Archive for the ‘pork’ Category

PULLED PORK: A LABOR OF LOVE

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

STUFFED CABBAGE

Posted: May 6, 2015 in bacon, beef, Food, pork, Recipes, Uncategorized
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If there’s a dish that my Mom made all the time, but I didn’t appreciate until I got older, this is it. Stuffed cabbage, cabbage rolls, or balandėliai, as we say in Lithuanian, was a staple in our home and one of my Dad’s favorite foods. 

I had seen my Mom make these beauties so often in my childhood, I didn’t even need to check online recipes out for guidance. That doesn’t mean I make them exactly like Mom, but my version came out pretty damn good. I think Mom would be proud.

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4 strips of bacon, chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 lb. ground grass-fed beef
1 lb. ground pastured pork
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 large head cabbage
1 pint homemade chicken stock
750 mg diced tomatoes (1 Pomi container)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon granulated onion

Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry them until crisp. Finely chop the onion, and add it to the bacon in the pan, cooking until the onions are translucent. Add the salt, pepper and garlic. Mix well, and remove from the heat. Let it cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, and cooled bacon and onion mixture. Place in the fridge to firm up.

Let a large pot of salted water come to a boil. Core the cabbage, leaving the leaves whole, and carefully immerse the head of cabbage into the hot water. Little by little, the outermost leaves of the cabbage will come off the head, and you can remove them with tongs, so you don’t burn yourself with the hot water. Set the leaves aside to cool, and continue doing this until you can no longer remove leaves from the remaining head of cabbage.

Remove the remaining head of cabbage from the hot water, and using your hands or a knife, break it into flat pieces. Line the bottom of a roasting pan with the pieces. These will keep the stuffed cabbage from burning and sticking to the bottom.

Time to roll the stuffed cabbage. Take the meat out of the fridge. Lay a cabbage leaf flat on the counter, and add some of the meat mixture inside. Roll the cabbage around the meat, folding the sides in as you go, much like a burrito. You might need to slice away the thickest part of the leaf stem to make rolling easier. Lay the stuffed cabbage in the roasting pan on top of the leftover cabbage pieces. (Unlike Mom, I don’t use toothpicks to hold the stuffed cabbage rolls together.)

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Continue stuffing and rolling the cabbage leaves until you’ve got a pan full of them, shoulder-to-shoulder.

In a blender, combine the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic and onion. Pour this mixture over the top of the cabbage rolls in the roasting pan, covering them.

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If you have leftover cabbage, you can place another layer of them on top. Otherwise, cover the roasting pan with foil and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Cook for an hour.

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After an hour, remove the foil and cook further for another 45–60 minutes.

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EASIEST BREAKFAST SAUSAGE EVER

Posted: April 17, 2015 in Carnivore!, Food, frying, pork, Recipes
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Sausage is something most home cooks don’t even try because of the amount of work it needs. You need to grind meat in perfect proportions. You need to keep everything on ice. You need to stuff the sausage meat into casings. It’s a big hassle, requiring some special equipment and a lot of time. And the clean-up is a pain.

Here’s an easy method I can slap together in minutes. I use ground pastured Berkshire pork for this, but any good quality ground pork will do.

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1 lb. ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 egg
avocado oil or pork fat

 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to let the meat rest.

If you’re not sure of the seasonings, break a little piece of the sausage off and fry it in a pan to taste it. If you like what you have, fry away. If not, season the meat before making patties.

Heat a pan over medium-high heat and swirl a little oil or pork fat to coat. Form the sausage meat into 2-inch patties and place them in the pan, cooking them all the way through, about 4 minutes a side, until they’re golden brown on both sides.

BRISKETTA

Posted: April 11, 2015 in barbecue, beef, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, pork, Recipes
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There’s a wonderful Italian roasted meat dish called Porchetta (por-ketta). Though there are many ways to prepare it, the classic version consists of a pork belly that is seasoned and then wrapped around a pork loin. The meat is tied, then roasted slowly for hours, basted with wine and the meat juices until the pork is cooked and the outside skin is crackly and crispy. Then it’s sliced like a log and served as a sandwich or a main dish. It’s absolutely fantastic! (If you’re in New York City, go to the small restaurant called  Porchetta on the lower east side and taste this porky awesomeness the way it was meant to be.)

I recently purchased a beautiful hunk of grass-fed beef brisket from Pat’s Pastured, a wonderful farm here in Rhode Island.  I decided to watch the You Tube series “BBQ with Franklin” starring the lord of brisket himself, Aaron Franklin of Franklin’s Barbecue in Austin, Texas, to learn how to properly smoke it. What I learned was that the hunk of brisket Franklin was using was a bit smaller but much thicker (5 to 6 inches) and fattier than the really large but thin piece (about 1 1/2 inches) that I had purchased. If I was going to use Franklin’s method of smoking this thing, it would totally dry out.

Then I said to myself: “What if I cook it like Porchetta?” I searched through a dozen Porchetta recipes and used whatever herbs and spices I liked to make my own special seasoning for this slab of meat I now re-named “Brisketta.” For the most part, I used common ingredients in Italian cooking, but I added toasted fennel seeds, an ingredient in Porchetta, as a tip of the hat to that classic dish.

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I flipped the brisket fat-side-down on my cutting board and carefully sliced it down the middle horizontally to make two large–even thinner–slabs of meat. The bottom half, with the fatty side of the brisket, would eventually be my outside layer. The top half would be my inside layer.

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I took the top half and slathered some of my seasonings on it. Then I rolled it up into a log as tightly as I could. I slathered more of my seasonings onto the bottom half of the brisket, the rolled it around the first log as tightly as I could, so that the fattiest side of the brisket would now be on the outside of this large meat log. I seasoned the fatty side with any leftover seasonings I had.

Now, rather than having a piece of meat that was only 1 1/2″ thick, I had a meat log that was 6″ thick. Much easier to cook and control. I tied the meat log up tightly with butchers’ twine and let it rest in my fridge overnight.

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The next day, I removed the meat log from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for an hour, so that it would come back up to room temperature. Meanwhile, I started my digital smoker (an electric one), setting the temperature at 250 degrees. I placed the meat log on a rack in my smoker, and a bowl of water on another rack to help keep it moist during the cooking process. I closed the smoker door, and then cooked it low and slow for about 4 1/2 hours. My smoker has a side chute that lets me drop wood chips inside, and I used slivers of oak to add some smoke. (I decided that a wood like hickory, though one of my favorites to use when smoking, would overpower the subtle seasonings I used.)

I removed the meat log from the pan and put it directly onto the grate before cooking.

I removed the meat log from the pan and put it directly onto the grate before cooking.

 

After 4 1/2 hours, I removed the Brisketta from the smoker and tented it with foil, letting it rest for an hour before slicing it.

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7 lbs. beef brisket
1 tablespoon fennel seed, toasted and cooled
5–3″ strips of bacon, cooked and cooled
2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons parsley
2 teaspoons basil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
Grated zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup olive oil

Pour the fennel seed in a hot, dry pan on the stove. Toast the seeds until they release their aroma, but don’t let them burn. Set aside to cool.

Crumble the bacon strips and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cooled fennel seeds, oregano, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and lemon zest.

Run the food processor and slowly pour in the olive oil, until you have a paste much like pesto.

Slice the brisket in half horizontally. Save the piece with the fatty side for last, because this is the piece that will wrap around the others, with the fatty side out. Smear the rub on the first piece of brisket and roll it tightly into a log. Smear the rub on the second piece of brisket and wrap it around the first piece, making sure the fatty side is on the outside.

Once you’ve rolled both pieces into a single meat log, scored the fatty exterior with a knife and rub any leftover seasoning paste onto it. If you have none left, simply season with salt and pepper.

Tie the meat log tightly with butchers’ twine, tucking in all loose ends.

At this point, you can place the meat log in the fridge until ready to cook, remembering to remove it at least an hour before cooking so that it comes back to room temperature.

Pre-heat an oven or smoker at 250 degrees. Place the meat log directly on the grate, with a pan underneath to catch the dripping fat. Place a bowl of water in there as well, to keep the meat moist while it cooks. Cook for 4 1/2 hours, or until the interior temperature reaches 130 degrees. Let it rest an hour before slicing…if you can wait that long!

MEATLOAF

Posted: March 24, 2015 in bacon, beef, Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
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Few dishes scream out “comfort food” to me like meatloaf. My Mom’s meatloaf was awesome, and she’d cut a huge slab of it onto my plate, with fantastic butter-loaded Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles on the side. I couldn’t stop eating it.

I never thought of making meatloaf when I moved away, because it gave my Mom something special to make for me when I came home to visit. She was thrilled that there was a dish she could make that I would devour every time, without hesitation. (The others were her roasted lamb and Lithuanian pierogis called koldūnai (kol-doon-ay).

But now that my Mom has moved into an assisted living facility where she can’t cook, I’ve had to take meatloaf matters into my own hands. I never got my Mom’s exact recipe. But I had an idea of what went into it, and so I gave it a shot.

The standard mix for meatloaf is one-third each ground beef, pork and veal. I went 50-50 on the beef and pork instead. And instead of layering slices of bacon on top as many people do, I used pre-cooked bacon that I chopped up and put inside the loaf.

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1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup ketchup
4 strips of cooked bacon, chopped
2 eggs

Combine ingredients, form into a loaf and place in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 for about an hour.

 

If you’re not a fan of packaged ingredients like the Lipton onion soup mix, use this:

1 yellow onion, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

 

Saute the onion in a little oil or pork fat until translucent. Let it cool, then mix in the salt, pepper and garlic. Add this mix to the other ingredients above.

ROASTED PORK LOIN WITH CITRUS PASTE

Posted: February 9, 2015 in Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
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The “paste” used in this dish is really more like a citrusy pesto that you smear all over the meat before cooking, preferably the day before. The citrus flavors work really well with the pork, and the initial high-heat cooking really gets the fat crispy and delicious.

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Ingredients:

1 pork loin, about 8 lbs. (I use Berkshire pork)

 

zest of 2 oranges

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

3 cloves garlic, through a press

1/4 cup olive oil

 

In a food processor bowl, combine the orange and lemon zest, the rosemary, sage, salt and pepper, and garlic. Pulse the processor just to mix, then turn it on and add the olive oil slowly, in a stream, until you get what resembles an oily pesto.

Score the fatty side of the pork loin with a knife in a diamond pattern. Rub the paste on all sides of the pork, but especially into the cracks of the fatty side.

Lay the loin down on a rack, raised off a sheet pan, fatty side up. Place it in the fridge, unwrapped, overnight.

The next day, about an hour before cooking, remove the loin from the fridge and let it come back to room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Bake the pork loin at 450 for 20 minutes, then cut the heat to 350 and cook until the pork reaches a temperature of 140 degrees (light pink). Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.

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There are few carbs in this preparation, because I use just the zest of the citrus and not the juice.

GMO’s, SIMPLIFIED

Posted: February 2, 2015 in beef, Carnivore!, chicken, Food, pork
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I think many of those that don’t think GMO’s are a bad deal probably don’t really understand the situation.

My friends at FireFly Farms in Stonington, Connecticut (www.fireflyfarmsllc.com), understand GMO’s better than most. They raise heritage breeds of pork, pastured chickens, and rare cattle. They are family owned and certified humane. You should follow them on Facebook.

Max Mule, by Kelly Milukas

Max Mule, by Kelly Milukas

This was a recent post on FireFly owner Van Brown’s Facebook page. I’m reprinting with his permission. It’s simple and to the point.

Hi everyone.

I have been thinking about the debate on GMO’s and labeling.

A lot.

Let’s imagine a world where there are two types of pudding cups.

The Blue Pudding Cup definitely will not hurt your kid.

The corporation that makes The Red Pudding Cup states that all the negative tests about The Red Pudding Cup are wrong and they have made lots of tests themselves showing that The Red Pudding cup is okay.

You know The Blue Pudding Cup is safe. There are tests both ways, remembering that many of the tests were funded by The Red Pudding Cup Corporation, so the best you can know is The Red Pudding Cup pudding will probably not hurt your kid. At least according to The Red Pudding Cup Corporation.

You know one pudding cup is okay for your children. You have to have a question about the other pudding cup.

Which pudding cup would you buy to feed to your child?

One last thought?

Would it be okay for The Red Pudding cup to put their pudding into a Blue Pudding Cup so no one would know which type of pudding they are feeding their children… your children?
Van

CHINESE STYLE HONEY RIBS FOR THE BIG GAME

Posted: January 31, 2015 in barbecue, Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
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I was going to post my “deflated meatballs” recipe, but I decided to go with a classic for the big game! No need to freeze my butt off outdoors for these amazing ribs. I can stay in the kitchen. As the glaze cooks down, it gets sticky, gooey and delicious.
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For the marinade:
 ¾ cup soy sauce
 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
Other ingredients:
5 lbs pork ribs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks (3”)
1/2 cup honey
4 cups chicken broth
Mix the soy sauce and the hoisin in a bowl, and set aside. These are the marinade ingredients.
If the ribs are large, cut them into individual pieces. If smaller, cluster 2 or 3 ribs together. Place in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain.
Place the ribs on a sheet pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil or with a rack and coat with the marinade. Let them sit for 10 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the ribs in sheet pan for 30 minutes.
While the ribs are baking, start the sauce in a large non-stick pan or pot: combine the lemon zest and juice, star anise, cinnamon sticks, honey and chicken broth. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer.
When the ribs have finished baking, add them to the sauce pot and simmer (covered) for at least 15 minutes or until the rib meat is tender.
Turn the heat on high, uncover the pot and cook until the sauce is reduced to a glaze that coats the ribs. Reduce the heat as the sauce thickens to avoid the sugars in honey from burning. When the ribs are sticky and gooey, they’re ready!

 

NOT QUITE CARBONARA

Posted: January 25, 2015 in bacon, carbonara, Food, guanciale, pasta, pork, pork jowl, pork jowls, Recipes
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Pasta is not something I’m currently eating on my low-carb diet. But it’s a great recipe I wanted to pass on to others.

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the toughest to execute well. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is one of those dishes. All you need is pasta, olive oil, raw eggs (separated), guanciale, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pepper. (Real carbonara doesn’t use cream.)

You boil the pasta. Chop the guanciale (cured pork cheeks or jowls) and saute in a pan with the olive oil. Do not drain the fat. Drain the pasta and drop it into the pan with the guanciale, adding about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Shake it around for a minute and remove from the heat. Add some of the cheese and the egg whites, season with pepper, and mix the pasta well. Separate into bowls, making a nest with the pasta. Add an egg yolk to each, sprinkling more cheese on top. What could go wrong, right?

There’s a lot to be said for finesse!

I make my own guanciale. I buy Berkshire pork jowls and cure them. Then they go through a drying phase for a few weeks before I wrap and freeze them in chunks. Whenever a dish calls for guanciale (my daughter loves it on pizza), I simply unwrap some, let it thaw, then chop it up and saute it. The fat in the pork jowls is very different from other parts of the pig, and there’s no replacing that flavor. When making Spaghetti all Carbonara, some cooks replace the guanciale with pancetta or bacon, but that’s not for me.

It’s also important to note that this dish relies a lot on fat, so good fat is really important. Berkshire pork fat has good fat. Organic butter has good fat. And the cheese? Parmigiano-Reggiano isn’t called “The King of Cheeses” for no reason!

I decided to make a Not-Quite-Carbonara dish. I say “not quite” because I left out the eggs, which my daughter doesn’t like. It still came out pretty damn good…

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1 lb. pasta (we like bucatini over spaghetti)

1 lb. Berkshire pork guanciale, chopped into small (1/4″) cubes

olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted organic butter

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

black pepper

 

Boil the pasta to the just-before-al dente stage.

In a large saucepan, heat the guanciale and olive oil until the fat has rendered. Do not drain the fat. Turn the heat off, add the butter and let it melt.

Drain the pasta and drop it into the pan with the guanciale, stirring the pasta around to coat with the ingredients. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano and season with pepper, still mixing.

Distribute the pasta into individual bowls, making sure everyone gets the tasty bits of guanciale. Sprinkle some more of the Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. Serve immediately.

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CITRUS-RUBBED RIBS

Posted: January 22, 2015 in Carnivore!, Food, grilling, pork, Recipes, Uncategorized
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On my low-carb/no carb diet, I can enjoy pork, chicken, beef…any carnivorous delight I choose. What makes them bad for me is the rub and sauce that I put on them, which usually has a good amount of sugar. So I came up this alternate pork rib dry rub recipe.

I used the juice of two oranges in this recipe, but it’s mainly in the marinade which is later poured off. With 5 pounds of ribs, I think the carb intake is minimal. Using the orange zest adds extra citrus flavor.

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Zest and juice of 2 oranges

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons seasoned salt

2 tablespoons good quality (not the expensive stuff) balsamic vinegar

5 lbs. Berkshire pork ribs (I like the St Louis style)

 

In one bowl, combine the zest of 2 oranges, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 3 tablespoons of seasoned salt. Combine so that the zest dries out. Set aside.

Cut the ribs into smaller pieces. I like making double-rib cuts and not single. Place all the ribs in a large Ziploc bag.

In another bowl, combine the juice of the 2 oranges (about 1 cup) and 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar. Mix the two well then pour into the Ziploc bag with the ribs to marinate for at least a couple of hours at room temperature, or in the fridge overnight.

Pre-heat the oven to 450°.

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil with extra over the sides. Remove the marinated ribs from the bag and lay them down on the foil, trying to keep them in one layer.

Sprinkle both sides of the ribs with the orange zest, salt and pepper seasoning. Rub it into the ribs well. Fold the foil over, wrapping the ribs tightly.

Placed the sheet pan with the ribs in the oven and cook at 450° for 30 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325.

Cook for 2 hours more, then open up the foil and cook another hour.

 

Of course, if you’re not on a low carb diet, feel free to slather these bad boys with your favorite sauce. My grapefruit barbecue sauce would work well with these: http://wp.me/p1c1Nl-qX

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