Experimenting in the kitchen

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

I’ll write this up fully later, but I just wanted to share a couple of photos with you. I’ve been in the kitchen more than my silence might indicate, but mostly doing simply things like hummus. Today’s my first experiment in awhile.

Well, I call it an experiment, but like the cautious cook I usually am, I took Marc Bittman’s recipe for “Braised Oxtail with Garlic and White Wine” and messed with it as I cooked. For one thing, I used beef neck instead of oxtail. It looks just as (if not more) tasty than the oxtails I’ve had, but was astoundingly cheaper. If this works out, I may never go back to oxtail.

His recipe also calls for 4 ounces of bacon. I didn’t remember that before I started quick thawing the beef neck.… Continue reading →

Pork tongue salad

So, once upon a time, Bill & I purchased a hog with 7 of our friends. We knew we were in for something else, but we didn’t know exactly what.

One thing no one anticipated was exactly which “weird” cuts we’d get. I figured we’d end up with a heart, maybe a couple of kidneys. And we did. We also got the tongue, which was not something I had ever considered eating before.

This is funny, once you stop to think about it. A tongue is just a muscle, and a well-used one at that. It’s probably damn fine eating. But not once in my time on this earth had I ever considered the possibility that animal tongues might be food.

Now, of course, I realized when I saw it that there was no guarantee we’d end up with the tongue.… Continue reading →

Another repeat – Pork Shoulder with Chipotle-Orange BBQ Sauce

In the realm of “repeating delicious recipes”, yesterday, as part of our hog share, Bill & I repeated the pork shoulder in chipotle-orange bbq sauce. I’d actually been looking forward to making this again, ever since I gave away all the leftovers & so thoroughly disappointed Mr. Bill.

Too bad it didn’t come out nearly as well this time. Bill’s willing to eat the leftovers, but he’s not as thrilled.

So, what changed?

There were two major things, that I can see. First, the sauce was far more fluid this time than last time. We both agreed it was nearly a glaze last time, and this time it was a fairly thin sauce. There was a lot more of it – it didn’t reduce as thoroughly.… Continue reading →

BACON!

Okay, quickie post. I’m planning to write something up later too (after I make gluten-free cookies), but I had to share.

Today we had the first of the bacon from our hog. It was super tasty! I actually liked it better than what we normally have from Meadow Haven. This still had the delicious flavor of the pig, but was less salty.

Which, to be honest, probably means we need to eat it faster. Tragic?

We also had chocolate-blueberry semi-whole wheat pancakes. They sound better than they were. Next time, less whole wheat flour & more chocolate.… Continue reading →

Warm Sunshine Sausage Pasta Salad

As promised, we’ll update you as we eat our 1/7th of a hog. There’s two recipes + photos coming, once I can get my camera & computer to stop acting up. However, I figured I’d post Sunday night’s dinner, as I’m pretty sure I didn’t take any photos of it. After all, I was just throwing it together to feed three people (Bill, a last-minute guest and I).

So, here’s the deal. Saturday Bill and I were trying to vacuum seal all our pork up. Vacuum sealing really helps keep foods a great deal longer in the freezer, in my experience, and so I really wanted to get on it. Unfortunately, my vacuum sealer is acting like a jerk, so we only managed to vacuum seal a few things.… Continue reading →