Homemade Bacon

This is probably the most emotionally invested I've ever been making food. Jess got me a "Bacon" issue of Food Network Magazine in March 2014 (with a Homemade Bacon recipe by Michael Symon) and It took this long for me to work up the nerve to cure and smoke my own bacon. I would have been crushed if it didn't work out and ruined my perception of bacon.
It turns out even a fool can't mess this up because:
a) I am a fool
and,
b) the bacon was easily the best bacon I have ever eaten
My good friend described it as "Goldilocks" bacon... it was just right.
There actually isn't too much work involved in making bacon. You pretty much just get things together and wait for up to 10 days before you can finally reap the benefits of your labours.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs pork belly (skin on or off, I cut the skin off because it was too creepy to look at and made me feel like Hannibal Lector for having it in the apartment)
• 1/4 cup sea salt   
• 1 tsp pink curing salt mixed with a small amount of cold water (also known as Prague Powder #1, check the amount required for the amount of meat you have)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
• 2 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin

Directions:

1. Remove the skin if desired.
2. Rinse the pork belly and pat dry.
3. Cut the pork belly to fit in a couple Ziploc bags (I cut mine into 4).
4. Mix the rub ingredients in a bowl and coat the pork belly in the bags.
5. Refrigerate for 7-10 days flipping once a day.
6. Remove from the bag and rinse thoroughly then pat dry.
7. Refrigerate on a wire rack (uncovered) for a couple more days.
8. Smoke or bake in the oven at 200 F until the internal temperature reaches 150 F (I tried both and preferred the smoked bacon, I used pecan wood-chips).
9. Refrigerate until firm then slice and cook.
10. You can apparently store this for a week in the fridge or a couple months in the freezer but it will disappear quickly.

 

This really was perfectly seasoned bacon. It had a great balance of sweetness, heat, and salt. I found that it is best cooked in the oven at 350 F to caramelize some of the sugars in it and render some fat out without burning the bacon. I tried to cut it evenly but ended up with some thick ends that I diced up and fried to top salads. I will be making this again...and again...and again

Cuban Fritas and Special Sauce

Here are a couple quick recipes to take burgers or sliders to another level without much effort. On New Years Eve I made a bunch of wings along with around 20 sliders. To make the preparation easier I decided to go with an assembly line preparation of the burgers similar to McDonald's or White Castle. It allowed me to quickly grill the patties and get them in peoples mouths without having them top their own burger. I figured that there was enough food that picky eaters could find something else.
They ended up being a hit and I have made the special sauce a few more times for other burgers or dipping sauce for fries.
I was watching "You Gotta Eat Here" (A Canadian food show), that was actually set in Miami for an episode and saw a burger place where they topped the burgers with crispy fried potatoes. I didn't see the full episode but was captivated by this old guy that manned the fryer station at his family's restaurant and stubbornly refused to believe anyone else could fry a potato with his expertise. It turns out that it is pretty easy and well worth the effort if you want to get that burger and fries feel without actually serving a burger and fries.
For the sliders I took a couple bags of buttery white dinner buns, sliced them in half, started with special sauce, burger (beef, pork, garlic, and smoked paprika), cheddar or jalapeno-jack cheese, pickle slices, special sauce, a handful of fritas, and finally the top of the bun.
 I'll start with the fritas (they can be prepared in advance and stored in a container):

Ingredients:

• 1 potato
• 1 liter canola oil
• salt

Directions:

1.  Scrub your potato clean under cool water.
2. Grate the potato with the larger holes on a box grater into a bowl of cold water.
3. Rinse the starch from the potato shreds in the bowl until it runs clear. 
4. Pat them dry with a paper towel.
5. In a high sided pot or deep fryer heat the oil to 350 F and lower the potatoes into the oil (I fried mine in 2 or 3 batches).
6. Fry them for around 6 minutes stirring slightly to keep them from sticking together.
7. Remove from the oil and season with salt.
8. They should be good for a few days in a container.

The "special/secret" sauce is just a mixture of a few things you might put on a burger anyways. I was excited to make it because Jess/Santa had given me a nifty squeeze bottle in my stocking for Christmas and I was looking for something to put in it. This is probably better if you make it at least 6 hours before you eat so that the flavours have a little time to blend.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a fork or whisk. 
2. Taste test with some fritas and readjust the seasoning if needed.
3. Line a tall drinking glass with a sandwich bag and pour the sauce into the bag.
4. Cut the corner off the bag and transfer to your squeeze bottle (this is easier than a funnel because the sauce is pretty thick).

Lemon Buffalo Wings

We had a few people over for a New Years party and made a couple things to feed us without being locked in the kitchen while we could be celebrating. To start off the night I made a huge plate of wings.
Chicken wings were something I missed in New Zealand and Australia and were one of the first things I ate as soon as we arrived home. The recipe is really easy to prepare because it is based off a store bought wing sauce that I modified to amp up the flavour.
The most time consuming part was frying the wings because my deep fryer died and I ended up frying these in a big pot, the apartment had a distinct fried poultry smell for the party but it faded as we had more and more food.
The lemon was the extra kick that added some citrus to cut through the buffalo wing sauce.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of wings
• 4 lemons
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbsp honey 
• 3 cups buffalo wing sauce

Directions:

1. Marinade the chicken in the juice of two lemons, the lemon carcass, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 cup of wing sauce, cayenne, and a pinch of the pepper flakes. Over night or at least a few hours.
2. Pat the marinade off the wings with paper towel.
3. Deep fry the wings at 375 degrees F for eight minutes until they are crispy.
4. Put the wings in an oven safe glass dish.
5. When all the wings are fried put them in the oven to keep warm while you make this sauce (this will ensure they are cooked through).
6.  On the stove top add the remaining garlic and oil to a sauce pan and soften the garlic.
7. Add the juice of the other two lemons.
8. Add everything except the butter and cook for around 5 min.
9. Add the butter and stir until the sauce is the consistency you desire.
10. Toss the wings in the sauce and devour.

Vodka Gimlet

We can thank my brother (in a very round about way) for this recipe. I am an avid reader and try to devour as many trashy paperback novels/series as I can get through in a week. I average at around one and a half per week and usually finish 75 books a year. One of my major frustrations is authors who do not write fast enough for me to stay interested in their work. To ease my frustrations I now give them a 10 book head-start to make sure they finish what they start and hopefully don't die before the series is finished (It is surprising how often this happens).
The most recent series I have been reading is the Archy McNally series by Lawrence Sanders, Lawrence died but the series has been carried on. It also happens to be one of my brothers favourite book series from when it was originally written in the early 90's.
Archy is a private investigator working "discrete inquires" for the upper crust in Palm Beach, Florida. He is a bit of a womanizer that has affinities for fine food and numerous drinks. One drink that he regularly guzzles is a Vodka Gimlet.
I had to look it up because I wasn't familiar with it but is is basically vodka and some form of lime juice. It is great for avoiding scurvy and tastes delicious as well. It is probably more suited for summer but I didn't want to wait another 6 months before I tried it.
Gimlet's are traditionally a made with gin but like Martini's are probably better made with Vodka.
In my research I also found that they are made with "Rose's Lime Cordial", something that I have never heard of but is popular in England. I ended up making my own lime juice and it was worth the hour I spent squeezing limes.

Ingredients:
This makes about a cup of finished lime cordial.

• The juice of 20 - 25 limes (2 Cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• Vodka
• The zest of 10 limes
• drop of green food coloring (optional)
• sparkling water (optional)

Directions:

1. Clean the lime thouroughly.
2. Zest 10 of them and set aside.
3. Squeeze the juice into a measuring cup until you have two cups of it (don't worry about pulp being in the juice because you will strain it later).
4. In a small sauce pan gently boil the juice until it reduces by half.
5. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
6. Remove it from the heat and add the zest and drop of food coloring then let is steep for 15 minuets.
7. Strain and bottle for use (I am not sure what the consistency should be - mine wasn't thick but still juicy/runny).
8. Store in the fridge.
9. For the drink I went with 3 jiggers of Vodka to 1 jigger of juice shaken and strained into a martini glass. If you want to lighten it up you top it up with sparkling water.

 I think this is my new favourite drink and will probably end up looking crazy more often when buying 20 or more limes at a time.

Red Beans and Rice

I went to New Orleans for a bachelor party in March and when we weren't out on the town we actually got to enjoy some amazing Creole and Cajun food. My favourite was Red Beans and Rice. This was traditionally a "wash day" meal because you could throw everything in the pot and head down to the river or wherever people did laundry back in the day. Usually people use leftover ham from the previous meal but Jess hates ham so I ended up using bacon and it turned out great. I love the smokey flavour of the sausage combined with the creaminess of the bean sauce.  

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried red beans
• ½ pound chopped bacon
• 1 chopped yellow onion
• 2 stalks chopped celery
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch cayenne
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 pound smoked sausage (see my Andouille recipe)
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups cooked white rice
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions 

 Here is a picture of one of the post cards I got framed after we got back:

Directions

1. Place the beans in a large bowl or pot and cover with water by 2 inches.
2. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and set aside.
3. In a large pot, cook the bacon over medium-high heat.
4. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper to the pot. Season with the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook about 4 minutes.
5. Add the bay leaves, parsley, sausage, and cook, stirring, to brown the sausage, about 4 minutes.
6. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
7. Add the beans and stock and bring to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 3 hours.
9. Remove from the heat and with the back of a heavy spoon, mash about 1/2 of the beans against the side of the pot.
10. Continue to cook until the beans are tender and creamy, 20 minutes.
11.  Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.
12. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

 

Cajun Style Andouille Sausage

This was my first foray into meat smoking and I think it was very successful. I will definitely change a few thing next time but was very happy with the final product, (next time I will use pork casings instead of the collagen ones I had on hand, I will use curing salts, and I will get my meat from a butcher instead of using the prepackaged pork that has a lesser fat content). The smokey flavor mixed with the spice of these sausages is mouth watering.
I fell in love with Andouille on a trip to New Orleans for a bachelor party... despite spending an inordinate amount of time on Bourbon Street we actually ate some amazing food from the area including dishes that feature Andouille as a key ingredient. My favourite dish was Red Beans and Rice with smoked sausage.
To make this sausage it ate up most of a day but was well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

• 5lbs ground pork butt
• 3 tbsp smoked paprika
• 5 - 6 feet pork casings
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (2 if you want to amp it up a bit)
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 - 3/4 of a light beer
• 1 tsp curing salts (this is optional if you "hot smoke" your sausage, I didn't use it this time but will in the future because it cuts the risk of pesky things like botulism)
• 3-4 cups Pecan wood chips

Directions:

1. Prepare your sausage casings for stuffing according to the suppliers instructions.
2. Mix the meat and spices thoroughly and refrigerate for a couple hours to have them blend.
3. Soak your wood chips in water or beer for 30 min then get your smoker ready to go (I smoked mine on a natural gas bbq).
4. Smoke your sausage at 170 F to 250 F (my bbq was pretty constant at 200 F on the lid thermometer, I'm guessing it was probably closer to 225 F under the lid) until the internal temp of the sausages reads 165 F. My sausage took about 3-4hrs.

Sweet Buttermilk Biscuits

I slightly modified my biscuit recipe to make more of a cakey biscuit that is perfect to pair with jams and preserves and scarf down with a cup of tea.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon (extra to top)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (extra to top)
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter (cold and cubed)
• 3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the food processor with the butter.
4. Pulse the processor until the dough looks like wet sand.
5. Add most of the milk and pulse a couple times until you have a wet dough.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter top.
7. With your hands, press the dough out until it is around half an inch thick. 
8. Fold it over on itself and repeat (I fold it 7 times but that's just cause I like the number 7).
9. It will pretty much double in height in the oven so pat it down to half of the final height you want.
10. Cut it into rounds using a cookie/dough cutter or a drinking glass (If you have nothing round I guess you could make square ones)
11. Repeat the process with the scraps but try not to work the dough too much.
12. Top with sugar and cinnamon.
13. Bake the biscuits for around ten minutes (try to keep an eye on the bottoms because they cook pretty quick, I ended up broiling them for a minute to get the tops golden).
14. Try not to burn your mouth as you start stuffing them in.  

Spaghetti Sauce with Corned Beef

I get nostalgic thinking about this recipe because it was the standard spaghetti sauce recipe that would be simmering away on the stove when I was a kid. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that everyone else wasn't on the same page as my family for their spaghetti nights.
This is actually one of the oldest recipes in my family passed down a few generations. It was born out of the post WWII era of affordable (canned) foods and is tastier than you would imagine.
It can be thrown together and heated in about 45min. I actually have an affinity for canned/processed meat and think they can actually be enjoyable (in moderation).

Ingredients:

• 2 cans tomato soup
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can corned beef (Hereford is my brand of choice)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• basil or oregano (fresh or dry if you want)

Directions:

1. Mix everything in in a sauce pan and simmer on low until heated thoroughly. 
2. Remove bay leaves and serve hot topped with extra cheese. 

Stuffed Potatoes

There is something about the creaminess of the filling mixed with the crust of melted cheese and potato skin that makes me drool over stuffed potatoes. You can pretty much eat them as their own meal depending on what you put in them. This is a fairly standard recipe with cheese, bacon, onion and sour cream but you really don't need more than that for the potato to compete as the tastiest part of the meal. 

I try to make sure that the skin is seasoned well so that the whole thing can be eaten. There is nothing more disappointing than a hollowed out skin sitting on a plate after someone abandoned it for the garbage. 

I find that it is easier to make these over two days (one day to bake and the second to fill).

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes
• 1/2 a package of bacon
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt, pepper, and garlic salt

Directions:

1. Clean the potatoes then prick them all over with a fork (this will keep them from exploding in the oven).
2. Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.
3. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 F for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
4. When cool enough - slice each in half lengthwise and scoop the insides into a mixer.
5. Cook the bacon until crisp then soften the onion in the bacon grease (I dumped all the bacon grease in with the potato filling).
6. Chop the bacon in to small pieces.
7. Add the bacon, onions, sour cream and cheese to the mixer.
8. Mix thoroughly.
9. Re-fill the skins with the improved potato.
10. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on the tops.
11. Heat the potatoes at 350 F for about 30 min.
12. When they are starting to look bubbly turn the broiler on low until the tops are nicely browned.
13. Serve hot (not molten hot) with sour cream and fresh scallion.

 

Steakhouse Cheese Bread

 

A couple of weeks ago my friend took me for dinner at Caesar's Steakhouse & Lounge in downtown Calgary. I have been there a handful of times in the past and love the food and throwback atmosphere. The steak is always great but the thing I crave the most is their cheese and garlic bread. I have a feeling that they are so good mostly because they are doused in butter, garlic, and cheese. 
Jess and I went to Canmore this past weekend made a "steakhouse" dinner including Teriyaki steak and mushrooms, stuffed potatoes (recipe coming), and my version of Caesar's cheese bread. I don't think their recipe includes the cheese sauce that I used but it ended up being very tasty, easy to prepare, and different than the usual.

*** If you are at all concerned about calories, salt, fat, carbs or your general health I recommend avoiding this recipe at all costs... if you are a glutton like me continue on to your destiny.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of French bread
• 1 can cheese sauce/soup (I used Campbell’s Condensed Cheddar Cheese soup)
• Parmesan cheese (I used a 1/3 of a shaker of Kraft Parmesan Cheese)
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Slice bread lengthwise. 
2. Coat both sides with the melted butter.
3. Turn your broiler on low.
4. Apply a thick layer of cheese sauce. 
5. Shake a thick layer of Parmesan over the cheese. 
6. Put in oven until the Parmesan browns and it looks like boiling lava. 
7. Serve hot.