The Smoking Gun, a who done it?

The Smoking Gun is made by Polyscience.

Well, let's start with Polyscience (http://www.polyscienceculinary.com/). They are one of the best modernist food tool providers around. They are true innovators, and they help us cook interesting "out of the box" type of food.

One of Polyscience's many tools is the Smoking Gun.

There are many reasons why I use it is, but the biggest is because I'm from Memphis - home of the slow smoked BBQ. Smokey food rules the city and it is a huge part of our local food culture. 

The Smoking Gun (http://www.polyscienceculinary.com/the-smoking-gun.php) shoots smoke out a tube and you put the tube in a bag with whatever you want to smoke, and leave it in there for a few minutes. It is that easy, and the solid smokey taste is real. It has no artificial tones of fake smoke. 

They offer several kinds of woods. Hickory is the strongest and boldest flavor, It will make you go WOW. While Cherry and Apple are more subtle and sweeter.

If you use your smoking gun a lot, the smoke may start to taste bitter- either get some new tube or soak your tube in bleach and water. 

Now, I have experimented quite a bit with the smoking gun and I have over 40 recipes so this is not just a one shot gun!

Love the Cabbage Leaf,

Logan

Fan Art !!! Thank You So Much !!!

Fan art!

Thanks to you, I now have enough fan art to make a fan art Gallery!!

I  receive tons of wonderful fan art from social media.

I think that if I printed-off ALL of it, I would not have enough wall to hang them on, and that is a predicament!

If you guys keep it up, I won't have enough ceiling too, and that would be a bigger predicament!

My favorite fan art masterpieces are the cartooned ones, just a bit more than the edited fan art masterpieces.

So keep drawing, doodling, editing, and creating!

I cant wait to see the next fan art masterpiece!

Love the cabbage leaf,

Logan


Here you go (more on the next post):

 

 

St John's Soup Kitchen

Some of you have asked for this story, so I will share it.

This is very personal and it forever keeps me humble!

I went to the Soup Kitchen to cook. It is close to my home so I walked with my Mom. It was the Christmas meal and my good friend John was working. I headed to the kitchen but John stopped me and asked me to fill gift bags and pass out gifts. Now, this is a nice job a fine job but, not really what I love to do.

Of course, I did it that is what was needed. 

John noticed that I was not overly happy like I normally am and he asked me what I was missing. He is a super nice guy and knows that good Volunteers have to be doing what they love to do too. 

I told him I really just wanted to be cooking, but the meal was over and no cooking was left.

Now, no one gets turned away at St Johns, if it is at all possible - so when an elderly African American man came in no one could say, no food left.

John grabbed me and said he needed me to whip up something for this man. We got frozen bread, left over pasta sauce and some pepperoni. I mean the pantry was pretty bare. They had just fed 150 folks.

I made some sandwiches and nuked them, really this was not the best meal... not even a meal... not even a school lunch.. but it was all there was. 

We found some other items like a yogurt cup and some granola bars and then rushed out to bring the gentleman his dinner. 

John told him I had met President Obama and that I had made this food. His eyes welled up with tears, he clasped my hand and told me he was GRATEFUL and HONORED to shake my hand. The hand that shook President Obama's. His eyes glowed with gratitude and love. He said he was blessed I came out to cook for him. He told me he was proud of me and thanked me. 

My eyes filled with tears - this was not a steak dinner, not a soup kitchen dinner, and yet it was much better than being hungry.

As I walked back to my warm home with my frig filled with food - I cried, my Mom cried. 

I need to cook him Steak or something.....

I am GRATEFUL for all I have,

Always!

Love the cabbage Leaf,
Logan

What Do You Do After You Win MasterChef Jr ?

You go to Universal Studios!

Behind the Scenes- First off after you win Masterchef Jr there is just a lot of waiting and work. Interviews, meetings...but you are really happy, so it is all good!

Now my Aunt and Uncle live in the LA area, so we popped in for a visit. We stayed with them a couple of days and had a great time. It was good to relax.

My Uncle works at Universal Studios so he hooked us up with a once in a lifetime trip to the Park. I mean we had passes and great food and fast passes and I even got to met the Head Executive Chef for Universal. I mean this is the guy who feeds over 20,000 people a DAY! Chef Eric was crazy nice to me! Now we could not tell him anything about what I had just done, so the Chef was just sharing his time with a fellow foodie.

 It was Amazing! I mean they have a great system to make and distribute all that food around the park and they make literally tons of it!
  Gru's Cafe was the Bomb - the fried mac and cheese and the Chicken and minion cupcakes all so good!

 

The V.I.P. had the prettiest buffet with the tastiest food ever. 

Everything was fresh and well cooked. Chef Eric runs a great staff of Chefs and restaurant managers. Everyone was friendly and I had the best day!

 

It was super fun and relaxing! Those fast passes really made it the best experience and the great staff made me feel like a rockstar. I was feeling pretty confused about winning and not being able to celebrate so this was just the most exciting way to celebrate without telling anyone!

Thanks Chef Eric, Uncle Israel, Universal staff. I had a blast and the new Minion ride was the best.

Masterchef Junior Logan

All My Blog Posts on MasterChef Junior Season 2 Episodes - Logan

Here are the links to all my blog posts for MasterChef Junior (Season 2) USA 2014

Episode 7: MasterChef Junior Final Episode : I AM THE MASTERCHEF JUNIOR

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/masterchef-junior-final-episode-i-am.html

Episode 6 :  Episode 6 MasterChef Junior The Attack of The Salmon – Logan

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-6-masterchef-junior-attack-of.html

Episode 5:  Episode 5 The Pop Up In MasterChef Junior

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-5-pop-up-in-masterchef-junior.html

Episode 4:  MasterChef Junior Episode 4 Signature Dish

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-4-signature.html

  

Episode 3:  MasterChef Junior Episode 3 The Journey Continues

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-3-journey.html

Episode 2:  The MasterChef Junior Experience : Episode 2 - Pie??? Really!

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-masterchef-junior-experience.html

Episode 1:  MCJ2 I finally get into the Masterchef Kitchen

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/mcj2-i-finally-get-into-masterchef.html

Pre-Show:  The Beginning - From Memphis to Hollywood : MasterChef Junior Season 2 http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-beginning-from-memphis-to-hollywood.html

MasterChef Junior Final Episode : I AM THE MASTERCHEF JUNIOR

Behind the scenes -

Ok when all your friends are gone, the pressure starts to mount. It has now become very real and I want to win. I believe I can win. I know I will win. I stopped being nervous and remembered that either way I am top 2 of MasterChef Junior. Pretty good for a kid whose Mom does Jewelry and whose Dad makes plastic!

I start thinking about what I want to cook- I feel I need to redeem myself on those spot prawns and pay homage to a local Chef who taught me how to cook fish, prawns, and scallops. Thanks, Chef Ben of Tsunami you are the best. The flavors of the Sun and Sea - salt and fish and Spain. I know my Madeleines are so very good and I think back to my very first friend on the show Berry and know I have to add her to my dish.

I see my heart coming onto the plate - Chef Ben, Berry, Christmas cookie party madeleines, the salt fish, my love of olives and mayo... this is me. The MasterChef ingredients are the best I have ever used! So fresh and high end. I think my plan is ambitious, but Samuel is a great cook. He thinks he can beat me easily, but he does not know that in that Ring of Fire, I see my Dreams and I see my love of food and cooking all coming together.

From my first pasta dish to walking into that MasterChef kitchen I am ready. I am going to add smoke to my aloi and it is going to be just perfect. The smoking gun takes me back to river and home and the Best Dang BBQ ever. I see my friends and family in each dish. I know Chef Graham and Chef Ramsay have taught me more than I imagined. I have real joy in my heart as I start to cook. My family is there to support me and I believe....

I work hard and stay with my plan- I even get to use liquid nitrogen a life goal! I am sure I can put my heart on that plate for the Judges.

When I stand there and Gordon Ramsay calls out my name and LOGAN rings through the studio and the confetti starts to fall I am just amazed. I feel for Samuel, I mean it hurts - I know it won't help but I hug him.

This is my night!

I AM THE MASTERCHEF JUNIOR.

against all odds... I WIN it all.

If you have been a member of TeamLogan all I can say is Thank You! Thank you for the support and the belief in me! It has made this journey more fun and this victory even sweeter! I am honored the judges chose me and I am honored you chose me!

Thank you so very much,

MASTERCHEF LOGAN

Links to all my blog posts on the episodes:

Episode 7: MasterChef Junior Final Episode : I AM THE MASTERCHEF JUNIOR

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/masterchef-junior-final-episode-i-am.html

Episode 6 :  Episode 6 MasterChef Junior The Attack of The Salmon – Logan

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-6-masterchef-junior-attack-of.html

Episode 5:  Episode 5 The Pop Up In MasterChef Junior

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-5-pop-up-in-masterchef-junior.html

Episode 4:  MasterChef Junior Episode 4 Signature Dish

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-4-signature.html

  

Episode 3:  MasterChef Junior Episode 3 The Journey Continues

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-3-journey.html

Episode 2:  The MasterChef Junior Experience : Episode 2 - Pie??? Really!

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-masterchef-junior-experience.html

Episode 1:  MCJ2 I finally get into the Masterchef Kitchen

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/mcj2-i-finally-get-into-masterchef.html

Pre-Show:  The Beginning - From Memphis to Hollywood : MasterChef Junior Season 2

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-beginning-from-memphis-to-hollywood.html

MasterChef Junior Episode 3 The Journey Continues

From behind the scenes:

By now you know I rock the bow tie. All of my ties were hand-made by my Godmother Aunt Niki. She made them in like one day when I found out I made the cast. Well, the head of wardrobe and my Mom are a bit tie challenged so it is Abby's Dad who does most of the tieing for me. We also watched this funny video from South Carolina on mornings we didn't want to bother Abby's Dad. By the way, Abby's Dad is the Best! He is so funny!

Our challenge today was Cupcakes... I don't like cake or really even sweets so this was not making me very happy. They had this huge box and everyone just grabbed the cakes I might have picked last and I got a pink cupcake. My partner was Sean. Now this was a huge vote in my favor cause Sean is a great but he is also close to my size and over all a pretty cool hipster guy. We were tied together and we had to bake cupcakes. Now, even though I don't like sweets I can nail a cupcake- my plan a mix of Meyer lemon and basil with basil sugar. I love the complex clean taste with the sugar and I love the hint of savory you can get if the balance is just right. BUT baking tied to another person, frosting is flying and Sean had big plans- for me it is always well developed flavors but for Sean it is the POW.

Well, with some bumps and kicks and screams we got our cupcakes done. Then we waited, and waited the pressure building till they called us up! Now always "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED", but it was for the top prize. You would think that meant I thought I had a guaranteed pass into the next round, but no I was scared they would change the rules and I would be cooking for my life again!

I mean, I like the cooking part but the life part.... not so much....

Then we got the advantage- to this day I am not sure whether Sean wanted the Shepherd's Pie or I did... it just seemed like the easiest hardest thing to cook. So we chose it! I mean for me the curry would have been much harder with the threat of it could kill the judges chicken....

Our friends got to talk to their Mum cause we all met Gordon's Mum and she was super nice. I don't think it helped with the nerves for the others. It would not have helped me. I just want to turn up the gas and go for it.

It was totally a shock when Mitch and Sam got eliminated. Sam is a really funny guy. He tells jokes all the time and Mitch is a fantastic Soccer player as well as cook! I sure want him on my next soccer team I know we would win every game.

I survived... keep watching...

Love the cabbage leaf,
Logan

PS If you are wondering the best place to have Tea is in the MasterChef kitchen it was AMAZING!




Links to all my blog posts on the episodes:

Episode 7: MasterChef Junior Final Episode : I AM THE MASTERCHEF JUNIOR

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/masterchef-junior-final-episode-i-am.html

Episode 6 :  Episode 6 MasterChef Junior The Attack of The Salmon – Logan

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-6-masterchef-junior-attack-of.html

Episode 5:  Episode 5 The Pop Up In MasterChef Junior

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-5-pop-up-in-masterchef-junior.html

Episode 4:  MasterChef Junior Episode 4 Signature Dish

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-4-signature.html

  

Episode 3:  MasterChef Junior Episode 3 The Journey Continues

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/masterchef-junior-episode-3-journey.html

Episode 2:  The MasterChef Junior Experience : Episode 2 - Pie??? Really!

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-masterchef-junior-experience.html

Episode 1:  MCJ2 I finally get into the Masterchef Kitchen

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/mcj2-i-finally-get-into-masterchef.html

Pre-Show:  The Beginning - From Memphis to Hollywood : MasterChef Junior Season 2

http://orderupwithlogan.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-beginning-from-memphis-to-hollywood.html