The Margarita Classica

So this is one of the best sellers for the Happy Hour up at L'Ecole. As usual we make everything we can short of the alcohol in house not only to help with teaching students like myself but also becasue it gives it a much better taste. The secret to this drink is the Lime juice.

Margarita Classica

Hardware:

Shaker
Jigger
Margarita Glass
Rimmer


Ingredients:
2 oz      Tequila
1 oz      Cointreau
1 oz      Lime Juice (Fresh)
1 splsh  Simple Syrup
Lime Juice
Kosher Salt

Construction:
Fill the shaker a little over half full of Ice and add Tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice, and simple syrup, (A splash is a splash, if there is liquid running out of the bottle and you haven't pulled up you've added to much) Cap and shake for 2 minutes.

Prep the glass by soaking the rimmer in lime juice, with even pressure set the rim of the Margarita glass on the pad and roll the stem between the thumb and forefinger giving an even coating of lime juice, repeat with Kosher salt.

Strain Drink into the preped glass, it should be a nice light green color and smell of lime and Orange. Garnish with a lime twist and serve, refreshing and light highly recommended for the Summer Barbecue.

The PBJ Grown up a bit.

There is something about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that just seems to remind you of sitting at the kitchen counter as a little kid, back in easier and  much simpler times. A perfect ratio of sweet grape or tangy strawberry jelly to salty smooth peanut butter on two pieces of white bread each bite giving you a subtle pull back to those better times.

Now lets have it grow up a bit...

PBJ Christo

Makes 4 

The Liquid 

4 eggs

1 1/2 pints Heavy cream

2 ounces Bourbon (Jack Danial's Select) 

1/2 ounce of Orange peel no pith (chopped)

The Sandwich

1 Loaf of Brioche 

Smooth Peanut Butter

Raspberry Preserve

The Garnish

Powdered Sugar 

Mint

The Hardware 

9x11 Cassarole dish

Large flat bottomed skillet or

Griddle (Better)

Platter 

Serrated Knife

Start by cutting the loaf of brioche into even 1/2 inch slices. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on 4 of the slices and the Raspberry preserve on the other 4. Form the Sandwiches.

Mix the Eggs and Cream together slowly adding the Bourbon and orange peel. Pour half the mixture into the Casserole dish place the sandwiches into the mix with no overlap. Cover with remaining liquid and let sit for 5 to 6 minutes.

While you wait put the large skillet or griddle onto medium high heat and grease as you see fit (Butta is betta) 

Once the pan is hot place the sandwiches into griddle and let sit for three minutes or golden, flip and repeat. 

Pull from heat and allow to cool for two minutes, cut into triangles and arrange on platter, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with a chifinade of Mint, (roll the mint leaves and carefully cut making ribbons). 

Perfect for a brunch or as a late night snack if you skip the last step.

Cousin Hugo's somethings need to be kept in the family

A small building right next to Rocket Park and across from the newly redone Deercreak shopping complex Cousin Hugo's Bar and Grill has been an area favorite for over seventy years, one of my maternal Grandfather's haunts it's now one of mine. I had my first sip of beer that I can remember there, the first beer I ordered in the states was there and probably one of my last will be pulled from the tap there. The place is comfortable, that is if you're from st. Louis. Red for the Cardinals and  Blue for the Blues are the predominant decoration colors among the dark wood of the walls and deep green carpet.

The beer is always cold and the burgers are always good. If you're in the mood for a classic good burger nothing beats the Hugo Burger cooked rare topped with Cheddar and grilled onions, a thin spread of their horseradish sauce and a bit of salt and pepper. It is in my opinion the best burger in Under the Arch with a close second being O'Connell's.

Most people Under the Arch have "their" bars and haunts. I only have one that I consider mine, there are places I frequent, places I love to go, but when it comes to feeling like I'm home in a restaurant there is Cousin Hugo's.

Trainwreck, doesn't live up to the name... Thankfully

You'd pass right by this place if it wasn't for the giant Bison on a trailer in front of the place. While not a secret by any means it's one of the places that most people in St. Louis really just don't know about it. Found in Rock Hill on Manchester across from the Lumber Yard Trainwreck Saloon is the home of good burgers and like most successful places follows the Simple formula as I stated in my review of Fuzzy's Tacos.

CB+GF=RS

In the top ten of the better burgers under the arch the half pound beef patty can be substituted with a bison burger for a small up charge, well worth it if you're a fan of medium or above cooked burgers, sadly I like mine rare as can be. The fries are good, seasoned in as one of my friends stated 'like they were coated in Lay's Barbecue flavored chips' a surprisingly apt comparison actually.

A solid meal at a fair price with good friends after hitting up a movie (Captain America: Winter Soldier) I can happily say that the Trainwreck Saloon is anything but.

Sunday Picnics

As I sit on the stoop enjoying one of the beautiful spring days that we don't get often enough in our fair city I remember back to an old family tradition that we sadly don't do anymore, picnics on Art Hill. A sunny day, people running around and good food. Sometimes in today's food scene we get so caught up with what the hot cuisine is, with the coolest bars and biggest secrets are that we forget that really all you need to make a good meal is good food and good company. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with wanting to hit the bars, to check out the 'best kept secrets', just that we need to remember the simpler things when it comes to food and what it means to have a good meal. 

We had the same tradition for about three years, then I started High School and for some reason we started having those picnics less and less, we used to run by Mom's Deli on Jamieson, grab some subs (Poor Boy for me) and a few bags of chips and head up to Art Hill, spread out a blanket and set up the lawn chairs. Eat, run around, crash on the blanket, those were good Sundays ones that I plan to repeat when I have kids of my own.

Every family Under the Arch has their own traditions, for some it's a sports game, for others it's Sunday dinner at Grandma's. It's those small things those seemingly little traditions that ground us and make us who we are.

And this little piggy was Delicious How to Finish the Hog

So you have your pig prepped, trimmed and wide open, injected and hooves, ears and snout covered? What? You mean that you don't have those three important pieces covered? Well get some tin foil and cover them! Doing this helps ensure a more even cook time and leaves the skin and delicate bits a nice even color with the rest of the hog... instead of blackened pork rind scented charcoal.

Is you're cooker prepped? if you're using a smoker do you have a good pile of coals and decent wood? Great now then gently slip the pig into the cooker and make sure that you have a good amount of space between the smoker walls and the pig make sure that it's not over the coals or else the parts that are will get dry and disgusting. Remember that we're going for a nice Mahogany finish on the pigs skin with tender and juicy. Make sure that it's in position, close the smoker door... and wait...

and wait...

Seriously at this point the process takes a while so crack open a few cold ones and sit down to play a few rounds of Magic The Gathering... or is that just me and my friends?  Anyways, the golden ratio for the pig is 1 hour for every 10 pounds of pre-preped hog with the cooker of choice going at about 200 F. So that 60 lb pig had 6 hours in the smoker, remember to flip it at the halfway mark of the cooking process ensuring that nice and crispy skin.

The time has passed, you and you're compadres have the hog out of the smoker and have let it rest for about an hour, now take off the skin with the boning knife get the bones out and start chopping the meat, sauce it if you want, remember that the jowls and the belly are going to be two of the best parts. Mix the meat together and lay it out on a plater about the shape of the hog, cover with the skin and serve.

Here Under the Arch we might not have the best seafood, our chicken might be about average, but there is one thing that we do know, and that's the hog. Tomorrow will have some pictures as well as a few recipes for the injections and rubs that are good. Stay Hungry my friends.

Here Piggy, Piggy Piggy...

As a warning this post will be a little different then the rest...

I have a fascination with using knives to cut up dead animals... it's kind of Therapeutic...

But seriously, butchery is a dying art, that is a skill driven and can be impressive to those who don't know how to do it... and it's wonderful stress relief. OK I'm done with the slasher humor, for now. I spent about an hour yesterday on cleaning a little 60 lb pig, so cute, for a whole Hog roast for today. I've always enjoyed Anatomy even when I was younger. Things go together in a logical way and taking them apart is just the reverse of knowing how it's put together. There is an art behind cleaning a hog, it's more then just sticking a knife in a hog, that's how you ruin a perfectly good chunk of meat. Patience and a sharp knife are the two most important parts of working with a whole animal, dull knives cause accidents and impatience will ruin the animal causing a total waste of product.

The first thing you need to do is split the sternum, cut it out entirely saving it for stock, I recommend starting with a clean sharp boning knife to go through skin and meet to show you where the ribs meet up with the sternum then switching to a small hacksaw to slice right through the bone removing it with clean cuts. Save it as well as the rest of the trimmings to come the pork stock you can make is Delicious. After the sternum is gone you and whoever you're with grab a side a piece and pull down sharply separating a few of the ribs giving you more wiggle-room.

There we go hard part done. Take a pair of garden sheers, clean and preferably unused, and snip along the spine where the ribs connect, you'll know when you get them all because the entire pig will lay flat like a book with the spine of the pig acting like the spine of the book. From here on out it's really just being patient and confident with your knife skills, everything that's not a pretty pink color needs to go, using you're trusty steel hone you're knife until it's as sharp as you can before using the tip of the knife to slip under the silver skin, carefully so you don't pierce the flesh, and run you're knife down the piece of silver skin separating it from the meat. Go back and get all of the glands and organs out of the head they'll be a different color then the fat and meat and be squishy to the touch.

Now all you have to do is inject the pig with your flavoring agent, (Apple juice is a good choice) and throw it into you're cooking apparatus of choice (in my case the trailer smoker with Oak wood) and wait...