We used to always have Happy Farms Cheese Strings in the house for the kids. We live close to the US border so we could make a trip over and get a couple of packs.

I decided to try to make some homemade deep fried cheese.

I started by opening the cheese sticks.

(Click on the images for higher resolution.)

Next, I cut them into thirds.

I make up three containers. One with flour, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne, one with a couple of eggs, scrambled, and one with panko crumbs.

Each cheese stick gets flour, then egg, then panko before being arranged on a baking pan ready to be deep fried.

Mine kind of exploded. That just means that I get to clean them up for presentation by picking off the exploded cheese and eating it.

When they come out of the oil taste one and salt them if necessary.

You can reduce the explosions by sticking them in the freezer and freezing them then dropping them into the oil frozen to get the outside fried up before the cheese melts enough to ooze out.

Or...just eat the damned cheese.

The sauce can be anything. You can use jarred marinara or you can stick blend jarred spaghetti sauce then boil it down to reduce it. I used homemade spaghetti sauce that my wife froze last summer which I boiled down to the consistence you see in the photo.

In addition to making maple syrup and building maple syrup making machines I also make ice cream in the summer. Two summers ago I started making Aztec Chocolate Ice Cream. It is a cooked custard ice cream that includes cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne powder, and candied ginger. It starts cold, rich, and chocolate then burns your face off.

I love the stuff.

My wife won't go near it.

Here is the recipe as a couple of people have asked for it.

MapleEngineer Aztec Chocolate Ice Cream

See NOTE at the end.

500 ml (2 c) 35% (whipping) cream

1 L (4 c) 10% (table) cream

1 c (85 g) Dutch process cocoa powder

1 1/2 c (180 g) sugar

1 T (15 ml) vanilla (I use really good Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla in bourbon)

1/8 t (6 g) salt

1 1/2 t (2.7 g) ground cayenne

1 1/2 t (4 g) ground cinnamon

1/2 t (1.4 g) ground ginger

I put the 10% cream, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder in a pot and heat it slowly to a simmer whisking slowly but constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Then I add the spices and salt and whisk slowly until well incorporated. Once everything is smooth I remove the pot from the heat, whisk in the heavy cream, put it in a container, and stick it in the friged, preferably overnight, to cool thoroughly.

Once it's cool make it into ice cream.

This recipe produces what I think it a very nice, VERY rich (18% MF) chocolate ice cream with a nice burn.

NOTE: As a typical Canadian who grew up during the transition from Imperial to Metric measurements I still cook in Imperial units. Well...sort of. I measure the cream in Liters but everything else in t, T, and c. So, I've put the units that I use first with my best shot at converting them second. Be aware that I may have made a terrible mistake. I recommend measuring as I do. If anyone wants to correct these measurements I will update the recipe here.

The hock is the leg of the pig above the foot and below the ham/shoulder. When we had our pigs processed we always got the hocks back. We tried to sell them on to our customers but no one wanted them. Most said they didn't know what to do with them.

We smoke the hocks. When I'm doing run of smoking I bring in trays of smoked hocks and set them in the kitchen to cool. By the time that I get back with the second tray my kids are already picking at the first tray.

This is one of our favorite recipes. It's simple country food of barley, roasted pork bone broth, local carrots, and smoked hocks.

We started throwing one piece of smoked hock (they're normally cut into three pieces) with each order we delivered and included this recipe.

It didn't take long for the orders for smoked hocks to start coming in.

This isn't fancy but it's my comfort food. My family has been making this and calling it macaroni since before I was born. It's a super simple recipe that I cook mostly in the winter. Across the Midwest US this is known as (American) Goulash.

I start with 1 Kg (2 lb) ground beef, a large onion, 600 g (4 cups) of macaroni elbows (or other unit pasta), two 798 ml (27 oz?) cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, dry basil, dry oregano, garlic powder, salt, and the secret ingredient, ketchup.

I dice up the onion, heat up a deep frying pan, add a bunch of butter (30 ml, 2 T), and toss in the onions frying them until they start to caramelize. Then I add in the ground beef and fry it until there is no more visible red and I think it's mostly cooked. Next I add in all of the diced/crushed tomatoes, a palm full (seriously, that's how I do it...maybe between 15 ml and 30 ml (1T and 2T) each of dry basil and dry oregano, around 5 ml (1 t) of garlic powder, and around 10 ml (2 t) of salt. Finally, I add a good squirt of ketchup (maybe...250 ml, 1 c). I stir it up, bring it to a simmer, and turn the heat down to hold the simmer.

Next, I boil the elbows until they are al dente. When the elbows are ready I drain them and shake the colander to get rid of as much water as possible then dump the elbows into the sauce and mix. From there it goes straight into bowls.

Between you and me, I think it's actually better the next day fried in a frying pan with butter but that's just me...and my father...and my son.

The title really says it all.

I usually start out with 275 to 350 g (3 to 4 cups) of Brussels sprouts, a large onion, a large Bell pepper, and two large oranges. You want the chopped peppers and onions to almost match the volume of the raw Brussels sprouts because they shrink a LOT when you caramelize them.

Use a zester to remove the zest from two oranges, any kind will do but blood oranges work very nicely. Closely cover the zest immediately so that it doesn't dry out. Cut two oranges in half and set them face down on a plate so that they don't dry out.

I begin by cutting off the stem and peeling back the outer leaves. I then slice the Brussels sprouts in half and set them aside. Next I finely dice onion (I refer sweet onions or red onions) and bell peppers (I prefer red for the little bit of color) and slowly fry and caramelize them in butter and a bit of high temperature oil (I use local sunflower oil.) Don't forget salt and pepper. Go light at this point, you're going to adjust it at the end. Once the onions and peppers are going I start to fry the Brussels sprouts in butter and high temperature oil, face down at first, until they are a bit browned (as in the picture.) Salt and pepper them lightly. Then I flip them over and move them around a bit to try to get some color on the other side. I add some water (probably a bit over half a cup) then cover the pan and steam the sprouts. When they are just starting to become tender I remove the lid, fry off the water, and add the peppers and onions. Juice one orange and add the juice to the pan and fry off most of the liquid. Juice the second orange and add the juice to the pan and fry off most of the liquid again. Add the orange zest and some maple syrup (30ml, 2 tablespoons at least) and shake to coat.

Taste, adjust salt, pepper, and maple syrup.

Serve hot.