Drunken Weenies -- A "Spirited" Appetizer!

Whenever we have more than a few folks over, my husband always asks that I make "Drunken Wienies". What the heck are those you may ask? You've definitely had them, or something really similar: They are simply cocktail franks (or wieners) -- or  little hot dogs -- or mini-sausages -- in a savory sauce. There are a couple of things that might be a little different about the way I do it. One  is that I add bourbon to the sauce mixture. Hence the name, Drunken Wienies.  I also add some hot sauce and, at the insistence of my husband, cayenne pepper. If you don't like things real spicy, omit the cayenne pepper. The hot sauce adds good flavor and just a touch of heat.

Since the festive season is almost upon us and tailgate season is in full swing, I thought I'd share this super simple, tasty appetizer. This also has the advantage of being fairly budget friendly. They also reheat perfectly, so absolutely make them ahead and save some time the day of the gathering.

Hey, don't turn your nose up, I know it's not "foodie chic", but I guarantee, it will be a favorite at your next gathering, especially if you've got a bunch of hungry men in the group!

Drunken Wienies
For 20 -25 people -- Appetizer Serving

2 pkg Hillshire Farms "Lil' Smokies" or Cocktail Wieners (about 70 pieces)
1/2 c. grape jelly

1/2 c. Heinz chili sauce    
1/4 c. Bourbon     
1 T. KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce        
2 T. Texas Pete Hot Sauce
1/8 - 1/4  tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

First, make the sauce: In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the grape jelly with the chili sauce, bourbon, barbecue sauce and hot sauce. Make sure the grape jelly has completely melted before you add the wieners. 
Next, add the cayenne pepper, if using, and the mini-wienies. Cook for 20 minutes or until the wieners are hot.  

Serve it immediately. Or you can put it into a small dish to reheat later. Or you can place it into a small sized crock pot over low heat. 

This is easily doubled or tripled for a large crowd. 

Plan to have about 3 wienies per person, more if there are a lot of men in the group.

Sing the "Men" song now. That's what my guys do. 

Philly Cheese Steak Subs at Home Or More Manly Man Cooking

We have a tradition in our family that you get to pick whatever you want for dinner on your birthday. Short of an 11 year old demanding shots of tequila, the tradition is pretty sacred at our house. Your birthday is YOUR special day, and you should get what you want on your birthday. I've written about this before when my husband chose ribs on his birthday (read about that day here ).  My mom always honored this custom and I loved it as a kid. I was a traditionalist and almost always chose spaghetti with meat sauce, my favorite thing that my mom made. Sometimes I picked apple pie for dessert, sometimes angel food cake. My youngest son likes to mix it up when it's his turn to choose. He's often chosen rockfish stuffed with crab meat, but this year he choose to have me concoct Philly Cheese-steak Subs.

The internet is truly a wonderful thing when you are searching for recipes. Instead of buying a bunch of cookbooks you'll never use again or spending hours at the library looking through recipes,  you have the info you need right at your fingertips. My husband got involved -- he's pretty sure that HE'S the KING OF SANDWICHES (not that guy on TV who claims he is) and he narrowed it down to 2 recipes, one on a website labelled "Real and Authentic" and one from Bobby Flay. Bobby called for using hot peppers and we decided we didn't want that this time, but maybe later we'll try that. The "Real and Authentic" recipe writer claimed that the secret of authentic Philly taste was to use only Olive Oil to fry the meat and vegetables, so that's what we did. Also, don't get smoked provolone if provolone is the cheese your prefer. My son had his sub cut in half, with provolone on one half and American cheese on the other half, both with mayo. He preferred the provolone, in the end. Here's how we did it at home.

Philly Cheese Steak Subs at Home

Philly Cheese Steak Subs
makes 5 - 6 large subs

1 3 lb. sirloin roast
3 T. Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive Oil
Large sub rolls
2 green pepper, sliced
1 large yellow onion sliced
1 can sliced mushrooms
Light Mayo (optional) 
Sliced American or Provolone Cheese
OR Cheese Sauce 

The method is the important thing here. Freeze your sirloin roast for about 45 minutes so that it firms up and will be easier to shave. Shave or slice the raw meat into very thin slices. We used our electric meat slicer for this. If you don't have one, make sure your knife is very sharp and that the meat is frozen until just firm. That will make it easier to slice. Try to slice it as thin as you can. After you've got it all cut up, preheat a large skillet and put a Tablespoon or 2 of olive oil into it and add the meat. Sprinkle with the Worcester, a pinch or 2 of salt and some black pepper. Fry it quickly, about 3 minutes, stirring it around to brown the meat on both sides. Don't over cook it. Remove the meat from the pan and chop it up like the guys in the deli do it. It's very manly, chopping meat with two knives, just sayin'. (IF you've got a man who loves to cook, try this!)

Sirloin Roast chopped and ready for Philly Cheese Steak Subs

 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Set the meat aside and fry up your peppers and onions in the same pan with a drop more of olive oil. Add the canned mushrooms and push them to one side for anyone who doesn't care for the mushrooms on their sandwich.

While the vegetables are cooking put the buns in the oven, slicing them first to make them easier to handle. Toast your sliced sub rolls until they are starting to get crisp, 5 or 6 minutes. Swipe one side of the roll with mayo if desired and pile on the meat. Top with your choice of onions, peppers and/or mushrooms. Place 2 slices of cheese on top or spoon a little cheese sauce over the meat. Put the subs back into the oven for a minute to make sure it's all hot and bubbly. My son and husband prefer mayo and sliced cheese on theirs. I don't care for mayo so I prefer cheese sauce. I've included the recipe below.
The shaved meat in these was YUMMY as was the gooey cheese over the vegetables. I like peppers, onions and mushrooms, my son prefers his without mushrooms. It's all good, I promise!

PS My son took the picture of the sandwich. We need to keep this real, right?

Easy Cheese Sauce
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
a pinch of salt
2 oz. grated provolone or American cheese or 2 thick slices of cheese, torn up
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and stir until you can't see any white and the flour is absorbed by the butter. Add the milk and Worcestershire. Stir, stir stir, or use a whisk so that there are no lumps and the sauce is smooth. Put in a pinch of salt and add the cheese. Cook over low, stirring often, until cheese is melted. Taste the sauce and correct the seasoning Enough for at least 2 subs. 

Make Some Barbecued Ribs at Home



Barbecued baby back ribs for dinner!

My husband LOVES barbecued ribs. We like the smaller, baby back, pork ribs, as opposed to the larger spare ribs or beef ribs. When we were dating and first married, there was a rib joint called "The Farmhouse" not too far away, here in Richmond, VA,  They had the BEST bbq ribs! You could smell the smoke a mile away and they tasted as good as they smelled. The owners kept their sauce recipe a secret, but many folks swore up and down that there was peanut butter in it! That's right, creamy peanut butter. I never knew exactly what their secret was, but man, oh, man, they were some tasty ribs. They almost fell off the perfectly cooked bones, and they weren't too fatty or tough. That place closed a long time ago, but the memories of those ribs has stayed with us, as we've worked on trying to create the perfect rib recipe at home. Cooking ribs is considered "Manly Man Cooking" at our house (See another recipe here) , so there's always been plenty of input from the hub and the sons. Opinions are never in short supply around here!!

What is a perfect rib? Well, in our opinion, it's gotta' be tender, a little spicy, not too fatty and very flavorful. By watching The Food Network rib competitions, I've learned that the meat shouldn't fall completely OFF the bone, or the rib can be eliminated from the competition. Therefore, the trick seems to be to get them so tender that the meat almost falls off the bone. After trying out numerous recipes and tasting ribs all around Richmond and other places we've visited, this is the recipe and method that I've come up with for home cooks. I am sure it would be a little better if we had a smoker, but I think I've got that almost covered by my cooking method. Tender and tasty, the slow cooking in the oven, paired with the soaking and rub, guarantees a moist rib that's not too fatty.

The very first thing I do, is to soak the ribs in beer. I remove them from their package, put them into a large baking dish and then pour over the beer. I use one can for for each rack. I let them sit for an hour or two, turning them over a few times. Next, I drain off and discard the beer. After draining, I return them to the pan and season the ribs with a dry rub. I roast them covered with foil, low and slow in the oven, before finishing them on the grill with some sauce. Here's my recipe for the dry rub for a single rack of ribs, which will feed 3 - 4 people. Double or triple the recipe if you need more than one rack of ribs. (More instructions follow the Rub Recipe.)

Dry Rub for Ribs

1 T. McCormick Grill Mates Mesquite Seasoning

1/4 c. brown sugar

Ribs with the dry rub.

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. paprika

2 T. chili powder
1/2 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

a pinch of dried red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano
a pinch of dried thyme
Mix everything together and sprinkle on the bottom and top of the ribs, rubbing it into the meat so the rub sticks to the ribs. Eliminate the cayenne pepper and/or the dried red pepper flakes if you don't like things spicy.  Place the rack on a large cookie sheet or baking pan, and cover with foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

Preheat your grill the way you normally do it. We use our gas grill, but any kind will work fine. You can soak wood chips and use them if you wish -- we've done that and the ribs are always good, whether we do or don't.

Slather the ribs with your favorite sauce and cook them on each side, basting with more sauce, for about 15 to 20 more minutes, until the sauce begins to brown and caramelize on the ribs. The ribs are already cooked from the time in the oven, so you don't need to worry about temperature or undercooking the meat.

Baby Back Ribs on the Grill

Finally, a word about sauces: Commercial bbq sauces are so good that we don't make our own, but "concoct" one, using our favorites. I like to mix 1 c. Sauers Barbecue Sauce with 1 c. K.C. Masterpiece Original Barbecue Sauce and 1 T. Texas Pete Hot Sauce. A lot of people swear by Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce, but we find that a little too sweet. Since we don't like our sauce really sweet, I cut the sweetness of the K.C. Masterpiece with the Sauers. "Sauers" is a regional tomato and vinegar based sauce, made here in VA. In addition, since we like a little kick I add the Texas Pete, but you could totally leave that out, if your family prefers the ribs milder.

Try this, for your family or for a backyard cookout. It's a crowd pleaser!