Entries Tagged 'Pork' ↓

A little over a year ago we moved to a lower-carb, no-trans-fat, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup, gluten-free, don’t-eat-it-if-you-can’t-pronounce-it way of eating. While it makes eating more complicated, it’s been worth it and we’re both feeling a whole lot better.

Cleaning up our diet doesn’t mean we don’t have a few guilty pleasures – bacon grease being one of them. We keep a jar of greasy goodness in our fridge and use it to enhance the flavor of a whole range of foods:

• Fry eggs – just adding a teaspoon or so to the olive oil we usually use  really bumps up the flavor of the eggs and helps get those brown, crispy edges.
• Use it in place of butter in corn bread recipes.
• Saute greens in it – spinach and garlic wilted in a little bacon grease with a touch of sugar and vinegar makes a quick side salad.
• Sawmill gravy – bacon grease (or sausage drippings) + flour = milk = heaven.
• Umami – looking for that chichi foodie “5th taste?”  Bacon grease is the mother of umami – adding a savory depth to a recipe.
• Beans – I doubt that there is a bean dish out there that wouldn’t benefit from a touch of bacon grease.
• Barding – turkey breast too dry? Slip a little bacon grease (or strips of bacon) under the skin before roasting.
• Sandwiches – my father fondly remembers eating brown bread, bacon grease, and molasses sandwiches as a child.

Not so much a recipe as an experience.

The second night of our vacation in Nevis was my birthday. We’d planned to do a big dinner out at one of the fancy plantation inns. But as the day wore on, we decided that it would be much more fun just to to hang out at the house that we’d rented.

What about dinner? While it wasn’t a Big Green Egg, there was a perfectly serviceable grill on the patio. A quick stop at the village grocery store and we had some nice-looking pork chops, a bottle of creole marinade from Trinidad, rice, and fixings for a salad.

I started the chops marinating and we hit the pool. When the sun started to head behind Mount Nevis, I made up a round of rum punch and started the grill. Once I had a nice bed of ash-covered coals, I put the chops on and let them cook about a minute. I rotated the chops 45 degrees without flipping and let them cook for another minute. Then I flipped them over and repeated the process.

We got out to some great restaurants later in the week, but for that night it just was nice just to be able to sit on our deck and grill.

Our local Mega-Mongo-Mart had a sale on full pork loins, so I decided to cure a couple and replenish our dwindling supply of Canadian-style bacon.

Ingredients

2 boneless pork loins (8 to 10 pounds each)
1 tablespoon Morton Sugar Cure (Plain) per pound of loin
1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of loin
2 tablespoon black pepper, ground
1 tablespoon Dizzy Pig Raging River
1 tablespoon Dizzy Pig Red Eye Express
4 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons molasses

Instructions

Trim any excess fat from the pork loins, then cut them in half.

Just to jazz things up a little, I made up 2 batches of cure, one for each loin.

For loin #1:  combine the Morton Sugar Cure, white sugar, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of the pepper, and Raging River. Mix well. Place 2 of the loin pieces in a large freezer bag and coat with the cure. Rub the cure into the meat, covering all sides. Add the maple syrup, and turn the loins in the bag to distribute it. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal.

For loin #2:  combine the Morton Sugar Cure, white sugar, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of the pepper, and Red Eye Express. Mix well. Place 2 of the loin pieces in a large freezer bag and coat with the cure. Rub the cure into the meat, covering all sides. Add the molasses, and turn the loins in the bag to distribute it. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal.

Place both bags in the refrigerator for 5 days, flipping the meat over once a day. Liquid will begin  to collect in the bag almost immediately, indicating that the cure is working.

On the 6th day, remove the meat from the cure and soak in cold water for 1-2 hours to remove some of the salt. Dry off the meat and refrigerate uncovered for an hour – this helps the meat dry and form a pellicle, or glaze, to keep moisture in and help hold the smoke.

Set up your grill or smoker up for an indirect cook at 250°F for at least 4 hours. Once the cooker is up to temperature, add your smoking wood (I used pecan for this recipe).

Put the loins on the grate and cook until the internal temperature of the loin hits 160°F. Remove from the smoker and let cool before cutting into slices. I ran this batch through our food slicer and made both 1/4 inch slices for breakfast as well as some deli-thin ones for pizza topping and sandwiches.

These “ribs” are really cut from a pork shoulder roast (a.k.a. Boston butt). There’s a lot of meat on them along with enough fat to keep them tender when you cook them low and slow. I like to cut them into 2-3  inch chunks and serve them as appetizers.

3-5 pounds of country-style ribs, boneless if possible
2-3 tablespoons barbecue rub (I used Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust)
Barbecue sauce (I used Carnivore Robust)

Trim the ribs to size and remove any excess fat or gristle. Coat generously with  rub, working it into all sides of the meat.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 5 hours at 250°F. Use a drip pan under the ribs to catch the fat. I added some hickory for smoke.

Once the grill is up to temperature,  put the ribs on the grill and close the lid. Give the ribs a flip after they have been on the grill for 1 hour. At 2 hours, give the ribs a flip again and start checking internal temperature. Continue cooking until they reach 160°F internal (about 2-3 hours, depending on thickness). Now it’s time to sauce.

Flip the ribs and baste them with barbecue sauce. Cook for 20 minutes, flip and baste. Cook for another 20 minutes, flip and baste a final time. Check the internal temperature – it should be right around 180°F. If not, flip them again and cook until they reach 180°F.

Serve the ribs as finger food with a couple of dipping sauces.

It’s been sub-zero around here, so you can’t believe how happy I was to crawl home after a long commute and find that my dear wife had this waiting for me.

Marinade

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce or Bragg’s Aminos
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 boneless pork loin roast, about 4 1/2 pounds

Sauce

6 ounces apricot preserves
2 tablespoons sweet vermouth or chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce or Bragg’s Aminos

Put the salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the broth, soy sauce, mustard, thyme, orange zest, rosemary, and ginger and give them a whirl until they are well-combined.

Put the roast in a Ziploc bag and coat with the marinade. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, overnight is best. Remove pork roast and discard marinade.

Put the pork roast on rack in roasting pan fat side up. Roast at 350°F for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until meat thermometer reaches 150°F. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes.

While roast is resting, combine apricot preserves, vermouth, and soy sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until thoroughly heated. Serve with sliced roast pork loin.

I made this for our stuck-at-home Thanksgiving. Double-smoking and glazing the ham is a great way to really bump the flavor up without going to a whole lot of work.

1 spiral-sliced, fully-cooked ham
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Combine the honey, vinegars, Worcestershire, and spices in a small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and set aside.

Set your grill up for 5 hour indirect cook over medium heat (325°F). On the Big Green Egg this means using about half a fire box full of lump charcoal, an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat, and a trivet to set the pan on. I added a good-sized chunk of pecan wood for smoke.

The spiral cut hams are cured, and fully cooked, so all you need to do is warm the ham to 140°F internal. For boneless hams, figure about 20 minutes per pound. For a bone-in hams, about 12 minutes per pound. Place the ham, flat side down, in a small roaster (I used a 9×13 cake pan). Close the lid and cook the ham for an hour.

Baste the ham with 1/3 of the glaze. Close the lid and cook for another hour. Glaze again, and continue cooking until the ham reaches 140°F. Glaze one last time and remove to a cutting board.

Let the ham rest 10 minutes before serving. The pan drippings were a little too sweet for a gravy, so I skimmed the fat off and served it as an au jus. My wife said it was so delicious she didn’t even mind too much being stuck home with me .

Cottage bacon (a.k.a. buckboard bacon) is made from cured pork butt, rather than the usual belly meat. It’s a meaty, leaner product that makes great BLTs. After buying some from a local farmer this summer, my dear wife asked if I thought I could make it.

“Sure, but I’ll need a meat slicer.”

“Make me bacon like this and I’ll buy you the slicer.”

“Done!”

Ingredients

2 pork butts (pork shoulder roast), boned and trimmed
1 tablespoon Morton’s Sugar Cure per pound of meat
1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of meat
1/2 cup maple syrup or molasses
1 tablespoon ground black pepper

The Cure

I cured the 2 butts separately. Each went into a FoodSaver bag with 1 tablespoon Morton’s Sugar Cure and 1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of meat (so the 8 pound butt got 1/2 cup cure plus 8 teaspoons sugar, the 6 pound butt got 3/8 cup of cure plus 2 tablespoons of sugar). The smaller butt had a 1/4 cup of molasses added, and the larger one got a 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Both got a 1/2 tablespoon of ground pepper. I made sure to rub the cure into the meat and cover all sides.

I sealed the bags using the partial vacuum option (I only pulled out about half the air to give the cure room to circulate) and stored them in the refrigerator. After the first day, liquid began to collect in the bags, indicating  that the cure was working. I cured them for 7 days, flipping the meat over once a day.

After 7 days, I removed the meat from the cure and soaked in cold water for 3 hours to remove some of the salt. I dried off the meat and let it rest covered in the fridge overnight.

I set the Big Green Egg up for indirect cooking with a plate setter to diffuse the heat and a drip pan to catch the fat. I added a chunk each of apple and hickory for smoke. When the temperature stabilized at 225°F, I put the bacon-to-be on. I smoked them at 225°F for 5 hours until the larger of the 2 hit 140°F internal.

I pulled the butts, let them cool a little, and stored them in a covered container in the fridge overnight. The next day they met my new Chef’s Choice 610 Electric Food Slicer (thanks, honey).

In about 5 minutes I turned the 2 butts into a couple of big piles of 1/4 inch slices. Most of it went into quart-sized FoodSaver bags to be frozen for later, but I also loaded up a broiler pan with some for breakfast. I baked it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes a side.

Crispy, smoky, just a little sweet – like a cross between country ham and belly bacon. Very tasty.

I’ve been waiting to try out Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce, and these baby back ribs were the perfect opportunity.

Preparation

These are minimalist ribs. I did little to prepare them except to remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs and rub a generous coating of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust into both sides of them about an hour before they went on the smoker.

The Cook

I set up my Big Green Egg for a direct cook at 225 to 250°F. I didn’t use a heat diffuser or drip pan, but I did set my grate on a Woo 2 to give me 8 inches of clearance above the firebox. Still, I wanted a low, even fire so I only filled my firebox about 3/4 of the way up and made sure I had a uniform layer of well- packed lump charcoal.

I lit the charcoal and once the fire was well-established across the entire firebox, I added a couple of chunks of smoking wood (guava, this time) and adjusted the vents to bring the temperature at the grate down to 225°F

I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, closed the lid, and let them smoke undisturbed for an hour. I misted the ribs with a 50/50 mixture of cider vinegar and Licor 43 (rum or bourbon would work just fine, too) and flipped them meat side down. I let them cook for another hour, flipped and misted. At hour 4, I just misted the ribs, but left them meat side up.

After the ribs had been on 4 1/2 hours total,  I started checking for doneness. Ribs are done when a full slab will “break” or almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. At this point the meat should also have pulled back from the bone at least half an inch from the end of the bones and a gentle tug on a couple of adjacent bones shows that they will come apart easily.

These racks of ribs where done at about 4 hours and 45 minutes. At that point I brushed on a thick coating of  Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I sauced them lightly again, removed them from the smoker, and let them sit 10 minutes before serving.

Results

I gotta say, these are the best ribs I’ve ever made, period. They were smokey and tender with a good bark and they pulled apart with little effort. The Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce provides a lot of flavor and heat. It hits you right up front, and then the heat lingers for quite a while. Not an overly hot sauce, but not too sweet or tangy either.  It really worked to bring all of the other flavors together and rounded them out nicely.

The only thing wrong with the last batch of carnitas I made is that I didn’t make anywhere near enough. My little 4 pound roast didn’t even make 2 pounds of finished product and was gone in a flash. So this time I started13 pounds of pig.

Ingredients

2 boneless pork shoulder roasts (aka Boston Butt), about 13 pounds
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Set your grill or smoker up for at least an 8 hour cook over indirect heat at 300°F. On my Big Green Egg that means filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using the plate setter with a trivet on it to diffuse the heat. Once the Egg had stabilized at 300°F, I added a couple of chunks of hickory for smoke.

Cut pork into chunks, discarding any big pieces of connective tissue, but keeping all of the fat. Combine all of the ingredients in a large Dutch oven or other grill-safe pan (I use an old 12-quart Griswold No 10). If necessary, add more broth or water so that the pork is just covered in liquid.

Put the pot on the grill and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid evaporates and the meat begins to brown. If there’s not enough fat rendered from the pork, add another 1/4 cup peanut oil. Continue cooking until the meat starts to get crisp. Check and stir about every 15 minutes until the meat is crispy, but not dry or burned.

Remove the Dutch oven from the heat. Cool the meat slightly and discard any pieces of fat or gristle.

The 13 pounds of pork butt cooked down to 8 pounds of carnitas. I pulled enough aside for a nice dinner, then sealed the rest away in 1-pound packages and tucked them into the freezer for later.