Hurricane

It seems topical, what with hurricane Irene visiting us here in Boston, to have a post on the Hurricane. The cocktail that anyone who has spent more than an hour in New Orleans has had.

I had my first hurricane in 1997. I was an impoverished graduate student, and I paid $8 for this drink, and when I first sipped it I was sure I had been ripped off. I couldn't taste a whiff of alcohol in it. 30 minutes later, as I staggered down Bourbon Street, I felt differently.

For one hurricane:

1 shot light rum
1 shot dark rum
½ shot Galliano liqueur
2 shots orange juice
2 shots pineapple juice
1 shot passion fruit juice
¾ shot lime juice
3 dashes Angostura bitters

Mix and serve over ice. This isn't exactly the cocktail I had in New Orleans (I'll let you know when I find the recipe for that) but it was a pretty popular cocktail to survive a hurricane that was toothless (by the time it reached Boston).

Happy Hurricane Sunday.



By Bbq Dude

Lobster

My dad was the anti-foodie. Almost every dish my mother ever served was a "B+". He would stroll away from the dinner table, not full. Food was merely fuel. The enjoyment at the dinner table was found in discussion and debate, not on the plate.

There was only one food I can remember that made him excited. In the 1950s, he spent time in the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia. It is there that he learned to love lobster. When he brought me there in 1989, he introduced me to one of the most fabulous sources of protein on earth.

I have spent as much as $40/pound to have the pleasure to cook lobster in some of my other homes. Imagine my surprise, then, to drive through southern Maine and see signs advertising $4/lb lobster. It turns out that those signs are teasers, to get 3 x 1.5 lb lobsters cost us $28. That's right, something a little more than $6 per pound. We suffer.



My wife picked up three lobsters on a Wednesday at the Maine Lobster Outlet. So after work, I heated up two pots of water (one per lobster - we're in a sublet and don't have a big pot). Each pot had:

4 quarts water
8 tbsp salt

Alternatively, you can use fresh seawater if it's handy.

Bring to a rolling boil while you play with your lobsters.



When the water is boiling, pick up the lobsters. Some people like to make the lobsters sleepy by having them hang out in a fridge for a while. Not necessary. You just need to act swiftly, so the lobster doesn't have time to think about his impending doom. Open up the pot, pick up the lobster and hold him head (and claws) pointing down. Then swiftly move him over the pot and drop him in. If you hesitate, all is lost. The lobster will sense the heat, and recoil. You want to drop him in there head-first so that he is killed instantly and has no time to react. The benefit here is that this is more humane, and it's less disturbing and wiggly to try to get the lobster in the pot if you do it quickly.

Let the pot return to boiling. As soon as it does, start the clock (watch carefully, there's nothing more sad than an overcooked lobster). A 1 ½ lb lobster does well with about 11 minutes of full-on boil time. Really, don't overcook the lobster. Overcooked lobster is tough and bitter.

Remove the lobster from the boiling water at the end of your counter.



Let cool a few moments. Serve with a dish of melted butter. It's not a terrible idea to wear a raincoat while dismembering the lobster. There will be a mess, be forewarned. Dab the meat into the butter. And don't forget, the claws have the best meat. The knuckles, second best. And the tail has the most meat (though a bit tougher).

This is a simple way to make lobster, and in Massachusetts, it even makes sense on a Wednesday night. Ridiculous.




By Bbq Dude

Wordless Wednesday: Chicken wings

By Bbq Dude

Blueberry pie

Blueberry bonanza! We got a little out of hand the other day picking blueberries. Nine pounds of blueberries. So we had to find a home for a few of them.



Classic summer bbq fare is blueberry pie (or pah as they say in Texas).

In our home, pie is the domain of Mrs. Dude. She makes a pretty amazing crust. I copy this one from her delightful description of rhubarb pie:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
⅔ cup Crisco (Bbq Dude is always trying to make me use use leaf lard, but I just can’t do it. I like Crisco)
⅓ cup very cold water (mix 1 cup water with some ice cubes and let sit, pour off the 1/3 cup when you need it)


Add the salt to the flour and mix. Add the 2/3 cup Crisco and mash into the flour with your fingers until you’ve made something that looks like the photo. Don’t handle it too much, it should only take about 2 min. This will make mess out of rings on your fingers or bells on your toes, so put them someplace safe. Add the 1/3 cup very cold water and mix with fingers till it all starts sticking together. Don’t handle it too much. Have 4 sheets of wax paper or parchment paper ready to roll the pie crusts out in. Place about 1/4th of the dough in between 2 sheets of paper and “roll like mad” as my Mom says. Move the rolling pin around to generate an at least somewhat circular shape. You want the dough to be about 2-3mm (1/10th inch) thick.

For this pie, form an extra high ridge around the edge of the pastry. And chill the crust while you're making the filling. We take a slight twist on the classic blueberry pie as detailed on Epicurious:

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (or more) sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
7 cups fresh blueberries
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Mix the all the filling components in a heavy pot. Heat over medium heat, stirring gently frequently until the blueberries liquify (a tiny bit) and make a thick, hot, bubbling mess.



You want largely whole blueberries, so be gentle. No one wants blueberry-paste pie.

Chill the pie filling for an hour.

Meanwhile, make the topping:

⅔ cup unbleached all purpose flour
4 ounces marzipan or almond paste
¼ cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
½ tsp salt

Combine all the topping ingredients in a food processor, pulse only until combined into a wet, chunky mess.

Ok, chill that, too. Now you've got crust, filling and topping in the fridge. After everything is cold (about an hour), fire up the oven at 400°F. Now you're gonna need to move fast, because you don't want the filling to soak into the crust. As soon as the pie gets assembled, you want it heading straight into the oven. Only a fool would pause to take the semi-assembled pie outside into sufficient light to get a good picture...



Ahem.

If you must, be quick about it.



Crumble the topping over the blueberries.



Put the pie on a cookie sheet. Yeah, it's going to bubble and splatter, especially if you put in a few too many blueberries. Bake until the topping browns, around 70 minutes (but start checking it at 45 - your mileage may vary).

Remove from the oven, and if you can possibly stand it, let the pie cool so the filling can gel. Serve with ice cream.



It's pie, dammit. It's good.

By Bbq Dude