Mac Attack

My son made this request for his birthday meal - "I want Great Lakes Cuisine worthy Mac & Cheese". Here you go - Mac Attack 6 thick slices bacon ½ cup maple syrup 1 tbl. barbeque seasoning (such as Penzey’s BBQ 3001) 1 lb. cavatappi pasta (corkscrew tubes) or elbow macaroni ¼ cup butter 1 [...]

Advertisement

Smoked Venison Pastrami with Black Currants and Cabbage

On a recent weekend, Venison Pastrami and Smoked Pork Belly became friends on the smoker together. The Smoked Pork Belly has been detailed here. Now we share the Venison Pastrami (hint: it's the one wrapped in bacon). The basics of preparing pastrami are fairly simple: brine a two to three inch thick slab of meat [...]

In Praise of Smørrebrød

Nordic cuisine has ascended in recent years to join the culinary pantheon of fine dining, a welcome broadening of the traditional European references for modern American experimentation. Such a re-emergence of Nordic influences generates an interesting confluence in the Midwest, particularly in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where immigrants settled a few generations ago.  They brought with [...]

Grilled Cheese Sandwich #3

The cheese that started the experiments with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - Carr Valley's Menage. If you missed them, here are Grilled Cheese #1 and Grilled Cheese #2. Enjoying the Menage before dinner one evening, the complex, grassy flavors combined with the creamy texture inspired this thought - What would this be like as a grilled [...]