In Response To Canned Biscuit Dough

This is an oldie from back in the late 80's or early 90's.

A lady named Linda went to Arkansas to visit her in-laws, and while there, went to a store. She parked next to a car with a woman sitting in it, her eyes closed and hands behind her head, apparently sleeping. When Linda came out a while later, she again saw the woman, her hands still behind her head but with her eyes open. The woman looked very strange, so Linda tapped on the window and said "Are you okay?"

The woman answered "I've been shot in the head, and I am holding my brains in."

Linda didn't know what to do, so she ran into the store, where store officials called the paramedics. They had to break into the car because the door was locked. When they got in, they found that the woman had bread dough on the back of her head and in her hands.

A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded, apparently from the heat in the car, making a loud explosion like that of a gunshot, and hit her in the head. When she reached back to find what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She passed out from fright at first, then attempted to hold her brains in.

Now I am a Myth Buster Fan and the Myth Buster team actually find stories like this and test them to see if things can go down the way the story tells it.

They found that yes, if the car windows are rolled up on a hot day and the heat gets up to around 150 degrees the cans will start exploding. The myth above may be true.

For those of you that live in fear of those popping fresh cans, no names here Theresa, the Pillsbury Dough Boy heard you and the thousands if not millions of others out there and has come out with the dough in a plastic wrapper, lol.

Outdoor Turkey

My last blog brought a couple responses to cooking poultry outdoors. I figured I would share a story about the best damn turkey I ever had which we cooked outdoors.

Several years ago we took about 20 Scouts on a camping trip during a Thanksgiving Vacation period. We couldn't have picked a worst weekend due to the extremely wet weather but decided to stick it out and make the best of it. We had tarps hung in trees for shelters and a box truck load of oak scraps from a local stair manufacturing company to keep our fires hot and to keep us warm. We had a bonfire going that would evaporate the rain before it cleared the tree line and many parents had asked why some of the boys had red faces after they returned home.

Any ways we had planned to do a full thanksgiving meal on this trip and that is just what we did.
To do the do the turkey we used a method that involved a spit that was driven into the ground. The turkey was then prepared and then set down over the spit. Kind of like a chicken going over a beer can. The spit went up through the turkeys cavity and then was secured to the spit. We crudely made a tin foil dripping diverter to catch any drippings from the bird and to run them into a pan set at the base.
We made tubes from chicken wire that you could stack about 15 charcoal briquettes into. 4 of them that were then attached to stakes forming a square around the turkey. The stakes made corners roughly about 16" from the turkey on the center spit.

Heavy duty tin foil was then wrapped around the corner stakes.Around the bottom of the stakes the foil enclosure was about 10" off the ground.

The turkey we had was a 22 pounder. After the coals were set we then place a foil cover over the top and just added more coals as needed as they burned off.

I made home made corn bread stuffing with cranberries. When I say home made I went all out, lol. I made the corn bread muffins first and then used the muffins for the stuffing. I did cheat enough to use the Betty Crocker Muffin mix though. It is a favorite for preparing this stuffing. Besides the usual of carrots onions and celery I also used MBT chicken stock, cranberries and walnuts. I ended up making two large dutch ovens full of the stuffing.

For some reason that to this day I haven't wanted to figure out the turkey was completely cooked in about 2 1/2 hours. I would say that maybe the heat had been to high but it wasn't. The skin was beautifully golden and the meat was perfect. The boys all lined up for the food and we started serving. The rain was pouring down and the chill was in the air but no one seemed to mind. The mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the assorted vegetables, bread and rolls, the pies and the gravy. I'd swear that those kids hadn't been fed in months. When I finally sat down to eat myself it was like the old rhyme about Old Mother Hubbard going to the cupboard but the cupboards were bare. I just looked at the turkey carcass sitting there thinking to myself jokingly about turkey vultures, lol.

It was a great experience had by all that participated and the best damn turkey I have ever had.

Outdoor Cooking

I have always been throwing recipes on my blogs but I don't think I have ever done much except my last blog concerning Outdoor Cooking. I'm not talking Barbecue here folks, lol.

As a young child I am sure like myself most have done the hot dogs or marshmallows on a stick over the fire. Well, maybe I enjoyed it a little to much for when it comes to cooking with the fire I kept on going.

My grandmother gave me my fist Dutch Oven when I was around 12 years old. It was like receiving an Eagle Scout award to me . (The BSA was not an organization in my area) 30 some years later I still use it when ever possible and I would say that I know at least 4 Eagle Scouts that have learned the art of Dutch Oven Cooking with it and I am sure my grandmother would be proud of that fact.

Dutch Oven Cooking is great just for the simple reason is, that what ever you can cook on top of the stove or in the oven can be taken outdoors and done where you have no stove. I use to do everything I baked in the Dutch Oven with the coals of the fire. I grew up and learned myself, lol. As a Scout Master with the BSA I learned a few tricks myself from a small group of others that also enjoyed outdoor cooking and the use of Dutch Ovens. The greatest trick I learned was the use of Charcoal Briquettes. Each Briquette used equals 15 degrees of heat. When doing a recipe and a certain baking temperature is needed the Charcoal makes it so much more accurate. The coals are divided and placed under the oven and on top of the oven. To me it works better than a regular oven that is indoors.

There is an extreme pleasure when you are in the deep woods with a group of individuals, the rain is coming down, everyone is damp, cold and hungry and for dinner out comes the beef stew and to push it over the edge, Hot homemade bread or biscuits. Lugging a Dutch Oven on the trail is all worth it when one sees the expressions of gratitude and several large Dutch Ovens are setting there empty.

Can You Smell The Fish Cooking

I'm not a big fish eater but after reading Cyn's blog on small mouth I have the extreme urge to get away to UpState NY ahead for the mountain streams and do some fishing. I love small mouth fishing too and while out doing my thing I absolutely love to cook the few I don't release over the campfire. Well, it's more like in the coals of a campfire.

My grandmother use to actually go fishing and camping with me as a child. She loved the outdoors. She taught me the method of preparing the best tasting small mouth ever.

The nice thing about UpState NY is the abundance of gray clay that can be found almost anywhere on the banks of streams and creeks. Another good thing is the amount of wild onions that can be found everywhere.

After cleaning the small mouth the cavity is filled with the wild onions and then the fish is coated in the clay and then placed in coals to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. After it is removed from the coals the clay is removed. The skin comes off with the clay and you have an excellent tasting small mouth as the reward. The onions add excellent flavor. I think what makes this taste so good is that the fish and onions steam together in the clay shell. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Out Houses For Angie

This is my favorite 2 story out house. I do believe that the owner of this out house used the 2nd story privy while allowing local political figures to use the privy on the lower level.

This is a Mac style family Privy. I can't tell you how many storms blew ours over the bank and my brothers and I had to drag it back up the hill. " Oh no, Auntie Em, lol"...

Kinda funny, I posted this blog last night and it doesn't seem to be showing up on my page. The yahoo police must find something wrong with outhouses.

Stuffed Jumbo Shells

Ok, I have been slacking on something new lately so tonight I had to fire up the mind and get something cooking. I made stuffed Jumbo Shells tonight. A slightly different twist. The jumbo shells I refer to are a type of pasta and not something a sea creature crawls out of, just for inquiring minds, lol.



I pre-cooked my shells following the directions. Pasta Barrilla shells of course.

Instead of using the ricotta filling I went for something just a tad bit different and it will probably cause an eye roll or two from the Italian community.

For the filling I ground up a half a stick of pepperoni, added about a half pound of ground beef, 1/2 lb of shredded mozzarella, 2 eggs and about a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. Some onion and the essential Italian spices. You know, garlic, oregano, basil and some salt and pepper and a zing more of crushed red pepper flakes.

I filled the shells and place them in a baking dish coated on the bottom with olive oil. I cheated since I worked all day and dumped a jar of sauce over the top with a can of diced tomatoes. I then sprinkled some more spices over the top and then topped with another 1/2 pound of mozzarella cheese. I am baking it now at 375 degrees for 45 minutes covered and then another 15 minutes uncovered to brown the cheese some.


Total prep time, about 30 minutes. I'll tell you what, it sure smells good baking. As far as using that jarred sauce goes, Lets keep that amongst ourselves.