Holiday Roast Beast

Ah yes, Christmas in Trout Lake - It's usually about shoveling snow and trying to staying warm - Not this year. We had an absolutely gorgeous day - Sunny, albeit cool - but a very nice day, indeed. We had been in San Francisco the weekend prior catching up with  friends and  seeing the almost annual Los Lobos Fillmore shows. We got back in to town Monday, and headed to the butcher in Portland on the way back from the airport - Bad move! The place was insanely packed - There was easily 200 people in there so we bailed, and headed to Hood River and to the grocery without much of a game plan. We left with a roast, a sack of spuds and some green beans. This is what went down. (Remember, to increase the size of the picture, just click it!)

We scored a Kobe roast. I've never cooked Kobe, I'm not even sure I've ever ordered it, but it was the holidays, so I figured we'd check out what all the fuss was about.

The marbling looked good, the color looked good. We stuck with what we liked and rubbed it down with a mixture of garlic, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and some Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper Butcher's Rub from the Spice House in Evanston. Love that stuff.

Threw it on the WSM at about 280 degrees - figured it would take a couple of hours.  We pulled it when we reached an internal temperature of 127 degrees and let it set for about 30 minutes.

 

Carved it up ....

...and served with au gratin spuds and green beans. We made Julia's horseradish sauce for the meat...The spud recipe is also from the Julia Child's  'Way to Cook' book. I like that one - All in all a great day- Peaceful, also basketball full, and a delicious dinner!  These 2 were pretty glad that we had returned:

Sleepy Dog 1

Sleepy Dog 2

Garlic Bacon

(We did these bacons back in late October) - As winter nears, it was time to stock the freezer with bacon. We wanted to try something a little different, so Doris suggested we try to make super extra garlicy bacon. How could I refuse? We started out with the basics and the added some stuff: (please click on he pictures to enlarge)

We had purchased several heads of some incredible local garlic. These heads were large, meaty,  and dripping with goodness. Probably the best garlic of the season.

It was a two step process. We would salt the bellies, and then create a paste and rub on top. The paste included bay leaf, maple sugar for a sweet for the holidays, black pepper and garlic -  Lots of garlic! -

We have us here 2 Carlton Farms bellies. These are some of the best bellies available to us. They weigh in around 12 to 13 pounds a side.

We start with the curing salt, kosher salt and sugar. An even dredge on both sides will do it.

Next comes the garlic paste. We just rubbed it on both sides. The curing process will create liquid, that will help take the paste. At least that's the plan.  After they get pasted, into to the fridge with them to cure. We usually let them go about 2 weeks.  During this time, we'll flip them around a couple of times, while brushing the paste as the liquid develops.

After a couple of weeks we have this. Umm, doesn't that look simply delicious. Well maybe not yet, but it is doing exactly as I'd hoped. Juices are being pulled from the belly from by the salt and  being introduced to the garlic paste.  Then, via reverse osmosis (or something) the liquid is  sucked back into the pig sides- This is good stuff!

 
So here we are after 2 weeks in the cure / brine. We rinse the bellies, pat dry, then back into the fridge for  about 3 days to  dry to a nice tact.

It is the perfect morning to get these sides going. its about 20 degrees - with a forecast of temps of  mid to high 30's. This will make our job easy keeping the smoker around 120-130 degrees.

Got the fire going around 5:30, and got them in around 6:30. We are using 100% apple wood for these two

 Here they are about 10 hours in. We've been keeping them at about 125 degrees. They are coming along nicely. I figured I would just let them go until I was ready to go to bed. I pulled them around 9:00PM. They were on the smoke for about 14 hours or so.

And done! these are looking (and smelling) pretty good - Next they go into the fridge again uncovered for 3 days to rest.

 After a few days of drying, we cut the skin off, slice and package. This was some really nice tasting bacon. Maybe too garlic-y  for some, but  we really like it - good thing, as we plenty to last us through the winter.

Korean Style Short Ribs

Korean 'kalbi' sytle ribs are one my favorite ways to prepare beef short ribs. These are cut differently than your traditional short rib - Flanken cut is done across the bone vertically in roughly 1/3" thick strips. This is a super easy meal that requires jsut a little bit of prep - The actual cooking takes virtually no time at all. These pictures can be increased in size by just clicking on them - amazing!

We are using the short ribs we received with this years beef share. We went with a grass fed and finished fella, and so far everything we've had has been excellent. I was pleased when viewing the ribs. They had great color, and just the right amount of marbling.

 

Into the marinade they go, which is a simple teriyaki based sauce - We of course added *a lot* of garlic. I think these ribs really benefit from a good garlic sqa treatment. They soak overnight in the mysterious elixir . The next morning we massaged the bag to move the ribs around and to mix up the marinade - 

Time to make fire... For these guys, I like an extra hot fire to sear the meat.

After the evening in the fridge - There is a lot of flavor going on in that bowl. Garlic, green onions, a touch of ginger - along with ample sugars and sodium from the teriyaki.I'm thinking good things are going to be happening real soon -

But first, while I'm getting things together outside, Doris is busily construction pot stickers. These are tasty little bombs of pork, cabbage, carrot, cilantro &  ginger and spicies. We mixed up a broth of water, fish juice and soy, and brought it to  just under a boil. Just let them bob in the broth for about 8 minutes. Doris then finished them in a frying pan to crisp the bottoms.Alternatively , they can be served in the broth.

On they go - about 2-3 minutes a side - thats it. 

 

 there you have it - plated and ready to chow down. Enjoy!

Shrimp Fried Rice

Fridays in Trout Lake. Not traditionally a big cooking night for us. After a week in the trenches, we usually try to keep it simple - Last Friday was no exception, however we did try something new - Fried rice on the Weber. Alice and Arch hooked us up with the Weber wok  last year for Christmas. We've been using it rather frequently, but we hadn't tried it for fried rice, That is, up until last week.....

It went down something like this: (Remember, you can always click on the pictures to get a larger version)

When I was young man moving from Chicago to Seattle in the early 80's my very first job was at a Japanese restaurant. I can tell you that they didn't hire me for expertise in Asian cooking - More for my ability to wash dishes and bus tables. Quickly I took an interest in the food preparation side of things, and before you know it, I had bought my very first vegetable knife and was doing most of of the prep - I think the owners  were intrigued by this young white guy that wanted to learn how to use a knife and prepare sushi - Anyway, it was during that time that I developed a taste for good Asian food and a fondess of its preparation - That has stuck with me over the years, which leads us to Friday nights dinner.

 After lighting the fire and heating the wok, we start with the egg- It's basically a mixture of egg, green onion, salt and black pepper.  Next, the shrimpys go in. These guys were marinated for about an hour  in olive oil, garlic, thyme, marjoram, oregano, onion, new mexico chile power, chipolti powder, black pepper, and salt.

After the shrimp have cooked, its time to add the rice - The key to good fried rice is to make sure the rice is cold. It should be made the day before or at least spend several hours in the fridge prior to cooking it. I cooked the rice while I was making my coffee in the morning.

It's beginning to look good - the rice is holding up well and not get mushy. Once it gets hot, add a few chopped up scallions for a little soft crunch.

And ready to go - A very simple meal prepared in less than an hour. Perfect for a Friday night in Trout Lake or wherever you may be.

Chicken Sausages

Could there be a more satisfying experience than creating a sausage from scratch? Perhaps, but for now we'll focus on the splendor of sausage construction, and the wondrous joy it brings to all those who participate in a journey who's humble origins begin with the simple chicken thigh. Or more precisely somewhere around 17 pounds of chicken thighs. Remember, you can click on the photos to super-size them.

We start the day by washing and slicing the chicken into strips. We use thigh, as it naturally has more fat. If we've come to learn anything over the years - fat is flavor. After the chicken is prepped, into the chipper shredder it goes. The grinder makes short work of the meat. After its ground, backs it goes into the fridge as we prepare the the remaining ingredients. Probably the biggest challenge in sausage making, especially in the summer, is keeping everything chilled. We don't want our fat to begin to render.

We are attempting to make a South Western style sausage. We started out by roasting 8 large Anaheim peppers on the bbq, Then  deleafed  and chopped 4 bunches of cilantro. That was a serious chore. The stems may go in next time....Several heads of garlic, a couple of jalapenos, some cumin, Mexi beer and  some tequila.

 
Next, everything gets put in the mixer and goes for a quick spin-a-roo. The mixer does a great job of evenly distributing the ingredients. It also keeps your warm hands off the meat. This helps in keeping the meat cooler.

Stuff is happening now. The meat is mixed, and we empty the hopper, promptly returning the mixture to the fridge as we prep for the stuff phase of the operation.

Well, maybe not so promptly - time for one quick shot. We were very pleased with the color, and mix of the sausage. I don't know, but I got a feeling these may be pretty good. Good thing, because we have about 6 months worth....

The stuffing phase indicates the beginning of the end of our journey. We chose to use real hog casings. Real hog casings are packed in salt, and need to be not only rinsed, but also rinsed out. This is a quite a labor intensive task. However the sausage maker knows no time, and takes no short cuts in the process.

We had a batch of Italians as well - so we stuffed those, and stuffed more chicken ones.

Did them up along with some corn and home made onion rigs. I'm beginning to think this operation is getting to point where we can finally kick back and enjoy our labors!

vola!

Carne Asada

It was Santana's birthday, yesterday (7/20) - What better way to celebrate the mystical one's birthday than doing some carne asada. Carne asada can mean just about anything with meat, but traditionally its done with flank steak which is what we chose to do. (You can click on the images to increase their size.)

When I think carne asada, I envision meat - I think of a big hunking slab of flesh. However, as it turned out, it seemed like I spent most of my time chopping up vegetables!

Here's the fixin's for the flank steak marinade. Cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, green onion, shallots, ground Guajillo & Ancho pepper, black pepper, salt, lime juice and grape seed oil.

while the meat was marinating, I started in on the salsa. Cored romas, jalapenos, garlic, Anaheim's, corn and red onion to start. I pulsed the toms, garlic and half the onion in the Cuisinart, then added the corn, the remaining onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and cumin - This turned out very good.

Time to throw this bad boy on. I had some leftover garlic, cilantro and jalapenos, so I made some flavored butter.

These guys don't take too long - about 10-15 minutes total - I like to butter them to help with the crust, and it really adds to the sheen too.

A little closer up - Mumm... meat!

 

After taking off the meat, we let it rest for a couple of minutes - just enough time to do a batch of panko covered avocado wedges on the gasser. Many people believe panko originated in Japan, but actually the earliest known recorded use of panko was by the Huichol Indians of western Mexico - well, not really, but these things are too good to pass on!

Your plate! Served with beans (canned sorry!) Jasmine rice - 

Dungeness Crab Cakes

The humble crab cake. How can anything so simple be so delicious? White bread, a few chopped up veggies, mustard and a pound of crab - That's it. Just click on the picture to increase its size.

The keys to good crab cakes is cheap white bread  and to make sure they don't get gummy. You want to rinse the crab, and then gently press it through cheese cloth in a colander. The veggies should be pressed as well.

Mix the crab and the vegetables, and spicy mayo well, by gently - you want to try to keep the bigger peices of crab intact.

  After forming the patties, its good to let them rest. If you can wait, its better to let them site overnight. They are delicate and they seem to firm up just enough over night.

We fired up the gasser, and got some green beans going

 Did a little cast iron action. This is a  pan that Doris' mom gave us while visiting. It was actually Doris' grandmother's. Berea KY to New Castle, IN to Trout Lake WA. That pan has had a serious workout.

 The finished product.