Buffalo Chicken Chowder

What can we say, we love buffalo chicken in this house. I'm really been enjoying making chowders as of late. They are so delicious and perfect for this time of year. Not only are chowders delicious, but they are quite versatile. All chowders are pretty much the same, use your favorite chowder recipe as a base and build off it! Experiment with it and see if you can come up with some delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup celery, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup carrot, cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce (more to taste)
• 1 large yukon gold or other boiling potato, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

Add the butter to a large dutch up, once melted add the chicken and saute until cook through. Add in onion, celery and carrots and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Add the hot sauce and potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, mix in the cream. Enjoy!

Other soup recipes...

72 Hour Sous Vide Baby Back Ribs

I am definitely starting to fall in love with Sous Vide cooking. Not only does it yield amazing results, but the convenience is just so nice. These were honestly one of the best rack of ribs I have ever had and I really don't think anybody would be able to tell a difference between these and a slab of smoked ribs. Then you add in the little amount of work I had to actually do to get these delicious results. I literally had to prepare the dry rub, put it on the ribs, let them marinate over night, vacuum seal them and throw them in the SousVide Supreme for 3 days. Sure they take a long time to cook, but it literally took 10 min of physical prep time and the rest was just a waiting game. For the most part, this recipe is a "set it and forget it" recipe, you'll have to plan the meal a few days in advance, but it's totally worth it! Don't worry, I'll give a recipe for the amazing cornbread as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients 

• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 5 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp chili flakes
• 3 tbsp ancho chili powder
• 3 baby back ribs (6-8 lbs), halved 
• Liquid Smoke
• Your favorite barbecue sauce, in this case Sweet Baby Ray's

Directions

The night before you want to start cooking the ribs, mix all the dry ingredients (first 8 ingredients) in a bowl. Rub the ribs generously with rib rub on both sides, stack ribs in a sealed container, and store in the fridge overnight, letting the meat marinate as the rub liquefies. 

The next day heat the SousVide Supreme  to 144 degrees F. 

Place each rib in their own vacuum seal pouch, add 3-4 drops of liquid smoke and vacuum seal them. Place the vacuum sealed ribs in the water bath, cover and let cook for 72 hours. Be sure to check the water level and the vacuum bag seals every day to make sure the are ok. 

After 72 hours, set your oven to broil and move the rack to the second highest position in the oven. 

Remove ribs from bag, place on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil. Brush the ribs on both sides with your favorite sauce (warmed) and then broil  to caramelize the sauce on top (you may need to work in batches). Brush with a little more sauce and serve.

**Note: Sous Vide is a cooking technique and of course is not required for this recipe, but I highly recommend it. The rib rub is awesome and would work well with any cooking technique**

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I actually did the mashed potatoes in the  SousVide Supreme  as well, here is how I did them! You will want to put these in the SousVide machine first at 180 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 144 degrees F for the ribs, you can hold the potatoes at this temperature with the ribs. 

Ingredients

• 12-15 small red skin potatoes, peeled and quartered 
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to taste 
• 1/4 cup milk, warmed 

Directions

Heat SousVide Supreme 180 degrees F. 

Put the potatoes and butter into cooking pouch(es), evenly distributed in a single layer without overcrowding. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper and vacuum seal the pouch(es). Submerge the pouch(es) in the water oven and cook for 90 minutes, until quite tender. If you are making the ribs, lower the water oven temperature to 144 degrees F, add in the ribs with the potatoes and cook for 72 hours. 

Open the potato pouch(es) and pour into the work bowl of a food processor, add the milk and puree until smooth. If you don't plan to serve right away, you can put the mashed potatoes into a large zip lock bag. Remove as much air as possible and quick chill in the pouch, submerge in an ice bath for at least 20 minutes. Reheat the mashed potatoes in a pouch to serving temperature. 

Father's Day Extravaganza

As most of you know, Father's Day is coming up here in a few weeks (June 17th if you forgot). Here are a few awesome gift idea's, plus recipes that you can use with these gifts. I recently just got two demo products from the kind people over at Molecule-R and SousVide Supreme that would be perfect for the Father who loves to cook. 

Molecule-R is a Canadian based company with the purpose of bringing the molecular gastronomy world into the home kitchen. In recent years, molecular gastronomy has revolutionized the world of haute cuisine by pushing back the boundaries of creativity. Up to now, creating avant-garde dishes was reserved for a small culinary elite as amateur cooks simply did not have access to these types of  products. Be sure to check out their website for great gift kits!

SousVide Supreme has quickly evolved into a leading culinary brand for sous vide cooking, for both home cooks and culinary professionals, offering a full range of affordable water ovens, vacuum sealers, sous vide accessories and cookbooks. The products have received rave reviews from users around the world; the SousVide Supreme water oven itself was awarded "Best in Category for Cooking Electrics" at the 2011 Housewares Design Awards and was named a 2010 Best of What's New product by Popular Science Magazine. Be sure to check out their website for great gift ideas! 

Molecular Burger

Sous-Vide Burger Ingredients 

•  24 ounces freshly ground beef
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves thinly sliced garlic
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 slices cheese
• 4 hamburger buns
• Ketchup & Mustard Spheres, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat SousVide Supreme to desired final temperature (120 degrees for rare, 130 degrees for medium rare, or 140 degrees for medium). 

Divide meat into four equal 6-ounce portions and gently shape each into a patty. Season generously with salt, pepper, and lay slices of garlic on top of each patty. Place patties in individual sandwich-sized zip-lock bags. Seal bags, leaving one-inch open at top corner. Slowly lower bags one at a time into pot of water by holding onto the open corner. Press air out of bag as it is submerged. Seal bag just before last corner is submerged. This is also known as water displacement method. You don't want to vacuum seal the patties because it will compress the meat to much. Add the burgers to the SousVide Supreme and cook for at least 30 minutes and up to 12 hours (do not cook burgers longer than 4 hours if your temperature is below 130 degrees).

Remove burgers from bags and carefully dry on paper towels. Season again with salt and pepper. Heat 12-inch cast iron skillet over high heat with vegetable oil until oil begins to smoke. Add patties and cook until well browned on first side, about 45 seconds. Flip patties (add cheese as desired) and cook until second side is well browned, about 45 seconds longer. Place patties on buns, top with condiments as desired and serve. 

Ketchup & Mustard Spheres Ingredients

• 2/3 cup ketchup 
• 2/3 cup mustard
• 1/2 cup water, divided 
• 2 sachets of Agar Agar, from Molcule-R Culinary Revolution Kit
• 3 cups of vegetable oil, divided 

Directions

Divide vegetable oil (1.5 cups each) into separate containers, I used drinking cups. Place in freezer for 30 min.
 

You will need two small sauce pans, one for the mustard and one for the ketchup. In the first sauce pan place the Ketchup, 1/4 cup of water and 1 sachet of Agar Agar, whisk and bring to a boil. Repeat process for mustard. Make sure you whisk them to remove any clumps of Agar Agar. Once boiling, remove from heat. 

Remove vegetable oil from freezer. Using the pipette provided by the Molecule-R Culinary Kit, pipe up some of the ketchup mustard and add drops of the ketchup to the cold vegetable oil. The droplets will slowly sink through the oil and encapsulate. Using the provided slotted spoon, gently remove the ketchup spheres from the oil and put into a water bath to rinse. Repeat steps with remained Ketchup and Mustard. When dropping the mixtures into the oil, drop them from from a distance. This will help the spheres break the surface tension and drop to the bottom. Depending on how many sphere's you make, you might have to change the water bath. I found that residual oil gathered on the water surface make the spheres clump together when removing. Remove from water bath, drain as much water off as you can with the slotted spoon and use as needed.

Molecular "Egg Sandwich"

If your Father and/or Husband is a Nerd and loves to cook, he's going to love this and the Molecule-R Kits

Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 2 cups of water
• 1 Sodium Alginate sachet
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Agar Agar sachet
• 2/3 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 1/4 cup Mango, diced
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp calcium lactate
• 4 slices marble pound cake (I got mine at Starbucks)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Line a broiler pan with aluminium foil, and position broiler rack on top of pan. Lightly coat the rack with the vegetable oil. 

Combine the brown sugar and cayenne in a shallow dish, stirring to incorporate. Press 1 side of each slice of bacon firmly into the spiced sugar to coat well. Arrange the slices of bacon on top of the broiler rack in a single layer, sugar-side up. If there is any sugar remaining in the dish, sprinkle it on top of the bacon slices evenly. Bake until the bacon is crisp and bubbly, 20-30 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain briefly, then to a plate to cool. After bacon has cooled, transfer to a cutting board and large dice the bacon. Set aside, you can make this several hours in advance and serve either warm or at room temperature. 

Using either a blender or hand blender combine the 2 cups of water and sodium alginate sachet and blend. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 15 min. In a small sauce pan whisk the milk and agar agar together and bring to a boil. Place the yogurt and milk mixture in a liquid measuring cup (with a spout) and mix together to incorporate. On a large, flate plate or baking sheet. Pour a thing layer of the yogurt and milk mixture into the center of a large circular cookie cutter. Repeat this until you have 4 even circles. You may need to pick up the plate and tip it to make an even layer for the "egg white." Refrigerate for 2-3 minutes until set. Remove from fridge and add a second smaller circle in the middle of the larger, you're trying to get that egg white look with the raised center. Refrigerate until ready to use. 

Place the mango, sugar and calcium lactate into a blender and puree until smooth. Remove the sodium alginate bath from the fridge and spoon 1 Tbsp of the mango mixture into the bath. Be gentle and try to make them look like an egg yolk. Repeat this to get 4 mango yolks. Turn the yolks making sure it is coated with the sodium alginate and let in bath for 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, gently remove the mango yolks from the SA bath and transfer them to a water bath. Swoosh them around to remove the excess sodium alginate.

Take your same large cookie cutter that you used for the yogurt egg whites and cut out the circular pieces of pound cake. Plate the pound cake, using a pastry spatula gently transfer the yogurt egg whites onto the top of the pound cake, then add your mango egg yolk on top and sprinkle with the candied bacon. Serve and impress!

Song of the Recipe

Being a Father's Day themed post, I figured this would be an appropriate song. I love this version with James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti. Two amazing talents, but completely different.