Home Made Hot Cocoa Mix

Alton Brown is a food savant.  So his hot cocoa mix shouldn't be any different!

Hot Cocoa Mix

Ingredients
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon fine-grain salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch (or more to taste) ground cayenne pepper*, optional
Hot milk or water to serve

Instructions
1 - Combine the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, milk powder, salt, cornstarch and cayenne in a large airtight container. Secure the lid and shake vigorously to combine, and remember to shake prior to every extraction.
2 - To serve: Place 2 tablespoons of the mix in a mug and add about 2 fluid ounces hot water or milk. Stir to combine. Fill the mug with more hot water or milk and enjoy.

Notes
* The Aztecs always added chiles to their chocolate. Even a pinch ups the flavor ante quite a bit, and as called for here certainly won't be sensed as "heat."

No matter — this is fast, easy and will keep for a year if kept in an airtight container in a cool place.

alton brown http://altonbrown.com/

Oven Fried Chicken Wings

Some techniques from Cook's Country below that help get crisper oven wings.

To get crispy chicken wings without frying, baking powder is the secret weapon; it helps break down the proteins within the skin, and aids in browning. After tossing the wings with baking powder and salt, start them in a low oven on a wire rack for air circulation.  This is todry the skin and begin rendering the fat. Then turn up the oven to finish roasting the wings and crisping the skin. A coating of your favorite sauce and the wings are ready to be served.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

• 4pounds chicken wings, halved at joints, wingtips discarded
• 2tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4teaspoon salt

• (and whatever wing sauce you choose to finish)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 250 degrees. Set wire rack in aluminum foil–lined rimmed baking sheet. Pat wings dry with paper towels and transfer to 1-gallon zipper-lock bag. Combine baking powder and salt, add to wings, seal bag, and toss to evenly coat.
   2. Arrange wings, skin side up, in single layer on prepared wire rack. Bake wings on lower-middle oven rack for 30 minutes. Move wings to upper-middle rack, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees, and roast until wings are golden brown and crispy, 40 to 50 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Remove sheet from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer wings to bowl with wing sauce of your choice, toss to coat, and serve.
2. 
   
3. Classic Buffalo sauce is made with Frank’s RedHot Sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2cup hot sauce
• 4tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4tablespoon molasses

Alton Brown's Chocolate Bread Pudding

Alton Brown could cook a wooden spoon in swamp water and probably make it taste good.  But thankfully he focuses his gifts on far more suitable fare like the following amazing recipe.  Me personally I'd leave out the espresso due to my distaste for coffee and might find a hazelnut flavor or something to sub in.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

Serves 8

Ingredients

1. 2 large whole eggs
2. 3 egg yolks
3. 3/4 cup sugar
4. 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix
5. 3 cup half and half
6. 1 cup whole milk
7. 2 ounces espresso, slightly cooled
8. 1 tbsp vanilla extract
9. 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and divided
10. 18 ounces stale challah bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
11. 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into 1/2-inch pieces

Instructions

1. Place the eggs and yolks in the carafe of a blender and combine on lowest speed for 30 seconds. Slowly add the sugar, over 30 seconds, add the hot chocolate mix, and blend until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the half and half, milk, espresso and vanilla and blend until well combined, about 30 seconds.
2. Butter a 9 x 13 metal pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and place the cubed bread in the pan. Spread the chocolate on top of the bread and slowly pour in the custard. Press down on mixture with a spatula or back of a spoon to thoroughly saturate. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
3. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches at least 170 degrees F. Set the oven to the high broil setting with the oven door ajar. Remove the bread pudding from the oven.
5. Pour the melted butter into a spray bottle and spritz the top of the bread pudding. Return to the middle rack and broil for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Bacon is meat candy, especially this bacon!

Alton Brown gets me.  His food is dreamy.

Lacquered Bacon

SOFTWARE

1 pound thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, preferably muscovado or demerara
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you’re up to it)

PROCEDURE

1. Set the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

2. Lay the bacon in a single layer so that there’s little or no space between the pieces on a cooling rack set in a parchment paper-lined half sheet pan.

3. Liberally sprinkle one side of the bacon slices with the black pepper, sugar and red pepper flakes.

4. Set the sheet pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the pan and use the back of a spoon, spread the dissolved sugar/pepper mixture evenly across the slices of bacon.

5. Flip the bacon over and liberally sprinkle the other side of the bacon with black pepper and remaining sugar.

5. Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast until desired doneness: 15 minutes for chewy, 18 minutes for crisp. Cool completely before devouring.

Perfect Scrambled Eggs ala Alton Brown

Directions

Whisk the eggs: Whisk 3 large eggs, 1 pinch of kosher salt, 1 grind of black pepper and 3 tablespoons whole milk together until light and foamy.

TIP: Odds are you're going to be serving these on a plate. If so, I strongly suggest you park an ovensafe one in a low oven or in hot water while you're cooking. Cold plates suck the heat right out of food.

Add to the pan: Add 1 tablespoon unsalted butter to a 10-to-12-inch nonstick skillet and put it over high heat. When the butter bubbles (after about a minute), pour the eggs straight into the middle of the pan, which will force the butter to the edges, where it's needed.

Scramble the eggs: Stir slowly with a rubber or silicone spatula. As soon as curds (big soft lumps) of eggs begin to form, drop the heat to low and shift from stirring to folding the curds over on themselves while gently shaking the pan with the other hand.

Let rest: As soon as no more liquidous egg is running around the pan, kill the heat and gently transfer the scramble to the warmed plate. Let the eggs rest for 1 minute to finish cooking before serving.