re: December Chopped Challenge Results thread (WINNER: B&TCoonhound))

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the candied bacon is the coolest use of the peppermint IMO FWIW.

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My original plan was using the stout in homemade pizza dough. Toppings to include both Mexican and Spanish chorizo and maple peppermint bacon.

First round of pizza dough attempt failed because the dough didn't rise. And that's after hand kneading because I don't have the attachments for dough on my mixer, nor do I have a bread maker. I was so proud of the hand kneading and then ... nothing. I baked some of that dough anyway and it was interesting. Slightly bitter, like a dense bread. The flavor was enhanced by lots of butter and coarse salt to the warm bread.

Second attempt, I proofed the yeast (didn't do that the first time), but I couldn't tell if it was good. Room temperature beer in a house that is only 66 degrees wasn't adequate, so I threw that out.

Third attempt and third Imperial Stout. Warmed the beer in the microwave for a bit and then proofed the yeast. Yay! I could see that the yeast was good. warming the beer was the right thing to do.

Hand kneaded again, this time much longer than the previous time, thinking maybe that's what I did wrong. And then I left it to (hopefully) rise. When I got home from work that afternoon, it was a beautiful sight! Looked like real dough. Made my pizzas, one on a pizza stone and one on a cookie sheet.

Awful. Awful. Awful. Crust was bitter tasting and tough. Found out later that the flour I used (bread flour) might have been too high in protein? Plus I should have used maybe 1/2 stout and 1/2 water. The taste of the stout was overwhelming. Blech.

And because I knew before I topped the pizzas that I wasn't going to use them for the chopped challenge, I didn't do the peppermint maple bacon (bake the strips of bacon, take out of the oven, top with maple syrup and put back in the over for a few minutes, then sprinkle crushed peppermint on top).

I had to start all over with another idea. My other previous ideas included a beer cheese soup with Mexican chorizo and shiitakes in the soup, topped with crumbled peppermint maple bacon.

Then I thought of a stuffed cabbage roll with the chorizo and mushrooms inside, braised in beer and peppermint.

Finally came up with the stuffed chicken thigh idea. I have no regrets on choice of recipe. I think my mistakes were the picture choices and quality of pics. And the fact that y'all couldn't taste how fantastic the sauce was after I reduced it. Seriously good.

Oh wait, one regret about my choice of starch. It would have been more interesting and photogenic to have had a polenta cake instead of quinoa. For color contrast and it would have been all around more appealing.

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Oh wait, one regret about my choice of starch. It would have been more interesting and photogenic to have had a polenta cake instead of quinoa. For color contrast and it would have been all around more appealing.

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Yeah, we should have added a little crumbled chorizo and some sort of feta maybe to the salad. Would have been way more photogenic that way. Lessons learned.

That's only a few weeks of bow season. I haven't fired my rifle yet, and passed on many deer with it. I'm always willing to trade deer meat or if you have a special dish you are making, I would be glad to hook you up with some.

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But the peppermint MADE the sauce.

Well the satsuma juice and the sriracha were important, as well.

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cool to see you came to same conclusion as I did that citrus was a great pairing with the peppermint. it really helped it out.

Some other folks have picked up on fork views, so that wasn't the biggest clue.

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Also, recognized MD's table. Knew that was him.

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A few were easy to pick out, others threw me off.

I got MD's because of the place settings, fork view.

I guessed correctly with R2R's because of the beer.

I thought Darla did the raviolis because she said she bought an Outer Darkness.

I guessed Ham did the sushi, since he recently posted about making sushi in his hunting camp threads.

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I guessed Ham did the sushi, since he recently posted about making sushi in his hunting camp threads.

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I thought the same thing.

FWIW, I thought the idea to have them all presented at the same time was a good one. The wait was about to drive me nuts though.

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I'm a big fan of any type of glazed chicken thigh.

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Same, I think after the burger that's the one I would have ordered off of a menu second.