Pi Day Potluck Offering

This takes me back to high school in for two very different reasons.

Fresh Guack

Pink Slime

“We originally called it soylent pink. We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat.” - Common Dreams


Who you gonna call?

Burrito Ends 3 Ways

Food Drama - Burrito End Investigation from wiley rogers on Vimeo.

An investigation into the properties and propensities of burritos. Thank you Wiley!

Carnitas en su jugo
2-3 lbs pork shoulder/butt

Slow cook or braise until fork tender in
liquid:
half pork/chicken stock
half mexican beer
flavors:
salt
chipotle peppers
onion
molasses
cumin
bay leaf


Allow pork cool in juice (optional)
*
Scrape off the fat and put it in a hot pan with more lard if needed
*
Pull apart the meat and then fry until brown and crispy
*
Place juice in sauce pan and reduce, adding sweet or sour elements to taste (molasses, honey, lime)
*
Return fried pork to juice to soak for a few minutes before eating
*
Use juice liberally to soften flour tortilla


***Stay tuned for the final word on how to make a burrito 'all end'.

Los Tres ACheeseGos

Food Drama from the monthly convention of the 3Cheeseketeers: Nate, Gabe, and I. This month Gabe created a thematic tasting session based on sourcing beer and cheese from a specific region of the world. Here we go...

[Ratings: -2: Awful, -1: Bad, 0: Neutral, 1: Good, 2: Ethereal]

Australia: Foster's with an Australian Sheep Feta (1)

UK: Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale and Fuller's ESB with a 5 year English Cheddar (0)

South Bay: IPAs from Drakes and Alimony with a Super Aged Gouda

(rating was impossible due to the utter and extreme intensity of the cheese)

OR: Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Full Sail LTD Lager with Smoked Blue (2 - for LTD, 1- for Porter)

Upstate NY: Ommengang Rare Vos with a pungent Camembert (1)

Ole!

1 Day Ribs: FrankenRibs

There are a couple elements happening in this drama: 1) Solving the rib dilemma (cook time of 1:50 minutes) and 2) Using a propane torch to weld together a pork jowl and a pork back rib to create a 'FrankenRib' and 3) Also potentially the culmination of the pork fixation (here comes lamb...)

1) The two recipes

Preheat oven to 475 F
You will be cooking the jowl for 2 hours, and the ribs for 1 hour and 50 minutes. They will overlap during the middle hour for a total cook time of 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The rub:
Salt (3 parts)
Sugar (3 parts)
Coffee grounds (2 parts)
Chipotle powder (1 part)

The meat:
1 Pork Jowl (3.5 lbs)
1 Rack of St. Louis cut Back Ribs (2 lbs)

Score the pork jowl on the skin side and rub in the rub.
Similarly, rub the rack of ribs with the rub, wrap in foil, and let rest.

Place the jowl in a fitting pan.

Place pan in 475 F oven for 1 hour.

Baste with fat halfway through (and save fat at end to cook other stuff with!)

After 1 hour turn down to 250 F.

Wait a few minutes and then add rack of ribs to oven.

After 1 hour at 250 F remove jowl (jowl total = 2 hrs).
When cool enough to handle, wrap in foil and place in fridge.

After 50 more minutes, remove rack of ribs.
Place in fridge.

Reheat with chipotle coffee sauce when ready to eat. Reheating can involve oven, stove top, or propane torch...

2) The Franken Ribs

Cut the ribs into individual pieces.

Portion the pork jowl... ha ha. Cut it to nestle against the slight curve of the St. Lous rib.

Time for action:

Clark says, "They are super soft!"

Tropical Fruit Bonanza in Florida!

creamy canistels - sometimes called eggfruits

In this fun article, Tropical Treats Tasting Time, from Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold catalogs the multitudinous delectable treats housed at the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, FL. Apparently if you arrange a guided tour through this public park you can sample all kinds of exotic, tree grown jungle foods. 


So next time you are flying to Miami for a photo shoot or brunch with Will Smith, make the hour trip to this garden of wonders. I know I will.