Thread: What's Cooking?

My three children along with a spouse or so and some of the grandkids will be here tomorrow for a belated Father's Day supper.

I'm fixing Smoke Cooked Spatchcock Chicken on the Traeger along with a marinated coleslaw and I thought some Crenshaw Melon on the side. The kids are bringing other sides and dessert.

I've got the coleslaw made and in the frig but it needs turning every once in a while to make sure it's marinated evenly. I've got the spine out of the two birds and in a simple salt and sugar brine.

I wish I could have found a nicer crenshaw melon but it's ok. (I like them when they are more yellow as when they are you can smell them even if they are straight out of the cooler and you can use the flesh right up to about 1/8 of an inch to the skin.

Note: The lighting made the skin look much greener than it actually was, it was yellow with a slight greenish tint.

Other's may already know this trick that we used in the produce trade but I thought I'd show it anyway.

The melon was rinsed under running water, then I put it in a sanitizing solution (1 tsp of regular non scented bleach to 1 gallon of cold water) and let it sit for a few minutes then placed it on a clean towel and allowed to air dry.

Then the stem was cut off, and the melon sliced in half lengthwise and the seeds removed.

Then the halves were cut in two and sliced into about 1" wide slices.



Using a paring knife, the slices were sliced as wide as I wanted the chunks to be down through the flesh into the outside rind.



Then I used the paring knife at an angle to separate the chunks from the rind.



So in less than 5 minutes once the melon was initially sliced in half lengthwise I had 4 pounds of melon chunks ready for the frig and my guests tomorrow



This works on all melons for making chunks quickly.

If you've never tried a Crenshaw (sometimes spelled Cranshaw) they are very good. They have a very mild cantaloupe type flavor but are much sweeter than cants. In fact I don't like cants but I do like the crenshaws.

Yesterday, I had a hankering for an apple pie but it was getting late so I just made the dough for the crust wrapped the discs in plastic and stuck them in the fridge.

I had a dental cleaning bright and early so when I got home and it hadn't really warmed up yet, I rolled out the crusts, put one in the pan, then used some of the canned apple pie filling that I made last fall to fill with. I decided to make a lattice top and it came out decent.

Ready for the oven:



About 40 minutes later:



I still have a bit of my homemade vanilla ice cream to top with later after supper.

Roy, made my night. I do LOVE homemade apple pie.
Drool o vision.

While there's plenty of the apple pie left, I actually was scrapping the bottom of the barrel for the homemade vanilla ice cream for tonight's dessert. I'll be using a dinner spoon to finish up what little ice cream is left tomorrow.

The perfect balance - the amount of ice-cream is just about the same as the amount of pie.

The last slice of apple pie will be dessert tonight so I needed to have something else.

Joel (Benz) was very proud of his mother's cooking and she had so many hand written down on recipe cards. I copied several during my visits this is one and I'd never tried it before she called it a 'Pumpkin Buckle' however to pull his mom's chain Joel would substitute the 'B' with a letter four more places down the alphabet

It sure smells good, it's cooling and I'll get it refrigerated after it's room temp. Maybe I'll splurge and have apple pie for dessert and buckle for 'night lunch'

Originally Posted by cudarunner

While there's plenty of the apple pie left, I actually was scrapping the bottom of the barrel for the homemade vanilla ice cream for tonight's dessert. I'll be using a dinner spoon to finish up what little ice cream is left tomorrow.

What kind of apples do you use in yer pies? I'm partial to Rome and Cortlandt.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

What kind of apples do you use in yer pies? I'm partial to Rome and Cortlandt.

The exact same ones that both of my grandmothers used for pies AND applesauce----------Golden Delicious!

I'm really impressed with all the cooking skills that you guys demonstrate.

Sometimes I can't even get a bowl of Cheerios right....

Originally Posted by PaulKidd

I'm really impressed with all the cooking skills that you guys demonstrate.

Sometimes I can't even get a bowl of Cheerios right....

Oh Yea--RIGHT! So says the guy who has made sourdough bread that puts mine to shame!

Cherrios you say? Check out George Carlin (snap crackle pop) at YouTube