Recent Posts
Burro Bananas in Orange Sauce
Burro Bananas in Orange Sauce
So what’s the difference between a burro banana and the regular ones you’re used to eating? Burro are significantly smaller. When young, they have the tartness of apples and limes. When ripe, they’re creamy with a hint of lemon undertones. This makes them the perfect accompaniment to this orange sauce that’s served over vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
- 4 burro bananas sliced horizontally in half
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Heat up orange juice, lemon juice, and brown sugar in a small pot on low heat for 15 minutes until a syrup forms.
- Add in the bananas. Cook for 5 minutes until heated through.
Raw Beef Salad
Raw Beef Salad
While this is more of a Cambodian-style carpaccio than a salad, this dish is extremely easy to make and will impress your dinner guests. The beef is technically raw, but gets cooked in the acidity of the lime juice; much like ceviche. The beef salad gets tossed with peanuts, chilies, and cilantro at the end of marination and is served with slices of cucumber.
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 lb top sirloin trimmed of all fat; sliced 1/8” thick or less
- 1 red chilies thinly sliced
- 2 oz toasted peanuts
- 8 basil leaves
- 1/2 small white onion thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber peeled; thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Pound in a mortar and pestle the 2 tbsp of palm sugar with the juice of 2 limes and 2 tbsp of fish sauce.
- Toss with the onions, shallots, lemongrass, garlic, and basil.
- Add in the thinly sliced beef. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Pour out the marinade. Stir in the rest of the fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice. Toss with the peanuts and red chilies.
Black Forest Ham (Schwarzwaelder Schinken)
Black Forest Ham (Schwarzwaedler Schinken)
Authentic black forest ham is a long process of brining, smoking at a low temperature, and then dry curing; taking up to a couple of months. This is a much easier process that you can do at home that takes 18 days from brine to finish. Black forest ham gets it’s flavor from juniper berries and smoking with pine wood. It will take 60-90 minutes per lb until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.
Equipment
- large bin for brining
- Spice grinder
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 whole pork leg around 8lbs; shank removed; skinned and trimmed of excess fat
Ham Brine
- 1 1/2 gallons water
- 1 1/2 cups sea salt
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp pink curing salts
Ham Dry Rub
- 4 tbsp black peppercorns
- 4 tbsp juniper berries
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp marjoram
- 10 bay leaves
Wood Chips
- pine or hickory
Instructions
- Mix together the salt, brown sugar, and curing salts.
- Stir into the water in a large bin.
- Place the pork into the brine and brine for 2 weeks.
- After 2 weeks, remove the pork from the brine. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Add the dry rub ingredients to a spice grinder.
- Grind into a powder.
- Apply the dry rub to the pork. Allow to sit on a rack in the refrigerator for 4 days. Let rest at room temp for 2 hours before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place the ham in the smoker.
- Smoke for 60-90 minutes per lb. until the internal temperature of the probe thermometer reads 150 degrees.
- Allow to rest for 30 minutes before serving.
