Still tired? Red Eye Gravy helps..

So, I'm a firm believer when you get a good base for something, you save it. Last night there was a lot of pork-yummy-filled coffee with some pork bits in it. Know what this sounded like to me? Red eye gravy. Never had it? Really? Find the closest Southern Person you can find, and start begging. Maybe offer a handy-j. Not going to go that route? Well.. There are a LOT of directions, but instead I'm going my way - yo. You'll also see a lot of "Crap I don't have..." and "How can I make this work.."

Kobold goes back to his roots, dawg.

So this isn't my standard post, with complete directions, and all that. Instead it's a post about improvisation. Making do. Gettin' the job done. 

 

What are you looking at here? So I was dumb, went to the store for dinner. And forgot egg, even though I wanted to bread the chicken. No buttermilk, regular milk, yogurt.. Crap how am I going to get this breading to stick?! After a few minutes on Google, it looked like a lot of people used some watered down mustard. Ok I got this.

I'm not going to go into everything about breading your chicken. But I like flour and corn starch. It makes a nice coating. I like to add spices until I can see them pretty. It makes it yummy.

So I'm not smart enough to own a steamer. But thanks to the lovely Momma D, aka my momma, I have colanders a plenty. A little foil, a partially filled pot of water. Poof, how I steamed some green beans. 

Garlic toast holds a special place in my heart. Not just because I love garlic AND toast, but.. Because it's memories. Back when I wasn't quite yet a Kobold, and couldn't really see over the counter good, I still wanted to help Momma D in the kitchen. But I've always been a klutz. So, she convinced me that garlic toast was such a big deal and hard to make. Somewhere along the lines she quit even pretending and just let me make it. I was good at making the buttery just garlicy enough. Knowing when to add what. It wasn't that big of deal, but she made it out to be.

Over the years I've done so many things, including garlic oils, powders, granulated, fresh garlic, butter, margarine, etc..etc..

My method is simple: I often use margarine because, well, it's cheap to make HUGE globs of. I cover the top of it in granulated garlic. Then I mix it in. Then I add more. Then I slice garlic cloves. Add those. Mix it all. My implement of covering, as you can see, is a fork. Why? I don't know. It's what mom started me with, and what I'm good at using.
Butter one side, lay it, butter the other side. The sneaky part? Sprinkle just a little Kosher Salt (my salt of choice) over the top of it all. Not much, really just a little here and there. It goes a long way. 

So, let's continue with last night's coffee yummy. First, make your roux. Butter + Flour. Melt butter, add flour, stir a plenty. Brown it. Add your coffee-fat left overs. Stir and cook. If thin, add flour/corn starch until it's as thick as you want. 

What did all of this make?

A lovely, Southern Inspired Treat

Spices from Chicago made my Burritos

So, first and foremost:
Sorry again for being super lame and forgetting to update. Between working 13 days in a row, family moving, and then getting to take a vacation to Chicago, I've been a bit flighty. Why Miss Rabbit doesn't post is beyond me. Maybe she's lazy. You guys should all write her and tell her how mean she is for not posting.

So, here's how silly I am. I fly half way across the country, and the only souvenir I bring back? Spices. We went to this God's gift to man little spice shop..Err. The Spice House actually.. And my god I wanted to spend every cent on me. And I wanted to sell an organ and buy more.

I held back. With reserve and help from my friend, I purchased Sunny Oaxaca Ancho-Coffee Rub. Now, I know it was supposed to be a rub, but know what? Nope. I ran with it.

Kobold's Fancy Freaking Pork Burrito

The hardest part? The beans. I hate soaking and cooking beans. It takes forever..

What will you need, G?

• 
  
• Pork - I did a pork loin, about 1.6lbs
• Spices: Yeah, you know what one I did. 
• About a teaspoon of olive oil
• Coffee - Strong. 
• Black beans
• Onion
• Garlic
• Tortillas
• What ever else you want in your burrito

So how do we do it?

• 
  
• I like to slice a nice grid in my pork. 

• Shove parts of those grids full of  bits of garlic. Season all over all of this.

• Oil the bottom of your crock pot and put the pork in it
• Surround with coffee. 
• Slow cook this beast. I like to wait until the spices are well cooked into the meat and then baste. Baste with coffee. SO MUCH COFFEE. 

• Beans: Soak beans. Cook beans. Directions on the package. 

• Mash the means. 

• Shred the pork.

• Make a burrito.
• I like to put my burritos on the griddle. I admit, my burrito wrapping game is WEEEAAAKKK. 
• I like corn. I've discussed before how I season and make my corn.