuck
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup +2tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup diced onions (optional)
1/4 cup diced bell peppers (optional)
1 large egg
3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
2tbsp smoked paprika
2tbsp ground basil
4tsp worcestershire sauce divided by 2
1tsp salt
1tsp pepper
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp water

Preheat oven to 350•f
In a large mixing bowl fully combine ground chuck, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2tbsp brown sugar, carrots, 2tsp worcestershire sauce, 2 cloves minced garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, basil, egg, and onions and peppers (optional).
Add 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and fully incorporate. Slowly add remaining breadcrumbs mixing completly. The consistancy should not feel gritty and should be able to be formed and hold it's shape.
Place mixture in a large baking dish and form into a freeform loaf shape.
Bake at 350•f for 30-45 minutes until just cooked through.
While meat loaf is cooking...in a small bowl mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2tsp worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, 1 clove garlic minced, and 1tsp water.
Remove meatloaf from oven. Turn on ovens broiler.
Completly cover meatloaf with ketchup sauce reserving 2-3tsp.
Return meatloaf to the oven and broil 2-4 minutes until glaze has set.
Allow meatloaf to rest for 10 minutes.

For serving cut meatloaf into 1 to 2 inch slices. Plate 2-3 slices and drizzle remaining sauce over each portion.

Serves 3-4

For my next post...Rigsby's Curry

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The All-American Comfort Food...Meatloaf

Many people could give you horror stories from their childhood about Mom's meatloaf. I really never had this problem because my Mom's meatloaf was very good. I'm not too sure if her recipe was her own or if she got it from the numerous cookbooks that lined the top shelf of our pantry. In my opinion the meat loaf is a close cousin to the meatball. So many recipes vary by the ingredients that are combined with the meat, but the idea is pretty much the same. There are 3 major problems that lead to a meatloafs demize. The first is of course drying out. The major culprit of a dry meat loaf is the choice of meat. Ground beef is usually the pick of choice for the classic meatloaf however, ground turkey, ground pork, or even portabello mushrooms have surfaced in a health conscience America. To help combat dry meat pick a meat that is a bit higher in fat content than what you may use in a soup or casserole. I use ground chuck. The second culprit is the added ingedients. Many recipes that I have tried use too much breadcrumbs and not enough fresh vegatables. The final culprit is the cooking temperature. So many times I have seen people baking the meatloaf at 375•f. I have even seen that temperature all the way up to 425•f. I think 325•f-350•f is the perfect temperature for chuck but each type of meat has an optimal cooking temperature. So really lowfat meat+overly used dry ingredients+high cooking temperature=dry meatloaf.

A wonderful website, Foodtimeline.org had a great article that I wanted to share with you.
The raw, ground meat commonly used to make today's American meat loaf has a humbler heritage. In the 19th century, we know the Industrial Revolution made it possible for ground meat be manufactured and sold to the public at a very low cost. At first, many Americans were slow to purchase raw ground meat products and generally regarded them with suspicion. Lack of reliable home refrigeration may have played into this decision. Cooks continued to mince their meat (often already cooked, as was the practice for centuries) by hand. Companies selling meat grinders to home consumers at the turn of the century endeavored to change this practice by provided recipe books to promote their products. Some of these recipes were simple, others quite creative. A late 19th century recipe for "Meat Porcupine" instructs the cook to press her ground meat into an animal-type shape mold and decorate it with pieces of bacon to achieve the desired effect. Eventually, the American public began incorporating ground meat into family meals.
Since that time, meat loaf variations have been introduced and promoted by women's magazines, cookbooks, fairs, food manufacturers, diners and family-style restaurants. Meat loaf & gravy [often paired with mashed potatoes and canned green beans ] was very popular in the 1950s. This meal is still considered by some to be the penultimate comfort food. Did you know that "frosted meatloaf" is ground beef covered with mashed potatoes? Perhaps this recipe is a distant relative of shepherd's pie.

In my next post I'll share my meatloaf recipe.

Food time line

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Unrolling the Grandpa's Special

I remember having a sleep over at my grandpa's house. I would wake up and run upstairs to see my grandpa sitting at his breakfast nook, a stack of newspaper holding his attention. He always had a strong cup of black coffee sitting next to him that would fill the whole house until the special took over. He used to say, "Kiddo when you can't smell the coffee anymore and all you can smell is the Grandpa's Special, well then the Grandpa's Special is done."
I would scurry up the tall barstools at the nook to find a Elmer Fudd glass full of orange juice. My grandfather would quietly push the comics section of the newspaper over to me and we would read our sections until that smell of burnt coffee dwindled and the aroma of the special took over.
I always remember how huge it was and was always astonished when the big guy would finish it. He would give me a small nibble and I would make the oh my god it's so hot face and quickly drink down my orange juice only to find my burn even worse. My grandpa would laugh and deliver me with a glass of milk and the horror would be over. It actually took me to age 17 before I could tolerate the special. So without further ado...the Grandpa's Special.


The Grandpa's Special

Ingredients
1/2 cup Grandpa's green chile sauce(see recipe in my blog post "my first step")
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups frozen hash browns
1 1/2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp butter
2 large tortillas

Preheat oven to 350•f
Prepare hash browns per package directions. Set aside.
In a non stick skillet add butter and heat over medium high heat until the butter starts to pop.
Add eggs and cook to over medium.
On a flat surface over lap tortillas slightly.
Place hashbrowns on center of tortilla.
Place eggs on top of hash browns.
Cover eggs with 1/2 cup of cheese.
Pour green chile sauce over cheese.
Roll the tortillas carefully creating a burrito and place burrito in a lightly buttered casserole dish.
Cover burrito with remaining cup of cheese.
Bake for 20 min or until cheese is bubbling.
Top with salsa and sour cream.

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My First Step...The Hatch Green Chile

My grandfather was a very influencial person in my life. I remember him explaining to me what the green chile was all about. In his backyard in Canyon City, Colorado he grew multiple varieties of peppers and chiles. He liked them hot and from a cousins' dare that I so niavely took I can tell you it was most definantly his Scotch Bonnet pepper. He could never get his green chile hot enough so he would import a beautiful pepper from a moderatly growing community 40 miles north of Las Cruces. The city is known as Hatch. He made a batch of his green chile weekly making enough chile for his "Grandpa's Special" which he ate every morning over his newspapers.

Hatch enjoys the distinction of being the home of "The World's Best chili pepper", according to a report by the BBC World News. Hatch chile is best prepared by roasting over an open flame. Each year during chile season, dozens of chile vendors can be found lining the streets of Hatch roasting the local chile.

Green chiles are those that are picked unripe; they are fire-roasted, then peeled before further use. Unlike the ultra-mild canned supermarket green chiles, New Mexico green chiles can range from mild to (occasionally) hotter than jalapeños, and come in grades of spiciness at markets that cater to chile aficionados. The climate of New Mexico tends to increase the capsaicin levels in the chile compared to other areas.

To understand the Grandpa's Special, you first have to understand grandpa's green chile. With it never being written down, I have had to write a recipe from memory and built solely on what I saw him do and explain in his kitchen. Even though I have gone through numerous revisions and will go through a few more I'm sure, the recipe is very close to the exciting flavor and the awesomeness of the spice.
Grandpa's Green Chile

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds cubed pork stew meat
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 Hatch green chilis charred, peeled and rough chopped
1 scotch bonnet pepper halved
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 3 oz can fire roasted tomatos diced
3 1/2 cups water
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 cloves of garlic diced
Juice of 2 limes
salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
In a plastic baggy add cubed pork, vinegar, garlic and tomatos.
Marinate overnight in the refridgerator.
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
Remove pork from marinade and pat dry on a paper towel. Put marinade aside.
Lightly dredge pork in the flour and lightly pat the excess off the pork. Add pork to skillet. Cook pork, turning once, until cooked through about 15 minutes.
Remove meat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
In the same skillet add marinade and bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Add water and bring back to a slow boil scraping bits off the bottom of the skillet.
Add chile peppers, skotch bonnet, onions, and salt and pepper
Reduce heat to medium and reduce 25% to the consistency of guacamole.
Remove scotch bonnet pepper.
Add lime juice

Makes 7 servings.

NewMexico.org



Wikipedia article

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Something I have wanted to do for so long.

There are so many food blogs out there so I guess I'm really just trying to find a style for this blog. Really I think I'll just let the blog evolve and maybe a style will materialize through my experiences.
I'm attempting to do this blog solely by my mobile device so adding media may be slow until I figure out exactly how to do it.
I'm not a professional chef but a food lover...foodie is what I hear us called in the mainstream...which I need to find a name that is not so accepted!
"Bubblehead" is a slang term for a Submariner, endearing to me, similar to terms like Jarhead, Swabbie, Ground pounder e.t.c. I did 11 1/2 years in the United States Submarine Force as a SONAR technician. My love for cooking actually came about through necessity rather than passion. Being a bachelor in my young Navy life I needed to eat and could not stand the food at the mess hall, but could not afford to eat out daily. I found myself cooking in the barracks more and more needing more and more variety. One Christmas my Mom bought me a Emeril Lagasse cookbook and my passion began to grow.
Before my career ended I was living with a few of my shipmates and my girlfriend when I started hosting large BBQs. I loved slow cooking meat and reinventing side dishes that my mother and grandmother taught me when I was younger. One of the coolest things anyone has ever said to me was from my roomate Mark. He said "Brian it is amazing how you can take a cheap piece of meat and make it taste like something from a restaurant.". His smile as he was eating was gift enough for me but the words hit home and my food trek went into warp drive.
I guess what I ultimately would like to do is research regional cooking. America was built by immigrants and I want to know the obscure history of how immigrant cooking evolved from homestyle recipes to new recipes using the ingredients from the new land in which they were making home.
I hope, as any blogger I would imagine would, my blog gets read by others and I can meet some new people to enjoy my passion with and learn both blogging but cooking from the great Americans foodies.
Oh and one thing...I'm not a great writer so if your a grammer/spelling Nazi please don't badger me with comments on how to fix my writings.

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