Cooking With Squash: Recipe Ideas For Fall

Cooking with squash: Recipe ideas for fall
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

It’s that time of year again - Fall. A time just after summer, and just before the holidays. So we, in the culinary field have developed the odd tradition of celebrating and marketing the heck out of squash. Why squash? I’m not sure. I must have missed the meeting. However, I did get the memo, and will hold true to my profession by giving you some interesting ideas of what you can do with that ingredient that is supposed to be the quintessence of the north American fall season - the squash.

Before I get into the fun, let’s first define what we mean by “squash”. There are many varieties of squashes throughout the world. But in this article I’ll be discussing the most popular varieties. Namely, zuccini (yellow and green), pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash.

Zuccini Squash. The zuccini is a soft squash that usually comes in green and yellow varieties.

Zuccinis can be roasted on the grill, rubbed with a little olive oil to help them cook faster. What you’re looking for are grill marks on the skin and that the flesh becomes soft. I like to cook slices of zuccini in a skillet with fresh herbs (like dill), sea salt, fresh ground pepper and garlic until it breaks down to a sort of “mush”. It’s a really tasty side dish despite it’s low visual appeal.

Spaghetti squash. I have been holding a grudge with spaghetti squash since the time I went on a low carb diet many years ago. I found people online touting spaghetti squash as a good zero-carb substitute for pasta. They had recipes, photos and videos on YouTube. So I thought I’d give it a try. They lied. How someone can eat spaghetti squash and think that it comes anywhere close to resembling the taste or texture of pasta must have been born without a mouth or bodily senses. If spaghetti squash resembles pasta, then so do soap shavings, green beans, and wheat grass. To those people who attempted to fool me, I only have this to say: You deserve to eat spaghetti squash.

Acorn Squash and Butternut Squash. These two squashes are great for soups. You can peel the hard skin of the butternut squash, scrape out the seeds and membrane, boil the flesh in chicken stock and make a great pureed soup flavored with curry or ginger. I used acorn squash cut into quarters for my world-famous “Possibly the healthiest soup in the world” (Google it). You can also roast acorn squash by splitting it into quarters and roasting them in the oven with some olive oil, salt and honey. I’ve also cubed these two squashes into small pieces and incorporated them into risotto with different cheeses (like Boursin, and Manchego).

Pumpkins. These squashes are not only great for carving scary faces on them and stuffing them with candles, but they are also the ideal bait to put in the middle of a bear trap if you want to catch some teenage neighborhood vandals on Halloween.

Pumpkins are also great for soups and can be used the same as the acorn and butternut squash above. The seeds can be roasted in the oven with Cajun spice for a great snack while you interrogate the kid with droopy pants and ridiculous hair who tried to steal your pumpkin.

My favorite way to use pumpkin is to simmer the flesh in chicken stock until soft. I then puree the mixture and thicken it with a roux (oil and flour). To this sauce, I now add a small amount of chipotle peppers, cumin, soy sauce, a couple of drops of liquid smoke, salt and pepper to taste. I use this sauce to blanket shredded beef and chicken burritos which I bake with white cheddar over top. This makes a delicious Mexican dinner with saffron rice, and sour cream on the side.

There you have it! Squash. It’s what’s for dinner. Hurry up and get your fix before the end of November. This message has been approved by the Culinary Professionals of North America.

The less popular meat cuts: A guide to butchers favorites

Unfamiliar Meat Cuts: A Guide to Butcher Favorites
By: Chef Cristian Feher
http://www.tampabaychef.com/

Chef Cristian's Sunday BBQ © Cristian Feher 2011

Like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, we’re all familiar with the popular cuts. New York strip steak, T-Bone steaks, rack of lamb, and baby back ribs have all had their names displayed in bright lights. And it’s very likely that they’ve headlined a show on your kitchen table more than once.

But what about the less popular cuts? Don’t they deserve some publicity? I figured if anyone would know, it would be a butcher. And that’s just what I set out to find.

My good friend Dave Bowman grew up in Mount Airy, NC (known fictitiously as Mayberry, where the Andy Griffith Show was filmed). His family owned a grocery store where Dave began working as a butcher since the age of 12. With 30 years of experience under his cleaver, it’s no surprise that he is my “go to” guy for anything meat-related. I paid him a visit at the Fresh Market butcher shop in Clearwater, Florida to get some insight into a butcher’s favorite cuts of meat.

As it turns out, Dave likes them all! But after much deliberation, we managed to narrow the list down to his five favorite cuts.

#5 Top Sirloin Beef Steaks

The top sirloin cut is something many people pass over on the way to the rib eyes, strip steaks and tenderloin. “At first glance” says Dave, “most people notice that the sirloin has very little fat. It’s a lean steak. They’re also quite large compared to strips and rib eyes.” For these reasons, people assume that top sirloin would cook up tough and be too much. “However,” explains Dave, “top sirloin is a muscle that the cow does not use very much, and because of this, it’s actually quite tender.” The top sirloin is a close neighbor to the softest muscle on the cow - the tenderloin. In fact, it resides right underneath of the tenderloin in the rear part of the cow.

Top sirloin steaks may be large, but can easily feed a family of four for less than the price of one premium steak. They are also great on the grill. And because they are lean, they cook faster and have less calories than fattier steaks. It’s often been described as “poor man’s tenderloin”.

#4 Beef Skirt Steak

At first glance, the skirt steak just looks like a long band of stringy meat and it may not impress you.

It comes from the under-side of the cow. It’s cut from the plate along the cow’s diaphragm. The skirt steak is similar to the brisket and flank in that it’s made up of long strands of meat. Dave explained, “This is possibly the tastiest piece of beef on the cow. The flavor is amazing. And if you cut it right, it’s very soft”

The skirt steak has been used in Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine for as long as there have been cattle. It was once considered scrap, and although it’s now considered marketable, it’s still rather affordable.

Skirt steak is the choice most fajita enthusiasts go for. It is often marinated with lime or lemon juice (as the acidity breaks down the toughness of the muscle fibers) and a blend of cumin, black pepper, hot sauce, and soy sauce. It is quickly seared and cut thinly across the grain. If you’re looking for the ultimate in beefy flavor, give skirt steak a try.

#3 Lamb Shoulder Steaks

“Lamb shoulder is probably the best part on the Lamb.” Explains Dave, “it comes from the chuck [the front legs of the animal] and since the animal doesn’t use those muscles very much, they are fatty, meaty, juicy, and tender.”

Lamb shoulder steaks have since become a regular menu item on my traditional Sunday barbecues. And I would take them over rack of lamb any day.

I like to marinade them with fresh garlic, red wine, olive oil and lots of fresh oregano for a couple of hours before I grill them. They are cheap and delicious. The fat gets crispy very quickly, and the meat can be enjoyed medium rare (as all read meats should be).

If you’ve never tried lamb, or have only had the prime cuts, I would highly suggest you give lamb shoulder steaks a try.

#2 Boston Butt Roast

The last time I roasted a Boston butt roast I commented to my wife, “I don’t know why we ever spend money on standing rib roasts [beef]. This pork is sublime. And it cost $0.97/lb.” Dave agrees.

A properly seasoned and roasted butt roast is arguably better than any beef roast you can make. The sheer volume of fat stacked in between the layers of tender muscles, melt and trickle through the meat during the roasting process. This creates one of the most tender and juicy roasts you will ever savor.

The butt roast comes from the pig’s front shoulder - so why do they call it a butt roast? Dave shrugged his shoulders. But I can tell you that the best way to flavor it before cooking, is to stab deep holes into the meat with a knife and then stuff the holes with your own combination of garlic, herbs and spices. Soak it in beer or wine overnight to let the flavors seep into the meat, and you will have a world-class roast after cooking it the next day.

You can also make amazing pulled pork and smoked meat with this versatile cut.

#1 Beef Shanks

“Beef shanks are the whole package” explained Dave, “you’ve got a good amount of fat and connective tissue spread evenly throughout the meat. You have soft fat on the outside, and you’ve got a bone with marrow in the middle. What more can you ask for?”

If you’ve ever had Osso Bucco or any such slow cooked shank dish, you know what Dave is talking about. Let me take you on a tour of what happens when you slow cook shanks.

That connective tissue in the meat starts to melt and separates into collagen and oils. The collagen is a jelly-like substance that gives the sauce and the meat a fatty, and wonderfully unctuous texture. It also helps to break down and lubricate the meat. The bone heats up hotter than the meat and helps to cook the shank from the inside out. Finally, the marrow inside the bone softens and releases all that beefy flavor into the the sauce.

After two or three hours of slow-cooking beef shanks in an oven with red wine, herbs and garlic, you will end up with sumptuous fork-tender meat, and an incredibly flavorful, satisfying sauce made from the beef juices and red wine. Dave is right, when it comes to beef, the shanks are the whole package.

Wild Turkey Sandwich Recipe

Wild Turkey Sandwich Recipe
By: Chef Cristian Feher
http://www.tampabaychef.com/


Wild Turkey Sandwich © Cristian Feher 2011


If you’re looking for healthy, low-fat, high-protein recipe loaded with flavor, then look no further. This wild turkey sandwich is sure to please.

If you don’t have wild turkey, you can easily substitute it with regular ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast.

Wild turkey, like a lot of game birds, can be tough. A way to get around this is to grind the meat and form it into patties, loaves, or incorporate it into stews, chili and sauces.

This recipe makes 4 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb of Ground Wild Turkey (ground chicken or ground turkey will work)
• 5 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp of Cajun seasoning
• 1 tbsp of dried Italian herbs (rosemary, basil and oregano)
• ¼ cup of fresh chopped basil
• ½ cup of bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 ripe tomato
• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 1 red onion
• Spicy brown mustard
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Whole wheat multi-grain bread

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground turkey meat, minced garlic cloves, Cajun seasoning, dried Italian herbs, fresh chopped basil, soy sauce, sea salt, and bread crumbs. Mix well with wet hands until the mixture is incorporated.

Make a large meat ball in the palm of your hand with a quarter of the mixture, and flatten into a non-stick skillet to no more than ½ inch thick. Cook the turkey patty on either side for 5 minutes or until cooked through. Depending on your appetite, you can make the patties bigger, or smaller.

Place the cooked patty on a slice of whole wheat multi-grain bread and top with lettuce, tomato slices, red onion slices, spicy brown mustard, alfalfa sprouts and another piece of bread.

Game Meats for Beginners

The Health Benefits of Game Meats
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

In this day and age, more and more people are adopting healthy lifestyles. And as part of a healthy lifestyle, we’re always in search for new and better ways to eat.

For some people, the mere mention of healthy food can have a negative connotation. They sneer, berate and avoid. They turn the idea down, like a child refusing a piece of broccoli. And although I feel that eating habits during childhood are an important factor, that would be better addressed in a different article.
We simply get bored. And healthy food can be boring. But since variety seems to be the spice of life, I would like to suggest some ways to make healthy eating adventurous and exciting again.

As a health-conscious eater, you’ve probably tried every vegetable, fruit, grain, and variety of rice out there. You’ve been there, eaten bean thread noodles, and done that. But I bet your protein sources have not changed much. You’ve probably gone on safari through the jungles of fruit and vegetables with the same ol’ trusty companions - chicken, beef, pork and fish. It might be time to get new friends.

To avoid a lengthy dissertation - this is my philosophy on food: you’re at the top of the food chain. Anything under you is fair game (pun intended). Game meats offer us a whole new world of healthy protein to explore.

Game animals like deer (venison), elk, buffalo, bison, quail, emu, ostrich, pheasant, rabbit, and several others are more readily available than you might think. You can purchase them online through e-retailers such as www.exoticmeatmarket.com. They may also be available locally at specialty stores and even your local grocery store (my grocery store carries venison and ground buffalo throughout the year).

What’s so healthy about game? For one, most game meat comes from the wild, or are farmed without growth hormones, antibiotics, and synthetic chemicals. Since they live more active lifestyles than domesticated animals, game tends to have less fat. And their natural diet produces meat that is more nutritious with higher levels of minerals and good amino acids.

In the mood for chili? Ground buffalo meat is lean, flavorful and satisfying. Cook it with onions, peppers, carrots, garlic, chipotle peppers, canned tomato and kidney beans for a healthier version of the every-day beef chili. I like to top it off with a scoop of fat free yogurt and eat it with warm naan bread (Indian flat bread similar to pita).

Alligator has become one of my favorite white meats since moving to Florida. It’s low in fat, has excellent texture (it’s between chicken and pork) and is most often organic. I like to grill it, stew it, and I even make my kid alligator salad sandwiches - a quick way to make friends at school, “Woah! You’re eating alligator? Cool!”

Impress yourself with easy alligator curry by cooking the alligator with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potato, chickpeas, a little chicken bullion and curry powder. Add coconut milk when the onions are mushy, and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Serve over warm basmati rice. I guarantee you’ll go back for seconds.

In the mood for a BBQ this weekend? Why not invite your friends over for a “safari on the grill”?
Thanks to fast shipping, and large variety of game meats available on the internet (www.exoticmeatmarket.com) you can grill up some yak burgers, antelope sausages, ostrich fillets and alligator ribs. Your friends and family will be astounded at how delicious, and healthy, game meats can be. And best of all, it’s just plain fun to try new, exotic foods.

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring. You can expand your meat repertoire and add some excitement back into dinner time. Give game a try.

The Garbage Can Chicken Shack: Street Food in Playa Del Carmen

The Garbage Can Chicken Shack: Street Food in Playa Del Carmen
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

For some it’s about the people. For others it’s about the architecture or about finding themselves - which makes little sense, since you can’t help be anywhere but where you stand.

For me, traveling is about the food. I’ve always said that you can tell much from a culture by it’s food - the arrogant portions of French cuisine, the proud dishes of Spain, and the simply divine meats of Argentina which show decades of unyielding tradition are but a few examples of this.

I’ve been fortunate to have done a lot of travel in my life - not enough - but more than most. Until our technology advances, the next best thing to space exploration is to sit inside a flying bus, and burn fossil fuel through the clouds of Earth. It’s relaxing, exciting, dangerous and new, all at the same time.

I like the unique smell each country has. I enjoy watching locals walking through a place, that I find intriguing, with complete indifference; I live vicariously through them for a moment, imagining what it would be like to have a life there - my family, problems, and bills, all against a different background. I enjoy the temporary detachment from society as you wait in an airport terminal far beyond customs and security.

With each country, city and place, I can always think back to a great meal.

Playa del Carmen is a seaside city in Mexico, south of Cancun. Off the main strips, away from the tourists and wealthy Mexicans visiting from Mexico City, there are busy taco restaurants lining the streets. The locals congregate. Mothers wipe avocado off their children’s faces. Roasted meats hang on the windows. Busy cooks chop away at their greasy cutting boards and pump out plastic plates of corn tortillas filled with various meaty delicacies. But as delicious as these local hang outs were, they were no match compared to, what I dubbed, “The garbage can chicken shack.”

During an afternoon stroll, I was ambushed by an intoxicating aroma. It seemed to be coming from around the corner. The smell carried me, like a cartoon Pepe LePew to the edge of a burnt-down restaurant. A Mexican family had built a rudimentary shack on the corner of the abandoned lot. Four posts, barely sturdy enough to hold up a rectangular piece of zinc roof, surrounded by four short walls made of cinder blocks. Under the roof was a picnic table, and several metal barrels roaring with wood fires inside. A sweaty man with a torn shirt smiled at me. His family moved about industriously behind him. The smell was unbelievable. Chickens, skewered through metal bars, roasted to perfection over the barrel fires. In the background, bubbling pots sputtered with steam. I decided to give this place a try. So I handed over my $4 (I would happily hand over $500 to have this meal again).

The whole chicken was split into six pieces by the expert chop of a heavy cleaver. It came efficiently packaged inside of a large plastic bag - no frills. The steam made the bag puff out like a balloon. Hot tamales and corn on the cob joined the chicken in another Ziploc bag, both passed to me inside a plastic shopping bag with a small containers of salsa verde (green tomato sauce), chipotle vinegar sauce, tomato salsa, paper plates, napkins and plastic cutlery. A picnic in a bag.

I intended to eat this on the beach, but as I recall, the farthest I made it was a park bench just a half block from the shack. It was insanely delicious. The world around me faded away. There were no sounds that I could recall. I began to wonder where these street chickens had been caught, but all I could focus on was the perfectly roasted skin - it tasted like limes, garlic and cilantro had a wild orgie on the chicken, giving birth to a whole new, perfectly delicious flavor. The meat, marinated in a salty brine, was so juicy and tasty that I wanted to cry. The tamales, warm and moist, peeled out of a yellow corn husk, were the perfect vessel for the sublime sauces (which were a masterpiece in themselves). I’m quite sure the recipe for that salsa verde had been made before; passed down with the strictness of a Vedic priest from mother to child.

The entire meal was out of this world. It was an event I can’t forget. “I didn’t know you could do that with chicken.” I mumbled to myself incoherently with pieces of chicken falling out of my mouth.

I have yet to have anything that even compared to that chicken. Had I not been so drugged up on chicken fat and hot sauce, I would have offered him money for the recipe. Hindsight is 20/20, they say. But I will never forget this happy moment in time, on a park bench in Playa del Carmen.

Easy Ways to Lower Fat in your Diet

Easy Ways to Lower Fat in your Diet
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

Most doctors, nutritionists and fitness experts agree that lowering your intake of fats and oils can go a long way towards achieving a healthier weight and lowering your risk of heart disease and other annoying body complications. For those with a sedentary lifestyle, taking in too many calories can be detrimental. And fats (and oils) contain way more calories than carbohydrates or protein.

I look at it like this; When I eat too much fat, I get too fat. And this prevents me from performing vital tasks like running for more than 100 feet without losing my lunch (as in the case of a zombie outbreak or escaping from a flash mob at the mall). My graceful David-Hasselhoff-run on the beach becomes more like a sweaty scene from Biggest Loser, and it now takes three YMCA employees to hoist my rotund behind up the rock climbing wall as children look on in dismay.

If you don’t share my concerns, maybe you can agree with the fact that there are virtually no old people over the age of 70 that are fat. Have you noticed that? Really old people are all skinny.  Being a Florida resident, you can trust my observation.

The choice is yours. You can go out like Elvis with a peanut butter and bacon sandwich, or you can tweak your diet and live a longer, albeit less glamorous, life.

Cutting fat out of your diet does not mean checking your happiness at the door and conceding to an insipid life of celery sticks, yoga and canned tuna. You can still enjoy most of the foods you eat by making low fat substitutions. Let me show you a few tricks to cut the fat and keep the taste.

Oils and Fats. Yes, many oils are “healthy” for you. But we’re talking about pure mathematics here - too many calories. A little bit of oil goes a long way. Oils, cheeses and fats are very high in calories. Even a little tablespoon of olive oil packs a whopping 120 calories (that’s the same as two slices of white bread). So the first and most effective thing you can do if you’re packing too much fat, is to stop eating it. Just stop using oils.

Instead of frying with oils, butter or fat, just use a non-stick pan. For mashed potatoes, just add skim milk, garlic and herbs. For salads just use herbs, garlic, sea salt, pepper and red wine vinegar. Steamed rice goes great with a little soy sauce instead of butter. You can thicken sauces with corn starch and water (called a “slurry”) instead of oil and flour. And instead of mayonnaise in your sandwich, use Dijon mustard, or ketchup. And keep the cheese to a minimum.

Meats. We all love a nice fatty steak, pork chop, meat sauce, chili, fajitas, sausages, etc. But the next time you grill, use a lean beef tenderloin steak. Use pork tenderloin instead of pork chops on the grill, or season it with soy sauce, cumin and fresh pepper for low-fat fajitas. Grilled chicken breasts are fat-free and juicy if you don’t overcook them. Fat-free hot dogs still taste great. And I use lean ground turkey in most recipes that call for ground beef (I add a little bit of egg whites to the mixture for added moisture in the case of burgers or meatloaf).

Fish and Seafood. You can make tasty, gourmet dishes using white fish, fresh tuna, shrimp, scallop, and clams. Sushi (if not eaten with mayonnaise-based sauces) is actually a really low-fat and tasty food that you can enjoy often.

Starches and Pastas. I’m sure the low-carb junkies are squirming. Don’t worry, pasta is actually very low in fat, and has way less calories than oils or fats. If you skip the fatty ground beef, cream sauces (made with cream, butter and oil) and skip the olive oil in the tomato sauce, pasta can be enjoyed daily. And if you’re still worried, you can use low-carb and whole wheat pastas to combine the benefits of low-carb and low-fat eating. Whole wheat breads are also good to eat.

Potatoes, sweet potato, and all types of rice are also virtually free of fats.

Basically,  if you are carrying with you a supply of body fat, you don’t need to eat any more of it. Let your body use the fat it already has. And if you use the tips and ideas above, you can still enjoy your meals.

A bomb best diffused with your mouth: Venezuelan Street Food

A bomb best diffused with your mouth: The Venezuelan Bomba
By: Chef Cristian Feher
http://www.tampabaychef.com/

View of Caracas, Venezuela at night.

Have you ever had a meal that burned itself into your memory? Can you recall the taste, the texture, the conversation? Can you feel the breeze caress your skin? Does the mention of that meal transport you back in time to that moment?

I have had several of these life-altering moments. Each of these meals were a meaningful event. A pinnacle of culinary discovery and sensation. A moment in time so thoroughly enjoyable that I snatched it from the universe and locked it away in my mind to be kept, admired, savored and remembered forever. Mine, all mine.

For some it’s the art. For others it’s the architecture or the culture. For me, it’s the food. And rightly so - food is art, and much could be known about a culture simply by its food.

We sped along a winding freeway weaving our way through the heart of Caracas. Warm air rushing into the car. The raspy sound of night traffic as people made their way to clubs, restaurants and parties was somehow soothing to my ears. The bright lights of a city that stretches out through a great valley light up the dark sky. In spite of the car exhaust and sewage, the smells of perfume, tropical plants and mountain soil all mix together to create an aroma that makes me happy. I like Caracas. I miss it.

My heart raced as we began to climb up a steep, winding road. We drove higher and higher into the hills. The air growing more cool and fresh with every turn. At last we arrived. “Calle de hambre” is literally translated to mean “Hunger street.” Rudimentary outdoor restaurants, food trucks and stands. Where Caraqueños would swarm in the late hours of the night to satiate their ravenous hunger and sober up after a long night of festivities, partying and having fun. It was 11:30pm when we arrived, the “early-bird” hour. We had all the stands to ourselves. The proprietors were busy cooking and prepping, having opened their shops only two hours ago.

Standing next to a picnic table with my friends, overlooking a city of lights below, and the stars above, is where I had my first Bomba.

A Bomba “Bomb” is not for the faint of heart. It is a marvel of engineering and a culinary feat of prowess and strength. A soft-steamed over sized hamburger bun filled with a fresh ground beef patty, fried ham steak, grilled pork shoulder, Swiss cheese, coleslaw, alfalfa sprouts, shredded lettuce, sliced ripe tomato, pickles, thinly sliced crispy onions and avocado with a fried egg thrown in there for good luck. Eating it is just as complex. As you consume this culinary juggernaut, you continuously squirt it with a combination of garlic sauce, ketchup, mustard and tahini mayo.

As I stood there looking out onto an ocean of shining lights, cradling my paper-wrapped Bomba, I distinctly recall a tear streaming down my face - a tear of joy. “This is life.” I thought to myself. If you have ever wondered how people can put up with a fascist president, communism, capitalism, inflation, rampant crime and poverty, it’s because of this sandwich - the $4 Bomba. This sandwich makes life worth living. When you’re sharing a Bomba on a breezy hill under a tropical sky, the problems of life dissipate into trivial murmurs. I doubt rapid gun fire could rip your attention away from a proper Bomba once you’ve embarked on the intricate journey of devouring it with all four sauces.

I have no recollection of how I got home that night.

This is the closest I can get to reproducing a Bomba here in America. It’s not the same without the city lights, the mountain air, the car exhaust, distant gun shots, and the company of my good friends. But it comes pretty close.

Venezuelan Bomba Recipe:

Yields: 1 big F*#@ beauty of a sandwich!

Ingredients for the Bomba:
- An over sized hamburger bun (I sometimes make bread-dough and custom bake them extra big)
- ¼ Lb of ground beef (seasoned with salt, pepper, soy sauce, and liquid smoke)
- 1 ham steak
- ⅓ cup of thin-sliced roast pork shoulder (for faster recipe, use pork tenderloin and grill with Cajun seasoning)
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Shredded Lettuce
- Swiss Cheese
- Tomato
- Kelapo Virgin Coconut Oil
- Kosher pickle slices
- Fried Onion slices
- Coleslaw
- Avocado

Instructions:

1. If you’re baking your bun, you can use pizza dough or bread dough. These sandwiches turn out even better when the bun is warm and fresh-baked.

2. Have all your ingredients diced, sliced, and prepped.

3. Take a deep breath. Do some P90X. Buy your wife something nice.

4. Put a tbsp of Kelapo Virgin Coconut Oil on a skillet and fry your burger patty (flatten it), fry the ham steak and throw in the pre-cooked slices of roast pork.

5. Begin to assemble your sandwich and finish it off with a fried egg.


The Sauces:

This is my rendition of the sauces

Garlic Sauce: Mayonnaise with a tonne of fresh minced garlic and parsley.

Mustard: Yellow mustard.

Ketchup: Ketchup (made with sugar - don’t use the stuff made with high fructose corn syrup)

Tahini Mayo: Mayonnaise mixed with a little bit of tahini (sesame seed paste) and black pepper to taste.