Our pellet stove (for heat) will burn cherry pits and shelled corn. Locally I can’t find them or they cost so much more than wood pellets it’s not worth it. From what I have read you really need to mix the corn or cherry pits with wood pellets anyway to get them burning.
For the pellet smokers I’m pretty sure you need pellets made for that purpose.
While in Iowa I went into a gas station heated with a corn pellet stove. The whole place smelled of popcorn.
Do you boil down your blend or just get to boil and immediately can
We just wash 'em, cut out the stem area and run them through the food processor to chop them up skins and all. Pack 'em in jars and process in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.
Found this recipe a while back for “Guiness Pie”. Finally got around to making it but used my own stout so I guess it’s dannyboy’s pie…haha
Really really good but the proportions were kind of off. I used stop round stew meat and only 2 1/2 lbs but had way more than would fit in a pyrez dish they recommend. The one I used is the rectangular pyrex so there was barely enough crust. Next time I’ll do the crust earlier in the day so it sits in the fridge longer and maybe make it a tiny bit wetter than I did. I’ll also cook it in the oven longer. I removed it after 1 1/2 hours and put it on the stove for about 15 minutes a medium heat to cook down the broth. I think the meat would have been more tender cooked in the oven longer. Maybe brisket or something would be better anyway. The veggies and broth were fantastic. Great tasting meat pie!
Guinness Pie
FOR THE STEW
4 tablespoons butter
2 large red onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
10 mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
3 pounds brisket (preferably second-cut) or stew meat, chopped into bite-size pieces
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 sprig rosemary
About 4 cups (2 cans) Guinness or other stout
1 cup trotter gear (recipe here) or 8 ounces freshly grated Cheddar
FOR THE PASTRY
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
Preparation
FOR THE STEW
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Step 2
In a large, ovenproof pan fitted with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes.
Step 3
Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are dark in color and the moisture released by them has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
Step 4
Season the beef pieces all over with salt and pepper. Add the beef, flour and rosemary to the pan and cook over high heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.
Step 5
Add enough Guinness to just cover the beef. Cover the pan and put it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and stir. If using trotter gear, stir it in now. Return to the oven and cook for 1 hour more. If it remains thin, set the pan over medium-low heat, remove the lid and reduce the liquid. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If using Cheddar, fold in about half.
Step 6
While the stew is cooking, prepare the pastry: sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, quickly work the butter into the dough until it is the texture of coarse meal. Add ice water, a splash at a time, until a firm dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Step 7
Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and, using a rolling pin, roll to the thickness of a computer mouse pad. Pour the stew into an 8-inch-square, 2-inch-high Pyrex dish or a deep 9-inch pie pan. If using Cheddar, scatter the remaining cheese across the top. Place the dough on top of the pie and pinch it closed around the edges using the tines of a fork, then slash the center lightly with a knife. Brush with the egg yolk, place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is puffy and golden.
Looks delicious!
Its early morning here and my mouth is watering… just wishing I could have some of that! Sneezles61
I make a rye/porter bread that would go nice with that. What style beer should we have?
I know it’s a Guinness Pie but I would go with something sweeter like an Irish Red or a Scottish Heavy.
Since everyone is sharing brisket, here is mine from last Sunday. 12 hours on the smoker while making a kolsch
Daaaaannnnnngggg! Brisket- it’s what’s for breakfast!
I did pressure cooker chicken with baked homegrown squash for supper last night. Delish but no pics.
I tried a new trick for making an omelet. When you take the eggs out of the fridge you place them in a bowl of near scalding water, I used my hottest tap water, they are supposed to be fluffier as a result of going in the pan warm rather than cool. My omelet was very fluffy but I had no side by side comparison. They eggs were easier to risk I will say that.
Brisket looks delicious @Grantmesteven, got any pics of it sliced? Smoking season is definitely in and I gotta get my butt in gear. Grocery store has been having some mean looking briskets in stock. I did a pork butt last Sunday but no pics either. It turned out fantastic but pork butts are so easy to do now that I don’t count them as a “smoke”.
I may have posted this recipe before but it’s evolved and improved. I kind of wing it with amounts but this is close. After adding collards it became sort of a “green chili”. You can use any green like kale or spinach, or none at all, but I like the earthy smoky flavor of collards. yep I’m a southern boy.
Onions, bell pepper and celery is known as “the holy trinity” of New Orleans cooking. For my chili recipes I always start out with what I now call the tex/mex holy trinity, onion, celery and poblano peppers. I love poblanos because they’re smoky-spicy but not ridiculously hot. You can add other peppers, red pepper flakes or cayenne for more heat. The trinity is a great base, especially in a well made roux. I don’t make a roux for this chili but I do for my red meat chilis. When using red meat I brown it first to get some renderings then add a little flour to make a thick dark roux before tossing in the veggies. It makes a good thick base and you can thin it as you like with tomato juice in red chilis.
This one is easy and quick but gets better when cooked longer and of course the next day it rocks. Give it a shot and don’t be afraid to adapt.
White Chili
About 1 hour
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium large onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 stalks celery, diced (1/2- 1 cup)
3 big poblano peppers, seeded and white ribs removed, finely diced (about 1 1/2 -2 cups)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 tsp more if using chicken
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 ish teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste as needed
1 pound ground white meat turkey or fine chopped/shredded chicken breast(we like chicken best)
Handful of mushrooms roughly chopped
2 (15.5-ounce) cans white beans such as cannelini, drained and rinsed
1-2 bay leaves
1-1 1/2 cup chopped collard greens
4 cups chicken broth - more as needed for desired consistency
3/4-1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (15.5-ounce) can hominy, drained and rinsed
Salt
Crumbled cotija Mexican cheese
Chopped cilantro
Lime wedges
Directions
Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, poblanos, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add greens, garlic, cumin, coriander and bay leaves, cook stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the ground turkey or shredded chicken, mushrooms and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink about 2 minutes. Add the white beans, chicken broth and oregano. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes.Add the hominy, cayenne pepper and salt to taste (depending on your poblanos you may not want cayenne) and continue cooking partially covered, 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with crumbled cotija and cilantro. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Didn’t get a nice picture of a bowl because I was starving but here’s lunch for a couple days.
Tasty!
Man, I’m down to make this!
I made matzoh ball soup yesterday. It was cold and damp out so soup seemed like a good idea and since it was the beginning of Hanukkah I thought I’d make it seasonl and try something I never made before. Besides it’s probably my wife’s favorite soup.
I couldn’t find straight matzoh meal at my local strore so I got the matzoh ball mix. Easy to make. Then I just kept the chicken broth simple with onions, carrots and celery, salt and pepper to taste and cooked the matzoh balls in the broth.
Turned out pretty good!
