Honey Mustard Pork

For the record, here is Alex's honey mustard pork recipe. I believe this recipe is still evolving, but we wont know unless we have a record of it now, to compare to it later. Perhaps one day we will mine the data in this blog to construct a phylogenetic tree that explains the evolution of our recipes and eating habits. But in the mean time - pork!

We had a lonely pork chop in the freezer that Alex used for this, though he would have preferred a Boston Butt, or a similar cut of pork better used for slow cooking.

Brine the pork for 1 hour prior to cooking, though Alex is curious to explore alternatives/longer brining procedures.

Brine

2 Tbsp Salt

2 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Water

Mix together the ingredients for the brine, plus enough water to cover the pork in a baking dish. Let sit in the fridge for an hour.

Take the pork out of the brine and sear it in hot bacon grease in a cast iron skillet. It should be thoroughly seared, a little charred even.

Dump the brine out of the baking dish, place the seared pork back in the dish.
Deglaze the cast iron skillet and caramelize some sliced onions and garlic in the skillet.
Top the pork with the onion/garlic/pan-juices.

In a small bowl or 2-cup measuring cup, prepare the sauce:

Sauce

2 Tbsp Honey

1/4-1/2 cup Coffee, fresh brewed

1/4-1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp Molasses

at least 1Tbsp+ of Mustard Powder... probably more

a healthy dash of Saigon Cinnamon

sizable pinch of Applewood Smoked Sea Salt

some Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

a healthy amount of Cumin, maybe 1-2 tsp

~1/2 cup Boiling Water

Vigorously stir together all the ingredients for the sauce, then pour it over the onions, garlic, and pork in the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 250F for 2 hours.

Remove the pork from the sauce, blend the sauce, then reduce it on the stove until it has a good BBQ sauce like consistency. Alex also made cornbread and I whipped up a coleslaw to make a meal out of it.

The Joy of Cooking has a great cornbread recipe. I make coleslaw a little different every time. My goal is to make it as colorful as possible, here's the gist of it:

Coleslaw

Red Cabbage - very thinly sliced

Carrots - grated

Peppers of every possible color! - grated or thinly sliced

Cilantro - coarsely chopped

Green Onion - sliced

Red Onion - minced (maybe a Tbsp-ish)

Dolup of Mayonnaise

Big splash of Apple Cider Vinegar

Dash Cinnamon

Big dash Paprika

Huge pinch of Salt

...

Additional suggestions for coleslaw:

Kale - thinly sliced/chopped

Beets of any/all colors - grated

Lemon and/or Orange Zest

Apple - diced
Mustard

Herbs! - play with herbs!

Play with Spices too! (Fennel an Cumin come to mind first..)

Thankful

It's been one hell of a year and I've got a lot to be thankful for. Thanks to YOU for reading my blog! I'm consistently flattered to hear of friends and strangers who find inspiration in my posts, and you inspire me to craft the best posts I possibly can. I'm glad I can simultaneously archive my recipes and share them with you - and because of you, this archive is becoming something I can actually be proud of. Thanks, guys.

Enough with the mushy holiday feelings - let's get cookin!

----- LAMB -----

Since moving to Berkeley last year, I've only ever bought meat at the farmers markets. Primarily from Prather Ranch. For Thanksgiving this year, I procrastinated too long and Prather was sold out of all the special holiday meats by the time I asked. They recommended Marin Sun Farms, which has a butcher shop in the Rockridge area of Oakland. Their website is super groovy and they claim to be conscious stewards of the land, raising deliciously sustainable animals. So I made the trip down to Rockridge.

Marin Sun Farms Butcher Shop is in the back of Rockridge Market Hall - A glorious food menagerie, reminiscent of DeLaurenti in Pike Place Market.  I traversed the jungle of imported fine cheese samples, locally carved wooden kitchen utensils, fine wines, and fresh/live seafood. Joy washed over me as I stepped into the Marin Sun Farms corner of the hall - so much beautiful meat! Sausages hanging from the ceiling, coolers full of dog food and stocks, an employee skillfully breaking down an entire lamb in plain view, sweatshirts that simply say "CARNIVORE" on the back, and they have a map detailing where all of their meat comes from and how it gets to the butcher shop (via processing facilities etc., all in CA). Even the employees seemed to be thrilled to be there (always a good sign of a good business).

When I asked the young gentleman behind the counter for a whole leg of lamb, bone in, horror flashed across his face as he told me it would be about 10 minutes. He pulled a full lamb leg from from the walk-in and got a few cuts into it before a salty old man scooped up the lamb leg and ushered the kid to the back. I sneakily watched the older man teach the young guy how to prepare a leg of lamb. This warmed my heart so deeply and brought back many fond memories from when I was learning to be a butcher (though I never truly was). 

Once I had the leg in hand, I had to contact my friend, Trevor, who makes the most amazing lamb I've ever had - lovingly dubbed, "blam lamb". Trevor inspired me to used spices - like cinnamon and coriander, in addition to herbs.

I made a mixture of salt, black pepper, Ceylon cinnamon, and fresh ground coriander. Then I lathered the leg of lamb in olive oil and the spice mixture. To sear this beast, I put a sheet pan directly over two burners on my stove and added some extra olive oil. Searing happens quickly on high heat. A roasting pan would be far better, but sometimes you just gotta work with what you have!

I turned off the heat, removed the meat from the sheet pan and lined it with a bed of onions, garlic, parsley stems, and a bay leaf.

Then I laid the lamb on top of the veggies, sprinkled on the excess spice mix and put it in the oven. After I got it into the oven, I added about a quart of water and a few cubes of frozen homemade chicken demi-glace. Then I covered it with foil and let it braise for 5 hours at 325F.

Before removing this beast from the oven, I carefully poured off most of the drippings into a pot, which I put on the stove to boil down into concentrated deliciousness. 

Since we were biking to our friends house for a Thanksgiving potluck, I deboned and sliced up the entire leg and crammed it into a tupperware. Then at our friends house, I spread the lamb out in a baking pan, covered it in the pan drippings (transported in a ziplock bag), and reheated it in the oven.

Lots of chopped parsley for garnish!

To recap...

Braised Leg of Lamb

1 Whole Leg of Lamb, bone in (7-8#)

~couple Tbsp Kosher Salt

~1-2 tsp Black Pepper, freshly ground

~1 Tbsp Ceylon Cinnamon

~1 Tbsp Coriander, freshly ground

Lots of Virgin Olive Oil

2 Onions, sliced (1 red, 1 yellow)

2 bulbs Garlic, whole cloves

1 bunch Parsley (stems for braising, leaves for garnish)

1 Bay Leaf

1 quart water/stock

....

Rub meat with spices, sear on high heat, put lamb on a bed of veggies with stock, cover with foil or lid, and braise at 325F for at least 4-5 hours.

----- CORN DOGS -----

I'm not sure why I got inspired to make corn dogs, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I adapted the following recipe from Saveur. 

Corn Dog Batter

1 cup Flour

2/3 cup Cornmeal

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

Big pinch salt

3/4 cup Whole Milk

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1 Large Egg

Mix together the dry things, then add the wet things and thoroughly whisk together.

Prepare the sausage! I used Prather Ranch's Apple Bacon Sausage, cut into bite-sized chunks.

Meanwhile, have a pot of vegetable oil heating on the stove. I usually set it to low heat and test if it's ready by sprinkling a tiny bit of flour or batter into the oil. If it bubbles, it's ready. Dust the sausages in flour, shake off excess flour, then dip them in the batter, and then carefully transfer them to the hot oil. A fork works well for dealing with battered sausages.

Fry for several minutes until golden brown. Use tongs to make sure they are cooking evenly and not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Any left-over batter can be fried alone. I added some cornmeal to the left-over batter before frying it to make hushpuppies.

Corn dogs on the left, hushpuppies on the right.

----- THANKSGIVING ETC. -----

This is when I began taking photos rather sporadically. I completely forgot to photograph my steamed artichokes and lemon beurre blanc. Here is the only photo I have of Alex's deliciously colorful salad:

Kale, Chard, Chioga Beets, Yellow Beats, Apple, Pear, Ceylon Cinnamon

Believe it or not, in two normal-size backpacks we fit: an entire leg of lamb, pan drippings, corn dogs, salad in a fancy salad bowl, a bowl of parsley, four artichokes, lemon beurre blanc, a six-pack + a 22oz. bottle of beer, and Cards Against Humanity (including 3 expansions). Luckily we only had to do this for a short bike ride.

We arrived at Kate's house, and walked into the most chaotic deliciousness I've ever experienced. Every surface in their sizable kitchen was being used to prepare food. There was food stacked on top of food, and food being "set aside" inside the cabinet next to the plates. There were at least 3-5 people in the kitchen at all times - cooking, chopping, heating, eating, moving, cleaning, prepping, yelling, laughing, and calling for another stick of butter. So much butter. 

Kate made each one of us a damn fine hot buttered rum. Each with our own tablespoon of butter.

We snacked on corndogs and artichokes and played a silly role playing game called Munchkin.

And then there was duck. 

One of Kate's housemates got two ducks from the same producer that The French Laundry goes through. He made confit with the legs and sous-vided the breasts. There were so many of us that we only got a few bites of duck, but oh my, it was divine.

After the duck, we filled up our plates with the next round of food...

Clockwise from about 10-11 o'clock - Gavin's yorkshire pudding, Alex's salad, Ben's cinnamony sweet potatoes, Kate's brussel sprouts, turkey leg, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes #1, Aaron's matzo stuffing, Justin's mashed potatoes.

And then there was lamb, and sweet potato pie complete with marshmallows on top, apple pie, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, bread pudding, and last but not least, Angus's fairy cakes:

I'm likely forgetting something. There was an unbelievable amount of food, and I think we may have somehow ended up with more food than we began with. Thanks for all the delicious food, good times, and mountain of left-overs! ...and thanks for reading ;-)

Super Salad!

So I went to a random Forrest yoga class,  which is normally a relatively relaxed yoga experience, except that they packed the room and left the heat on. I've never done hot yoga because I don't handle heat terrible well, but I imagine that is what happened today - hot Forrest yoga! Whew. On my bike ride home, my body was screaming, WATER! VITAMINS! ...So I marched into the kitchen when I got home and made this salad:

Carrots

Red Cabbage

Broccoli

1/2 Blood Orange, sections cut in half

Whole Avocado

Cilantro, chopped

~tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

sprinkle of salt

This salad was AWESOME. Eating it was like running through a vegetable forest laden with silky avocado and punctuated by explosive deluges of blood orange sunshine!

Chocolate Salad Dressing

Two weekends ago I flew to California to interview at UC Berekeley for graduate school.  It was a whole big interview weekend that included a couple different options for touring the area. I opted for a food tour of Berkeley. Traveling from Seattle, which is currently in the throes of winter with little more to offer than kale and potatoes -- Berkeley felt like the future; I had traveled to summer in a strange and wonderful place with citrus in January! A woman at the farmers market was handing out blood-orange samples, which blew my mind and I decided I had to buy some.  Then there were mangoes; voluptuous, curvaceous, and sticky with ripe juices. I brought back as many as I could fit in my carry-on bag.

Somehow I got inspired to make a fruit salad with my mangoes and blood oranges. I whipped up a dressing with equal parts olive oil and canola oil (wishing in retrospect I had used camelina oil instead), raspberry vinegar, dutch cocoa powder, cinnamon, paprika, and salt.  I cut up the fruit, dressed it, and then sprinkled toasted coriander seeds on top. Best. Salad. Ever. I could definitely get used to living in Berkeley...

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Salad

Few things are better than the simple pleasure of grilled cheese and tomatoes. For lunch today I made myself grilled cheese with Tall Grass Bakery's sourdough bread and Golden Glen Creamery's medium cheddar cheese. Then I grabbed a few cherry tomatoes and basil leaves from the garden, supplemented with extra basil and tomatoes from the farmer's market and whipped up a simple and delicious little salad. Oh and salt is an important ingredient for tomatoes, it really makes that delicious tomatoey flavor sing.

Summer!

I think it's safe to say summer is finally here! Alex made a pretty awesome summery dinner last night. At the farmers market a "bunch" of basil was more like a bushel. So needless to say, we have a ton of basil now and Alex got inspired to make a salad out of nothing but basil, strawberries, and chevre. The chevre was so creamy, and the strawberries so sweet, it was like eating ice cream, except it was actually a salad! Brilliant! We made burgers to make a meal with the salad. Of course we used our standard Skagit Valley Ranch beef patties and Tall Grass Bakery brioche buns. Alex also cooked up an onion-eggplant-yellow squash thing that he intended to have along side the burger, but I easily talked him into putting it on the burger - it made a super yummy burger topping! He seasoned the eggplant-squash stuff with lime juice, white pepper, Liquid Aminos, and nutmeg. Here's a picture of Alex's plate before he put the eggplant-squash stuff inside his burger:

Dinner for one

Ahh yes, late night dinners at the end of the quarter. I have to say I did pretty darn well for whipping up something to shove in my face between Economics and Physiology. We have the best garden I think I've ever had since I left my parents house and it's finally starting to produce. So I made a salad out the few things that are big enough to eat: Spinach, Cilantro, and Chives (flowers and leaves). Then I quickly fried up some duck breast from the duck we roasted last night and voila:

I didn't even put dressing on the salad, the cilantro and chives added plenty of flavor - horray homegrown food!

One happy girl and her sauerkraut!

I'm on a sauerkraut kick again. I couldn't wait to get home this evening so I could have my daily bowl of cabbage and microbes! Perhaps I'm just connecting with my German roots, but sauerkraut sure is tasty and makes me feel great! On a trip to Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh over the holidays my dinner came with the most amazing hot sauerkraut I think I've ever had. It was milder, sweeter perhaps, and served hot made it oh-so-comforting. A few days ago I stopped by the German delicatessen near my work and was blown away by their sauerkraut collection. They have sauerkraut made with red or green cabbage, sauerkraut juice, and a wide variety of brands of regional flavors of plain 'ole traditional sauerkraut. I noticed the Bavarian style is made with white wine in addition to the usual cast of characters and bought it. It's my favorite. The sweetness from the wine adds a wonderful level of complexity and distracts from the possible bacterial harshness. According to Wikipedia, sauerkraut has high levels of vitamin C, lactobaccili, and other vital nutrients. It's credited as being the antidote to almost any ailment, prevents cancer, and may even be an aphrodisiac! Woohoo! In conclusion, I would like to extend a special thanks to Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Leuconostoc, and Lactobacillus for making sauerkraut possible!

My Personal Garde Manger

Alex has been whipping up some incredible food lately, making me feel like all I have to do is sit down at the dining table in the middle of our kitchen for a 4-star meal. First off, his salads continually amaze me with sheer creativity. The salad pictured below reminded me a lot of ceviche, but with fresh peaches instead raw fish and we ate it immediately instead of letting it marinate for hours. He says he's been experimenting with using spices instead of a vinaigrette, which when using juicy fruits and tomatoes, a vinaigrette is not really needed for moisture; I think it's brilliant!
Next is the pork in which Alex discovered umami. Umami (unfortunately defined as MSG) is that inexplicable 5th taste, that is actually a proven taste along with sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Umami is present in all meats, cheeses, fermented products, tomatoes, mushrooms...the list goes on. Asian cuisine has thoroughly explored the concept of umami and western chefs use it to add a fifth level of complexity to their food. Well, Alex did just that, he made a marinated pork that was so complex and so well balanced I wanted to savor and contemplate the deep meaning behind every bite I took of the finished prduct. The picture below shows how he marinated it. Looks like whole cloves, star anise, Bragg's liquid aminos, Bragg's apple cider vinegar, Larupin barbeque sauce, Woodring's rainier cherry chutney, Four Seasons raspberry vinaiger, cinnamon, a local sweet pepper, a local spicy pepper, and some local peach. He fried the pork chops with the chunky parts of the marinade on top and then poured the rest of marinade into the pan to cook with the pork. Fantastic!

Ceviche!

I made ceviche Thursday night. I bought some halibut from the enthusiastic fisherman with neon colored signs at the farmers market. It had never been frozen and was caught the day before - I love the farmers market! The farmers market also provided me with yellow and red tomatoes, ivory and green bell peppers, jalepenos, banana peppers, and red onions. Sadly, I had to go across the street to QFC for limes, an orange, and some cilantro. I set up a cutting board on our balcony (it's way too hot to be indoors) and sliced, diced, minced, or zested all the above ingredients, threw them in a bowl and tossed it all together with plenty of lime juice and salt. Then I put it in the fridge to "cook" for 24 hours. Both acid (lime juice) and salt are capable of denaturing proteins which does two things: it destroys most pathogens (why salt is used in preservation), and this is also what we know as cooking. Heat denatures proteins in essentially the same way acid or salt can. What a brilliant discovery for a hot day - cooking without heat!

The ceviche was delicious, however the 24 hours of marination made all the veggies lose their umph and the flavors melded together more so than I was hoping. Next time I think I'll marinate the fish overnight and then combine it with all the vegetables just before serving. This way it will taste even fresher and more refreshing!