recipe – Page 3

Deer Heart Pastrami

December 3, 2017 by Jason Leave a Comment

Finally. I’ve been wanting to try a deer heart pastrami for a while now. I got it done… and did the final hot smoke and steaming today. The recipe was taken from Michael Pendley’s venison pastrami recipe on RealTree.com. I mainly went with his ingredients and followed his procedure, but used two deer hearts and a pork heart I had. The results are not disappointing!

I love pastrami, and while I usually dry cure my deer hearts, I wanted to do a pastrami because of the dense, silky texture of the heart meat. With all the fat on the outside, it just seemed perfect. I did trim a little of the outer fat off though. I have an exact process of dressing deer hearts at this point. Where and how it’s cut is the same all the time if I’m wanting to keep it in a single piece. In dry-curing, it get EQ cured, then rolled tight and trussed before drying. Once during that process, it get’s unrolled, brushed, a layer of cracked pepper put on, then rolled back up, and re-trussed.

For the pastrami, it was cut and dressed the same way, put in the brine for about 9 days, washed off, rubbed, then hot smoked before steaming. It was rolled back up into the shape of the heart before laid on the top rack of my smoker.

Hearts in the brine, then into the fridge.

For the brine;

2 quarts of water
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Instacure #1
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
8 whole cloves
2 crumbled bay leaves
½ teaspoon powdered ginger

I added 3 hearts (2 deer and one pork) – I mixed it up and heated it in a pot just as prescribed in Michael’s article. Once cooled, I added the cleaned, dressed hearts. I let it go in the brine for about 8 or 9 days because that’s how long it took me to get back to it.

Hearts out of the hot smoke, and into the steam.

I washed off with water, and rubbed it down with:

2 tablespoons cracked BP
1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds (my own in fact)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon Steak seasoning
1 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoons onion powder

I mixed all the ingredients, and rubbed the inside and outside of the hearts really well. I got it into all the crevices of the inside. Then I rolled them up, and laid them on the top rack of the smoker. I did the first hour at 225 over apple wood chunks… and then ramped it up to 250 until an internal temp of 150. When it came off, I laid them on a rack over a tray of water in the oven at 250 for 1.5 hours to steam it. When it came out, I sliced, ate some, and vac’d them into little Carl Budding-like packs to share with friends.

I highly recommend this. It’s really worth it. Enjoy some pics, and commentary.

Dressing a deer heart just entail cutting out the webbing and whatever fat you want off the outside.

After cure, rinse, and rub with spice mix.

Took the ends after slicing and diced them up for addition into another dish.

Dehydrating garlic for minced and powder

May 4, 2017 by Jason Leave a Comment

I grow a lot of garlic and usually have a good surplus. Sometimes, however, there’s so much I can’t use it all before the bulbs begin to dry and shrink. This year, I peeled all my garlic and sliced each clove in half in prep to dehydrate it. Slicing in half allows it to dry pretty quickly. I went two days on low-medium heat.

Once it was dry (and very hard), it was ready to grind. I pulsed it in my Krupps spice grinder to keep the larger pieces for more of a minced texture. I ran that through a sieve to get the powder. The flavors were concentrated and powerful. A little goes a long way. I’ve been sprinkling it on rice lately. I had some leftover rice and it seemed like a nice bland medium to try it out on. It’s delicious and carries the rich garlic flavor right through. The dried mince can be rehydrated in a skillet with a little oil. When I make Indian curries, I hydrate it while I’m blooming the other spices.

This is the first time I dried garlic, and I’m sure it won’t be the last! Easy to do, and the final products keep a very long time.

Drying the cloves cut in half on medium heat.

Mince ran through sieve to separate powder.

You also get powder left over from pulsing the cloves in the grinder.

Dried garlic in minced and powder forms.

Make Worcestershire Sauce

February 26, 2017 by Jason 5 Comments

Sauces are magical. I’ve been making hot sauces for years. I started making my own mayonaise since I got chickens. Mustard and horseradish are both on my list as well. More recently, I was fascinated, and inspired by a couple others who made Worcestershire Sauce. Tim Artz over at Tim’s Food Obsession was the tipping point. When he said his homemade sauce was more earthy and rich than the original, I had to try it. I had most everything that was needed, minus the preserved lemons and Korean anchovies.

Wow, the ingredients for Worcestershire.

I grew up with Worcestershire sauce in our pantry. We all loved it, but didn’t think much further as to what was in it. While some people keep it refrigerated… we never did. As a matter of fact, the A1 steak sauce (that says refrigerate after opening) also lived in the pantry… just as it still does today. Yes, I have never refrigerated A1 sauce, and still live to tell the tale.

As an adult, the mind now wonders. Seeing everything used to make this mysterious condiment had me asking, who came up with this stuff? The ingredients are just as complex as its name.

It’s easy to find many recipes to make the sauce. Just google it. I ended up taking ideas from Tim, and Serious Eats… but changed up the dried chili’s used and added some additional sun-dried tomatoes I had left from last season.

Here’s what I ended up with:

4 cups MadHouse malt vinegar
12 oz. tamarind paste
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
6 oz. fermented soy sauce
3 T sea salt
3 T brown mustard seed
6 whole cloves
1 T course ground white pepper
1 t garam masala
6 broken cardamom pods
6 smoked chilis (2 chipotle, 2 ancho, 2 mulato, split and deseeded)
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup Korean anchovies
6 T fresh ginger, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
1 cinnamon stick, broken in pieces
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 preserved lemons, diced
1 cup mixed raisins (yellow, and red)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

Put it all in a stainless steel pot and stir over medium heat until it boils. It may be significant to note that Tim reserved half the vinegar and added later after cooling. I did not because the mixture was already thick, and I wanted more of the liquids in it to prevent sticking or scorching. Keep an eye on it. It will thicken even more, and begin to look like a mixture of tar and debris. Once it boils, reduce to a simmer for 3o minutes or so.

I put it in a gallon glass pickle jar and covered with saran wrap. I put it down in my wine cellar for about 4 weeks and I didn’t stir or do anything during that time. I did notice it seemed to thicken even more.

It smelled like the sauce I was used to, but definitely thicker and more aromatic. I strained it through a colander. Thinking about all the goodness left in the “mash,” I ended up taking about a cup of filtered water and running it through the again, and increasing the yield. The result was as good as I had hoped for. I can think of a few other things I might to to make it more unique, but I’ll save that for a future update.

Traditional English Pork Pie

November 13, 2015 by Jason Leave a Comment

While going through the freezer the other night making space for hunting season, I collected a number of pig trotters that were begging to have something done with them. I decided on pork pie. The trotters would be cleaned and boiled to make an aspic for the jelly. I depended on a mash of recipes and processes from the Internet as well as some charcuterie books. The components of a pork pie consist of the outer pastry shell, the meat filling, and the aspic, or jelly that is poured in before chilling the pie.

Preparing the jelly by boiling the trotters with other seasonings.

Here’s what I ended up with.

For the jelly, I rendered my pig trotters to make the aspic the day before since it alone takes about 3 hours to cook.

1 lb. of pig trotters. I had 4, and used them all
4 large chopped carrots
1 large chopped onion
1 chopped stick of celery
4-5 bay leaves
1 tbsp. of chopped parsley
1 tbsp. of thyme
½ tbsp. of peppercorns

I also had some dehydrated seasoned tomatoes that I added in. It’s OK to improvise. I cleaned and scraped off any hair or debris from the trotters. I also blanched them and drained the water before using. Add the trotters and all the ingredients above to a clean pot and fill with water until everything is just covered. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for three hours. You can skim any scum as needed. Once done, strain and put back on the stove to simmer until the liquid is reduced by 30-40%. When this is chilled, it will turn to a jelly that can be cut with a knife, but not too rubbery. I chilled this until the next day, and reheated before using.

For the filling, I used just over a pound of 50/50 lean/fat pork that I had, but you can use shoulder, or other cuts you that you like.

1.3 lb pork and fat
1 chopped onion
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. allspice
I also added 2 cloves crushed garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients with the pork and fat, and add to your pan that is lined with the pastry shell. You do not need to pack the filling tight as you will want the space for the jelly to run down through later. Once the filling is added, roll out your lid, place it on top, and flute around the edges. I also added some leaves (since it’s fall, and I was inspired). Poke a hole about the size of your pinky in the top middle… or make two on each side. This hole will be used to pour the aspic in later after it’s cooled.

I had some filling left over, and so I made up another batch of pastry and lined muffin tins to make smaller personal pies.

The hot water pastry, simple, neat and quick since I had lard already rendered and ready. Really, you can use whatever pastry recipe you like, but I used,

4 oz. water
4 oz. lard
10 oz. flour
½ tsp. salt
1 egg beaten for the egg wash.

Boil the water and lard until the lard is melted. Add the salt and flour and mix until it forms into dough. The lard keeps the pan lubricated and you should be able to tip the dough out and knead it by hand before rolling it out. As the dough cools, it begins to harden. I found that I needed it to cool more so that it didn’t tear when I lifted it up to line the pan. Flour your surface, knead it and roll it out to about 1/8″ thick, and line a 3×6″ pan. Make sure you keep enough to make a lid for the pie.

Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another hour. You can remove it from the tin once it’s manageable, but this time, I let it stay in the pan.

Boil up the jelly and allow to cool a little. Using a funnel, pour the jelly into the pie through the hole(s) you made. Keep adding more jelly and allow it to settle before adding more. When the pie cools again, the jelly will set. Pork pie is traditionally eaten cold, but if you want to warm it a little, go for it. Just don’t warm so much that your jelly re-liquefies or you’ll be robbed of the savory flavor that is… pork pie.

The trotters fell apart after they were boiled.

The 50/50 pork/fat that was minced for the filling.

Using the remainder to make smaller pies.

The baked pies, eggwashed before cooking, and ready for the jelly.

Coconut Chicken Biryani and Garlic Naan

February 22, 2015 by Jason Leave a Comment

Last night, it was cold outside… The night called for red wine… and something savory to go with it. Indian curry sounded appropriate, coconut chicken biryani in fact… with a side of garlic naan.

I broke out the Indian cookbook and found a recipe. Now, I rarely follow recipes to the letter… I usually use them as ingredient lists. There are many variations to Indian chicken recipes so I’ll spare you my specific details and let you google your favorite Indian recipe.

Now, a quick naan recipe. I found and adapted the naan recipe from Wayward Spark. Really, this is a great naan recipe requiring simple ingredients. I substituted the white flour for wheat flour. I made this naan recipe just last night using a mixture of chickpea flour, almond meal, and wheat flour. It turned out fine… but I learned that you should cook the naan right after rising… and don’t try to hold it over to cook later. They made good dog biscuits. Fresh is best.

Tonight, I’m doing with all wheat flour… ground locally at Carriage House Farm. See the pics for more details.

Everything was quite satisfactory… and I didn’t even need to rush to the store to stock up before the snow 🙂