No Flour, No Mess, Pizza Dough Rolling

The PIZZA hack you never knew you needed! At home, no rolling pin, no machine. This clip was pulled from my full-length video "PIZZA! Start to finish!" https://youtu.be/seLx6YSyP_c Take advantage of the equipment I have reviewed for top recommendations in the kitchen. Kitchen Best Buys http://bit.ly/KitchenBestBuys

Season and Smash Grilled Chicken Technique

We're not going to keep you here long. Our video is about 8 minutes. In it, you'll find instructions for enhancing and tenderizing solid cuts of meat. It's a simple technique used best on chicken.

 It will speed up your cooking time when you take it to the grill.

• The pieces are thinner, cooking faster
• Being uniform in thickness they can be flipped at the same time
• They will all be done close to the same time.

AND there may be a few extra tips for grilling vegetables thrown in for added value, for fun.

Let us know how we are doing. Tytus is getting better at filming and our next buy will be a microphone to make the audio better. 

What else? Give us some constructive criticism.

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There you have a few starter questions to help you think about what we can work on.

Best Grilled Turkey Burger

Turkey burgers can be a hard thing. Some brands grind it to fine and the texture in your mouth can be dry and mealy. To conquer this, people like to add bread crumbs or eggs to bind them. Or trap moisture in. I use a brand from Aldis that has good consistency. I do not use eggs or breadcrumbs. This allows more people to eat. Sometimes Turkey lacks that good OOMF of meatiness that a beef burger gives. To add a level of that back into the burger, I have a few ingredient suggestions in the video. Keep the Turkey mixture as cold as you can before grilling or pan-frying to keep it firm. But don't be afraid of a loose mixture. Work fast, patty quick, get it on the heat...it will get firm with cooking. In this video, I realized I am not that glamorous to look at. That's ok. It's 2020 yall need something to laugh at! LOL

BBQ Plate (pulled pork)

Yesterday was BBQ Pulled Pork, Coleslaw, Potato Chips, and a Chocolate Chip Cookie! Apple sauce instead of coleslaw for the younger kids.

Little Valley Academy

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy K5-12TH Grade

Slow cooked, pulled pork video I posted awhile back explaining how to do it:

Easy Bread and Pizza Dough

I put this recipe together for my own use a long time ago.  A yeast dough (and different kinds of dough in general) get a certain 'feel' to them and you start noticing this...Then you make better judgments on when to add a little more water, more flour, or a pinch more salt.  From this same dough, I can alter the sugar and other ingredients to produce cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, pita bread, naan...sometimes it's just the kneading, rise time, technique, or cooking method with the same recipe that makes it another dough 'product'.  It can even be multiplied successfully for bulk preparation in commercial kitchens. (I know, I was doing it for years!)

Easy "Bread" Dough (use whole wheat flour for wheat dough) for Bread or Rolls

• 4 Cups High Gluten Flour - or - 5 Cups of All-Purpose Flour


• 1 Tablespoon Yeast


• 1 Tablespoon Sugar


• 1 Tablespoon Salt (scant)


• 1 Tablespoon Oil


• 2 cups warm/hot water (not above 110F)

Put dry ingredients and oil in a mixer. Use mixer set on 2 or 3 (not fast, but not real slow) and use the dough hook. Add up to 2 cups of warm/hot water from the faucet. Pour in the mixer while the dough hook is working. Watch for the dough to start to come together then let the mixer run for about 5 to 8 minutes…you can also need the dough by hand for about the same amount of time instead of using the mixer.

You are looking for a soft smooth texture to the dough, oil dough ball, put in a bowl and cover…let rise for about 40-60 minutes (adjust rise time to your humidity/heat) dough may double in size quicker in more warm and humid conditions or slower in cold conditions.

** If you're making pizza, it's up to you about the rise time or if you want to store it overnight in the fridge to develop more flavor. But you can start working with the dough as quick as 30 minutes if you're rolling out pizza.

Smash or punch down, then shape into rolls or 2 loaves in bread pans and wait the same amount of time for the second rise (or longer if needed) bake in an oven at 160C or 350F for about 30-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly, eat fresh and warm.

*Later on when you feel pretty confident about your skills as a basic bread dough maker you can try mixing the sugar, water, and yeast together and waiting till it starts to bubble. Then you can add it to the flour and salt that is mixing in the bowl. And don't forget the oil!

Comments welcome or contact me for further questions...this recipe was developed as a beginner's understanding of dough.

Teres Major Steak

I remember back in the day (2006-2007) catering in East Texas finding out about this muscle in the cow between the shoulders or shoulder blades called terse major. It is a seldom used muscle second only to the tenderloin filet in tenderness. It is also referred to as a shoulder tender. If sliced into medallions, they are appropriately named petite tender medallions. Also known as (AKA) petite beef tender, beef filet, chuck tender steak...the list goes on. But with great beef flavor, a good chew/bite that's tender, and a fraction of the cost of tenderloin you can't lose on price and flavor!

Back then we bought it for $2.80 a pound. And it was a hit! It's said you can cook it all kinds of ways but the most successful way we found to do it was to rub it down (whatever rub mix or seasoning you want to use) and sear it on the grill or in a pan, finishing it in the oven to a medium rare. At that time a major meat company (and family) that we knew told us the price was about to go up! Apparently two nationally know restaurants were about to make very large purchases of the meat for their fajitas and other beef dishes. ~ fast forward to today.

I recently started doing some beef dishes and now that I am in Alabama it's a harder 'sell' for beef than chicken or pork. Remembering the teres major I asked my local meat supplier what the going rate was for it and it was $3.90 a pound un-trimmed or $5.40-65 a pound trimmed. Although you have to buy at least 65 pounds if the un-trimmed or 25 pounds of the trimmed for those prices. Still not bad at all considering the popularity of it has died back down and it's 7 years later! Not to mention the current price of beef tenderloin!

You can currently buy this meat at Sam's Club under the name petite tender beef filet, 2 in a package, already marinated in different flavors at $5.48 a pound. Which runs around $20 a package.

After serving this at a banquet hot (with a separate mushroom gravy) I served the leftovers cold as part of a sandwich platter at a luncheon. A few people were at both events and though they raved about it at the banquet, they later said it was even better cold with a horseradish sauce I had prepared!


I prepared the meat by searing it in a pan with a garlic herb mixture rubbed into it, then in the oven for 20 minutes at 350. After that it stayed in a warmer for 30. It was in a chafing dish for another 20 minutes. Which brings me to my last advantage of this meat, it stayed a nice medium-rare, to medium pink inside the meat thru this whole process. The picture on the bottom of this post is of the slices I used on a platter.

There doesn't seem to be a down side to the teres major!

Great Turkey

[Cooking in a commercial kitchen...]

Jenny-O has Turkey breasts in bulk usually coming in foil wrap at 8 to 12 pounds a piece. 2 in a case. Best bet is to defrost them in the fridge 3 to 4 days in advance.

After defrosting I would NOT cook them as recommended inside the foil. Cut the plastic and unwrap the foil to find two large turkey breasts that you can separate and lay flat on a sheet tray. You can fit a whole case on one full size sheet tray this way.

I use sea salt (although any will do) and a garlic and herb seasoning that has no salt added. I cover the top of them heavily with the garlic and herb mix.[I think I discussed this in the past but I prefer to control the salt AND you waste money buying pre-mixed seasoning and herbs because the first ingredient is salt, which is dirt cheap. Sometimes you want to heavily season but you can't because the salt in the mix will overpower it.]

Cooking the turkey in a convection oven on 350 to 375 (depends on which way your oven 'leans' toward on keeping good heat when the door is opened) for almost 2 hours or internal temp is 160. The weight of the Turkey will make the internal temp rise at least 5 more degrees when you put in on the rack to rest. AND YES, please let this meat rest!!! Easier cutting/slicing and less juices will run out.

Some juice will still escape when you cut it but If you use a little trick, like slicing the turkey on a cutting board that is laying inside a sheet tray, then you can pour the juice back over the meat.

True Portions

I use 2oz portion cups a lot. From SAMs (Club) they average about 1 cent for the lid and the same for the cup. Total investment costs 2 cents. - Also known as condiment cups.

Quite a few people in the 'business' make the mistake of not measuring, or weighing for accuracy. I always go by weight unless something is pre-packaged and portioned for me. Some of you will say this is a no brainer, but I can't count the times I have seen this miscalculated in costs and portion control. Different products can physically take up the same amount of space but not weigh the same.

Below I illustrated with a simple video of shredded cheese. If you buy a 5lb bag of finely shredded cheese it's 80oz. If you have 2oz portion cups you would assume it would make 40 2oz condiment cups, no? No. It will make 80, and possibly 90. Yes, if the cheese were solid this could be argued. But that is part of the point I am making.

Getting your scale-out and weighing a few things as you do your daily prep can help you 'tighten up' those costs, orders, and preparation time which makes a smoother running kitchen and saves time & money.

*On a personal note, the 1oz condiment cups usually cost the same. I don't use them at all. If you are going to use just part of the 2oz cup it still looks like more and gives room for dipping in the case of a sauce.

A few more examples of using the cups and weight.

Sour Cream

Real Bacon Bits

Low-cost bread follow up

My last post was a video of low-cost fresh baked bread and showed an alternative way to decrease freezer space and also decrease the amount of money that it cost for buying different kinds of bread in this post I have attached a picture to show you the different kinds of bread that you can probably do.

From the bottom what we have is an oblong focaccia style loaf, a sub sandwich style loaf (which if tightened up and skinnier would resemble a French baguette) and the last one was a freestyle loaf with cheddar, garlic, and herbs rolled into the middle.

Low Cost Fresh Baked Bread

Using frozen dough balls from Sam's Club for low cost bread and minimal use of freezer space while also creating several varieties of bread items. Ideas for small commercial kitchens based off of my current experience as Food Director for a private academy.

(Video may be a little shaky, somebody had to hold the camera! LOL)

Hot Wings / Buffalo Wings

Last week I talked about the men's retreat. One of the food items we had at the men's retreat was hot wings or buffalo wings.

When doing wings I don't like to mess around with the piddly pieces so I'll buy the fresh jumbo wings and cut them down. Wings usually tend to lose a lot of water. When defrosting (and cooking) frozen wings you end up with some real small wings that look terrible!

We season the wings beforehand and bake them up on large sheet trays in the oven. We flash fry the wings as needed. Our standard wing sauce that we like to use is half Frank's hot sauce and half butter (melted) and mixed together.

Our wings are always cooked through and taste great because we season and bake them first before frying. We don't use flour or any other coating on our wings when we deep-fry them. The skin that's already been baked crisps up real nice and crunchy as it fries and it holds up well adding hot sauce later.

Roasted Sweet Potato - Bulk Prep

Need a few pounds of sweet potatoes this holiday season but prefer not to use the canned ones? Let your oven due the work for you! Very little actual prep time involved besides waiting on the oven to cook them.

Pulled Pork - Convection Oven

 I am trying out a few introductory videos from the work kitchen and maybe even my home kitchen. They will be short and to the point. If you would like more details of the video in each post, please be sure to comment!

We do a pulled pork sandwich about once a month with coleslaw (mayonnaise based) and potato wedges, sometimes substituted with Tator Tots. This uses up the leftover potatoes from Loaded Baked Potato day(earlier in the month).

In the video we are using a standard Boston Butt...

Basil Overload!

Here on my site and on Facebook, I posted my findings from my first 'Farm Fresh to You' home delivery organic food box.  Which was noted as having at least ten bunches of Basil in it!

Well of course even I couldn't use that much without getting sick of it!  So I cut the stems off and processed all the basil down with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a few heads of garlic.  Then I scooped the mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut the corner off.  I piped the whole bag into two ice cube trays and put them in the freezer for future use!

I would have made pesto but I don't like what the freezer does to cheese (Parmesan) and nuts (pine nuts, or in my case I like to use roasted sunflower kernels, their cheaper too!) which are both ingredients of pesto.

Later when you want to cook something with a little garlic and basil 'zip' you just throw in a cube or two while cooking or sauteing.  They also use this ice cube trick with stock (chicken, beef, pork...) too, so if you are only cooking in small amounts you can throw a few frozen 'stock' cubes into the pan or food to meltdown and help the flavor.

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Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Pork Meatballs with Chorizo Seasoning

Anybody out there had Chorizo before?  Well for those of you who have and know what I am talking about, you can buy a packet of seasoning called Chorizo Seasoning/Spices.  Usually on the 'quick pick' rack of various seasonings not on the spice aisle in your grocery store, but on the international or ethnic aisle.  In the Hispanic/Spanish section - usually right next to the severely limited 'Asian' section - in one of those 99 cents bags.

So an idea came to me to use it with some ground pork for meatballs.  My wife is allergic to beef so I use different meats to create meatballs when we get the urge for a good meatball sandwich, with spaghetti, or some other kind of way.

Basically, for one pound of ground pork, I used 1 Tablespoon Chorizo Seasoning, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, salt & pepper, a few bread crumbs, and fennel seed I had toasted then ground.

(next time I would add a minced shallot!)

I cooked my meatballs on top of the stove browning them nicely then finishing them in a 350-degree oven.  Sauteing some thick sliced 'baby Bella' mushrooms and adding in a quick marinara (combined in a processor) with fire-roasted tomatoes, a little tomato paste, garlic, and roasted red bell peppers...Later adding only oregano, salt, and pepper.  Then add the meatballs back into the sauce.

We had the meatballs and sauce over farfalle (bowtie) pasta.  I served basil and sundried tomato dip (basil also courtesy of the box) made with cream cheese with the fresh carrots and broccoli from the 'Farm Fresh to You' box.

Did you know we have videos?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com