Pork Shoulder; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and why the ugly way might be the best of all).

Pulled pork. Nothing gets barbeque guys, pit masters, or smoke hounds' juices flowing and mouths watering quite like a luscious, rich, fatty pig shoulder slowly cooked for hours over low heat. Slow and low baby, that's what it's all about.

I recently went to a locally well regarded place (A16) best known for their pizza. I had tried to get a table there three times previous and never even could get to the bar. The night I was there, they were running a pork shoulder special. We squeaked in, arriving just before the doors opened at 5:30 on a Thursday. The place was packed by 5:45. The wine was good, and the ambiance was better. I figured I'm finally here and I'm going for the full experience.  When the shoulder arrived I couldn't have been more disappointed. The cut of meat was tough and leathery, webbed together by elastic, stringy fat and connective tissue. After the meal as we left, I stopped and asked one of the kitchen staff how they'd cooked the shoulder special. She told me they cooked it for an hour at 400 degrees. This is not the way to prepare swine staddle.  No thanks, next time I'll stick with the (stellar) pizza.

The shoulder can be tough cut of meat due to the high amount of connective tissue and fat. These qualities also make the meat very flavorful and moist when prepared correctly. Pork shoulder typically, I think probably, should be cooked to an internal temperature of 140°-160°F for 12 to 24 hours, in some cases longer. This will dissolve the connective tissue into gelatin and give you tender meat.

I've cooked more than a few pork shoulders the good, old fashioned way in my trusty Big Green Egg. First, let me tell you that I love my big green egg. For those of you uninitiated into the wonders of the glorious BGE, let me explain. The BGE is a ceramic bbq/smoker. The ceramic construction is very efficient. It absorbs and  holds in the heat as opposed to a steel cooker that radiates. The lid and body seal tightly. You control the temperature by manipulating two air dampers. Once you get the egg warm and you get to the temperature you want, the design of the egg keeps a very stable temperature and it cooks the hell out of anything. I can't think of a way to cook that is better. Cooking with a BGE is like playing a violin. I like, no I love the egg so much, I own three of the things.

There are a few caveats to eggery however. You have to pay attention to what you are doing to insure there are no  temperature spikes or fluctuations, you  may have to add more fuel, which means taking everything out from the top, hot and cumbersome, and the thing sends up more smoke (initially anyways) than Mt. Vesuvius which makes my neighbors act like little, Pompeian, Gladys Kravitzes. In the interest of apartment building harmony I use my beloved eggs as sparingly as possible.

This seems like a good opportunity to employ my new go to guy, the sous vide circulator. I am totally digging the sous vide method. Sous vide is french for "under vacuum" and refers to the way you prepare whatever it is you're fixing by first vacuum sealing in it in a plastic bag. You then take the package and cook it in a water bath. The water bath can be kept at precisely the temperature you desire for as long as you want. By keeping your food, in this case our delicious little strut of hog, securely enveloped in the blanket-like swirling waters, it cooks gently and uniformly. Using the Sous vide method, food is basically poached and can not be overcooked. By virtue of being vacuum sealed, the object of your culinary intent cooks in its own juices which do not evaporate and well, you can imagine how tender and lush this is. Meat or vegetables braised in their own juices, cooked to the perfect temperature, every time... Mmmm!

  

The Decisive Moments!

First, I started with an overnight brine consisting of 1 liter of water, 10% salt and 3% sugar (100 grams salt and 30 grams sugar) in the refrigerator. This is the only brine I really ever use. I've never been able to taste any benefit by adding booze, coriander, or anything else. KISS!

The following day I prepared a rub, just like I would if I was doing the shoulder traditionally. I've been reading David Chang's great cookbook, Momofuku and have been in an Asian inspired mood lately. Accordingly, I used a spice rub that reflected my eastern lusts. In the rub were powdered ginger, powdered hot mustard, 5 spice, granulated onion, granulated garlic, cayenne, sweet paprika, and ground black pepper.

 Make sure your porcine friend is totally covered in spice, massage him good. You'll thank yourself for your benevolence later. Now, it's time for the vacuum.

 Vacuum sealing the meat can really intensify whatever herbs and spices you add so, keep this in mind and be careful with your flavors.

This is what the package looks like after it has cooked thoroughly. Kinda ugly? I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. Various sources say to heat your meat from anywhere between 60°C (140F) for 24 hours to 80°C (176F) for 12 hours. I decided to split the difference and go to 68°C (155F) for 24 hours.

 Here's the finished roast before pulling.

 Gotta pull your meat while it's hot!

Finally!

My intent was for this to go into a ramen style soup, but, it's pretty damned good on a bun too! The only thing that's missing is some smoke flavor. I rectified that by doing a little tabletop smoking with another gadget, a PolyScience Smoking Gun. That's another tale for another time. 

So now, that it's all said and done, my faith in sous vide is increased. Will this hurt my passion for traditional outdoor smoking? No way. I think the new technology is kind of akin to digital photography or using gps navigation. It's always better to know the traditional way but, in the end it gets you get where you want to be just the same, and without visits from the local fire department! Sous Vide is a powerful technique that produces delicious results.

Cassoulet

Man can not live by bread alone. So, you should occasionally have some cassoulet. Ok, so this is not completely conforming to the new low fat, low carb menu planning standards we have set for ourselves at the Voodoo (Home) Economist. The dish is however wholesome, stick to your ribs, fare that when consumed in moderation, sits squarely within the new world order. Hey, I had the sausages leftover in the freezer. What's a guy to do? Laissez Cassoulet!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb lean pork loin, cubed
2 sweet Italian sausages, chunked
1/2 kielbasa, chunked
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 white diced onion
4 large pressed cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 cups white beans
1 can roma tomatoes
1/2 cup water
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped Italian parsley

Heat the olive oil in a good sized cast iron dutch oven. Add the Italian sausage and  pork loin, brown until a lot of the fat renders out.
Add the kielbasa (which is already cooked), mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Cook for about five minutes, stirring to incorporate all of the ingredients.
Add the beans, I used 2 cups of Navy beans I had cooked the night before but, canned is fine. Add the tomatoes and their juice, and enough water to cover. If you have bean broth, use that. Liberally grind black pepper to taste. Bring everything up to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until everything thickens up and melds together. About 15- 20 minutes.
Before serving, I pick out any large tomatoes and chop them then re-add. Get rid of the bay leaves.
Garnish with parsley and serve with a nice crusty roll. We love us some La Brea baguettes and always keep them in the freezer. If they are available where you live, by all means do yourself a favor! In moderation of course...
(ed note: After having consulted Larousse, the type of sausage is not mandated, so the original title stands!)

Curried Shrimp

Every year or so, I go to my local Penzey's store and refresh my stock of dried herbs and spices. This year, I picked up a jar of their hot curry powder along with all the other stuff.  Here's a great recipe that's easy to prepare and delicious to eat. It is also completely healthy, nutritious, and filling. It's nothing more than a simple stir fry with some curry to liven things up. Once you figure out how to make this dish, you can mix and match whatever you want in the way of aromatics. It's very versatile.

8 oz large shrimp (I figure 5 shrimp per person is a pretty good serving)
3 or 4 Scallions
1/2 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger
3 cloves Peeled and Minced Garlic
8 Mushrooms
20 Snow Peas, cleaned of their strings.
1 1/2 teaspoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons White Wine or Sherry
1/4 cup Chicken Broth
1 Teaspoon Corn Starch mixed with 1 Teaspoon water

Shell and devein the shrimp. Wash under cold water and wrap in paper towel.
Heat about a tablespoon of oil, I use olive oil for almost everything I cook and this is no different.
I use a wok for this but, a skillet works almost as well.
Once the oil gets hot and starts to shimmer, add the garlic and ginger. Garlic and ginger compliment and offset each other. I always try to use equal parts of each.
Stir these in the oil to flavor taking care not to burn the garlic.
Once the garlic develops a nice golden color throw in the shrimp and keep it going. Don't let that shrimp rest! Cook the shrimp for only two minutes. They cook quickly so, be careful. If you do let the shrimp overcook, no one will complain anyways so, it's not the end of the world.
Remove the shrimp and garlic and set aside.
Now, add the mushrooms, peas, and chicken stock. Cover and cook about three minutes.
Now add the remaining ingredients except for the cornstarch and cook for about a minute more.
Add back the shrimp to the pan and mix everything together.
Once everything is incorporated, add the cornstarch mixture to thicken and develop a nice glossy sheen. The whole process takes about 7 minutes.
Serve over Brown Rice

Grilled Oysters

One of my earliest culinary memories was of eating oysters on the half shell with my parents and other adult family members in a restaurant in Miami. My brother was born in Miami and we lived there for about two tears. I was probably about 4 years old. I have no idea what else was on the night's table but, I remember those oysters in all their iridescent, calcified glory.  We ate dinner as the surf broke on the beach right outside the windows, I remember wanting to bring the shells home and looking in vain for pearls overlooked by the shucking crew. The night was totally jet set and I felt very sleek and cool. I guess the oyster was my first and significantly most memorable "Happy Meal".

 

 I have enjoyed eating oysters ever since those carefree days. In fact, I'm reasonably sure if the only foodstuff available was the oyster from now until my demise, I'd be fine with that. I have always been an oyster snob and would never seriously consider eating anything but beautiful, raw oysters on the half shell. I mean sure you can rockefeller, stew, or God forbid fry 'em but, why mess with perfection, right? This was always the case, until I moved to California. Here the preferred method grill or broil with either a piquant barbecue sauce or a butter and garlic treatment. You cook the little buggers just until they heat through and begin to bubble so, the garlic never really gets cooked. It's like eating a mouthful of raw garlic and not really to my taste. I have to admit the barbecued ones are really pretty damned good however. I think they do it because the oysters grow big around here. The ones shown in the pictures came from the Tomales Bay Oyster Company . They're the small ones which would be considered large any where else. The large ones are huge. Almost too big to eat. I'm not sure what they do with those guys. My first oyster knife, a brand new Wusthof, lasted through about two dozen large birds before breaking. that was before I figured out that the smalls or extra smalls are the only way to go.

   

The Marin treatment is about as simple as you can get. That's probably why it's good. Don't obfuscate the goodness with a bunch of unnecessary shenanigans! You shuck the oysters, apply a little of your favorite barbecue sauce like Sartain's "The Sauce", and grill (look for a lot more postings pertaining to barbecue equipment like my Big Green Egg soon) just until they start to bubble, maybe 2-3 minutes max. You can accomplish the same thing under a hot broiler in your oven. That's it! That's all there is to it and it's a delicious alternative way to enjoy one of nature's best gifts, even for a snob. You may find yourself a pearl. You'll definitely create a memory!

New Healthy Eating

With the dawn of the new year, indeed the new decade, I am given to some self reflection and a sincere desire to better my lot in life. You know, live better, work harder, to be a more industrious, inquisitive and nicer person. I'm reminded of a passage in Mark Twain's 1872 autobiographical novel, Roughing It.

Twain and his two compatriots find themselves stranded. Lost in the Nevada desert at night, under blizzard conditions. They believe their situation to be hopeless and convince themselves they will not survive the night. All three commit to oaths of contrition and voice lament about their lack of future opportunities to do good for mankind. "Brothers, let us die together. And let us go without one hard feeling towards each other. Let us forget and forgive bygones.". They each discard  personal symbols of vice and moral failure, a bottle of whiskey, a deck of cards, and Twain's own tobacco pipe.
When dawn breaks it is discovered that they are mere feet from a cabin and civilization whereupon they independently recover their pipe, bottle and deck of cards.

Well, I vow gentle readers to do a better job with this blog! I'm also bound and determined to lose a bunch of weight and restore my physical conditioning to its former "steel spring" status. I've made a concerted effort to shift culinary gears towards eating mostly vegetables and limiting fats, sugars, carbohydrates and refined foods in general. I'm pulling out some new stops in the kitchen with the addition of a pressure cooker and an immersion circulator for conducting sous vide magic. Hopefully this year's offerings will be somewhat entertaining and informative. Hang on kids!!

I think Kiwi likes the old way better. "Uhm, where's the bacon?"

Beef Jerky, The Noblest Savage.

Beef jerky is one of my most favored food items. It doesn't remind me of the American frontier as much as it does of childhood family roadtrips and stops at long gone places like Stuckey's or Howard Johnson's.
My salesman dad got transfered frequently when I was a kid and that meant annual trips to the Alpha Quadrant, Chicago. We always lived far away in like, Atlanta, Miami or Boston and the drive would be an all day affair punctuated by stops at blue (Stuckey's) or orange (Hojo's) rooftops along I-65.

The little cigarette smoking monkeys or cardboard tomahawks, made by "Cherokee Indians In The Smokey Mountains" sold in both establishments never seemed to make the parental cut. This obviously, lead to the absolute necessity of one day possessing an excellent, Swedish Granfors Bruks 'hawk of my own as seen in the background. Dad, however, loved his jerky and we always ended up with a bag.

This particular beef comes from Bud's Custom Meats in Riverside Iowa. I have tasted many a dried, cured hunk of flesh and this is the absolute best I've ever laid teeth to. Bud's is an honest old fashioned meat locker. They'll dress your hog,  skin your buck, and even butcher your elk. Their thinly sliced, perfectly seasoned, smoked jerky is absolutely sublime. Bud will ship it right to your house for a reasonable fee if you call at (319) 648-3999


There you have it, my own little tale of the great American frontier... circa 1974.

If you want to make your own you can follow this recipe:

3 lbs of lean beef or venison (top round makes a pretty good jerky)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instacure No. 1 (or sodium nitrate)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce

You need to carefully remove as much fat from the meat as possible. Fat goes rancid more quickly so, get rid of the fat!
Put the meat in your freezer for about an hour. This facilitates slicing.
Slice the meat as uniformly as possible into 1/4" thick pieces. You can probably have your butcher do this for you.
Now mix the remaining ingredients thoroughly and rub the meat, coating it well.
Let the meat cure in the rub for around 12 - 24 hours, turning every few hours.
You can then apply smoke if you have a smoker like a Big Green Egg for about 6 hours at low heat, as close to 150 degrees as you can get. I like hickory or mesquite for beef.
(Look for detailed entries on smoking and the Big Green Egg in future posts.)
If you don't have a means to smoke your jerky, you can dry the meat on racks in the oven, pilot light lit and door cracked to promote air circulation for about the 6 hours.
The jerky will air dry in about 3-4 days.
You jerky will be dried enough when it cracks but does not break. Properly fixed jerky should be almost leathery.
Or you can just call Bud's in Riverside!

Life Is Too Short To Drink Cheap Booze Or Bad Coffee.

I have started grinding my own coffee every morning and it makes a huge difference. I used to think that was all coffee snob hype but, alas it is very true.

I've been drinking the coffee from local San Rafael, CA. roaster Equator  and it is quite good. Equator is a women owned business (who knew!) They are into bio-friendliness and sustainability, which is good for the world. The coffee is also reasonably priced at around $8.00 per pound, which is good for me.

One of the things I want to concentrate on with this blog is the art, the fine art, of thrifting. 

Lady Gaggia!

I usually hit the local thrift stores every day in search of really excellent discarded stuff. I have furnished probably 90% of my pad with thrift store or craigslist finds. It is like panning for gold. The down side is that you run the risk of getting too much and ending up on the television show Hoarders. All things in moderation said someone with a lot more discipline and restraint than I seem to have...

Thrifting is a green hobby and you can find great stuff for a fraction of what you would pay otherwise. 

I found the Gaggia MDF grinder at my local Goodwill for about $15.00. Typically this same grinder retails for around $300.00. 

Keep watching this blog for other thrift store gold!

First Post!

Due to my ever fluctuating waistline, I've decided to do the Mark Bittman thing and delve into the vegetarian. This is what we had for dinner last night. Contrary to what Anthony Bourdain says, vegetables are good!
I'm a big fan of cooking a big batch of whatever and eating it for the next few days. The main components of these tacos are simply prepared and taste really delicious. Pinto beans and corn are both inexpensive and marry together to supply a lot of the body's needed vitamins, minerals and protein. Cheap, nutritious, and easy! What could be better?

The Pintos:

2 cups of dry pinto beans
Olive oil to taste
1 medium diced white onion
Salt

Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. (you don't have to do this but, I always do and it seems to make the beans more tender.)
Drain and rinse the beans on the next day when you're ready to do the cooking.
Saute the diced white onion in the olive oil for about 10 minutes until everything starts to brown up nicely.
Add the rinsed beans and cover with about 2 quarts of water.
Bring your pot to a furious boil for about 10 minutes then, back off on the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour until the beans become tender. You'll know when they are getting close by giving one a bite.
Add the salt and cook the beans for about another ten minutes.

The Corn: (I copped this recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen)

4 ears of fresh, shucked corn
2 jalapeno peppers sliced into rings, seeds and all
1/2 tsp salt
The juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons of epazote or 1/4 cup cilantro

Epazote is an ingredient largely unknown to most North American cooks. It is a Mexican herb described by Rick Bayless as having "the aggressiveness of fresh rosemary, the pungent assertiveness of cilantro and the tenacity of anise". It imparts an earthiness that once you start using, you'll  miss if its gone. I never cook black beans any more without epazote.

Carefully cut the kernels of corn from the cobs using a sharp knife
Heat a dry, heavy, cast iron or non stick skillet and add the corn and jalapenos for about 10 minutes or so until the corn starts to brown up.
In a measuring cup combine a 1/4 cup of water with the lime juice and salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved.
Add the epazote or cilantro to the corn then, drizzle the liquid over everything.
Let everything stand for a few minutes off the heat until the flavors meld and taste for salt.
Serve with more lime if you want.