The jury was out on this one until just now!  This fish is delicious, warmed up.  My preferred fish is in the warm water fish category, but this fish is a trout.  My cousin recently was telling me about his favorite trout recipe and I asked that he send it to me, which he did.

Now, you trout lovers out there just might want to try this one.

Start with trout fillets.  I had a large trout and ended up with about 2 full pounds of pure meat fillets.  I then picked out all of the lateral bones.  I hate trout bones and that is probably the reason it is not my preferred fresh water fish.

I fillet(ed) mine with the skin off, and you might like the skin, so leave it on.  The skin gives it a fuller taste if you ask me.  Rinse them bad boys and pat them dry.

Get yourself a small dish with regular flour it in, a second one with a couple of whipped up eggs and a third one with Parmesan Cheese.  Put a substantial amount of peanut oil in a frying pan and get it good and hot.

While the oil is heating, take a semi-dry fillet, salt and pepper it to taste, and roll it in the flour.  There will be a very light coating of flour on the fillet.  Now, dredge it into the egg and then over into the parmesan cheese…press the fillet into the cheese and do this to both sides.  Now into the hot oil.

Watch that you don’t overcook the fish.  You only have to turn it once and it will be ready in about 3 minutes (1 1/2 min/side).

Serve with a tarter sauce if you like that sort of stuff.  Or just with a bit of lemon juice like I like.

When I prepared them the other night and ate them for supper I was not really impressed.  Yes, they were good, but not to the degree my cousin expressed.  But, for lunch just now, I heated a left over fillet in the micronuker and it was absolutely delicious!

I might try this recipe with some of my warm water fish fillets!

Bears Butt

Oct. 2011

At this last rendezvous, Dry Dog marinaded a beef roast in Italian Dressing and Soy Sauce for a few hours and then cooked it up on the BBQ.  He shared this delight with none other than lucky me.  It was deeeelliiishiiioouuussss!!!  Thank you Mr. Dry Dog!  A little crunchy on the outside and that is just how I like my burnt fat on a steak.  Boy was that a great meal.

So, at home the next week, Sherry and I decided to try that marinade on some venison steaks….Now these steaks aren’t the big ol juicy steaks you buy at the store with T bones or Rib bones tucked in them.  These are plain old deboned, no fat venison steaks.  Not too big, but just right for a meal for older people like us.

I BBQed them babies up but I did not over cook them.  Most folks think they have to make jerky out of game meat in order to kill of the wild things that get into wild game meat.  People, let me assure you there are probably less wild things in wild game meat than the wild things in the meat you are buying in the store.

So, they went into the warming oven to wait until we got all the other fixins ready to eat.  They were very good!  I mean they were VERY GOOD!  Good enough that Dry Dog and I are going to have a meal of venison steak marinaded in Italian dressing and Soy sauce on the muzzle load hunt coming up in a couple of weeks.

It is so simple it’s almost a crime.  One cup of Italian Dressing (Zesty is good), and one cup of Soy Sauce (low sodium is good).  Put the meat and marinade in a baggie and let it sit in the fridge for 4 or more hours.  Take the meat out and put it on the BBQ, watch it sizzle, take a drink of beer, flip it over, baste the side you just cooked with some of the marinade.  Take a drink of beer, flip it over, baste that side with the marinade.  Take it off the grill and put it in a covered dish and toss it in the warming oven….OR better yet, put it on a plate and eat it.

You won’t be disappointed!  I’ll bet it would be good with Elk, Moose, Buffalo, Caribou, Mountain Goat, Duck, Goose, Pheasant, Quail, Ptarmigan, Lamb or maybe even Cougar or Beaver.

Bears Butt

Sept. 2011

This recipe is out of “The Biggest Loser Cookbook”, pg 51 and Sherry and I really LOVE this sausage.  The book says that each 2 oz.  patty contains 72 calories, 12 g protein, 1 g carbohydrates, 2 g fat (less than 1 g saturated), 37 mg cholesterol, trace fiber and 101 mg sodium.  But then, who cares about that?  This stuff tastes GREAT!

We always double or triple, sometimes quadruple the recipe and our patties are bigger than 2 oz….to me, 2 oz is 2 bites.

You will need:  1/2 lb. extra lean ground pork

1 TBL minced red onion

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (don’t leave this out even if you are not a fan of “hot”)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix this all up in a bowl and then press out the individual patties using your hands.  Wrap each patty up in wax paper and put in a freezer container and freeze.  Then when you are ready to eat pull out what you want, unwrap and fry until done.  Pretty simple huh?

These babies are really yummy and with just enough bite to let you know you survived last nights party!  Life is good!

Bears Butt

Last day of August, 2011

My good friend and fellow mountain man, Dry Dog, has graciously agreed to allow me to post his very best Pickled Egg recipe on this site!  I THANK YOU VERY MUCH MR. DRY DOG for this privilege.

Let’s begin by saying that this recipe will make 36 to 48 of the best pickled eggs anyone could ever want.  Pickled eggs go with almost everything including, but not limited to, beer and good times!

Boil up your eggs and get the shells off of them.  Do NOT use any of the boiled eggs that have breaks in the white portions.  Breaks like that will allow the fluids into the yolk area and makes an ugly looking mess out of the bottle of eggs.  They won’t effect the goodness of the final product, it just looks bad.

Buy a bottle of  Hot Yellow Peppers (Dry Dog likes El Pato or Mezzata brands)

Buy a bottle of sliced jalapeno peppers

Buy some yellow onions, Little Smokies, pearl onions, green peppers (Dry Dog calls these things Bells and Whistles), whatever you like when it is pickled.

If you are using yellow onions, slice them up and have them ready.

In a glass container with a large mouth opening, pour all of the liquid from the hot yellow peppers into the jar.

Now you are going to start to “layer” the ingredients.  Add enough eggs to cover the bottom of the jar.  Then add “some” of the other ingredients.  You know, some Little smokies, onion slices, jalapenos, yellow peppers and then another layer of eggs.  Keep doing this until you run out of room for any more in the jar.  Key thing to note right now…leave a little space between the last egg and the lid.  You will see why later.  Pour enough of the jalapeno juice into the bottle, but be sure and leave enough liquid in the original bottle to keep what jalapeno slices there are covered.

Now fill the jar up with straight white vinegar!  Screw the lid down tight on the bottle.  Carefully turn the jar upside down, hold it, now turn it right side up, hold it, now turn it upside down again, hold it, right side up, hold it, upside down, hold it.  Can you see that you are getting the Hot Yellow Pepper juice mixed up with the vinegar by doing this?

Now the hard part.  Put the jar in an out of the way place, but not in any fridge or cold environment.  Warm is just fine.  This recipe does not call for the jar to ever be put in a cold place.  Now you have to wait at least a week before you can enjoy the contents.  Longer is better, but longer also makes the hot “heat” from the yellow peppers and jalapenos permeate the eggs and bells and whistles.  If you wait say two months, the ingredients will be very hot to the taste.

Self imposed limit:  two eggs in any one day.  A very hard thing to limit yourself to.

Enjoy!  These are the VERY BEST PICKLED EGGS YOU WILL EVER TASTE!

Bears Butt

Aug. 2011

Discovered this one last night.  A big package of chicken wings.  1 cup of ketchup, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1/2 teaspoon Onion powder and 4 tablespoons honey.  If you like “spicy”, you can add either a dash of tobasco or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper.

Mix the ingredients up in a zip lock type plastic bag and then drop in the chicken.  Mix it all around and let it sit for a couple of hours.  I doubt longer would be a problem, but you want it to marinade for a bit.

Then BBQ them bad boys up.  Turn them often and of course, don’t forget to have a few cold brews while you are cooking.  It is always a good thing when the cook is happy.

Enjoy!

Bears Butt

Aug. 2011

This is a very fun way to get the entire family involved in making their breakfast while camping or whenever.

Begin with a large pan of water….get it boiling.

While that is heating up, break two eggs into a ziplock type one quart bag.  Zip it closed and mush it around until the egg is all smished.

Dice up onions, green peppers, squash, fresh spinach, pre-cooked meat (ham, sausage, bacon bits, chorizo etc.), toss in some shredded cheese.  If it sounds good you can probably add it to the mix.  I suggest NOT adding kipper snacks.

When the water is boiling, make sure your bag of goodies is sealed well and then drop it into the water.  Time it for about 15 minutes of boiling time.  Take it out, open the bag, dump it onto a paper plate and season to taste.  MMMMMMM.

For multiple people who make up their own mix, use a permanent marker to write their own names on their bag of goodies.

Fun, easy and delicious!

Bears Butt

I looked up uses for dill pickle juice and found that some people will cut up raw cucumbers and put in the jar of pickle juice and have another jar of pickles in a few days!  Imagine that?

Others drink the juice straight from the jar!  Others will chill the juice first before drinking it.  Some prefer it be room temperature.

Still others use it as a chaser for shots of tequila and others again will mix vodka with the pickle juice and that is their favorite drink of the evening.

Some use it as a dressing for fresh salads.  Some put a bit of juice in their mix for deviled eggs, eggs salad sandwiches.

Some will julienne carrots and put in the juice…in a few days they have pickled carrots.

There are others who use it as a marinade for chicken or other meat that is going to be bar-b-qued.

What else do you use pickle juice for?

On the farm, we have found that pickles and/or the juice is good to aid the workers in gaining their strength back after strenuous exercise.  Is it the vinegar or the pickles?  I think vinegar.

I heard the BYU football coach a long time ago, had his players drink pickle juice instead of Gator Aid.  Gator Aid, as I understand it, was formulated by the Florida Gator’s chemistry department as a quick energy generator drink for their teams and that is how it got its name!  Gator Aid!

As a bartender one would have to come up with a name for a vodka and pickle juice drink…maybe “Shmirkle” (Shmirnoff and pickle juice).  I think pickle juice mixed 50/50 with normal bloody mary mix would make a wonderful bloody mary!!!!

Enjoy!

Picklemania!  It’s what’s for drinking!

Bears Butt

July 2011

OK folks, here is the real deal!  Grilled Venison with Creamed Cheese and wrapped in Bacon!  These are yummy beyond yummy!  The pictures are not the best, but it’s all I have to show you.

Begin with venison steaks.  The size of the steak does not matter, what matters is how you handle them.

Begin by covering the steak with plastic wrap and pounding them flat with a meat mallet.  Don’t worry about the plastic wrap getting into the meat, it won’t.  Flatten the steak out real good on one side, then flip it over, cover with plastic and flatten it some more.

Once flattened, place them in a plastic bag and add 1/2 cup of Zesty Italian dressing, white wine or whatever your favorite marinade is.  Marinade for a minimum of a half hour.  I left mine in for two hours.

Next, season it the way you like.  I only used salt and pepper, but I can see where garlic powder, maybe some Tabasco, onion powder etc. would spice it up some.

Then we spread the creamed cheese liberally across the steak.  Much like peanut butter on a piece of bread.

Now we are going to roll the steak up, keeping the creamed cheese nicely wrapped up inside the roll.  Then take a slice of bacon and wrap the whole steak up tightly.  With some of my steaks I wrapped the bacon around the steak in one direction and then used another piece of bacon and wrapped it the other direction to keep the creamed cheese from escaping out the end of the roll.  Use toothpicks to pin the bacon solidly to the steak by piercing downward into the steak, then moving the toothpick in such a manner as to come out through the bacon and then down again into the steak and again upward and out through the bacon.  This keeps everything in a very nice tight package for grilling.

Now for the grill!  Place on a medium hot grill and”baby sit” the entire cooking process.  For beer drinkers this is your time to shine.  It takes several beers before these steaks will be done.  Your objective is to not only cook the steak, but to get the bacon somewhat crispy.  You have to keep rolling them around on the grill until they are done to your liking.  I made sure I moved the steaks around until all the bacon had had a couple of times touching the hot grill surface.  Watch out for flames, the bacon grease will flare up and you need to move the steaks out of the flames.  This is the baby sitting part.In this picture you can see some of the creamed cheese trying to escape, and it did, but there was plenty left inside the roll to make it taste very yummy indeed.

Once done, I placed them all on a plate and kept them warm until it was time to serve them up.Because Sherry insisted the “served” picture looked professional, we adorned the steaks with pickled cherries.  You can use whatever you want or NOT!  At any rate this is how it turned out served with baked potato, sour cream, chives and mixed veggies. 

It was very good and I must say to my pallet I have to give it a 5 rating!  You don’t need steak sauce, catsup or anything on these babies.  Just dive in….but don’t forget to remove the toothpicks!

Enjoy!

Bears Butt

July 2011

I am going to make up a new recipe today and try it for supper.  NO!  It is not kipper/vienna sausage enchiladas….I told you never to try that one.

I was looking on line this morning for something new to do with venison and with all of the suggested ways to cook it, I decided I would make up my own.  Here is what I am going to attempt.  This is a combination of a few I read about and have changed things up a bit.

First off I have thawed a package of venison steaks.  Since there are just the two of us eating, the packages are some I cut and wrapped myself and may have just enough for the two of us and maybe a leftover chunk or two.

Once thawed, I will place the venison pieces in a plastic bag and then pour in about 1/2 cup of Sauterne white wine.  This will marinade until about 6 tonight.  At least 6 hours in the fridge.

When I am ready to start cooking, I plan on taking the steaks out of the marinade and placing them on a plate.  I will then put a smallish dab of cream cheese on one end of the steak and roll it up.  Once rolled I will roll a strip of bacon around that steak/cheese combo and stick it with a skewer to hold it together.  I might find myself using some toothpicks as well, not sure at this point because I have never done this.

The plan is to grill it outside until the bacon is crispy.  It all sounds yummy don’t you think?  I will let you know the outcome.

Served with salad and garlic toast.  Beer will be my choice of beverage and perhaps wine for my wife, but I’ll leave that up to her.  She may choose milk.

Bears Butt

————————————-

Well, the jury is still out on the grilled venison….Sherry has decided we need to try it again tonight.  Last nights meal was very good, but she thinks it needs a bit of tweaking to get it from a 3 star to a 5 star rating.  Last night I had rolled up the venison steaks with a “dab” of creamed cheese and then the bacon.  It was very tasty, but the cream cheese was left out of most of the bites.  But when you did have cream cheese in a bite it was VERY GOOD.

Tonight we are going to “pound” the steaks out flatter and wider.  Then spread cream cheese over the steaks like peanut butter before rolling them up and wrapping the bacon.  It sounds pretty good and will give the steak slices a “pinwheel” look.  Every bite should contain yummy cream cheese.  She also said I need to take better pictures and make the whole meal look more presentable for this blog, instead of the ones I took last night.  Does anyone want to see the pictures I took last night? 

It would be a good comparison and maybe even Rocko could use it on the Biggest Loser show.  I’d bet the no fat venison would only have a few calories and by adding the creamed cheese and bacon would keep the meal under 200 calories.  Toss in some cranberry sauce and green salad to top off the meal and it would be way under 400 calories and be a very good meal.  In my humble opinion of course.

Expect the unexpected tomorrow!

Bears Butt

July 2011