TKP Recipe "Book"

I have thought about making this thread several times when it was not very convenient for me to actually immediately make the thread. I'll add to this periodically, but here is one to start that I have posted elsewhere on this site:

Honey Chipotle Mac & Cheese

Melt 5 TBSP butter in a saucepan, mix in 4 TBSP flour and cook on low-med heat to get your blonde roux. Add in 2-3 finely chopped and deseeded chipotle chiles (comes canned in adobo sauce) and an additional 2-3 TBSP of the adobo sauce. Whisk in 1 qt whole milk and raise heat to med-high until it begins to thicken slightly. Stir in 3 TBSP honey, one 8 oz block of monterrey jack (shredded), one 8 oz block of sharp cheddar (shredded), and about 4 oz of whole milk mozzarella (shredded, gotta be whole milk. none of that weak part skim stuff) until melted.

Cook 1 lb of elbow macaroni al dente according to box directions and strain. Add the above sauce to the cooked noodles and stir thoroughly, remove to a 13x9 glass baking dish.

Crumble a sleeve of Ritz crackers in a bowl, stir in 2 TBSP melted butter and 2 additional TBSP honey. Distribute evenly over the top of the mac and cheese, bake uncovered at 350 until crackers start to brown and the sides are hot and bubbly. About 35-45 minutes depending how much your mac and cheese has cooled before you put it in the oven.

Mayo between layers

No-smoker pork ribs
Don't judge me. I'm doing what I can without a smoker.

2 days before tailgate
Prep ribs (peel off membrane) and marinate overnight. Marinade:
1 cup beer (IPA, Yeungling, a stout, even Busch Light)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup bourbon
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Srirache or Kim Kim (Korean hot sauce)
3 cloves pressed garlic

1 day before tailgate
Remove ribs from marinade. Place marinade in pot. Preheat oven to 200F. Pat ribs dry and apply dry rub. Dry rub for 2 racks:
2 tablespoons each brown sugar, cumin, smoked paprika, paprika, black pepper
1 tablespoon each garlic powder, ginger powder, thai chili powder, mexican chili powder, and salt.
Place ribs on cooking tray meat pointing up (use a cooking rack if you have it) lined with aluminum foil and cover with aluminum foil. Cook for an hour. After an hour, flip and cover. Cook for another hour. Then remove the covering and flip the ribs back to meat side up. Cook for 30 more minutes. Pull the ribs out and let cool. You can package them in ziploc bags as you travel to Blacksburg.

Using the marinade, make the sauce. In the pot add:
A pint of stout or porter beer
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 cloves pressed garlic
3 tablespoons of ketchup
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook it down until the sauce has thickened.

Gameday
Heat grill to 250F. Place ribs on grill and brush sauce on. Cook over flame 15 minutes per side. Cook on indirect heat for 30 minutes, let rest for 10 min, cut the ribs, and serve.

Edited for typos.

Slow cooker Chili w/ beef and pork:

1 lb 80% lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup diced onion
1 cup bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 shallot, diced
3 -5 garlic cloves, diced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 -2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans

Brown beef and pork in large skillet and use spatula/wooden spoon to break the meat into very small pieces as it cooks.

When meat is browned, toss in onions, peppers, shallot, garlic and spices and cook until onions are translucent.

Transfer meat/veggie mixture to crock pot and add in the tomatoes, tomato paste and beans. Stir to incorporate all ingredients, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, cilantro and sour cream.

Two airplane bottles of Wild Turkey
20 oz bottle of East Stands Concession stand Coke

Mix.

Take a glass, preferable an old fashione; a tumbler or rocks glass would work in a pinch but this is not ideal. Add whiskey rocks if desired. Pour Blanton's into said glass. Enjoy.

A bourbon ball can be an acceptable substitution to the whiskey rocks if you cannot chill the rocks fast enough. This becomes a problem when you decide to race the horsey on top of the bottle and you can't keep up.

Kids won't eat fish? Try this:
Use boneless, skinless fillets of a mild firm fleshed fish, all red cut off. Rinse and dry on paper towels. Shake in a bag with a quality seafood breader or seasoned flour. I use House Autry Seafood Breader. Then dip in a bowl of beaten egg with a little milk and allow excess to drip off. Roll in a bowl with Panko breadcrumbs mixed with grated parmesan (sorry, French), usually about 3/4 Panko to 1/4 parmesan (to taste). In a big skillet, heat some olive oil, or some olive oil with a dollop of peanut oil over medium heat. Add coated fillets and cook just until the parm causes the coating to brown nicely on both sides, being careful not to overcook. This is so good and flavorful, no sauce is necessary, though my wife will occasionally use some tartar sauce with hers. I use this for flounder and cobia, croaker and redfish, walleye and catfish and have never had anyone who didn't love it. Works great for venison steaks or pork chops as well, and makes for a lot easier clean up than deep frying.

Festbier (makes 2.0 HL)
23kg Pils
20.5kg Munich II
6kg Carafoam
9kg CaraHells
Mash-in @ 50'C, rest 30 min
55'C for 20 min
60'C for 20 min
78'C Mashout

60 minute Boil

Hops:
120g of 13.5AA Bravo for 60 min
60g of 4.9AA Tradition for 30 min
30g of 3.2AA Hallertau for 5 min
20g of 4.0AA Tradition for 5 min

Knockout Temp 8'C
Fermentation Temp 10'C till 50% terminal OG
13'C remainder Fermentation and for 10 days
Rest at 12'C for 15 days
Lager at -1'C for 15 days

Enjoy!

I make this recipe for office pot luck, game nights, other events and it is always a hit:

Fresh Apple Cake

• 1 ½ cups chopped pecans
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 ½ lbs Granny Smith Apples, sliced (~4)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan for 5-7 minutes, stirring halfway through.
3. In a large bowl, stir together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture, stirring until blended.
5. Stir in apples and 1 cup of pecans. ( Batter will be very thick, like cookie dough. I used the dough hook on my mixer to accomplish this. )
6. Spread batter into a greased 9x13 pan.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean out of the center.
8. Cool completely and frost with choice of frosting. Sprinkle top with remaining pecans.

Making this without nuts is also good, or you can add raisins if that is your thing.

I usually use a less sweet cream cheese frosting (less powdered sugar than most recipes call for) since the tangy-ness of the cream cheese goes well with how sweet the cake is. I have also had brown butter frosting on this cake.

Hokie Zima

750 mL Bourbon
'Hoo tears to taste.

5 hour Oven Ribs

Rack of your preferred pork ribs
Apple Cider (Apple Juice works too)
Dry rub of choice (home made or store purchased)
Heavy Duty aluminum foil
BBQ sauce of choice

1. Peel membrane off the bottom, pat dry.
2. Cut rack into 3rds or down to your preferred serving size
3. Liberally cover entire rack of ribs in your favorite dry rub.
4. Place each piece of the rack of ribs onto foil and fold the foil into a packet that can be folded shut to seal it but leave it open.
5. Pour enough Apple Cider into the packet to fill the whole bottom plus a little
6. Close the packet
7. Bake the packets for 4 hours at 235
8. Remove the packets and the ribs from the packets and put on a baking sheet lined with foil (for clean up)
9. Mop on your favorite BBQ sauce and put under the broiler until the sauce starts to caramelize
10. Let rest a few moments and serve.

Pepperoni Pizza Cheeseball

Ingredients

16 oz Challenge cream cheese, softened
1 tsp Italian seasoning
8 oz finely shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 5 oz bags mini pepperoni slices, divided
3 green onions, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped, cooked bacon
1 4 oz jar diced pimientos, drained and patted dry

Instructions

Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in the Italian seasoning, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.
Mix in half of the pepperoni slices, green onions, bacon, and pimientos.
Line a small bowl with plastic wrap. Spoon cheese mixture into bowl. Press mixture into bowl so that it takes on the shape of the bowl. Use the ends of the plastic wrap to wrap up the cheeseball firmly. Transfer the wrapped cheese ball to a cutting board and use your hands to shape it into a football.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours.
Remove the cheese ball from the fridge and cover with remaining pepperoni, pressing gently to adhere.
Serve with pretzels, bread sticks, crackers, veggies, pita chips

Sausage Dip:
-1 package breakfast sausage (I prefer hot, the rest of my family sage)
-1 brick of cream cheese
-1 can of Rotel
-(Optional) handfuls of shredded cheddar
-(Optional) cajun seasoning to taste

Brown sausage, then mix all ingredients. Serve warm with crackers or tortilla chips.

Not giving my lexington/memphis bbq sauce mashup totally away, but lets say the biggest secret ingredient is using unfiltered apple juice, instead of water when i mix and slow cooking the liquid off.

Shooter Sandwich

2 steaks. Volume is more important than weight here, they'll need to fit into the loaf. I used ribeye, but it's personal preference. Generally around 2 - 2 1/2 half lbs.
Round loaf of whole bread (I always get the sourdough at Wegmans)
Sliced cheese (can't have holes, so no Swiss. Otherwise, to your taste, I prefer provolone)
Buncha shallots, diced
10-20 oz mushrooms, diced
Mustard
Butter
Salt and Pepper

Illustration of how to cut the bread can be found here. Don't follow the rest of the recipe, I improved it.

Carefully cut the top quarter of the loaf off. This will later need to be replaced, hence the carefully. Pull out most of the insides, but leave the sides and bottom thick enough to withstand what you're going to do to it.

Dice up the shallots and mushrooms, saute them in butter until they're soft and most of the moisture is cooked off. Season with salt and pepper.

Season your steak and cook it to rare/medium rare (again, personal preference; the more you cook it, the less awesome it will be). I generally do it in a cast iron pan to get a really good sear on it. Let it rest.

While the steak is resting, line the inside of the bread with the sliced cheese. Don't skimp. Overlap, like roofing shingles. The point is to protect the bread from all the juicy goodness you're about to drop in there.

Slice the steak, on the thin side (less than quarter inch thick, if possible). This is where I diverge from traditional recipes; it is HARD to rip off bites of whole steak. If you slice it up, much easier to take bites.

Put about half the steak inside the bread. Doesn't have to be perfect. Top with the mushrooms and shallots, cover it with mustard, as well. Throw the rest of the steak on top of it. Line the top with more slices of cheese to protect the top of the bread as well.

Replace the top of the bread. Wrap everything up in parchment paper, and press it down yourself. Then wrap the parchment paper in aluminum foil.

What I do at this point is put it on a baking pan with a low lip, put a SECOND baking pan on top of it, inverted, and press it down. Then I put weights on top of it and put it on the floor in the backseat of the car. Then I drive to Blacksburg. Four hours later, I arrive, and have a snack for the tailgate. Bring a bread knife, slice it up like a pie and pass out delicious goodness.

BROWN SUGAR PIE

Tools:
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a saucepan, combine flour and sugar.

Stir in milk, butter, salt and vanilla.

Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.

Pour into an unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 25 minutes.

Let cool for 1-2 hours (otherwise it will be a bit runny/gooey.)

The Holyshit Burger, also called the "what the cluck?" Burger

Directions:

Prepare your favorite burger. Cooked just shy of perfection. Top with your favorite toppings (cheese, mushrooms, caramelized onions, etc) leaving lettuce and tomato aside for now.

Place ontop of chicken skin that has been stretched out over cutting board and patted dry. Wrap entire burger and toppings carefully with chicken skin. Once tightly wrapped dredge in egg and then your favorite, seasoned powder mix for fried chicken. Drop into fryer or pot of oil at fryer temp, make sure to keep eye on it so it doesn't unravel. Take out once golden brown and delicious.

Let oil drip off.

Put onto your favorite bun or bread with rest of you toppings and condiments.

Bite, pause, say "holyshit" and enjoy.

At Christmas, my wife makes these to give as gifts to our game group.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Cookies
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar

*Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.
*In a large bowl combine butter and peanut butter, mix with electric mixer on medium speed until combined.
*Beat in butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
*Beat in egg and vanilla until just combined.
*Stir in flour mixture and oats until just combined.
*Chill dough about half an hour.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 176 degrees C.
*Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet.
*Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are light brown and center is set.

Filling
2 tsp hot water
¼ tsp salt
7oz marshmallow cream
½ cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar

*In a medium bowl, combine hot water and salt. Stir until salt dissolves. Add marshmallow cream, shortening and powder sugar and mix until combined.
*Spread filling on flat side of one cookie.
*Place flat side of second cookie over to make a sandwich.

I'm a chili guy. I've won a couple of contests with my "Breakfast Chili":

MEAT:
1/2 pound bacon, chopped (don't skimp. Use a good quality kind)
2 tubes of breakfast sausage (typically I use one hot, one mild)

VEGGIES:
1 package of pre-diced potatoes (Simply Potatoes* worked pretty well for me. Feel free to chop your own if you got the time. You'll probably need to cook them more before adding to the pot)
1 Large red onion, diced
2 cans of black beans, drained
Approx. 42 oz of diced tomatoes
2 cans of green chilies (if you have the fresh stuff, use that)
3-4 cloves of crushed garlic

SPICES:
Chili powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Oregano
Cayenne pepper
Other spices/peppers/sauces to add heat (if desired)

OTHER:
Left over coffee
Maple syrup
Eggs
Cornbread waffles

Cook the various meats. If desired, cook some of the bacon extra crispy for additional garnish. Use some of the leftover grease to fry up the potatoes. As this cooks, put all the Veggies and Spices into a crock pot. I don't really measure spices, so remember you can always add more but can't take it away. Once the meats are cooked, add the meat to this mixture. Add roughly a 1/4 cup of coffee and 1/8 cup syrup. This stuff is needed to create some great depth and balance to the end product. Add more liquid of choice if desired (I like less liquid in my chili so between the coffee and the canned tomatoes it provides enough for me) Cook for at least 8 hours on low, 4 on high.

For best results, add scrambled eggs to the chili upon serving, although I've done this the day before and had the eggs mixed before refrigeration and they held up fine. I think this would be awesome with a fried egg added fresh, just never done it that way. Serve with the cornbread waffle. Garnish with crispy bacon, cheese, sour cream, or whatever else you want.

* not a sponsor

For Christmas morning, I make two versions of baked French toast. They are quite different, but in both cases you prepare the bread the night before and let it soak. The result is a wonderful breakfast that doesn't involve much prep time in the morning. (Both recipes are adapted from allrecipes.com)

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

16 oz loaf day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups fresh blueberries, divided
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup maple syrup

1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter

THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange half the bread cubes in the dish, and top with cream cheese cubes. Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over the cream cheese, and top with remaining bread cubes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, vanilla extract, and syrup, whisk until thoroughly mixed. Pour over the bread cubes. Press bread into mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

IN THE MORNING, about 90 minutes before you want to eat:
Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the pan from the refrigerator, allow to come to room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking 30 minutes, until center is firm and surface is lightly browned.

In a medium saucepan, dissolve 2 Tbsp cornstarch in 1 cup cold water. Add 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining 1 cup blueberries. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, until the blueberries burst. Stir in the butter.

Pour syrup over the baked French toast or serve on the side.