Tag: pork
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.
Hmong Smoked Pork with Ginger and Lemongrass
Hmong Smoked Pork with Ginger and Lemongrass
Earlier I did a Hmong recipe for smoked beef. You can do the same smoking process with pork. I used pork sirloin since it is minimally fatty and inexpensive. The pork is cured overnight and smoked for 90 minutes over mesquite wood. The pork gets shredded in a food processor, then mixed with ginger, lemongrass, chilies, cilantro, and green onions. This flavorful, porky mix gets topped over steamed rice. The heat from the rice melts any fat in the meat as it permeates the ginger and lemongrass. FYI, this is also one of the best pork jerky recipes that you’ll ever eat.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- meat hooks
- food processor
Ingredients
- 4 lbs pork sirloin sliced 1/4” thick
- 1 tbsp pink curing salts
- 1 tsp mushroom seasoning
- 1/2 cup ginger minced
- 1/2 cup lemongrass finely chopped
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup green onions chopped
- 5 Thai chilies finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp salt
Wood Chips
- mesquite wood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the curing salts and mushroom seasoning.
- Marinate the pork with the cure seasoning overnight.
- Put the pork slices on a meat hooks.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Hang the pork on the top rack in your smoker.
- Smoke for 90 minutes. Remove from the smoker.
- Place the pork on a baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 8 minutes a side to further dry out the pork.
- Place the pork in a food and pulse until chopped. Place the pork in a large bowl.
- Place the ginger, lemongrass, and chilies in the food processor and pulse a few times.
- Mix together the pork, lemongrass/ginger blend, cilantro, green onions, fish sauce, and salt.
Pork Neck Bone Soup
Pork Neck Bone Soup
What I love about Hmong food as a learn about their culture is the simplicity of many dishes. Pork neck bone soup is definitely that, but still boasts a ton flavor and is the perfect comfort food on a budget on a cold MN winter day. The pepper dip that goes along with the soup adds a whole new dimension of flavor. The goal of this soup is to produce a rich, clear pork stock. The neck bones and riblets need to be soaked in salt water over night. This seasons the bones as well as draws out blood and other impurities. The next day, the bones get simmered in new water for 30 minutes. Skim the scum off the top of the stock. Then the stock gets poured through cheesecloth to remove anything else that keeps the stock from being clear. Then to bones and stock are briefly simmered with ginger, then the cabbage; just enough to wilt the leaves. This soup is served with steamed rice and the pepper dip to dunk the riblets in to.
Equipment
- food processor or mortar and pestle
- cheese cloth
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs pork riblets
- 1 1/2 lbs pork neck bones
- 3 tsp salt divided
- 1 small green cabbage cored; chopped
- 3” ginger peeled and minced
- 1 tsp mushroom seasoning
Pepper Dip
- 10 Thai chilies
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp mushroom seasoning
- 1/2 lime juiced
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
Pepper Dip
- Place all of the ingredients in a food processor.
- Process until smooth.
- Set aside in the refrigerator.
Pork Neck Bone Soup
- Soak the riblets and bones in a pot of water with 2 tsp of salt overnight.
- Drain the water from the bones and wash. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil with the bones and riblets. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Skim off the scum that floats to the top.
- Scoop out the bones and riblets and place in another pot. Line the pot with cheesecloth. Pour the stock through the cheesecloth, removing any more bone debris and impurities.
- Bring the pot back to boil.
- Add the ginger, salt, and mushroom seasoning to the pot and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Add in the cabbage. Allow to wilt for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
