Tag: pork
Stuffed Italian Meatball Grinder
Stuffed Italian Meatball Grinder
On the East Coast, a grinder is a sandwich on Italian hoagie rolls with hot ingredients instead of cold cuts; with cheese and Italian salad on it. My sandwich is reminiscent of the old MN state fair grinder stall that serve meatballs, sauce, and cheese stuffed into hollowed out Italian bread; instead of slicing the bread in half.
Ingredients
- hoagie buns
- mozzarella cheese shredded
Meatballs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef or 50/50 ground beef and pork
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 small yellow onion finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minded
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper optional
Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 small yellow onion finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 16 oz canned crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1/4 cup basil chopped
- 2 tbsp oregano chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Mix all of the meatball ingredients together.
- Roll into mini meatballs about the size of a cherry.
- Add olive to a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Cook the meatballs for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Add in another 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the onions for 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
- Add the meatballs into the sauce. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Sandwich Assembly
- Cut each of the hoagie buns in half. Hollow out the inside, making sure not to tear open the outside.
- Place one of the halves in a pint glass to hold it upright. Put a small pinch of mozzarella in the bottom.
- Place 2 meatballs and some sauce on the bottom.
- Repeat this layering process 2 more times so there’s a total of 6 meatballs in the sandwich.
- Place some mozzarella cheese on top.

Kālua Pork
Kalua Pork
Kālua pork is a popular staple of Hawaiian cuisine. Traditionally, a whole pig is wrapped in banana leaves and buried underground with a fire; left to roast for an entire day. While that’s going to be a problem doing it in your backyard, you can still make Kālua pork on a smaller scale in your oven. You can find banana leaves at any asian market, usually in the frozen section. Pork shoulder will work the best for this recipe. All you have to do is line a dutch oven with banana leaves, place chunks of pork in the leaves with garlic, liquid smoke, and pink sea salt, wrap it up in the leaves, and bake. The banana leaves give the pork an earthy flavor that you can’t duplicate anywhere else. The pork s traditionally served with shredded cabbage or can be used as pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls.
Equipment
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
- banana leaves
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder cut into 2” chunks
- 8 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 tbsp liquid smoke
- Hawaiian pink salt
- water
Instructions
- Line a dutch oven with banana leaves.
- Place the chunks of pork shoulder in the center of the leaves. Add in the garlic and liquid smoke. Season with pink sea salt.
- Fold over and cover the pork with the banana leaves. Fill the dutch oven with 1” of water. Place the lid on and bake in a 300° preheated oven for 3 hours.
- Remove the lid and open up the banana leaves. Shred the pork with a fork and serve.


Bangers and Mash
If you can’t find a store bought banger sausage and want to make them from scratch, a recipe I made is: 4lbs ground pork, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp mace, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp …
The Breakfast Meatloaf
The Breakfast Meatloaf
I was dreaming of being stoned one day at work and came up with this coronary of an idea: the breakfast meatloaf. (While I don’t really get high anymore, I can still pretend). Let’s turn breakfast sausage into a loaf; mixing in hash browns, French fried onions, English muffin breadcrumbs(biscuits would be even better), and an egg; wrap it in bacon, bake it, then top off with cheese and fried eggs. On this day of January 18th, 2024, I made it happen. This breakfast meatloaf is enough to serve 6; topping each slice with a fried egg and cheese. Wanna have double bypass surgery? Put a slice in between a glazed donut. Quadruple bypass surgery? Cover it in country gravy.
Servings: 6
Equipment
- grater
- food processor
- baking pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small potato about 1 cup
- 1 1/2 lbs pork or turkey sage sausage
- 2 English muffins
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup French fried onions
- 6 strips thin cut bacon
Toppings
- cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Add 2 English muffins to a food processor.
- Pulse until breadcrumbs are formed. Set aside.
- Using a grater, grate one small potato.
- Heat up the vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add in the hash browns in an evenly thin layer.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes a side until crispy. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, add in the sage sausage, egg, French fried onions, English muffin breadcrumbs, and the cooled hash browns.
- Form into an oval shaped meatloaf.
- Place the meatloaf on a baking sheet lined in parchment paper. Wrap the meatloaf with the bacon; 4 slices across the top and 2 around the perimeter.
- Bake the meatloaf in a preheated 350° oven for 60 minutes. Let rest.
- In a small skillet, fry up the eggs; sunny side up.
- Top the meatloaf with grated cheddar cheese and 2 sunny side up eggs.

