A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS…

I had to link to this post from one of my favorite sites, Ed Levine’s Serious Eats.  This contains two of my favorite cooking things…Cast Iron and Mac and Cheese.

GRILLED/TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICHES

I’m back.  Maybe the two most common words on Mel’s Diner, but…well, whatever…  I’ve had great plans to post…I’ve even said to myself, “Dude!  You need to post!…Gosh!”  And still, I didn’t.  Mostly it’s because I got out of the habit of posting.  Hence, Mikey has a crappy blog.

So, I’m back.  I didn’t quite know what to post about, so I thought I’d have a snack while I thought about it.  My snack?  A Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Here, in New England, a Toasted Cheese Sandwich.  Here, in the Mulholland house, A Toasted Cheese Sandwich also has thin, sliced green peppers.  Many (OK, few) of you will remember this sandwich is the single dish that introduced me to a fun and, now pregnant, girl in Canada we all know as Sara from iliketocook.  I’d link back to that blog post, but it’s one of the many lost on Clearblogs.

What’s in a Toasted Cheese Sandwich?  Well, it’s two slices of white bread, a Wonder-type, bread, buttered.  Two slices of American Cheese, the plastic-wrapped type and a few slices of Green Bell Pepper - the salad-type.  Layer bread, cheese, pepper, cheese and bread.  Butter both outside end’s of the bread.  Fry in a pan, flip and fry the other side.  No magic.  That’s it.

 

Oh, it’s good!  Really, really good.

MEATBALL SUBS

Who doesn’t love old recipes?  Who doesn’t love combing two of them into one great new recipe? That might even be better.  I was able to buy up on ground beef, so I was looking for good ground beef recipes for dinner this week.  For inspiration, Tommy and I checked out his lunch menu from school and what should I find right at the top?  Meatball subs!  Normally, I don’t like meatball subs because they are so saucy and…well, saucy.  Figuring I could do better than that, I threw it up on the menu board for this week – Tuesday to be exact.

Firstly, I got the sauce going.  I decided I would make Mario’s basic tomato sauce.  This sauce is so good, I’m in awe every time I make it.

MARIO’S BASIC TOMATO SAUCE

• 1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• ¾ cup medium carrot, finely shredded
• 28-ounces peeled whole tomatoes
• Salt

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a boil, stirring often, and then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour.

OK, now to the meatballs.  There is only ONE meatball recipe in Mike’s House, that’s from my buddies at the Pacific St. Social Club.  Aside from the meatballs being the best I have ever had, I would lie just to be a part of the club. Old men, drinking wine, making meatballs….it doesn’t get better!

PACIFIC STREET SOCIAL CLUB MEATBALLS

• 1 cup cubed stale bread (as from an Italian loaf)
• Milk for soaking the bread
• 1 pound lean ground beef, such as sirloin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves (I use 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (OK, no Romano or Parmesan, so I used Monterey Jack because that’s what I had and any cheese is good cheese)
• 2 large eggs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine the bread with enough milk to just cover and let the bread soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze dry and chop fine.

In a bowl, combine the bread with the meat, garlic, parsley, Romano or Parmesan cheese, eggs, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into 12 to 14 meatballs, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and chill until ready to cook.

The original recipe says to brown the meatballs in olive oil and then finish cooking in homemade red sauce (Sunday Gravy).  Instead, I always cook in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes; they never fall apart on me that way.

OK, cut the meatballs in half and also cut the sub rolls in half, too.  Place 4 to 5 meatball halves on one half of the sub roll.  Cover with more shredded Monterey Jack and some basic tomato sauce.

 

Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!

CORNED BEEF

I’ve been counting on Google and their cached webpages to supply me with info and recipes from my old blog hoster (is that a word) Clearblogs and the original Mel’s Diner.  As I went back for this post, I was shocked to find it gone!!  It was just there a few weeks ago, I used it for the recipe for this post!  I don’t have that recipe written down!  Fortunately, Google had a cache of my last Clearblogs page and it’s posts and at the very bottom, the last post cached was my recipe!  Saved! 

And we are very lucky for that because it’s my corned beef recipe.  And by corned beef, I mean the recipe for the brine to corn the beef.  It’s a cobbled together recipe, partly from Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie (again) and partly from iliketocook’s lovely and gracious Sara’s much despised recipe for Irish Spiced Beef.  I first made it two Thanksgiving’s ago and I liked it a lot, though I found it to be too clove-y.  This time, I cut the cloves and made the best corned beef I have ever had in my Irish roots, I-eat-a-lot-of-corned-beef life!

CORNED BEEF

Brine:

• 1 gallon water
• 2 cups (1 pound) Morton’s kosher salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 ounce (5 teaspoons) Saltpeter
• 1/8-1/4 tsp ground cloves (down from ½ tsp in the original recipe)
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns, crushed
• 1/2 tsp Mustards seed, ground
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
• 3 dried bay leaves

Combine everything in a pot and bring to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar.  Once combined, remove from heat and cool down to room temperature.  Refrigerate the cooled mixture until well chilled.  Add a 4-5 pound beef brisket to chilled mixture, weigh it down with a plate and refrigerate 5 days.  I removed the beef and, because we weren’t eating it soon, I froze it. 

 

That was a week and a half ago.  Saturday, I defrosted it and I cooked it yesterday.  I put the brisket in an 8 quart stock pot and covered it with about a gallon of water.  I brought it up to a boil and simmered it for 5-10 minutes.  I drained the water to rinse away any excess brine and salt from the beef and added another gallon to 6 quarts of water and brought it to a boil again.  I simmered it for 3 ½ hours, adding carrots, cabbage and potatoes near the end to cook them.  I sliced it, served it with the veggies and……WOW!

 

You’re welcome.  Sounds a bit vain, but, c’mon, when your right, you’re right.

MIKE’S MAC AND CHEESE

The first time Clearblogs, my first blog hosting service disappeared, I said I wasn’t all that unhappy because it gave me a chance to repost all of my best recipes.  Of course, Clearblogs reappeared and I never reposted any of the great recipes.

Then, just a month or so ago, Clearblogs disappeared again and this time, it looks for good.  So, I’m taking this opportunity to repost some of what I consider my best recipes.  And one of the best is Mike’s Mac and Cheese.  This post will actually be the THIRD time it has graced the cyber-pages of Mel’s Diner.  The first post was obviously the original Mel’s Diner post and it re-appeared as a link on a Best of… post. 

I made this two times this weekend, perfecting the recipe.  I made it on Saturday for the family to eat for dinner that night and again on Sunday to bring in to work for some very deserving friends. 

As I said in the original post, what makes this Mac and Cheese so good in the Béchamel Sauce (actually an extra cheesy Mornay Sauce).  Steeping the diary in a mirepoix and bouquet garni adds a depth of flavor to the resulting cheese sauce that regular mac and cheese can never match.  Trust me, if I had this as a weapon in high school (or college), I would have had a lot more girlfriends that I did.  Chicks dig guys who can cook.

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• Bouquet Garni (bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley stems, thyme, etc.)
• 4 cups of Light Cream
• 2 tbs. of butter
• 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, muenster, etc. Must be at least half  Cheddar!)
• ½ cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano 
• 1 1/2 Tbls. flour
• 2/3 pound of pasta
• nutmeg, cayenne, salt and white pepper

Make the Béchamel:

Add the onion, carrot, celery and the bouquet garni into a large pan with the milk and cream.  You can see I couldn’t find my cheesecloth, so my bouquet ended up in the pot along with the mirepoix:

Heat to a boil, turn off and allow the aromatics to steep in the dairy for thirty minutes.  After thirty minutes, strain the dairy into another pot and bring to a simmer.  While that is happening, melt the butter and add the flour.  Stir into a roux and cook the roux to a pale stage. Add the hot dairy and whisk until it comes to a boil.  After it thickens, it will be the consistency of gravy.

Make the Mac and Cheese:

Cook the pasta in another pot (I prefer small tube pasta, like macaroni) until totally done, no al dente, please.  Add the cheeses to the sauce and whisk to combine.  I used 1 cup of cheddar, one half cup of jack cheese and, of course, the Parmigiano-Reggiano.

 After the sauce is smooth, add the pasta to the sauce.  Add the nutmeg, cayenne, salt and white pepper to taste.  It is going to be VERY soupy – don’t panic.

 

As it cools, the pasta will soak up the sauce until it’s just right.  It seems dry, add more cream, or as I did the last time, a bit of the past water and re-taste for salt and pepper.

 

CHICKEN CORDON SOMETHING

The other night, I needed to make dinner (“Oh, really?  That’s what makes you so unique and different from everyone else.” – the stove) and I had no idea what to make.  Wandering around the grocery store, I bought the polyester of the food world – boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I figured, how can you go wrong stuffing the chicken breast with cheese?  And I was right!

CHICKEN CORDON MIKE

• 4 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ½ cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
• ½ cup diced ham

Mix the cheeses and the ham together.  Using a filet knife, cut a pocket into each breast, stuff each with ¼ of the cheese and ham mixture and close with a toothpick.  Bake in a 350 degree over for 30-40 minutes, until the internal temperature hits 160 degrees.  Sauce with Béchamel.

BECHAMEL SAUCE

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• Bouquet Garni (bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley stems, thyme, etc.)
• 1 1/4 cups of Light Cream
• 2 tbs. of butter
• 1 1/2 Tbls. flour

Add the onion, carrot, celery and the bouquet garni into a large pan with the milk and cream. Heat to a boil, turn off and allow the aromatics to steep in the dairy for thirty minutes.  After thirty minutes, strain the dairy into another pot and bring to a simmer.  While that is happening, melt the butter and add the flour.  Stir into a roux and cook to a pale stage. Add the hot dairy and whisk until it comes to a boil.  Oh, baby.

THAT COOKBOOK THING II

Well, That Cookbook Thing II soldiers on and this time we attacked the king of all meats – the beef filet.  The recipe chosen was a classic amongst classics – Tournedos Sautés Chasseur or Filet Steaks with Mushroom and Madeira Sauce.

Now, I don’t have a friendly butcher I can go to and get a tournedo cut of the fillet.  The comes from the smaller end of a fillet, about a quarter up from the small end or the filet mignon.  I’m just happy to get any cut from the filet, so I’m not sure I made a true Tournedo Sautés Chasseur, but I do know I made a fine steak.

TOURNEDOS SAUTES CHASSEUR

• 6 crustless rounds of white bread, 2 ½ inches in diameter and 3/16 thick
• 3 to 4 Tbls. of clarified butter (ok, I used plain butter)

Sauté bread rounds in the hot butter to brown very lightly on each side.  Reheat them in a 350 degree oven just before serving.

• ½ pound of fresh mushrooms, whole if very small, quartered if large
• 2 Tbls. butter
• 1 Tbls. oil
• 2 Tbls. minced shallots
• Salt and pepper

Sauté mushrooms in the butter and oil for 5 minutes to brown them lightly.  Stir in shallots and cook slowly for a minute or two.  Season and set aside

• 6 steaks, 1 inch thick and 2 ½ inches in diameter, wrapped in a strip of fat and tied
• 2 Tbls. butter
• 1 Tbls. oil

Dry steaks with a paper towel.  Place butter and oil in a skillet and set over medium-high heat.  When foam subsides, sauté steaks for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  When done, remove to a platter, remove strings and place each on a bread canapé.  Keep warm while making sauce

• ½ cup beef stock
• 1 Tbls. tomato paste

Pour fat out of skillet; stir in stock and tomato paste.  Boil rapidly, scraping up the coagulated cooking juices, until reduced to 2 or 3 tablespoons.

• ¼ cup Madeira mixed with ½ Tbls. arrowroot or cornstarch.
• 2 Tbls. of minced parsley

Pour in the starch and wine mixture; boil rapidly for a minute.  Add the mushroom mixture and simmer until the flavors meld, correct seasoning.  Spread the sauce over the steaks and sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

OK, how was it?  It was wonderful, but a bit to tomato-y.  The sauce would be OUTRAGEOUS if it was made with a veal demi-glace and just ½ Tbls. of tomato paste.  Still, it was wonderful and I encourage everyone to make it.  I made a few alterations – I didn’t use any fat when I tied it and I used shiitake mushrooms because I love them so much. 

Who else has been making this?

• Shaun from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow (he was the first to make it)
• Ruth from Once Upon A Feast (If I had to do Dinner: Impossible, I’d want her on my team)
• Sara from iliketocook (my best WWW buddy)

THAT COOKBOOK THING II – POULET AU PORTO

After an extended break for summer, the crew from That Cookbook Thing II are back with the next installment from Mastering The Art of French Cooking- Poulet au Porto.  This was an especially nice recipe for me not only because I got to use a few of the major food groups (Cream, Mushrooms and Port) but also because we made the Perfect Roast Chicken!

Since this thing started, I’ve been harassing everyone to make Julia’s Roast Chicken.  It’s an incredibly fussy recipe with flipping from side-to-side what seems every couple of minutes, but if you try it, you will be hooked.  The chicken comes out so moist and flavorful, you’ll wonder how it could be so different than any other roasted chicken.

Well, on to the recipe:

ROAST CHICKEN

• 3-4 lb roasting chicken
• Salt
• 4 TBS butter, softened
• 2 TBS oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle the chicken (inside and out) with salt. Rub skin of chicken with 2 TBS butter. In a small bowl, combine 2 TBS butter with the oil.

Place the chicken, breast up, in a large shallow roasting pan and place the pan in the middle of the preheated oven. Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, turning it on the left side after 5 minutes, on the right side for the last five minutes, basting with the combined butter and oil after each turn. Reduce the heat to 350°. Leave the chicken on its side and baste every 10 minutes, using the fat in the roasting pan once all of the butter and oil have been used. Carefully watch the temperature and regulate the heat so the chicken is making “cooking noises”, but the fat is not burning.

Halfway through the estimated cooking time, turn the chicken on its other side and continue basting every 10 minutes. Fifteen minutes before the end of the estimated roasting time, turn the chicken breast up and continue basting. Indications that the chicken is almost done are a sudden rain of splutters, a swelling of the breast, the drumstick is tender when pressed and can be moved in its socket. Another check is to prick the thickest part of the drumstick with a fork. The juices should run clear yellow. When done, set the chicken on a hot platter for at least ten minutes prior to carving.

While the chicken is roasting:

• 1 lb. Fresh Mushrooms
• ¼ cup of Water
• ½ TBS Butter
• ½ tsp Lemon Juice
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 cup Whipping Cream
• ½ TBS Cornstarch
• ½ TBS Minced Shallots or Green Onions
• 1/3 cup Medium Dry Port
• ¼ cup Cognac
• Salt and Pepper

Trim and wash the mushrooms.  Quarter them if large, leave whole if small. 

Bring the water to boil in a 2 ½ quart saucepan with the butter lemon juice and salt.  Toss in the mushrooms, cover, and boil slowly for 8 minutes.  Pour out cooking liquid and reserve.  Pour cream and cornstarch (blended with a bit of the cream first) into the mushrooms.  Simmer for 2 minutes.  Correct seasoning (“Stop checking the seasoning, Mike!  We need SOME of the cream and mushrooms for the rest of the recipe!” – the Stove) 

Pause now until the chicken comes out of the oven.  Move the chicken to a platter and cover to let rest.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the roasting pan and place over the stove.  Stir in the shallots or onions and cook slowly for one minute.  Turn the heat to high, add the port and the mushroom juice, and boil down rapidly, deglazing, until the liquid is reduced down to about ¼ cup.  Add the mushrooms and cream (“mmm…cream”) and simmer for 2-3 minutes, allowing the liquid to thicken slightly.  Correct seasoning and add a few drops of lemon juice to taste.

Smear the inside of a casserole or chafing dish with butter.  Rapidly carve chicken into serving pieces.  Sprinkle lightly with salt, and arrange in the dish.

Set over medium heat until you hear the chicken begin to sizzle.  Pour cognac over the chicken.  Avert your face, and ignite the cognac (“Fire!”).  Shake the pan slowly until the flames have subsided.  Then pour in mushroom mixture, and baste the chicken.  Cover and steep for 5 minutes without allowing the sauce to boil.  Serve immediately.

What can I say?  It was incredible!  I mean, c’mon, how can you go wrong with the Perfect Roast Chicken, Cream, Mushrooms, Butter and Port?  You can’t.  Those would even make a weekend with your mother-in-law good.  What I did differently or at least perceived differently:

• I quartered the mushrooms.  I like chunks of mushrooms and as I read the recipe, I pictured quartered mushrooms.  I used ½ pound button mushrooms (to retain the 1961 flavor) and ½ pound of crimini mushrooms for a more earthy flavor.
• I cut the chicken up into six pieces instead of carving it.  I wasn’t sure if that’s what I was supposed to do, but I thought it would make a nice serving presentation for less than 7 people.  I did just what Julia said to do and served it with simple side dishes – boiled potatoes with chives and carrots.

That’s it – I try to follow Julia’s recipes to see what they taste like to a 21^st Century palate.  And let me tell you, it still tasted damn good!

Here’s the members who have made it so far:

• Ruth at Once Upon A Feast 
• Shaun at Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
• Sara at iliketocook

FAMILY MEAL, OTTO STYLE

Flipping through the September Bon Appetit, I came across an article on family meals at various restaurants.  Family meal is the staff meal before service, usually something not all that wonderful using leftover and sometimes questionable ingredients.  Of course, some restaurants make a big (or at least bigger) deal and these are the places Bon Appetit highlighted.

The meal that caught my eye was from Mario Batali’s Otto (There’s no link because Mario’s site seems to have been hacked and infected with viruses) in New York – Chicken Parmesan.  It’s the recipe of choice when the Morning Sous is cooking.  It uses Mario’s Basic Tomato Sauce, something I’ve never made.  I’ve been hesitant to try it because it has carrot in it and I just couldn’t understand that.  But, I made it and I used my canned tomatoes.  Speaking of those, I picked up another box of tomatoes and they ripened so quickly, I had to can them Thursday night.  They were starting to soften and split and no way would they last another few days, so as I watched John McCain, I steamed up the kitchen.  Anyway, this is my adaptation of Otto’s Family Meal Chicken Parmesan

Mario’s Basic Tomato Sauce

• 1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon dried
• ¾ cup medium carrot, finely shredded
• 28-ounces peeled whole tomatoes
• Salt

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a boil, stirring often, and then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Season with salt and serve.

OK, this was the best tomato sauce I have ever had!  It was outrageous!  The only problem is I’m not sure if it was the carrot or the tomatoes that made it so good, but one way or the other, it was incredible.

Chicken

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup of flour
• 2-3 cups of mozzarella
• 1 ½ cups of grated parmesan-asiago-romano cheese, mixed

Cut the breasts in half lengthwise.  Add the flour to a gallon zip bag and add the 6 chicken breast pieces and shake it up until the breast pieces are coated.  Add olive oil to a on-stick skillet and bring up to temp over medium-high heat.  Mix the eggs in a pie plate and add the breadcrumbs to another plate.  Shake off the excess flour from the breast pieces, dip in the egg and then into the breadcrumbs and then into the skillet without overcrowding.  Cook on each side for 2 minutes.

While the first batch is in the skillet, add some of the tomato sauce to the bottom of a 9×13 inch glass baking dish.  Move the first three chicken breasts to the dish and top with ½ the remaining sauce and ½ the cheeses.  After the next three breasts are done, add to the dish and top with the remaining sauce and then the cheese.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

 

Oh, yeah – just look at it.  It was as good as it looks.

WCC 31 – BARBECUE

I’m not a big grill fan.  I mean, I’m not a big griller.  I know, I know, guys are supposed to love grilling!  Standing outside, cooking slabs of meat over fire – now that’s a guy thing! 

Uh….not for this guy.  Grilling time is summer time and summer time means heat, bugs, humidity, etc.  I hate it.  That’s why I have a gas stove – I get cook with fire every night.  So, when the lovely and gracious Sara picked grilling as the theme for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge, I was concerned. 

Then…Inspiration!

Before moving to New Hampshire, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I lived in North Carolina for five years.  And North Carolina means two things – College Basketball and Barbecue, often at the same time.

Now, I don’t know what “barbecue” means where you are, but in New England it means hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on a grill.  In North Carolina, it means a Boston butt (in a case of confused geography, it’s really a cut from the shoulder of a pig) smoked for 8-12 hours until the juicy meat falls from the bone.  Oh, baby!

Smoke it?  Yes, you need a smoker for this.  You may be able to jerry-rig a smoker with your grill, but a dedicated smoker will make a better butt.  A smoker usually has a separate smoke chamber so the meat isn’t over a direct flame.

I don’t have one of those.  I don’t know anybody who does.  BUT, I do have a friend with the king of ceramic cookers, the Big Green Egg.  And the Big Green Egg acts as a damn fine smoker.

Equally as important to the meat is the sauce (or dip).  This is where the schism happens.  There are two kinds of sauce, Eastern-style and Lexington and may God have mercy on the souls of those using the wrong one.  The wrong one is the one you don’t use.  And your loyalty here is required and must be all consuming – there is no “this-way, that-way”.  In North Carolina, apathy to barbecue sauce is akin to rooting for more than one college basketball team – it’s just not done.  You have three teams to pick from, Carolina, Duke or State and then you fight to the death for your team.  And it’s the same for your barbecue sauce.

Both sauces are vinegar based, not at all like the sickeningly sweet Kansas City-style barbecue sauces you buy in the bottles at the grocery store.  The main difference between the two Carolina styles is tomato.  There is none in Eastern and some in Lexington and people come to blows over which one is best.

LEXINGTON BARBACUE

MEAT

7-9 pound Boston butt

(That’s it for the meat.  Some people want to add a rub to the meat.  That is an unnecessary distraction.  We want the flavor of the meat and the smoke, nothing else.  There was one more step for me – give the meat to my friend Joe to cook on his Egg.)

Smoke the meat until the internal temperature is between 190 – 200 degrees.  The meat will be so succulent, so juicy that you can shred it with your gloved hands or two forks.  Serve with a Lexington barbecue sauce and don’t be prissy with it.

Check out the pink “smoke ring” – that means it was done right.

SAUCE OR DIP

(From the Yadkin County Homemakers Extension Club Cookbook)

• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 onion  – chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and boil slowly for 15 minutes.  Strain and put in a squeeze bottle.