Cider House Fondue

When one of my friends decided to throw a fall themed dinner party, I took it as a sign that it was time to make a smoked apple fondue. Enter the origami smoke flower.

The smoke "flower"

The smoking procedure here calls for turning a wok into a smoker by sticking a foil packed of wood chips in it (the foil gets folded origami style to make a wood chip container), stacking on a grill grate, and then sealing it. I wasn't sure how well this work, but it's pretty simple (if you have the equipment) and was very effective. The kitchen had a nice smoky apple smell after they had cooked.

Ironically, I used the grate from indoor smoker, just not the rest of the smoker for this.

Then you pulverize cheese (cheddar and velveeta), half & half, applejack, and a dash cayenne. Interestingly, there's no major heating element. The cheese is being melted by the food processor. 

I heated it a bit more for the party, but can confirm that it stays spreadable without a lot of heat.

Someone had to sample right away before I grabbed the photo.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? My crew didn't find it addictive, so probably not. It was liked but not loved by all who tried it.

The General's Fried Chicken (Plus Waffles)

I decided that if I was going to make fried chicken at home, I might as well make waffles to. The waffle recipe I used isn't in EveryDayCook but it's another Alton recipe, and this one is easily found online.

#brunchboss

The chicken takes some prep. It spends some time marinating in stages (ideally overnight according to the directions, which worked out for my timeline). Then it needs to be breaded, and fried. 

What you get is indeed better than a certain Colonel's chicken.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? Yes, but I'm going to tweak the spices. I'm a fan of spicy fried chicken, and to get closer to my favorite I'm going to up the amount of cayenne in the next batch (and maybe add some paprika).

BBQ Potato Chips

This is one of those things I would never do without some sort of project pushing me to do it. I look at the effort to reward ratio, and I bet that it won't come out as worth it. But that's not the point when the goal is to get through an entire cookbook, so here it is. Homemade potato chips.
These are a pain. You need super thin slices, and my food processor I think was actually too thick, so if I were to do this again I would need to haul out the mandolin. You pre-soak wood chips, so that you can then smoke the potato slices.

There are wood chips under the steamer rack for the smoking process.

 Once you've finally gotten that far, you need to deep fry them in small batches. Then finally toss them in a paper bag and shake with the spice mixture. Eventually, this gets you potato chips.

I would need way more practice to get as good a texture as a commercial chip. I would rather just buy the commercial chips.

Difficulty Level: Hard

Will It Get Made Again? Nope. I was betting this would come out as not worth the effort, and for me that's the case. I do really like the BBQ spice mix, and I'm tempted to put that on roast potatoes, or mix it into mashed potatoes... Just not homemade chips.

Grilled Shishitos

I've never tossed fish flakes on a vegetable before. It does not shock me that Alton Brown would lead me to this place.

The grilled shishitos are very simple. Tossed with olive oil, salt, soy sauce, and Katsuobushi flakes (dried, flaked tuna) and grilled at high heat. It took less than ten minutes. Good? Yes. Addictive? No.

Difficulty level: Easy

Will It Get Made Again? If I need to use up leftover peppers, sure. I'm just unlikely to go out of my way to make them.