Monday Menu: Chicken on the Egg

Low and slow cooked farm-raised chicken from the Big Green Egg.

I cut the backbone out of this 8-lb. bird and dusted the skin with a homemade rub made of mostly brown sugar. The procedure is called "spatchcocking" and helps the bird cook more quickly and evenly. This isn't a full "butterfly" since I didn't break the keel bone (or remove it) so it would lie flat. The backbone and wing tips were saved and frozen for making stock later.

I preheated the grill to 225f and put the chicken and a squash over direct heat for 2 1/2 hours.

A temperature probe in the breast let me know when it was 161f, I coated it with homemade BBQ sauce, then I removed the bird. The thighs registered 174f.

Looks good to me!

After resting for 20 minutes under foil and a heavy towel, the breast is still hot and moist.

Legs are also perfect; the pink coloring of the meat near the skin is from the smoke.


Just a little additional BBQ sauce brings it all together (KC Masterpiece - I ran out of homemade sauce) and it's complete! The recipe for both the rub and my own sauce will appear in tomorrow's post.


The squash wasn't quite done after 2 1/2 hours, so I cut it into pieces and microwaved it on high for two minutes to finish cooking.

Weekend Cook: Molly Tamale, part 2

It takes some time to make tamales, but if you think of it as a way to use up leftovers it's worth the while. This recipe serves 2, and made 7 modest tamales. The Food Network recipe I adapted is here.

First, pour boiling water over rinsed dried corn husks and weight them down so they remain submerged. The thinner ones will be pliable in an hour, the thicker ones will take two hours.

One and a half TB of butter, 1/4 cup plus 1 TB of cold duck fat in a mixer.

In a separate bowl, whisk together: 3/4 cup masa harina, 2/3 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, 1/2 tsp. Adobo seasoning. Set aside.

On "high" whip the fats until they are milky white and smooth (about 5 minutes).

Add one small can of Ortega mild chilies, diced.

It's a mess. For the rest of the recipe you will need 2/3 cup of water.

Add the dry mixture three tablespoons at a time alternately with the same amount of water.

(If you've ever made Whoopie Pies or certain cakes, you've already got this technique down.) Dry ingredients make the mix pasty. Liquid is added to bring it back to a batter consistency. It is done when all the dry mix is incorporated, and water is added as the final addition until the batter is the consistency of stiff frosting. I had water left over.

Drain the husks and shake dry. Lay one down and smear on a line of 3 tablespoons of mix near one edge. Top that with the duck from yesterday (about 2 - 3 tablespoons in volume). Roll into a tamale shape.

I turned under both ends of these tamales, but it is not necessary. One end folded under to keep it from unraveling will do. I put them in my bamboo steamer.

They cooked at a full simmer for 2 hours.

Tamales are done when the husk separates from the dough.

(I saved this tamale to photograph in the daylight)

The just-cooked tamales were the texture of really moist cake, and ducky - no point covering the flavor of duck with too many spices. The leftover tamale was dryer and slightly mealy in texture, but still held its flavor. They were nothing at all like Monica's.

The mild salsa, made in Vermont, is Candeleros Southwestern Grill Spring Fling Lime Salsa. It spoils quickly after opening the jar, so I freeze it in small one-cup containers.

Weekend Cook: Molly Tamale, part 1

When we first started vending at farmer's market (10 years ago), I had trouble remembering so many names of vendors and clients. So I used monikers that took up less space in my brain like "Tulipman," and "T-shirt Girls".

One in particular became "Molly Tamale," "The Tamale Girl". I called her Molly for half a season before someone corrected me, and the humiliation of bumbling yet another name finally made it stick in my head - Monica Mead!

I have some of her tamales in the freezer but I thought as the summer market ended, that I've become some kind of lazy that I can't be bothered to make my own. I used to make homemade tortillas and pack burritos for Dan's lunch, for goodness' sake!

So here is my first tamale recipe, in two parts. The first is the meat, two duck legs from Healthy Living Market.

Patted dry.

I ground some black pepper on the meat side and seared them on the skin side in a pan lightly coated in EVOO on medium heat. The goal is to get the fat started rendering out, because I need it for the tamale recipe.

After about ten minutes I turned the duck over and threw in 8 garlic cloves; as you can see the fat is building up in the pan.

I added two bay leaves and let it simmer for about 3 minutes.

Into a preheated 300f oven, I turned the oven down to 250f for 2 hours.

Done! The meat easily pulls apart.

I discarded the skin and strained the fat, pouring it over the meat and putting it in the refrigerator to cool and harden overnight.

(Duck tamales with green chili salsa, in poor lighting)

The actual tamale recipe will appear tomorrow.

Farmers' Market #26: The End

Even with weights attached, our tablecloth threatened to fly away. We put the sides on the tent and it helped make things bearable, until about 1 pm, when the wind shifted to blow in the opposite direction.

Dan and I were going to dress up, but it was too cold and blowy for my costume, and he said all the ooompff of putting on a mask dissolved soon after we arrived, because it was such a struggle to set up in the high winds.

I added lines in pumpkin orange and green on all our signs.

We decorated the stand.

And had goodies to pass out - Heath Bars were the adult's choice, Milky Ways the kid's-fave, and we brought nearly all the Almond Joys back home. No problem, since they are Dan's first choice among the three.

In the director's chair, a Highlander!

As they say, a good time was had by all.

Maybe too much of a good time for some.

For about an hour, the winds died down, the sun peeked out, and people ventured out from their homes.

Everybody loves a samosa, even princesses!

Go Batgirl!

And lastly, two dogs who didn't dress up for Halloween.

More Halloween in City Hall Park

That's a pug dressed as a lobster!

Another as a pumpkin.


And Batman carrying Spiderman's head!

Cheesemaking: How the milk gets to the plant

It couldn't be simpler. As the cows are being milked, the milk is sent to our cheese vat, which is an old bulk tank. Cultures and rennet are added. There is no heating, cooling, or treatments given to the milk. It is "old school" and it is what it is.


All is quiet while the milk sets. This will make 70 (3.4 pound) wheels of cheese - maximum capacity for our facility.