Friends of MT: Honey Ham Sandwich [Steve]

Drink: Honey Ham Sandwich [Steve]

Intro by Zack:

The first day Steve and I met, my former roommate Pete and I were having a drink at a party. We had brought our favorite Cognac along and Steve looked thirsty. We became friends immediately and were close ever since. By some stroke of luck (I’m not sure God would want to claim this one), both Steve and I received rotation assignments in Jacksonville, Florida and decided to live together. I think he was initially surprised at how well we got along as roommates, considering I’m a bit eccentric in the kitchen (among other things). We had a blast as roommates and he quickly established that he was the “grill man” of the house. We’d work together in the kitchen and then I’d let him handle the grilling while I prepared the sides. It worked out well and I now have weird pangs of longing for some of his steaks, burgers, or other grilled specialties.

One of my favorite memories of being in Jacksonville was when his mom came to visit and cooked pork chops for everyone. Tom and June came over for dinner and everyone enjoyed a ton of laughs and some good soul food. I can still picture the dinner in my mind. Steve has graciously provided us his own recipe for them so I can cook up a “slice of home” in Belgium.

Here are 2 of Steve's favorite things to make in the kitchen (entry by Steve):
  

I have a complex.  I’m super conscious of anything I feed to the few people who will admit to being my friends / family. You see, everyone around me makes better food than I do.

Best friend 1 (Zack):                                        CHECK

Best friend 2 (Pete):                                        CHECK

Every single Koulermos:                                  CHECK

Soon to be Koulermos (Lauren):                       CHECK

Mom:                                                             CHECK

Wife:                                                              CHECK

Essentially I am on the B team of every single person that I know who reads this wonderful website. So when Zack requested that I write some type of recipe I was a smidgen gun-shy. Sure, I have 3 maybe 4 things that I make pretty well. But beyond that I am a “guess and check” champion (meaning 50% of my food is delicious, 50% is edible …or ends up as dog food).

So for my first actual food recipe to the site I went with something super crazy easy and sticking with the theme I’ll call them Mama’s Chops (also it is loosely based on my Mom’s recipe).

And because Zack asked me to write something over a year ago it only felt right that I “contribute” two things.  So I decided to add a bonus item involving one thing I don’t think I’m too terrible at which is creating random alcoholic beverages (can you tell why Zack and Pete are my best friends) and then giving them equally random titles.

Let’ start with the drink… because you should always lead with what’s most important.

Drink: Honey Ham Sandwich [Steve]

This drink is essentially a mix of a Jack and Ginger (my go to dive bar drink), a whiskey old-fashioned (when I’m trying to keep it classy), and a touch of honey (because I’m a 9 year old boy trapped in a 27 year old man’s body). I’m terrible at measuring but I will try my best with this (sorry no pictures). Also feel free to add additional alcohol if you are a man (ehem Pete and Zack).

Ingredients:

·         Honey Whiskey (if you don’t have it use regular whiskey and honey)

·         Lemon juice

·         Orange Bitters

·         Ginger ale

·         Ice

It’s super easy. Just pour the following in a shaker

·         4oz (2 double shots) of honey whiskey.

o   If you don’t have honey whiskey or want to be classy use regular whiskey and 2 T of honey (or more if you like sweets) to the shaker.  

§  Adding additional whisky would not be frowned upon.

·         2 dashes of orange bitters in the glass (if you’re feeling fancy you can you grate some orange grind)

·         1 dash of lemon juice

·         Fill remaining shaker with ice.

Shake all of that together. Put a couple of cubes of ice in an 8 oz glass. Fill the glass about halfway with your mix (leave the rest in the fridge for seconds). Pour about a shot or 2 of Ginger ale over the beverage. Then stir and enjoy. Note you can pretty much change any of these ingredients to scale it to your taste…

Song to jam to: Ying Yang Twins – “Shake” (I defy you not to dance to this awful song)