KYFF, Pork BBQ

George Hirsch April 20, 2023

I’m getting into dangerous territory here because I’m talking pork Q. I like nothing better than a slow-cooked smoked pork shoulder or butt served with a soft piece of bread and vinegary sauce. Sounds good, doesn't it? However, you’ll have to wait five-plus hours for the real deal or jump in the car and head to your favorite smokehouse. Here’s a solution. Whip up my BBQ Pork Sandwich as a snack while you slowly cook up a pork shoulder.

It’s a winner just from the reaction I’ve received over the years from my TV show and grilling it up on many TV shows. The trick is in a little advanced planning by applying a dry rub on a tender pork tenderloin for 24 hours, then quickly grill for 15-25 minutes! I’ve prepared this crowd-pleaser many times. Enjoy!

George Hirsch's Pork BBQ Sandwich

Makes six servings

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin

1/4 cup Pork Rub

2 Tablespoons olive oil

6 soft rolls or hamburger buns

1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup Q Sauce

Dry rub the pork tenderloin. Rub pork spices over pork tenderloin and refrigerate until ready to cook*. (*If time permits, putting the rub on one day prior or two hours before cooking will really increase the flavor)

PORK RUB:

2 teaspoons each of powdered garlic, paprika

1 Tablespoon each black pepper, rosemary, thyme, Chipotle rub

Q SAUCE:

1/4 cup BBQ Sauce

1/4 cup Steak Sauce

1/4 cup Hoisen sauce (Chinese BBQ sauce)

2 Tablespoons ketchup

2 Tablespoons cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients. Serve sauce warm or at room temperature.

TIP: To cut the cooking time in half, butterfly the meat. Use skewers to keep the meat from curling up.

To cook pork:

Pre Heat Grill to high heat.

Rub olive oil over the pork tenderloin. Place pork tenderloins on high heat and grill to golden brown turning once on all sides. Lower heat to medium, and cook until pork is fully cooked, about 15-25 minutes* (see *Tip). Remove from the grill and let the meat rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Slice pork tenderloin very thin, and pile high on soft buns. Drizzle Q Sauce over meat, and top with finely shredded cabbage.

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Top Of The Muffin To You

George Hirsch April 16, 2023

Who doesn’t like a good muffin? After all, once the recipe is mixed, it bakes in minutes and is ready to serve.

Tips: Using very ripe bananas (black) is the key to success with a banana muffin recipe. Save ripe bananas and freeze them in a plastic bag until you have enough to make a full recipe.

For a "lower fat" muffin, replace the butter in part or all with applesauce.

Banana Nut Muffins

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makes 10-12 muffins

Optional: For the Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons nuts, chopped

1 Tablespoon sweet butter

Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts in a small bowl. Blend butter in with a fork until the mixture is crumb-like.

For the Muffin Mix:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups, about 3-4 large very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup pure cane granulated sugar

3 Tablespoons honey

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 cup sweet butter, melted or replace with part/ all applesauce

Lightly grease 10 muffin cups or line them with muffin papers.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and follow the directions below.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, honey, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, zest, nuts, and melted butter. Fold in the banana mixture by hand with a spatula into the flour mixture until moistened.

Place batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three-quarters full. Divide the crumb topping evenly over the top of the muffin batter.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin; when a toothpick comes out clean or when touched lightly, the muffin should resist finger pressure slightly.

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Angel Wings

George Hirsch April 6, 2023

Galani is also known as fried ribbons, bow ties, or angel wings in the U.S. The ribbons of sweet pasta dough are fried and covered with sugar or honey. It takes on different names throughout central Europe including; chrusciki, krusczyk, frappe, frappole, sfrappole, flappe, cenci, crustci, donzelli, crostoli, galani in Veneto, lattughe, nastri delle suore, bugie, and gigi. No matter what you call them - they are addictive.

Angel Wings

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2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

6 egg yolks

pinch of salt

grated zest of 1 lemon

6 Tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon Sambuca, whiskey, or rum

frying oil

approximately 3/4 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar to pastries

By Mixer:

Place the flour in a mixing bowl with a dough hook, add all ingredients except the confectioners sugar, blend well at low speed, then mix for fifteen minutes.

By Hand:

If kneading by hand, make a well in the center. Add the egg yolks and rub in with the fingers until combined. Add all the other ingredients except the confectioner sugar. Blend well and keep kneading by repeating a pattern of folding the dough, flattening it, folding again, and flattening it for at least half an hour.

Divide the dough into four pieces and cover it in plastic wrap. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for one hour or overnight.

When ready to fry, roll out dough with a rolling stick 1/16th inch thick. Slice into one-and-a-half-inch wide strips. Cut the strips diagonally, preferably with a fluted pastry wheel, into 5-inch lengths. In each strip, cut a one-inch slit the long way in the middle. Pull one end of the strip through the slit so that it looks like a bowtie shape.

Preheat frying oil to 375F. Test a small piece first; it should become golden in about 45 seconds, then turn over. Fry the strips in small batches until they turn light golden, turning once. Drain on wire screens and allow to cool. When cool, move to a serving platter and dust with confectioners sugar.

Tip: The long mixing will create air pockets in the dough; you will want the air pockets to make the pastry puff when frying.

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All Natural Cupcake

George Hirsch February 13, 2023

Who doesn't like a cupcake?

With special gatherings and celebrations—why not make a homemade dozen rather than buy a store-bought version sans the preservatives. Here's my crowd-pleasing recipe for traditional vanilla cupcakes and a choice of vanilla or chocolate icing. Your cake eaters will undoubtedly know the difference!

Bake a little bit of love with Number Cakes or in 1700's aka 1, 2, 3, 4 Cakes...made w/ 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs. I prefer to call them Smiley Cakes as they bring a bit of a happy face with each and every cake.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 2 dozen

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1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter on medium speed until smooth. Scrape bowl, add the sugar gradually, and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs in three stages one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three stages, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over-mix. Scrape down the bowl after each addition to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Fill cupcake liners approximately three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the muffin pans for 5 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Icing or Chocolate Icing.

Vanilla Icing

Makes icing for 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Place room temperature and softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. Beat on medium speed beat until smooth and creamy 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl and gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition for approximately 2 minutes, until the icing is thick enough for spreading consistency.

You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Optional: Add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Icing is best used at room temperature, as it will harden when chilled.

Note: Store the icing at room temperature as icing will be set if chilled.

Chocolate Icing

Makes icing for 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Sift cocoa powder into six cups of confectionary sugar. Place room temperature and softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. Beat on medium speed beat until smooth and creamy 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl and gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition for approximately 2 minutes, until the icing is thick enough for spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Note: For deeper chocolate, heat just until melted,2 Tablespoons chocolate chips in the microwave and combine with butter and sugar before adding milk. Use and store the icing at room temperature as icing will be set if chilled.

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Eighteen Gallon Muffin

George Hirsch February 6, 2023

By my standards, this is the number one comfort dessert. This recipe is so good that I adapted it from my recipe that called for much larger portions—I used it at a hotel where we served about 25,000 meals daily. The original recipe called for eighteen gallons of milk. It should be no surprise that my original bread pudding recipe serves approximately 1000 people a day.

TIP: I like to use day-old French bread in my bread pudding recipe because it has more flavor than plain white. Cinnamon-raisin bread, croissants, sweet rolls, brioche, challah, and panettone can also be combined for part of the bread. Puree some seasonal berries for a sauce or serve with a vanilla sauce.

Apple-Raisin Bread Pudding Muffins

Makes 10-12 servings

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2 Granny Smith or baking apples, peel, core, and chop small

3-4 cups dry French Bread, cubed small

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped small

1/2 cup raisins, *plumped

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

4 cups milk, or use half milk and half & half

8 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup pure cane sugar, sugar can be slightly reduced if using sweetbreads

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 Teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons fresh grated orange zest

In a small saute pan, saute apples in 2 Tablespoons butter to soften slightly; remove and cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and nutmeg, and beat with a whisk until well blended. Slowly pour over the bread mixture. Press down on the bread until it’s completely covered with the milk mixture and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Add raisins and 1/2 of the cooled sautéed apple.

Grease a regular-size 12-cup muffin pan with butter or use muffin cup liners or individual ramekins.

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place bread pudding batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three-quarters full. Add the remaining apples on top of the batter.

Place a pan larger than the muffin pan in the preheated oven for the water bath and place the pan holding the bread pudding on top. Immediately fill the outer pan with enough hot water, so it comes up one inch on the sides of the muffin pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the water bath, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 10-15 additional minutes. Remove the bread-pudding muffins and allow them to sit for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan.

Serve Apple-Raisin Bread Pudding Muffins warm or cold with a warm fruit or vanilla sauce.

*To plump dried raisins add 2 tablespoons of water or orange juice and heat in a microwave for 30 seconds; drain orange juice back into pre-measured 1/3 cup orange juice.