25 pound Smoked Turkey

25 pound Smoked Turkey, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Brined the turkey for 12 hours beforehand and started the mesquite charcoal at 7:00am. Loaded the bird around 7:30am and finished at 2:00pm. The BGE never got over 260 degrees. During the smoking process, I added water soaked apple wood chips along at various intervals to make a nice thick pink smoke ring in the meat.

shittake & Green pepper

shittake & Green pepper, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Special Pizza Fundraiser for Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund

On Saturday November 14 at 10:00am
The Peachtree Road Farmer's Market
Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers will be on site with their mobile pizza oven preparing some very special pizzas to sell by the slice and as whole pies. All proceeds will be going directly to the Georgia Flooded Farm Relief Fund.

~What makes these Pizzas so special?

I went ahead and spoke with the farmers who participate at the market and will be sourcing the ingredients for the toppings directly from from them on the day of the market!
These pizzas are going to be a unique and limited offering to say the least.

Special Mellow Locavore Pizzas:

#1~Cheese,Spinach, Bacon, Mushrooms, Olive oil, Black pepper, Salt
#2~Assorted local Peppers, River-view Farms Sausage, Cheese, Tomatoes
#3~Georgia Coastal Shrimp, Garlic,Olive Oil, Peanut-Cilantro Sauce, Cilantro
#4~Sweet potato,Parmesan,Kale,Rosemary,Olive oil.
#5~Cheese,Pesto, Tomato,Eggplant,Basil,Arugula,Black Pepper,Salt

*Pizzas will be subject to ingredient availability on the day of the market and may not be served exactly as shown above.

A simple mayonnaise recipe

Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 cup peanut oil

1. Place egg yolks, salt, mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar into food processor. combine well by pulsing 4 or 5 times.

2. Pour oil through the feed tube slowly in a thin stream until fully incorporated. The mixture thickens up as the oil gets worked in.

Antico's Marinara with White Anchovy Pizza

Antico's Marinara, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Ok, so I went to Antico and got a pie. The bill of $20.00 seemed a bit steep for a pizza with no cheese and a smattering of white anchovies and basil leaves. I feel that I have been keeping myself informed as to what is going on with these so called "pizza wars" here in Atlanta and personally believe that it's all hype generated by a small but elite group of foodies. Was this pizza good? Yes, it was but then I wonder, why did I end up taking 80% of it home and adding shredded cheese to it which in turn, and to be fair, made it much better. Then I started to feel weird about it and began to wonder why I had to doctor up a pizza that just cost me $20 bucks? After some thought on the matter, I came to the conclusion that I just don't care that much about places like Antica. Great, authentic Neopolitan pizza with all the appropriate credentials. A staff of Italians to make you feel like you actually might have been teleported to Naples. This whole place, despite the fast, almost eager friendly service, still reeks of elitism. Maybe this was in part to the inside out folding of the not so environmentally friendly pizza box. Should pizza be this pompous? Or should it be a good, simple comfort food? Those who rave have declared Antico Pizza the best in town. But is it really true? I suggest that you make your own decision.

Sunday night BBQ plate

Sunday night BBQ plate, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I wanted to cookout on sunday but was not sure what to cook.
A trip to the Dekalb international Farmer's Market allowed me to prepare both applewood smoked duck legs and a lightly smoked trout filet from North Georgia. I rounded out the selection with my latest incaration of my red skin potato salad and grilled asparagus.

Tiger Processed Gruyere Cheese

Tiger Gruyere Cheese, originally uploaded by jekemp.

When I was much younger than I am today, I remember eating foil wrapped cheeses such as Tiger when flying on a commercial airliners.

I found this set of six individually wrapped foil cheeses at the Dekalb International Farmers Market for $2.49. There is Gruyere flavor, Smoked, as well as Alpine Herb.

Tiger cheese is not a sophisticated european cheese like Kaltbach, it is more a carry along the trail kind of cheese. A cheese that can withstand sitting underwater in the bottom of a cooler and not getting ruined sort of affair and this is one of the reasons that I enjoy it so...