Lobster Rolls

Clawed lobsters comprise a family  of large marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, which are usually much larger than the others.

Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important and are often one of the most profitable commodities in the coastal areas they populate. Commercially important species include two species from the northern Atlantic Ocean. Although several other groups of crustaceans have the word “lobster” in their names, the unqualified term “lobster” generally refers to the clawed lobsters of the family Nephropidae. The closest living relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.

In North America, the lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century, when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it. Commercial lobster fisheries only flourished after the development of the lobster smack, a custom-made boat with open holding wells on the deck to keep the lobsters alive during transport. Prior to this time, lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. Lobster was also commonly served in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates. American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait, and it was not until well into the twentieth century that it was viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food.

Lobster Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Butter, softened
• 4 Hoagie Buns, split
• 4 Lettuce leaves
• 1 ½ pounds cooked and cubed Lobster meat
• 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Lime juice
• Dash Tabasco sauce
• 1 stalk Celery, finely chopped
• 2 Green Onions, chopped
• Pinch of Tarragon
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Lightly butter the insides of the buns or rolls and line with lettuce leaves. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper until well blended. Mix in the green onion and celery, then lightly mix in the lobster so it just gets coated without falling apart.

Place the lobster filling into the buns and sprinkle tarragon lightly over the filling.

Slow Cooker BBQ Beer Chicken

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Most beer is also flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavorings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. Beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage.

Some of humanity’s earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlors, and “The Hymn to Ninkasi”, a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people.

Beer is one of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed and is recorded in the written history of ancient Iraq and ancient Egypt. Archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilizations.

The earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria and date back to 2500 BC, reveal that the city produced a range of beers, including one that appears to be named “Ebla” after the city. A fermented beverage using rice and fruit was made in China around 7000 BC. Unlike sake, mold was not used to saccharify the rice (amylolytic fermentation); the rice was probably prepared for fermentation by mastication or malting.

Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today. Alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs. What they did not contain was hops, as that was a later addition, first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot.

In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot (purity law), perhaps the oldest food-quality regulation still in use in the 21st century, according to which the only allowed ingredients of beer are water, hops and barley-malt. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD, beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century. The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process and greater knowledge of the results.

Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brew pubs to regional breweries. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (abv) although it may vary between 0.5% (de-alcoholized) and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% abv and above in recent years. As of 2006, more than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) of beer are sold per year, producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion!

If you’re a beer lover, chances are your favorite way to serve beer is straight up in a big, frosty mug. But don’t confine your preferred brew to the cup – many dishes, including stews, soups and yes, even sweets, can be flavored with beer. And if, like me, you’re not a beer drinker, give cooking with beer a try. Why cook with beer? It adds a rich, earthy flavor to soups and stews that makes them taste like they’ve been simmering for hours. Beers add a delicious depth of flavor to almost anything. And don’t worry about getting drunk – virtually all of the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process.

Slow cooker BBQ Beer Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 large boneless, skinless Chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon Onion powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 8 ounces of Beer
• 32 ounces of Barbecue sauce

Season chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.

Add to crockpot, then add beer and 24 ounces of barbecue sauce.

Cook on low for 8 hours, tossing once or twice if desired. After 8 hours, shred and add remaining barbecue sauce. Toss chicken to coat and let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving to absorb everything. Serve on buns with the condiments of your choice.

French Dip Sandwiches

A French dip sandwich, also known as a beef dip, is a hot sandwich consisting of thinly sliced roast beef (or sometimes other meats) on a French roll or baguette. It is usually served au jus (“with juice”), that is, with beef juice from the cooking process. Although the sandwich is most commonly served with a cup of jus or broth on the side of the plate, into which the sandwich is dipped as it is eaten, this is not how the sandwich was served when it was invented.

Despite the name, this American specialty is almost completely unknown in France. The sandwich is not french at all. The name comes from the fact that it is made with a french roll – a medium sized white bread roll that resembles a baguette with a softer crust and makes good sandwiches in general – and it is dipped into beef juices as you eat it. Dipping does not make the bread soggy, much as dipping a cookie into a glass of milk does not make it soggy as long as you pick up the cookie and eat the milk-soaked bit immediately; prolonged soaking will cause sogginess, but that is why the sandwich is called a dip and not a soak.

Two Los Angeles restaurants have claimed to be the birthplace of the French dip sandwich: Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet  and Philippe. The controversy over who originated the sandwich remains unresolved. Both restaurants were established in 1908. However, Cole’s claims to have originated the sandwich shortly after the restaurant opened in 1908, while Philippe’s claims that owner Philippe Mathieu invented it in 1918. Cole’s was the oldest restaurant or bar in Los Angeles to operate continuously since its opening at the same location. Its streak ended when it closed for remodeling in 2007.

If you’ve never had a French dip sandwich, you’re missing out. The sandwich starts out with beef that is roasted until extremely tender, which is then thinly sliced and put onto a not-too-crusty roll, either with or without cheese. The juice from cooking the meat is collected, seasoned and poured into a small dish. As you eat the sandwich, you dip each bite into the juices on the side, making the meat extra juicy and getting a huge boost of flavor.

French Dip Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 1 – 3 lb. Beef roast
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 packages dry Onion soup mix
• 1 – 15 ounce can beef broth
• 6-8 Hoagie buns
• Provolone cheese

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large dutch oven. Season the beef with salt and pepper to taste. Once the oil is almost to the smoking point, add the beef and sear on all sizes until nicely browned.

Place beef in crock pot. Sprinkle with dry onion soup. Pour beef broth over all. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.

Remove meat from crockpot and shred.

To assemble sandwiches: Split the hoagie buns and top bottom half with shredded beef. Top with cheese. Place open-faced hoagies (top half too) on baking sheet and broil just until the bread is golden and the cheese has melted.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping. Serve immediately.