The can cooker challenge continues - tamales

Tonight's can cooker recipe was very simple: Tamales steamed in beer.

Yes, that's it! It doesn't tell you how to make the tamales themselves; You buy them premade from the store for this recipe.

I used the Lodge 7 quart pot, and a bread cooling rack for the steaming rack.

Pour 2 cans of beer in the bottom of the pot, and place the 12 tamales on the rack.

Set heat to medium high, then reduce to medium when you see steam.

Steam for about 30 minutes.

The beer gave it a nice flavor!

Italian venison feast, that wasn't venison

This was my 3rd can cooker website recipe, modified.

The recipe was called "Italian Venison Feast", but I didn't have any venison, so I used beef brisket.

My one mistake was putting too much stuff in the pot; The liquid bubbled up and spilled over the side of the pot. Don't make the pot too full!

I used my 9 quart pot.

The ingredients were: Brisket cut into cubes, cut up red potatoes, baby carrots, quartered onions, minced garlic*, half ears of corn, a bottle of Italian dressing**, a can of beef broth, seasoned salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.

*whole garlic cloves would have been fine too.

**I should have used less than a full bottle. It would have been just as flavorful, believe me.

The original recipe called for celery but I left that out. I prefer beef stew (which is basically what this is) without celery.

Marinate the meat overnight in some of the italian dressing.

Put the everything into pot, on the stove on medium heat.

I reduced to low when the liquid spilled over, but it still spilled over. The pot had too much stuff in it*.

*That's why I should have used less than a full bottle of dressing.

In this case, I can see how the "vented locking lid" of the can cooker would have been an advantage. I didn't have the spillover issue before. It still cooked good though.

At some point I added a couple of spoonfuls of "better than bouillon" beef base and let it dissolve.

The italian dressing gave it a wonderful flavor.

This was my first time using brisket in stew, and I was impressed. I usually get a roast and cut it up; I'll definitely be using brisket from now on.

It was even better the second day, since the liquid thickened in the fridge overnight.

It would have been good with added mushrooms.

The can cooker challenge, part 2

My last post was about the can cooker; I am trying out their website's recipes, to prove that anything you can cook in a can cooker, you can cook in a cast iron pot.

This is a modified version of their ribs recipe, cooked in my 9 quart pot:

Full rack of ribs, pork or beef - I used beef back ribs.

Add Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, one quartered onion, minced garlic*, and 2 cans of beer.

*minced garlic, or whole garlic cloves.

Let the ribs steam in the beer for about an hour. Remove, place on a cast iron pizza pan, add your favorite BBQ sauce. I used KC masterpiece.

Place under the broiler until done.

The ribs were awesome. As with the seafood dish, I don't know if they would have been better done in the can cooker, but probably not; the cast iron pot worked wonderfully.

As for the can cooker's featured vented locking lid, which lets steam escape: With the cast iron pot, the steam escapes through the side of the lid.

the can cooker

This is a can cooker.

It's literally a 16 quart aluminum can, than can be used to cook food on the stove or outdoors.

It's very easy to use; You put your food in the can, put it on the stove or BBQ grill, and it cooks.

Which sounds to me, exactly like what you would do with a cast iron pot.

Food is cooked in the can cooker by steaming; You add a sufficient amount of liquid along with your food, to make a steamed one-pot meal.

I had a theory, that anything you can cook in a can cooker, you can cook in a cast iron pot.

I wondered if there was any "secret" to this can cooker; Does the shape of the can make a difference in how the food turns out? What about the vented locking lid?

I would soon find out, when I tried a modified version of the first recipe on the website.

I put the following in my 9 quart pot, on my indoor stove:

1 lb shrimp, 1 lb scallops, fresh broccoli, 8 half ears of corn, a quartered onion, some minced garlic*, fresh basil, dried basil, seasoned salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 can beer, 12 oz white wine, 2 squeezed lemons.**

*fresh garlic cloves would have been fine too.

**leave the lemons in the pot while cooking, and remove when done.

The original recipe also called for crab legs and lobster tails; I omitted those to save money.

I let it cook on medium heat for 30 mins, then reduced to low until it was done.

It didn't take long, maybe an hour.

It was delicious. I don't believe there's any secret magic to the can cooker, that would have made it that much better; The cast iron pot did a fine job.

It could have used a little less liquid, but that's just a learning curve.

More recipes to come.