thetitan99
I'm originally from the U.S. and lived there for the first 34 years of my life. My mother was the first really great cook I met, and she and my father influenced my tastes in food permanently. I never ate at McDonalds' until I was 14, due to my father's hatred of bad food. They also instilled in me the yearn for the burn. My favorite foods are hotter than hell!! Cajun/Creole, Mexican, Texas BBQ. These are the things I truly love. When I left the U.S. for Barbados in 2000, strange as it sounds, one of the 3 main reasons I went there was because of that excellent mustard based habenero sauce they have there. I've now live on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand for the past 7 years. Again, partly because of the spiciness of the food.
I'm a diving instructor, so what I do for fun is also what I do for a living. I also like to fly ultalight planes, drive motorcycles and drink bourbon and beer. (Not at the same time!!)
One of the things I appreciate about living here is that I've learned to make a lot of things from scratch. There's no super market, so it's a bit of a pain to get ingredients. The good news is, for example, fresh pork spare ribs are 2.00 dollars a pound.
I also grow over 250 chili plants with over 20 different varieties. This helps enormously.
Recipes I've Posted (all 6)
Like I said before, I like it hot, so I naturally gravitate towards the Mexican, Tex-Mex, Cajun sort of thing. One of my favorite foods that I'd never had a chance to try is Indian. This stuff is just, to me, outstanding stuff. I had to learn the hard way that it's not health food. I always thought with the chicken, vegetables and all that you could eat unlimited amounts. I was eating this stuff every night, then working out like mad every day. Soon I resembled a gorrilla. Then I befriended a Indian chef named Kamal and found out what ghee was. " You must be careful with this my friend" he says. Sheesh!!
What I like to cook the most here is slow smoked, Texas BBQ ribs. The Thai folks love it and the English and Europeans, for the most part have never had anything like it. This 4th of July I'll have 60 people at my house!!
Another thing I love to make is seafood gumbo. Living on an island, the seafood is cheaper than hamburger and I import the andoullie from the mainland.
One thing I miss here is beef brisket. I can't get through to the butcher how to cut the thing and I'm close to giving up. What I need is a Thai graduate of Texas A & M. Or Baylor, or something...
But, all in all, life is grand!!
My Most Recent Ratings
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Jambalaya with Shrimp and Andouille SausageThis was excellent. I made some additions, but it's still medal-worthy. First thing is I doubled it, then added a cup of celery (Trinity), added a 1/4 cup of finely chopped orange cayenne, 6 bay leaves and 2 tbls. of cayenne powder. Also, I believe it's a 14 oz. can of diced tomatos.
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Coney Island Hot Dog Sauce (Charles Cafarelli)Do you really grind up 13 to 16 hot dogs? Sounds like a lot...
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Italian BeefThis is great!! I reminds me of a place in St. Paul when I was a kid. I cooked it in a slow cooker for 9 hours, then sliced it and cooked it for 2 more hours. Since I couldn't get any onion powder, I just chopped up an onion and chucked it in. Medal-worthy!!
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Jalapeno Bacon WrapThese are great!!I had some huge peppers so I put some Colorado Red Chili sauce and a little taco meat under the cream cheese. Awesome!!
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Ray's Cool Jamaican Jerk ChickenHey Man, I,m in the process of fine tuning a jerk chicken recipe of my own. I like the super heat but you have a few ingedients that I'm going to try in my next batch. Thanks
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Big Jim's Texas Red ChileThe beans will take longer to cook if you use hard water from the tap. I use bottled water and it works great. Also, salting the beans before they cook will make the skin tough. This is also one of those things which is better the next day!! [I posted this recipe.]
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Coconut ShrimpThese were awesome!! I used 2 kg of GIANT prawns and we ate them till we were sick!! Excellent!! I used fresh coconut and toasted it in a dry pan for 3 minutes before blending it with the bread crumbs. I also let them set up in the fridge for 30 minutes. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly!! Medal worthy for sure.
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Brined Roast ChickenThis was excellent. My first time brining a bird and I probably won't do it any other way. I smoked them on a barrel grill with cherry wood for about an hour and a half. I also used my own poultry rub on them. Very juicey and flavorful. Deserves a medal.
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Pork Belly RoastThis was really good. My oven isn't the best and probably doesn't reach 425 degrees, but it turned out great anyway. Definitely not health food!!!
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Coconut Crusted ChickenI've been looking for something to do with some remaining Panko in my pantry. Got millions of coconuts and even some chicken. I'll try this tonight and report tomorrow...
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Chicken Nachos GrilledThis looks great!! I think pintos and black olives are the most overlooked ingredients in Mexican cooking. I'll be doing these tomorrow and then let you know.
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Crock Pot Moist and Tender Pulled PorkI make this about once a month. Where I am, pork is so cheap, it's almost free. I do mine on a big, homemade barrel smoker. Perfect way to feed the masses!!!
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Big Jim's Seafood GumboThe biggest key to this is the roux, as I've said before. Burning one as an experiment isn't a bad idea. Also, have all your ingredients prepared in advance. Serve with hot sauce such as Tabasco or Crystal Louisiana hot sauce. [I posted this recipe.]
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El Torito's Enchilada SauceI'm going to try this, but I have to make it with chicken broth because would you believe it, beef broth is one thing I can't buy here for love or money. I guess I could just boil some beef?
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Worlds Best SalsaI grow many different very hot peppers and tend to use whatever I have at the time. I like to add a pepper called monkey face to give it a citrus-like twist. The after a few days the flavors combine even more. This can be frozen indefinitely and lasts in a refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. [I posted this recipe.]
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Grilled AsparagusThis is exactly how I do it!! Wouldn't change a thing!! However, I have noticed the slightly thicker spears, which we all tend to avoid for most recipes, are actually better for grilling.
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Enchilada PieI had quite a lot of leftover enchilada sauce and used it to make this. It was so good I took what was left to the bar and gave it away, otherwise I would have eaten it all!! I also used thin strips of roasted jalapenos and layered them in because I have a ton of them. Besides, I can't get canned ones!! This is medal-worthy if anything ever was...
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Fire-Fist Acapulco Chorizo QuesadillasI think this is an abomination.
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Chorizo and Jalapeno QuesadillasThese are spicy, but boy, I love'm!! I hope you do too!! I'd like to try them with monterey jack cheese, but I'm stuck in a place where they think monterey jack is some dude from a place called monterey. [I posted this recipe.]
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Colorado Red Chili SauceIf you don't like your sauce as spicy as I do you could use dried poblanos. (Anchos). Although I think you really need to try the heat of the New Mexicans and Jalapenos. [I posted this recipe.]
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on Thursday, March 25, 2010
on Wednesday, February 17, 2010
on Monday, September 07, 2009
on Friday, August 14, 2009
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So so glad...I know you have some great football recipes....please share....im a football fan too, i actually brought dinner over for some friends who did not want to leave there house because of playoffs...so i brought dinner for them on football night...please share some good football appetizers with us here at bigOven...would love to give you a medal....happy you are still on board, miss you!!!
3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 6 hours, 23 minutes ago
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Hey, been missing your recipes...always looking for the hottest recipes out there and i know that you will deliver...hope all is well
3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 11 hours, 1 minutes ago
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you can pick up one of those magic bullets at CVS or riteaid or wallgreens, im on my second one, i coulnt live with out it, i take it with me when i go on cruises,lol, really, love it, its a must have in my kitchen, lost with out it, CCheryl
3 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes ago
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thank you so much for the medal, that was very nice of you, i see you converse with my seeeeester alot on here, (guitarmom), anyhow, im glad you like the coconut shrimp, its a major favorite around here, toasting the coconut is a great idea, i do that but just dint add the step cause i wanted to post a simple recipe, i also put the panko and coconut together in the magic bullet blender and blend them together, i dont think i put that step in the recipe either, but anyhow, its a great recipe and im glad that you like it to, thanks again, CCheryl
3 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes ago
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DARN!! Don't ya hate when that happens. Just glad you are still with us.
3 years, 7 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 17 hours, 51 minutes ago
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Like I said before, I like it hot, so I naturally gravitate towards the Mexican, Tex-Mex, Cajun sort of thing. One of my favorite foods that I'd never had a chance to try is Indian. This stuff is just, to me, outstanding stuff. I had to learn the hard way that it's not health food. I always thought with the chicken, vegetables and all that you could eat unlimited amounts. I was eating this stuff every night, then working out like mad every day. Soon I resembled a gorrilla. Then I befriended a Indian chef named Kamal and found out what ghee was. " You must be careful with this my friend" he says. Sheesh!!
What I like to cook the most here is slow smoked, Texas BBQ ribs. The Thai folks love it and the English and Europeans, for the most part have never had anything like it. This 4th of July I'll have 60 people at my house!!
Another thing I love to make is seafood gumbo. Living on an island, the seafood is cheaper than hamburger and I import the andoullie from the mainland.
One thing I miss here is beef brisket. I can't get through to the butcher how to cut the thing and I'm close to giving up. What I need is a Thai graduate of Texas A & M. Or Baylor, or something...
But, all in all, life is grand!!
