A Seafood Story and Frog Legs

When I was 6, I found a four-leafed clover. To celebrate, I ran around my yard with glee and then stepped in a huge, warm pile of dog poop. Squishy mess between the toes. Not nice.

And, the time when I was in college and kept a friend's fish aquarium which was placed in an area that received sunlight and when the water got too warm, one of the fish jumped out and, again, I stepped on it, barefoot. It "popped" and I had squishy "stuff" between my toes. Ugh. I actually called a friend, crying, to come clean it up (and my foot) because I was so grossed out. And then I made him carry me outside because I didn't want to walk on the floor!


Don't let me forget to mention the time I was barefoot, running around playing at night, stepped on and squished a frog...sticky slime between the toes is not fun. Nor is it easy to clean off. GAH-ROSS!

But, boy, do they cook up good! Somehow, I am trying to tie this into St. Patrick's day, oh my! Being that it's Lent, and St. Patrick's Day is also St. Joseph's Day which is a Holy Day, no meat is allowed. So seafood is on the menu tonight. But obviously, I have some unfortunate experiences with LIVE seafood! Or being around them barefoot, that is. Look at their little heiney's!

Allow me to expand on Frog Legs. Trust me when I say they taste like chicken because they really do. Fried, Grilled (the most popular ways to cook them), or however they are prepared, they truly (honestly) do taste like chicken and they have the same texture as chicken too. You can take any recipe you have for chicken and use it for Frog Legs and the result will be the same.

I prefer to pan fry or oven bake them after salting and peppering them then dredgeing them in seasoned flour or deep frying using a tempura egg batter coating. However, I've also grilled them using the same ingredients and method for steak: garlic butter, salt and pepper and maybe a little bit of Tony's to taste.

Grilled Steak With Garlic Butter

My Grandfather had two cattle ranches and farms where he raised cattle, crops as well as having pecan orchards. As a result of having the cattle ranches, we had the best beef available for our own consumption. My grandmother mastered their favorite steak preparations from the many steakhouses they visited when in Texas and other areas of Louisiana for rodeo's and auctions.

Her motto, and obviously the restaurants too, was to keep it simple. Forget the ketchup, A-1 Steak Sauce and marinating your steak in salad dressing. That's for amateurs! There are two ways they favored their steaks. This one is my favorite, Grilled Steak with Garlic Butter. You can use any type of cut but my preferences are ribeye's and filet mignon's. These simple ingredients bring out the flavor of the steak without masking it and are incredibly delicious.

Grilled Steak With Garlic Butter

2 large thick cut (over 1") Ribeye steaks (bone-in or boneless)
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 cloves garlic, pressed
salt
pepper

Press the garlic and mix it in with softened butter. When your grill is prepared and ready, grill your steaks on one side until ready to turn. After turning, sprinkle the cooked side with salt and pepper.

Allow other side to cook and turn again. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Once your steak is cooked to preferred doneness, flip again and spread a coating of garlic butter over the top of the hot side you just turned up. Remove from grill and flip it over onto the plate. Spread other, hot side, with garlic butter. Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

If there is any garlic butter left over, I either use it to butter some French bread or throw it in with some vegetables or on a baked potato. Mmmm, Mmmm, good!

Brisket

It was deer hunting season, and I was spending a long weekend at a friends house out in the country. Her husband had several hunter friends, myself included, out hunting on the property late one afternoon. I had paired up with another hunter friend, Ronnie, to hunt off his stand and we were out in a gully on our way when we heard a thunderous noise. Before we even had a chance to think, a huge herd of cattle was stampeding towards us kicking up a wall of dust, dirt clods and debris; it looked like a storm. Ronnie tried to scare the cattle in a different direction but it didn't work and I dove under the roots/base of a large fallen tree at the head of the gully while he dove behind a large tree nearby. From where I was, it felt and sounded like an earthquake. I glanced up and could see the undersides of the cattle jumping over me...one wrong move and one of them could have landed right on me. I was terrified.

Fortunately, we came out unscathed. Ronnie drove us back to our friends house and upon entering the kitchen, we were so shell shocked and weak in the knees, we both collasped on the kitchen floor in tears. It was the first time I ever saw this grown man cry. We sat there holding each other in total silence, teary and emotional until someone came home and jolted us back to reality. We were terrified realizing how close we came to being killed. Needless to say, that was the last time I went hunting!! Thanks Ronnie!

My friends father had already planned to cook a nice brisket for everyone that night for dinner. He had already done the prep work and it had been marinating overnight. When he got in from the hunt, he took it out and fired up the grill and cooked the most succulent, fork tender brisket I had ever eaten. We planned to have a sit-down meal after the hunt but with the "excitement" of the day and that wonderful brisket, we were having cocktails and talking so much that we stood around eating the entire meal standing up, just picking at the food and eating the meat slice by slice before we realized everything was all gone! And it was wonderful that way too! Gotta be flexible!

This can be done entirely in the oven, but it's better to follow the recipe. This marinade recipe can cook 2 large briskets, so mix it all then freeze half if you are only cooking one brisket.

2-3 bottles of soy sauce
1 lg can pineapple juice
1 sm bottle Italian dressing
1 bottle worchestershire sauce
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbl garlic powder
lemon pepper (this makes it good!)
1 large brisket

Mix all ingredients together except lemon pepper. Divide quantity and freeze half if not preparing 2 briskets. Marinate brisket in refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove brisket and place on broiling pan and season generously with lemon pepper and more garlic powder. Cover entire broiling pan & brisket with foil and seal well (I used a 9x13 pyrex casserole dish). Cook in oven at 250 degrees until 2/3 done, about 1 –1/2 hours. Take the remaining marinade the brisket was in and pour into a sauce pan and simmer on stove or on the pit while brisket cooks in the oven. Take brisket out of foil (***SAVE JUICE) and place on BBQ pit over low burning coals. When brisket is browned well on both sides, wrap in foil again and cook on pit for another 30 min per pound. When done, slice brisket. Combine juice and pan drippings, pour over meat and serve.

**** If you choose to cook the brisket entirely in the oven, just keep it covered and cook it at 250 degrees until done. It will take a few hours but is well worth it.