What’s Going On?

Lately, I’ve been trying to cook up different types of recipes of chicken wings. I am in hot pursuit in finding the flavor that I want to be known for making. The decisions are hard; Should I make them sweet? Should I make the salty? Should I make the spicy? or Should I make the sweet, salty, and spicy? The different ways you can prepare wings are mind boggling and so far I’ve only touched the surface of it.

In this second wing experiment, I came up with six different flavors. The flavors and styles that I tried were (starting from the bottom and rotating clockwise): Salt and Pepper Wings (spicy), Asian Honey BBQ Wings, Soy Sauce/Sugar/Spices Wings,  Salt and Pepper with 5 spice battered Wings, Jamaican Wings, and Spicy Fried Chicken Wings.

All of the wings that I’ve tried were pretty good, but in this experiment by far the Salt and Pepper Wings won the competition. Something about the fine balance of spicy and salty had just won me over. It is probably one of my favorite styles to prepare any type of meat. For example, if I were to order in a Chinese restaurant I’d typically order either the Salt and Pepper Squid, Salt and Pepper Spareribs, Salt and Pepper Shrimp, and of course Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. You might ask would I order all of them at the same meal. The answer is probably not, but on occasion I have ordered at least two of the above.

So far the two experiments I have done so far have been wings that were deep fried. They probably are not the best for you, but I believe they are the best tasting wings you could have. In the past, I’ve made my share of baked chicken and  teriyaki chicken or Chinese marinaded chicken over the stove, but in my opinion nothing can beat the deep fried aspect of cooking.

For now this has been my second wing experiment, but I hope to bring you different types of foods whenever I get the chance.

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Lately, I’ve been having one of those craving moments where I just need to satisfy my cravings and the thing I was craving was lumpia. Lumpia has always been one of my favorite snacks/foods for a very long time, but not until recently have I got the courage to make some of my very own myself.

In my opinion, lumpia is probably one of things that take a long time to prep, but to cook is rather easy.  I spent most of my time cutting veggies and chopping up shrimp. Good thing I didn’t have to grind my own pork or that would have taken a lot more time.

First thing I did in preparing for one of the best things on earth was to cut green beans in quarters lengthwise. Next, I peeled carrots and then had them grated. I then seasoned my ground pork with several different spices and then cut up my shrimp. To make sure that everything had a similar consistency I cooked everything separately. I stir fried the veggies until they were soft, but not to the point where it would get mushy. Then I cooked the pork and drained off the excess fat and then added in the shrimp.

Once all my ingredients were cooked, I waited till my mixture was cooled before I began to wrap. When the filling was cooled I basically rolled them into egg roll-like rolls. When I finished wrapping all of the lumpia I packaged most of it to freeze as I cooked a few fresh in oil. I made 55 lumpia on this trial and I must say it was fun, but took a rather long time to make. However, the outcome was success and deliciousness. I think in the future if I were to make more lumpia I would have a lumpia making party to make things just fly by quickly. Accompanying my first batch I made a nice and cool vinegar based slaw. I then poured some Thai chili sauce for dipping.  When eaten altogether it was an evenly balanced snack of vegetables and meat. I think the only thing missing was some fried chicken wings, but I will post more later on the 2nd chicken wing experiment soon.

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What do you do when you have a hunger? You try and satisfy that hunger right? Now what is your favorite type of food that you crave? Well for me it can be many things, but one of the things that are on the top of my list would be chicken wings. I love chicken wings any way that they can be prepared and usually there is no discrimination at all. Yes, I love burgers, hot dogs, and pizza; however, it’s the mighty chicken wing that always screams “winner winner chicken dinner!”

Well to satisfy my craving I ran to the store to buy some supplies and made myself 5 different type of wings and I called it my First Wing Experiment. I never would have thought that I’d go mad for trying to make up a variety of wings, but did I ever. My First Wing Experiment consisted of wings that were crunchy and crispy and all I had to master next was to find that flavor of sauce that would please my appetite.

The flavors for my wings that I have chosen were a tangy Asian glaze, lemon pepper, barbeque, garlic parmesan, and buffalo spicy. All the wings I must say were pretty good, but the kickers that I’d have to say were hands down the best were my lemon pepper and garlic parmesan. Those two I will have to call my signature flavors. The lemon has a bit of zip from the lemon and the savory from the salt, and the garlic parmesan was a good balance of aroma from the garlic and savory from the cheese and salt.

I plan to have my Second Wing Experiment pretty soon since my first attempt was so successful. In the next experiment, I will try to do more on Asian flavors and see if I can master a good fried chicken batter. Until next, I hope you get a chance to make some of your own and share the results with me. I can’t wait to experiment next.

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So following dinner on Thursday, I brought back turkey that no one wanted and I also had brought back some of my famous cheesy mashed potatoes. So what I decided to do like almost anyone else would do is that I made another dish out of the two items.

First thing that comes to my mind anytime that there is leftover mashed potatoes would be to make a shepherd’s pie of some sort. Since I had an abundant amount of turkey to use I decided to make a shepherd’s pie out of turkey.

I first reheated some turkey and re-seasoned with salt and pepper on a cast iron skillet. Next, I took the turkey off the pan and I used some of the caramelized turkey bits and the seasoning that was left on the pan and used that to make a roux from butter and flour. I then mixed in some milk and water into my roux; however, this could be done using chicken or vegetable stock, but I didn’t have any on hand. I then mixed in some peas and corn into the gravy. Once brought up to texture and consistency that I wanted I then added the turkey back into the gravy. I then poured the meat and veggie mixture into a baking pan and then covered the mashed potatoes on top of the meat mixture. I placed the pan into a preheated 350-degree Fahrenheit oven and cooked until bubbling. When it reached the temperature I wanted I then sprinkled some fried onion strings on top and raised the temperature to 425-degrees Fahrenheit. I removed from the oven when the top of the shepherd’s pie was golden brown and the onion strings were crispy and crunch.

After cooking the shepherd’s pie, it is wise to let the shepherd’s pie sit a little bit because the contents underneath the mashed potatoes are very very hot. Also the gravy is very viscous and so it will run on you unless you created a thick gravy. My mistake this time was that I was too hungry and I just plated right away. The worst thing that could happen happened. My shepherd’s pie collapsed. However, to my amazement the pie came out wonderful in taste and flavor. It was seasoned just right and satisfied my hunger.

If you would like to this for many people and do not want to have the effect of the shepherd’s pie running on you, what you can do is make individual sized portions in little ceramic bowls. There are a vast amount of ceramics you can choose from out in the market place. You can use quiche dishes, au gratins, souffle dishes, and even creme brulee boats. Whatever best fits your needs I’m sure you’ll be able to please your friends and family.

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