Tag: pork
Smoked Turkey and Cottage Bacon Sandwich
Smoked Turkey and Cottage Bacon Sandwich
I smoked a whole turkey this past weekend with the intention of doing multiple things with it. This is one of them…I found these really nice sweet onions rolls at the grocery store and thought that smoked turkey and cottage bacon would go great on them. And so I made it happen. I didn’t provide measurements for most of the ingredients because, dammit; you should be able to put as much turkey and bacon on your sandwich as you want without me telling. I just provide the skeleton of the sandwich.
Servings: 2 sandwiches
Ingredients
- cottage bacon or any bacon of your liking
- 1 tbsp green butter or regular butter
- 2 sweet onion rolls
- smoked turkey breast
- 2 slices swiss cheese
- arugula
- 1 tomato thinly sliced
- spicy brown mustard
Instructions
- Cook your bacon until it is crispy on a griddle. Set aside. Drain all but a tbsp of the bacon grease.
- Cook the smoked turkey breast in the bacon grease for a couple minutes per side. Remove from the pan.
- Melt the butter of your liking on a griddle over medium heat. Toast the sliced side of the onion roll until browned.
- Flip the rolls over. On the top side of the roll, placd a slice of Swiss cheese and as much bacon as you’d like. Remove from the griddle.
- Squirt some spicy brown mustard on the bottom half of the toasted roll. Layer the turkey on top of the mustard. Place the sliced tomatoes and arugula on top of the bacon side of the roll. Put them together.
Smoked Turkey Breast
When I see a bone in turkey breast on sale for $.99/lb, I hop on that shit. You can pay up to $10/lb for good quality smoked turkey deli meat; so why not make it at home for a fraction of the price. Even if you don’t have a smoker, you can still brine the breast and roast it in the oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes per lbs. The internal temp needs to read 165 degrees.Most bone in turkey breasts will weigh between 6-8lbs. For maximum flavor, I like to brine my turkey breasts for 12 hours; pretty much overnight. The turkey breast will need to be pat dry and let to rest at room temp for at least an hour before smoking. If you want to add anymore seasonings to the outside of the breast such as Cajun, lemon pepper, mix herbs, honey, etc, do so now. I left mine plain since there is plenty of flavor in the brine.The nice thing about poultry is that it will take on the flavor of whatever wood chips you choose gor smoking. I used a combination of oak and cherrywood. Smoke the turkey breast at 250 degrees for 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour. Let the turkey breast rest for 30 minutes before serving.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- bone in turkey breast 6-8lbs
Brine
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup sea salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 head garlic minced
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- oak wood chips
- cherrywood chips
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together. Place the turkey breast in a gallon sized storage bag. Pour in the brine. Brine for 12 hours.
- Pat the turkey breast dry with paper towels. Let sit at room temp an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the turkey in the smoker. Smoke for 3 hours.
- At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour.
- Let the turkey breast rest for up to 30 minutes before slicing.
Cottage Bacon
There’s no question about it: bacon is king. But have you ever had cottage bacon? The bacon you are used to eating is made from cured pork belly. Cottage bacon is made from cured pork shoulder. The results are even better then I expected. It has the flavor of belly bacon. It cooks up the same way. What makes cottage bacon even better in my opinion, is how meaty it is. It has a larger meat to fat ratio. I love my belly bacon, but I’m starting to think that cottage bacon is the way to go.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs boneless pork shoulder
Dry Rub Cure
- 3 tbsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp pink curing salts
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory wood chips
- 1/2 applewood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the dry rub ingredients.
- Cover the pork shoulder with all of the dry rub.
- Place the pork shoulder In a gallon sized storage bag. Place in the refrigerator for 1 week. Flip everyday so the pork marinates in it’s juices.
- After 1 week, take out of the storage bag. Place on a rack and put back in the refrigerator for 1 day to help dry out the pork to develop a pellicle. When ready to smoke, let the pork shoulder rest at room temp for an hour.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw the pork shoulder in the smoker. Once the woodchips are smoking, turn the smoker down to 200 degrees. Repeat this step every time you change out the wood chips.
- At the 3 hour mark, take the temp of the pork shoulder. Continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.
- Let the pork rest until completely cooled. Place in the refrigerator for 1 day before slicing.
- Slice to the thickness of your liking.
- To cook, preheat a skillet or a griddle over medium high heat. Place slices on the pan.
- Cook for 6-8 minutes, flipping the pieces every 2 minutes.
Pork Vindaloo Spare Ribs
Pork Vindaloo Spare Ribs
These vindaloo spare ribs are really more of Indian/BBQ fusion than anything else. I used the same spice paste that is in my pork vindaloo recipe to marinate the ribs. Then I used the other whole dry spices that are in vindaloo as a dry rub to go on the ribs. I like to bake my ribs slowly in the oven wrapped in foil, then charred in the broiler. You can definitely grill these ribs as well. I recommend grilling them indirectly on the grill, wrapped in foil, for a couple of hours. Take them out of the foil and char the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb rack of spare ribs
- malt vinegar
Spice Paste
- 8 dried Kashmiri chilies
- 8 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup malt vinegar
Spice Rub
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 3 cloves
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 dried Kashmiri chilies
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Mix all of the spice paste ingredients together.
- Rub the rack of spare ribs with the spice paste. Marinate for 24 hours.
- Dry toast the whole spices of the spice rub for 2-3 minutes. Let completely cool.
- Add the whole spices to a spice grinder.
- Grind to a powder. Stir in the brown sugar.
- Generously coat both sides of the spare ribs.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Wrap the ribs in foil.
- Bake the ribs for 2 1/2 hours. Open up the foil. Brush the ribs with malt vinegar.
- Turn on the oven’s broiler. Broil the ribs for 7-8 minutes until charred. Brush with more malt vinegar. Let rest for 15 minutes before cutting.
- Cut the ribs in between the bones.
Smoked Pork Chili
Smoked Pork Chili
There’s always been the debate on whether chili should have beans or no beans. I think that both are good and have their place. The real question is why are people putting flavorless ground beef in chili and not using cubed pork shoulder or chuck roast? It’s like night and day for the same price or cheaper, folks. Wake the fuck up. Like everything I do in life, I took my chili one step further. My pork was dry rubbed and smoked with mesquite wood. I also smoked the tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, and onion. I also smoked. Then everything went into the crock pot and simmered for 5 hours. The last hour, I tossed in some beans. This chili can compete with any other chili out there; and will crush all in its path. It is worth every minute of the 36 hours it takes to prepare.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- crock pot
Ingredients
Smoked Pork Steaks
- 4 lbs pork steaks 1 1/2” thick
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp white pepper
The Rest of the Chili
- 6 roma tomatoes
- 1 large white onion sliced in half horizontally
- 2 heads garlic
- 4 large jalapeños
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 ribs celery chopped
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 cups pork stock
- 2 tsp hot chili powder
- 3 cans beans pinto, black, and dark kidney
- salt to taste
Garnish
- green onions chopped
Wood Chips
- mesquite wood chips
Instructions
- Rib the pork steaks on all sides with the dry spices. Let rest on a rack in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Lest rest at room temperature for 2 hours before smoking.
- Place the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, and garlic on a smoking rack.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Smoke the pork steaks for 6 hours. Smoke the vegetables for the last 2 hours.
- Place the cubed pork steak, chopped smoked vegetables, whole peeled garlic cloves, celery, tomato paste, and chili powder in a crock pot. Mix all of the ingredients, making sure that they’re coated in the tomato paste.
- Pour in the pork stock. Place on the cover. Cook on high for 5 hours.
- Stir in the beans. Simmer for 1 more hour.
- Season with salt to taste.
