Easter Ham with Pineapple Glaze

We had a hickory-smoked ham this year for Easter (i know, ever-so-Kosher!), mostly because i waited too long to go shopping for a ham, and they were completely out of the honey-glazed, spiral-sliced one that i usually buy. This one was bought at Aldi, for $1.29/lb.

• Smoked ham - butt or shank portion
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh pineapple
• 1 Navel orange, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• whole cloves

Preheat oven to 325. Place ham in a shallow pan - make sure you've taken off ALL the wrappings ... i failed to do that, one year - and cover. Cook for 15 minutes per pound.

While ham is cooking, combine pineapple, orange, brown sugar, and ginger for glaze, and set aside.

45 MINUTES BEFORE HAM WILL BE FINISHED

Remove ham from oven, and uncover. Score the fat in whatever pattern you like - i prefer the traditional diamond pattern - and stud with whole cloves. Apply pineapple glaze mixture, and return ham (uncovered) to the oven for the final 45 minutes of cooking.

If you have extra pineapple mixture, it can be heated up gently, on very low heat, in a small saucepan, and passed at the table.

Excellent served with Cumberland Sauce.

Pasta Carbonara

This is one of my favorite dishes, despite the fact that it is in no way "healthy," when judged by today's dietary standards and concerns. Nonetheless, it's easy and relatively inexpensive, and uses ingredients that are almost always on-hand in the pantry and refrigerator. The following quantity makes a generous main course for two, or enough to serve 4-6 as a starter. This is traditionally made with prosciutto, which is an unsmoked Italian bacon; i use plain bacon, whatever i have in the meat drawer, and if it is strongly flavored of hickory, i sometimes rinse it first.

• 3-4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• splash of olive oil
• 1/2 # of spaghetti, linguine, or other straight pasta
• 2-3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• salt & pepper

Combine the bacon, garlic, and olive oil in a skillet, and set on low heat. Stir regularly, and slowly increase the heat to render the fat and cook the bacon 'til crispy - this will likely take 15-20 minutes. Drain the bacon, reserving the fat in the skillet.

In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Beat the eggs in the serving bowl you plan to use, and then stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Combine the pasta and bacon fat, and then stir carefully into the egg and cheese mixture - if you aren't careful, you can end up with scrambled egg, instead of the creamy sauce. When pasta is well-tossed in the cheese, egg, and fat mixture, season to taste with salt and pepper and divide into individual bowls. Sprinkle each serving with the cooked bacon bits, and serve immediately. Pass extra Parmesan cheese at the table.

Maple Horseradish Glaze

This is adapted from a recipe by Bobby Flay, who mostly irritates me, but i was flipping channels one day, and heard him mention maple syrup and horseradish in the same breath, which gave me reason to pause. The original recipe uses it on BBQ pork ribs; we have also used it on salmon and chicken, as well as various other cuts of pork, and it is simply wonderful. The meat, except for salmon, which cooks so quickly anyway, should be nearly done before you apply the glaze, or the maple syrup will burn too quickly, and not crystallize quite right. The recipe calls for ancho chili powder, which i make by toasting dried anchos (bought in the Hispanic spices section of the local grocery store) in a skillet, and then processing them to a powder in a coffee grinder that i keep especially for these sorts of things. That being said, i have used plain, store-bought chili powder as a substitute, and it tastes just fine. Finally, i don't see how this recipe could work properly, nor taste right, without REAL PURE maple syrup, so please splurge and get the good stuff, and don't use maple-flavored Mrs. Butterworth's, or anything like that!

• 
  
• 2 cups pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup prepared horseradish, drained
• 2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix everything together, and use on whatever meat you like. This keeps, covered, in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Pork Blade Steaks, Sugar?

We are enjoying this recipe tonight; the pork is resting right now. I originally saw a version of this done on America’s Test Kitchen. I’ve adapted it for pork blade steaks, which show up on Manager’s Special regularly at my Kroger.

Sugared Pork Chops

Pork Blade Steak
Pam or Vegetable Oil
Salt and Pepper
2 Tablespoons Sugar
¼ cup Dry Sherry or Chicken Broth or Water

1. If using an electric range preheat the eye to Medium for 3 minutes.
2. Spray Pam or brush oil on one side of the blade steak; sprinkle with salt, pepper and 50% of the sugar.
3. Place steak sugared side down in cold skillet; spray and season 2^nd side of steak.
4. Place skillet on preheated eye (or over gas eye set to Medium) and cook 4-9 minutes, ‘til brown.
5. Flip steak, lower heat to Low, cover, and cook ‘til digital thermometer registers 140°F; check after 2 minutes.
6. Remove steak to platter, tent with foil, and remove skillet from heat; let everything sit for 10 minutes.
7. Pour juices from platter back into pan, and return skillet to Medium-High heat. Add Sherry (or other liquid) and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the lovely caramelized bit.
8. Cook ‘til liquid is reduced to a thick syrup.
9. Whilst liquid is reducing, carve steak into serving pieces, removing fat and bone.
10. Return pork pieces to skillet and coat both sides with glaze.
11. Serve immediately.

Cranberry Sauced Pork Loin

Kroger had pork loins on sale recently for $1.99/lb, a fantastic deal given that they're usually nearly $4/lb.

We'd intended for Russ to grill it tonight, but the rain inspired him to ask me to find some other way to cook it. i found this delicious recipe on Cooks.com; the original is a little light on details, so i'm expanding it below to include how we actually made it.

The original recipe calls for 1 can of whole-berry cranberry sauce; i made cranberry sauce from scratch, which is very much worth the extra effort, as it turns out.

Cranberry Sauced Pork Loin

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

12 oz bag of cranberries, fresh or frozen

2-4# boneless pork loin roast

Salt

Pepper

1/2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp onion, minced

3/4 c orange juice

1/4 tspn cinnamon

1/8 tspn nutmeg

1. Bring water & sugar to a boil.
2. Rinse & drain cranberries; add to sugar water. Return mixture to a boil; reduce heat & simmer gently 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Transfer to a bowl & allow to cool at room temperature.
4. Season pork with salt & pepper to taste & place on a rack in roasting pan. Cook at 350F 'til internal temperature is 155 - about 20 mins/lb. Remove & let rest, covered loosely with foil.
5. Sweat onion in butter in small saucepan just 'til edges are starting to turn golden.
6. Add orange juice & return to boil; cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add 1/2 of the cranberry sauce (or 1 entire can), cinnamon & nutmeg. Boil gently, stirring frequently, until sauce starts to thicken. If desired, use a potato masher to break up some of the cranberries (this helps thicken the sauce).
8. Slice desired amount of pork. Spread some sauce in the bottom of a baking pan, arrange the pork slices & cover with remaining sauce.
9. Bake in oven at 350F 25-30 minutes, until sauce is bubbly & starting to glaze on pork.
10. Serve with remaining cranberry sauce.

Pulling It All Together

So, to assemble the perfect Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich, you need:

Hamburger buns

Pulled Pork (preferably homemade Crockpot Pulled Pork, recipe below)

BBQ Sauce (preferably homemade Carolina-Style Mustard BBQ Sauce, recipe below)

Cole Slaw

Chips

Pickles

1. Toast buns lightly.
2. Heat Pulled Pork in a small saucepan over low heat, adding enough BBQ Sauce to moisten to taste.
3. Squirt BBQ Sauce, to taste, on both sides of buns.
4. Spoon warmed Pulled Pork onto bottom of buns.
5. Spoon Cole Slaw onto Pulled Pork & top with remaining half of buns.
6. Serve with chips & pickles on the side.

Pulled Pork BBQ, part 3

This is a modified version of Tyler Florence's Cider Vinegar BBQ Sauce.  i make it while the pork is cooking in the crockpot, & allow it to simmer as long as possible; the vinegar smell is over-powering at first, but mellows the longer you simmer the sauce.

This is a Carolina-style, mustard-based BBQ sauce, similar to Cattlemen's Southern Gold, except that it's significantly tastier & much cheaper!

This makes about 3 bottles (cleaned out ketchup bottles & other squeeze bottles) of sauce; it keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.  This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you are entertaining a large crowd.

Carolina-Style Mustard BBQ Sauce

3 cups cider vinegar

2 cups yellow mustard

1 cup ketchup

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

4 cloves garlic, smashed

2 tspn salt

2 tspn cayenne

1 tspn black pepper

Reserved drippings from pork roast

1. Combine the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, & black pepper in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once sauce starts to bubble gently, reduce heat to low & simmer gently as long as you can, stirring frequently to scrape up caramelizing sugars at bottom of pan.  The longer you simmer, the less vinegary the sauce.  Do not be overwhelmed by the initial vinegar smell!  It goes away!  (I've heard of folk throwing the entire pot of sauce away after the initial 5 minutes of simmering - lol!)
3. When pork roast is cooked & drippings are settling in measuring cup, take the sauce off the heat & use a hand blender to smooth it out & incorporate the chunks of garlic.  If you don't have a hand blender, you could process it in batches in a regular blender or a food processor; be careful, as hot liquids can be dangerous & tricky to work with in those appliances!
4. Once drippings have separated somewhat, pour off as much fat as possible & add remaining goodness to sauce, stirring well to incorporate (you can leave this part out, if you want to make a vegetarian BBQ sauce, although i fail to see the point of that!).

Pulled Pork BBQ, part 2

This assumes you've already made the Dry Rub posted below.  This is adapted from Tyler Florence's Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches, but rather than baking the roast in the oven at 300F for 6+ hours, i use my crockpot.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

1 recipe BBQ Dry Rub

1 (5-7#) pork roast, preferably shoulder or Boston butt

1. Rub the spice blend all over the pork & marinate for as long as you have time for, as little as 1 hour or up to overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.
   
2. Brown roast on all sides, either on outdoor grill, or in a large skillet on the stove.
3. Place roast in large crockpot, & cook on low for 8-14 hours, or on high 4-7 hours.  Basically, cook the pork until it's falling apart & an instand-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170F.  In my experience, it is not possible to overcook the roast this way.
4. Remove the roast from crockpot & pour accumulated juices into a measuring cup to allow fat to separate from drippings (reserve for sauce).
5. While roast is still warm, take 2 forks & "pull" the meat to form shreds, steadying the meat with 1 fork & pulling it away with the other.

Pulled Pork BBQ, part 1

i made pulled pork BBQ last week, complete with homemade BBQ rub & sauce.  It's very, very tasty & very easy.  The recipe is based on Tyler Florence's Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches with various changes throughout.

i'm going to break this into 3 posts - 1 each to make the BBQ rub, the BBQ sauce, & the meat itself.

The following makes enough BBQ rub for a good-sized roast.  i often quadruple the recipe & store the remainder in an air-tight container in the spice cupboard; it's very good on all sorts of meats & seems to keep indefinitely, although you do need to stir it before using, as the brown sugar tends to clump up over time.

BBQ Dry Rub


3 T paprika (x4 = 3/4 cup)
1 T garlic powder (x4 = 1/4 cup)
1 T brown sugar (x4 = 1/4 cup)
1 T dry mustard (x4 = 1/4 cup)
3 T coarse salt (x4 = 3/4 cup)

Mix all ingredients together

Mmmmm ... Pork!

We had very yummy pork burgers tonight, recipe from All Recipes - minor changes made listed in red below.

Mostly, i halved the amount of meat & all other ingredients, except the apple & egg, which i did not reduce.  i added 1/4 cup of Panko bread crumbs, & set the formed patties in the freezer for ~30 minutes before Russ grilled them.  I also skewered the pineapple slices so Russ could grill them while the burgers were cooking.  We had this with couscous (used the reserved pineapple juice for part of the water), mixed lettuce salad & fresh tomatoes.

Pork Apple Burgers

2# ground pork (i used 1#)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored & chopped
1 sweet onion, finely chopped (i used 1/2 an onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced (i used 1-1/2 cloves)
1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce (i used 2 Tbsp)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
Buns
1 (20 oz) can sliced pineapple, drained, juice reserved (i used the smaller-sized can)

1. In a large bowl, mix together ground pork, apple, onion, garlic, Teriyaki sauce, egg & bread crumbs.  If too dry, add some juice from the can of pineapple slices.  Form into eight (4) patties.  Chill 30-60 minutes, while grill is pre-heating.
2. Skewer pineapple slices.
3. Lightly oil grill grate.  Grill pork burgers & pineapple slices for 10 minutes, or until well done.  Toast buns on grill.  Serve burgers on toasted buns topped with pineapple slices.

Boston Bean Casserole

OK, i realise deviled ham is weird, but it really is very good in this dressed up baked bean dish; we usually have this with Superb Skillet Cheeseburger Loaf & the leftovers always get eaten!

Boston Bean Casserole

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup sliced onion, separated into rings

1 can Boston Baked Beans (20 oz)

1 (small) can deviled ham (2.25 oz)

1 Tbsp mustard

1 peeled tomato, sliced

1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Saute onion in oil until tender.
3. Combine beans, ham & mustard.
4. Arrange 1/2 bean mixture in 1 qt casserole.  Place 1/2 of onions & tomatoes over beans; sprinkle with 1/2 of salt & brown sugar.  Repeat layers.
5. Bake, covered, 30 minutes; uncover & bake 5 more minutes.