Sriracha & Bacon Smoked Onion Rings Plus

I saw this recipe at a couple of places on the web and decided to give it a try as it sure sounds good to this old chili-head. I also wanted to work the dogs and this is where I started with this adventure. It would seem that the conditions are about right for mushrooms except for the cooler temps this Spring and I sure was looking forward to a taste of this great treat. Would make for a fine dessert to compliment my Sriracha onion rings if we could find some of these morsels.



Was a cooler morning and the dogs were ready to go....only took a few minutes in the woods and Herman started barking and I knew he was locked on to a patch of these mushrooms. Anyway, worked the dogs for about 50 more minutes and found enough of the grey and yellow mushrooms for a couple of meals. It is still a little early for this treat in my area and the ground is not quite moist enough for good growth. 



I cut the onions into slices about an inch thick. Next step was to push out the middle sections until I had a nice sized ring remaining. I then brushed on a generous coat of Sriracha Chili Sauce and wrapped each ring with two slices of bacon. I applied another coat of the Sriracha Sauce and then sprinkled on my favorite rub and they were ready for the fire. 



I placed the prepped onion rings on a raised grid in the Davy Crockett pellet grill and set the temp to 285 degrees. I didn’t have any meat thawed out so I used some of those big Kroger Smoked Sausage Dogs to go along with this treat.

While this was cooking, I made up my dipping sauce for the rings.

1/2 cup Sriracha Chili Sauce
2 TBL Mayo
1 tsp Lime Juice
Generous amount of fresh cracked black pepper



After about 90 minutes, I took the rings and dogs off the cooker and they looked good. 



I grilled the bun and added the dog and then topped it off with some chopped onions, sweet pickle relish, shredded cheddar cheese, and a little mustard and catsup and it was ready to eat.

My dog was great but the Sriracha rings weren’t very good at all. I didn’t like the flavor of this combination although I do love the Sriracha sauce. I didn’t like the dipping sauce either. It just didn’t work for me and my taste buds!

Would have been a total loss if it wasn’t for my dessert. 



A plate of fresh breaded and fried morel mushrooms as a dessert is a great way to finish any meal.

Working my Mushroom Dogs

I have had a couple of successful outings with my three mushroom dogs this spring and I will tell you about one of my adventures into the woods for this wonderful treat.

Loaded the dogs up and headed to the woods yesterday to see if we could find a batch of mushrooms. I hadn’t had my mushroom dogs out over the Winter for much additional training so I wasn’t sure just how well they would do on this first outing. 



They certainly were ready to go and took off on the hunt before I could even get a beer opened. In a few minutes, Herman started barking and I knew he was on to a patch of these wonderful delights. I got to him and picked up a couple of the small grey sponge mushrooms that were kinda dried out. By now my other two dogs were barking and both of them were onto some of the bigger yellow sponges. By the time I got these picked, this old fellow was tired so we quit for the day. We did have enough for a couple of breakfasts. 







It wasn’t a big batch but some of them were quite large. It hasn’t been a very good year in my area for mushrooms.

Jan got the mushrooms cleaned and sliced up and put into a salt water filled bowl and then they went into the fridge for their overnight stay. 



Got the mushrooms out this morning and rinsed and dried them off and they were ready to be breaded and fried.



Used a egg and milk wash and then flopped them around in a mixture of flour and cornmeal with salt and pepper. 



They did fill two large oval plates after the breading.



Got a black iron skillet hot and fried this treat up and got them ready for our breakfast.





I fried up and egg and then some hot spicy breakfast sausage and along with a piece of toast, got ready to eat this wonderful breakfast. 





Jan ate hers straight up with nothing but the mushrooms for her breakfast.

It just doesn’t get any better than this!!

Had the dogs out again and did find another batch of these wonderful morsels. My point dog did need some additional work as he sure gets lazy over the Winter....kinda like his master!



Got them cleaned and into some salt water for their overnight stay.



Got them breaded and ready for the black iron skillet.



Looking good...



Most likely my last batch of the year as season is about over. 



This is one great breakfast. 

Training Mushroom Dogs

This is another old fashioned skill or lost art and other than my myself, and one other gentleman in Kentucky, I don't know of anyone in the Mid-West that still knows how to breed and train mushroom hunting dogs.

These dogs are by far the most valuable of any type of trained dogs including dogs that sniff dope as the mushroom season in only about two weeks out of a year and the dogs have very little time each year for their training. It can take 5-7 years training to get a mushroom dog to where he can hunt well. This pushes the value of a good mushroom dog to over about 10k each.

Let's meet my highly trained mushroom dogs.



On the left is Bertha, center is Herman, and on the right is Klutz.

Bertha is a nine year old female dog and is the mother of Klutz. I like to breed a good snipe hunting Redbone to a Miniture Bloodhound for my mushroom dogs. However, this can create some problems with their teeth after a few litters of pups.

The dog in the center, Herman, is my most valuable dog as I have trained him to be my point hunting mushroom dog. Kinda like a point guard in basketball. He controls the tempo of the hunt and has the ability to coach the other dogs in the hunt.

Klutz, the dog on the right, in my youngest mushroom dog. He is not very good yet and really has a problem distinguishing between a Spike and a Morel mushroom. I don't mind a dog locking on a patch of Spikes early in the season but when the Morels are working, I want my dogs to concertrate on only those mushrooms.



On a good day, in one of my good mushroom places, my three dogs will usually find a nice batch of the Morel mushrooms.

A good mushroom dog doesn't need to answer to very many commands but it does take some time to get the dog to work well with their trainer. The dog needs to hunt and find the mushrooms and then "lock on" the patch. This means that the head will be low and pointing at the mushrooms, the tail will be straight out, and the right hind leg will raised up off of the ground. I call that "pointing the patch". Another command is just "release" and this is for the dog to come off this patch and start hunting again. Another very important command is "peruse" and this is used early in the season for hunting mushrooms. I load the dogs into the truck an then head out to one of my favorite spots, let the dogs out, and then command the dogs to peruse the woods for mushrooms. This way I can stay in the truck and drink beer while the dogs check out the wooods for the mushrooms. My point dog Herman will come back to the truck and let me know if the woods is worth hunting on this day.



It is fun to work with a group of well trained mushroom dogs.