Tag: pork
Pork and Root Vegetable Stew
Pork and Root Vegetable Stew
It’s stew season! I created this recipe in the craving of a stew with root vegetables such as rutabagas, turnips, sweet potatoes, amongst others. You can make this stew with whatever protein you’re craving; whether it be pork, beef, chicken, or turkey. Make sure to use whatever bones of the protein that you’re desiring for the stock.
Equipment
- 2 stock pots
Ingredients
Pork Stock
- 5 lbs pork bones neck, rib, and shoulder bones
- 1 gallon water
- 1 medium white onion diced
- 3 medium carrots diced
- 3 ribs celery diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 bay leaves
Pork and Root Vegetable Stew
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 lbs pork shoulder cubed
- 1/2 medium white onion finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 sweet potato peeled and diced
- 1 rutabaga peeled and diced
- 1 turnip peeled and diced
- 3 parsnips diced
- 3 carrots diced
- 3 medium yellow potatoes diced
- 1/2 cup parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Instructions
- Add all of the pork stock ingredients in a pot of boiling water. Simmer over low heat for 2 hours.

- Strain the stock in a colander. Set aside.

- In another pot, brown the pork shoulder over medium high heat for 10 minutes.

- Add in the onion and garlic. Brown for 5 minutes.

- Poor in the pork stock. Simmer for 1 hour over medium low heat.

- Stir in all of the vegetables. Continue simmering over medium low heat for another hour.

- Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley.

- Make a slurry out of cold water and cornstarch. Whisk in to the stew until the gravy thickens. Turn off the heat.


Smoked Mango Jalapeño Spareribs
Smoked Mango Jalapeño Spareribs
If you don’t know by now, I love me some ribs. Here’s another simple recipe using mangos and jalapeños as the base marinade for a rack of spareribs. If you’d like to use another type of fruit, pineapple, oranges, tart apples, or cherries are great substitutes. The ribs should be marinated for at least 1 day; preferably 2 days. They’ll taker 4-5 hours to smoke at 250 degrees for a 4-5lb rack. If using baby backs, they’ll take about 3 hours.
Equipment
- food processor
- gallon sized storage bag
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 rack pork spareribs 4-5lbs
Marinade
- 1 mango peeled and diced
- 4 jalapeños
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 8 garlic cloves
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 knob ginger
- 1 tbsp sea salt
Wood Chips
- hickory
Instructions
- Purée the marinade ingredients in a food processor.

- Cut the rack of ribs in half. Marinate the spareribs in a gallon sized storage bags for at least one day; 2 is even better.

- Remove the ribs from the storage bag. Allow to rest at room temperature for an hour.

- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place the ribs on the rack, then in the smoker. Add in the wood chips; replacing with new ones every hour.

- Smoke the ribs for 4-5 hours. They’ll be ready to eat when the bones are exposed on the tips.


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.














