Archive for the ‘Carnivore!’ Category

AWESOMESAUCE BAKED CHICKEN

Posted: January 7, 2016 in Carnivore!, chicken, Food, Recipes, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,
0

Awesomesauce is an all-purpose sauce that I created a couple of years ago for a variety of dishes. Because it has a base of mayo, mustard and ketchup, it works great on burgers and fish…on lobster and crab salads and shrimp cocktail…and just about anything else you can think of.

I made a batch of Awesomesauce for taco night at the house, and decided to use the leftovers the next day to coat pieces of chicken before roasting. The chicken came out moist and delicious. And because I sprinkled some breadcrumbs on them, they had a nice added crunch.

image

For the Awesomesauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard (I like Gulden’s)
1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Pinch cayenne pepper
4 lbs. organic pastured chicken pieces
plain breadcrumbs (I use gluten-free)

In a bowl, combine the mayo, ketchup, mustard, dill pickle relish, garlic, paprika and cayenne. Mix thoroughly and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

Pre-heat the oven to 325.

Rub the Awesomesauce all over the chicken pieces and lay them in a sheet pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil. Lightly sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the chicken.

Bake until the chicken is cooked all the way through and brown and crispy.

 

 

 

 

 

WILD BOAR BELLY WITH SEARED SCALLOPS AND ESPRESSO GLAZE

Posted: December 12, 2015 in Carnivore!, fleur de sel, Food, pork, Recipes, salt, scallops, seafood
Tags: , , , , ,
0

The is a killer recipe that I’ve waited a long time to prepare. My hats off to chef Chuck Hughes for the inspiration. My hats off to my buddy, Dr. Chezwick, who sent me a gift of wild boar bellies. Locally caught Rhode Island scallops in season complete the dish.

FullSizeRender (9)

For the pork belly…
3 lbs. fresh pork belly (I used wild boar belly)
salt and pepper
1–2 tablespoons leaf lard or olive oil
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 fennel bulb, quartered
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 cups beef stock
1 cup hard cider or apple juice

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Season the belly with salt and pepper. On medium-high heat, melt the leaf lard, then sear the meat on all sides in an oven-proof pot big enough to hold it in one layer. Add the carrot, celery, onion, fennel, thyme and peppercorns and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, until caramelized.

Add the beef stock and the cider. Cover the pot with a lid or seal with aluminum foil, and braise the belly in the oven for 3 hours, until tender.

Remove the pot from the oven, carefully remove the pork belly, and put it on a plate. Cover it with foil. If you’re cooking earlier in the day, you can place the belly in the fridge at this point.

Strain the leftover braising liquid from the pot and discard the vegetables and thyme. Skim off the excess fat. If starting this dish earlier in the day, you can put this liquid in the fridge and the fat will harden, making it easier to remove.

FullSizeRender (8)

For the glaze…
braising liquid, strained
1 tablespoon espresso
1 tablespoon honey

In a small saucepan, reduce the brazing liquid by half, then add the espresso and honey. Cook a few more minutes until the sauce thickens. When it coats the back of a spoon, it’s ready. Set aside.

For the scallops…
Fresh scallops
salt and pepper

When you’re ready to serve, heat a pan on high heat with a little more leaf lard. Cut the belly into equal pieces and sear on all sides for about a minute. Place the scallops in the same pan, season with salt and pepper, and sear them on both sides, being careful not to overcook them.

To serve, place the belly on a plate. Top with a scallop or two. Drizzle glaze over the top. Season with Fleur de Sel or sea salt and serve immediately.

Always good to have a lovely food stylist around to make it look pretty.

Always good to have a lovely food stylist around to make it look pretty.

 

ROASTING A TURKEY ON A WEBER GRILL

Posted: November 12, 2015 in barbecue, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, Thanksgiving, turkey
Tags: , , , , ,
0

For me, deep-fried turkey is just too much damn work: finding a safe spot in the yard to blast the propane-fueled fryer so that you don’t burn your house down, standing outside and freezing your ass off while it fries, and then disposing of gallons of used oil at the end of it all. And making sure the oil is at the right temperature so you don’t get a scorched turkey on the outside and raw turkey on the inside. Sure, they now have indoor turkey fryers, but I’m not crazy about that idea, either.

I get great results by cooking my turkey in my Weber grill. The standard Weber allows you to cook up to a 15 lb. bird–big enough for my purposes–and it comes out crispy, smokey and delicious.

The charcoal chimney with hot coals awaits.

The charcoal chimney with hot coals awaits.

Although I’m a purist and always use natural hardwood charcoal, this recipe works best with Kingsford briquettes. The idea is for the coals to cook slowly and evenly. And, unless you want your turkey to taste like gasoline,  never use lighter fluid…always start your fire with a few pieces of crumbled newspaper under a charcoal chimney.

 

Weber grill, with the dome top
Kingsford charcoal briquettes (don’t use Match Lite or other pre-soaked briquettes)
Heavy duty aluminum pan (disposable)

 

Whole turkey, up to 15 lbs, thawed and brined (see my blog about brining a turkey)
Olive oil (to rub on turkey)
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
½ lb (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon granulated onion
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper
Spreading the coals away from the center of the grill.

Spreading the coals away from the center of the grill.

If you want stuffing, make it separately and cook it separately. (A great recipe in my next blog.)

Light 8 to 10 lbs. of charcoal in the grill…depending on the size of the turkey and how cold it is outside.

Remove the giblets from the turkey. Place the bird in the aluminum pan.

In a small bowl, mix the granulated garlic, granulated onion, salt and pepper Add any other seasonings you like.

Coarsely chop the onions and celery. Place them in a another bowl. Mix with the melted butter and 1/3 of the salt/pepper/garlic powder mixture. Place a small handful of this “stuffing” mixture in the neck cavity of the turkey. Place the rest in the body cavity (where the stuffing would usually go.) You can fasten the bird with turkey skewers if you like. This “stuffing” is strictly to flavor the turkey…you don’t eat it!

The rubbed, stuffed and seasoned bird.

The rubbed, stuffed and seasoned bird.

Rub the outside of the entire turkey with the olive oil and sprinkle the rest of the garlic/onion/salt/pepper mixture on the outside of the bird. Make sure you get the bird on the bottom as well.

When the coals in the grill have ashed over, spread them to the outside edges of the Weber equally. Put the cooking grill rack in place. Place the aluminum pan with the turkey in the center of the grill, keeping it away from the direct heat of the coals. If you’re using a meat thermometer, insert the probe into the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to hit the bone. Place the lid on the grill. (You may need to bend your pan a bit.) Open the vents on the bottom of the Weber as well as the lid. Important to get air circulating!

My meat thermometer calls me from as far as 100 feet away! Time for a cocktail!

My meat thermometer calls me from as far as 100 feet away! Time for a cocktail!

No basting is necessary.

Now here’s the tough part: DO NOT OPEN THE GRILL TO CHECK ON THE TURKEY! (If you must look, shine a flashlight into the vent holes on the lid to take a peek at the pop-up timer, if there is one.) The whole point is to keep the heat inside the kettle. You’ll know your turkey is done when no more smoke or heat rises from the grill, and the turkey inside stops making sizzling noises.

Remove the turkey and let it rest at least 15 minutes before carving.

If you pull the turkey out too early and find that it still needs cooking, or if your coals die out too soon, simply place the bird in a 350-degree oven to finish. It will still have that wonderful smokey flavor from the grill.

Beautifully grilled, and perfectly cooked in less than 2 hours!

Beautifully grilled, and perfectly cooked in less than 2 hours!

BRINING A TURKEY

Posted: November 9, 2015 in brining, Carnivore!, Food, marinade, Recipes, salt, Thanksgiving, turkey
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away. Time to talk turkey! No matter what method you prefer to cook your bird, brining it beforehand will make it tastier and juicier. And it’s easy to do.

It’s basic high school science: the brine has a greater concentration of salt and water than the molecules of the protein (in this case, a turkey) that is soaking in it. By simple diffusion, the protein molecules suck up the salty water and keep it. When you cook the meat, some of the water evaporates, but the meat still has far more moisture in it than it would have without the brine soaking, and the result is a moister, more delicious bird.

Some people use giant syringes to inject their turkeys with crazy solutions, but I think that the old way is still the best when it comes to brining. Get a big pot, fill it with the brine, and soak the bird in it. Done.

Here’s my tried-and-true turkey brining recipe. Once the brining is done, you can cook the turkey whatever way you like best. I use a method where I grill it inside a Weber grill with charcoal. It comes out smokey and absolutely amazing. I’ll have that info in the next blog.

image

1 gallon of water
2 onions
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
1 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons whole allspice
4 bay leaves
1 gallon of ice water
14–15 lb turkey, thawed

Pour the first gallon of water in a large pot. Quarter the onions, carrots and celery (no need to peel them) and add to the water. Add salt, black peppercorns, brown sugar, allspice, and bay leaves.

Let the pot come to a boil for a few minutes. Remove it from heat and let the brine cool down to room temperature.

Remove the giblets from the turkey and place the bird in a container just big enough to hold it and 2 gallons of liquid.

Pour the now-cooled brine over the turkey, then pour in the gallon of ice water.

 

Make sure the turkey doesn’t float up by placing a plate on top. Put the turkey container in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours, flipping the turkey over in the container halfway through.

Drain the turkey, pat it dry with paper towels, and then cook it using your favorite recipe.

 

OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN

Posted: October 21, 2015 in buttermilk, Carnivore!, chicken, Food, frying, Recipes, wings
Tags: , , , ,
2

I love fried chicken. And despite what most people think, fried food is really not that bad for you if you fry it properly. I use clean avocado oil every time, sometimes adding bacon fat or pork fat if I have it. And I get the oil to the right temperature: two key factors that will result in crispy chicken that isn’t bogged down with grease. What makes this recipe great is that I get all the benefits of crispy fried chicken without all the grease and without standing watch over it the whole time.

You can use any chicken parts for this recipe. Fry the chicken until it just turns golden brown and then finish it in the oven.

 

10 lbs. large chicken wings or chicken pieces
Avocado oil, for frying

For soaking:

1 quart buttermilk
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)

For the seasoned flour:

2 cups all purpose flour (I use gluten-free flour)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano

Open the bottle or carton of buttermilk and add 2 teaspoons of hot sauce. Close the container and shake to combine. Place the chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag, cover with the buttermilk, and seal the bag, letting the chicken soak in it for at least several hours. Overnight is best.

image

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder, basil and oregano. Mix well.

After the chicken has soaked in the buttermilk, remove the pieces one at a time, leaving the buttermilk on them as you toss the pieces into the seasoned flour. Shake off the excess flour, and then set the pieces aside on a metal baking rack placed on a sheet pan.

Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stock pot to a depth of 1-inch. Heat the oil to 360 degrees on a thermometer.

image

Working in batches, place the chicken pieces in the oil, being careful not to overcrowd them. Fry the chicken until it is golden brown on both sides, then place each piece back on the metal baking rack set on the sheet pan.

Once all the chicken has been fried, place the sheet pan in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until it’s fully cooked and crispy.

image

 

Feast!

ASIAN CHICKEN

Posted: October 10, 2015 in Carnivore!, chicken, Food, Recipes
Tags: , , , ,
0

When I’m jonesing for really good Chinese food, I have to make it myself. I live in the boonies, nowhere near my favorite Chinatown restaurants of Boston or New York City. This chicken satisfies my cravings.

image

1 pastured whole chicken, about 5 lbs.
Soy sauce
Coconut oil
1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Sambal chili paste

Pre-heat oven to 325.

Rub the chicken with the soy sauce, and then rub it with the coconut oil.

In a bowl, combine the Chinese Five Spice, garlic, salt and pepper. Rub this all over the bird, placing some in the body cavity as well.

In a separate bowl, combine the glaze ingredients: soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, peanut butter, orange juice, rice vinegar and Sambal.

Cook the bird until it’s about 10 minutes before it’s done. Then brush the glaze on the bird and return it to the oven for 5 minutes. Do this twice.

Let the bird rest before carving.

 

THAI-INSPIRED SWEET-N-SPICY CHICKEN

Posted: September 6, 2015 in Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, chicken, Food, grilling, Recipes
Tags: , , , , ,
0

It’s Labor Day weekend, and it’s all about the grill! (Hardwood, that is…not gas.) You can make this recipe in the kitchen, but a wood fire brings it to the next level.

thai chicken LTL

 

3 lbs. chicken pieces (I used drumsticks for this recipe)
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or crushed dried chiles
1 teaspoon salt

Marinade: Combine soy sauce, cilantro, canola oil, granulated garlic and white pepper in a food processor and let it run. Place chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag and pour half of the marinade in. Save the other half for basting later. Seal the bag and let the chicken marinate overnight, or at least a few hours, squishing the bag around so that all the chicken gets marinated.

Sauce: In a saucepan, combine sugar, white vinegar, pepper flakes and salt. Bring to a boil and make sure the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

After marinating overnight, discard the used marinade in the Ziploc bag. Place chicken pieces over a hot hardwood fire or bake in an oven at 350, basting them with the leftover marinade until fully cooked. If the coal fire gets too hot, move the chicken to a cooler part of the grill to prevent burning. If using the oven, switch to the broiler at the end to give the chicken a nice char.

Serve with the sweet pepper sauce drizzled on top.

MAKIN’ BACON

Posted: September 2, 2015 in bacon, breakfast, Carnivore!, Food, frying, pork, smoking
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
1

The Saturday before Labor Day is traditionally considered to be International Bacon Day. So that makes it September 5th this year.

Let’s face it: there are few foods as magical as bacon. Add bacon to just about any dish you’re preparing, and it elevates it to incredible new heights of flavor. The BLT is possibly the greatest food combination ever invented: just a few simple, fresh ingredients, when placed together, transforming into one of the most amazing sandwiches on planet Earth.

I buy my bacon on-line from Burger’s Smokehouse, a family-run business in Missouri that not only sells some great bacon (get the thick-sliced country bacon—my favorite), but also smoked turkeys, ham and more.

But I also make my own.

Bacon comes from the pork belly. One of the places I buy pork bellies is from my friends at Fire Fly Farms in Stonington, CT (www.fireflyfarmsllc.com). I follow the simple curing techniques outlined in “Charcuterie,” a great book written by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

To cure bacon, all you really need is salt and sugar, and what they in the curing biz call “pink salt,” which is not to be confused with salt that happens to be pink, like Himalayan salt you would find in a gourmet store. Pink salt is bright pink—to let you know that this is special salt that should only be used in small quantities for curing. The reason for that is because it has nitrites. Nitrites delay the spoilage of the meat, and help keep the flavors of spices and smoke. They also keep the meat nice and pink instead of an unappetizing gray. That’s good. But nitrites can break down into nitrosamines, which have been known to cause cancer in lab animals. But let’s face it: you would need to eat a ton of cured meat to really worry about this.

To make the basic dry cure:

1/2 lb. kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 ounce (5 teaspoons) pink salt
optional ingredients: garlic, onion

Mix the ingredients well. An important note: all Kosher salts do not all weigh the same, so go by the weight and not a cup measurement.

Once you rub the pork belly with the basic dry cure, place it in a Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out of it, and seal it tightly. Place it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, flipping it over every few days to let gravity do its work. You’ll see that the salt will draw moisture out of the meat and form a brine. This brine will continue to cure your pork belly, so leave it in there.
Once the pork belly has been cured, wash the brine off the meat, pat it dry with paper towels. Now it’s time to cook. You can simply cook the pork belly at 200 degrees for about 2 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, or place the pork belly in a smoker, cooking it at 250 degrees for 1 hour, then adding hickory chips and smoking it at 250 degrees for another hour. I use my digital smoker to do this.

 

 

 

Bellies in the smoker

Bellies in the smoker.

 

 

Smoked bacon

Smoked bacon

That’s it. You have achieved bacon!

The reward is so worth the effort. That first slice you cut off your bacon and toss in a pan to lightly fry for a few moments will be the best bite you’ve ever had in your life!
And if you’re making one slab of bacon, why not make it three or four? It freezes well. And…you will eat it. You know you will!
Frying in the pan!

Frying in the pan!

OVEN-FRIED CORNMEAL-COATED CHICKEN THIGHS

Posted: August 30, 2015 in buttermilk, Carnivore!, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

My blueberry buttermilk cornmeal pancakes are delicious (see my previous blog), but the recipe leaves some leftovers. So I froze the extra pancakes, not really knowing what I’d do with them later on.

Later in the week when I thawed a pack of chicken thighs, I decided to thaw some of the pancakes as well, planning to use them as a substitute for bread crumbs. Worked out pretty well…a crispy, flavorful piece of chicken. If you don’t make the pancakes, using store-bought cornbread will work just as well.

image

5 lbs. chicken thighs
8 oz. cornbread (or leftover pancakes)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
2 eggs
oil, for frying (I use avocado oil)

 

Break the cornbread (or pancakes) into smaller pieces and place them on a sheet pan in a 200-degree oven. Bake until they dry out but don’t burn, about 30 minutes. Let them cool to room temperature, then place them in a food processor and process until they resemble breadcrumbs. Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl.

Add the salt, garlic, onion and tarragon to the breadcrumbs and mix well.

In another bowl, crack and whisk the 2 eggs.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a frying pan with 2 inches of oil to medium-high. Roll the thighs one at a time in the egg and then in the breadcrumb mixture. Press the breadcrumbs onto the chicken so they stick. Gently place the breaded thigh in the pan with the oil. Fry until golden on one side, then flip the thigh over and fry on the other side. When the thighs are golden and crisp, place them on a sheet pan covered with non-stick aluminum foil. Repeat with all the thighs.

Place the sheet pan with the thighs in the oven and bake until cooked through, about 35 minutes.

PULLED PORK: A LABOR OF LOVE

Posted: August 7, 2015 in barbecue, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, pork, Recipes, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

When I used to go to my favorite barbecue place and asked for a pulled pork sandwich, I didn’t realize just how much work went into making it. Now I make my own, and I have a whole lotta new respect for those barbecue folks…

 

pulled pork

First, I get the pork butt. I buy a heritage breed, like Berkshire (also known as Kurobuta), from a farm that humanely raises them. That’s better for the pig and also better for my family.

Going to a supermarket for pork is what many people do, and the names of the cuts of meat can be a bit confusing. Despite its name, pork butt is not from the back-end of the pig. It’s the shoulder. And the pork butt (or pork shoulder) picnic is a lower cut of the same area. These cuts can also go by: Boston shoulder roast, Boston butt, Boston roast, shoulder butt, and shoulder-blade roast. Whatever the name, these are all nicely marbled hunks of pork that usually weigh in anywhere from 6 to 8 lbs, and are easy to find. Bone-in is for purists…boneless if you’re not.

Once I’ve got my slab, I need to season it. I’ve found that a simple rub is the best way to go for the sauce I’m going to use later.

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon onion powder

Place all the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake it up to blend.

Once I’ve made the rub, I generously sprinkle it all over the pork, and rub it in really well. I have a digital smoker at home, which lets me cook and smoke my pork butt all in one place. I place it on a rack, put a drip tray underneath it to catch the grease, and set the smoker for 225 degrees. I cook the pork for about 6 hours, and then I add hickory chips to the smoker and smoke the butt for another 2 hours. The marbled fat in the pork butt slowly melts over time and the pork becomes incredibly tender and flavorful.

I remove the pork butt from the smoker and let it rest, covered with aluminum foil, for at least 20 minutes before pulling the meat apart with a couple of forks, shredding it into beautiful meaty bits.

While the pork is cooking and smoking, there’s plenty of time to make two other very important parts of this recipe: the sauce and the cole slaw.

saucey

2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup water
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
6 tablespoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until the flavors have blended, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temp. If you store it in an airtight container in the fridge, it’ll stay good for a few months.

 

COLE SLAW

My cole slaw recipe uses pickle juice. Just a splash from your favorite jar of pickles is all you need.

1 package of cole slaw veggies
splash of pickle juice
1/4 cup mayonnaise (more to taste)
teaspoon celery seed (not salt)
salt and pepper

There are no real specific measurements for cole slaw, because I’ve found that some people like it dry, others wet…some peppery, some not. Play around with it and make it your own. I prefer a more mayonnaise-y cole slaw, and usually err on the wet side.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. When ready to use, re-mix, and taste for seasoning before using.

 

OK…time to make that sandwich!

Drizzle the barbecue sauce on the pulled pork and mix well…trying not to over-sauce the pork! Take a nice amount of pork and place it on a freshly baked bun. Place the cole slaw right on top if you prefer the Carolina method, or on the side if not.

Whether you decide to go through all this trouble to make pulled pork or not, just remember that if you’re at a barbecue joint, someone else did. Whatever you pay for that pulled pork sandwich is a bargain!

Older Entries
Newer Entries