Sous Vide Pork Belly, Tri-color Quinoa with Tomatoes, and Boiled Okra

It's been some time since I've used and written about my Joule.  I'd been wanting to try their recipe for pork belly but every time I'd get one I'd cure the whole thing for bacon.  Last week I had stopped at the Commissary to get some cokes (generic Southern word for carbonated beverages) and saw they had a nice 3lb piece of pork belly in the meat case.  I decided that would be a half for sous vide and the other half for smoking.

Some weeks ago, ChefSteps came out with a combination offer of the big mouth clamp for Joule, a silicon pot cover, and a silicon mat to protect your counter from the heat.  This put those to the test and they did what they were supposed to do.  For long cooks I like to use a small cooler to help retain heat and that is exactly why the big mouth clamp was developed.  It worked like a charm with enough room left to have fit an even thicker cooler.  The silicon pot cover kept the water from evaporating and kept the heat in very well.  I'm quite pleased with them both.  I didn't bother with the mat since I was using the cooler.

Fresh from under the broiler

One thing I will change the next time I make this is the amount of the "cure" I will use.  In the ingredient list they say 5 heaping spoonfuls of salt and 2 heaping spoonfuls of sugar.  When they get into the process, they say 5 parts salt and 2 parts sugar.  I went with what was in the ingredient list and used it all for my 1.5lb piece of pork belly.  There was lots of extra "cure" that fell off and gathered in the corners of the vacuum bag.  While the belly had good flavor it was a bit saltier than I thought proper.

Succulent pork belly slices

I did do one variation to their instructions.  I ground 2 tablespoons of Szechuan peppercorns and added them to the "cure" mix before applying it to the belly.  Another thing I did, though not really a variation since they didn't address it was to put some roasted sesame oil in the bottom of my cast iron skillet.  The cast iron skillet is used to put the sous vide pork belly under the broiler to crisp the skin before serving.

A tasty supper

The tri-color quinoa with tomatoes was done in the pressure cooker.  I used chicken broth instead of water then stirred in some diced tomatoes along with some salt and pepper when it was done.  Adding some fresh sage, oregano, and thyme along with the tomato would be good as well.

Preparing the boiled okra can be found in this post.

We really like pork belly and this method of preparation will definitely find its way into the rotation.  If you have a Joule, give this pork belly recipe a go.  Pair it with the quinoa and okra and I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Pork Belly Soup

Is there anything so glorious as the pig?  OK, maybe not so glorious while they are running around as a pig can be quite contrary.  However, once they are converted into pork, they are indeed glorious.  The old saying that the only thing you can't use on a pig is the oink is very true.


Most people now days are only familiar with pork chops, ham, bacon, and maybe pork shoulder for pulled pork.  While fresh pork belly is gaining popularity with chefs most people are still not using it.  There is always a fair bit left after I square up the belly to cure for bacon.  That trim gets used to make some very flavorful meals. 


Yesterday was a dreary drookit day and the good wife was in a mood for soup to drive out the chill.  She'd had the fire going most of the day and even I was wishing I'd brought a heavier jacket when I left work.  Of course, good soup takes time and we had errands to run before it could be started but the pressure cooker made up for the late start.


I used pork broth from the freezer for this soup but I've never seen pork broth available commercially.  I think beef or chicken broth would work just fine with beef being slightly more preferred.  My broths are cooked down to be fairly strong so as to save freezer space since you can always add water.  I used about 3 cups worth of frozen pork broth and added 4 cups of water and still had a rich flavorful broth as the soup base.


One other item you won't have on hand is Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning.  A good substitute would be to make up some quatre épices to season the pork belly.

A good bowl of Pork Belly Soup

Pork Belly Soup


1 lb pork belly
6 - 8 cups broth
3 medium potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped 1/2 inch
1 cup barley
1 - 2 Tbs salt
2 tsp pepper
1.5 tsp roasted ground cumin
1.5 Tbs Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning
3 bay leaves


Cut the pork belly into small bite size pieces and season with Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning, or with salt and quatre épices.  Brown the pork belly either in the pressure cooker or a skillet.  Put the broth, potatoes, and carrots in the pressure cooker.  Taste the broth and season to taste with salt, pepper, and roasted cumin.  Remember the potatoes will need a bit of seasoning.  Add the barley and browned pork belly to the pressure cooker and stir to thoroughly mix.  Drop in the bay leaves.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set the pressure cook timer for 15 minutes.  After the timer goes off, let it sit for 10 minutes before venting the pressure according to your cookers instructions.  It won't hurt to let the pressure to go down naturally.  Serve and enjoy.


I think this would have been even better with some fresh crusty bread but I didn't have time since we had those errands to run.  As it was, it was rich warm and definitely drove the chill away.


Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Pepper Garlic Broccoli, Pork Chops, and Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

I've been making this for several years now.  It is a good way to put lots of flavor in your cooked broccoli without having to resort to some sort of cheese sauce.  It has the added benefit of the broccoli still having some body to it rather than being all limp from boiling or steaming.  Plus, it is quick to make with cutting the broccoli being the most time consuming part.




This broccoli dish goes well with just about everything I'd say.  We've not come across anything that it didn't pair well with.  We've had it with pork, venison, chicken, and salmon and it has been good with all of them.

Pepper Garlic Broccoli for two

Last night I took advantage of cutting up a boneless pork loin and decided to cook pork chops with it.  Parmesan smashed potatoes rounded out the meal.




Pepper Garlic Broccoli




3 cups broccoli florets
3 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
Red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 oz lemon juice
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese




Put the olive oil in a skillet and turn on medium heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the garlic.  Cook the garlic until it is starting to get tender, don't let it get brown.  Add the broccoli florets to the skillet and stir to mix.  Make sure the oil and garlic coat each floret.  Add the salt and red pepper flakes and stir to mix.  Add the lemon juice and shake the skillet to evenly distribute.  Let the broccoli finish cooking to your desired level of doneness.  For us it is about 5 minutes start to finish.  You can either add the grated Parmesan cheese in the skillet and toss it or plate the broccoli and sprinkle the cheese on top.  Last night I put the cheese on top after plating.


Parmesan Smashed Potatoes


2 lbs new red potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning
grated Parmesan cheese


Boil the potatoes until they are almost done and drain.  After they have cooled a bit, dump them on a baking sheet.  Start smashing them one at a time and lining them up across the baking sheet.  Once they are all smashed, drizzle with olive oil.  Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to your taste.  Sprinkle a liberal coating of grated Parmesan cheese over the potatoes.  Bake in a 400F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.




The pork chops that accompanied the broccoli were fried in butter in the cast iron skillet.  They were allowed to come to room temperature before cooking.  While they were waiting, they got seasoned with salt, pepper, and a good splash of TN whiskey.  The cast iron skillet had about 2 Tbs of butter melted in it and the pork chops put in.  They were turned when the color was changed about halfway up the side.  This makes a nice browned surface for the pork chop.  They were cooked on the other side till they were the same.  I'll not give times since those depend on the thickness of the pork chop.

Pork, Broccoli, and Potatoes.  It's what's for supper.

Most times when I do steaks or pork chops this way I'll make a quick pan sauce to pour over but I didn't last night.  This is just a quick easy sauce that ups the flavor of the meat.  Leave the melted butter and juices from the meat in the skillet with the heat on.  Pour in an ounce or two of whiskey or brandy.  Let the alcohol cook off or your can get adventurous and burn it off.  Just be careful if you burn it off.  Once it is burned off, add a tablespoon of whole peppercorns and let them heat up while the remaining liquid reduces.  Once it is reduced by about half it'll be a tasty slightly thickened sauce ready to spoon over your meat.




Give this broccoli a try the next time you fix pork chops.  I think you'll like it.  If you do fix it, let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Gochujang Pork Belly

How many of you eat pork belly on a regular basis?  I'm not talking about bacon but fresh pork belly.  To my mind it is one of the best things around and can be used in many ways.

Gochujang rubbed pork belly ready for smoke

As you may have noticed, I like Korean food and Korean flavors.  This pork belly is skin on and was given a thick coating of Gochujang, fermented pepper paste.  I don't think the Gochujang penetrates like a marinade but it makes me feel good to see it on the counter.

Ready to come off the smoke

Pork belly comes eight with the skin on or skin off.  Personally, I like getting skin on.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  In applications like this, you get small bits of cooked skin to give a crispy chewy bit of texture to the pork belly slices.  The other reason is pork rinds.  When I make bacon I skin the belly.  The skin then gets converted to pork rinds.  Homemade pork rinds means you can season however you wish and they are so much better.

Beautiful sliced pork belly

I took this pork belly to an internal temp of about 165F since I wanted nice slices.  If I'd wanted it more fall/pull apart I'd let it go to around 205F.  It is still plenty tender at 165F and slices without tearing.

Gochujang Pork Belly

1 2-3 lb pork belly

Gochujang

If pork belly has the skin on, score skin and fat in diamond pattern.  Rub Gochujang heavily over the entire surface of the pork belly.  Get smoker going, or set up grill for indirect heat.  When temp is up to 225-250 put the pork belly on, skin side up, and insert temperature probe if you have one.  Close lid and relax until the internal temperature hits 150F.  If the skin side is not crispy then move the pork belly closer to the heat to finish the skin side.  Once the skin is dark and crispy remove the pork belly from the heat.  Let rest 10 - 20 minutes then slice in 1/4 inch slices.  Enjoy

A filling flavorful meat featuring pork belly

Since I was wanting the flavor of Korea we had rice and kimchi with the pork belly.  I think it would pair well with most anything.

Get some Gochujang for your pantry and see how it can boost the flavor of pork, seafood, and soups.  Let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Pork Loin and Fermented Green Tomato Relish

It probably won't be a surprise that I belong to several food related groups on Facebook.  Two of those groups deal with fermentation and the results thereof.  After all, there are many benefits to eating fermented food that I won't get into here.  Most times the conversations are about recipes/techniques to get a specific fermented item.  These are helpful and informative.  Then there are the discussions about eating fermented foods as they are or cooking with them.  These can get a bit contentious at times.  Obviously, I'm on the side of the "sometimes it's just about the flavor" group.  The idea for this supper came from someone posting a picture of a meal they had made using fermented salsa.  I don't have any fermented salsa but I do have the fermented green tomato relish.

Pork Loin on a  bed of sliced mushrooms with garlic

I had bought a couple of pork loins last week since the price was down a bit so when I processed them I kept two roasts.  Each roast is just a bit under 2 pounds which is enough for two meals for the good wife and me.  My plan when I cut this one last week was for it to be our Monday night supper.  I'm happy to say it was a success.

Pork Loin topped with Fermented Green Tomato Relish hot from the oven

Roasted Pork Loin


2 lb pork loin roast
1 quart fermented green tomato relish
1 lb mushrooms
1 head of garlic
olive oil
salt
1/2 cup white wine, optional

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of your roasting pan.  Slice the mushrooms and put in the roasting pan.  Set the pork loin roast on the bed of sliced mushrooms.  Season with salt.  Slice the garlic and put on top of the pork loin roast.  Cover the pork roast with the fermented green tomato relish.  Add the white wine if using.  Place in a 400F oven and cook with the lid on for 1.5 hours.  Check the temperature of the pork roast, if it is at least 135F put the lid back on and let set until ready to slice and serve.  Carry over will bring the internal temperature of the meat up past 145F.  Slice the pork loin into thick slices and serve with a side of the green tomato relish and mushroom mixture.

A nicely done Pork Loin

We had ours with rice though it would pair equally as well with either roasted or mashed potatoes.   Then again, serve what you want to with it.

Oh what a meal

I know not many people will go to the effort to ferment green tomato relish, all is not lost.  There are commercially produced varieties of green tomato relish as well as chutney and chow chow.  These won't have the tang of the fermented relish but they should work with this recipe.  Plus,  you could use the salsa of your choice and make it like the dish that inspired this one.  Heck, it would work with sauerkraut as well though I think you'd have to go with potatoes as the side rather than rice.

Give this lovely dish a try and let me know what you think.  I believe you'll like it.


Uncle T

Spaetzle and Sauerkraut Soup

What a way to combine some of our favorite things.  This came about because of a statement by the good wife.  After finding a container of leftover spaetzle in the refrigerator while putting up leftover spaetzle from supper she told me to make soup to use it up.  Her wish is my command.


I've been trying to use more of our fermented food as part of meals or in recipes.  Yes, I know cooking with them kills the probiotics but sometimes it's about the flavor.  Besides, the improved nutritional benefit is still there and that is good enough.  Since the weather is cooling and since sauerkraut and spaetzle go together well it seemed natural.


I started searching for recipes for soups containing these and couldn't find any with them together.  The spaetzle soups tended be chicken with spaetzle and the occasional recipe with pork or mushrooms.  All the sauerkraut soup recipes had either white beans, potatoes, or both along with a meat that was usually sausage.  So, as frequently happens, I went my own way and started planning.


In the end, this tasty soup ended up containing homemade spaetzle, home fermented sauerkraut, homemade pork broth, and homemade mettwurst.   I chose the mettwurst because it is a good spicy sausage that pairs well with sauerkraut on the plate and I figured it would do the same in the soup.  The soup was made in the electric pressure cooker using a combination of different settings.

A full pot of soup.  The pressure cooker has a 6 quart capacity.

OK, I know most people won't go to the extent of growing cabbage and making their own sauerkraut.  That's OK.  I would suggest buying kraut that comes in a bag in the cooler section of the store rather than the canned variety.  The bagged kraut has much better flavor and crunch


Spaetzle and Sauerkraut Soup


1 lb smoked sausage (mettwurst, kielbasa, etc)
3 - 4 cups cooked spaetzle
1.5 - 2 lbs sauerkraut, drained
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
6 cups broth
1/2 - 1 Tbs salt*
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 Tbs garlic powder


Put the broth in a large pot and bring to a simmer.  Add the diced carrots and potatoes along with the spices and cook until tender.  I set the pressure cooker for 5 minutes.  Once they are tender, stir in the spaetzle and sauerkraut and let them get warm.  Slice the smoked sausage into 3/8 inch/1 cm pieces and add to the soup and stir.  Let the whole pot simmer for 30 minutes for the flavors to come together.  Serve with a good crusty bread.  Makes 6 servings.


*This will be variable depending on your broth.  My homemade broth didn't have any salt so both it and the potatoes need the salt.  Commercially produced broth has varying levels of salt so adjust to taste.  Don't forget the kraut will have some salt as well.

A bowl of filling tasty goodness

As with many soups and stews it was better the 2nd night and will probably be even better on the 3rd night.  This is a filling nutritious soups perfect for cooler weather.


If you make this soup let me know what you think.


Uncle T

A Different Sunday Dinner

Growing up, Sunday dinner tended to be predictable.  Momma would wrap a beef chuck roast in aluminum foil with some potatoes and carrots and put them in the oven just before we headed out the door to go to church.  After we got home, we ate roast, potatoes, and carrots to the enjoyment of all.  Every once in a while the menu would change but to the best of my recollection, this was the standard.


These days, the good wife and I usually just eat leftovers from Saturday's supper as our lunch on Sunday.  Some times I'll go ahead and cook something but that is usually because we have something we don't want to chance going bad by waiting another day or two.  This most recent Sunday, I cooked for that very reason.


Exotic fruits are some of the few food items we actually go to the store to get.  After all, most of them won't grow in Virginia.  A few days ago we bought some plantains because they had some good looking ones and the price was right.  I don't do the green plantain double frying thing.  I prefer to use one that is almost completely ripe.  Add a little salt after they are done to play against their sweetness and it is an excellent side dish.

Minimum ripeness of plantain I use

Fried Plantain


1 - 2 plantains, almost fully ripe
oil
salt


Cut the plantains in half then cut the two halves down the middle.  Remove the skin.  Lay each half on a cutting board and carefully cut into two slices of equal thicknesses.  Heat oil in a skillet and place the plantain slices in a single layer.  Fry until golden brown then turn them over.  Once the second side is done, remove them from the skillet and drain on a rack or paper towels.  Repeat the process if need be.  Sprinkle a little salt on the plantain slices and serve.


Along with the plantains, I grilled some pork chops and made some black beans in the pressure cooker. 


The pork chops were seasoned with salt, pepper, and ground roasted cumin then a little splash of Tequila for additional flavoring was added.  The pork chops were then grilled to 145F which is medium rare and leaves them tender, juicy, and with just a faint hint of pink inside.  I thought about making a pineapple salsa to top them with but decided that would be gilding the lily.  The flavor was so good I'll definitely be using this seasoning combination again.


The black beans turned out very well.  As usual, I used my Simply Ming electric pressure cooker.


Pressure Cooker Black Beans


1 cup dry black beans
3 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup salsa
3 oz fat back or bacon ends and pieces
2 - 3 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground roasted cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 - 3 bay leaves


Add all ingredients to the pressure cooker and stir to mix well.  Put on lid and turn valve so it will build pressure.  Select pressure cook and set timer for 50 minutes.  At the end of the time, allow pressure to naturally release.  If the liquid isn't thick enough for your liking, mix a little corn starch and water and add to the beans and stir.  Raise the heat for10 minutes then turn back to warm.  Stir and the broth should be thicker.

Fried Plantain, Black Beans, and grilled Pork Chop

As you can see, not a typical Sunday dinner for a good Southern boy at all.  One of the benefits of an Army career is traveling and being introduced to other food cultures.  Try those foods when you get the chance.  If you like them, make them yourself.  If you can't find the right ingredient use one that is close that you do have.  Some of those subtle changes yield excellent results.


Give these a try either together or as parts of different meals.  I think you'll enjoy them.  Let me know how they turn out.


Uncle T

A Sausage Saturday

In the post about the pork shoulder bacon I mentioned that due to the workmanship on the boneless pork butts I was only able to get one good slab per butt.  While that was disappointing, it did leave me with 17 pounds of pork trim with which to make sausage.  Since we eat a fair bit of sausage, the question became what kind of sausage do I want to make?


One of  the places I get sausage recipes from is Sausage Recipes and Formulations.  One of the things I like about this site is that not only are the formulations shown in both standard and metric measurements but many of them have the percentage of the overall recipe for each ingredient.  This lets you scale the base recipe up or down and still end up with a good product.  I ended up choosing a new sausage to try, kolbasz.  As I understand it, kolbasz is a Hungarian sausage that is eaten by itself or used as a component in many recipes.  Basically it was presented as a spicy smoked kielbasa type sausage.  Some research and correspondence with a person of Hungarian decent has shown that the recipe is not like it is in Hungary.  It seems the Hungarians cold smoke the kolbasz so that it dries and ends up with a texture similar to Spanish chorizo.  So, if you follow the same recipe I did be advised that the sausage won't be a traditional kolbasz.  At best we can call this Americanized kolbasz.

Kolbasz ready to hang for 24 hours.

Another site I use is The Spicy Sausage.  I've had good luck with their recipes and decided to go with a bratwurst recipe.  They have several so I picked the one that was for an amount of meat that matched what I had available to use.  After making the sausage mix, I fried up a sample as usual and both the good wife and I thought it a bit bland.  This resulted in adding more ingredients and more mixing until I got a product we were happy with.  Sadly, my hunt for a bratwurst recipe continues.

Freshly linked bratwurst

Finally, I went to Let's Make Sausage and chose their Northern German Mettwurst.  This was the first time using this recipe and we are both pleased with the results.  I followed the recipe with just minor deviations.  Many of the ground spices called for I had in whole form so I used a bit more to make sure I had enough once it was ground.  I probably ended up with slightly more of those spices than was called for in the recipe.

Fresh mettwurst ready to hang before smoking

The kolbasz recipe called for it to hang in a 60F place for 24 hours prior to smoking.  I made this first so it could hang and I could smoke it after we got home from church on Sunday.


The next in line was the bratwurst.  I did it 2nd so it could hang for an hour or so before being packaged.  I ended up with an odd number of bratwust because I kept some out to grill as brat burgers for supper on that Saturday night.

Bratburger with home made sour kraut

The mettwurst I made up and did the test fry but waited until Sunday to stuff it since it didn't need to hang as long before smoking.  Sitting in the refrigerator over night just let the flavors meld a bit better.


Smoking the kolbasz and the mettwurst was another experiment.  I decided  to try some wood salvaged from a neighbors Dogwood tree to smoke the sausage.  I ended up with mixed results.  The Dogwood made good smoke and gave the sausage good flavor which is the good result.  The less desirable result is that Dogwood burns hotter than I thought so some of the fat rendered out of the sausage and now they each have a little fat pocket under the casing.

Kolbasz, on the left, and mettwurst ready to smoke

A few nights after packaging the smoked sausage I cooked up one of the kolbasz with some home made sour kraut and nokedli (Hungarian version of spätzle).  This was an awesome supper.  Even with some of the fat rendering out because the smoker got too hot the sausage was still juicy and flavorful.  I will definitely be making this sausage again.

Nokedli, home made sour kraut, and kolbasz

Sausage is something that is easy to make and you can tailor it to suit your tastes.  You don't have to have a grinder or a stuffer either since there are many sausages that are meant to be used as a bulk sausage or as patties.  You can get ground pork from the store to make a small batch to see if you like a recipe before committing to making a 5 - 10 pound batch of sausage.

5 lbs of sausage ready to link.  I think this was the mettwurst.

Both the kolbasz and the mettwurst recipes are tasty and given how well the samples that were just pan fried patties tasted I believe they would do well as a grilled patty rather than a smoked link.


If you have a favorite sausage recipe let me know so I can try it out.


Uncle T

Shoulder Bacon

I've had people ask me personally and I've seen the question asked online; why make your own bacon?  That is usually followed by the comment that it is available in seemingly infinite varieties at the grocery store.  It comes down to two reasons, I like making my own stuff and taste.


I started learning how to process an animal some time after I killed my first deer.  I took it to a local meat processor and paid to have it done.  The cost back then was far less than it is now even taking inflation into account.  However, I wasn't pleased with the packaging, how it was cut, and overall workmanship.  The workmanship part was the fact that they hadn't scraped the bone dust off the various cuts.


Fast forward a few  years and I'm an Army Food Inspector trained in conducting red meat inspections to ensure contractual compliance with USDA guidelines.  Part of that training was attending a red meats course that was conducted at the Veterinary Services schoolhouse at Fort Sam Houston.  The main instructor for that class was the head of the Standardization Branch of the USDA.  The course taught us the proper names of the important muscles, the landmarks for dividing the carcass, and how to go from a hanging carcass to retail cuts of meat.


A natural outgrowth was making sausage out of what I killed.  After all, I do use as much as possible of each animal.  Mostly I made bulk sausage for breakfast.  Making other types will be the subject of a separate post.

Shoulder bacon fresh from the smoker

After I retired from the Army and had settled down I got interested in charcuterie.  One of the best references I have found for that is Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.  It has clear explanations of the techniques and reasons behind each type of charcuterie and excellent recipes of many types.  I use the basic bacon cure as found in their book.

I found out a few weeks back that my source for pork bellies was no longer carrying individual bellies and I don't have room for a case of bellies.  Since I was about out of bacon I had to resort to what I had done in the past, use pork shoulder butts.  I bought boneless butts since they were on sale and cheaper than the bone-in butts.  The downside was the plant workers are a little less careful than I'd be removing the blade bone.  I was only able to get one good slab from each butt though I was left with 17 lbs of pork to use to make sausage.

Shoulder with cure and Sriracha sauce applied, ready for the refrigerator

Shoulder with cure applied, ready for the refrigerator

Now comes an experimental part of this production.  After I'd weighed out the cure and rubbed into the smallest slab and had it in the vacuum bag ready to seal I had an idea.  I put about a 1/2 cup of sriracha sauce on each side to help flavor the meat while it cured.  I let it cure for a week and it was ready to smoke.  The bacon was rinsed after pulling out of the cure as usual and dried.  I even rinsed the sriracha bacon because I didn't want the surface to be too salty or the sauce to burn while smoking.  The bacon was smoked using cherry wood to an internal temperature of 150F.  After I brought it in, I rubbed a thin coat of sriracha sauce on each side.  Once that dried I rubbed on a second coat.  Once the second coat dried it was wrapped and put in the refrigerator to chill for a few days.

Sriracha bacon on the slicer

A couple of mangled slices were fried up after all the bacon was sliced.  I will say the sriracha bacon is a keeper.  You don't get much heat but the sriracha flavor comes through with just a hint of heat that builds as you eat more.  After eating her sample, the good wife wanted to know why I hadn't done this before.

Sliced shoulder bacon

As a disclaimer, I'll add that adding sriracha to bacon is not original with me.  I first saw it in commercial bacon when we were visiting our son when he lived in Kansas City.  That bacon looked like they'd just squirted some sriracha sauce on top of the sliced bacon before they sealed the package.

I vacuum seal my bacon to hold the cure close to the meat.  This is not necessary to make bacon at home.  All you need is a Ziploc bag and a pan to put it in.  The difference is that with the Ziploc bag you'll need to flip the bacon daily to ensure good contact with the cure and resulting brine.  If you don't have a smoker you can either add a bit of liquid smoke to it as it cures or forego the smoke and just cook it low and slow in the oven until it reaches 150F.  If you have a grill, you can set it up for indirect cooking and use it as a smoker.  I've done that many times.  There are some good videos on Youtube showing you how to make your grill a smoker.

Give making your own bacon a try.  You'll be amazed at the difference in flavor.  Plus, you can experiment with different flavor combinations to suit your tastes.  If you make it, let me know how it came out.

Uncle T 

Indra Kunindra Pork Butt

Last week we were in the wine and craft beer store were we get some great wines, Grape & Gourmet in Virginia Beach, and the owner asked me if I liked curry.  I said of course we do.  Then he said I should taste a beer that was being offered at their growler station since it was curry flavored.  He pulled a sample and the first sniff was definitely curry.  A taste proved that the curry flavors came through as well.  I asked the name of it and it was Indra Kunindra export stout from Ballast Point.

Pull handle from the growler station.

After getting the good wife to try it my immediate thought was that it would be great to add to a slow cooker pork butt to really boost the flavor.  To that end we got a growler of the  Indra Kunindra.


A few nights later, I set things up to have the pulled pork butt for supper the next day.  The butt I had was a bit over 6 lbs.  I cut it into 4 chunks and rolled them in seasoned flour.  I then seared every side of each chunk and put them in the pressure cooker.  Once all 4 chunks of pork butt were in the pot I poured in the Indra Kunindra.  It was a tight fit but all of it made it into the cook pot.  The lid got locked on and the valve to vent pressure got removed so it wouldn't inadvertently get bumped to pressure cook.


Once the preparations were complete all that remained was to set the timer.  Since it was such a large bit of meat I decided to slow cook it for 10 hours.  I figured up the needed start time and using the delay function got that all programmed in and went to bed.


When I got home the next afternoon there was a pleasant aroma of cooked pork throughout the house.  I resisted the urge to take the lid off to check out the pork and let if finish cooking.  Once the lid was removed at the end I was pleased with how it looked.

A pot full of porky goodness

 All that was needed now was to shred the pork butt and complete the other dishes for supper.  The pork but was removed to a 9 x 13 pan and shredded and had the few large pieces of fat removed.  The remaining Indra Kunindra and pork juices in the cook pot were transferred to smaller pot and boiled until it was reduced by half and thickened.  Then that was poured over the pork.


The pulled pork was served with rice and hot Naan.  It was a tasty and filling supper.

This was my first attempt at Naan and it turned out fairly well.  If I had started sooner I could have made a batch using yeast  that would likely have a more complex flavor profile.  Since I'd waited too long, I used a recipe I found using baking soda as the leavening agent.  The recipe also called for yogurt to be the acid to work with the baking soda and naturally, we didn't have any yogurt.  Rather than go to the store, I added lemon juice to milk and made imitation buttermilk and used that.  Here is the link to the recipe I used, Naan.  The only other thing I did different was at the end.  I didn't have ghee and didn't feel like going through the process of clarifying butter so I used olive oil instead.  One of these days I'll get some yogurt and clarify some butter and try the recipe exactly as written to compare.  The end product with my substitutions was pretty good though.

Fresh Naan

There were only two negatives with this meal.  First, the good wife liked it but said she'd rather I'd put less on her plate and had some green beans to accompany the meal.  The second negative was that the curry flavor didn't really come through with the pork like we'd hoped.  The flavor of the stout did come through so I guess in the end the stout flavor overcame the curry flavors.  Other than that though the pork butt was quite tasty.


Given that it is just the two of us at home, we had plenty of pork left over.  Some went to a couple of folks I know and some went to work for my lunch.  Yesterday evening we were running errands and when supper was mentioned the pork came up.  The choice was more rice and Naan or to make pulled pork sandwiches.  In the end, we bought some good Kaiser rolls and had pulled pork sandwiches with french fries.  I put two piles, each enough for a sandwich, in a skillet and heated them.  After they were hot and browned on the first side, they were flipped and cheese was added.  They made excellent sandwiches.


A terrific pulled pork sandwich

The next time you're in the mood for some pulled pork and the weather or your job won't let you put in the time to smoke it properly, throw it in the slow cooker with a good stout.  Give the Naan a try as well.


Uncle T