Cooking Lately: Big Meats, Drunk Crowds

12 hour brisket for a backyard BBQ

I haven't been posting many recipes lately. Perhaps out of embarrassment out of the sheer, shameless gluttony of what I've mostly been making.

Glazed Roast Pork Shoulders

In the last two weeks, I've hosted a couple of events in our backyard, both of which I used as an excuse to make gigantic, spectacular meats and a ton of sides. One was a party ("I Did A Dime") I threw for myself to celebrate my tenth year in the classroom, and the other was my school's end-of-year party.

For the ten-year party, I made BBQ Brisket in the smoker, which I dry rubbed then smoked for 14 hours at 190 degrees. I also made glazed pork shoulders, picked red onion and fennel, German potato salad, and Greek tomato salad. 

Look at this glorious pork!

I had white bread, BBQ sauce and sweet pickles to go with the brisket.

German Potato Salad

Proof that there were vegetables there. 

Everything was inhaled. This BBQ also featured my most genius innovation this year--using home brewing equipment to carbonate boxed Franzia into world's worst "champagne". An entire 5-gallon keg of this was drunk before 9 pm. 

Also notable was the quality of the brisket. I've been practicing and tweaking my technique since we got the smoker two years ago, and this was the best version to date. What I've learned boils down to basically just being super anal about controlling the temperature. Watch it like a hawk and keep it steady and low (190-205) for the first seven hours, then at about 225 for the next five. Never let it get too hot for too long. 

So then, for the end-of-year school party, I decided to go all-Asian, as certain members of our staff claim fashionable food intolerances. Last year when I hosted, I played it safe. I made chicken piccata, roasted root vegetables with goat cheese and balsamic, walnut pesto pasta salad, tomato salad, and  ordered some cupcakes. It was good, but didn't really scream OH MY FUCKING GOD I AM SO GLAD THE YEAR IS OVER. It was too subdued, healthy, tame, and virtuous. Charter school teachers suffer from an overabundance of personality-crippling virtue, as it is. This year I went way more dirty. 

I made Bo Ssam, which I have been wanting to make for at least a year. 

Bo Ssam, in the most-used roasting pot in Denver. 

Bo Ssam is a Korean roast pork that all the food blogs on the internet have been obsessing over for the past year. The recipe I used is here.

It was INSANE. I also made the scallion sauce and ssam sauce. 

I also made a red-cooked, Szechuan pork belly, because why not? It was an experiment, and I wanted to push my kale-loving coworkers out of their comfort zones. Also, I had a tub of Szechuan pepper corns I'd bought forever ago and hadn't used yet.  

Red-Cooked Pork Belly 

To go with this, I also made some chile-soy marinated chicken skewers for the pork-rejecters in our midst And my classic peanut sauce.

In addition, I made a Vietnamese noodle-and-herb salad with nuam choc dressing, stir-fried veggies, and a big pot of sticky rice. 

Vietnamese Salad

Bo Ssam, Scallion-Ginger Sauce, Peanut Sauce, Sticky Rice 

A nice party plate!

So all in all, the summer is off to a fantastic start. Looking forward to cooking, relaxing, reading, and recouperating from year 10 in the classroom.

Will get some of these recipes up as soon as possible!

Christmas Dinner!

The main event! Slow-Roasted Glazed Pork Shoulder

Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes with Parmesan Garlic Bread Crumbs and Basil (recipe below)

I hosted Christmas dinner at our house this yea. My mom and brother flew in, since the day after Christmas is my mom's 60th birthday. We had twelve people over and I cooked a big, fabulous dinner, heavy with things I know my mom really likes. I made a glazed roast pork shoulder, which I've made a bunch of times, always to rave reviews. Then a bunch of delicious vegetable sides: braised red cabbage, sauteed cherry tomatoes with parmesan-garlic bread crumbs, fresh corn grits, and steamed green beans tossed with garlic, ginger and lemon.
And for dessert, I made my mom's favorite--creme brulee!

Creme Brulee! Also a great make-ahead party dish--just sprinkle with sugar and place under the broiler for a minute right before serving. 

From the right--tomatoes with bread crumbs, braised cabbage, roast pork, ginger-garlic green beans, fresh corn grits, green salad. 

I love cooking for a big crowd. There is only one thing to remember if you want to host a big dinner party and have a great time yourself:

Make everything you possibly can ahead of time. You do not want to be stuck in the kitchen, getting your cocktail dress smudged while your family drinks and enjoys themselves without you. I always make sure I have 20 minutes or less of work left to get dinner on the table, so I get to participate in cocktails and fun. 

For this dinner, I made the braised cabbage and grits ahead of time--they only needed to be rewarmed. The pork roasted all day--I just needed to make the glaze. I made the breadcrumbs for the tomatoes ahead, and the garlic-ginger-lemon sauce for the green beans. 

So 20 minutes before dinner, I put down my Manhattan and rewarmed the grits and cabbage, sauteed the tomatoes, steamed the green beans, made the glaze for the pork and assembled everything. I missed none of the fun and everything was hot and ready all at once. 

Me not missing the fun! Dinner is already basically done, so I can relax and get my drink on. 

I've put the pork recipe on the blog before, and here is a link to the original, which I first saw in Bonappit.

So I thought I would include two recipes for sides which were huge hits--the fresh corn grits and sauteed cherry tomatoes with parmesan-garlic breadcrumbs.

My goal with the grit recipe was to make grits that tasted more like fresh corn.
Fresh Corn Grits (makes enough for a dozen people or so)

Ingredients 
3 cups frozen sweet corn
1 can creamed corn
2 cups of coarse corn meal
several cups (? don't know exactly how much I used) or reduced fat milk
salt to taste

What to do 
Place the frozen corn in a food processor. Blitz into little corn crumbs. This is a cool trick--you have just made corn meal out of frozen corn instead of dried.
Put the frozen meal into your big pot and add the creamed corn and coarse corn meal. Cover with milk and simmer, stirring regularly. Add more milk if looks dry. This should be creamy and about the consistency of a thick pudding.
Season with salt.


Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes with Parmesan-Garlic Breadcrumbs and Basil 

Ingredients
1 3-inch piece of Parmesan cheese
2 fat garlic cloves
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
6 clam shell packs of cherry tomatoes (try to get different colors)\
Large handful of fresh basil, chopped
Dash olive oil, salt, pepper

What to do
Put the garlic in the food processor and pulse into tiny specks. Then add the cheese and pulse a few more times, creating a coarse grind.
Mix the garlic-cheese mix with the panko crumbs and place into a dry nonstick pan. Toast over a medium flame, tossing frequently, until golden brown. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan. Add the tomatoes and saute until the tomatoes are hot and cooked, but not mushy. You will notice the skins start to wrinkle, but the tomatoes should keep their shape. You may need to work in batches. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Place the tomatoes in a casserole dish. Top with toasted bread crumbs and chopped basil. Serve immediately! 

Biscuits and Gravy

The pictures in this post are kind of blurry--I didn't realize my lens had butter on it. 

I love making breakfast on Saturdays. Waking up late, drinking coffee or bloody marys (maries?) on the couch, watching Inglorious Bastards yet again, and of course making something for breakfast from whatever happens to be in the fridge.
So what did I have today? Buttermilk, which I always seem to have lately. One leftover smoked chorizo...idea! Biscuits and gravy!
First, I made buttermilk biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits 

• 1 cup melted butter 
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup buttermilk 
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp white sugar 
• 1 TB baking powder 
• 1 tsp black powder

Pre-heat oven to 400. Grease a cookie sheet. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Round into balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 25-30 min, or until golden brown. 

Before 

After! 

While the biscuits are baking, make the gravy. I made a bacon-and-chorizo gravy, but you can use any meat you'd like. 

Bacon and Chorizo Gravy 

• 4 strips bacon, chopped
• 1 chorizo sausage (or any kind of sausage), chopped 
• 1 yellow onion, chopped 
• 1/3 cup flour 
• 2 cups milk (add more if needed to thin)
• pinch salt 
• pinch black pepper 
• dash of hot sauce 

What to do 

Crisp the bacon and sausage in a skillet. Cook until a lot of the fat has rendered out. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently. until golden-colored (about 10 minutes). Then, add the flour. Cook in the fat for about five minutes. It should develop a sweet, nutty smell. Turn the burner off and pour in the milk. Stir around to get the bits off the bottom. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. 

Pour gravy over biscuits! I like to dribble some hot sauce over mine. 

Have this for breakfast, and you've eaten heartily enough to, say fight the Protestants. Walk from Galway to Kilkenney. Chase down a  wayward cow. Something like that. 

We, however, just sat around the house thinking of names for our new tadpoles. All four are now known as Wiggles. 

Enjoy! 

Chorizo Black Bean Soup

Perfect dinner for a snowy night.

This has been a go-to recipe in my life for years (ever since I moved back to the US and lived somewhere with temperatures low enough to permit the consumption of hot soup). This is essentially a bean and vegetable soup or stew, with chorizo functioning as a seasoning. It is rich, spicy, complex and totally delicious. You would never guess from tasting that the vast majority of the soup is vegetables.

Ingredients

For this recipe, I prefer the dirtiest kind of chorizo: the mushy Mexican brand in a plastic tube, not the fresh kind from the butchers or the classy cured Spanish kind. This one tastes the best and blends smoothly into the broth, rather than forming chunks. I know it's made if nitrates and pig bungholes, but whatever. Buy one of the kinds with an offensive racial stereotype as the logo.

Recipe

Ingredients
1 package of pork chorizo
3 cans of black beans, drained
2 red onions, diced
4 carrots, split lengthwise and chopped
4 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped (leave seeds in if you want spicy, omit seeds for more mild)
1 cup chicken stock (or water)
3 TB cumin powder
1 TB chile powder
1 TB paprika
1 cup orange juice
juice of 2 limes
2 tsp salt
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Optional garnishes: avocado slices, cheddar cheese, sour cream, hot salsa

What to do:
1. Add a small amount of oil the bottom of a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, and chorizo. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, until greasy and fragrant and the chorizo oil has coated everything.

That chorizo looks like a turd....

2. Then, add the spices: cumin, chile, and paprika. Let the spices fry a bit in the chorizo fat for a few minutes to release fragrances and enhance the flavor.

3. Then, add the peppers (both red and jalapeno) and tomatoes to the pot. Cover and let cook for about ten minutes, stirring every few minutes.
4. Add the stock (or water), black beans, and orange juice to the pot. Cover and simmer on low for about 20 minutes.
5. Then, use a slotted spoon and scoop about half the solids into a blender. Blend up, then add back to the pot.

6. Simmer for about ten more minutes.
7. Taste. Does it need salt?
8. Turn off the heat and stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice.

9. Serve with garnishes!

This is a delicious everyday recipe. Enjoy!

Glorious Glazed Pork Shoulder

I realize that the picture of this incredible roast looks awful--a charred and melted black monster. But--this was absolutely, utterly FABULOUS despite being ugly.  Spoon-tender roasted salty-sweet pork under a thick, crisp bark of crackling skin. I cooked this long and low and slow--from about 10 am till 5pm. For most of that time, I wasn't home--I just left it in the oven. The results of this are FANTASTIC. This would be an excellent dish for a dinner party--but I just made it for the two of us. A week of great eating lies ahead.
I bought this roast a few weeks ago--it was a happy accident. You almost never see pork shoulder for sale with the skin still on. I asked once at Oliver's, and they said you could order them ahead of time, but it wasn't something they normally did. Then, one magical day, there I am in the shitty Albertsons meat section on Alameda and BAM--what do I see but skin-on pork shoulders! I bought two and stashed them in the freezer until I had time to do them up right.

A rare find!

The ingredients---pork, apple cider vinegar, fennel seeds, brown sugar.

Ingredients: 
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed or chopped

3 TB cup kosher salt 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 7–8-lb bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt or picnic. If you can find it with skin, use that--if not, skinless is fine. 

1/2cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

What to do: 

1. Crush or chop the fennel seeds and mix them with the brown sugar and salt. 

 2. Put this rub all over the pork. Rub it IN. Get your salty sugary fingers into all the fatty, meaty pink folds of that beautiful pig meat. Massage it in. If it has skin, score it in crosshatches. Cut into the fat, past the skin, but not all the way down to the meat.

3. Put it in the oven at 280 and leave it for no less than 7 hours. Use a covered dutch oven or roasting pan.

Many hours later....

4.  Take the meat out and place it on a sheet pan or in a shallow dish for broiling. Crank the oven up to 525.
5. There will be liquid left in the pan. Skim out some fat (according to taste). I took about a cup and a half of fat out of mine. Add the cider vinegar to the pan and start boiling to reduce. At this point, you might want to add some more sugar and salt. I ended up putting a few more tablespoons of brown sugar and a pinch of salt in. Boil down into a thin syrup.

The glaze, reducing.

6. While the glaze is reducing, the pork should be back in the oven on high, getting crispy. Brush with the glaze (even in it's mid-reduction form) at 4 min intervals. You want the skin very crispy and very brown.

7. Pour the glaze all over the top. The pork can be easily pulled off in chunks.
Serve with herb bean salad and pickled red onions. Or anything you want.
This was AWESOME. We smashed our roast down and had it pulled-pork style. The skin was BOMB.

TO DIE. Make this at once and apologize to no one!

Pork "Bulgogi"

This is "bulgogi" because, while this pork turned out delicious and tender--was it bulgogi? I would imagine any Korean would say no. It was good, but it came out different than the fabulous, thin-sliced, spicy BBQ pork you get at Korean restaurants with table grills. By the way, if you love Korean food and live in Denver, go to Q Table in Northglenn. It's good enough to make a drive to Northglenn totally worth it.
So I would change the name of this dish to "vaguely Asian pork cutlets." Even if I originally set out to make bulgogi.

Ingredients:
Boneless, thin sliced pork chops. I used two packages, but any amount that fits in a freezer bag is fine.
1 head garlic
1 3 inch piece of ginger
1 peeled kiwi
3 TB soy sauce
3 TB sesame oil
3 TB brown sugar
2 TB chili garlic paste or sriracha
1 shallot
2 bunches green onions, bottoms cut off and left whol
1 red onion, cut into large slices

What to do:
1. Put the garlic, ginger, shallot, kiwi, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, and chili paste in a blender or food processor. Blitz it up into a paste.

This smells really, really good.

2. Put the pork and onions in a big freezer bag. Then, put the marinade paste in and mush it around.

3. Let it marinate. I left it overnight, but a few hours would be fine.

4. Cook!This would have been WAY better on a barbeque, but it was snowing, so I couldn't be bothered. I cooked them in a hot cast iron pan. Get a pan very hot, then cook about 4 min per side.

5. Then, cook the marinated onions, also in a hot pan. Or a grill, if you're grilling. Again, a grill would have been even better.

6. Put the leftover marinade into a small saucepan, add half a cup of hot water, and boil with the lid on to make a sauce. I tasted mine, then added a few teaspoons each of rice vinegar, chili paste, soy sauce, and brown sugar to make it into a stronger-tasting, more delicious sauce.Boil for about 10 min or until saucy.
7. Serve the pork over rice. Dribble with sauce. Serve with cooked marinated onions.YUM!
I also made some quick stir-fried shitake mushrooms and sugar-snap peas.

Yummy! Invite someone you like over, and make a great weeknight of it.
The dogs will be super jealous: