Cabbage Roll Soup

I know I have started posting a few recipes but I figured I would share a few new recipes that I enjoy and would make a great addition any hunting or fishing camp menus.

I love cabbage rolls however my wife does not care for them. Needless to say I never get homemade cabbage rolls. Well I decided to make a batch for myself and freeze the leftovers for the future. After making a trip to the farmers market to pick up some fresh cabbage and the rest items needed I was ready to make up a big batch. That was until a friend of mine posted a recipe for Cabbage Roll Soup on his Face Book feed. The recipe sounded fantastic and much easier to freeze than the normal rolls so I decided to make soup instead. Boy am I glad I did. The soup was fantastic and would be real easy to make ahead and take to camp.
Cabbage Roll Soup

 4 cups cabbage, roughly chopped
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup water
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp basil
680 mL can tomato sauce (or about 3 cups)
796 mL can diced tomatoes (or about 4 cups)
1 cup rice, uncooked

Instructions
1. Add onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, ground beef and salt to a skillet on medium heat. Cook until the ground beef is browned (about 7 to 10 minutes).

2. In a slow cooker, add cabbage, oregano, basil, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, water and ground beef mixture and stir to combine.

3. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours.
In last half hour of cooking, cook the rice according to package directions. Add the cooked rice to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

While I did follow the recipe for the most part I did make a couple changes. First I added a teaspoon of pepper. Second I cooked the soup on the stove for an  hour instead of a crock pot so I added the rice with the tomatoes. The biggest change I made was instead of the tomato sauce I substituted Bloody Mary mix. I figured it would add a little more flavor.

This made close to eight pints of soup for the freezer. Well only seven made it to the freezer. I had one of the pints for dinner.

Enjoy!!

Salmon Candy

Well it has been a long while again. I really need to keep up with this blog. Well I have been looking for a good salmon jerky recipe to make in the Little Chief smoker my lovely wife bought me for my birthday. I kept coming back to this recipe I found for Salmon Candy. There was something about the simplicity of the recipe that kept telling me to make this recipe. Holy crap am I glad I did. This stuff is absolutely fantastic. I cannot stop eating this stuff. Do yourself a favor and try making this.

Salmon Candy

Prep Time: 12 hours curing time
Cook Time: 6 hours smoking time

• 5 pounds skin-on salmon collars, bellies or fillets cut into strips
• 10 ounces of kosher salt
• 1 pound brown sugar
• 1 cup maple syrup or birch syrup

__________

1. Mix the salt and brown sugar together. Find a lidded container large enough to hold the salmon; a big tupperware works well. Lay down a layer of the salt/sugar mixture about 1/4 inch deep. Put a layer of salmon down on this, skin side up. Cover the salmon with more salt/sugar mixture. If you need a second layer of salmon, make sure the layer of salt and sugar between them is thick enough so that the pieces of salmon are not touching. Basically you are burying the salmon in salt and sugar. Cover and let cure in the fridge at least 8 hours, and overnight is better. 
2. Remove the salmon from the cure, which will have become a slurry, and briefly rinse the fish under cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel and set the salmon on a drying rack skin side down. Let this dry in a breezy place for 2 hours. I put the racks under a ceiling fan near an open window with another fan blowing at the fish from the side. You are doing this to form a pellicle on the salmon, which helps it smoke properly. Don’t skip this step!
3. Traditionally salmon candy is cold smoked for several days. If you can do this, go for it. You want to bring the temperature up gradually over the course of an hour or so and let it sit at around 180°F to 225°F for at least 4 hours, and up to 8 hours if you like your salmon candy harder and smokier.
4. Every 90 minutes to 2 hours, paint the salmon with the maple syrup. This also helps to remove any albumen — the icky white stuff — that can form between the fish flakes if your smoker gets a little too hot too fast.
5. When the salmon looks good and lacquered, typically about 6 hours, remove it to the drying racks again and paint it one last time with the maple syrup. Allow to cool to room temperature before storing. Salmon candy will last a week in the fridge, longer if vacuum sealed. It freezes well, too.

Queso Blanco Dip

With tomorrows Super Bowl I thought I would share what is in my opinion the greatest cheese dip ever created. If you are attending or hosting a Super Bowl party this Queso Blanco Dip will be the hit of the party. Every time I make this dip, I cannot stop eating it and I have received so many compliments at every party or pot luck I have made this for. Make some up and just watch it disappear.

Queso Blanco Dip

2lb Block Velveeta Queso Blanco Cheese cut into 1" blocks
2 Cans Rotel Original (Undrained)
1 Link (6oz) El Popular Chorizo Sausage

"Brown" Chorizo sausage and drain all fat. In Fondue pot add Rotel and Velveeta and melt cheese over medium heat. Once melted add Chorizo and stir everything together.

Back with an Orange Asher

I have obviously been neglecting this blog for a little too long. This past year kept me busy with way too many personal matters that are hopefully over for now. I promise I will be better with posting from now on. With that said it's time to get back to tying. 

Let's get back at things with a very simple fly that everybody should have in the fly box. The Orange Asher is a very simple fly that uses only three materials and produces fish when a midge hatch is on. You can fish it high in water to imitate adult midges or you can fish it low in the water to imitate an emerging midge. Not too shabby for a fly that takes about a minute to tie. Tie some up you won't be disappointed.

Orange Asher

Orange Asher

Hook - TMC101 #12-24

Thread - Uni 8/0 Orange

Body - Tying Thread

Hackle - Whiting Grizzly

Step One

Start Thread and Cover Hook Shank

Step Two

Tie in Hackle Feather at Hook Bend. Wind Thread Forward

Step Three

Palmer Hackle Forward with Even Turns

Step Four

Create Head and Whip Finish