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.

Watermelon Campari Sorbet

I thought step one in making this was to make the fruit puree. That was before I googled to find instructions for using the ice cream maker I borrowed from a co-worker (instructions not included); it turns out step one is actually freeze the mixing bowl for 16-24 hours. So I ended with a fruit puree chilling in the fridge for a day while the bowl went through the deep freeze. Good thing I didn't have an event it was going to.

Just starting to chill

Almost there

The watermelon campari combination gives you a bitter offset to sweetness of the fruit and sugar; it's not overpowering and if I liked bitter flavors more I would probably love it. As it is, I like it.

Sorbet

Difficulty level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? I'd make this again if it was requested, but not for my own self. But now I want to find a recipe to make a cassis sorbet...

Beale Street Cheeseburger

I come from burger country. The concept of a deep-fried cheeseburger just doesn't shock me. The only question was how it would compete with things like butterburgers.

Aside from the fryer set up, these aren't actually that complex. Ron Swanson would think they're fancy, but he'd approve.

While you're frying the patties the buns get broiled with spiced cheese, ketchup*, and mayo. Then you toss some pickles on and eat. Since the concept of giving up cheeseburgers is one the reasons I will never voluntarily go vegetarian, these were not a hard sell for me.

*The recipe calls for mustard, not ketchup. I hate mustard on burgers, so I substituted. Not sorry.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? I'm probably going to steal the bun technique for future burgers, but I'm not a convert to the deep frying as superior over grilling (or trying to make a butterburger). The frying process makes it hard to tell when the burger is cooked through, and it shrinks the patty so that the meat/bun ratio is harder to balance. The flavor isn't so superior that it's worth converting over other methods.

Tomorrow, French Fries

Michael Pollan has a book called In Defense of Food where he claims that you can have as much junk food as you want as long as you make it yourself. This is the kind of recipe that rule is made for.

To make these fries you have to start the day before (the "tomorrow" in the name). You bake the potatoes and them let chill at least overnight before hauling out the frying equipment to cook them. It isn't that complex a process, but also isn't a casual one.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? I've made these before, I can see doing it again. But there will be fries bought from restaurants first, neither Pollan or Brown have converted me to 100% homemade.

Mussels-O-Miso

This is the kind of dish that I can picture on the menu of any number of trendy restaurants in town. Mussels steamed in a broth full of miso, ginger, garlic, lime juice, shishito peppers, and beer. Its finished with harrisa paste for a little spice at the end.

I wasn't sure how making mussels at home would go, but it turned out pretty smoothly. Only a few of the mussels didn't open after being steamed (general advice is to toss those). All the aromatics in the broth smelled delightful as they were cooked. All in all, a success.

Pretty? No. Tasty? Yes.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? I could actually see repeating this if the right occasion presented itself, but realistically its not going to be a common menu feature at my house. I tend to leave the seafood to the restaurants. It's nice to know I can replicate at home if I want though. 

An Overdue Cocktail (Smoky Tequila Sour)

I meant to make this.... awhile ago. Long enough ago that the fruit that goes into it had to be replaced. <shrug> Life happens.

Nonetheless, it got made.

Orange juice, lime juice, tequila, amaro montengro, agave syrup, and a dash of liquid smoke.

Cheers.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Will It Get Made Again? I realize Alton is a fan of the smoke, but if I were to repeat this I would probably leave the liquid smoke out and save it for a BBQ later. Still solid, just not my favorite.

Seattle Snapper Dome

I was visiting Seattle this summer and decided that this should be the year that actually bought fish from Pike Place Market. Since the Snapper Dome from EveryDayCook looked like something I could make in a rented Airbnb kitchen, I went hunting red snapper there (also huckleberry tea, but that's not for this project).

Stuffed Fish

Have you ever used an entire box of salt in one recipe? If you want to, this is the recipe for it. The technique is actually pretty simple. Make a salt crust. Lay a fish stuffed with some lemon and parsley on it. Cover the fish. Bake.

Snapper Dome

I failed to get pretty fillets of fish to come out, but there were no complaints (even with the occasional pin bone). To the big "is it salty?" question, the answer is no. Granted, I didn't try to eat the skin the salt was sitting on.

The wreckage after getting the meat.

No points for plating, but no one cares when it tastes good.

Difficulty Level: Easy
Will It Get Made Again? I'd be tempted to try this again with a deboned fish. The skin just  peeled off, and the texture and flavor were great. But I hate picking pin bones out of fish...

Mushroom Wheatberry Pilaf

Wheatberries? This was another ingredient I had never tried. They were readily available though, and even cheap. What they are not is fast cooking; these get loaded into a pressure cooker for over an hour (which means stove cooking them would be a multi-hour project). 
Then you cook some onion, mushrooms, and garlic to mix with the wheatberries. It strengths are that it is healthy, and easy to match with the protein of your choice.

I don't find it photogenic, but it is pretty good.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Will It Get Made Again? Probably, if I'm looking for a change from rice or potatoes as a side this is a good alternative.