Tag: pork
Smoked Boneless Ham
Smoked Boneless Ham
Brining and smoking hams is fairly easy if you have the patience. You get to control what goes into the ham without them being overly processed. It will cost you a fraction of the price while delivering better results than any store bought ham you can find. The brine for the hams is straight forward. 1/2 gallon of water with 1/2 cup of sea salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 1/2 tbsp of pink curing salts, plus a few other seasonings. The brine is enough for 2 sirloins. The pink curing salts are very necessary in the ham making process. Without them, you will have a smoked pork sirloin and not ham. A good rule for curing hams: cure the pork 1 day per pound to ensure that the meat is penetrated by the brine all the way through.As far as what cut of pork to use; ham is always made from the leg. Pork sirloin is your best option if you’re looking to make small boneless hams that aren’t spiral cut. You can find pork sirloins at just about every grocery store for $3/lbs or less. They all average around 3lbs for a whole one. You can definitely buy a pork leg and bone it out, but that will require a lot more work. The pork sirloins I cured brined for 3 days. Place them on a rack in the refrigerator to dry out for 1 day. Plain, basic hams can really be smoked with any type of wood; depending on the flavor that you are looking for. I smoked my hams with maple and applewood. You will need to preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Smoke the pork sirloins for 2 hours, maintaining a smoking temp between 225-250 degrees. At the 2 hour point, take the temp of the hams with a probe thermometer. Continue to smoke the hams until they reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Mine took an additional 30 minutes. Let them rest for a day before slicing.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- whole pork sirloins
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp pink curing salt
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 5 bay leaves
Wood Chips
- maple wood chips
- applewood chips
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together. Place the pork sirloins in a gallon sized storage bags along with all of the brine. Brine the pork for 1 day per pound. These sirloins were 3lbs each.
- Let the pork dry out on a rack in the refrigerator for a day. Let rest for an hour at room temp before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place your sirloins in the smoker.
- Smoke the pork for 2 hours. At the 2 hour mark, take the internal temperature with a probe thermometer. You want the internal temp to read 150 degrees. Both of my sirloins took an additional 30 minutes to smoke.
- Let the hams cool completely before slicing.
Pan Fried Noodles with Bacon
Pan Fried Noodles with Bacon
This is a quick and easy noodle stir fry dish utilizing basic ingredients that you can find at any grocery store. You can substitute any protein of your liking if bacon isn’t your thing, or add tofu or more vegetables and make this dish vegetarian. I ate the leftovers the next morning with 2 fried eggs on top of the noodles…good at all times of the day.
Ingredients
- 8 oz Chinese egg noodles prepared according to package directions
- 1/4 lb thick cut bacon diced
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium white onion thinly sliced
- 2 cup green cabbage chopped
Sauce
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
- Cook the bacon in a large sauté pan or wok over medium heat until crispy and the fat has rendered out. Pour the bacon and it’s grease in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat up 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 tbsp of the bacon grease in the same pan over medium high heat. Place the noodles in the pan in a single layer. Fry for 3 minutes.
- Flip the noodles. Fry for 2 minutes on the other side and move to a plate.
- Heat up the last 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Sauté the cabbage and onions for 3 minutes.
- Add the bacon back in. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the noodles back in; tossing with bacon and vegetables.
- Pour in the sauce and sauté for 3 minutes, making sure that the noodles are evenly coated.
Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipinos have their take on lasagna, just like spaghetti. The meat sauce for the lasagna is made the same way as the spaghetti sauce: with ground beef and diced Filipino red hotdogs; with banana ketchup in the tomato sauce to give it the distinct sweetness that makes the lasagna Filipino in flavor. The noodles are layered with meat sauce and a bechamel sauce, then finely topped off with cheese. The lasagna will take 30-40 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Most importantly, let the lasagna rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting into it or you’ll have a plate of slop instead of a nicely layered tower of goodness.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- 9”x13” baking pan; at least 3” deep
Ingredients
- 1 package lasagna noodles prepared according to box
- 1 cup cheddar jack cheese
Meat Sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 16 oz Filipino hotdogs sliced
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red or green bell pepper diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 24 oz tomato sauce
- 12 oz banana ketchup
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Bechamel Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Instructions
Meat Sauce
- Heat up cooking oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté the hot dogs for 3-4 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef, breaking up all of the clumps. Cook for 10 minutes. Drain any remaining grease.
- Add in the tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, banana ketchup, beef broth, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the hotdogs . Cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Bechamel Sauce
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until there are no remaining lumps. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk in the milk, salt, and white pepper.
- Continuously whisk for 7-8 minutes until the sauce is thick and can coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat.
Lasagna Assembly
- Grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish that’s at least 3” deep. Ladle a thin layer of the meat sauce on the bottom.
- Take 4 lasagna noodles and lay them horizontally across the pan; slightly overlapping each other.
- Ladle 1/3 of the meat sauce over the noodles.
- Pour half of the cream sauce over the meat sauce.
- Repeat these steps one more time. Once you are done layering the lasagna, there shoulad be the rest of the meat sauce on top. Cover that with the cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes; until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on top.
