BigHawgh 'n Frens Caterin', Cookin', & Creatin'

09/18/2022

thank y'all

Ronnie Hamilton has been my friend for nearly forty years and for some of you a lot longer. He ha… Elizabeth Long needs your support for Help Ronnie Hamilton

08/25/2022

I'm still a purist and still cook my meats in a homemade smoker the Old Skool way over a fire of Split white oak !! https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=826892235385729

08/25/2022

08/19/2022

Puh'kin ordering her breakfast!

08/07/2022

Plannin' a Caterin'

In case y’all is wonderin’, I'm still floating on Cloud Nine after learning Friday morning that the path lab report on the sample they collected of the “spot” on my lung during my bronchopathy on Monday came back as Benign and not the dreaded malignant cancer I so feared. The Good Lord Above not only heard the multitudes of Prayers y’all have lifted for me but HE answered them for me as well. Thank y’all each and every one and help me give praise be to Him on High!

To try and keep my mind occupied while I was anxiously awaiting those Pathology lab results on my “spot”, starting on Tuesday morning I proceeded to work on formulatin’ the menu and build a BIG Grocery Shopping List for a lunch time catering I have coming up next Saturday in Greenwood for about 85 peeps. After getting the menu they wanted finalized and broken down into the items and ingredients needed for make each dish in the quantities needed, I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday and running well into the night sourcing and shopping on line and crunching the numbers for the food items and the various sundries that I will need for this catering I’m doing on 8/13 in Greenwood at the American Legion Hut on East Claiborne. It is for the 53rd Year of the Return from Viet Nam Reunion of the Veterans from the U.S. Army Reserve's 173rd Quartermaster Company (changed before their departure across the Big Water to a Petroleum Company) that was called up to serve on Active Duty during the Viet Nam "Conflict", the only reserve unit in Mississippi that was activated.

Under the leadership of their C.O., Captain John B. Looney, Jr,(now deceased) over 161 of our local young men from Greenwood & the surrounding area plus others that the army transferred into the Unit from other Army Reserve Units., were loaded up and sent to jungles and rice patties of southeast Asia to serve our country & fight in a war that we now know we had no business ever being in to begin with and, miraculously, every one of them returned home suffering no casualties.

After compiling and placing a sho’ nuff BIG Grocery Order with WallyWurl to be picked up Saturday, after conferring, with the BigBossLady in Charge of putting together this event, I had to go back and cancel part of the order because she wisely decided that she wanted me to make the banana puddin’ I was planning to serve sugar free. (which truly does makes a whole heap of good sense! An’ my "By tha’ Light of ah Delta Moon Puddin" that I was gonna make for them damned sho’ ain’t sugah-free by any definition!!)

The Final Menu for this year’s reunion is: Slow smoked over a split white oak fire "doctored up" a pair of large beef gooseneck roast** (45 lbs. of it total cooked like I would a brisket) served sliced with AwwJus Sauce & BigHawgh's Nippin' Jus' ah Bit HorseyRadish Sauce, Quarters of Yardbird*** also slow smoke roasted and finished of with a Sweet ‘n Savory Glaze. These meats will be sided up with Loaded Up Smasht’Taters, Nocha'Momma's GraanBaans, Fresh from tha' Garden, 3 kinds of Cut Off tha' Cob Corn & Otha Thangs Salad, an' ah Nekkid (no sauce added/ jus' tha' cut up fresh fruit.) Fresh Fruits of tha' Vines & Trees Salad with a Complimentary Sauce of mah Very Own Delta Smoothie Sauce. To wash evahthang down, they’ll have glasses of ice cold True Suthern Sweet Tea and even Un-Sweet Tea for the Un-Enlightened! They'll get served buttered-up, warm SistahShubert Rolls. And, lastly, to satisfy any of those guests with ah Sweet Toof Cravin', they get a choice of desserts of either a Good 'n Tasty Sugah Free 'Nanner Puddin for anybody with the diabetes or on strict sugar Free diet or a full-size restaurant pan filled with MizWoody's Lemon Ice Box "Pie" (I vastly expanded my Momma's Family Favorite Lemon Ice Box Pie recipe that made an outstanding, with ah real Egg white meringue, 10 in. Pie to make a full-sized restaurant pan one. This Big Boy takes 10 cans of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, 3 whole boxes of Nilla Wafers, the juice of 20 Fresh Squeezed lemons, 20 egg yolks, and 20 egg whites to make the meringue, plus LOTS of Sugah and a long time of Whuppin' & Beatin'! That will yield about 80 1-cup servings.

* I LOVE the convenience of being able to do my shopping on line, and then driving to pick it up where they bring it out and load it into my truck, without any of the troubles, hassles, or time wasted of pushing a buggy up & down the aisle of the WalMart or waiting in the long lines while attempting to check out!!!

** the Reason I'm cooking the Goose neck instead of Briskets is 'cause Brisket, which used to be considered a throw away piece of meat with a price around $1.50 per pound or less due to the difficulty of cooking one tender enuff to eat combined with the excessive amount (around 50% of the Total Weight) of inedible waste due to fat and tallow) now is selling for $9.00 and up per pound! The Goose neck roast is $4.50 per lb. and cooked right, taste just like brisket with the same look & texture and way less of a waste factor.

*** I have a source for non-GMO whole chickens like we used to could buy that weigh in at 3 lbs. per bird. at $2.10 per lb. that I buy and get split in half to cook, then separate the leg and thigh portion after cooking them. Less handling of number of pieces on the fire and gives me 4 serving or more of yardbird each consisting of two sections of whole breasties with the wing still attached and two sections of leg & thigh quarters. There might be more servings if someone wants to eat just a leg or just a thigh 'cause they separate easily with the thongs when you pick them up. The Sweet ‘n Savory Glaze that I apply close to the end of the cooking to finish off the Yardbirds is a mixture of Pineapple juice, Honey, and BigHawgh's Righteous Delta Rub for Poultry & Pork.

08/01/2022

That's my kinda salad!!

07/18/2022

Domino's has added a New Chicago Style Pizza to their Menu!

07/02/2022

Banana & Pineapple pizza??

06/08/2022

Once again, Necessity is the Mother of Creation!

My refrigerator went crazy the other day and froze everything in it! No, not the freezer part, The Refrigerator side, including 11 eggs. I tried frying a frozen egg but that was not a workable notion. I scrambled up some of 'em but 10 eggs was just gonna be too many to eat.

So, late yesterday I whupped into Kroger and grabbed me a pound of Jimmy Deans sausage with Sage, a 10 oz. container of cherry tomatoes since I already had an almost full container of them multi-colored Medly gourmet ones, and 2 9-inch frozen deep dish pie crusts.

When I got home, I unpackaged the pie crusts, sprayed them with a light coating of spray olive oil, and ran them in the oven on 300oF to brown them up just a bit. After they had been in the oven about 5 minutes I took 'em back out and punctured the bottoms randomly with a fork and put them back in the oven for a lil' bit longer.

I put the sausage in a skillet and browned it good. I broke out of the freezer some already chopped up green onion (about a cup) and some already finely diced portabella mushrooms (about a half a cup.) combined them in a bowl, and thawed them out on defrost in the microwave, then dumped the thawed veggies into a sieve and drained off any liquids. I then combined them in a bowl with 2 heaping tbsps. of minced garlic and 1 heaping tbsp. of my homemade smoke roasted and diced pepper blend that I make and can and use to season and cook with as I desire.

By now the crusts were as browned as I wanted them to be, so I got them out of the oven and set them aside.

I drained the grease off the browned, crumbled sausage and added it to the veggies in the bowl. I put all the mini-maters after sorting out any of the undesirable ones into my handy dandy, Manual operated, whirlybird food chopper and chopped them up coarsely but not too coarse. Then I drained the juice off them as well (Wound up with about 2 full cups of diced 'maters) before adding them to the veggies and sausage in the big bowl.

Then I got out the rest of those frozen eggs (about 5 of 'em remained) that I had already cracked and removed all the shells from and had held 'em in the fridge as I tried to figure out what to do with them. I lighty beat them in a bowl and added a cup of Blue Plate mayo that I mixed in with them and then I added the eggs/mayo mx into the bowl with everything else as well.

Lastly, I broke out my Wolfgang Puck food processor and shredded a partial 8 oz. block of Gooda cheese, asiago cheese, pepper jack cheese, and extra-sharp cheddar cheese. I wound up with slightly over 3 cups of a shredded cheese blend that I also added to the mix, and then mixed it all up good before spooning the mixture into the two waiting pie crusts.

I had placed these together on 1cookie sheet and ran the oven up to Magic 350 F. Slipped them in the oven and let them bake for about 30 minutes until they were bubbling good. I slid the cookie sheet out and sprinkled some more shredded sharp cheddar from a package in the fridge on top and ran them back into the oven until the cheese topping melted.

I wound up with about a cup and a half of the mix in excess after both the crusts were filled so I put the remainder in a small glass baking dish and baked it off too.

VOILA!.

A Damned tasty concoction.

Don't know if you'd call it a Quiche or a modified 'mater pie or what. But I know I'd make it Again and EVEN feed it to company.

One more thing. I seasoned it all as I went to taste with
BigHawgh's DELTA Seasonin' fer ALL Reasonin'

06/01/2022

With the prices still soaring higher and higher....

05/24/2022

Talkin' b'bout tha' Dumbin' Down of 'Merica!

05/24/2022

Forget the Chicken Leg!
What with the ever increasing prices of EveryThing,
we gonna be lucky to be able to afford to EVEN make the gravy!

04/27/2022

$$$$$ STICKER SHOCK! $$$$$

I’m still suffering from sticker shock that slapped me between the eyes yesterday although I don’t know WHY I am. Unless you live in a bubble, don’t drive at all, and haven’t bought any groceries in the past 12 months and are totally oblivious to all news reports everyday about the ever-increasing prices of everything, especially food and energy, with inflation reaching highs that we ain’t seen since the GA Peanut Farmer Fiasco of a Presidential Administration, you should not be shocked by any prices being charged in today’s world. This should be especially true for me considering that I do Catering and custom cooking to order and I regularly buy a great many groceries of all types.

But a reality slapped me upside my head yesterday by just how drastic these increased prices truly are!!

Last year, I had put a super sharp pencil to paper compiling the costs for quoting a catering job for roughly 100 people that was to occur in October/2021. It was to be a full-blown BBQ Feasting serving up ALL of the typical types of smoke roasted meats served as BBQ: Melt in yo’ Mouf Bull Yearlin’ Beef Brisket, Bone Suckin’ GOOD BabyBack Ribs, Done to Purfection Yummilicious Yardbird Quarters, and Tender as a Baby’s Behind Pul’t Pok Butts with complimentary sauces plus 3 Scrumptious Side Dishes and Breads an’ Sweet Tea.

Since this Soiree was to be my very own 50tieth Class Reunion I was pricing it at just enough to cover my actual costs with a tiny bit of cushion built in for unexpected occurrences but no profits for my pocketbook because I wanted to.

I had the job booked, but the Nasty Chinese ‘Rona Virus forced it to be canceled and it has been rescheduled again for this coming October with the same identical menu. With the price of everything going up, I had to get my super-sharp pencil back out and re-crunch all the numbers again

My per person price last year came up to be $17.50 per person (keep in mind that price is equivalent to what my actual cost was going to be!) The increase in this cost in less than a year is what has rocked my world with sticker shock. It has jumped up a full $5.00 per person up to $22.50, an increase of 35%!!

I guess seeing these increases presented in such quantities is what slapped me up-side the head and caused my shock. Boney ass BabyBack ribs are up $3.50 per pound. Beef Brisket, what used to be considered a “:throwaway” Meat due to the amount of waste in excess fat and the difficulty in cooking it tender and edible has jumped over $3.00 per pound.in the past year. When I started trying to cook beef brisket they were priced as low as $1.25per pound with a high of to $1.45 a pound. A #10 (gal) can of Bushes’ Best Beans has DOUBLED!! And, Peeps, it's gonna go higher.

Won’t be long before we re aall gonna be eatin’ Beans ‘n ‘Weenies an’ ridin’ bicycles!

04/17/2022

Hallelujah! HE LIVES!!

04/08/2022

TbT. 1st thing I ever cooked. Way back in 1974. Hamburger helper had just hit the grocery stores and, after trying it a few times (Tuna Helper too!) Joan and I decided we could build it better. Became a regular thing at our house.

03/14/2022

Y'all , Please keep me in mind for ANY kind of Soiree or Gatherin' any of you might be needin' my services for Caterin' or needin custom cookin orders 'to go and maybe delivered for!
Graduations is gettin' near.
Thank y'all!

03/13/2022

BigHawgh 'n Frens has done done it again!!!
Well, y’all, the BigHawgh ‘n Frens Caterin’ Crew has done managed to pull off another Successful Caterin’ Gig yestiddy evenin for ‘weddin’ reception an’ my Foodies got RAVES & GREAT reviews!

The folks we were catering for have a huge collection of English Woodland China Serving Pieces that they wanted us to use as the serving pieces we were needin'. Since the wedding & reception was being held at a hunting camp inside the Mis’sippi levee southwest of Beulah (Merigold Hunting Club) the look & feel of these pieces depicting animals & hunting scenes in this venue was a perfect choice. We added in some of my cut glass pieces to fil in whatever was required and used the gold plastic flatware with white plastic with gold rings 7.5” appetizer plates (It still looks like the good & like the REAL stuff but you ain’t gotta do all that washin’ when you’re through) I even had them some of them lil’, short,
3 pronged, tasting forks instead of toothpicks for eatin’ them bite size fanger foodies!!

Here's what tha’ Menu was that we did for tha’ Guests to table graze on at tha’ Reception:

1. Catfish Terr’Wood(broiled Bites of Bacon wrapped, marinaded Catfish;
2. Yummilicious YardBird Bites(Bites of smoked & glazed Chicken breasts served with MizHattie’s Jezebel Sauce & BizyBee HoneyMustard Sauce);
3. Delta Delite Bites (bites of Hot Tamales served with SoupedUp SodieCrackers, the Earl’s Spicey Catsup, an’ Red Rind Hoop Cheese);
4. Delta Caviar;
5. Popeye’s Strong to Me Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pizza;
6. Supah LoadedUp Smash’d ‘Taters;
7. ‘Maters in tha’ Roun’(Open faced ‘mater sammiches);
8. ALL Thangs Pickle(An Array of All kinds of Homemade PickledThangs);
9. Sopapilla Cheesecake Squares

Plus, tha’ Father of tha’ Bride also supplied grilled bacon wrapped duck Breasts and rounds of two kinds of Smoked Venison rope sausage.

Judgin’ from tha’ amount of foodies devoured an’ tha’ compliments we received, I figured we done good!!

02/22/2022

Feedin' ah bunch of Famished Mermaids!

For the 3rd year in a row, I fed the 30 young collegiate Mermaids (known as Aquanauts) from the Univ. of West Fla. Womens Swimming & Diving Team dinner last Tuesday nite and again, on Friday nite. From down in Pensacola, FL, these Mermaids were in Cleveland competing in the NSISC Championship Meet that was held at DSU Aquatics Center on the Delta State University campus. Because of their strenuous atheletic activities, these Gals chosen Menu were high in carbohydrates and protein to replenish what they had burned up competing.

On both nights I fixed them their choice of meats of either Hardwood Smoke Roasted, & Sweet 'n Savory Glazed 6 oz. Skinless/Boneless Breasties of YardBirds or Done to Purfection Tender as ah Babys Behind Pul't Pok Butt. On Tuesday nite they had sidedishes of ah fresh combination Green Salad with 8 choices of thangs to add to it at their own discretion with Comeback sauce & my homemade Ranch dressing. And, mah SUPAHCheesy CrunchyTopped Baked Mac'nCheese that has 9 different kinds of REAL Cheese in it. On Fridy nite, they had sides of NochaMomma's GraanBaans & Supah Loaded-up Smash't 'Taters. Both nites they got warm, buttered Sistah Schubert Rolls BUT them Gals didn't want no SweetToof Satisfyers to finish it all off wif.

In case any of y'all is wonderin' what all is included in or how I build my Supah LoadedUp SMASHED TATERS for 30 Peeps, here tis!

I smash & mix 9 pounds of already cut up an’ boilt tender 'taters with tha' skin on usin’ 3 lbs. each of gold, red, & russet ‘taters. Then after i got them taters all smashed up go & mixed t'gether, I added in 8 oz. of cream cheese, 2 sticks of unsalted butter, & 2 cups of sour cream that I had done melted and melded together plus 1/2 cup of finely diced green onions, 1/2 cup of finely chopped portobello mushrooms, 2 tbsp. of minced garlic, 2 tbsp. of my smoke roasted peppah blend that I had done mixed together an’ sauteed tender in real buttah. Lastly, I mixed in 1 lb. of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, ½ lb. of shredded ex-sharp cheddar cheese, ½ lb. of shredded Italian blend cheese, & ½ lb. of shredded Taco blend cheese. Last but not least, I added 1 lb. off fried crispy and crumbled up bacon. Oh yeah, I seasoned it all up to taste with my BigHawgh's DELTA Seasonin' Fer ALL Reasonin'! and then baked it all together to get a good mixed flavorin' Profile.

02/07/2022

If ANYBODY ANYWHERE needs ANYTHING cooked to order or CATERED, gimme ah SHOUT an' I can hep YOU OUT!!! # DOWN HOME COUNTRY COOKIN' CATERING SERVICE COOKED TO GO #

02/01/2022

My Daddy taught us, If you kill it you got to eat it!

01/06/2022

Tha’ Epitome of Comfort Food

I jus’ finished makin’ ah big ass pot of chicken ‘n dumplins way more than’ I needed to!! (I guess I was making enough for me 'n BigBubba, my fairly recently adopted short legged, old, FAT, mixed breed mongrel Rescue Dawg that is good company but eats a whole lot!)
I did this batch ah tad different than I normally do. I had made a big batch of veggie broth to cook with a few weeks ago. I had saved up an’ froze all my trimmins from various vegetable preps of all kinds. When I had ah good sized batch saved up, I thawed ‘em out, boiled 'em down, and separated out all the solids, savin’ tha’ broth. On makin’ this batch of dumplins, I supplemented tha’ chicken broth with this veggie broth.

When makin’ my chicken broth an’ gettin’ tha’ meat to go in tha’ dumplins, I took ah shortcut an’ boiled deboned thigh meat & yardbird b***s. Unlike most purest who jus' use tha' broth, meat, an' dumplins, I add ah good bit of diced up Cajun Trilogy (onions, celery, bell peppers) to my pot when boilin’ mah yardbird along with some minced garlic an’ ah lil' of my assorted smoke roasted peppahs. An' I seasoned it all up with mah BigHawgh’s Delta Seasonin’ for all Reasonin.

When tha’ chicken got tender, I drained it through ah colander and set it aside to cool so I could tear up tha' meat. I also saved the solid veggies with tha’ meat.

I put tha’ chicken broth an’ veggie broth back in tha’ pot an’ brung it to ah rollin’ boil, then I begun droppin’ in my dumplins! I used flour tortillas & canned biscuits to make my dumplins. Cut up tha’ flour tortillas into smallish random shaped pieces an’ jus’ pinched off pieces of tha biscuits.

When tha’ dumplins was all jus’ about done, I added tha’ now shredded up yardbird an’ cooked veggies back to my pot, cut it down to real low, and let tha’ conglomeration simmer an’ meld for ah lil’ bit.

If I do saw so myownsef, this batch turned out mighty Damned Good &Tasty! With a slightly different flavor profile!

This is tha’ Epitome of Comfort Food, especially good on ah Cold, Damp, Nasty, Delta Winter Day!!

01/05/2022

Don't think I want me none of this Imitation Bull Yearlin on my BigMac or Whopper

01/05/2022

Hot Bloody Mary Soup is great on a cold rainy Delta Day!!

12/26/2021

Gettin' tha' Chri'mad BigBird doctor'd up at Chrissi's & Cap'nTom's Home in Hunstville before it went in tha' infrared fryer. I wuz shootin' it full of good flavors with melted Butter as tha' carrier to keep it tender & moist & tastin' mighty good! Don't y’all just love my burrowed apron!

12/26/2021

Tha' on tha' table results of my customer's Prime Rib & loaded-up Smashed 'Taters they ate for their Christmas Eve Dinner.
This pic shows tha' finished results of tha' meat I posted tha' step by step process of preppin' & cookin' the other day on here.
They also got 'em some of my AwwJus' Sauce & Nippin' jus' ah Tad Horseyradish Sauce to compliment tha' meat and a pan of my N'awlins Style Bread Puddin' wif Bourbon Sauce to satisfy their Sweet Toof Cravins!

12/22/2021

Well, I did get a FEW orders for Custom Cookin' for Christmas, ALL Meats. Since I'm leavin' Thursday to go spend my Christmas with my Puh'kin in Huntsville, I got my Orders for folks ready t'day.

Here's tha' history of ah USDA Choice Angus 14.2 lb. whole ribeye loin roast hardwood smoked and to be sliced & served as Prime Rib to a Gud Fren's Family Christmas Eve from preppin' to smokin'

Sorry, but I failed to get ah picture of this fine slab of Bull Yearlin' when I took it off tha' fire!!