Recipe ~ Basic Hummus

As always, if you just want the recipe without the story behind it, click here.

Nothing says healthy, delicious, protein packed, quick and easy summer snack or lunch quite like a tub of savoury hummus and some pita (or pita chips - Yum!) and fresh, crisp, raw veggies!

But along with hotter days seemingly everywhere, these days, we've also seen food prices rising faster than the temperatures, and that especially includes "luxury" foods like hummus. 

 But, what if I told you that this delicious staple of Mediterranean eats is yet another example of some of the cheapest possible ingredients available turned into something good and healthy to feed lots of people, commandeered by the grocery industry to be sold as, "ethnic" (AKA expensive) food for hipsters and people with more dollars than sense? Yup! That's right, my friends. This  trendy, expensive food enjoyed by rich people all over the world started centuries ago in the Mediterranean/Middle East as a simple, cheap dish for poor people. And, unlike the humble haggis, the core ingredients haven't even changed much in all that time! The recipe is still almost the same as it was back when poor families used cheap local crops like chickpeas, garlic, lemon, and sesame seeds to mash ingredients together by hand in stone bowls, for a dip that gave workers cheap fuel for the hard, physical labour that they did every day just to survive. 

The exact origin of the dish is a matter of FIERCE dispute, with several regions claiming responsibility, and is an interesting read, if you are a nerd, like me. And if you really want to nerd out, it gets even more interesting! 

Fast forward a few thousand years, and as immigrants travelled to new countries in the West, they brought many of their food traditions with them. Before you know it, fancy chefs in big cities were adding it to their menus, also adding (of course) expensive toppings like pine nuts, lamb, and olive oil to make it "better" for diners willing to pay top dollar for such exotic fare. 

Next, doctors and food writers got on the bandwagon, dubbing chickpeas (rightfully, to be fair) a healthy superfood. So, now that those who could afford to pay more to eat healthy were properly primed, specialty groceries could sell small plastic tubs of this super healthy, heavenly hummus at crazy markups. Now, you can find it at pretty much any supermarket or convenience store, still marked up, but not quite as much, and warehouse and big box stores will sell it to you at significant savings, compared to what we've all gotten used to paying. 

Fun fact: The word "hummus" simply means "chickpea" in Arabic. In the Middle East, ordering just "hummus" may just get you a bowl of whole chickpeas; the creamy dip is actually called hummus bi tahini. Either way, it will still be a cheap accompaniment to your bread and veggies, cause it's still just a staple there, and the only extra ingredients you'll find are likely to be whatever happens to be in season or local spices and such, and the olive oil, cause that is much more available now, both in the Mediterranean and Middle East, and globally, to the point that it figures heavily as part of the Mediterranean diet. So do chickpeas and hummus, incidentally. 

Simple ingredients.  

I discovered how cheap, fast, and easy it really is to make this delightfully delish dish years ago, but somehow have neglected to post it until now. 

Back when I originally learned to make it, you still had to go to a higher end supermarket or order from Amazon to get tahini, but now it is available even at the local Walmart, or other big box store, right along with all the other ingredients. Even better, enough tahini, the most expensive ingredient, to make around 8 batches of this recipe, can be had for a few cents more than two 10 oz tubs of ready-made hummus at the same Walmart. And the rest of the ingredients for a 32 oz batch, all together, might buy you one more of those 10 oz tubs. Matter of fact, I'll put the full, Walmart (cause we're poor people here, dammit!) price breakdown under the recipe, cause why not?

So, anyway, this consists of minimal, cheap ingredients, and literally takes around 5 minutes to make if you have a food processor, or even a blender, in a pinch. That includes grabbing stuff from cupboards, plugging in the food processor, and opening cans and jars! (It will take longer if you mash it by hand in a stone bowl.) Dump all but oil in, process a few seconds, pulse a few more times whilst adding oil a bit at a time. Done. That's it. 

 
So, without further ado, here is the recipe.

Khaos' Basic Hummus

Prep Time: 3 minutes
"Cook" Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: Approximately 4 Cups
Method: Food Processor or Blender

Equipment

• Food processor - standard blade
• Rubber spatula to scrape every bit of goodness out
• Serving/storage container 

Ingredients

• 3 cups home cooked or 2 cans (15.5-16 oz, depending on brand) chickpeas (AKA garbanzo beans), liquid reserved
• 1/2 cup bean liquid
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (or pre-ground, but meh)
• 2-4 Tbs lemon juice
• 1+ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika

Directions

1. Put everything except oil in food processor & hit it until smooth. 
2. Add olive oil a little at a time and process until desired consistency.
3. Put in a serving/storage container and enjoy with pita, chips, veggies, or whatever else strikes your fancy! 

Notes

• Add in any kind of extras for different flavours you desire. 
• Roasted peppers
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Roasted garlic
• Artichokes
• Roasted eggplant
• any kinds of peppers/chillies
• Check out the different varieties in the stores and let your imagination run wild! 
• To cook beans in Instant Pot: 
  
  • Put beans + water to 3 inches above bean level in pot. Don't fill more than 2/3 full. 
  • Pressure cook on high (default for most pots) 35 minutes and allow natural release.
  • Extra beans and liquid can be portioned and frozen for future use. 
     
    Click here for more great recipes!
    
    
    
  And now, for the promised price breakdown!

 

What Does a Batch Actually Cost?

Prices checked August 29, 2026. These are regular prices, not sale prices, using the least expensive practical options I found at my local Walmart unless otherwise noted.

This recipe makes approximately 4 Cups, or 32 oz, of hummus.

• Chickpeas - Pick One

Canned:
2 cans Great Value Garbanzo Chickpeas, 15.5 oz each - $0.92 each
Cost per batch: $1.84

Dried:
Great Value Dried Chickpeas, 1 lb - $1.46
Approximately 1 Cup dried chickpeas, or about 7 oz, yields the roughly 3 Cups cooked needed for one batch.
Cost per batch: about $0.64

I particularly love how neatly that works out - one Cup dry beans becomes almost exactly the amount this recipe needs.

• Tahini

Krinos Tahini, 16 oz - $6.47

1/4 Cup per batch
Cost per batch: about $0.86

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 101 fl oz - $27.12

1/4 Cup, or 2 fl oz, per batch
Cost per batch: about $0.54

• Lemon Juice

Great Value 100% Lemon Juice, 32 fl oz - $2.24

2-4 Tbs, or 1-2 fl oz, per batch
Cost per batch: about $0.07-$0.14

• Garlic - Pick One

Fresh garlic:
Fresh garlic bulb - $0.64 each

Assuming an average of around 10 cloves per bulb, 2 cloves costs approximately:
$0.13 per batch

Dried minced garlic - in store:
McCormick Minced Garlic, 9 oz - $9.72

The generally accepted substitution, and McCormick's own recommendation, is 1/4 tsp dried minced garlic per fresh clove. Therefore, 2 cloves = 1/2 tsp dried minced garlic.

Cost per batch: about $0.04

Dried minced garlic - bulk/shipped:
Food to Live Minced Garlic, 2 lb - $14.65

Using the same 1/2 tsp, approximately 1 gram, per batch:

Cost per batch: about $0.02

• Cumin

Great Value Ground Cumin, 2.5 oz - $1.48

1 tsp per batch
Cost per batch: about $0.04

• Paprika

Great Value Paprika, 2.5 oz - $1.08

1 tsp per batch
Cost per batch: about $0.04

• Salt and Pepper

Both are used to taste and the amount is tiny, so I am allowing approximately:

$0.03 per batch

Total Cost for Approximately 4 Cups / 32 oz

Depending on which chickpeas and garlic you use:

Canned chickpeas + fresh garlic: about $3.54-$3.61

Canned chickpeas + in-store dried minced garlic: about $3.45-$3.52

Canned chickpeas + bulk dried minced garlic: about $3.43-$3.50

Dried chickpeas + fresh garlic: about $2.34-$2.41

Dried chickpeas + in-store dried minced garlic: about $2.25-$2.32

Dried chickpeas + bulk dried minced garlic: about $2.23-$2.30

The range is mostly because the recipe calls for 2-4 Tbs lemon juice.

So, depending on how you make it, a full 32 oz batch of hummus costs somewhere around $2.25-$3.60.

And this is exactly why looking at the checkout price of pantry staples can be misleading. Yes, buying a jar of tahini and a giant bottle of extra virgin olive oil costs more up front. You are not using the entire jar and bottle to make one batch of hummus, and, presumably, not JUST using them for hummus either!

The actual amount of that $27.12 bottle of EVOO used here costs about 54 cents.

The actual amount of that $6.47 jar of tahini costs about 86 cents.

And that is the difference between the price of stocking a kitchen and the price of making a meal.

Recipe ~ Khaos' Whisky Cream Sauce (Non Alcoholic!)

As always, if you just want the recipe, without the story behind it, click here.

Last week, I posted my recipe for Haggis, which was the result of over two months of intense research into the dish and its history and origins.

As I discovered, just as one does not simply walk into Mordor, one does not simply make a haggis - without neeps & tatties, and whisky sauce!

Haggis, neeps, and tatties with whiskey sauce

(Photo by Bagpiper, Baker, Author, and Official Taste Tester, Don Scobie)

 So, of course, I had to do the additional research to devise the best possible recipes for those, made specifically to perfectly complement my Scottish American Recession Haggis.

As usual, I explored several existing recipes, history, references, and the like. As it turns out, whisky sauce is a relatively modern addition to the "traditional" meal. This is unsurprising, seeing as whisky, especially the good stuff, is not cheap, nor was it exactly plentiful to the peasantry, from whom haggis as a common meal likely originated. 


That said, it pretty well goes hand in hand with the dish nowadays, and it's freaking delicious! At least this version is. The delicious is the main reason for including it, despite my work to return to the more humble origins for my haggis recipe. The "not actually as traditional as often implied" is the reason I had no qualms whatsoever about messing with the recipe in less "traditional" ways. None of the recipes I found out there call for the addition of rum extract or smoke powder, but that's what my palate said it needed during taste testing, so in they went! Nor did I find so much as a whisper of a hint of a non alcoholic version. 
Then again, since when has not finding what I wanted stopped me? Since never! That's when!  

 

 So, technically, it's a simple matter to just switch out the whisky (or whiskey, if you prefer) for an alternative, and that is basically what I did, but I decided that this recipe would be focussed specifically on it being a no alcohol version. I know it is still a "well known fact" that alcohol cooks out of most things, but that turns out not to be the case. You have to actually boil or simmer something for a matter of hours to remove even the majority of the alcohol, and you are not going to be able to guarantee removing even enough to legally qualify as non-alcoholic (0.05% ABV) unless you've got some mighty expensive testing equipment just lying around. Luckily, a company called Ritual Zero-Proof has created some great, botanical "alternatives" to spirits. 

So far, I've only tried their whiskey alternative, but it holds up pretty dang well! No, it isn't Scotch Whisky alternative. It is American style, so if you want to go for super authentic Scottish recipe, you're SOL if you want a NA version. So far, anyway. Maybe if we petition the company...

Anyway, this stuff is great and works well for the recipe. I highly recommend it. It's not really intended to be drunk neat, but it even kinda works there, as long as you're not expecting top shelf taste, so if ya want to use it for your "wee dram", you may want to go with putting it in Coke or coffee or some other mixed drink. But this isn't a review for that, so, moving along...

In addition to your haggis supper, try this sauce on steaks, chops, salmon, other fish, any style potatoes, roast veggies, and anything else you can imagine!

Another plate of haggis, neeps, and tatties with whiskey sauce.

We put it on beef heart sandwiches for lunch recently, and it was to die for! I'll probably post that recipe sometime in the foreseeable future too, since the reaction to my mealtime food porn posts were so positive.

Seasoned, broiled beef heart slices on toasted ciabatta with sharp cheddar, red onion. mayo, and whisky cream sauce.

Khaos' Whiskey Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
    • 16 oz heavy cream
    • 1 Tbs whole grain or stone ground mustard
    • 1 Tbs creamy type Dijon mustard
    • 2-3 Tbs whiskey alternative (or actual whisky, if you prefer)
     • 1/2 tsp rum extract
    • 1 tsp sea salt
    • 1 tsp white pepper
    • 1 tsp onion powder
    • a pinch hickory smoke powder or dash liquid smoke
    • 1 generous Tbs butter (Use REAL butter or just omit it. No substitutes.)

Directions: 

* If using real whisky, FIRST pour whiskey into your pan and carefully set alight to burn off some of the alcohol and remove bitterness. It should go out on its own, but keep the pan lid handy, just to be on the safe side.

    • Heat cream in small saucepan on medium heat
    • As it heats, whisk in other ingredients and mix well
    • Bring to gentle simmer and cook, stirring often for about 4-6 minutes.
    • Turn to lowest setting and hold to serve for up to an hour, stirring occasionally.
    • Drizzle over haggis, neeps, tatties (potatoes), steaks, salmon,  roasts, etc. 
    • Try not to eat/drink it straight. It IS delicious, but very high in fat and calories.
    • Store in airtight containers for up to a week in refrigerator, 2-3 months in standard freezer, or indefinitely in deep freezer @0°F or below.

Thrifty Kitchen Tip ~ Quick, Easy, and Basically Free Marinades

As usual, we're going with the theme of, "don't throw it away"!

Those  unused condiment packs from take out or delivery meals, like spice or seasoning packets, dipping sauces, salad dressings, honey, sweet and sour, soy sauce, hot sauce, jams/jelly/preserves, etcetera, as well as your own leftover bits/dregs of salad dressing, beer, wine, spirits, soft drinks, juice, mixed drinks,and all manner of other small bits of stuff can be reused and turned into delicious marinades, glazes, and other additions to meals. 
Sometimes, you even find something that ends up being the "secret ingredient" that pushes a good meal over the top to awesome! 

I often go hunting in the kitchen for the almost empty bottles of sauces or salad dressings to incorporate into a spur of the moment marinade. 

Use a little bit of water, beer/ale/lager/etc, wine, coffee, soft drink or juice to pour in almost empty bottles and shake up to get the last little bits out of the bottle and into your delicious creation!

As you add each new ingredient, use your nose. Smell the mixure. Smell things you have around to possibly put in it. Smell what you want to marinate. Imagine how those will be combined! Science has revealed what home cooks and famous chefs alike have known all along; 80%-90% of how food "tastes" is actually how it smells!
So put your sniffer to work to whip up an amazing, on the fly marinade for your next meal or few. 


And remember, it's not just meats that you can marinate a few hours or a few days to turn a decent dish into a decadent delight that will impress the heck out of everyone who tastes it. 


As for how to save those little condiments and culinary bits and bobs...



Packs that are unopened and/or already individually packaged can go right in the freezer as-is. I like to put them in Ziploc, freezer bags, just to keep them together and easy to find. 

For stuff that isn't pre-packaged, check out this post.

Getting the most out of your lettuce harvest!

So, as you already know, if you've been reading this blog much at all, I started growing my own food with a couple AeroGarden setups last December. I have gone from some seeds/seed pods and water to a kitchen that looks kinda like a jungle with all the potted plants (from transplanting) everywhere as well as the AeroGardens, and it's ALL edible, and in many cases, also medicinal. Which is awesome, but isn't really what this post is about.

This is, specifically, regarding my lettuces, which, by now, I have divided and regrown countless times. I went from 6 pods initially to... I don't even know now. I have lettuce everywhere. 

Seriously, just today I harvested about 2.5 POUNDS of lettuce leaves, cause even though I still had about 1/2 pound left in the fridge (and I eat a LOT of salad), it had gotten tall and big enough to interfere with the grow lights and keep new leaves from growing properly! 
There's still enough left on the plants that I could make another huge salad just with another harvest, but I can also let them grow just fine for another few days or so before I have to prune any more. 

That is a freaking LOT of lettuce! 
I have enough excess now that I can start trading my extra salad greens with a friend who keeps chickens, for fresh eggs. How awesome is that!? (It's pretty dang awesome!)

Anyway, initially, I was thinking the harvest "season" for them was going to be a lot shorter than it is, because that is what everyone said, including the AeroGarden folks. Well, I've already had about double the "expected" harvest season, but I still thought I was going to need to "retire" some of the plants pretty soon. Here's why. 

At a certain point, the lettuce starts to bolt, no matter how well and faithfully you've been pruning. The stalks start getting taller and more woody, and you still have a decent amount of leaves, but you also have the lettuces trying to flower, and you've got a lot more thick stems that are just too tough to enjoy in a salad, even if you chop them up pretty well. So, in terms of growing "real estate", if you have a limited area in which to grow all that you are going to grow, you end up with more by-product than it's worth to keep the plants growing, rather than starting new plants, which are almost exclusively tasty, tender, lettuce leaves. 
Right?
Wrong!! 
As it turns out, these stems and flower buds are totally usable in anything where you'd use broccoli stems, carrots, thicker asparagus, etc. 
Like the awesome "stratarole" that is in the oven as I type this. 

Also great chopped up and roasted with root veggies or Brussels sprouts, tossed in stir frys, minced finely into soups, sauces (like spaghetti sauce), or anywhere else you want to sneak in some extra leafy green veggie nutrition. 

And, speaking of nutrition, get this; The stalks and stems often have an even higher concentration - up to double for certain nutrients, like vitamin C - of the vitamins and minerals found in the leaves! 


The flavour of the stalks is generally going to be similar to the leaf flavour profile, and may be a little bitter, owing to lactucarium - the milky, white sap that is produced in this phase of growing (which also has medicinal properties, as a mild sedative and analgesic, in sufficient quantities). It's perfectly edible and not at all harmful, but you could rinse it off if you wanted to. I never bother. Once the stalks are cooked and even lightly seasoned, it's not at all noticeable, and even less so cooked along with other ingredients. 

The leaves you get from these stalks are going to tend to be a bit more bitter than when the plant was younger, but as long as you're mixing them in with your younger lettuces, it isn't at all unpleasant. You may not be as prone to want to munch them directly from the stalk as you harvest, like the more tender leaves, if you prefer only sweeter lettuces, but they will still be a super tasty addition to your salads too. 

To keep harvesting the stalks and leaves, just use sharp scissors or small pruners and cut the stalks right off, as far down as you feel like. Just make sure there is still some budding leave growth showing below the cut, and it will be all good. Strip the leaves off and put with the rest of your leaves, and store the stems like you would store broccoli or asparagus. 

I suppose there may be a point at which even this extended harvest ends, but it's been four months, and I have yet to find it. I'll update when/if I discover it. 

Enjoy your new cooking vegetables, and please feel free to comment or contact me with any new recipes or uses you find with it!

Recipe ~ Creamed Lemon Herb Chicken Rice Bake

As always, if you just want the recipe, without the story behind it, click here, or check out the AllRecipes Link. And if you make it (or someone else makes it and you eat it), PLEASE leave a review there too!

 
As is often the case, this recipe came about because I needed to use up stuff before it went bad, and my search for a recipe didn't yield the results I wanted. 

 This time, I had a lot of extra thyme on my hands, from the necessary pruning of my herb garden, a couple lemons that were beginning to get elderly, an abundance of carrots (3+lbs!), and a nice bunch of kale that was in danger of being squished too much in an overly full produce crisper drawer. 
So, it was time to start getting creative. Some kind of lemon thyme chicken and rice was obvious to me, so I started looking on the net. 

There are lots of recipes out there for lemon thyme chicken, and it's pretty popular and is definitely tasty, but wasn't quite what I was looking for. I wanted something more hearty, that would be an entire meal, and didn't need a ton of steps. I was also kind of craving a creamy sort of dish, and knew I wanted the carb base to be rice. 
Most of the recipes I found that were even close to what I was thinking called for a ton of extra steps and extra pans that were, IMO, unnecessary. Also, pre-cooking the chicken and onions in extra oil, just to put them in a pan that already has oil? Why? More time, less healthy. Just no!


So, that is how this dish was born! 
It is perfect for when you will be home, but have other things to do, cause you can do a few minutes of work and then just leave it to do its thing with minimal checking and no stirring, turning, basting, etc. 
It's also great for tossing in small amounts of whatever veggies you have on hand, but not really enough for a dish on their own. 

You do need to make the marinade and put the chicken in it at least a couple hours in advance, but if you just put the chicken straight from the freezer into the marinade the day or 2 before, you will be marinating it whilst it thaws, so more efficient and easier. 

Here are a couple photos of the marinade mixture all ready for the chicken to be added. 

I like easy! Don't you?

Don't forget to save the bones for free, delicious, homemade chicken broth!
              

Creamed Lemon Herb Chicken Rice Bake

INGREDIENTS:

    •  6-8 or so chicken thighs w/skin and bones (you can do skinless/boneless, but it will be less flavourful and more dry)

 
    • Marinade
        • 1/4 Cup olive oil
        • 1/3 cup lemon juice
        • 2-3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
        • 1 med-lg sliced onion
        • 5+ cloves minced garlic
        • 2-4 sprigs thyme
        • 1-2 sprigs rosemary
        • 2 Tbs or so oregano
        • 1 Tbs onion powder
        • sm-med lemon sliced
        • Black pepper to taste (I use about 1 Tbs)
    • 2 cups uncooked rice
    • 4-5 cups chicken broth or water
    • 1 can French onion soup*
    • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup*
    • 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
    • 1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste
    • 1 large or 2-3 med/small carrots, sliced or chopped (optional)
    • A handful or so kale, roughly chopped (optional)
    • Whatever veggies you have on hand and need/want to use
              
*(You can omit the soups, and use extra chicken, beef, or veg broth, and add a cup of milk and a couple Tbsp flour)

DIRECTIONS:
Earlier in the day or up to 2 days prior:
    • Combine marinade ingredients in a Ziploc type bag. Tear the herbs into smaller pieces and rub/bruise them between your fingers as you drop them into the bag.
    • Squish everything around in the bag, rubbing bag sides together, until everything is well combined and onions are kind of soft.
    • Add chicken to bag and squish around more until all chicken is well coated
    • Squeeze all excess air from bag and store in the fridge at least an hour or so, preferably overnight, up to 2 days, turning the bag over once or twice a day to marinate evenly.
Day of:
    • Preheat oven to 350°F.
    • Remove chicken from bag and set aside (or just be careful when dumping marinade stuff)
    • Combine rice, veggies, soups, water/broth, and half the marinade mixture (including solids) in a cast iron Dutch oven or greased casserole dish.
    • Stir well, until everything is evenly distributed.
    • Dump chicken and remaining bag contents on top of rice mixture.
    • Arrange chicken, lemon, and onion pieces evenly across the top.
    • Season chicken with salt, pepper, or other seasonings (I use Montreal steak seasoning) to taste.
    • Bake for an hour or so (until rice is tender and chicken internal temp is 175°F**).
   
**(Yes, the chicken is SAFE to consume when cooked to 165°F, but thigh meat should be cooked to 175-180°F in order to dissolve the connective tissue, resulting in more tender, juicy chicken. Science! It works.)

Dry brining a turkey (with recipe and SCIENCE!)

 As always, if you just want the recipe, without the story behind it, click here

I finally decided, this year, to try brining the turkey, just to see if it makes a difference.
Now, I have always done a dry rub on it before I put it in the smoker, so I figured it wouldn't make THAT much difference.

Boy was I wrong!
 
As it turns out, there is science behind brining, and, contrary to our mothers' and grandmothers' collective wisdom (well, MY generation's mothers and grandmothers, anyway. I'm pushing 50 now, after all!), salt is NOT the mortal enemy of poultry, or any meats, really.
We were all taught (and often taught others), that salting meat before cooking would dry it out, because it sucks all the moisture right out. Then we were reminded that salt is the main component used for drying out meats to make jerky. Add to that the fact that the salt also makes the meat much tougher. There was even science to back it up; High salt content forces the meat's proteins to bind together, making tougher meat. What more proof could we need??
Technically, all of those "supporting" statements are true, but there is more to the story! 

Yes, salt is used for dehydrating and preserving meats. LOTS of salt. Like, a crapton of salt! Along with circulating air in a dry environment. And yes, salt does draw the moisture out of meats. 

When brining, however, for one, you don't use as much salt, and also, you aren't hanging the meat out in a a drying shed (or modern equivalent). With the exception of (optionally) the last 12-24 hours of brining, the meat is kept in an at least reasonably sealed container. 

So, now we get to the sciencey bits. When the water is drawn out to the surface of the meat. it mixes with the salt, sugar, and flavouring herbs/spices. Then, since it is closed up and refrigerated, the mixture is absorbed back into the meat.
The lower salt concentration, like used for brining (wet or dry), actually helps break down the muscle tissue which tenderises the meat, and also helps the cells in the meat hold more water, and hold it in better (along with the other flavourings). This happens because, as the muscle fibres break down, it creates more spaces for water to collect in between the "layers". All of these things, together, result in a plumper, juicier, more flavourful piece of meat.

Being the nerdy foodie that I am (is there any other kind, really?), all this science talk really made me want to experiment. I was already fairly well convinced by the facts laid out with supporting documents, citations, and a lot more extra sciencey stuff. If you want the REALLY long version, just Google search the science of brining. If you're anything like me, be prepared to lose several hours  in the process. I don't know where they went. It's like some sort of internet, science, wibbly, wobbly, timey wimey vortex or something. 

ANYWAY, Now committed to the experiment, I looked up the basic ratios of salt to meat, looked at several other brine recipes, none of which quite made me happy, and proceeded to devise my own, which will be below. Once my turkey was completely thawed, about 4 days prior to the main event, I rubbed it well with the brine mixture. 
There are more detailed instructions to be found all over the web, but the upshot is, you want your bird to be fairly dry before you start. Some insist that you must actually pat it all the way dry, but I didn't bother with that degree. Do what makes you happy. 

Then, you sprinkle around 2-4 teaspoons (more or less depending on size. I did 4, cause it was a 23 lb bird) of your brine mixture into the cavity and rub it in, then sprinkle and rub about double that amount on the breasts, including under the skin (peel the skin up very carefully), and then distribute the rest on the outside of the skin of the rest of the fowl creature (see what I did there? Har har har). Once it's all coated, wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap, or, better still, put it in a giant, ziploc type bag (like a brining bag!), remove as much of the air as possible from it, and pop it in the fridge for 4-5 days. You can get away with less, but the longer it sits, the more evenly distributed the brine solution will be, and the more time it has to do its work. 
If you want a beautiful, golden brown, crispy skin and you are not smoking your turkey, take the plastic off for the last 12-24 hours before roasting. 

Now, I have been smoking my turkeys for several years now, and they have always turned out nice and moist, despite the naysayers out there, but this one... Oh my gods! It was the most juicy, succulent, flavourful turkey I've ever had, and I had just about everyone at my gathering tell me the same thing. 

 

The only difference from the last several years was the brining, so I am definitely a believer from here on out! 
Yes, that means I need to add an extra few days into my prep calculations, cause it needs to be thawed before it's brined, but it is SO worth it! I just wish I'd tried jumping on the bandwagon before this year, but I tend to be a slow adapter of a lot of things. 

It means I take a complete pass on the majority of ridiculous fads that come and go and make us wonder what anyone was ever thinking, but sometimes it also means I miss out on something wonderful for longer than I could've. I think it's a fair trade off. 

So, hopefully, this has convinced at least one of my readers to give it a go, and enjoy the amazing results!

Now, as promised, here is my dry brine recipe. 

Keep in mind that this was for a 23 lb turkey. The ratio is about 1 tablespoon of salt for every 5-6 pounds of turkey, so adjust that and then adjust the other amounts accordingly. 

Khaos' Turkey Dry Brine

•  3 Tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt  
•  2 Tbsp sugar   
• 1 Tbsp coarse grind peppercorn medley
•  2 Tbsp poultry seasoning
•  1-2 Tbsp Montreal (or generic Canadian) steak seasoning
•  1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp each lemon, lime, and clementine peel, finely zested (any citrus may be used)

Put it all in a small bowl or shaker and mix it up well, then get to rubbing that naked bird! (Yup. I had to go there!)

Happy holidays, everyone!

As always, if you just want the recipe, without the story behind it, click here.

I love this time of year, when the oppressive heat of summer has faded into crisp mornings, with the scent of dry and mulching leaves and a hint of wood smoke carried on the brisk, autumn breezes. 
It's the perfect time for hearty soups and fresh, whole grain breads to warm body and soul on these chilly nights! 

So, the other day, we got a bunch of extra potatoes from my daughter, and I had this Black Butte Porter that I'd been wanting to use in my Ram copycat beer cheese soup, but I didn't have any bacon or ham thawed. What I did have thawed though, was a pack of German sausages. Then I realised, "Hey! It's October! I should make an Oktoberfest soup thing!"  And thus was born this recipe. It turned out absolutely delicious, filling, and perfect with a nice, crusty bread. Round it out with a nice, dark greens salad and you've got a spread worthy of any table!

 

Oktoberfest Ale Potato Cheese Soup

Yield: approx 6 quarts

 

Ingredients: 

 • 3 Tbs olive oil
• 2-4 cloves minced garlic
• 2 med/lg onions, chopped or sliced
• 1 cup shredded or finely chopped red cabbage
• 1 lb German (or other) smoked sausages cut into disks about 1/4" thick
• About 1/4 lb baby carrots or chopped/sliced regular carrots
• 1 tsp sea salt (more or less to taste)
• 2-3 tsp freshly ground black pepper or pepper medley (more or less to taste)
• 1 Tbs smoked paprika 
• 1tsp mustard powder
• 6 or so cups bone broth (or filtered water +2 heaping Tbs each chicken and beef broth base)
• 8 or so medium sized potatoes (any variety/ies) - sliced or chopped into bite sized pieces 
• A pint or 2 of your favourite dark ale, porter, or stout (Try a pumpkin stout!!)
• 1-2 Cups shredded, sharp cheddar
• 1/2 - 1 lb sour cream or plain, Greek yogurt      

 

Directions: 

1. In a 6qt or larger pot, sauté onion, cabbage, and garlic in the oil until onions start to turn transparent
2. Add sausage and continue sautéing a few minutes longer, until the sausages are slightly seared.
3. Add carrots, spices, and broth base (if using) and sauté a few minutes more (keep stirring - be sure to scrape bottom of pot regularly).
4. Add potatoes, ale, and enough water/broth to reach just below the fill line/top of pot and give a good stir. (If using Instant pot, lock lid on with valve set to pressure and set it for 13 minutes on manual - let pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes or so - then ok to manually release. Skip steps 5 & 6).
5. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes and carrots are tender.
7. Add cheese and sour cream/yogurt and stir in until smoothly combined.
8. Enjoy!  

Presto Pesto Potato Roast

  As promised in this post, here is another of the recipes born of my extra large produce haul. 

Ingredients: 

• about 1 lb fingerling potatoes, cut as needed to bite size pieces
• 2-3 large carrots, sliced thickly, greens removed (don't throw them out! You can use them for the pesto.)
• about 1 lb fresh green beans, ends snapped off and broken to bite size pieces 
• several healthy shakes Montreal steak seasoning 
• about 1 cup presto pesto (recipe here)

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Prep/cut veggies and toss them in a large, cast iron skillet or roasting pan with the seasoning and pesto. 
3. Roast in 400°F until veggies are tender and slightly browned (about 30-40 minutes), stirring a couple times to make sure everything browns/cooks evenly. 
4. Serve with a flourish (optional)
5. Pretend/allow your family or guests to think it took a lot more time and effort to prepare (optional)
6.  Enjoy! (Probably not optional)

The finished product isn't nearly as pretty as it is in progress, I admit. That said, the textures and flavour more than make up for the presentation. If you really want to make it look better, garnish with a dollop of uncooked pesto and a bit of carrot greens. That will dress it up nicely. My batch got eaten up too fast to allow for any fancy looking garnishes!