Sic Semper Porcus

Caraway and Rosemary Glazed Ham

Many of you might see this as a bit redundant.  We have only been at this curing thing for a bit and we have already attempted numerous hams.  However, we figured that since this is a skilled art, we should work on perfecting our craft before moving on to more ambitious endeavors.  And so here you have it, a beautifully cured ham that we took the time to actually smoke.  We started with about a 13lb boneless ham that we tied up and brined in the classic brine cited in one of our previous failures.  We made sure to puncture the ham as well to help the brine reach all the parts of the ham. In addition, we also turned the ham around in the container during the brining time.  We also made sure to not rush the curing time.  It sat brining for a good eight days and then we removed it, rinsed it off and let it sit in the fridge for another full day before cooking.
This brine was a slight variation from the basic cure as it had garlic, cardamom and caraway in order to add a few more nuances to the flavor of the flesh.  We starting smoking it at about 7pm the night before we wanted to serve and let it go through the whole night and finally it emerged complete at about noon the next day.  We then glazed it in a glaze made from caraway rosemary and beer.  It seems like we have finally become comfortable in making consistent hams and this was by far and away the best one yet; with a consistent flavor and texture and the wonderful smokiness that can only come from actually smoking your ham.  Unfortunately, since the ham was such a success there were no leftovers to play with.  So look out ladies and gentlemen, in the near future there will be a guajillo and garlic cured ham.  And as soon as we get our curing box built we will start dry curing again.

Bacon Bloody Mary

Nothing starts off a day of smoking large quantities of meat like a nice spicy bloody mary.  Since this is a pork blog I figured I had to switch things up a bit, hence the bacon.  As a note, I can never bring myself to use a bloody mary mix so I always end up making my own vegetable puree and season it myself, I feel this always ends up with better results.  We figured that as a nice twist we could add a nice thick cut of bacon to use as a stirrer in addition to a few pieces blended in to the mix.  The salty smoky nature of the bacon is a nice complement to the spicy bloody mary.

Bacon Bloody Mary

5 large tomatoes
3 carrots, peeled
4 fresno peppers, stemed
1 1/2 cups reserved cooking water
1 tablespoon worchestshire sauce
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 lemons, juiced
2 tablespoons of chile infused oil
3 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoons ground fennel
3 tablespoons salt
2 pieces of bacon plus one for each glass

Boil the vegetables until the tomatoes are tender.  Remove the vegetables and peel the tomatoes.  Sautee the bacon to taste, dice two strips. Combine all the ingredients (except the water) in a blender and blend until it is a thick smooth puree.  Slowly add the water until it has thinned out to the desired consistency.  Add your choice of vodka.  We used two different vodkas: Qino One, an excellent Vodka from France made from the Quinoa grain and also Kiev Vodka, a classic example of Eastern European vodkas.