bacon jam

words words

words

words...I'll add more later

1.5 lbs. bacon

2 large yellow onions- sliced

4 cloves crushed garlic

½ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup maple syrup

1/3 cup bourbon

½ cup brown sugar

Cut bacon into 1 inch strips and brown until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel. Pour off all the rendered bacon fat except for a couple tablespoons. Over med-high heat, add the sliced onion and crushed garlic. Stir so everything is coated and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, 5-10 minutes. Turn the heat to high and add the remaining ingredients and the bacon. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil for a few minutes and then turn the heat to low. Simmer uncovered for a couple hours or until you start to get a syrupy consistency. Be sure you stir every once in a while to make sure nothing is sticking. If you get low on liquid add a splash of water. Remove from the heat and use a blender or pulse in a food processor but don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with gooey bacon paste rather than jam.

apple pie baked beans

Every time I make this I get asked for the recipe or what I put in it. A handful of extra ingredients and 20 minutes can take your boring baked beans into something you actually want to eat. It's my go to side dish for potlucks and whenever I make bbq the boss pretty much insists on it.

I found this recipe on the webs a couple years ago. I cut back on the sugar a little but I've left it mostly unchanged. It especially good if you add a pound of leftover pulled pork.

I had just finished smoking bacon when I made this. I used the rind I sliced off the add some flavor. If you want you can use a few strips of bacon too. I've found that it's a little more trouble than it's worth to go out of my way to add it though so if you don't have any don't worry.

Yes, I am a messy cook.

4 bacon strips (optional)
2 28-oz cans Bush's Baked Beans, drained
1/2 C of your favorite bbq sauce(stay away from honey bbq-too sweet)
1 lb. smoked leftover pulled pork (optional)
1 can apple pie filling, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/3 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. of your favorite mustard
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp bbq rub (optional)

If you're using bacon fry the strips up and set aside. Using the bacon grease, saute the onion and bell pepper until soft or about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients and the bacon if you are using it and have managed to not eat it already. I like to bake it for 45 minutes or so but you can let it simmer also. If you want to mix things up you could add some Jimmy Dean's breakfast sausage instead of pulled pork, Peach filling instead of apple or some jalapenos instead of chipotle powder. Get fancy.

bacon

Maple Maple Cured

Bacon is probably your favorite food, even if you're a vegetarian. Making homemade bacon is actually very easy to make-it just takes some time. I just started making it a few months ago and it's easy to get hooked. The comparison from the store bought stuff that you currently think is the good is actually kind of crappy when you compare it to homemade bacon. Don't get me wrong, it's still good but I promise if you make your own you'll know what "real" bacon is supposed to taste like. No, it won't save you money, you might break even but the quality makes up for it.

"plain" cured bacon rubbed w/cinnamon and sugar

I've now made this 3 or four times in as many months and I've started to venture off the beaten path a little. My go to seems to be a maple/honey/thyme cure but I've been trying a few new things.  The pic above has been one of my favorite sweet bacons I've made so far. I didn't add anything to the cure but I did rub it in cinnamon and sugar before I smoked it. On the sweet side but it's the bomb diggity.

If you give this one a go I would suggest doing a sweet one like maple or cinnamon a sugar and a savory one that can be used in other dishes like carbonara, bacon cheese burgers or a salad. Bacon is an easy thing to experiment with. Add a mix of herbs, fresh or dried chile's or add fresh cracked pepper or cinnamon and sugar after the belly has cured.

cure recipe

1 C kosher salt

1/2 C sugar

5 teaspoons pink curing salt

mix well

Here's how to do it. Find yourself a pork belly. The recipe above should be enough to cure a 10 lb pork belly but you can obviously do less. In a baking dish or larger flat container put down a layer of the cure and dredge the pork belly in it or spinkle an even coat on it. If you are are going to use additional flavoring (maple syrup, garlic etc.) add now and seal in a larger zip lock bag and refrigerate for a week. You'll need to "overhaul" it or flip the belly over over other day to ensure the brine that the cure mixture is evenly coating the meat. Seven days later rinse the cure off the bacon and fry a little piece to taste. If it's too salty soak for a half hour, change the water and soak for another half hour. That should remove some of the unwanted salt.

If you don't have a smoker roast the belly in the oven @ 200 degrees until the meat gets to an internal temp of 150. Done. If you have a smoker or a grill that's capable of smoking do the same but be sure to keep the temp at 200 or under until it get to an internal of 150 degrees. Done.  What you have now is slab bacon and will keep for a couple weeks in the fridge, longer if you freeze it.

pork belly confit

This has been on my to do list for at least a year now. After a year long search I've found a few places that readily have pork belly so all I've done the past few weeks is play with making bacon. One of these days I'll go back and finish my bacon post. I saved about 4 1/2 lbs. from my last belly I got just for this recipe. Being the pig that I am I thought it 4 lbs of belly confit wouldn't be too much. I was way wrong. It's keeps for at least a couple months so I have some time but it's sort of rare that I know when I've had enough before I over eat. I had the piece shown in the pics and I couldn't finish it. It's has the same richness quality that desserts do. You want more but there is a point when it becomes too much. Had to throw in the towel. Not such a bad thing though cuz the only way you could add more fat in this would be to dip it in chocolate and roll it in bacon. If anyone wants to come over and try it I'll have plenty to go around.

The pork belly strips get seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, pink curing salt, fresh thyme, bay leaves, cinnamon, all spice and clove. Next put the pork in a container and cover with enough dry white wine to cover and let sit in the refrigerator for a day or so.

I didn't take pics of the marinade. Nothing to see really but the above pics are after 36 hours. Take them out and pat dry with some paper towels. Next was something I haven't done before. Basically this is nothing more than cooking fat with a little meat on it with rendered fat. Health food! The cooking temp is low enough that the fat on the pork belly isn't rendered so it stay in tact. I used probably about four cups of rendered duck fat but you can lard. It's cheaper and easier to find. Add just enough so that you don't have any pork exposed when the fat liquefies.

I posted a pic on facebook and was told this looked like a tumor covered in pee. I agree, but it smelled amazing. This is what it will look like when your duck fat or lard liquefies. You want it just hot enough to get a gentle simmer going before putting the uncovered pot in a preheated 250 degree oven. It will take somewhere between 2-3 hours to cook. When you can slide a fork in the meat with no resistance its done. Here's were things get old school. Leave the pork belly in the pot, with the fat to cool at room temp. Once at room temp cover the pot and put it in the refrigerator and you're done. When you want to have some just fish some out of the fat but like I mentioned above the meat has been cooked and is preserved in fat so it keeps for months.

You might ask how we can make this just a little more unhealthy? Yup! Deep fry it! Like it matters. Your eating mostly fat at this point anyways a minute or two in a deep fryer isn't really going to make this much worse than it already is. I used Canola and maybe had them in for two minutes. It's already cooked you just want to get the outside crispy to give it some texture. You could also saute or pan fry too.

                          

This is a recipe from Charcuterie so I can't exactly post the recipe so message me if you have questions. For anyone interested, the book is a very good resource on how to cook with salt, smoke and curing methods. Worth every penny and no, I'm not being paid for pushing this book.



caramelized asian pork

The hardest part about making this is getting the cut of pork. It's really simple otherwise. This would work best with a piece of pork belly but you're probably never going to find one unless you order it. You might luck out if you have a good asian or mexican market but your standard grocery store probably won't have it. That's ok cuz you won't need it. Instead find yourself a pork shoulder or sometimes called a boston butt or pork butt. And no, it's not a pigs actual butt, that's a ham. Shoulders are something you can normally find anywhere but make sure it has a nice layer of fat on it before you buy it. Sometimes they get over trimmed and pork fat is something you need to make this recipe turn out well. They will vary in size but I would suggest something in the 5-7 pound range if you want about 4 servings.

I'll have to do a post on breaking down a pork butt, but for now I'll give you the easy version of what you'll need to do to get the cut you want. Place the pork shoulder fat side down on a cutting board. If you got one with a bone have that facing towards you and the bone should look like a funny "T". You want to make a horizontal cut at the bottom of the "T". For those of you that have a boneless pork shoulder make the cut around 1 1/2 to 2 inches from the fatty bottom side of the pork shoulder. Go all the way across so you end up with a nice flat piece. If you want the presentation to be fancy you can square it up to make it more uniform. As for the rest of it? Throw it in a crockpot or slow oven and make pulled pork with it. If you want to get adventerous message me and I'll explain how to break the rest of the butt down and give you a couple ideas.

Lay down a bed of green onion on some tin foil and lay the pork fat side down. Cover with more green onion and season with salt. Tightly wrap the pork in foil and cook @ 200 for 6 hours. Cooking this low won't render very much fat-again we want that in there. After it's cooked put it in the refrigerator to completely cool. Give it at least a couple hours or if you plan ahead keep it in the fridge overnight and dinner will be easy the next day.

When ready, unwrap the pork and toss the green onions it was cooked with. You'll notice it hasn't really shrunk much and it may not looked cooked but don't worry, it's safe to eat now but we aren't done. Cut the pork in big square chunks but be sure to leave that fatty side on each piece. In a saute pan on medium heat put the pork fat side down to render some fat. You'll have a couple minutes so it's a good time to mix the sauce. Cook the pieces on each side until golden brown. When browned, soak up some of the fat with a paper towel and tongs. Turn the heat to medium high and add a few tablespoons of the sauce. Keep turning the pork so all sides get nice and caramelized. Next, make some room in the middle of the pan and add the garlic, chilies, carrot, pea pods and green onion and saute for a minute. Add the remaining sauce and water. Cook for a few more minutes so that the sauce thickens up and done. Serve over rice or asian noodles.

The pork:

Pork

1 bunch green onion

Salt

Sauce:

½ C brown sugar

4 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp ginger juice (grate a bunch and just squeeze it)

The rest:

8-10 cloves garlic-sliced thin

8-10 dried Arbol chilies

½  C carrot cut into thin matchsticks

½ C pea pods

1 bunch green onion-chopped

1 Cup water

orange sriracha wings

We've been getting a taste of spring so I broke out a warm weather recipe today. I actually was going to post this one a while back as a Super Bowl recipe but never got around to it. This one doesn't require much in the way of skill either so it's good for all you noobs. If you don't know what sriracha is it's a chile/garlic sauce. Sriracha is fairly spicy on but after mixed with everything in this recipe it's very mild. Basically it's like the Asian version of ranch dressing-it's good on everything.

I'm afraid the mixture isn't really much to look at. When you buy the marmalade look for a brand that doesn't have any or very little white pith on the orange zest. Too much of that white stuff will make the glaze bitter.

 
1 18oz jar of orange marmalade
1/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C sriracha
1/3 C honey

Mix the ingredients together and bring to a simmer in a small sauce pot. Let the mixture simmer for 10-15 minutes so the flavors get a chance to meld a little and to thicken it up some. Brush or toss the chicken in the warm glaze when it is just about done. There is a ton of sugar in this so you don't want to add it too soon or the sugars will burn.

bleu, bacon and prune pizza

Yup, prunes. No, I didn't make this to resolve any bodily function issues. I had something similar at a restaurant and thought I would give it a whirl. This pizza is something different and might give you some ideas. If you have good ones you have to share!  

Next time I'll add less prunes. They weren't as subtle as I wanted but still good. I didn't think the flavor would compete so much with the bleu cheese. Lesson learned. I also gave the prunes a soak in a little red wine while I was getting the crust done. They weren't dried out or anything I just happen to be having a glass and thought it might add some flavor. I'm not sure it added much so don't go out of your way if you don't want to.

Roll out your pizza dough, add toppings and season with Thyme.

1 pizza crust

1 C chopped prunes

6 oz. crumbled bleu cheese

1/2 lb cooked bacon

thyme

fish taco cups

I was informed tonight that the boss thinks this is in the top three meals I make. Not sure I really agree since it has fish, but it is pretty good and one of the faster dishes I make. Probably one of the healthiest too. Come to think of it this was only the second time I've made this. I stole it from the food network and haven't changed much of the original recipe, just subbed a few things that are more readily available. I also omitted the creme fraiche the original recipe called for. I didn't think it was really needed.

You start with these little babies. Won tom wrappers, brushed with oil and cooked it muffin tins. Make a nice little edible cup. I'm going to have to use these for other apps. Maybe buffalo chicken dip in a cup?







The filling is bit sized pieces of avocado and mango with some green onion, lime juice and olive oil. Just before serving I tossed in some chopped arugula and the cooked fish. While I was prepping everything I first sliced up some red jalapenos and pickled them in the lime juice. The original recipe called for wasabi powder mixed with creme fraiche. I thought the red would give it some color and since it's on the sweet side it balances the dish out. Wasn't sure the boss wanted them so I took them out. Almost forgot to add them.

Won ton cups:

won ton wrapper

canola oil

Brush both sides of the wrapper with oil and place the in a muffin tin. Push them down to form a cup and bake @ 375 for 6 minutes or until they start to brown. Take them out and let cool.

The filling:

3 T  extra virgin olive oil

1 lb fresh tilapia fillets-cut to bite sized pieces

1 avocado-cut into half inch cubes

1 mango-cut into half inch cubes

3 green onion-finely chopped

1 red jalapeno-finely sliced-pickled in lime juice for 15 minutes

3 cups chopped arugula

Heat oil over med-high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes a side. Set aside for a couple minutes to cool.

The dressing:

juice from two limes

3 T extra virgin olive oil

Whisk the juice and oil together. Add the mango, avocado, green onion, arugula, and jalapeno. Spoon the filling mixture in the cups and place a few pieces of fish on top.



chocolate covered strawberries

This was the dessert I didn't have time to make on Valentine's Day. The boss only wanted two things. A card that had "mom" written somewhere on it and chocolate covered strawberries. I made a little surf and turf for dinner and by the time we ate it was time for bed. I had these waiting for her when she got home from work Wednesday.

This recipe has a total of three ingredients so try to stay with me here. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and shortening. Next, wait for it....dip the strawberries in the melted chocolate. If you want them all fancy hang the tooth picks in a colander or stick them in a piece of styrofoam so they don't have a flat chocolate spot from laying down. As you can tell I wasn't feeling that fancy so I put mine on some wax paper. Just to be clear I tried melting some white chocolate to drizzle on but turns out white chocolate doesn't really like to be melted and I ended up with pasty white sludge. I think I rushed it.



This is kind of a two for one deal. something I've always wanted to try was chocolate and chile peppers.  Keeping things Aztec style in the midwest. For those brave enough to try eating something this crazy (and by crazy I mean something that has been done for centuries) do everything the same except add a small amount of dried chile's to the chocolate before you dip the strawberries. I had about half the chocolate left when I tried and put 2 1/2 teaspoons of cacsabel chiles. One thing I learned is you need to add a fair amount of chiles. Chocolate is hard to over power so finding a balance between chocolate and chiles requires what may seem like a lot of chiles. 

                          

This one was my end result. I added a small amount of salt too. Describing the taste is really hard and I'm not sure what I can compare it too. The cascabel is on the mild side so it didn't really add much more than a warming mouth feel as far as the heat goes but the chocolate and chile combo complimented each other very well. It added a complexity that I just can't explain. Imagine having hot chocolate and room temp but it tasting hot because of the chile. That, plus strawberry. I know to a lot of you this may be a little out there but it is crazy good and I'll be playing with the choco+chile combos in the near future. Dark chocolate and ancho chile is sure to be an amazing combo.

11 1/2 oz bag Ghirardelli or other quality milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 T shortening

strawberries

2 T cascabel or other milder chile peppers

Oysters Madison

I hate to admit when I'm wrong. Here it goes, I was wrong about seafood. For almost 30 years I was sure I hated it. In the past year I've probably consumed more seafood than I have in the past 3 decades. Turns out sushi is good and apparently I think shellfish is pretty amazing when done correctly.

So in my never ending battle to keep from cooking the same things over and over I thought I would give something new a try. Up until now I've never made oysters nor have I ever tried them. There is something about shellfish that had me grossed out. To me it always looked like something you would only eat if you were dared to and not cuz you wanted to. After eating this, my opinion has been changed and once again I've gone the way of the pig and want to stuff my face with them.

I thought I did a fairly good job opening these suckers. No major cuts to my hand but I did get a few small ones in my thumb. My fault though. Don't be dumb like me; use a towel to hold them. To get them open I used a butter knife. Slide it in the back of the oyster where it hinges and work it around to get it open. When you have it open slide your knife under the oyster to separate it from the muscle holding it to the shell.

 Here's what I'm talking about. When I took this pic I was thinking "Ick. This looks gross." Now I want to slurp that mess up. So after you open the oysters put them and their juice in a bowl. Pick them up and shake them around a bit to get any grit off them and set them aside.  Sauté the shallot in 1 tablespoon of butter until soft and then slowly pour the oyster juice in the pan being careful not pour out any of the small pieces of shell and grit. Let the liquid lightly simmer and reduce by half. At this point I took the liquid off the heat to cool while I did the spinach.

I'm spaced taking pics of the spinach so just use your imagination. I heated the oil in a large sauté pan and through in the spinach, garlic and ginger with a little salt and pepper. Cooked it down for about five minutes or so and boom-done. Back to the Oysters. Now you can put your pan with the oyster liquor and wine back on the heat. I'd say about med-high. This is only going to take 2-3 minutes to cook. While they are cooking take the cooked spinach and put a layer on a plate for the shells to sit on and put a little but in each shell too. By the time you have this done the oysters will probably be ready. They won't be well done but heated through at this point. They are fine to eat raw so please don't overcook them. You'll just end up with tough, chewy oysters. Put an oyster in each shell.

Now, back to the sauce. If I could I would make a batch of this just to drink. The final product is a mix of wine, the ocean and butter. Who could hate it? So crack the heat up and get the liquid boiling and whisk in the butter. The boiling will emulsify the butter, wine and oyster juice making a creamy sauce for your oysters. This won't take long. Once the butter is melted its done. Spoon that sauce over each of the oysters to fill them.





Look at the bottom right oyster in the last pic. See the goofy looking part that’s separated? That's the mantle. Raw, the mantle will fall on itself. It a good indicator that they are done when they stay separated.

One last thing I forgot to add before I posted this. After you clean up your shells put them in the oven the heat up before you use them. They'll help keep your food warm longer.

12 oysters and their liquor

1 C dry white wine

1 T unsalted butter

1 shallot

1 6oz bag of baby spinach

1 T chopped garlic

1 T chopped ginger

2 T unsalted butter

soft pretzel sticks

I've been a bit busy this week so I haven't had much play time in the kitchen. The boss did send me a couple recipes she found and I gave this one a try today. I wanted to get another Super Bowl idea out there for everyone and if this one failed I was going to do chicken wing recipe but that will have to wait.

I just finished stuffing my face with these and we even got my oldest to try it. I think that's my new test for recipes. If my daughter will eat it has to be good. The boss and I had ours with store bought sweet and hot honey mustard but they would go nicely with a little cheese sauce. Buffalo chicken dip seems to be all the rage and dipping these in some of that business would be amazing. I didn't take any prep pics this time around due to the chaos in this house. Not much to see anyways it would look just like this.

This pig woke up just in time to get them while they were still warm. He was pleased. Instead of typing it out here is the link to the recipe I used. I didn't really deviate from the recipe since I rarely bake and making pretzels was a first for me. I didn't have any Maldon salt so I used Kosher and it worked just fine. One thing I noticed when I was making kneading the dough was that I had at least a 1/4 cup left over flour. Weighing is a more accurate way to measure so I assume that's why there was so much left. When you make yours just incorporate as much as you can without making your dough too dry.

These will keep so make them a day ahead if you want. They are good at room temp but if you want to reheat throw them in the oven for a few minutes to warm back up.

I couldn't resist making one like this