Smoked,Fried and Baked!

Ok its been cold the past couple of days and i felt like something to help warm me up. This is a really easy one pot Chowder to make, dont let the number of steps intimidate you, the only reson there are so many is the order in which the ingredients have to go into the pot.

Ingredients

Nothing for today guys , family emergency please pray for my grandfather.

To help everyone celebrate Christmas im posting up a few Holiday Punches.

Mulled Wine ( serves 6 )

• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup white sugar (or honey)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 oranges (or lemons or a combination)
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 (750 ml) bottle of red wine

1. Combine water, sugar, and cinamon  in a sauce pan and bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer.
2. Squeeze the juice of one orange into the water and take the skin pierce it with the cloves and add this to the water. Simmer for about 15 min.
3. Slice one orange into rounds and add to the water.
4. Pour in wine and heat until steaming but not simmering, remove cinnamon, remove the clove studded orange and cinnamon stick. Serve in mugs with one round of orange in each.

This is a great drink to have on a cold night with family. Alternately, you can peel a few pears and poach them in the mulled wine and serve with ice cream and a reduction of mulled wine.

Citrus Beer Punch (also called “running around naked”)

• 6 12-ounce cans of beer ( i prefer Heineken or San Miguel Strong ice)
• 1 Bottle of Vodka ( Do not use a citrus flavored vodka,  although i think  mint would be great)
• 1 12-ounce can of frozen pink lemonade concentrate ( if you cant find this you can use powdered lemonade just use 1 and 3/4 cup of pre-mixed lemonade at double strength)
• 2 liters of lemon-lime soda (sprite or 7up)

1. Combine vodka and lemonade and chill.
2. Before serving add cold beers , soda and ice and stir gently.

You can also Garnish with Lemon and lime slices , or substitute ginger ale for the soda for something a little less sweet. 

This punch is really strong but you can barely taste the alcohol, i made a pitcher for my self and finished it a little too fast… 

If anyone tries making this with Red Horse let me know how it comes out.

Orange Almond Punch / Dalandan Almond Punch (for the kids)

• 2 cans (12 oz. size) 7-Up
• 2 packages (14 oz. size) orange flavored kool-aid drink mix(tang or any dalandan powdered juice)
• 10 2/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (or calamansi juice)
• 2 cups sugar
• Almond extract or syrup to taste
• fruit garnish ( small diced fruits , orange slices , cherries whatever you want)

1. Dilute sugar in 4 cups of warm water
2. Combine sugar mixture with the rest of the water , add lemon juice and powdered drink mix then and chill.
3. Before serving add 7-up and ice, put in almond extract or syrup to taste and add garnish.

I had this allot at parties as a kid, it never really tastes the same twice but its always good, feel free to mix up the ingredients this is a fun punch to serve to both kids and adults.

Welcome to Smoked Fried and Baked, this is officially my first blog entry. I do not claim any great writing skills, or to be particularly articulate. I just felt a need to share my passion for food. 

A quick background; I am currently a culinary arts student who started on this career path a little later than most, but my love for food and cooking started in my childhood. I am of Hawaiian , Mexican and Filipino decent, born on Guam and grew up in the Philippines so i have a love for Island and Asian food. I do also love Mexican food but sadly i did not grow up with Mexican food as a regular part of my diet , but now i live in California surrounded by some of the best mom and pop Mexican restaurants you will ever find.

At this point you will not find any “Restaurant reviews” on my blog but i will not shy away from letting people know about good dining experiences i have and where Ive had them. 

What you will find are cooking tips, tricks and techniques that i have learned from my grandparents , school and experience. I will try and include Videos and pictures of everything i post.

I will also try and focus on budget conscious dishes that are quickly and easily prepared. If you have dishes of your own that you are having a hard time with let me know them and hopefully i will be able to help.

I also have a deep seeded love for SPAM and hopefully somewhere on here i will have a separate page or blog just on 101 ways to cook SPAM.

I have three basic philosophies on food:

1. Good food should be made affordable to as many people as possible. 

2. No one ingredient is better than another, if an ingredient is preppared and used in the proper way , a slice of SPAM can be made to taste just as good as a top quality fillet mignon.

3. Cooking is not just a hobby, it is an ART a SCIENCE and an OBSESSION.

Well I enjoyed doing that more than i thought i would. Hope you found it as entertaining and informative as i did and keep coming back.

I will be posting recipes and tips very soon.

- SFB