Beef and vegetable soup/stew with rice and Scotch Bonnets

So I overcooked my beef roast the other day, which kind of sucked.  I got kind of pissed and just poured a beer over it and put in a couple of teaspoons of beef stock concentrate and kept cooking it.  The next day I added more water and a bag of mirepoix.  It was pretty darned tasty.  Today I added two diced Scotch Bonnets and a cup of rice to the mix.  It's hot but it's pretty friggin good.  Sometimes the simplest things can salvage a potentially lost meal.

Time off, time to get to the grocery store! Recipes!

Booyah!  Another holiday coming up in our Christian nation!  That's cool, and Happy Easter to all of you fine Easter celebrating folks.  I'm in it for the ham.  I don't know and don't care how ham got involved with Easter but fuck yeah, ham!  Also on sale at the local grocerium is loveable lamb!  Now I never really got into lamb except kebabs, mainly because I equate it with that herb-crusted thing served with mint jelly and smells like a Highlander after a long day of log hucking.  I imagine that there's some good way to cook it, particularly with my interest in North African cuisines.  I'll poke around and see if I come up with anything interesting to tell you guys.

I'm also gonna pick up a turkey breast or two just to have on hand, y'know, just in case. 

In other food related news:  Internet friend from the other side of "the pond" is Englishing all over the southern US eating foods that aren't boiled or take-away.  I kid.  At any rate he's been posting on his site shizzling.com and it's pretty awesome to have an outside perspective on foods I/we just take for granted most of the time (e.g. brisket).

"C'mon feel the ham!" Epic hamming Part 2

After a long day of helping friends pack and move I like to come home and unwind by cooking a 16lb ham...at 8pm on a Monday night.  Yes friends I finally have a pot big enough - almost - to cook the haunch of piggy I wrote about earlier.  After washing the pot in the bathtub - the kitchen sink wasn't big enough - and prepping the ham by bludgeoning a cave troll with it I have put it on the stove.  I'm following the recommended cooking method simmering in water and then finishing in the oven.  I didn't soak the ham as part of the prep but I don't think should matter too much - hopefully.  I also added three halved lemons, a dozen bay leaves, a can of pear juice, a whole mess of garlic, and a good slug of cider vinegar to the pot.  My plan is to simmer the ham tonight and then finish in the oven tomorrow.  Fortunately I don't have to work until 1pm tomorrow so I can stay up pretty late dealing with the ham.  Also I can run by the store and pick up a few things I need when I bake it.  Pics and further news pending.

Abuelita J's Slow Cooked Pork Recipe - as remembered when removed from a kitchen.

Recently having a conversation in The Spice Guild group on teh FB and we were talking about pulled pork and variations and whatnots and I started thinking about how I put together my normal version.  Now we all know, or at least most of you know two things 1) I love pork the way a fat kid loves cake 2) I totally scammed this recipe from this in 2004:

 

 

Ah memories.  Over the years my recipe has the fundamental elements of RR's but it's definitely taken on a life of its own (plus I can't afford to buy my shit from Central Market unlike some fancy ass Central Texans - jk) and I've learned to make it different ways for different people.  So people like it more spicy, some like it sweeter.  Here's a rough outline of the main recipe I use, kind of...sort of...

Here's one problem though - I don't know how markets are where you folks live so you might not be able to get Mexican stuff at your pinche Yankee supermarkets.  No worries, just find your local Central/South American grocery store and go there.

To start:

Pork, butt, shoulder (loin is too expensive and not fatty enough) at least four pounds.  Cut into bite sized chunks.  Put chunks in a gallon zip-lock bag or pot or whatever  (personally I've started using the dutch oven I'm gonna cook the dish in because I'm too cheap to buy zip-lock bags).  Cover with:

• 1 Can Jumex Mango or Papaya or Pineapple nectar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 juice 1 lime or lemon

Let sit for one disc of LOTR Director's Cut or two, whatever.  Hell go take a nap.

Wake up from nap, watch Boromir's Last Stand while gathering ingredients:

• 1 small bag "cajun" mirepoix (ain't got no carrots in it) or make it fresh.  I don't care.  Personally I think the difference is marginal and besides we're not here for the mirepoix are we?
• about half a cup of Abuelita J's Spice Mix
• 1 regular size bottle of real Coke - Mexican Coke if you can get it.  To me this makes a difference because Mexican Coke is like Dublin Dr. Pepper - it's made with cane sugar and tastes awesome.  If you can't then regular Coke will work too, like a 12oz can.
• This depends on your taste but sometimes I will add one can of El Pato tomato sauce.  Yellow or green can - green is jalapeno.  I want to get my hands on some of their red enchilda sauce.  I love El Pato.  It's one of the things I buy at the grocery store whether I need it or not, though I always need it for something.  If you don't have access to El Pato don't use Hunt's or anything like that, just forgo tomato.
• Again, depending on your taste and your guests' taste, I'll add more heat.  Usually in the form of a blend of dried chiles and if I'm feeling real froggy a couple of grams of ghost powder.

Throw everything into one pot, I use a Le Creuset 4-qt Dutch Oven for pretty much all my large cooking these days - not because I'm a snoot but because it's such a utilitarian item.  You can also use a crock pot.  I do not in anyway shape or form recommend using a soup or a stock pot.  That's running the risk of burning your pork (or stew or chili) which will potentially ruin the whole thing and then you'll have quarts of frozen gross hidden at the back of your freezer or fridge until you just throw the whole container away because you don't even want to acknowledge what you've done. 

You can use the oven but since it's above 90 degrees outside I don't wanna use mine so I use the range.  Over a low-medium heat put your pot filled with porky goodness, cover. Once you smell what the Rock is cooking (love you Dwayne Johnson) or if you hear the pot bubble over go give it a stir.  I usually check it every half-hour or forty-five minutes just because I'm paranoid about burning and I also have to work with an electric stove that's kind of persnickity.  Usually for about, meh, three - four hours.

Now here's the biggest difference between my own and many other recipes - I take my trusty wooden spoon-atula (seriously I've carved and sharpened and shaped this thing over the years into some kind of freakish primitive multi-tool) and slowly smush all the pieces, not to a paste or anything but basically break down the chunks.  Stir, cover, remove from heat and let sit while you make rice.

I generally serve mine over rice with a slice of lime and some cilantro.  I've also eaten it plain in a bowl, on a bun, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, with or without sour cream, with or with avacado.  So yeah.  There's the general outline.  Enjoy.  As always, questions, comments, ideas, tips, and tricks are always welcome.

Good cooking.

  

Achtung! Nacogdoches readers! I need your help!

Yours truly is in the initial stages of hunting for beef bones with which to make stock.  If you know of a good meat market or have a dead cow laying around let me know.


"But Joshua, couldn't you just buy beef stock?"  Yes.  Yes, I could...but you see dear readers I am going to make phở from scratch, from the ground up.  Canned or boxed stock is fine for stews but I've been sorely disappointed by the saltiness of most pre-made stocks (even low sodium stocks taste a bit off to me).  So, in order to get quality broth (which is vital to a good bowl of phở) I need quality stock.


I plan to make a Southern Vietnamese styled phở, though once I gain some confidence (as well as gather some ingredients) I will attempt to master phở bắc (Hanoi style) and Bún bò Huế (Huế styled).  I realize I should start with phở bắc because - according to most sources - phở was not widely known in southern Vietnam until the 1940s/50s.  However, I feel most comfortable with my knowledge of Saigon style and flavour.  


Any suggestions, comments, or tips & tricks are very much welcome.