Author: Brent Schrader

Cocktail Smokies

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Cocktail smokies are one of the recipes that stand out most from my childhood. Not only were they one of my favorite appetizers whenever we had company over, or there was a special occasion, but it was one of my most memorable childhood cooking experiences. Aside from the time I cut my finger open pretty mightily trying to slice my own summer sausage, this is my most vivid kitchen memory.

When it was time to make the cocktail smokies, my mom pulled out the grape jelly and yellow mustard (two things I didn’t particularly enjoy), and explained these were all there was beyond the little smokies. I called shenanigans, and she made me cook it to prove her point. I still remember how blown away I was when the bright yellow and purple combined to form the brown sauce I knew and loved. This experience is one of the few that really sparked my love of cooking, and I hope you’ll also give these cocktail smokies a try.

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Mom’s Watermelon-Mint Salad

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It’s that time of year for those of us here in the mid-Atlantic area where the weather is starting to warm, the flowers and trees are in bloom, and summer is on its way. During our holiday time together over Easter weekend, my mom was at it again with another tried and true recipe. If you haven’t noticed, she’s often providing, or giving the inspiration for, new recipes on our blog: here are a few examples (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Growing up, I loved having a slice of watermelon here and there, but was never a fiend for it. That being said, this salad has me coming back for seconds and thirds every time. I’m a big fan of refreshing, healthy, and simple; and this hits all three right on the head.

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Huí Guō Ròu 回鍋肉 (Twice Cooked Pork)

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Lately we have been on a little bit of a Chinese food kick, and this week’s post is in homage to that hankering we’ve had. My go to has always been General Tso’s Chicken, but if you haven’t heard, our friends Bill and Hayley have already cracked that nut in their cookbook, Gather.

Twice cooked pork, sometimes called double cooked pork, is traditionally known as Huí Guō Ròu, translating to “return pot pork.” We love all pork products (hello, bacon), and thought this was an interesting opportunity. Plus, it gave us an opportunity to return to our paleo hoisin sauce (which we made a long, long time ago, back when our camera was an iPhone 4s).

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Tom Kha Gai ต้มข่าไก่ (Thai Coconut Soup)

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This weekend we had the pleasure of doing some cooking, and hanging out, with our friend Russ of the Domestic Man. We cooked for almost a solid 5 hours, and came up with some great recipes to share with you all as a result.

This first piece is a Thai soup based off of what I had ordered from a local Thai restaurant, Tom Kha Hed (ต้มข่าไก่). This soup, sometimes also known as Tom Kha Gai, Kai or just Tom Kha, is literally “chicken galangal soup.” We forwent the chicken itself, but one could easily add chicken and or prawns for a heavier soup.

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Dublin Coddle

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This year for St. Paddy’s Day, we decided to try a more traditional dish aside from corned beef and cabbage (although we absolutely made that as well), and came across the Dublin Coddle. The little bit of research I did led me to find that the coddle is a recipe usually cooked with leftovers, so it does not have a rigid set of ingredients. We are big fans of making the best of what is available, so this recipe struck us as a great thing to try. Interestingly enough, the recipe’s name comes from the verb coddle, meaning to cook in water below boiling.

We made some minor adjustments to the traditional coddle: often cooked with water and a bouillon cube, we instead opted for chicken stock. Other stock would certainly work as well. The other substitution we made was for white potatoes. We occasionally eat potatoes, and are not opposed to them, but wanted to give this a shot with jicama. Jicama is somewhat difficult to peel, but once that task is accomplished, it’s a breeze. Ultimately, this was a delicious recipe.

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