Norm Matthews

I cooked outside in the smoker for dinner and for sandwiches for the next few days. I smoked a small pork shoulder, a chicken and some corn on the cob.

I had this potato salad at The Swedish Crown Restaurant in Lindsborg, Kansas around over 45 years ago and loved it. I bought their cook book but subsequently lost it in a fire. I recently discovered I had copied into a personal cookbook that I have not looked at much since computers came along. PS I don't know why it is posting so small. OK I fixed it somehow.

@Margaret Pilgrim Both recipes are at http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/. I'll be happy to try and answer any other questions you may have.

I made a list of everything I have made so far this year that I thought Charlie liked and asked him to pick something for me to make again. He picked two, one a Philly Cheesesteak casserole and one appetizer, a kicked up crab rangoon filling in egg roll wrappers. They don't really got together but he is off to another car show and I had the house to myself and made both today. We may not have both today, or one later tonight.

@heidih I was looking for the recipe in a Swedish restaurant cookbook in Lindsborg Kansas but it has been lost. I had forgotten that it is in my cookbook too. Lindsborg at that same time had a machine shop that made my potters wheel. He called himself a blacksmith. Lindsborg is where the first heritage turkey farm is located. The king of Sweden visited there in 1976. That binder has steel hinges as well as copper around the paper holes. I guess I wanted to have something that I wouldn't worry about wearing out. It must be closing in on being 50 years old by now.

I just found the original cooked salad dressing that I was looking for three months ago. It is in my hand written cookbook that I started back in the 1970's to organize and save recipes before there were home computers. Notice the copper reinforced holes in archival paper.

While at another topic about Chinese pickles and preserves, liuzhou just made me aware of this discussion. The thing about Chinese jars is that that funny looking top is to put water in to form a kind of fermentation lock. With the water and lid in place, the contents are protected from contact with outside air while letting gasses escape by bubbling out through the water. I recently made one for my own use. Making a one-off one on the potters wheel would take a few weeks, at least to complete. That accounts for the price, I imagine, plus postage. May I suggest a more practical way? They make fermentation locks for wide mouth Mason jars for making kraut and other fermented vegetables. Do a search for fermentation locks. The ones I have used are from Nourished Essentials.

Thanks liuzhou. I wasn't aware of that thread until now.

It has to have been at least 40 years ago that I clipped some recipes for pickling some vegetables, Chinese style, from a magazine or newspaper. It took a special kind of jar that you put water in the top. With the lid in place, the gas escaped from the vegetables by bubbling through the water on top and prevented air from getting in. Being a potter, I made a couple instead of buying one. Both the jars and recipes are gone by now but I recently made another one. Mine is much smaller than ones I have seen because I only want to make a small amount at a time. At about the same time, my Korean wife asked me to make some kimchi jars because ones from Korea were not as easily attainable as they are now. Soon I was making some for several of her friends too. Here are a couple pictures of the Chinese style pottery I made for myself not long ago. It's kind of rough looking but I was just trying to make something for quick use and not for show.

Dinner was teriyaki salmon.

I have mentioned Strawberry Hill Bakery before but it was a few years ago. It is named after the neighborhood in Kansas City where I grew up and they specialize in an ethnic European nut bread made with a rich yeast dough spread all over with a sweet walnut paste and then rolled up and baked. The walnut is the original flavor but they now make several flavors. Something new-I think- is a coffee cake that I had for dessert today. It has a crumbly crust, pound cake on top of that, then some cheese cake and topped with a brown sugar crunchy crust. It will be hard to not go back for seconds and thirds. The nut bread which is also pictured below is called Povitica.

Stephensons Apple Farm Restaurant was a Kansas City icon until it wasn't. It closed about 15 years ago. It was at their bar that I had their peach daiquiri shortly after I turned 21. I still have and use their recipe book. The two items on this page are a couple of my favorite canning recipes. I made the corn relish twice so far this year and plan to make the pickles later on. I always replace three or four of the cucumbers with yellow squash for color and the squash usually get eaten out of a jar first.

Charlie invited his car club over for BBQ again today. I did hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and some ribs and a brisket in the smoker. I also made some corn relish. All the rest of the normal sides and condiments came from the store.

It's hard to believe many of us were first discussing this as long ago as 5 years, maybe even longer ago than that. At that time it was nearly impossible to get a whole brisket around here. I had to drive across state line to Missouri and pay close to $100. for a choice whole brisket. Franklin must have had quite an influence on BBQ because now grocery stores regularly carry choice brisket for about half that and Costco always has a large section of their meat case with both prime and choice selections. Mail order was the only way to get some other stuff even though Kansas City has ample access to smoker retailers. What made me start thinking about all the changes since then was when I saw this on the shelf at the local HyVee just now.

Charlie had already eaten and left for a car meet by the time this chicken and corn egg drop soup was ready. Before he left he said there was some kim bob on the table for me. There were also a few bags of Jiaiang Noodles on the counter so I imagine his dinner came from the Korean store. I noticed this picture of him and his cousins that he posted on face book while wishing her a happy birthday today. That photo must have been taken around 1983.

I just noticed that it has been over a month since I posted a menu. I have been cooking though, just not taking pictures. Charlie has made a lot of new friends at two car clubs he has joined since he customized his 93 Caddie. He has had them over twice for BBQ. First time it was ribs and brisket, second time it was ribs, hot dogs and lamb. In between another friend of his asked if I could do some ribs for his daughter's high school graduation. Turns out he wanted me to do 16 slabs. My smoker isn't big enough to do more that three at a time and that is pretty crowded. I felt better doing only two at a time. It took four days to do that many. Today I was planning to do an egg drop soup that had creamed corn, chicken, peppers and thickened with corn starch. When I took the chicken thigh that I got yesterday out of the refrigerator and opened it up, it was spoiled so I went to plan B. I had the shrimp in the freezer and everything else on hand and made this Cajun blackened shrimp, sausage and pasta dish instead. One picture is before it had garnish, the other after.

Charlie had friends over again last weekend for a BBQ. I smoked pulled pork and ribs and grilled some lamb on skewers. Stuff was coming out of the smoker while they were arriving so I didn't think to take pictures but the next day, we had more grilled lamb with leftover sides.

Maybe adding salt, pepper and garlic, perhaps some herbs like basil and oregano might perk it up.

This is a boiled fruit dressing I use with a fruit salad that always gets good reviews. 2/3 cup fresh orange juice 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions Bring orange juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon zest to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.

Charlie has made several friends going to car meets with his 1993 Caddy Fleetwood and asked if he could have them over for BBQ this weekend. They came today and I smoked a brisket, pork ribs. Also had hot dogs-not pictured- and several sides.

I believe this one is from James Beard. I think mayonnaise replaced these salad dressings when it became commercially available. BOILED SALAD DRESSING 2 Tbsp sifted flour 3 Tbsp sugar 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 C. white wine 1/3 C. lemon juice or vinegar 2 eggs, separated 1/3 C. olive oil salt & pepper 1/2 C. sour cream Combine the flour, sugar, mustard, white wine and vinegar or lemon juice together in the top of a double boiler. Add the egg yolks, oil salt and pepper to taste. Heat over hot water until the mixture thickens. Beat the egg whites until stiff. add the sour cream and the stiffly beaten egg whites to the mixture and beat with a whisk or wooded spoon until the dressing is thoroughly blended. This can be served hot or cold.

I haven't found the one I am looking for but here is one from a 1947 cook book. There is another one that I can type for you if you want it. The only ingredient that is has that this one does not is lemon juice. Boiled Dressing #1 2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 2 T. flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp. dry mustard 1/2 C. cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. butter 1/2 cuo evaporated milk or cream few grains of pepper Beat eggs until light in top of double boiler. Mix dry ingredients together and blend thoroughly with eggs. Gradually add vinegar and cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in butter, evaporaated milk, and pepper. Cool; store in covered jar in refrigerator. Makes about1 1/2 cups. Note: Evaporated milk makes dressing smooth and velvety and less apt to curdle.

I have that dressing. It was used on potato salad at a Swedish restaurant years and years ago. Give me a little time to try and find it.

The store had loin back ribs on sale @ buy one get one free. I believe loin back ribs are also called baby back but these had longer, more curved and meatier bones than I expected. (I am not complining) With the discount, they were only $10.50 per rack.

While I was at the store, Charlie called and suggested steak for dinner. I picked out a T-Bone because it was the cheapest of the good steaks and one was big enough for both of is. I should have asked why Porterhouse steaks were a dollar a pound more. They are both from the same part of the cow. Porterhouse is the same as a T-bone only bigger. It will cost more because it's bigger. It should not cost more because of its name. Charlie had Mac N Cheese with his. I had some corn and baked potato. I also had a small piece of Stilton cheese.