Mt. Saint Joe and Taste Cincinnati Magazine

Sorry for the late notice, but I will be teaching at Mt. Saint Joseph College's LifeLearn class in Delhi tomorrow afternoon, September 30, 2008. I understand that there are 30 people registered and the room holds 28. This should be interesting. The topic is Salts of the World. I have samples of salts from many countries. We had to reschedule this class because of the unbelievable event of Hurricane Ike as he blew through Kentucky and Ohio. If you haven't been to the store this week, then you haven't seen the 11 new salts that have arrived. When you come into the store be sure and ask to see the salt bricks and salt plates. We will share with you what these are and how you use them.

I would also like to thank Stephen Kidd, Publisher of Taste Magazine Cincinnati. Taste is a magazine published four times a year. It is an excellently writen magazine with great articles and many recipes. The Restaurant Guide in the back of the magazine is amazing. There is even a map to help you locate every restaurant listed. In the Fall 2008 issue you will find my recipe for Chicken Pot Pie in a Sugar Pumpkin.

Colonel De Stewart

New Blending Station & Tailgating Recipe

If you have been in the market over the past two months, I'm sure you couldn't help but notice the construction area next to our spice cases. I am happy to announce that the "Blending Station" is now complete. It was worth the wait. Now that the construction is over, this is where you will be able to watch as we blend our many unique spice blends. Make sure you come by and take a look. I look forward to your comments.

While I'm at it I might as well put a plug in for the guys responsible. My buds Tony Zimmerman and Tiny Tim (yes just like Dickens) from AZA Construction built and assembled this masterpiece. (As of this writing, their web site is down. Thanks to the unusual Mid-West hurricane Ike that we experienced on Sunday.) Here is a picture that I took with my cell phone during construction, just to give you an idea of why I am babbleing over this new area of our store.





Here's a treat from Alaina Repic. Alaina is the manager of Herbs & Spice and Everything Nice and a recent Culinary Graduate.

TAILGATE TOUCHDOWNS

Alright you football fanatic foodies, it’s time to don the apron and get to cooking up a spread that will tackle your pre-game hunger and sack your tastebuds. Yes, folks it’s that time of year again!!! It’s football time and no one knows how to party more than a diehard football tailgator. Whether you are enjoying the game at home or have made the pilgrimage to the pre-game parking lot festivities this recipe is sure to please the crowd.

Now, this recipe may be new to some and old to others but when done right it will have your whole team cheering for more. Beer Can Chicken. First things first, before even thinking about throwing my soon-not-secret-rub on the bird you need to soak this bad boy in some of the Col.’s Basil Pepper Garlic Vinegar. Not only will this add tons of flavor to the chicken but it will make it tender and juicy as well. Pour the entire bottle into a large zip lock bag along with the whole chicken (eviscerated of course) and seal it up sometime in the morning. You may flip the bag over a few times to ensure equal coverage. By the time you are ready to start cooking it will be ready to go after patting it dry. Now, for the spices. Below is my recipe for BCC Rub but you may use whatever you like.

¼ c. Smoked Paprika
2 T California Garlic Granules
2 T Onion Granules
1 ½ T Salt
1 T Black Pepper (ground)
1 t New Mexico Chili Powder (optional)

Combine the above ingredients and rub over the chicken, and under the skin. Sprinkle a bit in the body cavity and reserve the rest for the beer can. Speaking of the beer, let’s take a look at our fizzy friends. We have a wide range of choices when it comes to which beer (or cola if necessary) we use. While I prefer a dark beer (i.e. Guinness or Anchor Porter) a nice wheat beer will do just fine. The dark beer adds a depth and sweetness that a regular or light beer just can’t match. Now if you are adverse to beer you can use any cola you like. Either empty half or drink half the can and add the rest of the spices. The last step here is to take an entire head of garlic with top cut off and most of the paper removed and put it down the neck of the bird to prevent the steam from getting out

Now that you have prepped the bird and picked your liquid it’s time to assemble. You may have seen the contraptions they sell to stabilize the concoction but it’s not necessary by any means. It will stay upright because of the can. The only rigging you may want to do is tying the wings together in front of the bird (as demonstrated below)




As for your grill you will want to place an aluminum pan underneath the bird to catch the drippings and prevent flare-ups. The grill or oven needs to be at medium heat (oven @ 350°). The chicken will cook for about an hour and a half, instant thermometer will register 170 when inserted into the crease between the leg and breast. Remove carefully, remember there is a molten can of liquid to contend with. That’s it!!!

Beer Can Chicken goes great with potatoes and roasted corn. Try your corn with Chef’s Seasoning available at Herbs and Spice, you’ll never look at corn the same way again.

Colonel De Stewart

Emerging Business for 2008

Thanks to your support Herbs & Spice and Everything Nice was runner up as the Emerging Business for 2008. We took 2nd place to a franchise. Why they were in there is anybodies guess. Oh well. Next year we our goal is to be named Business of the Year. All right, enough back patting.

Many of you have asked for reprints of my columns from PulseDT (formerly the DownTowner). So in and effort to provide you with this information, starting next week, I will begin publishing to the blog both the articles and the recipe(s) that go along with the article. They will not be in the order they were published the first time. I will most likely provide them alphabetically. All of the recipes that were published with the articles will also be included. Additionally, there will be several recipes that have never been published.

We are offering a new product. A good friend of ours, Rob Miller, has developed a great new mustard. Rob is currently hiding out in Pennsylvania. At $5.00 this large jar is a bargain.

Colonel De Stewart