Smithy

Some days ago @ElsieD and I were discussing the makeup of various stuffed jalapenos, and I noted that a given name doesn't seem to have much meaning as to the composition. I give you Exhibit A, "Armadillo Eggs", as interpreted by the Mesquite Pit Bar and Grill in Mineral Wells, TX and by Miiller's Smokehouse in Llano, TX. On the left: Mesquite's version. Jalapenos stuffed with tender, juicy, delicious beef brisket. (There may have been a touch of cheese, but I don't remember it.) On the right: Miiller's version: a pork meatball wrapped around a small amount of pepper jack cheese, the entirety wrapped in bacon. Both were good, but I think Mesquite's version is far superior. This is a good time to bring up our dinner from the Mesquite Bar and Grill in Mineral Wells. We've stayed in the Mineral Wells Walmart parking lot overnight before. It turns out to be easy to disconnect the trailer, go fuel the pickup, order dinner and go pick it up at the Mesquite. Someday maybe we'll be up for eating inside, but we aren't there yet. They seemed to be doing good business. We ordered Armadillo Eggs and fried green tomatoes for me, and barbecued pork ribs for him. I ordered extra barbecue sauce for him, because he particularly likes their sauce and wanted some to have for future dinners. They were generous with the pickles, but only because I asked. I think it's a cost-saving measure, so maybe their business hasn't been as good as I'd thought. Still, they're surviving. His ribs were delightful: toothsome, tender, pulled easily off the bone, good flavor. My armadillo eggs were just as delightful. I've described them above. I think they set the gold standard for brisket-stuffed jalapenos. The fried green tomatoes were another story. I think I remember being disappointed in them last year. The tomato slices are so thin that the crunchy crust overwhelms them. I didn't get any of the juicy tart flavor of the tomatoes themselves. Maybe next time I'll remember, and not order them. I also went to Walmart to pick up a couple things. Score! They had Duke's mayonnaise! I stocked up.

Those of you who've been following this blog know that we spend a lot of time boondocking. At those times we run the generator an hour or so in the morning, and again in the evening, but not often otherwise. As a result electrical appliances are used sparingly. It's a real luxury to be plugged into power, as we were in Osceola and Llano. In Llano I pulled out the stops on the Instant Pot, testing recipes and trying new techniques. Hummus is dead easy. My word, how the pressure cooker speeds up the process! Frittatas, at least twice. I messed around with the proportions, and we decided that piling shredded cheese atop the frittata at the end of cooking was a Good Thing. It really wasn't quite the lurid orange that photos depict! That looks like Atomic Velveeta. it was really just sharp cheddar. I'm sure there was something else, but at the moment I can't think what it was. I showed you the applesauce before. I didn't show you the source apples, which came from a generous neighbor at home. I used half the stash to make a quart of applesauce. Some of the rest will be going into a pie in the next few days. Incidentally, all these recipes came from @JAZ's latest book, 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Cookbook: Simple Recipes to Get Meals on the Table Faster. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) I had access to a review copy. I'm looking forward to my hard copy, and planning to get another copy for my husband's daughter. Maybe I can get her over her fear of the thing.

I-10, going through El Paso. At least the traffic had slowed down from 80, but the lanes are quite narrow. Several years ago they decided to sacrifice some width in the name of making another lane. I could have reached out and touched that blue tractor-trailer for about half a mile. When we were clear of the traffic but couldn't find a good place to stop and picnic, we worked on celery sticks, radishes and hummus. I'll tell more about the hummus in another post. I've been putting the Instant Pot through a good workout this trip.

Crazy, isn't it? And I-10 in that area has so many rubber skid marks and shards of broken tire that we half-think it could be ground up and paved for a significant portion of road. Way too much squeezing into tight spaces and then hitting the brakes, we suspect.

I doubt it was off to the point of being unsafe, but the odor from the mixture - water and that powdered milk - was such that I wasn't the least bit tempted to taste it. I don't remember an off odor from the powder alone, but the mixing action in the water released it with a vengeance. I have no better word than "stale" or "old" to describe it.

"Oh, no!" he just exclaimed, "they're slowing us down to 75!" We're back on an interstate freeway, and this particular stretch has had a speed limit of 80 mph. We generally stick to 60 mph on the freeways and 55 mph on other roads when pulling the Princessmobile, but at those speeds we amount to a rolling speed bump for the rest of the traffic. Yep, we're traveling again. Sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. There's salami in this one but it's difficult to see. I still have stories to tell about Llano, and Mineral Wells, and even Osceola, Wisconsin, but right now I'm going to celebrate our last evening and afternoon at the reservoir. I've been wanting to contribute to the Potato Salad Cook-off for quite some time, but not managed it until a couple of days ago. I posted about it here. The upshot of this particular potato salad recipe (Southern Style Potato Salad recipe is that it wasn't too sweet for me, and he could add Miracle Whip to suit himself. Success! (This is the same photo collage I posted in the other topic, sorry.) One minor disruption was that, with this recipe, I emptied my jar of Piknik Brand mayonnaise, brought from home. Piknik and Duke's are my favorites, but I remembered this jar, bought last spring and left in the Princessmobile over the summer. Hmm, not bad. I didn't do a side-by-side taste test with the Piknik, but when I get close to empty I'll try comparing it to Duke's. Another cooking experiment I tried was to make a strata using some of the good ol' plain ol' white bread collected from Cooper's in Llano and another sausage purchased at Miiller's in Llano. I posted about it, and asked questions, here but didn't go into detail about the ingredients. Unlike the jalapeno cheddar cheese sausage from a couple of nights ago, this had only a mild spiciness and was delicious. Go figure! We have one more sausage of this, and will probably buy more when we have an opportunity. I had brought duck eggs from home, and had bought milk some time ago with which to make the strata. The milk had curdled. No matter, I thought; that's why I have nonfat powdered milk in the cupboard! I don't remember when I bought it, but the can was unopened. It would have to be good still. Right? Wrong. Who knew this stuff could go off? I'm happy to report that I discovered the - stale? - smell during the milk-mixing stage. No strata was harmed in the discovery. I sacrificed almost the last of my half-and-half, and counted on getting more the next day. The resulting dinner was a hit, although I learned that my darling is of the "eggs are a breakfast food" camp. Finally, while we were running the gen set in the evening, I made applesauce for the first time. I used the Instant Pot. I may never make it any other way. When dinner was over and my darling had gone to bed, I chatted with my sister on the telephone and admired Stage 1 of the kitchen wreckage. By the time we'd finished visiting, it was dry. I put it away, washed Stage 2 (an equal quantity) and went to bed. My darling could put it away in the morning.

Thanks, everyone. I've had Tajin and tried it on a few things, but never thought to try it on fruit. Those little packets will come in handy! And maybe, when we're stationary long enough, I'll see about Rancho Gordo's version.

Despite a fair amount of time trying to get straight in my head the differences between a strata, a frittata and a panade, I'm still fuzzy on the question. Maybe someone here can give me a straight answer? The panade generally uses broth for cooking liquid instead of eggs and milk. The frittata and strata both use eggs and cream. The strata and the panade both use stale bread. After that, all bets are off as far as inclusions. Have I got that right? Let's get some definitive answers, please, if there is such a thing. Meanwhile, I want to celebrate my latest strata, if that's what it is. Concoction. Whatever. I had stale white bread, hoarded for the purpose. Something needed to be done with a head of broccoli, so I cut it into bite-sized chunks and microwaved them enough to soften. A large clove of garlic, diced, went into the layers. I don't remember whether I also sweated onion to go into it, but a spicy pepperjack sausage, cut into small chunks, rounded out the mix. My biggest dither was the question of how much egg and how much dairy should go with it. I settled on a ratio of 2:1 eggs:cream. (I'd have used milk, but didn't have any.) The shredded cheese may have been about the same volume as the cream. Some of the cheese was mixed into the bread/solids mix, then the egg/dairy combination was poured over it, enough to almost submerge the chunks. The last of the cheese went on top. Into the oven it went, 375F until bubbling and browned on the surface, with the interior set. Success! We're both pleased - which is good, because there's a lot left over. But I still want to know: did I get the proportions about right? And would this be called a strata?

My mate is a firm believer in store-bought potato salad, because...well, convenience, I think. I've noted before that I'm not much of a fan. It's always too sweet, usually too gloppy. Finally, I'm getting around to trying several recipes that have been cluttering up my browser since this topic began. Southern Style Potato Salad includes boiled eggs, diced celery, diced onion, dill pickle, and no sweeteners. None. Zero, zilch. The dressing includes mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, celery salt and smoked paprika. I added chopped parsley. I ended up doubling the amount of dressing because it wasn't quite gloppy enough. It got the household seal of approval, with a touch of Miracle Whip added to his serving. He says he's happy to eat this potato salad if I'm willing to make it and he can add the MW!

If you're expected a linear timeline in this blog, get ready for whiplash. I'm going back to Llano. I mentioned that we thought we'd gotten away without forgetting much. Since then it's come clear that we forgot more than we'd realized, but in Llano I still thought it was only one or two things. A favorite cutting board I found last spring. A lemon juicer from the same shopping expedition. Most of those things I started missing once we opened out can be foregone. Not so for the dish draining pads that were laundered and stowed in the house...and are still there. That's all right, though; it gave me an excuse to go to Charlie's. Charlie's is a terrific place in the middle of downtown, within easy walking distance of our parking / camping site. They have furniture (we bought a mattress there one year) and cooking gear and gifts. I usually end up buying things I didn't know I needed. This time, I had a purpose. I'll get to that in a moment. Here, take a look around first! The window displays have some lovely furniture. I've given up taking umbrage at Christmas decorations out before Thanksgiving. The first sight through the main door is barware and tableware. I specifically needed those drain pads, so gravitated to the kitchen section. I was also looking for silicone cups to serve as "egg bite" cups for my 3-quart Instant Pot. I had to ask for those and the drain pads, but that gave me a good chance to admire the other wares. I particularly loved these tea towels, even though I didn't buy any. My haul was fairly modest, but we had a lot of fun visiting while they helped me find what I needed. During a different visit to town - that took advance planning - I was also able to participate in the Friends of the Llano Library fundraiser. It's this year's crop, just come out. I am SET for Thanksgiving! And Christmas!

I just finished making his breakfast fruit salad - the 2nd I've made since we hit the road. I have mixed feelings about the latest convenience, which we discovered in Iowa. It's getting ridiculously easy to find fruit already cut and/or peeled, then sold in a plastic clamshell. He has always liked the convenience and not particularly cared about the waste and the possibility of contamination from someone else's hands. I wash/rinse wherever possible to deal with the second issue. For the past two batches I've closed my eyes to the first. Buy the fruit, rinse if feasible, then dump it in. Very little cutting is involved. We've even stooped to packaged, peeled mandarin oranges. He thinks they taste just fine(!) and the salad is for him, not me. I didn't notice until the morning an interesting addition to one of the packages. I've never thought about putting lime, much less Tajin seasoning, on pineapple! What's that about?

Steel Reserve. One of his favorites, not mine. I'm looking forward to picking up (and showing you) some of mine when we get to Arizona.

Breakfast this morning. Nothing special, still good. It's cool, windy and overcast today and predicted to be so all day. We'll be moving tomorrow and doing some preliminary packing later today, but right now I have time to talk about yesterday's adventures and revelations. Yesterday was sunny and relatively warm. We took a drive to see the mighty Pecos River where it joins the Rio Grande, upstream of this reservoir. There's a very high bridge across the Pecos that I photographed from below and above, to give you an idea of just how long and high it is. The two bottom photos of this collage are the view looking upstream at the bridge, and downstream from the same vantage point. What I didn't get was a picture of the helpful signs posted on the highway at both ends of the bridge: "NO DIVING FROM BRIDGE" Someone at the highway department must have quite a sense of humor. The shocking part was seeing just how low the water is. We knew of the widespread drought conditions, but seeing the Pecos and the Rio Grande really brought it home. Here's the confluence. This particular picnic area has a nice little walking path with information posted about the plant community and the rivers in question. Ten years ago we both walked it; the plants and path (and we) were all in good condition, the rivers were quite high, and we learned a lot. Now those two rivers are nearly dry, the path is largely neglected and overgrown, and the plants are struggling to survive. Still, the information was good for that part we walked. (I found a Texas persimmon tree - had forgotten that variety. We may have some near camp.) After our walk we drove back toward town to refuel and get more of his favorite beer. On the counter there was a curious set of cute, lathed cups. It seems rather a waste of copper AND pennies, and I don't understand the point, but somebody had a good time making these little crosses. Free for the taking...not even a penny each. Back at camp, it was his turn to cook. We wanted another crack at the Jalapeno and Cheddar sausage from Miiller's and had one left. He gave it almost the simplest possible treatment. After I took this picture he added onion, long enough to soften it. Potato salads rounded out the meal. He prefers Reser's potato salad when he can find it, and particularly likes their Southern Style. We haven't found it since we left home. He settled for a Deviled Egg potato salad from Walmart. I had the last of the potato salad I'd bought at Cooper's in Llano. Until recently there have been few potato salads that I've liked. They're usually sweet, often gloppy. The glop isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, but any sweetness is. I know that puts me in the oddball camp, but there it is. Cooper's includes dill pickles and a bit of something red - roasted pepper? Pimento? The salad isn't hot, nor is it sweet. I have a couple of recipes I want to try that look good. When I get around to making them - something I've intended for well over a month - I'll post them in the Potato Salad Cook-off topic begun by our beloved and sorely-missed David Ross. Anyway, here was last night's dinner: We both thought the jalapeno in the sausage was much too hot, and were glad to be finished with this package. We won't buy it again. We have a similar package, with pepper jack rather than cheddar cheese. Assuming those jalapenos are just as hot, I'll have to do something to temper them.

This HAS been a fun writeup! Like many others, I'm impressed with your physical stamina - both for cycling and eating. I didn't know about Doner Kebab, much less its kinship to shawarma, gyros, and the versions Heidi showed in Southern California. Thank you for that!

I didn't know HEB extended south if the border! Leon sounds like dangerous fun. This HEB is in Del Rio.

We didn't get around to trying the rice patties on Superburger night, but I cooked them last night with the brisket poppers from Miiller's. I used large quantities of cumin and oregano, and some oil-packed oven-roasted tomatoes from this summer (hooray, something I remembered to pack!) chopped up and added in. I coated them in Italian-seasoned bread crumbs and fried them in pecan oil, along with the brisket poppers. There's a story to the pecan oil. I bought it several years ago at a hardware store in Deming, NM. It was pretty expensive but seemed nice, supposedly has a high smoke point. I used it for a while, then forgot about it in the garage refrigerator at home. There it sat, silently reproaching me when I noticed it. I kept thinking it must have gone rancid, but couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Finally this fall I decided to try it and either use or toss it. It was still good! I packed it, vowing that until it's been used up I'm not buying more oil. We also have peanut oil and olive oil on board. Unlike the olive oil, the pecan oil stays liquid in the refrigerator. The verdict on dinner was that the brisket poppers were good and the rice patties were good - surprisingly good, in his opinion. He'd been skeptical of the idea in the first place. The flavors of the two items didn't really compliment each other, unfortunately. The poppers had the good semisweet sourness of unripe jalapenos, and the creaminess of cream cheese, and -- alas -- not much brisket although the bacon made up for it. The rice patties were simply savory. I added Danish Smoked Salt to mine and was satisfied. He kept looking for something sweet and hot. Sriracha was too hot and not sweet enough. That led to one of our incessant discussions about how to boost the flavor of sriracha while taming the heat. (We just talk about it. We haven't tried anything yet.) When we were finished, he said, "You know, I think White Wine Worcestershire sauce would be just the thing." I slapped my forehead. "Heidi suggested Worcestorshire too!" I had forgotten to add it. There's still some of the mixture left, so I'll have another chance to try it.

One good thing about my experimental purchases is that my husband and I have different tastes, and he is considerably less picky than I. For instance, he'll eat mayonnaise although he prefers Miracle Whip. If I have any say in the matter, I'll go without the spread if MW is the only choice. If I don't like the Kewpie, he probably will! But I love your point about its paying for itself with the satisfaction of trying it and throwing it away! We're camped at the Amistad Reservoir, in southern Texas, about 25 miles from Del Rio.

We went to town yesterday, mostly for propane but also to stock up on fresh produce and pick up some of the things I'd realized we forgot to pack: chicken broth and parchment paper, for example. Propane was close to a Walmart - not my favorite, but considerably less dangerous to our wallets than H-E-B. We went to H-E-B anyway. This place is immense. It has an extensive (fill in the blank here) section and selection. Just inside the door there was a sales stand for boxed pecan pies. A masked young woman was holding a box, and I stopped to look. "Would you like to buy one? They're delicious!" she said. They did look good. They looked delicious and I said so, but I have plans for pecan pies following a recipe in Acadiana Table, so I passed. I asked whether I could take her picture: the pies and the saleswoman were so charming! She seemed flattered, but said no, and pointed out that photographs in the store weren't allowed. My photographs from the place are fewer than I'd like, because of that admonition, but I took 'em anyway. Surreptitiously. We didn't buy any meat, but that didn't keep us from dallying and admiring the selection and prices. Ditto for their seafood counter. H-E-B has a lot of their own brands. In past years I've bought selections of olive oil, different varietals, there. I'm overstocked on oils, so I didn't visit that section. I bought coffee, but none of this - I'm not a fan of flavored coffees, as a rule. Still, it was fun to see. We bought wine and beer, and some of the aforementioned missing items, and nonfood items. I wish I could show you their selection of pots and pans! But I didn't take any photos in that section. We still had to go to Walmart for a few things, but H-E-B got most of our business. Directly we got home, I realized we have no hydrogen peroxide in our medicine supplies. It went onto a new list.

@AlaMoi, it sounds as though you've solved the problem of taste, but I'll add another suggestion. If the standard canned black olives work, you might consider green ripe olives of the sort canned by Lindsay Naturals (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). I think they have a much nicer flavor than the standard black olives: buttery, decidedly olivey but mild. I haven't tried a taste comparison between these and castelvetranos, but these might be easier to find.

I'm sure your trip is over now, but one of the wonderful things about blogs like this is that latecomers (like me) can still ask questions. That last night's meal looked fabulous. I must try making schnitzel again. Was your MIL sorry she misssed out, after hearing about the excellent meal? You noted that your FIL had excellent red cabbage. How was it prepared? What was special about it? Thanks for bringing us along. I loved the scenery and museum photos as well as the food photos!

"Plop it on a plate"...ha! I need to show you the definition of "plop"! LOL Yours looks grand. My very best plops don't come close.

That may be what happens with me, but I'm getting more nonchalant about buying something and pitching it if I don't like it and can't foist it off on someone else. Why, I even bought a small bottle of Kewpie mayonnaise last week! Haven't opened it yet.

I'm with you on the turkey! In this case, gator toes are jalapenos stuffed with cheese and sausage, then wrapped with bacon to be baked or fried or grilled. I don't think there's a firm rule or recipe for these various stuffed jalapenos. The people assembling them make up a combination of fillings and wrappings, then assign a fanciful name. The Armadillo Eggs I got at a previous stop were very different than those we got from Miiler's.

Since the "armadillo eggs" from last night and the sausage used in my darling's hash the previous night came from Miiller's Smokehouse*, it's time for one of several trips back to Llano to show some of the culinary scene. Llano bills itself, per state legislative decree, as the Deer Capital of Texas. We love it for its barbecue and interesting one-off retail stores, and its river, and its friendly people, and its fine RV park. One of the attractions is Miiller's Smokehouse. They support and promote the local hunting culture, and barbecue. Boy howdy, they do. There's pretty much everything you need to do your own barbecuing. I didn't take photos of the wood chips and fuels, but there are sauces for the meat, and dips and snacks... ...and apparent local specialty drinks. I didn't photograph their wine selections, but it's pretty impressive as well. There are fresh (more or less) fruits and vegetables, not shown here, and a lot of prepared meals, ready to bake or grill or even boil as appropriate. The "David's Creations" section was interesting, but one section - you can't read it here because of photo quality - gave me pause: Where most of the stuffed and wrapped pork loins ran along the lines of $12 or $13, those in one section were labeled $102 or so! I asked. Yes, it was a misprint on the labels. Yes, they were mortified at the mistake. Yes, they were quite grateful that I'd pointed it out! They have a cold chest full of smoked ham and smoked turkey. Beautiful stuff. No room in the Princessmobile, and we still have half a ham from home, but we can drool. Look at the beautiful bronze color of that turkey! Not all their meat is smoked. If we had room, I'd love to have gotten a brisket or pork butt from them. Again, not nearly enough room. Their deli counter is a wonder to behold. They have beautiful cuts of fresh meat, chicken, and (I think) fish although I could be misremembering that. They also have a nice selection of jalapenos and mushrooms, stuffed with various items and ready to grill or bake. I don't seem to have snapped a pic of their entire sausage selection, but they had a very nice selection of sausages, sealed and stored in a refrigerator case. They also had summer sausage hanging out in the main room. They had samples. We were hooked. The was our haul from that visit: *Funny, I only just realized there are two i's in the way they spell their name. I'll probably misspell it from time to time.

The idea of the "eggs" resting in the saucy rice was what I had in mind, but it didn't come out that way (she says, stating the obvious). Tonight's dinner will be Superburgers, fried, and my thought on the rice patties was to fry them in the fat from those burgers. The cumin and oregano in the patties, with tomatoes on the side, might be just the ticket. Thanks for that idea!