McCready: 10 Weekend Thoughts, presented by Harry Alexander
Ole Miss defeated Arkansas Saturday night, 31-17, to improve to 1-1 on the season. The Rebels step out of league play this weekend, as they'll play host to Southeastern Louisiana at 3 p.m. Saturday.
I'll look back on the win over the Razorbacks, ahead to the tilt with the Lions, rank the SEC and more this week on 10 Weekend Thoughts.
Jonathan Howard is back this week as well, and he's writing about whiskey. Have a great week.
1. It was a long week in Oxford last week.
Following a season-opening loss at Memphis, Ole Miss fans _ or at least a vocal portion of them _ were feeling angst. The atmosphere outside the program was caustic. The reality of the rebuilding job facing the Rebels sank in a bit, and as it did, anger accompanied that realization.
Ole Miss coach Matt Luke wouldn't call Saturday's game against Arkansas, a program that was 0-8 in the Southeastern Conference a year ago, a must-win, but it was the next closest thing to that.
"This was a big game," Luke said. "People were saying this was a must-win on Monday and I don't necessarily think that, but I'm proud that these guys continued to battle and fight out of this cloud that we're under and keep fighting it. I think it's good for our fans to have something good and an exciting night in our stadium to try and build on and move forward."
Luke said he and the coaching staff have just asked the players to keep working and to believe in the work they've already put in.
"These guys have worked hard and you want them to believe in the process," Luke said. "I think that gives validation to them to say, 'Hey, this is going to work' and have that confidence, especially the young guys. There was a confident group in the locker room tonight. I think they'll continue to keep getting better and better and that's the goal -- to keep building."
2. There was a moment in the second half when the game got a little weird. What would an Arkansas-Ole Miss game be if it didn't get a little bit crazy at some point in the second half? Of course, for Ole Miss, there's some scar tissue there, and for a young team trying to learn how to win, a sudden momentum shift can be dangerous.
Ole Miss led, 17-3, when Octavious Cooley was stripped of the football. Kamren Curl returned it 69 yards for a touchdown, and suddenly, with 13:31 left, the Razorbacks were back in it.
Ole Miss never blinked. Instead, Matt Corral connected with Elijah Moore for a touchdown pass less than three minutes later. The Hogs never responded.
"We had a chance to make it a three-score game there and it was kind of shades of '17 there for a while with Cooley and the fumble, but I told them, 'Hey, different teams, different year. We're going to get your back,'" Luke said. "I was proud of the O-line for driving that thing down and getting a touchdown. That was a huge drive, maybe the biggest in the game."
3. Speaking of Moore, he was simply fantastic Saturday night. Moore caught seven passes for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He's quickly emerging as Corral's favorite target and he's starting to gain the respect around the league that he deserves.
I talked to Moore following Saturday's game about his performance, the Rebels' balance on offense against Arkansas and more.
4. Scottie Phillips was one of the few offensive bright spots at Memphis eight days ago. The senior running back had company in that regard against Arkansas, but his outing _ 26 carries, 143 yards, 2 touchdowns _ was elite-level stuff.
Phillips talked about his night, the offense's progress and more following the win over the Razorbacks.
5. Sam Williams went to work last week, urging Ole Miss' offensive linemen to test him as much as possible leading up to the SEC opener versus Arkansas.
Williams, Ole Miss' junior college transfer outside linebacker, was eager to get off to a good start in his Vaught-Hemingway Stadium career. In addition, his mother was coming to Oxford to see him play.
Williams delivered, getting two tackles and a quarterback sack while disrupting the Razorbacks' passing attack. He talked about all of that and more following Saturday's game.
6. Up next for Ole Miss: Southeastern Louisiana.
The Lions are 1-0 on the season, having knocked off Jacksonville (Ala.) State in the season opener, 35-14.
The Lions' game at Bethune-Cookman was canceled due to the expected effects of Hurricane Dorian.
In the opening win over the Gamecocks, Southeastern Louisiana jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back.
It was the Lions' first win over a (FBS) top-10 team since a 34-21 victory over No. 4 Sam Houston State on Nov. 16, 2013. The Lions jumped on the visiting Gamecocks from the outset and sent the five-time defending Ohio Valley Conference champions to just their 13th loss since the start of the 2014 campaign.
"Our guys played their hearts out," Southeastern Louisiana coach Frank Scelfo said. "What we saw is what we can accomplish when we play together as a team. We functioned as one unit working towards one goal. We weren't a bunch of individuals, we played as a team. That's the culture we're working towards and this was a great first step.
"We beat a very good football team because we focused on team success over individual glory."
Jacksonville State, which has advanced to the FCS playoffs in each of the past six seasons, finished with 481 total yards, but the aggressive Lion defense's debut under new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry was opportunistic. Southeastern Louisiana sacked JSU quarterback preseason OVC Player of the Year Zerrick Cooper six times and intercepted the Gamecock junior twice.
7. Here are my weekly rankings of the SEC after Saturday's slate:
1. Georgia -- The Bulldogs don't appear to have any real weaknesses. They also don't face Alabama or LSU in the regular season. That is fortuitous.
2. Alabama -- The Crimson Tide scores at will.
3. LSU -- The Tigers are for real. They proved it Saturday in Austin. Look out. They're dangerous.
4. Auburn -- The Tigers didn't exactly run Tulane off the field, but that's more of a testament to Willie Frist and the Green Wave than it is an indictment of Auburn.
5. Florida -- The Gators should improve to 3-0 in Lexington Saturday.
6. Texas A&M -- The Aggies are coming, but they're not quite to championship level yet.
7. Mississippi State -- The Bulldogs' offense has been impressive so far this season, and they won't be really tested until the end of the month at Auburn.
8. Kentucky -- The loss of Terry Wilson to a season-ending injury is brutal for the Wildcats.
9. Ole Miss -- Color me crazy, sure, but the Rebels' defense is very good and the offense showed some balance against Arkansas.
10. Missouri -- The Tigers vindicated themselves somewhat at home in a rout of West Virginia.
11. South Carolina -- The Gamecocks get Alabama at home on Saturday. Have fun with that.
12. Arkansas -- The Razorbacks looked almost OK at times with Nick Starkel at quarterback. That's as nice a thing I can think of to say about the Hogs.
13. Vanderbilt -- Woof.
14. Tennessee -- Phil Fulmer might finish the season in Knoxville. Seriously.
8. I could never be trusted to have an Associated Press ballot, what with all of my biases and whatnot. However, if I had a ballot, it would look like this today:
1. Clemson
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. Ohio State
7. Auburn
8. Utah
9. Notre Dame
10. Florida
11. Texas
12. Penn State
13. Michigan
14. Wisconsin
15. UCF
16. Michigan State
17. Iowa
18. Texas A&M
19. Maryland
20. Washington State
21. Boise State
22. Iowa State
23. California
24. USC
25. Virginia
9a. It's time for the drink of the week. Here's Jonathan Howard:
Yesterday’s game, though far from perfect, was a step in the right direction. The defense is in the right places, and the offense started showing some small signs of life and excitement that Coach Rodriguez brought with him. So with that in mind the Improved Whiskey Cocktail is your drink of the week.
As a precursor, before diving into the libation, let us look at a little history about “improved’ cocktails, with some personal insights and some from my friend and cocktail historian Greg Boehm.
Before the introduction of such baroque ingredients as maraschino liqueur and absinthe, every cocktail was built like an Old-Fashioned, a simple mix of spirits, sugar, bitters and water. The Old-Fashioned was only christened when fanciful ingredients started popping up and devotees of the old school were forced to specify their preference for a whiskey cocktail “the old fashioned way,” sans fruit garnish or new-fangled European spirits.
“Improved” cocktails subsequently featured a sweet liqueur and lemon swathed around the rim of a glass, and the Improved Whiskey Cocktail, the most enduring of them all, remains a window into a moment in cocktail history when drinks were progressing to a more complex level.
What changes can be made to an established cocktail recipe to have a notable improvement in the original drink’s formula, and at what point does that change lead to something altogether different? In 1876, answering that question was fairly easy. That was when an updated edition of Jerry Thomas’ Bar-Tender’s Guide included an appendix with “Improved” versions of familiar brandy, whiskey and gin cocktails. These variations took the long-standard cocktail recipe (brandy, whiskey or genever with added sugar, bitters and ice or water), and gussied it up with other ingredients, such as maraschino liqueur and absinthe.
“At the time, there were so few cocktails that it greatly expanded the range by doing these slight variations on them,” Boehm said.
Boehm notes that the “improved” versions of the basic cocktail reflect minor tweaks to an earlier variation. The Fancy Cocktail (which added a splash of curaçao and a swipe of lemon peel to the original), and while the Improved Cocktail proved to be a respectable variation, it never took off as a full-fledged cocktail category.
“Out of the 3,800 cocktail books I own, I think it’s featured in five of them,” Boehm said.
But while the Improved Brandy Cocktail or Improved Whiskey Cocktail marked a change from what existed before, Boehm notes the style represented something of a bridge in cocktail history. In the 1870s, cocktail styles were so few, and so simple, that new names were often deemed unnecessary. But within a few years, with the massive blossoming of mixology that took place in the late 19th century, such subtle variations on a theme would prompt a bartender note the changes.
“The ‘Improved’ label was a way of admitting it was a variation on something,” Boehm said.
The drink itself is very similar to an Old-Fashioned, in that it is a stirred cocktail with a base of whiskey and dashes of bitters and sugar, Where the drink takes a turn is the addition of dashes of absinthe and a bar spoon of Maraschino Liqueur, not the juice in cherries. Build the drink the same way as an Old-Fashioned and enjoy a slightly more herbaceous and complex version of the world favorite cocktail.
CHEERS!
Improved Whiskey Cocktail
2 oz. Rye Whiskey
1/4 oz. Simple Syrup (equal parts sugar to water)
1/4 oz. Maraschino Liqueur (Luxardo preferred)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Peychauds Bitters
1 Dash Absinthe
Directions: In a rock glass add all ingredients, fill the glass with ice and stir until cold. Finish with a lemon peel.
9b. Man can't live on drink alone (at least I don't think so). So, here's Burton Webb with Taste of the Place, Lesson 2: Seared Mushroom Risotto with Parmesean Cheese:
When I said that we would be going an adventure, I meant just that. With the seasons changing, so should the cuisines. When you get that first cold wind that hits you as you are walking outside, fall is coming. In a few months, we get to say winter is coming. So now we need a slightly heavier dish to accompany some cooler evenings that is both robust in flavor and filling too. This leads me to risotto.
In Italy, risotto is a staple throughout the entire country. There are different approaches to the use of some ingredients, mainly cream, with respect to the vastly different regions. I use the word vastly because literally when you cross into a different region of that country, what one grandmother or chef did is totally different than where you are currently eating. Think of it as you eating cornbread in Mississippi and then in New York. It is going to be different for sure and the miles that separate the two places should be indicative of it. For Italy, that distance is probably just 20 miles. That is how stark the difference is in the same dishes throughout Italy but prepared in a totally different manner.
Now it is time to build some confidence in you. When it comes to risotto, my friends have told me horror stories on their experiences with risotto. They have watched these cooking shows where the contestants never finish their dishes on time because risotto in their words....”takes forever to cook”. NOT TRUE! Second, “Burton I have always been told that you have to constantly stir risotto.” NOT TRUE! Just a tidbit: When I was working in Italy, we made risottos to order for each guest. If you ever go to Roma, stop at the restaurant I worked at. It is called Il Tino. It is outside of Roma near the airport. The setting is just beautiful and tell them that Burton sent you.
Ok, on to number three, which plays into this dish, “Burton, I donʼt like mushrooms.” My answer to that is, good. Because once you cook this dish, you will love mushrooms. See what I did there. Ok, enough talk, get to the chopper. I mean kitchen. Go now.
Things you will need:
2 People A longing for risotto
35 Minutes to Prepare
Equipment:
1 Cutting surface 1 Pairing Knife or Chefʼs Knife (9 Inches), your preference
1 Medium sized saucepot 1 Small sized saucepot 1 Resting Plate 1 Wooden Spoon 1 Spatula 1 Soup Ladle Measuring Cups for 1/2 cup and 1 Tbsp A Stove top or a grill over a fire if in the woods
Potholders if you are working over a fire
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup of Arborio Rice 4 Cups of Vegetable Stock 6 Button Mushrooms 1/4 of a White Onion 1 Clove of Garlic 1/4 Tsp salt, plus salt after and black pepper 3 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated 1 Tbsp of Butter, cold 4 Tbsp of Olive oil 1 Tbsp of Heavy Cream
Preface tidbit: If you ever played sports and really did anything in life, sometimes your mom or coach told you to visualize what you are about to do. Then attack. So for this recipe, I need you to visualize that you are an Italian grandmother in Italy. There is a reason. If you truly want to learn to cook say risotto, you need to know where it came from first. In this instance, the Italian grandmotherʼs has her grandchildren running about at her house while she is cooking. So do you think she spends her entire attention to stirring rice in a pot? No.
Second, she has to make sandwiches for the grandchildren all the while talking with neighbors as they walk by her home. So, the two misconceptions of risotto cooking — debunked. Now, when you make risotto it will be a process of doing a few things at one time but in a harmony. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Lastly, it’s always easier to do something a second time. With this in mind, read the recipe once and then begin. It will help out; trust me, especially step 5.
Step 1: I will say this phrase every time, “Mis En Place”. Get all your things together on a counter near you. Put your pots on the stove top closest to you as well. Turn both eyes to medium heat and fill the small pot with the vegetable stock and the 1/4 tsp. of salt. Ok, let’s keep going.
Step 2: We will need to clean the mushrooms by removing the outside skin. Think of it in the way of peeling a peach except, first pop off the stem of the mushrooms. Rough chop the stems using your pairing knife and then place those stems in that vegetable stock water. Then begin to peel from the bottom/inside of the mushroom caps to the top. Once you have peeled all of your mushroom caps, you will need to slice them in about half the width of your pinky finger. After, add two tablespoons of olive oil to the medium saucepot along with your sliced mushrooms. We will sear the mushrooms on both sides for about three minutes each, until golden brown.
A little tidbit: The reason we are putting the stems of the mushrooms in the water is to infuse more flavor into the water. Think of it as making tea. Second, the reason we are searing the mushrooms in the pan is to not only cook them but, it is to season the pan with a mushroom flavor before we begin cooking the risotto. You need to build foundations of flavor when cooking; that is what it is all about!
Step 2.1: While your mushrooms are searing, small dice your onion and put to one side of your cutting surface. You will probably need to flip your mushrooms at this point. Next, small dice that one clove of garlic and put into another corner of your cutting surface. It should be about time to take those mushrooms out of the saucepot and put them on your side plate.
Step 3: Before we begin to cook the onions, make sure that your vegetable stock is smoking. So it is hot but not boiling! Now, add the other two tablespoons of olive oil to the medium saucepot that you just seared your mushrooms in. Add the small diced onion and cook for two minutes while stirring occasionally. Now add your garlic and let cook for one minute, nothing more. I mean this. Now we need to add the rice to the pot. Stir all of the onions, garlic, and rice together using your wooden spoon. Let cook/toast for two minutes.
Step 4: Ok, itʼs time for the spotlight of this recipe. The addition of stock/water/flavor infusion/whatever you want to call the liquid in the other pot. I want you to visualize you’re swimming and your head is just above the water as you move your arms and legs under the water to stay afloat in clear water. Now, why did I say this? It is because when you add the vegetable stock to the rice, I want you to use the rice as the equivalent to your body when swimming. Only your head is poking out of the water. That is the trick with cooking risotto. You want there to be enough liquid in the pan of rice so that the rice can swim but not be in the Atlantic Ocean swimming. Over this cooking process, the water will of course absorb into the rice. So always try to maintain that the water is just above the rice, or your head is just sticking out of the water.
Step 4.1: Lets cook that rice. Add enough liquid to the rice using your soup ladle to just cover the rice. When you add the liquid, the rice mixture should begin to rumble around. Always stir the rice after you have added liquid for about 10 seconds continually. Then let it cook for say 1-2 minutes before you next addition of liquid to the pot. You will see the mixture growing in its size over this cooking process which means that you will of course need to add more liquid to that rice as the time goes on. Plus, donʼt try to avoid putting those mushrooms stems into the rice when ladling in your vegetable stock, it's perfectly fine. It adds more flavor. We will continually cook the rice in this pattern for about 10-12 minutes. Just like cooking normal rice, it needs to be tender but have some body to it. Use a fork to taste test once your cooking process is at this point.
Step 5: Once your rice is cooked, pull the saucepot off of the heat. Put half of your seared mushrooms into that pot along with the butter, parmesan cheese, and cream. Place your resting plate on top of your pot as a lid and let everything stand for two minutes. After those two minutes, carefully remove the plate because it will be slightly hot and stir the rice with your wooden spoon until everything is incorporated. Taste again the rice for salt content of your choosing. I usually add just a little pinch to mine to finalize. Also, when you look at your risotto, it needs to appear wet. As to say, it needs to be runny. If need be at this point, add half a ladle of your vegetable stock that is left over and then stir all together once more. Now put your risotto on two plates and then add the rest of your seared mushrooms to each plate equally. And if you didnʼt know, there you are. You just made risotto — the true Italian way. The grandmother I lived with over there would be proud of you.
The last tidbit: When you put a lid on something and it is hot, all the water moisture in the air circulates on itself. So we were circulating the butter aroma, mushroom aroma, cream aroma and parmesan aroma. When we took the plate off and then stirred everything into the rice, we stirred in flavor.
Ok, I know that this recipe was a little challenging just because of the length of it. Risotto is not hard to prepare and it starts with being organized. Essentially you always want to make sure that your rice is swimming in the shallow end while cooking. Italian food is in my opinion the best in the world. If you have any questions concerning this recipe, please let me know. You can message me on my Youtube Channel that we have been breaking ground on in the last few weeks, “Cooking with Burton.” If you go to the Mac-N-Cheese recipe, that picture at the beginning is what I am looking for for the “runny consistency.”
Ok, have a great Sunday and from myself when I lived in Italy....Buon Appetito!
10. We'll have coverage of Southeastern Louisiana-Ole Miss this week, football recruiting and whatever else may come up this week on RebelGrove.com. Until then, here are some links of interest to me _ and hopefully, to you _ for your reading pleasure:
New-look Gators’ basketball team works to meet high expectations - Orlando Sentinel
Aristides Aquino’s blazing start is deja vu for Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins – The Athletic
Was Antonio Brown saga a ploy? A Patriots game? Or just Raiders as usual? - SFChronicle.com
Free Solo climber Alex Honnold's next summit? The rest of his life -- Body Issue 2019 - espn.com
Opinion | Why I Quit the Writers’ Room - The New York Times
‘It’s Kind of Like an Addiction’: On the Road With Trump’s Rally Diehards - WSJ