Chopped In The Kitchen

11 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by Bob and Robin in Apple, Apricots, Buy Local, Cabbage, Classic Sauces, Dinner At Marnies, Dinner For Robin, Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Food Photos, Food Prep, Grilled Pork, Housemade Sauces, Idaho Grains, Idaho Pork, Idaho Potatoes, Krusteaz, Lark and Larder, Latkes, Local Markets, Main Dish, Malheur River Meats, Photos By: Bob Young, Pork Belly, pork chops, Potatoes, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes - Sauces, Sauces, What's For Dinner?

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cabbage, caramelized apple, fried potatoes, Hollandaise Sauce, pork belly, potatoes, recipes, strawberry, waffles

So you have some “stuff” still in the refrigerator that you don’t quite know what to do with. Don’t throw it out, unless, of course, it’s green and fuzzy. It’s not exactly Réchauffé – a dish of warmed-up leftovers, but more like Utiliser les restes – using leftovers. We have strawberries that need to be used, so we make Strawberry Waffles. And there is some Pork Belly, “… pork belly is uncured meat (while) bacon is a cured meat…(it is) the boneless cut that remains after the loin and spareribs are removed.” (pork.org) Just in case you wanted to know. So why not make an Idaho Benedict or a sautéed cabbage and apple to go with a Malheur River Meals ( https://malheurrivermeats.com ) pork chop? (Or you can get their products at the Boise Farmers Market or at Lark and Larder in Boise Good idea! So let’s take a look. Bon appetit!

Strawberry Waffles are so delicious. I have made waffles from scratch but here I used Krusteaz, because I had some that needed to be used. Just altered it slightly with strawberry jam and 1 egg in the batter. Then when I cooked it, I put sliced strawberries in the batter plus more sliced strawberries on top of the waffle before serving. A dusting of powdered sugar, too. You can use other fruits, also, like blueberries.

Malheur River Meats Pork Chop with Braised Apple and Cabbage

This was a yum dinner. A Smoked Bone-In Pork Chop with Braised Apple and Cabbage. Caramelized the apple first in butter and brown sugar over med-high heat and watched it carefully so as not to burn the apple. Just golden brown. Then added some chopped cabbage and caraway and sautéed it all together. There were no left-overs from this dinner!

This was so differently good! If you like Eggs Benedict, try this version. Instead of a toasted English muffin, I used a potato pancake, of sorts. More like a latke than a pancake. I had the “cake” keep its shape and form by using an egg ring. Worked well. Cooking was a challenge to keep it from burning. Med high heat and used the rendered pork belly fat – some of it – to cook the potato in. Turned it over carefully when I noticed some browning on the edges. It really came out fine and was cooked all the way through. Then for serving, placed potato on plate, then one strip of thick cut pork belly broken in half, poached egg and finally Hollandaise Sauce. ( CIA Basic Hollandaise Sauce )

So there you have it. Another fun week in the kitchen!

Wonderful 40th Birthday Party for Ravenswood Winery

21 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Anniversary, Avocado, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Pork, BBQ Veggies, Birthdays, Breakfast, Celebrations, Ceviche, Chicken, Classic Herb Blends, Comfort Food, Corn Bread, Dinner Reviews with Robin, Dinner With Family, Eggs Omelets, Ethnic Foods, Green Salad, Greens, Grilled Pork, Grilled Vegetables, Herbs, Herbs and Spices, Photos By: Bob Young, Pinot Noir, Ravenswood Winery Zinfandel, Salads, Special Dinners, Special Events, Vegetables, What's For Dessert?, What's For Dinner?, Whats For Breakfast?, Whats For Lunch?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners, Wines - California

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And such a great party it was! 80 people plus attended and we felt quite honored to be included. Robin did help start the winery back in the early to mid 1970’s. From their web page, “On a fall day in 1976, as ravens taunted from tree branches above, Joel Peterson worked doggedly to bring in four tons of grapes before a looming thunderstorm hit. The fruit he crushed that night was used for one of two single-vineyard Sonoma County Zins – the first wines to bear Ravenswood’s signature ring of ravens. The fledgling winery got off to a great start when those wines came in #1 and #2 at a prestigious San Francisco tasting in 1979. With the critical thumbs-up, Joel was able to gather a few wine-loving investors to help get his winery off the ground. He still didn’t have enough money to buy property, so he looked around for more grapes.” Ravenswood Winery, web page.
But before we get there, we had to travel. Here are some of the places we stopped. Donner Summit is the high pass before we hit the Sacramento Valley.

Here we are. See the snow?

And in case it snows too deep, one can always find the fire hydrant.

Robin enjoys some fried chicken.

And so does a chipmunk.

Such a great market to re-stock your supplies. Corti Brothers web page. If in Sacramento well worth the stop. But you can order online, also.

How about some really wonderful prosciutto?

Lunch. and Corti Brothers Red Potato Salad, melon and Verner's Ginger Ale.

Lunch. Prosciutto and Corti Brothers Red Potato Salad, melon and Verner’s Ginger Ale.

Mango ice cream and fresh mango. Slightly spicy.

How about a pork tamale?

Our motel in Sonoma.

Beautiful flowers.

Love the gardens in the motel atrium.

And the gargoyle.

Cat fountain.

And the night before the super Ravenswood birthday, we must eat dinner. Here’s what we had at the Sonoma Grille. Super patio eating, if you wish. Awesome meal!!

Patio area.

This dip was delicious. Garlic-Pesto-Butter. The two wines wwere piniot noirs. (L)

This dip was delicious. Garlic-Pesto-Butter. The two wines were pinot noirs. (L) 2013 Cline Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast and (R) 2013 Trecini Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. I liked the Trecini best. Bigger, fuller. Wonderful.

Fresh oysters. They were delicious!

Robin had these

Lamb Chops in Curry Sauce
with
Crispy Polenta and Fresh Vegetables

I had

NY Steak
with
Pinot Noir Reduction
Potato Fingerlings and Fresh Vegetables

And to go with chocolate, (L) Riesates and (R) Sauterne

And to go with chocolate, (L) Rivessaltes, historic sweet wines of eastern Roussillon and (R) Sauterne

Awesome Chocolate Torte

Chocolate Mousse

And now to Ravenswood Winery. Happy 40th Birthday!!

The menu for the party and 80+ guests.

Library wines for dinner.

Light wines with the appetizers.

The special birthday wine. Very limited. At least were able to get 1 case.

Ceviche for an appetizer. A little spicy but good.

Some barrel storage.

A small barrel. That’s Chris standing there. He is 6′ tall.

Robin, Chris, Marnie and Joel Peterson, winemaker and known as the “God Father of Zinfandel”.

Winemaker Joel Peterson

Some of the crowd.

Winemaker in training Gary Sitton and Chris.

Also sitting at our table.

BBQ Pork. Yum.

BBQ Chicken

Grilled Cauliflower

Dinner plated

breakfast the next morning before departing at the Sunflower Caffe in Sonoma.

Joel was gracious enough to join us.

The patio.

California Breakfast Sandwich.

California Omelet

And now ………….. Back to Boise!!

Time to Start Griling.

25 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Bob and Robin in BBQ Pork, BBQ Rubs, Boise Adventures, Boise Food Adventures, Captain's Shack, Cooking Styles, Grilled Pork, Grillin' and Chillin', Grilling, Interesting Information, Pork, Recipes, What's For Dinner?

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3-2-1 grilling method, grilling, smoked pork ribs

I have been hearing a lot in the past several years about the 3-2-1 Method of grilling ribs. Here is the latest information that I could find. Not difficult at all and some of the pro grillers use this method. In his article, The Controversial 3-2-1 Method for Ribs, Steven Raichlen, Grilling Authority, http://www.barbecuebible.com, says that,
“Competition barbecuers sometimes call it the “Texas Crutch.” In a nutshell, you break cooking ribs into 3 time blocks:

3 hours of smoking unwrapped at 225º F, followed by
2 hours of cooking wrapped in foil (with a little liquid, such as apple cider), followed by
1 hour of cooking unwrapped at a higher temperature, with a generous basting of barbecue sauce

The process gives you meat so tender it virtually slides off the bone, with the multiple layers of flavor most of us associate with great barbecue. And within a predictable 6-hour time frame, too.

It’s relatively fail-proof, meaning that if you follow the directions, you are almost guaranteed you’ll avoid the dual pitfalls of ribs that are tough or dry. And if you serve ribs cooked by the 3-2-1 method, 95 percent of the people who taste them react with delight and will declare you a barbecue genius.” [http://www.huffingtonpost.com]

A couple of suggestions at this point may help. Some people use a spray to baste their ribs throughout the process. This is not really necessary, but it won’t hurt anything. If you use a mister, use apple cider in it. And the “white skin”, that membrane located on the “boneside” of the ribs. “It is nice to remove it but it’s not worth a lot of frustration so try to do the best you can and leave it at that. It’s hard to get a picture of this being removed but you simply lay the ribs with the boney side up. You will notice a thick plastic like skin covering the meat. Slip a knife or other sharp object under it and try to get enough pulled up so you can grab it. Grasp it with a paper towel for good grip and pull it clean off if you can. If it tears, no worries. Just make another go at it. You may have better luck with catfish skinning pliers.” [ Jeff Phillips, smoking-meat.com, Smoked 3-2-1 St. Louis Style Spare Ribs]

What about the “type” of ribs? Baby Back? St Louis style? From Major League Grilling, “Furthermore, loin backs ribs or St. Louis style ribs benefit most from the 3-2-1 method. Otherwise, cook times will have to be modified if cooking with baby back ribs or spare ribs. Also, do not use this technique on country ribs or beef ribs, it doesn’t work as well because the country ribs are too lean and the cook times along with the flavor profile is all wrong for beef.” They also give a little better instruction and definition of the 3-2-1 Method. “What is 3-2-1? This method is a way to smoke ribs from start to finish. 3-2-1 represents the amount of hours the rack of ribs cook at each stage. In other words, the

[unwrapped] ribs smoke for 3 hours [225º F]
wrap for 2 hours and
cooks without smoke for the last hour, [on a hot grill].

Total, the ribs will spend 6 hours on the cooker.”

What is our preference? Robin and I like/prefer the St Louis style ribs. They seem to be a little more meatier and flavorful. And we only use pork ribs. No beef ribs. That is a personal thing and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the ribs. We just like the pork ribs better.

And lastly, the rub! Major-League Grilling haas this to say about rubs. “Once in a while, I make my own rubs, but my homemade rubs are not quite as good as the rubs on the market. For this reason, I find so many great BBQ rubs at the store that it’s hard for me to stick with one. Although, the one constant is Plowboys Yardbird rub, for several reasons this is my favorite. Many times I have used the Yardbird rub and combine it with another rub with excellent results. But just for the record, I got 1st place using Plowboys alone. Listed below are more of my favorites:

Blues Hog
Dizzy Pig Pineapple
Penzey’s BBQ 3000
Penzey’s Galena Street
Smokin’ Guns Hot
McCormick’s Grillmates Sweet & Smoky

Notice that each one of these rubs have a high concentration of sugar in them. In particular, brown sugar is the main ingredient in many pork based rubs. It is because brown sugar compliments pork extremely well while at the same time, the low temperatures of the smoker or grill caramelizes the sugar and gives it an eye pleasing look and a delectable aroma.”

So. Take your pick of rubs. Choose the rib style you like and get grilling. It’s that time of year! Cheers!

It’s Summer – Time For Grilling Pork!

13 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in BBQ Pork, Buy Idaho, Ethnic Foods, Grilled Pork, Grillin' and Chillin', Grilling, Guanciale, Idaho Pork, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Locavore, Party Time, Pork, Special Information, What's For Dinner?

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cuts of pork, guanciale, jowl, pork, pork cheeks

Nothing better than a good, bone-in grilled pork chop! Or pork loin! Or pork shoulder! Or pork ribs! Or pork tenderloin! Ever grill hog jowl or pork cheeks? Do you really know and understand the cuts of pork, where they come from on the hog and what they are used for? Here is a great link for Pork Cuts Glossary, some really great information from The Nibble. Here is a start in understanding hog jowl or pig cheeks from Wikipedia.

Pork jowl (alternately called jowl bacon or, especially in the Southern United States, hog jowl) is cured and smoked cheeks of pork. Hog jowl is a staple of soul food, but is also used outside the United States; the Italian variant is called guanciale … Jowl bacon can be fried and eaten as a main course, similar to streaky bacon, such as in a traditional full English breakfast. Often, it is used as a seasoning for beans, black-eyed peas or with cooked with leafy green vegetables such as collard greens or turnip greens in a traditional Southeastern meal. A Southern US tradition of eating black-eyed peas and greens with either pork jowls or fatback on New Year’s Day to ensure prosperity throughout the new year goes back hundreds of years. Jowl meat may also be chopped and used as a garnish, similar to bacon bits, or served in sandwich form. Pork jowl can be used as a binding ingredient in pork liver sausages such as liverwurst and braunschweiger [and scrapple]. Because pork jowl is cured, like many other cuts of pork, it has been a traditional wintertime food as it is able to be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration.

I have heard of guanciale, but what is it?

Guanciale (Italian pronunciation: [ɡwanˈtʃaːle]) is an Italian cured meat or salami product prepared from pork jowl or cheeks. Its name is derived from guancia, Italian for cheek. Guanciale is similar to the jowl bacon of the United States … Pork cheek is rubbed with salt, sugar, and spices (typically ground black pepper or red pepper and thyme or fennel and sometimes garlic) and cured for three weeks or until it loses approximately 30% of its original weight. Its flavor is stronger than other pork products, such as pancetta, and its texture is more delicate. Upon cooking, the fat typically melts away giving great depth of flavor to the dishes and sauces it is used in … Guanciale may be cut and eaten directly in small portions, but is often used as a pasta ingredient. It is used in dishes like spaghetti alla carbonara and sauces like sugo all’amatriciana … It is a specialty of central Italy, particularly Umbria and Lazio. Pancetta, a cured Italian bacon which is normally not smoked, is sometimes used as a substitute when guanciale is not available.

Pork jowl is also called Pork Chaps; Bajoues (French); Guanciale (Italian); Bochechas de porco (Portuguese). Interesting. If you would like to see a chart of the cuts of pork, check this link from Culinary Arts Cuts of Pork. Enjoy the info and have a great grilling season or smoking season. A great source for pork and other fresh meats in the Boise area is Homestead Natural Foods (they are also at the Boise Farmers Market in Boise at 10th and Grove each Saturaday). Thanks Ed, for the discussion on pork products this morning. It’s always great to chat with you. Cheers!