Saturday, October 22, 2011
Steak and Baseball!
Rangers getting ready to fire up the bats, and we fired up the infra-red grill out back. T-bones rare then smothered in whipped butter with a side of baked sweet potato for me, Idaho spud for the Kman. Add a flute of sparkling Italian wine and all is good.
And yes, now that you asked; that is a leftover sand pail from Port Aransas over labor day. Waste not, want not. Thank you, Wessie, for leaving me your bucket!
Oh, a nice new candle makes it all fancy.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
James Lee Burke - Feast Day of Fools
Magnum Opus: (plural: magna opera, also opus magnum / opera magna), from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.Or, to put it more succinctly, if James Lee Burke worked his magic with a paintbrush, Feast Day of Fools would be the Sistine Chapel of his novels. Yep, it's that good. I can't say whether the story took him four years to write or not, but the end result was the same as Michelangelo's - perfectly stunning.
I've recently read some reviewers comparing Burke's writing to Cormac McCarthy's, particularly his No Country For Old Men. Well, both stories share a deep southwest Texas locale and both deal in the darkness of a man's heart; I would go a step farther and say Burke's might have more in common with Joseph Conrad. Like the evolution of Conrad's writings, Burke, too, has entered a higher stage with Feast Day of Fools. But, whereas McCarthy and Conrad are not always a joy to read, Burke's trademark style shines with readability.
I am a long-time Burke fan and feel like his famous Louisiana anti-hero detective, Dave Robicheaux, is my personal friend. Ol' Dave has put James Lee on the literary map. But even your mama's tried and true favorite fried chicken recipe would get old if that's all you ever ate. Luckily for us fans, we also have Sheriff Hackberry Holland to keep our Burke cravings at bay.
Feast Day of Fools is set in the Texas southwest, near the border of Mexico and is the third novel featuring Sheriff "Hack" Holland, a Korean veteran and a descendant of a long line of Texas lawmen. Readers first met Holland in Lay Down My Sword and Shield, and then again in Rain Gods. Back again, too, is one of Burke's weirdest and creepiest villains, Preacher Jack Collins. But the badness doesn't stop with Collins; there's Krill, a mercenary soldier gone off the deep end, Negrito, an illiterate psychopath, and the Reverend Cody Daniels, a man broken by the system and finding redemption and revenge with a bible and a gun. All fatally flawed, all on their own crazy mission of misplaced loyalties and superstitions.
A sadistic murder/mutilation in the desert, a missing FBI informant, drug smugglers, and gun runners are the bones of the story, along with an enigmatic and mysterious Chinese woman named Anton Ling, called "La Magdalena" by the Hispanic locals. Ling has her own war-torn past and is mending her soul by helping illegals from Mexico find safe passage into the states - a subject of passionate debate in the Lone Star state.
Franz Kafka may be the allegory king, but Burke's use of symbolism makes you catch your breath and hold it for long seconds while you reread a passage just because it is so ripe and full; to interrupt that emotional flow with the mechanics of breathing would lessen it's impact.
I held my breath a lot while reading Feast Day of Fools. My trusty yellow highlighter used for keeping tabs on quotable passages that simply must be remembered had to be relinquished lest I ended up with entire pages colored yellow.
Just to give you a tiny taste and whiff of Burke's ability to make the nature of place almost a separate character of its own:
The night air was dense with an undefined feral odor, like cougar scat and a sun-bleached carcass and burnt animal hair and water that had gone stagnant in a sandy drainage traced with the crawl lines of reptiles.The gritty and sprawling vistas of the desert southwest is the perfect artist's canvas for Burke's biggest novel to date. And unlike Pope Julius the Second's (played by Rex Harrison) frustrated lament regarding Michelango's painting in the "Agony and the Ecstasy", I hope Burke NEVER "makes an end" of his superb storytelling.
Article first published as Book Review: Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke on Blogcritics.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Metal Chicken!
Taken just at the edge of town - Brenham, Texas
Pattie's Carne Guisada
It's nice and cool, overcast with a much needed long rain last night into this morning. The Rangers are winning and all's good. I was supposed to babysit for my daughter and son-in-law so they could catch Game Two at Ranger Stadium, but the game is postponed until tomorrow due to a very soggy field. I don't like my Rangers to lose their momentum, but hard to gripe about rain.
So, since I was now going to be home, time for some recipes that are finally okay to heat up the kitchen a bit! It's fall! (Or as close as we get in Cowtown.)
For those of you who don't se habla español - this is lard; not shortening, not oil....animal fat. If you want to be authentic with this recipe, you can't be afraid of fat...or spices. Lard browns meat to perfection.
For this recipe, I use about 4 pounds of stew meat altogether. After dredging in seasoned flour (salt, pepper,and garlic powder), you want to let the meat sit for about 20 minutes and let the flour set well. Then, fry the meat in small batches in about two plus inches of hot sizzling lard. This is the first batch (about one pound) of my fried beef stew chunks. I have a large heavy stainless steel electric skillet with deep sides that is my go-to pan for most anything. .
While the meat is frying, start chopping your vegetables. I use white onion, two bell peppers, two poblano peppers, one jalepeno seeded, and fresh garlic. You can add some fresh cilantro if you like. After chopping and mixing, I squeeze about half of a lime and tossed the veggies together and let sit until all your meat is browned.
Drain all the lard from your skillet, add a big chunk of butter (not margarine) - about three tablespoons, and melt in hot skillet. Toss in lime marinated veggies and quick stir until the onions are just turning translucent.
Now your ready for your spices. I use a tablespoon (or more) of: coriander, cumin, chili powder and celery salt. I add additional garlic powder. ( I use a lot but not everyone is a fan of lots of garlic.) The bay leaves go in last after all the next steps, by the way. Turn your skillet to 200 or low. Did you know that the coriander plant is where you get cilantro leaves? The spice coriander is made from the plant seeds. Be careful with this spice; some people say it tastes soapy. Either you really like cilantro or you hate it; seldom does it elicit a so-so opinion.
Stir everything together. You can add extra water ( I use some chicken bouillon - two teaspoons in two cups hot water) if your stew is too thick. Don't worry, if you used enough flour to coat the meat, this will thicken up nicely. Some cooks will add about two tablespoons of tomato paste, but I don't like tomatoes in my guisada.
The last three ingredients: a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet, a heaping tablespoon of Hershey's cocoa powder and two tablespoon of brown sugar. The Special Dark cocoa is the bomb!
You can adjust amounts to your taste, but I like the way the chocolate adds depth and the brown sugar takes the bitterness out of the beer.
Let the carne guisada simmer slowly in your electric skillet on the lowest setting. Stir occasionally, until the gravy is just right and the meat melts in your mouth. (You may need to add a bit of water as it cooks if the gravy gets too thick. You want it thick, but not sticky.)
If you want to go true Tex Mex, serve the guisda with warm tortillas, some red beans, and southern fried potatoes and onions. Nope, I use store-bought tortillas; I really have never tried to make my own.
Ya'll come help me eat all this!
So, since I was now going to be home, time for some recipes that are finally okay to heat up the kitchen a bit! It's fall! (Or as close as we get in Cowtown.)
For those of you who don't se habla español - this is lard; not shortening, not oil....animal fat. If you want to be authentic with this recipe, you can't be afraid of fat...or spices. Lard browns meat to perfection.
For this recipe, I use about 4 pounds of stew meat altogether. After dredging in seasoned flour (salt, pepper,and garlic powder), you want to let the meat sit for about 20 minutes and let the flour set well. Then, fry the meat in small batches in about two plus inches of hot sizzling lard. This is the first batch (about one pound) of my fried beef stew chunks. I have a large heavy stainless steel electric skillet with deep sides that is my go-to pan for most anything. .
While the meat is frying, start chopping your vegetables. I use white onion, two bell peppers, two poblano peppers, one jalepeno seeded, and fresh garlic. You can add some fresh cilantro if you like. After chopping and mixing, I squeeze about half of a lime and tossed the veggies together and let sit until all your meat is browned.
Now your ready for your spices. I use a tablespoon (or more) of: coriander, cumin, chili powder and celery salt. I add additional garlic powder. ( I use a lot but not everyone is a fan of lots of garlic.) The bay leaves go in last after all the next steps, by the way. Turn your skillet to 200 or low. Did you know that the coriander plant is where you get cilantro leaves? The spice coriander is made from the plant seeds. Be careful with this spice; some people say it tastes soapy. Either you really like cilantro or you hate it; seldom does it elicit a so-so opinion.
See that little red can "Costena" at the top? La Costeña Seasoned Chipotle Peppers in adobo sauce. This is a small can, and I don't even use a fourth of it. Muy caliente, mi amigo. I only use about one and a half tablespoons of the sauce, and one small finely chopped chipotle pepper. I just toss the rest, because I always forget if I freeze it and I don't cook with it enough to use it up soon enough. A little of this stuff goes a long way, and err to the lesser if you are not sure how spicy you want your guisada. You can always save and add a little more at the end if you need more heat.
Mix all spices together, then sprinkle on your sauteing veggies, then stir in the adobo sauce and chopped chipotle pepper.
Next, pour a bottle of room temperature beer into your skillet of veggies and spices. I prefer Shiner Boch, but I had a Negro Modelo in the house instead.
Finally, toss in three or four bay leaves and stir. Taste for salt - add if needed.
Now, there are three more things I usually add to my guisada. Ancient family secret, huh? And the Bush's baked beans golden retriever, Duke, doesn't even know my secrets!
Let the carne guisada simmer slowly in your electric skillet on the lowest setting. Stir occasionally, until the gravy is just right and the meat melts in your mouth. (You may need to add a bit of water as it cooks if the gravy gets too thick. You want it thick, but not sticky.)
If you want to go true Tex Mex, serve the guisda with warm tortillas, some red beans, and southern fried potatoes and onions. Nope, I use store-bought tortillas; I really have never tried to make my own.
Ya'll come help me eat all this!
...The biographical equivalent of 12 hour chili - Sticks to the ribs! -
