Big Juicy contributes to Dry January with a non-alcoholic version of scotch eggs. These sausage covered eggs are an easy and delicious appetizer for any time of year.
Smoked Scotch Eggs
Ingredients
1 lb breakfast sausage
6 hard or soft boiled eggs, peeled
Directions
Portion out meat into 6 equal portions. Working with one egg at a time, press the sausage into a 4-inch disc and wrap it around the egg making sure to completely cover it and healing up any cracks. Repeat with remaining eggs. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Heat smoker to 250 degrees and place scotch eggs onto grate. Cook for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Serve with mustard cream sauce.
Join Big Juicy outdoors as he smokes up one of his favorite appetizers — Jalapeño Chicken Poppers. These are chicken thighs stuffed with jalapeños and cream cheese, wrapped with bacon, and smoked to perfection.
Jalapeño Chicken Poppers
Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 3rds
1 teaspoon of cajun seasoning (Tony Cachere’s)
9 strips of bacon, cut in half
3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into 3rds (6 pieces)
8 oz cream cheese
toothpicks
1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
Directions
Get fire started in your smoker, and bring to about 250-300 degrees. If you are using an oven, adjust a cooking rack to the middle position and place a bakers rack inside a rimed baking sheet Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Season chicken thigh pieces with cajun seasoning and prep other ingredients.
Working with one piece at a time, stuff jalapeño pieces with cream cheese. Wrap chicken piece around jalapeño and secure with a toothpick. Take a piece of bacon, stab it on the toothpick and wrap it around the chicken securing the other end on the toothpick. This should be 90 degrees to the direction the chicken was wrapped (this helps hold things together). Repeat with the remaining components.
Smoke at 250-300 degrees for about 1 hour or until brown and crisp. Lightly glaze the poppers with BBQ sauce and continue to smoke for another 15 minutes.
Dive into aviation history as Big Juicy tells the story of an Englishman, Vernon Castle, and how a professional dancer, some crazy animal dances, Canadians, monkeys, and biplanes, weave together to tell a tale of Texas aviation history.
What’s Juicy?
While Canadians did come train in Fort Worth to escape the colder weather, the part about the origin of “snow bird” is made up.
Vernon and Irene were animal lovers and promoted a bunch of dances with animal names. They had several family pets and Irene eventually set up a pet adoption organization named Orphan’s of the Storm. She valued this above her dancing career.
Vernon did fly in 300 missions during WWI which is remarkable. It gained the recognition of the French and they awarded him the Croix de Guerre (War Cross). He trained pilots in Canada and was eventually sent to Benbrook.
He did indeed have a pet monkey named Jeffrey. He flew with him and is said to make cocktails for the airmen during leave. The Curtiss JN4 “Jenny” had a top speed of 75 mph and weighed less than a ton. The instructor would sit in the back (not the front). I am not sure if Jeffrey helped Vernon out or was just there for company.
Even though the instructor usually sits in back, Vernon chose to sit up front on the day of his death. The comment about not flying until you land was from a Todd Snider song.
The dramatic details of his crash were from the Star Telegram. I assume they are true although I did add the stuff about Jeffrey screaming. Vernon was the 5th person to die in a training accident that week.
The funeral pictures are pretty impressive. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a funeral that big. He is buried in New York, and Irene, although she married a few more times, is buried next to him.
The memorial in Benbrook is further south than the probable crash location. Although the airfield is not there anymore, it used to run along Mercedes Street between Winscott Road and US 377. Here is an overlay of the airfield over a current satellite photo.
The movie is real although I don’t think they thought that much about the title. Irene acted as an advisor and proved to be difficult to work with. The Worth theater no longer exists in downtown Fort Worth.
The story of Vernon Castle is fascinating. The life that this man led in such a short amount of time (he died at 30) is both humbling and impressive.
Get in the mood for October as Big Juicy tells the tale of how an American serial killer, Mississippi country girls, castles, lime pits, and the Chicago World’s Fair come together to tell a fascinating tale of Fort Worth Texas history.
What’s Juicy?
I first found out about H.H. Holmes while watching a TV show named Timeless a few years back. Since then, his name or alias has come up a few times. I was pretty surprised when I heard about his connection to Fort Worth.
Minnie Williams is the person who brought Mudgett to Fort Worth. She was born in Mississippi into poverty. Her parents died and she went to live with her uncle in Dallas. Nanny and her brother stayed behind. There is no evidence she had a speech impediment but she did attend the Conservatory of Elocution in Boston. She came back to Midlothian to teach but also went to the northeast to perform in theater. That is where she most likely met Mudgett.
There are several accounts of how Minnie and Hatch/Holmes/Mudgett met. I don’t really know which one is true, so I went with the most likely story.
Mudgett did have a history of disturbing the dead to commit insurance fraud. He would steal bodies, even dig them up, to stage them as people he bought life insurance policies for. He is also accused of turning stolen corpses into medical skeletons. They were sold to local universities. He is most famous for his Chicago Murder Castle that he expanded for the Chicago World’s Fair. It is believed that he murdered hundreds of fair attendees.
Nannie was asked to come to Chicago for Minnie’s wedding. If Minnie wrote the letter, she was definitely not alive when Nannie arrived. In his biography, he admitted to suffocating Minnie in an air tight vault.
He was tried and hanged for killing Pietzel. He turned himself in because he was afraid what they would do to him in Texas for stealing horses.
The fascinating part of this story is that there are so many discrepancies in the newspaper accounts that it is hard to tell what is true and what is embellished. It is definitely my kind of story.
Join Big Juicy in the kitchen as he rustles up a batch of cowboy cookies. These delicious cookies have pecans, coconut, oats, and chocolate. They are sure to please guests coming over for the big game or any occasion.
Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed (10 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (3 3/4 ounces) old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup (3 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut
2/3 cup (4 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.
Whisk sugar, melted butter, egg and yolk, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth and combined. Stir in flour mixture until no streaks remain. Stir in oats, pecans, coconut, and chocolate chips until fully combined.
Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup sprayed with non-stick spray to portion out cookies onto prepared sheets. Keep them spaced out by 2-3″ to prevent them from touching.
Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until edges are brown and set and centers are puffed up with pale, raw, spots. Try not to overbake.
Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Join Big Juicy as he digs up the history surrounding western line dancing. See how John Travolta, cow pens, honky Tonks, bad music, and the need to relieve yourself come together to form this intriguing tale of Texas, if not world, history.
Join Big Juicy in the kitchen for his first Big Juicy morsel. He is preparing a south Louisiana dish called Chicken Sauce Piquante. Things are heating up in the kitchen.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat to 350 degrees. Place flour in a bowl and mix in 1 tablespoon of Louisiana seasoning. Toss chicken in flower mixture to coat.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering. Shake off excess flour and add half of the chicken to the pot. Brown on both sides (3-5 minutes per side). Remove chicken and repeat with the second half. Keep the extra flour.
Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, remaining 1/2 teaspoon Louisiana seasoning, remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, and reserved flour to the pot. Cook until vegetables are softened (5 minutes).
Stir in tomatoes, broth, bacon, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaf. Scape bottom of pot to loosen up brown bits. Add chicken back to the pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook in oven for about 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and discard bacon and bay leaf. Stir in Tobacco and season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice and top with green onions and additional Tabasco.
Join Big Juicy as he explores the crazy side of life in Mineral Wells, Texas. See how water wells, crazy old ladies, White Sox, baseball, the Mob, and Welcome signs weave an exciting tale of Texas history.
Let Big Juicy be your guide in discovering the story of Eastland, Texas and how a miracle horned frog, Calvin Coolidge, Loony Toons, JFK, Steven Spielberg, and beans weave an invigorating tale of Texas history.
Discover the story behind Panther City. History comes to life as Big Juicy explains how railroads, lawyers, cows, panthers, fire, Bible stories, and public works projects come together to weave an exciting tale of Texas history.
