Sic Semper Porcus

Gumbo

In honor of Fat Tuesday (yes it was a while ago) we invited over a bunch of friends for a nice rousing evening of drinking.  No beads, no floats, but we did have a big pot of gumbo.  I love gumbo, but so often what is served is a pale form of this rich dish which even allows for modifications.  The biggest issue is that most times peple don't make the roux, the mixture of fat and flower cooked slowly.  Roux is the base to many dishes but requires a bit of patience.  Here's my take on a classic gumbo.

3⁄4 cup vegetable oil
3⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped onion
1⁄2 cup finely chopped celery
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced thickly
1/2 lb smoked boar belly (or substitute tasso ham), diced
4 cups hot chicken stock
1 1/2 lb of diced tomatoes (canned is fine)
1 tbsp. salt
1⁄2 tbsp. cayenne
1 lb okra sliced
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Filé powder
Parsley and scallions for garnish
Louisiana style hot sauce

Make a brown roux with the oil and flour, it should be about the color of caramel. Raise the heat a bit and add onions, and celery; cook until tender vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. 

Add the sausage and smoked meat,  Then add the tomatoes stirring constantly so as to not separate the roux.  Slowly add the stock and then the salt and cayenne and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer for half an hour or when the meat seems fork tender.  Add the okra and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook for 3 to 5 minutes more. Stir in filé powder at the last minute to thicken the gumbo (if needed, the okra and the roux also serve this purpose). Serve with white rice, scallions, parsley and hot sauce.

A Twist on Grits and Sausage

There are few things I enjoy in the morning more than grits.  It must've been something my mom instilled in me, but sadly most dining establishments north of the mason dixon line never have hide nor hair of it on their menus.  Because of this, it's always something I cook at home.

My buddy Ian was in town from Minneapolis and so I made up a nice hangover cure so we could get ourselves moving and actually enjoy the city instead of sitting around the house regretting the previous night's indiscretions.

Don't ever buy breakfast sausage patties, please I implore you.  All it takes is combining ground pork with spices and forming patties.  You can either buy the pork already ground, or take pork butt (shoulder) and run it through your meat grinder or food processor.

Grits and Sausage

1 pound ground pork
3 teaspoons salt
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons finely diced cilantro
1 tablespoons guajillo chile powder

Combine ingredients and allow to marinate for a bit.  Form the patties this will yield about eight 2in. patties.  Cook over medium high heat until both sides are browned, reduce heat and allow to finish cooking through.

1/3 cup of grits
1 1/3 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot prapika
2 shallots finely diced
1 cup feta
2 tablespoons butter

Cook the shallots in half the butter over low heat until they are soft and slightly browned.  Bring the water to a boil and then add the salt and grits and stir.  Reduce heat to low and cover, cook for about 3-5 minutes.  After the grits have thickened to the desired consistency mix in the feta, paprika and the shallots.  The remaining butter is for garnish shoudl you want a bit more decadence.  Place in a bowl and top with the sausages.  Pair with a strong cup of coffee.

Cheers

Pork Shoulder and Mushrooms in a Mustard Cream Sauce

Sunday night found me lonely with no guests to serve, no roommate at home,  no games on the tube, and not a whole lot to do.  So naturally I decided to make an easy French dinner to occupy my time.  The sauce in this recipe should go well with just about any basic production of pork or chicken.  It's loosely based around a Julia Child recipe with some help from a host of other cookbooks and whatever happened to be in my fridge and pantry.

Ingredients:

For the braised pork:

1.5 lbs of pork shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion cut into thin crescents
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 lb mushrooms (your choice) sliced and sauteed in 1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp butter
12 oz lager beer

For the sauce

1/3 cup cider vinegar
Generous portion of ground black pepper (3/4 tbsp)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp mustard powder mixed in a bit of water.

Directions:

1. Place pork and butter into dutch oven or other deep cast iron pot and cook on medium for five minutes.

2. Add onions and garlic and cook for a further ten minutes stirring occasionally.

3. Pour beer into pot and raise to a simmer.  Reduce heat and cook covered for 40 minutes.

4. In a separate pan sautee mushrooms with butter for five minutes on medium low heat and add to the pork.  Cook mixture forty more minutes uncovered.

5. To make the sauce pour the vinegar and ground pepper into a small sauce pan and boil rapidly until the vinegar reduces by 2/3

6. Add the cream to the vinegar, raise to a simmer, reduce heat and cook a further five minutes or until the cream is reduced by 1/3.

7. Add mustard to cream sauce and cook a further five minutes on low heat.

8.  Increase heat on pork to boil off excess braising liquid and stir frequently to avoid burning the meat.

9.  Add cream sauce to pork and stir together while raising to a simmer.

10. Cut the heat, garnish with fresh tarragon (or parsley if you don't have the fancy shit.)

11. Serve over plain white rice, or boiled potatoes.

Wee Birds...Also Known as Our Decadent Quail Dinner

Paul has left the city of Chicago.  It was tragic but we all knew it would happen sooner or later.  He's gone off to the nation's capital to try to get the planning job he's always wanted.  Let's wish him luck.  In honor of that, and his birthday, we had a celebratory meal.  For those of you who are Sam's Wine customers, you may have gotten my email about the wine I chose to pair with this meal.  If not, this will all be new to you.

I felt like having game, so I called up Chicago Game and Gourmet to see what they had that was fresh, or at least not currently frozen.  It turns out they had quail that was partially boned, which makes things much easier, and so I jumped on the trusty bicycle and headed down to 350 N. Ogden.

The recipe that follows was inspired by Provencal cuisine.  I figured that the birds needed something to make them a bit richer to hold up to the wines I had planned.  I had some good black olives and decided that a tapenade would serve that purpose, but I wanted something that was a touch sweet as well.  I always thought game fowl went well with fruit, and so the inspiration hit me, figs were the answer.  And thus was born grilled quails with olive and fig sauce.

8 medium sized quails
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoons diced parsley
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups red wine
fresh ground white pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine above ingredients in a large bowl and allow to marinate for about three hours.

1/8 lb of  homemade bacon roughly diced
6 dried figs roughly chopped
1/4 cup black olives pitted and diced
4 shallots diced
1 teaspoon diced fresh sage
1 cup of marsala
1/2 cup of chicken stock

Combine the figs and marsala and allow the figs to soak up that wonderfull booze for about half an hour.  Start the grill and allow the coals to get fairly hot.  Being cooking the bacon and cook until most of the fat is rendered and the pieces are crispy.  Remove from skillet and add shallots and cook over low heat until shallots are soft.  Increase heat and add the figs and marsala and cook until most of the liquid is gone.  Add the olives and stock and bring to a simmer and then reduced the heat and allow to cook for another 5-10 minutes. 

At this point you can throw your quails on the grill.  Remove the quails from the marinade, pat fry but you don't have to be so thorough that you remove all the herbs and garlic.  The fire should be hot enough that you can acheive a crispy skin without buring the birds (medium-high heat).  Grill the birds skin side down for about 4 minutes or until brown and crispy, flip the birds and cook for about another 5-7 minutes or until the juices run relatively clear (I tend to cook my birds a little less then most because I don't like cooking all those wonderful juices out).

Reheat the sauce while adding the bacon and herbs and salt an pepper to taste.  Spoon over the quail and serve.  I paired this with an herbed potato cake and roasted aspargus and of course, the wine.

The Cairanne was for work and the Burgundy was for fun.  Two wonderfully contrasting wines.  The Cairanne from Domaine Brusset, who makes some of my favorite Cote du Rhone wines, was dark and rich and worked very well with the sauce, but is still ultimately a very young wine and I would love to see it with a bit of bottle age.  The burgundy, although not a particularly notable bottling from Domenique Laurent, still had some wonderful character.  It was a little tart but opened up as the meal went on.  It was a great sending off and I wish Paul all the best in DC.

Cheers

Pork and Gentrification

Yesterday I came across one of the NY Times' culture articles lamenting the decline of hipster businesses in a newly trendy neighborhood of the L.A. area.  The stagnant condition of the economy is apparently reducing business at 'retro design shops', 'yarn stores', and some coffee shop that has a play area for the kids with handmade Scandinavian toys made of Norwegian wood.

Although I've never been to City of Angels, I do live in the newly hip neighborhood of Wicker Park/Ukrainian village in Chicago.  Here there is a similar decline in business for the dog grooming parlors, bead shops, and boutiques that seem to keep only ten shirts in stock.  And all I have to say is good riddance!

I realize I'm a part of the young crowd that moved to my neighborhood and warped the local businesses into what they've become.  But this economic downturn has provided an oppurtunity to reverse this trend somewhat.  I propose a converging of interests between the newly arrived hipsters and the entrenched locals may be found in pork.

For example, everyday I see yet another sign of how bacon has become the official meat of hipsters.  Here's one such example.  Seriously take the time to watch that.  It is amazing.  All joking aside, however, many hipsters should be pleased to find that bacon has been eternally hip with majority of the ethnic communities that they are now moving into.  In my neighborhood I live amongst a good mix of Polish, Ukrainian, Puerto Rican, and Mexican.  Culinarily speaking these are all cultures that share a deep respect for pork and cured pork products.  This is why I can't really see myself living anywhere else in this city in the near future. 

Last year one of my favorite old Polish deli's on Division St., Andy's, fell victim to gentrification and closed its doors forever.  This was a great loss to local fans of tasty sausage.  It has been replaced by something called Angels and Mariachis a 'rock cantina' that has battery acid margueritas and lots of dishes with Mexican names and steep prices. 

If hipsters can combine their supposed new found love of pork with their local purchasing habits, we may hopefully be able to prevent further tragic losses of good food and perhaps witness a continued decline in dog grooming and 90 dollar t-shirt profits.

Wine for Boar

So, as I said in the last post, part of the inspiration for the boar stew was some nebbiolo that I wanted to drink.  Tom and I headed down to my family's house with a bottle of 2000 Produtorri del Barbaresco.  It was from the Pora vineyard and although it probably could've aged a bit more, I had a taste for Piedmont.  The wine worked beautifully with the dish as its relative youthful nature helped it stand up to the potent flavors fo the stew.  The fruit was still very bright showing dark cherries, followed by the classic leather and tobacco notes.  The structure of the wine was a highlight with the finish returning to ripe fruit.

As I have been placed as the steward/ cellar manager of my father's collection I picked out one of his old bottles that was in need of drinking.  I stumbled upon an obscure petit chateau from Bordeaux that was of the '82 vintage.  I wasn't really familiar with the producer, but the vintage certainly warranted giving the bottle a try.  I tried doing some research but couldn't figure anything else about the producer.  I don't know how my dad got his hands on this, but it had peaked my interest.  It was labelled as a Vin de Bordeaux, which didn't provide any help either.  I was sceptical that this wine would've held up well.  Even in a good vintage these are the wines that normally get consumed shortly after release.

Upon opening it, I was at least happy that it wasn't corked and hadn't turned to bordeaux vinegar.  The nose was a bit tired, but it had that wonderful earthy/ dank basement smell of well aged Bordeaux.  All in all the wine still had some life to it.  It probably should've been drunk earlier in its life, but I really enjoyed the slightly oxidized quality and the minerality that was still there.  Not much to say in the way of fruit, but if I want fruit I'll drink juice.  It was a pleasant surprise that shows that you don't always have to buy those damn expensive classed growths to enjoy well aged Bordeaux.

Cheers

Wild Boar Stew

Nothing says winter like a nice stew.  We had some wild boar that we purchased from the Chicago Game Market and I had some wonderful nebbiolo that I waned to drink so I decided to make a nice Northern Italian boar stew.  The dish was briefly marinated, something that I would remedy the next time I make this.  It clearly should left over night, but this was done a little bit hurriedly.

3lb of boneless shoulder of wild boar

Marinade Ingredients
2 bay leaves
4 large thyme sprigs 1tablespoon dried
2 rosemary sprigs or about 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary
1 1/2 cup full-bodied red wine
2 medium onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
12 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon juniper berries, lightly crushed

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb of semi-dried italian sausage sausage, cut into slices
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp plain flour
1 1/2 cup of red wine
2 cups of beef stock
1 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful parsley, chopped, to garnish

Cut the wild boar into medium chunks and put the pieces of meat into a large bowl and add all the ingredients for the marinade, mix together well, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge at least overnight, stirring it occasionally.

Separate the meat from the rest of the marinade ingredients and set aside. Heat some of the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and cook the meat in batches until it is browned all over. Season as necessary.

Add all the browned meat to the casserole dish with a little more oil and add the sausage and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for another minute then toss in the flour followed by the wine, both fresh and the reserved wine from the marinade. Add the beef stock, porcini mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to simmer gently for 1½ - 2 hours.

Shortly before the stew is ready, add the butter  and some salt and freshly ground black pepper, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

The dish was filling, with the meat not quite as tender as I would've wanted.  I really think this would've been remedied had I actually planned ahead and marinated for as long as I put in the recipe.  Wild boar has this rich almost minerally quality.  I made some very simple risotto and cooked up some tasty yellow carrots my dad had picked up at the farmer's market.

The next thing I want to do with wild boar is see if we can successfully make wild boar bacon.  Wish me luck.

Basil Rillettes

Rillettes are one of my favorite comfort foods.  They are remarkably easy to make and then keep in your fridge for a couple weeks, bailing you out whenever you need a simple meal.  Rillettes are similar in texture and flavor to pâté and are traditionally made with pork.  The meat is cubed or chopped and then salted and spiced heavily and cured overnight.  The next day the meat is cooked slowly until it is tender enough to be easily shredded, and then cooled and preserved with enough rendered fat and stock to form a paste. With some nice bread and perhaps some cheese and a fresh salad this makes a perfect light meal.  I always love pairing rillettes with a nice Burgundy (Givry or Santenay) or a Cru Beaujolais (Morgon or Julienas).  But you can pair it with whatever gets your jollies going.

Rillettes

3 pounds Pork shoulder or belly (skin removed), cut into large chunks
1/4 cup of salt
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
4 cups veal or pork stock
2 cups dry white wine
1 medium onion studded with 5 cloves
3 bay leaves
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves, peeled
10 cracked peppercorns (tied up in cheesecloth)
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup chopped basil or some other fragrant herb (parsley, cilantro, tarragon, etc.), this is optional
8 ounces of rendered pork fat

Cut up the pork and cover in salt and pepper, place in a container and cure overnight.  Remove the pork and rinse.Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Add the pork to a large pot and add the stock until the meat is covered.  Add the remaining ingredients and place in the oven for 4 to 6 hours or until the meat is falling apart.  Take the meat out and allow to cool, shred with fingers or forks adding a bit of the cooking liquid to make the texture more spreadable.  Taste the meat for seasoning and then add the herbs if you are using them.  Finally, put the mixture in to small jars or ramekins.  Allow the meat to fully cool and then pour some of the rendered fat on top to seal the rilletes.  When you are ready to serve the rillettes remove them from the fridge 2 hours prior to eating as they are much more flavorful at room temperature.

Ribs

Well the election season is over and I can't help but wonder the effect that this humble little blog had on it.  All three of its authors worked for political change in some manner, with Paul working for Obama in Indiana and actually turning his and Tom's home state blue for the first time since 1964.  In honor of this, I present a presidential rack of ribs.

So everybody is going to have their take on the best way to make ribs.  Ultimately the true determinant of a good ribmaster is patience.  Ribs take a long time, both in prep and cooking, and in my opinion there isn't really any good way to cut corners.  This is where we find ourselves, confronted with the daunting, and yet completely worthwhile task of preparing large quantities of ribs for hungry guests.  Get the smoker going early in the morning, as early a possible (barring overindulgence from the night before, in which case you get a friend or roommate to do it).  If you do not have a smoker you can rig your normal grill to do indirect cooking by placing a driptray in the middle and all your coals circling the outside of the grill, throw on some soaked chips and, voila, you have a smoker.

Once your smoker is going you should take your ribs that have been marinating in the fridge out and brought to room temperature.  What should they have been marinating in, you ask?  Well any number of things, but I went with a mixture of garlic, red wine, black pepper and a few other spices, all dependent on what you're in the mood for.  After your ribs are more or less room temperature, you should apply your rub.  The rub, in my humble opinion, is essential as it adds a flavorful crust to the outside of the ribs and also locks in all those juices that are trying to escape during the long cooking process.  The rub I used this time was a masala (ground spice mixture) of ancho chiles, guajillo chiles, canela (mexican cinnamon), powdered ginger, salt and sichuan peppercorns.  Rub it thoroughly on your ribs, don't be afraid to get messy as this is one of the joys of cooking (they forgot to mention that in the book).

Now that your ribs are on the grill, you're in the home stretch.  Quickly make a basting liquid to apply during the later stages of cooking.  If you want you can base it off of your marinade, that provides a bit of continuity.  I used red wine, a bit of chicken stock and some ground chiles.  Periodically baste your ribs, but for the last hour or two you're going to want to let them be so that the heat can crisp up the outside a bit.

Lastly we must make our sauce.  This is were alot of the creativity comes in.  I made mine with a whole host of items which I will graciously impart to our reading audience.

2 fresh tomatoes diced
1 can of tomato paste
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons pomegranate syrup (purchased at Vietnamese grocery store)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons onion, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon chile paste
dash of fish sauce
3 tablespoons Zufran (banana sauce, also purchased at Vietnamese grocery store)
fresh ground pepper to taste

Sautee the garlic and onions over medium-low heat until they are soft.  Add the remainder of the ingredients and let it simmer on low heat until it is the desired consistency.  I like my barbecue sauces thick so I let it go for a while.  Slather that sauce on your ribs when they are freshly out of the smoker, as I think this allows the sauce to better seep into the flesh.  I liked this random sauce I put together on the spot, but I might tweak it a bit in the future.  It was a nice balance between sweet, spicy and savory.  These ribs are classically American in many respects, but much like our President-elect, they harmoniously incorporate many elements from the rest of the world, resulting in hope for a new rib future.  On one final unrelated note: ¡Si Se Puede Obamanos!

BACON-burger

So this is a variation on a previous recipe that I posted in the past.  We had some old ground chuck with a touch of freezer burn that clearly needed to be used up.  Clearly bacon can mask any inferior meat with texture and flavor, but instead of merely frying up loads of bacon and piling it high atop the patty, I added it to the mixture.  This not only helped render the freezer burn obsolete but also helped hold together the patties which had lost their ability to hold themselves together.  I added a bit of spice in the form of fresh cayenne peppers and a touch of acid and salt with the addition of finely diced capers.  In the end you never would have known that the burgers were made from questionable beef (to be fair it was probably still better beef than you find in most commercial establishments).  I garnished it with some heirloom tomatoes, arugula, crispy caramelized onions and a small slice of Parmesan Reggiano all thrown on a toasted baguette.  I realize this concoction comes off a bit pretentious, but I assure you it was well thought out and the toppings were not thrown on haphazardly...or at least to the extent that I had everything in my fridge.

BACON-buger

 

1 ½ lb ground chuck (freezer burn optional)

½ lb of cooked bacon finely chopped

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

2 fresh cayenne peppers (substitute jalapeños for more heat), diced

1 tbsp finely diced capers

1 tbsp diced fresh parsley

2 tsp hot Hungarian paprika

2 cloves of garlic diced

½ a yellow onion, sliced

¼ cup of dry sherry

 

Combine all the ingredients except the onions and sherry and form into 6 patties.  Grill to taste and adjust seasoning.  Add onions to a pan with oil and cook at a high temperature for one minute and then reduce heat and add sherry to finish caramelizing onions.  Add garnishes, Parmesan, arugula, tomatoes and onions.  I served this with a bottle of Domaine Garrignon Cotes du Rhone Rouge.  Damn fine burger…