Saturday, December 28, 2013

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

Saturday, December 14, 2013

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.