Norm Matthews

There is a restaurant in Salina Kansas that is around 80 (+) years old that makes sliders exclusively. They put some diced onions on the grill, toss a small meatball on top, smash it quite flat, poke holes in it with the back end of the spatula and cook it. They sell them by the bagful. About 10 years ago a new owner bought the place and replaced the grill. He had so many complaints that they had to go to the dump, find the old grill and re-install it.

I recall once on a TV show where a famous British chef who likes to yell and cuss went around and "saved" failing restaurants, gave one place a hamburger sandwich recipe that sounded more like a meatloaf sandwich.

Kansas City has something called 'burnt ends'. They were originally just trimmings from briskets but the concept of burnt ends has changed from it's origination and now is offered by several restaurants in pork too. I believe the pork spare ribs trimmings are used. I believe they are smoked along with the ribs, then cubed, seasoned again and smoked a little longer.

Kim Shook As near as I can describe the salad dressing, it was approximately three parts Ranch dressing, one part sour cream and powdered taco seasoning to taste.

A full slab of spareribs has a lot of excess that needs trimming before smoking. The trimmings amount to quite a lot of meat and need to be used for something. It also adds quite a nice flavor to anything to which it's added. Pork butt is what I was thinking about when I said you needed to add some fattier meat. Here is an illustration of how much meat trimmings are left after getting a slab ready for smoking.

I saw a Mexican pork roast recipe here on another thread this morning and decided to make it for dinner tonight. No one is home from work yet but here is the Puerco Pibil we will have along with some Spanish rice.

It makes some tasty sausage. You'll need to add some fattier meat with it though.

My DIL does not like meat with bones so I smoke large slab of meat trimmed off the ribs along beside the ribs then cut it into 1-inch squares, serve along with the ribs. I also like to shred some of it and add it to my BBQ beans.

Dinner tonight was salmon over rice, salad, asparagus and snap peas.

As Cassie was walking out the door for work this morning, she said she got off at 8pm. I wondered whether that was a hint that she'd like something ready to eat when she got home so I started thinking about dinner. First I cut up an onion into rings and put them in a jar with pickled pepperoncini juice and added some rice vinegar and sugar and let them pickle all day. I decided to try a hamburger mix with 1 lb hamburger, 1bratwurst, bread crumbs and seasoned salt. I also got some triple cream brie, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, dill pickles and some pasta salad. We had grilled hamburgers and the pasta salad along with some baby watermelon. BTW, I did not squeeze the hamburgers on the grill .

I have heard professional cooks say don't press a hamburger while cooking in the skillet, you'll squeeze the juices out. This is a premise I wonder about. My impression is that has not been my experience. I don't mash one flat when I cook but I when I do press down on it, I don't see any juices gushing out. The only 'juice' I see coming out is grease and more does not come out just because I press down on it. Hamburgers, in my impression, release grease under heat, not under pressure. A hamburger that is dry is dry because it has been cooked dry, not squeezed dry. The same thing has been my impression with sausage patties. Anyone care to discuss this?

I was thinking about making meatloaf until Cassie reminded me that it was a little hot to be using the oven today, so I grilled some Kabobs outside. I picked up a Dole Southwestern Salad Kit because I was feeling a little lazy. It came with packets of taco flavored Ranch dressing, sour cream, cheese, and Dorito-tasting chip crumbs. I added some left over roast chicken pieces. We all liked it.

I will attempt to show how I was taught to fold it by using two napkins with the bottom one representing the dough and the top one the nut paste layer. The paper clip comparison may not have been an ideal example.

The povitica swirl starts out like a jelly roll but it is about three times longer than the bread pan so it is laid in the pan folded like a paper clip. When put in the oven, the different layers bake together.

Tri2cook, glad you like the recipe. When I was living on Strawberry Hill, the only way one could get it was from someone in the neighborhood and it was always made with a walnut filling. Now flash forward to today, the Strawberry Hill Bakery (which isn't on Strawberry Hill) now makes it and they have added a lot of flavors. As far as i know, they came up with all the new flavors and only the walnut is traditional but they are all good. When I made it, I used pecans and I loved it with pecans.

I know I gave Martha Stewart permission to print one of my recipes. It was published in one of her mags. and is still on her website and gives me credit at both, but a San Diego newspaper reprinted and gave the credit to MS. It was subsequently reprinted in at least a couple other places with her getting the credit. I know that I have passed recipes on, giving credit to the person I got it from, only later to hear it being accredited to me. So how can anyone really know the true source of most recipes?

With some of the leftover ham I made some ham salad and split pea soup, neither of which were photogenic.

Tri2Cook I have never had Babka so I don't know what differences there are, but here is the recipe I have. It must have been around 60 years ago when my mom asked our neighbor for the recipe. She was told it wasn't written down but she was welcome to sit in the kitchen while she made it and write down what she did. This recipe makes 4 loaves if I recall correctly. It's probably been around 40 years since I made this. Povitica Bread BREAD: 4 cakes yeast 2 Pints milk 16 Cups flour 2 teaspoons salt 2 Cups shortehing 2 Cups sugar 8 Eggs Filling 8 cups shelled walnuts pecans 2 1/2 C. milk 1 teaspoon butter 2 1/2 cups sugar 3 tablespoons honey 8 eggs 3 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon salt BREAD: Heat milk to lukewarm, add yeast and one cup of flour. Set aside in a warm place for about 30 minutes to “test out”. Beat eggs well. add sugar, beat to combine. Melt shortening. To the yeast sponge add the remaining flour and salt a cup at a time alternating the liquids, the melted shortening, beaten eggs and milk. Mix well, adding more flour only if needed for kneading. Knead until smooth and elastic, then put in a gresased bowl, turning so that the top of the dough is greased. Cover with plastic wrap (original recipe said to cover with waxed paper and a damp cloth); set aside in a warm, draft free place. FILLING: Grind nut meats and add 1 tsp salt. Scald milk and add 1 tsp. butter, the sugar and honey. Pour hot over nutmeats and mix well. Beat eggs thoroughly, beat in vanilla and add to nut mixture. Mix well. ASSEMBLY: After dough has risen to twice its original size, punch down and divide into to. roll out on a large clean dish cloth of sheet until the dough is paper thin. If the dough resists rolling, cover and let it rest a few minutes. By tablespoons, dot the filling around the dough halves. Spread with a rubber spatula. Take the ends of the cloth and start rolling up like a jelly roll. Seal the edges and ends. Roll end over end and place in a greased bread pan. Bake 350 degrees 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. OR you could order it from http://www.povitica.com/category/53-online-store.aspx

The most different Easter tradition for us is Povitica bread. It is a Croatian holiday sweet yeast bread with a walnut paste filling. Someone in our neighborhood would give us a loaf every Easter. I believe we were the only Irish protestants in the neighborhood. I don't think I realized that other non-Catholics came out on week-days until I was in my teens. Many years ago I made this a couple times with pecans when my uncle from Arkansas gave me a bag of them each Christmas, but now it is easier to just get a loaf at the Strawberry Hill bakery. This picture was last year's Povitica. Here it is on the table this year. This year I went for a newer variety: the filling was apple cinnamon

We liked it. Not sure they will clamor for me to make it again, but it was good.

That is the exact recipe I made yesterday except I made it half size with a regular pkg. of lime Jello. A friend told me her mom substituted cream cheese for the mayo and ginger ale for the water.

Joyeuses Paques Paul and everyone, Happy Easter.

Because Cassie has to work tomorrow, we had our Easter dinner today. We had ham with an apricot glaze, sweet potatoes, warm 3 bean salad with fresh mozzarella, povitica bread, devilied eggs, pineapple upside down cake and because several people mentioned seafoam salad in the remembered Easter dinners past, I thought I'd try some. We thought it was good. Maybe not a keeper but it was good. I usually get traditional walnut povitica but this time got one with an apple-cinnamon filling.

mgaretz. Nice looking baby backs. They are really meaty.

I'll probably have some left overs in the morning. I think she will be OK.