It's ALL about the bacon....

... just as it should be.

Hey y'all... I'm back from the dead. Strep is gone (along with about 20 pounds). It's amazing what holing up in bed for 4 days with no food and just a few sips of water will do to jump start a diet.

Whilst looking for a possible source of fatback without having to travel the 30 miles up the road to my favorite packer, I came across this link....

http://www.gratefulpalate.com/

The main page says this:

".. it's a bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon world..."

Not only do they have the requisite MUST haves like:

• bacon Christmas tree ornaments
• bacon toilet paper
• bacon air fresheners
• bacon gift wrap
• and the ever popular fake pig nose

but the have a really nice selection of all kinds of artisanal bacons and WHOA..... a Bacon of The MONTH club! Shuh.... I just open the mailbox each month, and there's bacon there? There IS a God after all!

They also have various edible gifts such as bacon flavored sea salt, bacon chicarrones, and Bacon Brittle... condiments, sauces, oils, sweet and savory treats and t-shirts.

Looking forward to checking these guys out from time to time and maybe tasting some of their bacon.

Getting in a cooking mood slowly, so hopefully some more posts to come soon.

Peace y'all.

Strep sucks.

Going back to bed..... fah.

Kickin' It Old School...

Or at least getting back to basics for tonight's meal.

Seems like the menu has seen a lot of pork this week, not that that's a bad thing...

It's seen Pork in Red Sauce, Parmesan Herbed Pork Chops and bacon and sausage (yep, breakfast for dinner one night), so tonight, when I opened the fridgedator and saw a couple of pork tenderloins.

What to do... what to do...

I didn't really feel like getting all wound up on something, so I decided to fall back on one of my oldest favorites, the Pork Tenderloin Sandwich.

Sliced it up, pounded the slices flat, egged and dredged and fried em up. Garnished with a little lettuce, tomato and mayo on bread and added some fries.

Sometimes the simple things are the best.

Hey baby, it's still cold outside...

and to top it off, we got hit with a winter storm that dropped about a half an inch of ice, and now it's snowing. For all you Northerners, don't start... I know, I know... that's a flurry where you come from... but down here, it's enough to make all the idjits on the road act like it's Armageddon.

So... schools were closed today, and we closed the office to work at home. Which wound me up in the kitchen early this morning. My neighborhood Mexican food joint has two dishes that I regularly order up... Enchiladas Chile Verde, and Puerco con Salsa Roja, which if you don't do espanol, is Pork in a red sauce. Much like the Chile Verde, this dish had me intimidated for quite a while. Until, that is, the Verde fell prey to my dogged determination and my measurable quantity of luck at making something edible no matter how lost I am when I start cooking.

So I deconstructed the basics...

• Pork
  
• Red Sauce
  Chili Powder
  Tomato
  Onion
  Cumin
  Garlic

So, I started out with a pretty stable base of ingredients, including Chilebrown's enchilada sauce.

Here's how it went:

• 4 pounds pork shoulder, cubed about 1", excess fat removed.
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 3 cups red enchilada sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4-10 cloves chopped garlic (to taste)
• 2-4 tablespoons ground Ancho chile powder
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1-2 tablespoons cumin
• 1-2 tablespoons oregano
• 1-2 teaspoons salt
• fresh cilantro (unfortunately, I didn't have any)
• Sour Cream to garnish

Get a big ol stockpot, or really big dutch oven, whatever as long as it can hold 4 pounds of pork and 2 quarts of stock. Sweat the onion and garlic in a tad bit of oil. Add the chili powders, cumin, salt and oregano and cook together for a few minutes, until onions are soft.

Add the stock, enchilada sauce and pork to the vessel. Bring to a boil, drop to a medium roll, and cook it till you can't wait no more. In my case, it was about three hours.

The pork will probably stay together unless you do like I did and beat it around the pot with a big spoon to break the pieces up.

Serve it up, top with a dollop of sour cream and cilantro, and go to town.

Odd thing is, in spite of cooking this, understanding what ingredients I was using, it didn't dawn on me until I got my first taste... that this was basically chili with diced pork instead of ground beef. And a little more thin than a standard chili.

But good? heck ya it was. Looks like my local Mexican place might be in trouble.....

Hey baby, it's cold outside...

... darn cold... last time I checked it was about 20 degrees, with the wind a blowin'. So, what's a guy to do when the wind's howlin', the temps are droppin', and his belly's a growlin'?

Make some comfort food.... shuh....

Today's venue was something I stumbled onto whilst perusing this internet thing for something totally different.
Funny how life's like that, huh?
Anyway, while looking for some recipes for Pork Salsa Roja (yep, found one, and yep, it's gonna get cooked), I stumbled on a nice little blog ran by a fellow culinariast (is that a word?) who seems to know her way around the kitchen.

While looking at one recipe, I noticed a link for Shrimp Chowder. Now, I love chowder almost anyway you fix it... and I loves shrimps too... so I figured this was worth checking out.


The recipe she posted was pretty good for a starter, but I definitely took several liberties.


Here's how hers started out:

• 3 lbs head on shrimp
• 1/4 oz slab bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 3 medium russet potatos (approx 1 pound) quartered lengthwise and sliced
• crosswise into 1/2" pieces
• 1 large leek, white part only, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp snipped chives for garnish

Add shrimp shells to water to make a stock. You can also add celery carrot and onion to stock for extra flavor.
Make the base by sauteeing the bacon with potato and leek. Add shrimp stock. Simmer until potatos are just soft. Remove from heat and set aside
Melt butter in pan, add shrimp and cream, and boil until shrimp are barely cooked and cream is slightly reduced.
Stir into base, along with seasonings.

I made a little less than a half portion, and here's where I deviated:

• 1 pound shrimp
• I used about 3 slices (3 oz) of my homemade bacon. Only 1/4 oz is just offensive to the bacon gods.
• 1 large russet
• 1-2 tsp dill weed instead of chives
• 1/4 cup finely diced carrot

Prepared as called for, making shrimp stock, etc.


Once the base and the butter/cream/shrimp were added together, it just didn't look like a chowder to me. Very runny... very soupy. So I made a quick butter/flour roux (1/2 stick and 1/2 cup), and added it to the mix, along with a cup and half of chicken stock.


Hit the heat for a couple of minutes, and it thickend right up, just like momma always said it would.


The end result? A mighty fine chowder of chowdery consistency. The potatos were done perfectly, with the leeks and carrots imparting a slight sweetness. I sliced the shrimp up into thumbnail sized pieces for better distribution, so nearly every bite served up a nice little bite of shrimp. Obviously creamy, what with all the butter and cream. And the dill provided just a touch of a savory, herby layer.



If the rest of GG Mora's blog yields up recipes this good, I'm gonna be a happy (if not fatter) camper.

This Verde's for Chile....

Chilebrown that is...

After reading his thoughtful and insightful blog, I came to the realization that he and I both share an intense and uncompromising love of the green stuff... Chile Verde.

I've had various permutations of CV over the years, some good, others not. There's a local place close to where we live that does a pretty good take on it, and you can even get it wrapped up in enchiladas. Menu shows chicken and beef verde enchiladas only, but if you're smart enough to ask for Senor Puerco, they'll gladly accommodate.

Inspired by Senor Chile's tireless efforts during the last month to find the nirvana of verde-ness, I decided to try it at home. The fact that I also made a New Year's resolution that I would learn how to cook one new food that I love every month was also a motivator.

So... I did a little looking around on the web... Googled numerous recipes, forums and searched my two go-to resources: Food Network and Epicurious.


I found a bunch of recipes. Everything from Pork and canned chiles to epic numbers with more ingredients than your average produce department and requiring a PhD to digest. Eventually I settled on one that seemed to have the basics covered, and wasn't a week long task to make.

So, last night, I started off with a nice four pound pork shoulder.





Next I deboned it, and cubed it into roughly inch-sized chunks. Sprinked with salt, pepper and cumin, tossed it all up and bagged it for the night to let the spices do their thing.

This afternoon, I started in...

...here's the mise... Diced pork... Chopped onion... chopped bell, poblano and jalapenos, cilantro... roasted tomatillos, garlic and chicken stock.

Lightly floured and browned the pork in batches. Removed to one side, and sweated the aromatics for a few minutes.



Put the stock in a heavy pot along with the meat, cilantro and toms. Once the onions and peppers had cooked enough, those went in as well. Brought it all to a boil then dropped to a low simmer. Then came the hard part... the wait.



The recipe called for a three hour cook time. Mine wound up being about 5 (had to run an errand), but I honestly can't say that it hurt anything.


Made up a nice pan of basmati rice to go along, and dished it right up.






Not to toot my own horn (but don't we all?), but this was seriously good. I was impressed with the recipe. The chiles were present, but not hot. (I purposely dialed the heat down for this first go round). The pork was fall-apart tender, and everything tasted exactly like I expected it would. The subtle flavor of the roasted tomatillos was there as well. Makes me wonder how much the flavor would change if I roasted the peppers as well....

The only thing I'll change next time is to not use so much chicken stock. The recipe called for 4 cups, and I used about 5 and a half. When I got everything in the pot, it just didn't look like enough liquid. Turns out 4 cups would have been plenty. But the rice soaked up the extra liquid when I served it up, so everthing turned out fine after all.

So... Culinary Compadres and Compadrettes... this one goes in the win column with a nod to Senor Chilebrown for the inspiration.

And.... here's the recipe

Wrappin' it up....

Wow... month and a half gone by since my last post... (note to self... get yer butt back in the saddle, dude).

Sorry for the lapse... Thanksgiving rolled around right after my last post, and I didn't think anyone wanted to see yet another turkey, although this year's bird was bodaciously slammin'... And then I went on vacation pretty much all of December... and I mean vacation... pretty much just shut down and put the batteries back on the charger. Didn't do much of anything noteworthy.

Which brings me to tonight... Chilebrown had dangled his post about the rib roast, almost like he knew this was one of my favorite things to eat (if you're gonna eat red meat, eat the good red meat, right?). Made it just look soooo good... I just had to do one too. So I found a nice little one at the store this last weekend, no doubt left over from Christmas ordering... and I figured I'd get a small one, since if'n I totally screwed it up, there just wouldn't be much of a loss.

Well, turns out I shoulda got a bigger one. Yup... it was scrumdiddlyumpcious.

Got it on Sunday, and put it in a pan to age and dry in the fridge. Three days later, it was oh so nicely dried out, probably about 10% water lost, and very firm. Set it out on the counter for an hour or so to even the temp, dusted liberally with salt and pepper, rosemary, and a little basil. Place it rib down/fat up in a pan, and stuck into a cozy 205 degree oven. About 4 hours later... a little slab o' happiness popped out.




Surprisingly it didn't yield up any juice.... not a single drop. So I took some beef stock, added a splash of wine and a pat of butter, and reduced it to make a jus. I won't bore you with the trivial details... the pictures pretty much tell it like it is.







So... I finish this year, 2008, a little bit older, a little bit wiser (there's some that will argue that point), a little more capable in the culinary arts, and a whole lot richer for the friends and acquaintances I've made this year.

• The Right Reverend Dr. Biggles... thanks for taking the bar and continually pushing it just a little farther each time.
  
• Chilebrown... thanks for the comments and the motivation, as well as the posts on things other than meat... after all, man cannot live on meat alone...
  
• Salvage... a kindred spirit in the realm of dry curing and preservation. I look forward to picking your brain a lot in the coming year....
  
• Zoomie... thanks for the posts and support.

All in all... not a bad year... not bad at all.

And on that note, I bid you peace, prosperity, happiness, and just enough adversity to keep things interesting....

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words...

Raided the freezer for those various chicken parts I'd saved up, and made a big pot o' stock. Added some celery, onions, carrots, gently poached chicken meat and noodles.


'Nuff said....

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......

One Thing Leads To Another....

Or at least that's what the song says... And so life imitates art yet again.

While surfing for a couple of new chicken recipes this last weekend, I happened to see a link for Braised Beef Short Ribs.

Now I have to admit... I've always been a rib snob. If it's ribs, it's pork... end of discussion.

But I had to check myself when that thought started bouncing around my head. If it wasn't a good dish, why, oh why is it one of those culinary staples that every big chef seems to dredge out now and then? Not to mention a whole lotta average joe cooks like me.

So, armed with that thought, next time I was at the grocery store I grabbed some up.

Today was a work from home day (yeah... the job allows that now and again), so I thought I'd give it a shot for lunch. And if it worked, I'd see about adding it to the dinner menu. So I found a couple of recipes on Epicurious.com, picked the simplest one, and started in.

Heated up the pan with some bacon drippings almost smokin hot. Tossed the ribs in some flour to coat, and worked up a nice pan sear on the ribs. (Note: Next time I'm gonna S&P the ribs before I flour em. I think that'll add another depth of flavor)


While this was going on, I coarse chopped an onion and some rosemary, and added some finely chopped garlic to a baking dish. Recipe called for carrots and celery also, but I didn't have any. I did add some dried celery flakes to compensate.


Got the oven up to 350, packed the ribs on top of the foliage and covered with foil. Added a couple cups of beef stock to jumpstart the melting process as well. Into the oven for a long cook.

Two hours later... it was lunch time. No, I don't mean it was noon... I mean it was lunch time... the aroma had done got my belly all riled up and snarling. As a buddy of mine sez, "mah big guts was eatin mah little guts". So I pulled the pan and did a little tenderness check.



Tender enough. And I was hongreeee.


Strained off the foliage and juice back into the searing pan, and reduced by about 2/3rds. Thickend with just a touch of slurry, and poured back over the ribs that had been resting on the side.


Dished a few up and took the plunge. Nice... very rich from all the collagen and connective tissue in the ribs. Nice base of flavor from the pan sear... Good taste of sweetness from the onion. The melted fat and gelatin from the bones added a really nice velvety texture to the sauce.






Next time, three hours in the oven. They were very tender at two hours... but at three they should be really fork tender.

All in all, this took a whopping 15 minutes of actual hands on work while I was on a conference call. Who says meetings are a waste of time? With the long cooking time, this is definitely a weekend dish, or something to cook if you're home for the day or home early. You could also use 1 cup stock and 1 cup wine if'n you wanted for a little more French flavor to the dish.

As for effort... virtually none. Taste? I'd give it an 8/10, simply because I didn't have the nice assortment of veggies as the base, and because it really needed to cook another hour to really develop the flavor. Maybe add some fresh basil to complement the rosemary as well. But other than that, all that was missing was some smashed taters to soak up that wunnerful gravy.

This one goes on the dinner menu, even if it's just for me and momma. Picky kids can just fend fer themselves....