Fried Catfish-n-Hushpuppy Time

Any time is a good time for fried catfish and hushpuppies but I was able to get away for a few hours and catch a batch of fresh fish. I needed the outing and catching fish was a bonus.

After a hectic week including two trips to okla city, pacing in circles and driving my friends crazy... I needed the outting. :)

 

I didn't catch any frankenfish but caught a few keepers...


                  

I soaked the fish in saltwater over night then topped with fresh squeezed lemon juice...

went the easy route this time. spiced up some Zatarains with cayenne...

                          used my handy dandy Bass Pro thingy.... I usually just use a baggie but this thing really works well and uses less fry coating..

fried til golden...

made my batch of hushpuppies...

a cup of cornmeal one cup of flour, a heaping tsp of baking powder, a bit of salt....

two eggs and enough milk to make a thick battter.

Then added jalapenos, minced onions and corn.

dropped by spoonfulls into the hot oil and fried til brown...

They were pretty tasty!

Pulled Pork Pie.......again...... cause I like it ! :)

Used some of my pulled pork stash from the last cook ...

Lined a cast iron skillet with tatoes....

Sprinkled with Steph's SM Season All....

added the pulled pork and another sprinkle of Season All....

then the minced scallions and a drizzle of Billy Sim's Boot Kickin' Q sauce....

just a small sprinkle of cheese......

the bacon ..... and another sprinkle of SM Season All....

into the Hasty Bake on the "bake" setting.... also added a touch of hickory for flavor. 

Cooked til the bacon was a bit crisp....

I added more Boot Kickin' Q sauce to dip it in and a cold Shock Top to wash it all down. :)

One of my favorite uses of pulled pork. :)

Fried Spam-n-Scrambled Eggs ala Chris :)

Thanks again Chris! I've not tried fried spam and eggs before. It was good stuff! :)
Thanks to Mark too for the straight-out-of-the-can spam idea... next time I will add a squirt of mustard. :)


I fried the cubed spam in a bit of butter, removed from the skillet. Added scallions and minced garlic, then the eggs. Then put the fried spam back in the skillet. It was a tasty lunch!

Thanks again Chris! :)

Smoked Spam

I still make this stuff, just haven't taken pics of the cooks. The block of Spam is usually a last minute "throw on" while something else is cooking on the smoker.

I take one can of Spam...

Score but not cut all the way through..

onto the smoker until it "bloooms"

mix 1/4 cup of brown sugar with as much cayenne pepper as you like... add some whiskey to a spray bottle.

when the Spam "blooms" I sprinkle with the brown sugar/cayenne mixture and spritz with whiskey to form a nice glaze. Then let the glaze cook for another 10 to 15 minutes..

keep a knife close by for a self serve finger food snack... :)

I never did care for Spam but smoked this way it's pretty tasty. :)

Nothing to write home to mom about.......

but it was ok. :)  I ran across some baby scallops at the store the other day and grilled them for a quick meal.

I drizzled them with olive oil, and seasoned with coarse salt and cracked black pepper. Kept it simple. 

added a few scallions and little tomatoes...

Topped some salad greens and drizzled with olive oil and a splash of rice wine vinegar. 

The scallops were actually pretty tasty. I enjoyed the flavor the quick grill added. 

Might have to pick more of these up to keep on hand. :)

Beer Battered Bacon Wrapped Bickles

I love deep fried pickles and usually just use sliced or hamburger sliced dill pickles for a quick snack.

Someone had mentioned wrapping pickles in bacon and smoking.... it sounded interesting...but I went with the deep fried route. I like em crisp. :) 

I made my beer batter...

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

enough beer to make pancake like batter (about 3/4 of a 12 oz bottle)

or more if you like a light batter

I wrapped the dill pickle spears in bacon, secured with a skewer, rolled in flour then in the batter.

Fried til golden...

drained on paper towels...

I really liked these. :)  They were nice and crisp. The bacon flavor did not come out as strong as I thought it might because the dill pickles are so powerful... but they were mighty tasty. :)

The only thing I will do different next time is secure the bacon with toothpicks instead of the skewers...then I can lay the pickles in a skillet to fry and not use so much oil! :)