Sic Semper Porcus

HAM-burger

It's been a bit since I posted because of a slightly hectic schedule.  This post has been a dream of mine for some time; to actually create a burger out of ham, thus doing justice to its name.  We had all our leftover ham and I was getting tired of eating ham and cheese sandwiches. It was time to get a bit creative.  I figured that the combination of ham and ground beef along with some eggs to help bind the rather dry ground up ham could result in a successful HAM-burger.  With a touch of heat and a little bit of sweetness I could have the burger of my dreams.  I must say the result was satisfying, but I wanted more ham flavor.  In the future I'll probably increase the ratio of ham to beef, after all this is a site about pork.

 HAM-burger

2lbs Ground Beef
1lb Ground Ham
1lb Peppadew Peppers (for a substitute use another slightly sweet pepper, preferably with a little bit of piquancy)
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons pepper
1/3 cup minced shallots
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 large egg
1/4 cup of chopped parsley

 Mix all ingredients and grill to your liking. I used a garnish of grilled jalapeños and sliced avocados with a lime vinaigrette spread on a toasted bun. Good eating.

Oh my! Ham!

Alright I think we finally got this ham thing down.  We bought a boneless full ham and punctured it to ensure even curing and the results were everything we could've hoped for.  The cure was our standard one from the previous post.  The major difference is we added garlic and sage to the cure.  As you might imagine the garlic added a nice pungency and the sage added that great savory, slightly woodsy taste that pairs so well with ham.  Who doesn't want their meat to taste like it just rolled around on a forest floor?  In any case we still have about 12 pounds of ham in our fridge so you will certainly see some recipe ideas using ham in the coming days.  My first one is quite simple but it's one of the more satisfying things to do with leftover ham: the ham and cheese sandwich.

Carl's Ham & Cheese

Two Slices toasted light rye.
1/2 lb of Garlic and Sage Ham
4 slices of Affine au Chablis (or some other  wash rind cheese)
Stone Ground Mustard to taste.

My Breakfast

Just a quick post this morning.  I have to run some errands on my day off.  We have some new bacon so I figured I would create something tasty this morning.  The new bacon is cured with fennel and red pepper flakes.  Obviously nothing starts the day better than bacon.  Initially I was going to make something conventional like bacon and scrambled eggs, but obviously we were out of eggs.  The next thing that came to me was grits.  Grits are a treasure of southern cooking and just thinking about a big creamy pile of grits with crispy bacon perched beside it made my mouth water.  I decided to make a slight twist on the classic dish.  I looked in the fridge to see what inspired me.  Leeks seemed like a nice touch, but I didn't have any appropriate cheese to balance the flavor of the leeks.  Then I spied a little container of creme fraiche that needed to be used up.  This would provide a creamy balance to the grits while adding a nice lightly sour touch.   Well it turned out lovely and hopefully y'all will enjoy it too.

Fennel and Red Pepper Bacon   

5 lb pork belly
1/4 lb of kosher salt
5 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons pink salt
4 tablespoons crushed fennel
3 chiles de arbol, ground

Grits and Crispy Leeks with Fennel and Red Pepper Bacon

3 pieces of Fennel and Red Pepper Bacon
4 tablespoons of grits
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 of a leek sliced thin
2 tablespoons of chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon creme fraiche
ground black pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper

Cook the bacon over low heat to render as much fat and to ensure the bacon is crispy.  After the bacon is cooked, add the leeks and cook until slightly brown add the stock and deglaze the pan and allow the leeks to briefly absorb some of the liquid.  Bring the water to a boil and then add the grits, salt and milk.  Lower the temperature and cover and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the grits have set to the consistency that you like.  Add the leeks and pan juices to the grits along with the creme fraiche, cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste. 

Pâté Grandmère (basic pork liver pâté)

Well the pâté turned out very well.  It's a little gamey, but with the percentage of liver, that was not necessarily the best in the world, it is to be expected.  It has been wonderful to have a nice rustic terrine in the fridge.  Nothing like a breakfast of pâté and coffee. 

Pâté Grandmère

2 lbs pork liver cut in to large chunks
1 1/4 lb pork shoulder cut into large chunks
2 tablespoons kosher slat
2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 tablespoons brandy or dry sherry.
2 slices of white bread, crusts removed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

In two separate large bowls, toss the liver and the pork with an equal amount of the salt, pepper, bay leaves and thyme.  Cover and refrigerate over night (or at least 8 hours).  During this whole process the mixture must be kept cold so you have to freeze all your blades.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Heat tablespoons of oil in a pan and sauté the liver until it develops a "crust," then remove and chill in refrigerator.  Add the shallots to the pan and  sauté until the shallots become slightly translucent, then add the brandy and cook until the liquid is gone and the shallots still appear to be soft.  Remove the shallots to the refrigerator and chill.  Mix the bread, eggs, milk and cream and then fold the mixture in with the pork, liver and shallots. 

Pass the mixture through the small die on your grinder, be careful because the liver tends to squirt, and who really wants liver juice all over their house?  Line your terrine mold with plastic wrap, leaving a little extra in order to cover the finished product. Transfer the mixture to the terrine mold, trying to pack down the mixture as much as possible.  Fold the plastic wrap over the top and place a cover over the mold.  Fill a baking pan with enough hot water that when the mold is placed in the pan the water level almost reaches the top of the pan.  Cook the terrine until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees, about 1 hour. 

Remove the terrine from the oven and the water bath and place 2 pounds of weight even distributed on top of the terrine in order to remove air pockets and increase consistency.  Allow to cool at room temperature for about 45 min and then place in the fridge overnight.  Serve with a nice hearty loaf of bread.  See that wasn't so hard.

Boudin Blanc

Oh sausage how you tempt me to my soul.  Like a good blues song, the components are basic and unglamorous, but the final product is something beautiful and complex that has the possibility to cause such an intense emotional reaction.  Boudin Blanc is one of my favorite sausages.  It's light and creamy and makes a beautiful breakfast with a nice piece of light rye, and it's light enough to make an excellent addition to a salad of spinach and tomatoes.  Of course you can throw it on the grill and enjoy it like you would other sausages, but don't let its sausage form limit your use of it.

Boudin Blanc

2lb ground veal
1lb ground pork (preferably from shoulder)
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons white pepper
8 eggs
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups fine bread crumbs
a couple sprigs of fresh herbs (parsley and tarragon are excellent, but dill or basil work well too)

Mix all the ingredients and blend until they are almost emulsified.  Fry a small portion of the mixture to check for seasoning.  Stuff in hog casings and twist off 3-4 inch links.  Bring a mixture of water and milk to a low simmer and then add the sausages in batches and boil the links until they become slightly firm.  Remove the links and allow them to cool.  Finish by pan frying in butter or grilling over low heat.

Ham Party

We finally had success with curing a ham.  I bought a boneless, skinless picnic ham and we used a modified version of the basic cure.  It made the curing time much shorter, only about 5 days.  Furthermore, although picnic hams are a little tougher, they are not from the lusciously fatty rear of the swine, the cure worked exceptionally well except for one little tiny part that didn't seem to absorb the cure (you can see the slightly discolored part in the photo).  We made a very basic bourbon glaze and managed to consume the majority of the ham that very night, though we were left with some ham which makes wonderful leftovers. Now that we've had success, we'll certainly try including other spices to the cure to add another dimension to the ham.

Bourbon Glaze

1 cup bourbon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
pinch of cayenne pepper

Heat the ingredients until they are well integrated.  Apply the glaze at the beginning and then twice more through the course of cooking the ham.