Knowing Your Place In The World...

Sometimes... just every once in a while, it's perfectly acceptable for the meat portion of a dish to take a back seat to the rest of the group and just provide a tasty backdrop for the rest of the action.

I know... I've walked right up to that line of heresy and I'm dangling my big toe over it... but hear me out first.

One of my favorite dishes when the weather takes a cold turn is Braised Cabbage and Noodles. This is supposed to be an old Polish peasant dish, but since I don't know any old Polish peasants, I'll just have to content myself with knowing that it's a darn good feed, regardless of it's pedigree.

Here's where it all starts:

1 big ol' head of cabbage, cored, and chopped into about 1" pieces
1 big ol' yellow or white onion cut however you like
1 pound of bacon (home made or store bought. either is fine)
about 2/3 of a big bag of wide egg noodles, depending on how many noodles ya want
1-2 tablespoons oregano, to your liking
dill weed to taste
couple of teaspoons of chopped garlic
half cup of white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Get your biggest wok or pan. Assuming you don't own a Chinese restaurant of have a wok big enough to stir fry a large cow, that is. Generally, electric skillet or wok sized is fine. Just needs to be big enough to hold that head of cabbage.

Start the water for the noodles boiling before anything else. It takes longest.

Cut the bacon strips into 1" pieces, more or less and toss em in the pan over medium heat. Cook bacon until just done. No need to get it crispy unless you just want to. When done, remove the bacon to a side plate.

Chop the onion however you like and toss it and the garlic in the pan with all them bacony drippings. Also add a pinch of salt to help soften the onion. Careful not to let the garlic burn.

When the onion is soft, toss in the cabbage, wine, oregano and dill weed. Cover and cook on medium low for 5-10 minutes, stirring now and again to keep from sticking.


When the noodles are done, drain and toss in the pan, stirring everything up well. When all the flavors have had time to get acquainted, dish it up and chow down.



The bacon provides a nice smokey backdrop for the tartness of the cabbage and the sweetness of the onions. The garlic... well, hell... it's garlic... nuff said. The herbs do their part too. If you don't overcook it, the bacon and onions are still a little chewy, the cabbage has just a bit of crisp to it, and the noodles are silky smooth and chewy.

There's meat, to be sure... and more than enough as it turns out. With nearly every bite, you get some meat, some vegetation, and a noodle or two. Any way you slice it, it's a great dish, not only from a prep perspective, but it serves very nicely, and it reheats like you wouldn't believe.

I'd also recommend some Beano or a similar gastric abatement, unless you're up for a rousing game of 'Name that Tune' with the family.... or you have an urge to 'hot box' someone near and dear......

Nosh Night

Every couple of months or so around our house, we have what we call 'nosh night'. What that means is I spend a couple of hours in the kitchen cooking up a variety of snack foods so that everyone can snack and generally have an easy night of it.

Sounds fun, huh?

I don't complain though... If I didn't like cooking, I wouldn't do it.

Over time, our menu has come to include some basic staples. Pretty much the same things you'd find on any halfway respectable Superbowl Sunday... Buffalo Wings, Chicken Strips, Cheese Dip, etc.

Tonight we added a new item to the venue, and it turned out so well, I thought it worth posting about.

Tonight's menu consisted of:
Our World Famous Hotwings. I don't really call em Buffalo wings because... well... we don't live in Buffalo, and Tulsa Wings just doesn't do much for me.

Everybody's favorite Velveeta Cheese and Rotel Tomato dip, other wise known hereabouts as simply Rotel Dip. Although I usually fry up a little ground beef to add into mine, carnivore that I am.

Guacamole and chips... 'nuff said.

Hard Rock Chicken Strips. Got this recipe somewhere or another, and it's supposed to be the one they serve at all the Hard Rock Cafe's for about twice what they're worth.

Potato Salad and Deviled Eggs. (I know... no meat, but what the heck... the eggs have protein, so it's sorta close to meat)

And the new kid on the block... one that I've been wanting to try ever since I saw the special on Deep Fried foods around the country on the Food Network... that delicacy known as Texas Toothpicks... DEEP FRIED BACON!!!

Yes... that's right. Bacon that is breaded and deep fried... then served with a side of white gravy for dippin purposes.

I have to admit it... I had at least 2.2 seconds worth of doubt about this... but then I figured what the heck? It's bacon.. so that's a plus. It's breaded... that's a plus... and it's deep fried... that's a double plus with a 10 point bonus. So when I broke it down I realized that there ARE NO drawbacks, I plowed blindly ahead.

This is so simple to make that it's almost embarassing to write it out. I took a package of my recently home made maple bacon (see previous post), ran it through a little egg wash, and shook it around in a ziptop bag of flour and a little pepper, and dropped it in hot oil for about 5 minutes. (Your cooking times may vary)

Whipped up a little white gravy on the side for dippin, and holy cow! It was everything I'd heard and imagined it to be. A whole new way to consume that most delectable of meats.

The bad part was... I was the only one in the house who would eat it.

The good part was... I was the only one in the house that would eat it...

My oldest was convinced I now have a front row reservation in some dietary hell for doing this... but she's 20 and still has a metabolism that works, so what does she know?

If you've thought about making some deep fried bacon, don't wait any longer. If you haven't thought about it yet, consider yourself on notice.

Well... here goes nuttin....

Greetings... and welcome to my blog.

Been on the fence about this for awhile, simply because blogs take time, and time is getting to be a precious commodity. Having said that, I've developed a keen interest in the various techniques of preserving and preparing meat, as well as having a lifelong love of cooking... so this is my way of paying it back to all those web authors who have inspired and informed me, as well as maybe passing on a nugget or two to whoever might get some value out of it.

Once this gets going, I'll get my act together some more, and this will be a little more organized.

And I have a hunch that some of the stuff I blog about will include pet peeves and other stuff that just irritates the heck out of me. What the heck... the blog is free, and therapists cost an arm and a leg...

So, to get something on the page, here's a pic of my latest pass at some homemade bacon. This was 2 12 pound pork bellies, and I wound up with a whole ton of bacon, and a couple wheels of some really good pancetta.



And a close up of the pancetta. It was my first attempt, so it's uglier than a homemade fence, but it tastes oh so good.



When I made this last batch, I didn't take the time to get pictures of all the steps. I will next time though. But for anyone who's done it, and is curious, here's the cure recipe I used:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
  * Per pork belly
  

that's it. At the time I didn't have any curing salt, and I've made great bacon without it, although I've since gotten some and will use it in the future, if only for the color retention.

I cut each belly in half and trimmed to get it more or less square. Any large end pieces I sliced up and threw in a skillet for fresh side meat. Generously rub each side of the belly with the cure, pressing it in a little bit. Put the trimmed half belly in a 2 gallon zip top bag. In my case, I put in a generous dollop (1/3 cup or so) of maple syrup and schmoozed it all around in the bag. Toss it all in the fridge. I turned it about twice a day, usually once in the morning and once in the evening. Let it cure for 4 days.
On day 5, I pulled it out, rinsed everything off, and put each belly back in it's bag. Then I added about 2 cups of water to each bag, sealed it, and tossed it back in the fridgedator. About 12 hours later, I pulled it all out, rinsed and dried it all off, and set about drying the bellies.
This is a daunting task, simply because they are big, and no one wants large cuts of raw meat lying around in their fridge. I got around my dilemma by using some rib racks for my smoker. I put 2 racks in a half sheet pan, stood the bellies on end inside the rack. About 24 hours in the fridge, and I had that wonderful tacky dry pellicle.

Then it was off to the smoker for a few hours. After a good cool down period overnight, I sliced and vacuum sealed. The rest, as they say, is history.