• Slow Roasted Pork

    Posted on by Dr. Prosciutto Comment

    Da butt. Yup, Pork butt. For those not familiar, the pork butt is actually a shoulder. It needs to be cooked low and slow to bring out its intoxicating and addicting natural aromas and flavors. All of the fat in the meat needs to melt through muscle tissue and permeate it with it’s goodness, to fully enjoy everything about the pig. Below is a recipe that takes a while, but it’s basic and very versatile. You can use it for sandwiches, throw some spices on it and do some pulled pork for BBQ (like with my watermelon BBQ or any other of the sauces you’ve seen/will see from me), or use it for tacos. I’ll post some more recipes throughout the months using this as a base.

    Way slow cooked pork shoulder.

    1 5 lb. Pork butt, cut into 10-12 oz pieces
    1 tbsp ea Salt and pepper
    4 tbsp Paprika
    2 tbsp Garlic powder
    1 tbsp dried oregano
    1 tbsp dried thyme
    1 tbsp chili powder
    2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

    1. Combine the oil and all of the spices into a bowl. Roll each piece of pork in the bowl until it’s well coated with spices.

    2. Place the meat in a piece of foil and wrap the foil around it so you have kind of a meat pouch.

    3. Cook the pork at 325 for 3-4 hours or until it’s super tender.

    By itself this pork is delicious, and very versatile. You’ll see me refer to this recipe a lot when doing recipes with pulled or roasted pork.


    This entry was posted in Entrees and Such

  • Watermelon BBQ Sauce

    Posted on by Dr. Prosciutto Comment

    Summer=cookout=BBQ, we all know that. So, in celebration of the beginning of warm weather and grillin’ time, I’ve put together a simple, yet different BBQ sauce to “WOW” the friends and family with. This isn’t your everyday, run of the mill toxic sludge you get in the store. This is how it’s made on the homestead, well kinda. This recipe is based on one of the basic four styles of sauce (tomato base, vinegar base, mustard base, and dry). Keep an eye out during the summer for variations on this and recipes with the other four.

    1 small, seedless watermelon (it if’s not, we can just strain it later) enough for 1 1/2-2 cups of puree)
    1/4c spicy brown mustard
    1/2c sugar
    1/4c cider vinegar (not that distilled crap, get the good stuff)
    3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
    1 small onion, chopped fine (about 1/4c)
    2 tbsp whole butter
    1c ketchup (organic if you can get it)

    1. Start a pot on low heat. Add the butter and let it melt. Swirl the pot if you have to.

    2. Add the onion and let it sweat, you don’t want to get any color on this. The onions should barely be sweating and just lazily cooking away. stir them every 30 seconds or so for about 5-10 minutes, or until translucent.

    3. While the onion are cooking, peel the watermelon, and rough chop it. if you have a blender or a food processor, puree it. (Strain out the seeds if you have one with seeds) If not, just crush it up in a bowl with you hands, you’ll just have a chunkier sauce) Put this off to the side for now.

    4. Add the sugar and vinegar to the pot. When all the sugar has dissolved, bring the pot to a boil and reduce the liquid down to about 1/3 of what it was.

    5. Turn the pot back down and add the mustard and ketchup. When this starts to bubble lightly, add the watermelon puree/chunks and Worcestershire. When this starts to bubble, turn to flame down to low and let it cook for 30-40 minutes. Stir every few minutes.

    When it’s ready, serve it hot, cold whatever. It’s going to be thinner than most BBQ sauces you are used to, but it’s still sweet and tasty. I like it on pulled pork and turkey, but use it in place of anything you use for your normal BBQ sauce.


    This entry was posted in Sauces and Condiments

  • Mmmm…..Pig (Brined Pork Chops)

    Posted on by Dr. Prosciutto Comment

    So it’s getting to be cookout time. My favorite thing to drop on the grill, is a nice juicy pork chop. The key to making pork great, and not just good, is your brine. What’s a brine? It’s a salt and sugar solution you let the meat soak in before you cook it. Almost like a marinade, but better. Brines are very versatile and once you get the hang of making a basic one, you can get creative with what you put in it. Here’s what I use in the summer:

    4 ea 8 oz pork chops (bone in or out, depends on what you like)

    Brined chop done under the broiler

    2 cups good old H2O
    1 c brown sugar
    1/3 c Salt (Kosher or Sea Salt, not that iodized table crap)
    1 tsp whole peppercorns
    5 sprigs thyme
    5 sage leaves
    1 tbsp fennel seeds
    2 each star anise (optional)
    2 cups ice

    1. Put all of your ingredients in a pot, except the ice and pork chops.
    2. Bring everything to a boil, and stir until the salt and sugar have all dissolved.
    3. This is where the ice comes in, it’s a great time saver. Transfer the liquid you just boiled into some kind of container. Drop the ice in and stir. Your liquid should be about room temp.
    4. Now for the pig. Drop your pork chops in and let them sit about 2-3 hours.
    5. Get your grill ready and just cook. I leave them on until they’re about medium. (about 6 minutes each side)

    You can use this brine with any light meat you want. Roast a chicken with it, turkey breast, pork loin, whatever. This is an easy way to impress your friends at your next cookout.

    Later,

    The Doctor


    This entry was posted in Entrees and Such

  • Roasted Corn Guacamole

    Posted on by Dr. Prosciutto Comment

    Welcome back, let’s start Round 2. Last week I put up a fairly wicked burger. This week, we’re doing something to put on top of it, or dip your chips in, or whatever you want to do with it. It’s quick, easy, and pretty damn tasty.

    Roasted Corn Guacamole

    3 large Haas Avocados
    1 small red onion, peeled, cut into 1/2″ rings
    1 ear fresh corn
    oil
    salt and pepper
    1/2 c. sour cream
    1/2 bunch cilantro
    1 Roma tomato
    Tabasco
    2 limes

    1. Preheat your oven to about 400. Take a bit of oil and rub the corn and onion rings, then season them with salt and pepper. Place them on any kind of baking pan and cook them for about 15-20 minutes, or until you have some color on the corn and the onions are soft.

    2. When the onions and corn are ready, pop them in the fridge for a few minutes. This will cool them down enough for you to handle and cut later. Move to step 3 while you’re waiting. CHOP CHOP.

    3. Yup, step 3 is chopping the cilantro. For guac, I like to leave the chunks bigger. Just take a knife and push through the leaves a couple of times. You can cut it finer if you like.

    4. Now that your vegetables have cooled, take a knife and run it down the side of the corn cob, to take the kernels off. Next, rough chop or dice the onions. You want the pieces to be between 1/2″ and 1/4″. Dice the tomato in the same fashion.

    5. Avocados are next. These are easy. Cut them in half, cutting around the pit, and just twist them apart. ( Seriously, it’s important to have nice, ripe avocados for this. If you don’t, you might as well go to some crap chain restaurant and eat that pre-made garbage.) Now you’re asking “How do I get the pit out?” Easy, take a knife, and hack into it SOFTLY. Just enough to embed the end of the blade, closest to the handle, into the pit. then twist it out. Take a spoon and scoop the avocado halves out. It doesn’t matter if you break them up, you’re mashing them anyway.

    6. Here’s the fun part, mashin’ time. Take the avocado, place it in a bowl with the sour cream, cilantro, onions and corn. Then mash ’em up as much as you like. I like to leave it a bit chunky. I use the back of a spoon or a fork. You can use a potato masher, jack hammer, or any other implement of destruction you choose.

    7. Cut the limes and squeeze them right into the avocado mix, season it with salt and pepper and add as much Tabasco as you like for a little kick. Mix the seasonings in, make sure everything is mixed evenly, and eat.

    See? Easy. Feel free. I put this on everything. Chips, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, you name it. See ya next week.

    The Doctor


    This entry was posted in Sauces and Condiments

  • The Pendie Burger

    Posted on by Dr. Prosciutto Comment

    I’m pulling in time proven Man-Burger recipe from my good buddy, Mike Pendergrast’s backyard recipe book. We made these about every cook-out at the house in college, and went with any beer, whiskey, malt liquor, or (dare I say) Zima, we had in the fridge (had to keep the girls happy). This ultimate Man-Burger recipe is unique, easy and tasty. It’s origins lie in a famous Minnesota sandwich recipe, called the “Juicy Lucy”.

    Makes: 4 Burgers (You need 4 buns obviously. Lettuce, Tomato, and Onions are optional)

    Gooey, Cheesy, Pendie-Burger Deliciousness

    2.5 lbs Ground beef
    4 oz. Velveeta, cut into 1/4″ cubes
    1 shallot, chopped
    2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
    4 tbsp ranch dressing
    1 tbsp French’s mustard

    1. Start by mixing all of the ingredients together in a bowl, except the Velveeta. Man up and dig into the raw meat.

    2. When everything is mixed, form the mix into eight equal sized patties. I know I said 4 burgers, just read on and trust me, Evil Doctor, remember?

    3. Take 1 oz of the Velveeta and 2 patties. Put the Velveeta between the 2 patties and make 1 big pattie. Think of a cheese sandwich, with meat as the bread.

    4. Hopefully, you have your grill fired up. Just pop them on and cook for between 7 and 10 minutes on each side. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper to taste. I like to make the patties about 3/4″ thick. Stays juicy, but doesn’t take too long to cook. I eat these as rare as I can, but you can cook them how you like. The Velveeta in the middle melts, and your cheese is inside. You can also make these a day ahead and have them ready for cookout.

    5. There always a step 5…eat it, I like toasting the buns a bit in an oven or on the grill, and eat it with some pickle and tomato slices. Throwing some bacon on it doesn’t hurt either, but then gain, it’s bacon, it’s good on anything.

    Till next time,

    The Doctor


    This entry was posted in Burgers and Dogs and Such