The Heart Of Texas

3 cups Napoli 00 flour (high gluten) 1 cup corn meal 1 package yeast 2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 ¾ cup warm water Makes 2 large pizzas – thoroughly mix and divide into 2 dough balls – coat dough balls with olive oil - let rest for a couple hours – pound them down – let rest again for a period of time – at this point you can cover and put in the refrigerator for days – the time in the refrigerator proofs the dough – after the dough has proofed for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator let it rest at room temperature for an hour or two before forming your pizzas - this amount of dough makes 2 large pizzas -Cook in a hot oven 500 degrees until done.

1 whole chicken 1 pound noodles (I like macaroni) 2 to 3 quarts water 2 large yellow onions chopped 8 celery stalks 4 carrots cut into small pieces 6 cloves garlic 2 tbs basil 1 tbs black pepper 5 bay leaves 2 ounces of soy 1 lbs fresh large mushrooms quartered (I do not cook these until the last hour) 1 tbs cayenne pepper (optional) Put water and chicken in the pot and bring water up to boiling, then reduce heat to low. I cut up everything and add while the water is getting hot. I then cover and let simmer for a couple hours stirring occasionally. I then render all the fat of the top of the pot with a ladle. I remove the whole chicken and de-bone and put meat back in the pot. 30 minutes prior to shutting things down I put in about 5 cups of noodles and the quartered fresh mushrooms. Forks in the road – If you want more liquid add it. If you want to tighten it up use what you got. I just added about 2 tbs corn starch dissolved in a couple cups of water. If you like more pepper

--> --> When it comes to pork spareribs quality is very important. Butchers offer ribs in various cuts. They can be rough cut with a lot of bone, St. Louis cut without the chine, tail and tips, back rib cut also without the tips, flap and chine. What is sold as a baby back rib is simply a small pig with the ribs cut with a bandsaw down both sides. The added cost more than makes up for the loss of the flap, tips and chine bone. Years ago a fresh, rough cut 2.5LBS and down pork sparerib was my favorite product. These days you are lucky to find 3.5LBS and down frozen ribs. Obviously, the more bone the meat markets sell the more profit they make. The older the pig, the bigger the rib. The bigger the rib, the heavier the rack. Here in Southeast Texas the Asian food market has dominated consumption. Paying the cost of a case of 2.5LBS and down is prohibitive if you can even find them. Custom orders are very expensive. In a perfect world I would

When I smoke a brisket and I don’t have to worry about a uniform smoke ring I leave them fat side up un-trimmed with the chopped or fatty side towards the firebox. If I’m cooking in a competition I trim the fat and my method is totally different. I never puncture the meat with a fork, trident, injection needle or thermometer during the cooking process for obvious reasons. If at all possible I keep my briskets away from the fire box. Depending on the pit I stoke them up with a mild wood, pecan or hickory or well seasoned oak. Fruit wood in a North Texas thing. A huge mistake folks make is opening the doors of the pit. As long as you have a handle on the fire and temperature there is no need to open the doors. If I am cooking a lot of briskets I line them up and smoke for a good 6 to 8 hours without ever opening the doors of the pit. After a good long smoke I look at the briskets to see how far along they are. I judge them by their feel, color and appearance. After the smokin