Rendering Pork Fat

Posted on by October 13, 2016

How To Render Fat To Make Lard

You will need a pot or Dutch oven.
Pre-heat oven to 250º regular oven 225º convection oven.

Place 5+ pounds of ground pig fat into a covered oven-safe dutch oven.
Bake at 250º regular oven 225º convection oven, stirring occasionally for about an hour or so. Most of the solid should have turned to liquid by then. Be careful that the ground fat doesn’t turn brown in color.
Ladle out the liquid and strain through coffee filters layered in a metal strainer.
Put any strained solids back into the dutch oven.
Let the lard cool to about 100 degrees, and portion them into plastic soup containers or silicone bakeware.
Put in freezer until completely cool and solidified.
Leave headspace, as the lard will expand in volume as it cools.
Turn out onto a cutting board and slice into usable pieces.

From http://www.annsentitledlife.com/recipes/how-to-render-fat-to-make-lard/

Chicken Buttermilk Brine ToTry

Posted on by January 25, 2017

Gary Wiviott’s buttermilk brine –

  • 1/2 gal buttermilk,
  • 1 cup warm water,
  • 2/3 cup kosher salt,
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar,
  • 1/4 cup Old Bay Hot (Gary recommends just regular Old Bay tho’)
  • OPs modifications:  Sometimes we toss in some cut-up onions, celery, carrots, and some rosemary and thyme.  The fancies are usually added for more special occasions and we find that they work best if we mix the brine up a day early to let it mature for a day before putting the chicken in.  We brine chickens for around 12 hours.  Works on Thanksgiving turkeys too, except we give them an extra day.

The above was in post by Brian who responded with more as pasted below.

Those down south know all about buttermilk brines.  I once tried plain buttermilk and it didn’t work nearly as well as the basic brine mixture above (1/2 gal buttermilk, 1 cup warm water, 2/3 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar).  Even though the plain buttermilk is acidic enough, it doesn’t soak in and do it’s magic without the salt, sugar, and water to thin it down a wee bit.  Note that this amount of brine is for TWO chickens (halved, pieces, whatever).  Make just a half batch for one chicken.  I just use gallon Ziploc bags, one chicken each, for brining.

The brine by itself doesn’t add flavor so much as it tenderizes the meat and lets the natural chicken flavor out.  The spice that’s added only seems to be detectable in the chicken if you let the spices leach into the brine for a day …and the same applies to the herbs and veggies.  Some people simmer the herbs in the water for 10-15 minutes to bring out their flavor.  Some people add cut up carrots too …but I don’t think they add much.  If you DO add these other ingredients and let them soak in the brine for a day, then the chicken for a half-day in the ‘matured’ brine mixture …then the good flavors of all the above go clear down to the bone AND the chicken is made super tender and has great mouth feel.  It’s my favorite brine…. suitable for all ways of cooking chicken.

I do recommend buying Gary Wiviott’s book …he’s got an “my way or no way” attitude and I think his instructions for using a plain Weber Kettle are way off in terms of heat management, but you can’t argue with his results when followed for a WSM or offset smoker.  His book was my intro to low and slow, and for the entire first year of cooking this way, I did it all in a Weber Kettle …and boy did that experience make me appreciate my WSM!

Myron Mason ….can’t recommend this guy.  High on ego, short on brainz (sorry if that offends), can’t quit referring to his hind quarters… I threw his book away.

Brian

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Posted on by October 24, 2016

By Ina Garten – Very good

Ingredients:

  • 3 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 11/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon good olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup good mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken
  • 1 red onion, sliced

Directions:

Place the scallions, basil, lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Puree for 15 to 20 seconds to make a smooth mixture. Add the mayonnaise, yogurt, and buttermilk and blend until smooth. Transfer the dressing to a container, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour for the flavors to develop.

Tarter Sauce ToTry

Posted on by October 8, 2016

TARTER SAUCE INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion, or shallots
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon chopped sweet pickles
  • 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
  • 1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped

Directions: Combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill in covered dish until ready to use. Serve with almost any fried fish.

From the eRecipe book at http://www.kronehouse.net/DeliciousCajunRecipes.pdf

Country Style Ribs, Smoked, Wrapper and Roasted

Posted on by March 7, 2017

Standard cook that turned out good as usual.

10/8/2016 – Mary bought a large package of six large CSRs on sale. We rubbed in Stubb’s Hot Pork Rub and let it rest for 6 hours or so. Prep’ed two 1/4 pans with grids to each hold four CSRs and put into the MES on the 2nd and 3rd rack.

11:00 AM – MES was set at 230 and the air probe in the left front area on the third rack down read in the 215-220 range. Smoke was from Trafelger’s Hickory Pellets in the Amazn tray with one slot filled. This was the second time I preheated the pellets in the microwave twice for two minutes to remove moisture. It lite and burned great.

4:00 PM – 5 hours of smoke – Moved to roasting pan, poured/painted on Stubbs BBQ Sauce then covered with foil and into convection oven set at 275. Checked them with a fork to see in tender.

~7:00 – The meat breaks open easily with a fork so pulled them to cool. Put them in a plastic container and poured in the liquid.

 

 

Spare Ribs with new twists plus thighs and legs

Posted on by October 24, 2016

Both turned out great.  Good lessons learned here.

10/2/2016 – Bought the 7.28 lb.of ribs at Kroger for $1.29/lb. Very meaty and only trimmed off the tip.

Preface – This turned out good and builds on developing our rib recipe. See tweaked sequence below.

7:30 AM – Pulled membrane, slathered with yellow mustard, rubbed with Stubb’s then plastic wrapped and into ice chest with ice below.20161002_114808

Noon – Put the ribs on in a half-sheet shallow alum pan with legs and thighs (pre-seasoned from HEB) in small shallow pans one each on the top and second down grate. Prepared CookinPellets’ Perfect Mix Smoking Pellets (first time to use them) by heating in the microwave to dry them out for 4 minutes. They lite easily.

12:45 – After temp stabilized based on the box probe, and it reheated at normal intervals, the air probe on the underside of the second grate had not gotten over 160. Raised set to 135. Good thin blue smoke.

1:15 pm – Air probe is now up to 180 but still too low so removed the half sheet from under the ribs20161002_145701.

2:00 – Air probe shows 200 so moved it to beside the ribs between them and the glass. Still thin blue smoke.

3:00 – Pulled legs and thighs with IT in the 160s. As they were on the wire rack inside the shallow pan the rack held them up and they were smoked evenly on both sides.  Mary had sprayed both with Pam so clean up was easy.

3:15 – Rib IT is 165-160. Made a baste of 1/4C ACV, 1/4C water, 1T Stubbs and 2T butter. Heated in Microwave 1 min and butter was melted. Wrapped ribs and poured on baste. Returned to MES.

4:00 – ChefAlarm in thick area was at 196 but moved to thin end and–based on feel of penetration of the probe so clearly in the meat (even though wrapped and cannot see it)– the temp was 168.20161002_170749

4:30 – IT in thin end is 201 and in thick end is in the mid 180s.

5:00 – IT in the thick end averaged in the 190s. Pulled it and set on counter in kitchen to rest while while we prepared the plates. There is a lot more liquid in the foil than what was added when it was wrapped.

5:30 – Ate dinner of ribs, potato salad and butter beans. The thin end of the ribs was perfect although the surface was a bit dry and stringy. Very moist internally. Some of the bones feel out and some were just right.

Conclusion – This turned out GREAT.

Reheated – 20161002_171113The thick end of the ribs needed to cook longer to render some of the fat and make the meat more tender.  The chicken was moist and good but the skin was like leather.

NEXT TIME

  1. Buy a rack that is not thicker on one end than the other.
  2. Of Course do not put it into a half sheet pan in the MES.
  3. Again put meat side down in the wrap as the bones then do not puncture the aluminum and drain out the juices.
  4. Maybe needed more heat in the rub and/or the baste. Could use 2T of the rub in the baste and ground chipotle.
  5. Process Next Time should be essentially the same, i.e.:
    1. Trim rack, slather with yellow mustard, rub in Stubb’s plus more heat, wrap to marinate for 4-6 hours.
    2. Smoke in MES set to 225 with ribs on the rack or maybe sliced into smaller pieces that could be on a wire grate in a small shallow alum pan.
    3. Smoke for 3 hours. While smoking prepare baste with: 1/4 C ACV; 1/4 C water; 1T Stubbs; and 2T butter. Heated in Microwave 1 min and butter was melted. Add ground chipotle to make it more flavorful. Let it sit for a couple of hours for the flavors to meld.
    4. Wrap in foil meat side down and pour on baste on both sides.
    5. Insert meat probe and smoke until in the mid 190s.