On this holiday weekend, we are enjoying one of our most favorite recipes: Piri Piri Voodoo Chicken.
Instead of making kabobs, we have chicken tenderloins marinating for tonight’s grilling — less work than kabobs, but same wonderful, light, and aromatic flavor with a little tang. Don’t let the hot sauce or jalapeño in the recipe fool you. It is not spicy hot, just full-flavored!
Grab some ginger, lemon, and Louisiana hot sauce and give it a try. You will be thrilled!
Courtesy Jeremy Noble.
That’s right! BACON is the key to longevity says 105-year old Texan Pearl Cantrell. Pearl just might be on to something.
A University of Zurich study found that although eating processed meat raises risks for cancer and heart disease, red meat has its benefits (as if I needed any cajoling to eat read meat, especially bacon!)
Sure, there are certainly drawbacks to eating an excess of processed meat. However, it appears the adverse effects of processed meat are not entirely about the meat, but also about the lifestyle choices of those who consume diets with higher amounts of processed meat — namely eating little produce, smoking, and drinking. In fact, the authors of the study state, “Eating little or no red meat, like beef and pork, was actually associated with higher all-cause mortality than very moderate consumption, presumably because red meat does contain important vitamins and nutrients (protein, iron, zinc, vitamins A and B, essential fatty acids).”
Perhaps our omnivorous ancestors with carnivorous canines weren’t leading us entirely astray when they transmitted their bacon-loving gene to us 
Courtesy of Ranveig, Wikimedia Commons.
My foodie friends, one reason I have this BBQ blog is because love teaching people — something I do professionally. As an educator, I have been selected as a finalist for a trip-of-a-lifetime Teacher Trek travel grant to India to support my teaching! I need your vote!!
Public voting selects the top 15 who will be funded by the Hilton rewards program. Voting lasts just a few more days and you may vote once per day. Some voters will receive a $250 gift card from Hilton!
My proposal and the voting forum are at the link below. Scroll down to Scott W. I genuinely appreciate your support in helping make this enriching experience a reality!
Scott
PS: If funded, I promise to explore the food of India and report back to you!
Buffalo Sauce — a spicy, tangy, thin sauce that slightly sears but leaves you begging for more. I am not one for fads and fashion in foods, and some say buffalo sauce is passé . But nothing else compares to the hot and tangy twinge that buffalo sauce offers. Owing to the spicy mustard and hint of honey, Big Bull Buffalo Sauce has body and flavor where others offer only thin heat. This sauce is on the low end of hot or the high end of warm. If heat scares you, then just cut back the hot sauce a bit and maybe increase the honey a tad. If you want your ears to ring and eyes to water, then increase the hot sauce and add cayenne. Marinade your chicken in it, mop your wings with it, or serve it warm as a dipping sauce. Grilled wings marinated and mopped in this sauce go great with the creamy coolness of ranch-style sauce. And don’t forget the cold beer!
Ingredients (makes about 2 1/4 C in about 10 minutes)
Directions
Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a soft boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
Use It, Baby
Baste your grilled chicken with it for the last 5 minutes of the cook then serve with ranch-style dressing, or serve it warm as a dipping sauce. If chilled first, this sauce makes for a tangy & slightly spicy marinade.
Whole Wheat -n- Oat Soda Bread served warm with butter and apricot preserves — absolutely brilliant!
The rustic allure of an Irish-American soda bread recently tempted me into giving it a go. Wow! I am glad I did! This recipe quickly yields a flavorful, filling bread that looks as beautiful as it is tasty. It is brilliant at breakfast and it complements a hearty stew, pork joint, or bangers and mash nicely. Serve it warm with butter and apricot preserves or honey for a small slice of heaven. My wife, a culinary genius by her own right, calls it the best soda bread she has ever had.
Also known as quick bread, soda breads do not rely on the reproduction of yeasties to rise. With quick breads, baking soda reacts with acid in the dough to create carbon dioxide bubbles, causing the dough to rise quickly. No waiting!
Irish Soda Bread? A Cultural and Historical Note
The anthropologist in me must tell you that soda bread did not necessarily arise in Ireland as most Americans think. Although not entirely clear, it would appear that Americans, English, Irish, and Scots all developed versions of soda bread within a relatively short time of one another — about a generation or so in the mid 1800′s. An American, Amelia Simmons, appears to be among the early authors of soda bread recipes with hers appearing in American Cookery in 1796.
This rustic whole wheat and oat soda bread is as tasty as it is beautiful. Quick and easy, you should try it!
There is cause to consider that indigenous peoples throughout the world who practiced agriculture may have first discovered the chemical reaction that causes chemical leavening to occur. Wood ash is quite alkaline in nature, and of course, in abundance when cooking over a fire. When alkaline wood ash (potash) comes into contact with the moist acids in a typical dough, then carbon dioxide is released. A refined wood ash was developed in the mid 1700′s for use in industry (pearlash), and bakers eventually began to incorporate it into recipes. Although quite possible, it seems that the prevalence of wild yeasts seems a much more likely leavening agent among native agriculturalists.
Regardless of who was first, soda bread recipes flourished after baking soda was introduced to Ireland and England in the mid 1800′s. Occurring at roughly the same time as the Great Famine in Ireland, baking soda (known as bread soda in Ireland) enabled bread to be produced at home with the most basic ingredients during the most difficult times, and in an manner most suitable to the variety of wheat produced in the Irish climate (a version in which yeasts do not flourish).
Whether American, Irish, or Irish-American, soda bread is an easy, quick, and flavorful bread you must try. My recipe was inspired by my friend, and newb blogger, Becky at A Small Town Kitchen. Drop by her blog and check out her great recipes.
Ingredients:
Directions:
For a look at Irish cuisine (What? The Irish don’t eat corned beef and cabbage routinely?) with a slight sense of adventure and tinge of humor, visit Conor Bofin’s blog here).
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