A few recipes from Buffalo Dale’s kitchen:
Welcome back. While there are many T.V. shows and cookbooks which focus on outdoor cooking with grilling season in full swing I thought I might share a few of my favorite recipes and cooking tips. My experience goes back to 1994 when I operated “Smoklahoma”, a roadside meat smoking business along Route 1 in Connecticut. I served sandwiches and custom smoked meats at a time when there were very few BBQ and smoked meat joints in the East.
This would make me somewhat of an expert and I have heard around town that the “Primo” is a cooker that is making waves as “the grill” to have. A guy who would know all about that is Jay McKissock out at Overlees-Woods. They have been selling them for several years and Jay can tell you if the Primo is right for your style of cooking. I have eaten some food prepared on a Primo and I can tell you it was very good.
As for myself, nowadays I use a Hasty Bake grill that I was lucky enough to get at an estate sale in like new condition. Many of you are probably familiar with Hasty Bakes since they are made right here in Oklahoma. I like the combination of smoking and grilling that this cooker offers in a compact size. My favorite thing to cook out is a simple T-bone steak, preferably locally raised and cut ¾ to 1” thick. I marinate it in Allegra marinating sauce for several hours, adding a light coating of black pepper and garlic powder when I flip the steak to marinate the other side. While the steak is marinating I prepare cabbage, corn, peppers, onions and any number of other seasonal vegetables, smoking them in foil with butter until tender which usually takes at least an hour. Then I sear the steaks on the grill to seal in the juices, smoke them for a short while until they are close to done. Finally I put them back onto some high heat for the last few minutes of cooking. With a little bread warmed in the smoker and maybe a green salad you have the perfect meal. I like to serve the food right off the grill and eat under a nearby shade tree. I use apple or pear wood because we happen to have a few of those trees on our property but other woods such as hickory work well too.
Allegra marinating sauce works well on hamburger too. I usually put the meat in a large bowl with a small amount of the sauce depending on how much meat you have. You don’t want the meat to be runny because it needs to be able to keep its shape. Stir in some garlic powder, pepper and chopped onions, then make your patties. I generally smoke these a little while too before putting them right on the heat. Allegra makes many types of marinades but my choice is the “original.”
Another favorite recipe of mine is one I picked up on a friend’s ranch a while back.
First lightly grill some good tender pieces of steak and then take some large Anaheim peppers. Cut each pepper down the middle and stuff with pieces of the meat and longhorn cheese. Wrap each pepper in two strips of bacon, season and finish cooking in the oven on 375 degrees until the bacon is crisp. I always plan on at least two peppers per person when I’m having a party because it’s hard to eat just one of these.
When I’m cooking cabbage I take out the core and put two beef bouillon cubes and garlic powder in the center and fill with butter. Wrap each cabbage in foil so you can periodically open it and put it in the smoker for a least an hour or two depending on the size of the cabbage. For a spicier variation add a chopped jalapeno pepper before you put in the butter. Its good warmed up the next day to
Even though it’s not Thanksgiving my favorite special occasion dessert is still pecan pie. This easy (and fail safe) recipe for Creole Pecan Pie comes from Gourmet magazine:
Cream ¼ cup butter with ½ cup of sugar. Beat in 3 eggs, 1 cup of dark corn syrup and
1 ¼ cup of chopped pecans. Pour the filling into an unbaked pie crust and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Reduce oven to 300 degrees and bake for another 30-35 minutes until the filling is set and the crust is browned.
Serve warm with ice cream and/or whipped cream and soon you’ll look like Buffalo Dale.
Summer cooking in Oklahoma is truly an art with many hundreds of favorite recipes and just as many cooks to go with them. This art is not just limited to steaks and chicken either. And cooks on the east coast love outdoor cooking as much as we do but their choice of foods is a little unfamiliar to us.
More on that soon but first coming up next week it’s my time as Dr. Gopi Vasudevan gives me a look over, or should I say a look into. Colonoscopy- the word bothers me but not the process. Look for a photo to come- Till next time I’ll see ya down the road…..
P.S. If you’re looking for pecans in July, I understand that Green Country Pilot Club has some great ones still available. Call Cheryl at (918) 333-7719 for more info.
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