Hash Browns!

I APOLOGIZE! I REALLY DO I'M SORRY!

Ok, I know... I know.. I'm a horrible person for not updating!! So sue me (don't really please.. I'm broke!). A lot has happened since I posted! For what you might ask? Well for 1: I graduated college! Yay me! For 2: I got a purdy new job! Double yay me!

Alright, lets get to the cooking, you see the picture above and it's got you curious. You ask aloud: "BSH how can I too make a delicious fried potato creation?!? Please, share your amazing fried secrets!" This is the part of the show where Paula Deen would normally yell "MOREEEEE BUTTTERRRR!!!" But I don't eat butter and I use oil.

Ok friends, family, readers and creepers; here's how you get started.

What you'll need:

• Oil
• Potatoes
• Onion
• Large grater
• Cheese Cloth, or Paper Towels
• Salt
• Pepper

That is it! Ready for this 'super complicated recipe!?" Well keep on reading!

Step One: Peel and wash the tater

Step Two: Grab that grater and shred that tater on the size you prefer. Also grate a bit of onion into this and don't stop till you got nothing left! Also, watch those knuckles! Nobody like bloody, skin sprinkled hash browns!
Step Three: Place the shredder potato in the cheese cloth, or 2 paper towels and SQUEEZE the living hell out of it! I mean, really! Squeeze till it is bone dry!
Step Four: Heat a pan with a decent amount of oil till it is SUPER hot.
Step Five: Placed that taters into the pan, and flatten out. Cook till golden and deliciously brown!
Step Six: Eat! (I prefer a ketchup dip!)

There you have it folks! A simple, super easy, delicious hash brown recipe! 

Pulled Pork 2: Better, tastier, and more amazing.

A New Challenger has arrived!

Hello fellow food lovers. I have decided that I will take on "Man Food's" Pulled Pork with my own pulled pork recipe. Though this might cause a little rivalry in the family at Best Served Hot, I welcome it with open arms and a empty stomach.
I have tasted both this recipe and Man Food's recipe and let me say this. The recipe before this wasn't man food.. It was more along the lines of "Boys Food." That's right, JB step aside, for your baby brother is coming to play.
I would like to start off by saying that making this is extremely easy, all you need to do is to set several hours set aside. Might I also add not starting this around 5pm, this would ensure you're not up at 2am. I would also like to say that if I am capable of making this awesome food in the space that I am currently living, than you my fellow readers have no excuse as to why you can't make something this delicious. I say this because this entire recipe was created and completed in a kitchen at a Fraternity House; see what I mean by having no excuses??? Now man up

Okay, now lets push the sibling rivalry aside because we will know who the winner is (and please Linzatart, leave this recipe to the men).


This recipe can normally feed, lets say 6 people. Or in my case 3 - 4 hungry Fraternity Brothers.

Here's what you'll need:

• 6 - 8 lb Pork Shoulder (Actually use shoulder, and not tender loin like the other recipe shows... please and thank you)
• 2 Cans ( 24 oz ) of Root Beer
• About half bottle of Blue Moon (what was already opened)
• 1 Bottle of a Spicy BBQ Sauce
• 2 Tbls Vinegar
• 2 Cloves Garlic (Grated)
• 1 Medium Onion (Grated)
• 2 Tsp Crush Red Peppers
• 1 Tbls Tomato Paste
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• Salt and Pepper
• 6 Large Rolls
• 1 Crock Pot
• 1 Large pot

First thing is first. If your using shoulder it is time to remove the bone from the shoulder. Don't be afraid grab a knife and start cutting. You don't have to cut the bone out in 1 cut, you are allowed to cut pieces of meat and throw them into the crock pot. I chose to leave the skin on the meat which will  be explained later. Once you managed to wrangle the bone out of the meat, throw it away. (NOTE: People like to think its smart to give the bone to animals... DON'T). Next, start adding your ingredients, (DON'T ADD THE BLUE MOON) I chose to leave the the garlic and onion for last because I needed to find a cheese grater. Once you added all the ingredients use the mini grater on a cheese grater to grate the onion and garlic. Stir and mix well. Cover your crock pot and put on HIGH for 3 hours. 

Okay, welcome back gang! It's time to check on that pulled pork! WHAT?!? There's a bunch of liquid and it doesn't look that pretty? Relax, it's supposed to be like that. Now stir your mixture again and just make sure it's still there. It is now time to turn it to LOW for about 6 hours. You want to check on the meat starting at the 6th hour. I did this ever hour until I was able to pull the pork apart with ease.

Phew! Alright, I hope you didn't start this at 5 pm like I did; because it would be getting awfully late right now! So its about time that this pork is able to be pulled apart with two forks, and if it is take all the pork out of the juices and put it onto a very, very large plate. WAIT! Before you go ape shit and start shredding the pork like no one's business take the thick skin off!
Heat up a large pot and wait until its extremely hot. Throw in a little oil and throw in that pork skin! The skin has a lot of flavor in it, so cook that up for 10 - 15 minutes on a medium to medium high heat. This is when that Blue Moon beer comes into play, throw that in the pot and scrap the flavors off the bottom. Now add the sauce in batches. This is when I started pulling the pork apart. I chose a ladle and ladled in roughly a quarter of the juice at a time, waiting 10 - 20 minutes between each one. Once all of the juices are boiling, make sure you grab a weapon of choice to beat off any hungry scavengers picking at your pile of delicious food. For safe keeping transfer pork into a large bowl and cover with foil. I fought off these hungry vultures for almost 2 hours while my sauce rendered down into a thick, delicious sauce.

Welcome back Comrade! Did you win the victory over the hungry vultures??? Good. Now that the sauce is rendered down and is thick and amazing looking. It is time to strain out the skin and transfer that sauce into the bowl filled with that delicious pulled pork. I did this with slotted spoons, but if you have a wire mesh strainer that would be a million times easier. Mix the sauce into the pulled pork and call those hungry vultures; it's time to feast.

By the time I finished, it was 2 am, (I even tweeted how normal that is for me). 

When we first tasted this, our first expressions were:

And yours will be too.

Lobster Galore!!

Here's what you need:

2lbs Lobster meat
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 lbs. Butter
2 medium slices onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

Directions:
First, lets cook the lobster. To do this boil the lobsters for just under 10 minutes. The chitin in the lobster shells will cause them to turn a nice bright red.
Next: In a medium pot simmer cream, chicken broth, bouillon cubes, onions, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce for roughly 10 minutes. Once the ingredients in the mixture get to know each other, it's time to start the rue. In small pan add butter and flour mix with a whisk vigorously! Then slowly add the liquid to the rue in small ladles all the while whisking. Don't let this mixture boil. keep the HEAT ON LOW. Boiling can cause the milk to curdle..

(WARNING! EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF BUTTER MAY CAUSE A WILD PAULA DEEN TO APPEAR!)

Next break into that crustaceansional goodness (yes, I just made that word up. Deal with it!) also know as a lobster and begin to pick the meat from the shell. Once you have picked every once of the meat from the lobster break the pieces down into just under bite size chunks. Then add this to the mixture and bring back up to just under a boil. Serve with a chunk of bread and dig in!

Chicken Paprikash over Sweet Potatoes

This is a great, slightly spicy little dish that is quick, simple, fun and healthy. This recipe was found in my Cooking Light book and the original recipe is linked at the end of this post. I made a few edits to make it just a little more healthy and a little more flavorful.

What You'll Need:

• 4 Sweet Potatoes
• Chicken Tenderloins
• 2 tblsp whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 Red Onion
• 2 Portabello Mushroom
• 1/2 cup fat free/low sodium Chicken Broth
• 1/4 Cup Light Sour Cream
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• Butter
• salt
• pepper

Cook your Sweet Potatoes in the microwave until soft..about 15-18 minutes. Before you put them in there, stab them a few times all around first to let the heat in.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, dice up the chicken tenderloins into bit sized pieces. In a mixing bowl, add the chicken, and all dry ingredients and mix well.

In a large frying pan melt about 1 tablespoon butter on med-high heat. Once it starts melting, add the coated chicken along with the mushroom (which should be cored, cleaned up, scraped, and chopped into cubes) and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies become tender and the chicken is cooked through.
Next, stir in the chicken broth and cook until the sauce thickens for about another 5 minutes. Once everything is married and in love in the pan, remove it from the heat.
While off the heat, add the sour cream and mix well.

Arrange the sweet potatoes on a plate and make a small slice in the center leaving the ends uncut so it looks like you poked a pocket into the potato. Take a fork a fluff the inside of the potato as well as you can, but no need to go overboard and be gentle. We don't want to destroy the skin.

Add the chicken mixture into the potatoes by spooning it in, so the sweet potatoes become the bowl. Spoon on some extra sauce.

Serve just like this and eat until stuffed.

Potato Salad

So yea, even though this blog is titled "Best Served Hot" I have a lot of cold salad recipes. But don't act like you don't love them. This recipe is courtesy of a chef friend. Thanks Mike!

What You'll Need:

• 5 lb Red Bliss Potatoes
• 1 cup light mayo
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 2 cup apple juice
• 1 cup red onion
• 1/4 cup fresh dill
• 1/4 apple cider vinegar
• salt
• pepper

Make It:
With the skin still on, quarter and boil the potatoes. Cook them enough, but keep them slightly firm so it doesn't get mushy.
As the potatoes are cooking away, add the apple juice to a small pot and boil this down until about half has disappeared to a 1/4 cup.
While cooking the potatoes, add all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl including the reduced apple juice.
Let this all chill in the fridge while the tots are going.
Once the potatoes are done, drain thoroughly and add to the mixing bowl and mix well.

Serve Chilled

Other Options:
This is in the orinigal recipe, but I pulled it because I don't love bacon and it's not on my healthy food agenda. However, for you bacon lovers out there:

Add 2lbs thick sliced bacon
Cook the bacon on med-low heat until the fat is rendered out and crispy. Once done, place the bacon on a papertowel to pull the extra grease.
When cool enough to touch, chop into diced pieces, add to the salad and mix.
It's really, really, good.

Breakfast Burger

I don't care what time of day it is when you eat this burger. The bottom line is that you MUST eat this burger. It's killer.

What you'll need:

• 1 lb 96% Lean Ground Beef
• 4 Eggs
• 1/2 White Onion
• 4 slices Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning (or your favorite kind)
• Lettuce
• 2 Tomatoes
• Kaiser Rolls
• 6 Bacon Slices (low sodium)

Make It:

In a mixing bowl add the ground beef and burger seasoning and a dash of Worcestershire. Mix this together well. Once mixed, make your burger patties. I make 4 from 1 pound of beef.

On the side, roughly chop up the onion. Once chopped, smash the onions onto one side of the burger while keeping the patty in tact. 

This cooks best in a pan as opposed to a grill because of the onions. Heat the pan on high heat with a tsp of butter and let the pan get super hot. Once there, place the burgers in the pan, onion side down. Let the aroma take over--yuuuumm.

Press on the burgers every once in awhile to keep them flat before they ball up. After 6 minutes, flip the burger and repeat until you reach the desired level of done-ness.

In a smaller pan, cook the bacon until well done on med-high heat. Once cooked, place the bacon slices on a plate with a paper towel to drain the excess grease.

In a separate pan cook your eggs over easy. You read that right, cook the eggs as normal with some salt and pepper. 

After you determine your burgers are done, place the cheese over the top of the burger and put a lid on it and let the cheese melt. This should take all of 45 seconds.

Take your burgers off the heat and put them on the bun, onion side down, layer the egg on top of the burger and then top with lettuce and tomato. Enjoy that bad boy.

Optional: Add Pesto Mayo!

Remoulade Dipping Sauce

This sauce is a perfect pairing for fish dishes. It's great for crab cakes, fish tacos, baked salmon, and any other seafood plate that might need a little perk.

What you'll need:
(all veggies are measured as being minced)

• 3 tsp Light Mayo
• 1/2 tsp Celery
• 1/2 Green Pepper
• 1/8 tsp Worcestershire or Light Soy Sauce (whatever you have)
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice
• 1/4 tsp Franks Red Hot
• 1 tsp Ketchup
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Spicy Mustard
• 1/4 tsp Onion

Mince all vegetable ingredients as finely as possible and add to a mixing bowl with the rest of ingredients. Mix VERY well. Before adjusting the flavors, let this sit mixed and chilled for about 15-20 first and give it a few stirs in between. Then kick up the flavor with extra Red Hot, Garlic, Lemon, or Mustard. Whatever your taste prefers. If you'd like to cool the flavor down, add a little more mayo and Ketchup. (Make this recipe easier by using your food processor to mince!)

Chicken Paprikash over Sweet Potatoes

This is a great, slightly spicy little dish that is quick, simple, fun and healthy. This recipe was found in my Cooking Light book and the original recipe is linked at the end of this post. I made a few edits to make it just a little more healthy and a little more flavorful.

What You'll Need:

• 4 Sweet Potatoes
• Chicken Tenderloins
• 2 tblsp whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 Red Onion
• 2 Portabello Mushroom
• 1/2 cup fat free/low sodium Chicken Broth
• 1/4 Cup Light Sour Cream
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• Butter
• salt
• pepper

Cook your Sweet Potatoes in the microwave until soft..about 15-18 minutes. Before you put them in there, stab them a few times all around first to let the heat in.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, dice up the chicken tenderloins into bit sized pieces. In a mixing bowl, add the chicken, and all dry ingredients and mix well.

In a large frying pan melt about 1 tablespoon butter on med-high heat. Once it starts melting, add the coated chicken along with the mushroom (which should be cored, cleaned up, scraped, and chopped into cubes) and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies become tender and the chicken is cooked through.
Next, stir in the chicken broth and cook until the sauce thickens for about another 5 minutes. Once everything is married and in love in the pan, remove it from the heat.
While off the heat, add the sour cream and mix well.

Arrange the sweet potatoes on a plate and make a small slice in the center leaving the ends uncut so it looks like you poked a pocket into the potato. Take a fork a fluff the inside of the potato as well as you can, but no need to go overboard and be gentle. We don't want to destroy the skin.

Add the chicken mixture into the potatoes by spooning it in, so the sweet potatoes become the bowl. Spoon on some extra sauce.

Serve just like this and eat until stuffed.

Steak Salad

This might just be the best Steak Salad you will ever have...YUMMO!!

Start this recipe earlier in the day or the night before by marinating the steak. The marinade is what makes this salad!

Marinade:

• 1/4 cup Light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• Fresh Lemon Juice

What you will need:

• London Broil (or your favorite cut)
• Romaine Lettuce
• Corn
• Carrot
• 1/4 cup crumbled Goat Cheese
• Craisins
• Half bulb of Red Onion
• Half of a Granny Smith Apple

Make It:

As mentioned before, marinate the steak overnight. 

I don't have a grill because I live in an outdoor-less grill hating apartment. So I cook this on the stove in a frying pan. You can broil this too.

Heat your pan with a teaspoon of oil. Let the pan get hot and then add the marinated steak. We want the steak to sear and crisp up on both sides. It will hold in the moisture and be nice and juicy.

Cook approximately 5 minutes on each side on high heat. After both sides sear, lower heat to medium and cook approximately 10 more minutes on each side, depending on size and preference.

In a smaller pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and add your sliced red onion. I don't add any salt or seasoning, because there is enough in the steak marinade. Saute the onion until they become translucent. 

Slice up your cold veggies, plate them, and keep it on the side. When onions are done, add to the top of your salad. 

When the steak is done slice it nicely and lay on top of your lettuce and veggies and then top with crumbled goat cheese. 

And there you have it. Enjoy your healthy, inexpensive, delicious steak salad.

I'll get better at the picture taking eventually...