Spice Mix Recipe Ideas

Here are some ideas on how you can use Phil's Fixin's spice mixes:

You can also adjust the quantities to your personal taste, 3/4 cup or 1 1/4 cup instead of 1 cup. (I prefer 1 & 1/4 cup of sour cream with 3/4 cup of mayonnaise.)

If you buy 250g of sour cream (1 cup) you can use the empty container to measure out the mayonnaise...no measuring cup to wash!

If you make the dip with spreadable cream cheese use it as a spread on sandwiches, bagels, or toast instead of butter.

Soften (don't melt) 1 lb. of butter and mix in your favourite spice mix, then let it harden (you can use butter molds available on Amazon.) Use this spiced butter on vegetables, steaks, baked potatoes, toasted baguette slices, etc.

Mix your favourite spice mix with mayonnaise and brush it on chicken breast. legs, and wings before you BBQ or fry it.

Take 1/2 a package of Phil's Fixin's, mix it with some buttermilk, and marinate chicken breasts, wings, or legs in the fridge for an hour or so. Take the other 1/2 of the dip mix, mix it with bread crumbs, then dip the chicken in the bread crumbs and fry.

Use a rotisserie basket on your BBQ, and toss the wings in a bowl with your favourite spice mix. (You could split the wings into 2 or 3 batches and have a variety of flavours!)

Take your baked potatoes to the next level. Make the dip with all sour cream and add a sizeable dollop to each baked potato! Have several flavours at your next family dinner.

Save money and make your own hamburger patties. Take your favourite ground beef and add chopped onions, jalapenos, mushrooms, or whatever, then season the mixture with your favourite dip mix. Then press them into patties. Make lots and freeze some!

How about spiced nuts? Take a cup or two of mixed nuts (or your favourite kind) put them in a bowl, coat them in your favourite oil, and then toss them with your favourite spice (I like Cajun Wildfire). Spread them on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven at about 350 F for around 15 minutes (don't let them burn.) How about sweet and spicy? Toss them with a few tablespoons of white sugar, brown sugar, or maple syrup before you put them in the oven.

Do you make bread? Put a package of our spice mix in the dough. Try Everything Bagel, Herb and Garlic, or Traditional Onion. Do you make your own croutons? Use our spice mixes to make them extra special!

Mix our Mexican Fiesta spice with 2 cups of sour cream for Taco Night!

Baked Crab

Take it up a notch, and replace the crab with lobster. If you're not crazy about seafood, replace the crab with pulled chicken or pork. Don't want to fuss with the oven, make it in a mini crock pot or even the microwave. The mini-crockpot is available on Amazon for $24.33, search: Crock-Pot Mini 1.5 Quart Round Manual Slow Cooker, Black (SCR151)

Southern Fried Chicken

In addition to Phil’s Fixin’s Fried Chicken Mix, you'll need a whole chicken, neutral oil for frying (like canola or peanut), buttermilk, a large egg, and all-purpose flour. You will also need a measuring cup, a few mixing bowls, a large pot or electric tabletop fryer, and a baking sheet lined with an oven-safe rack.

The most economical way to make this dish is to break down a chicken yourself. Attached are directions to cut up a whole chicken or they can be found on YouTube. It's easier than you think, but you can always ask the butcher to do it for you if the process seems overwhelming. Or, swap in all thighs, drumsticks, or chicken breasts. If choosing the latter, seek out bone-in chicken breasts, as fried chicken is always more tender when it's cooked on the bone.

Marinating the chicken in buttermilk creates juicy fried chicken. The buttermilk has the added benefit of tenderizing the meat, and adding an egg to the buttermilk creates a stronger structure for the spiced flour mixture to stick to later. Grab a large bowl and whisk the buttermilk (about 2 cups) and one large egg until they're well blended and homogenized. Add the chicken pieces and let them marinate for 30 minutes. If you're a plan-ahead kind of person, place the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate overnight. Don't let the mixture sit for longer than 24 hours or the chicken will become mushy.

The hardest part about frying chicken on the bone is getting the insides to cook through without burning the outside. Poultry must be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 75 degrees Celsius or 165 degrees Fahrenheit. That's kind of tricky when it comes to frying bone-in chicken because it takes longer to cook than boneless chicken. And, when frying food, the hot oil creates a crust on the food's surface, preventing the oil from getting through to the inside. That's great for creating crispy exteriors but not so great for cooked-through interiors. If you lower the temperature to try to help equalize the cooking, the oil will be too cool to crisp up the outside, creating soggy fried chicken. 

To get around this heat the oil to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the perfect temperature to create a golden-brown crust in about 4-8 minutes. Then, if the chicken still isn't cooked all the way through, you can finish cooking the pieces in the oven until they reach the proper internal temperatures. This method works in your favour because you can't fry the entire chicken in one batch anyway. Holding the fried chicken in the oven allows it to finish cooking and keeps the cooked chicken warm while you finish frying the remaining pieces. I suggest cooking the drumsticks first as these are the pieces most likely not to be cooked all the way through; doing them first allows them more time in the oven. Continue cooking the chicken pieces from thickest to thinnest.

When your fryer oil is nice and hot, it's time to fry. The best method is to dip the chicken into the spiced flour mixture one time only, pushing it down hard to make sure the mixture adheres. If you just try to dunk-and-go, the coating will fall off as the chicken fries. And, if you try to double dip — coating with buttermilk and the spiced flour mixture again after the initial coating — the crust will become too thick and won't be as crispy as the single coat. The other key to success here is to go straight from the flour into the hot oil as rested dredged chicken gives the flour time to absorb too much moisture and leads to a tough, brittle crust instead of the crispy, crunchy exterior. 

When it comes to frying food, there are two important rules: don't overcrowd the fryer, and always wait for the temperatures to return to normal before frying the next batch. The basic principle is the same for both rules. When you add cold or room temperature food to a hot fryer, the temperature of the oil will drop. If the temperature gets too low, the coating on the chicken will absorb too much oil, becoming soggy. Your best bet to maintain the right frying temperature is to let the oil preheat to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit before adding any chicken. Then, don't overcrowd the fryer, fry the chicken in two or three batches of 3-5 pieces each. After about 4-8 minutes, the first batch should be golden brown and crispy, but don't add the next batch right away. Wait for the temperature to return to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit before adding more chicken.

Store the fried chicken in a warm, 80 degrees C or 175 degrees F, oven. This ensures the chicken finishes cooking all the way through, and also keeps the skin nice and crunchy. This step’s key component is ensuring the chicken doesn't touch the bottom of the sheet pan. Keep the fried chicken pieces elevated on an oven-safe wire cooling rack. This allows the air to circulate around the chicken to keep it crispy and lets excess oil drain through the rack. For easy clean-up, line the baking sheet with aluminium foil first.

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together enough buttermilk to cover the chicken pieces (about 2 cups) with one egg. Mix until they are well combined.
2. Add the chicken to the buttermilk bowl and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and let it sit for 30 minutes, or as long as overnight. If marinade times exceed 30 minutes, place the bowl in the refrigerator.
3. In another large bowl, thoroughly combine Phil’s Fixin’s Fried Chicken Mix with 1 cup of flour.
4. While the chicken is marinating preheat the oven to 80 degrees Celsius or 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set an oven-safe wire cooling rack on the sheet and set it aside.
5. In a large deep fryer fill the unit to its MAX line and preheat the oil to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. After the chicken has marinated, remove a chicken piece from the buttermilk allowing any excess buttermilk to drip off. Place it in the flour spice mixture and press down firmly, allowing it to adhere on all sides. Shake off any excess and slowly and carefully drop the chicken into the hot oil (drop it away from you.) Continue dredging chicken until the fryer is full but not overcrowded; you should be able to fry 2-4 pieces at a time.
7. Cook the chicken for about 4-8 minutes, turning halfway through, if necessary, until the crust turns an appealing golden-brown colour. Transfer the chicken pieces to the prepared baking sheet and place them in the oven.
8. Allow the oil to return to temperature before adding more chicken. Repeat the dredging and frying process with the remaining pieces of chicken.
9. When all the chicken pieces are fried, let the pieces sit in the oven until each reaches an internal temperature of 75 degrees Celsius or 165 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 20 minutes.)

Enjoy with your favourite beverage!

Pretzels

Make fresh, warm pretzels to enjoy with our dips! Here is my favourite recipe:

Makes: 8
Hands-on Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 2 ½ hours

• 1 ½ cups Lukewarm water (100F)         
• 1 tbsp Granulated sugar
• 2 ½ tsp Active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp Melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil
• 3 to 3 ½ cups All-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ cup Baking soda
• 1 Egg
• 1 tbsp 2% Milk or water
• Optional: Course sea salt

1. In a large bowl, combine ¼ cup of lukewarm water and the sugar until it’s dissolved. Sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In the same bowl, mix the remaining lukewarm water and the melted butter.
3. Add 3 cups of flour and salt. Using a wooden spoon, mix until the dough is smooth and sticky.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Sprinkle extra flour if you need to prevent it from sticking. This will take about six-eight minutes of kneading.
5. Transfer to a greased bowl and ensure that the surface of the dough gets greased all over. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free environment until it has doubled in size. This can take up to an hour.
6. Punch down the dough. Divide into eight pieces.
7. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a 20-inch rope. Curve each rope to make a horseshoe shape; cross the ends over each other twice. Bring the ends up to create a pretzel shape, and press gently to seal. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the finished pretzel on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining seven pieces
8. Stir the baking soda into a large saucepan of boiling water. Gently lower the pretzels into the water, one or two at a time. Cook them for 30 seconds. Using a skimmer or a large spatula, remove pretzels from the water and return them to the baking sheet, placing them 2 inches apart.
9. Preheat the oven to 400F. In a small bowl, combine the egg and milk. Brush the tops of the pretzels with the egg-milk mixture. Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired.
10. Bake on the top and bottom third of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top, rotating the baking trays halfway. While the pretzels bake, whip up your favourite Phil's Fixin's dip!
11. Let cool on the baking sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes. Serve them warm with the dip of your choice, available at Phil’s Fixin’s!

 

Smoked Cheese

Spread a package of our spice mix on a shallow plate. Cover all 6 sides of a 225g block of full-fat cream cheese (not spreadable cream cheese.) Then smoke it for about 1 hour at 225 F. I like to use mesquite wood chips. Serve warm with your favourite crackers.