·4 Pork Loin chops (for this recipe it is best to get cheap chops because they are usually thinner and get more tender)
·1 packet of instant onion soup mix
·1 can of mushroom soup mix
·Canola oil
First wash your chops (why does that sound dirty to me?) and season lightly to taste. You don’t need much seasoning at all, as the sauce will handle the majority of the seasoning for this dish (I just use salt, pepper, paprika, and adobo).
Heat enough oil in skillet to coat the bottom of skillet (I probably put more oil than I needed in the pic below). Light fry chops, do not cook thoroughly.
Remove chops from skillet and place on a plate. Add can of soup or and about a ½ can of water to skillet.
Heat and stir till mixture is somewhat smooth it should be a somewhat thick gravy texture.
Add chops, top them with the packet of onion soup mix (I also added more water and a bit of soup in order to completely saturate the chops).
Continue simmering chops and soup mix in covered skillet over low heat, the longer the better (as it will get more and more flavor) but it only really needs to sit until the chops are fully cooked. Feel free to stir the mix if you want and taste the gravy to make sure it’s to your liking.
When you’re all done, take the chops off and place them on a plate and cover in gravy.
We ate ours with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (why choose when you can have both?), and some baked asparagus in garlic sauce.
Please note we purposely only ate two of the chops and let the rest sit in the fridge. This is one of those foods that I strongly believe taste better the next day as the chops are essentially marinating in the gravy.
Song to jam to: Outkast – “A few of my favorite things”
If chicken stock is like Eddy Murphy (versatile, well-liked by everyone, and the most popular of stocks), then beef stock is like Charlie Murphy. It's not made as frequently, it's underrated, and if used in the right way, it can be better than chicken stock.
It takes a bit of time to make the beef stock, but overall it requires very little active cooking time. I suggest that people try to make stock one time to see if they're willing to go through the effort to make it from scratch. And while you are at it, you may as well make a really big batch and freeze the extra for other uses!
Head over to your local butcher and ask which bones are the best for beef stock. They'll tell you that you want thick, marrow-y beef bones with some meat left on them. The bones will be dirt cheap (unless too many people read this post ;))
One of the ultimate uses for beef stock is a classic French Onion Soup. Using homemade stock will put your soup miles ahead of one using canned broth. Because you're using such a nice beef stock, you can simplify the recipe and it will still knock socks off.
Process for Beef Stock (French Onion Soup Recipe after the Ingredients Section):
Slice 2 onions in 1/2 (you can leave the skins on as long as they aren't dirty), slice a carrot, and grab a few cloves of garlic. Toss them on a tray with your beef bones and put them into a 400F / 200C oven for 20-30 minutes until they are caramelized. This will deepen the flavor of the stock.
Add the roasted bones, the bay leaf, and veggies to a stock pot. I like to pour some water onto my cooking tray and scrape up all of the good bits of beef flavor stuck to the tray. Pour this into your stock pot.
Fill the pot with water until it covers the bones, bring the whole thing to a fast boil, and skim off any foam or impurities that float to the top with a spoon.
Put the stock pot into an oven at 225F / 110C. Walk away for about 8 hours. Alternatively, you can make it in your pressure cooker to drastically reduce the cooking time to about 2 hours. (use the same method as the pressure-cooker chicken stock, but extend the time)
After your bones have given up all of their flavor, grab them out of your pot with tongs and throw them away. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer (I never use cheesecloth, but you certainly can if you want).
You can continue to reduce the newly-strained stock if you want to have the flavor more concentrated. You can store it in multiple ways: reduced heavily and frozen in ice cube trays for sauces, in jars in your freezer (easier for soups), or in large gallon freezer bags so they lay flat in the freezer. As long as you don't burn the liquid by reducing it too much, you can always add water to dilute it for a soup.
If you reduce it a lot, it will be super gelatinous like the below chicken stock. This stuff will add a ton of body and flavor to your sauces.
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs or 1.5 kg beef bones (with some meat on them) - this cost me $8.
2 onions
1 carrot
3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
a few black pepper corns
Anyways, on to the French Onion Soup Recipe -
Process for a simple French Onion Soup:
I read through a lot of recipes online - most list over 15 ingredients for a classic French Onion Soup. If you make your beef stock from scratch, the only thing I think you need is a small kick of cognac and port to give a twang to the sweet and meaty flavor of the soup.
Properly caramelizing onions takes about 45 minutes. Yes, I know this seems like a long time, but it's worth every minute. Put your butter and olive oil into a stock pot over medium-low heat.
Slice your 6 large yellow onions into moons and add them to the stock pot. Cook them lightly and slowly until they are dark and brown (but not burnt). If they start browning before they have softened, you can add a few T of water and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom. Keep adding splashes of water until you achieve your desired color.
Next, add in your beef stock and warm it through. Add a splash of cognac and port to your soup and taste. The alcohol will chill out after about 5 minutes, but take it easy in the beginning.
While the pot is warming up, slice your crusty bread and toast it until it's light brown.
Pour the hot soup into a bowl or ramekin and top with the crusty bread.
And then cover it with a nice melty cheese.
Toss it under the broiler until the cheese is melted!
Ingredients (makes a lot of soup!):
2T of butter
1T olive oil
5 cups beef stock
6 large yellow onions (other kinds are okay too)
2-3 T cognac (to taste)
2-3 T port (to taste)
crusty slices of bread
Emmental or other melty cheese
I'm not sure - this new pressure cooker soup may flat-out tie the pressure cooker chicken stock recipe in terms of life-changers. While originally shopping for a pressure cooker (with Gita), I thought I was only going to be making Indian food in it. A lot of the recipes involved toasting spices, pressure cooking veggies for a certain number of pressure "hisses", and then enjoying a hot and spicy meal.
But once I got comfortable using the pressure cooker, I started reading about how the cooker could speed up the cooking times of a multitude of different recipes. The next logical step (to me) was to start experimenting with making teriyaki beef short ribs. They turned out great, and the cooking device mimicked a multiple-hour braise in the oven in about 45 minutes. Next, I graduated to chicken stock (which takes 45 minutes instead of 3.5 hours to make).
Modernist Cuisine (a bad-ace cookbook that combines science and cooking and beautiful cross-section photography) wrote a recipe for making caramelized carrot soup in a pressure cooker. I tried a dumbed-down version of their recipe and it was different than any other soup I've ever made before. The texture was impossibly smooth and it had a nice deep flavor.
If you have a pressure cooker, give this a shot. You have nothing to lose!
Process: Start by organizing your ingredients and peeling the carrots and parsnips.
Next, slice the carrots and parsnips into 1/4 inch chunks. Also peel and halve your shallots and garlic.
Melt the butter and add it to the pressure cooker over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the peeled and halved shallots.
Saute for a brief few minutes to develop some color. Next, add in the rest of the ingredients and stir to coat with the butter. Dump in your 1/2 tsp of baking soda and your 1/2 cup of liquid.
Close the lid of the pressure cooker according to your manufacturer's directions and let it cook for 15 minutes once you hear your first "hiss".
Once the 15 minutes are up, depressurize the pressure cooker under cold tap water.
Remove the lid and you should see nice, soft veggies. You can also see some caramelization on the bottom of the pot.
Add in your 2 cups of chicken stock (or water), and blend with a stick blender. Make sure to scrape up all of the flavor goodies at the bottom of the pot.
The soup should be silky and flavorful. Adjust for salt and seasonings and serve! I used my Gitadini Stacko Serving Stand to present it, along with 2 other soups :)
Ingredients:
3 large parsnips
3 large carrots
3 shallots
3 garlic cloves
3 T butter (1/3 of a stick)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup water
2 cups chicken stock (or water for all-veg)
Creativity options:
Add ginger
Use any root vegetables (pumpkin rocks)
Add cloves, cinnamon, etc
Add cumin
Stir in something naughty to finish off the soup: heavy cream, coconut cream, sour cream
Song to make smooth soup love to: Alicia Keys and Maxwell: The Fire We Make
TIE ME IN KNOTS. BACON KNOTS. OOH BABY BABY OOH. [Rhonda]
Degree of difficulty: beginner Time: 10 minutes prep for 1 lb of bacon, cook time 18 minutes Serves: snack for 1 - 2 college boys, or 6 as an appetizer
Sometimes things get a little naughty, especially when bacon's in the house. But these are, quite simply, awesome. And super easy to whip up. Warning: you'll be at the prep station a while if you're doing these for a party, for two reasons. One, they are delicious and go fast...guests will scarf them. Two, with---ahem!---shrinkage while cooking, they become one-bite-wonders. So put on some Usher and go to it.
Ingredients:
(Version One)
1 lb bacon
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like things hot)
Cooking spray
(Version Two)
1 lb bacon
1/2 cup honey or pure maple syrup or mixture of both (I mixed and it was great)
Freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover a cookie sheet with foil, lightly spritz with cooking spray. Cut the bacon in half to make shorter pieces--or leave it long for a full-on effect. Loop it once to make a knot, dip in brown sugar/cayenne mixture (both sides) for version one, or for version two, place directly on the cookie sheet, then baste with honey and sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper. Be generous. Cook for 18 minutes on top rack, check at about the 15-minute mark just in case your oven's running hot.
I've done a half and half tray here. Personal favorite? The cayenne and brown sugar. Looks prettier and tastes incredible.
My friends Steve, Pete, Mike, and Adam are holding their own "Beer and Bacon" festival in Boston this weekend since they were not able to get in the official one. Something tells me the party that they are throwing will be better/more intense/funnier....
Since I live across the ocean from them and can't attend, I'm jealous. The only way I can combat their skype-taunting session is to throw something equally fun back in their faces. One thing that could possibly make them jealous is to cure my own bacon (4 different ways) and drink some Belgian beers.
I first got the idea to start curing my own bacon when I purchased Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie. I've always been interested in how food was produced before big companies took over and started processing food. Bacon is one of the most simple cures to try, and it happens to be one of my favorite foods, so it was a no-brainer. I have made many iterations of cures and have found experimenting with different seasonings methods to be really rewarding.
Knowledge bomb: The curing process goes back until ancient times as a way to preserve meat (way before fridges existed). When you salt a piece of meat, the salt pulls the water out of the meat through a process called osmosis. After curing your bacon, you will notice there is a lot of liquid in the bag. Thanks, salt! I have no idea how this works scientifically, but the end result is to flavor the meat, slow the oxidation process, and make it a tough place for bacteria to grow. Boom.
There has been a bacon craze on the internet for the past 3-5 years. This heavenly meat certainly deserves all of the accolades it has been receiving. I know this post is late to the party, so I figured I could add a bit of flair by doing 4 different renditions of dry cures.
Taste test results are at the end of the post.
Process:
How to cure bacon:
Curing is similar baking - you have to have the right proportions of salt and seasoning to meat, or else you will end up with a bad end product. The process is the same for all of the below cures - you just need to cure it, smoke it, slice it, and then cook it!
Get a nice pork belly from your local butcher shop. Mine was 5 pounds, and skin-on is okay. If you would like to try the 4 different types of cures, section your pork belly into the appropriate weights. If not, just choose your favorite and leave the belly whole.
Weigh out and measure your ingredients. The most important thing to get right is the proportion of salt (pink and kosher) to the weight of the pork belly. I have also provided measurements in the recipe in case you don't have a scale.
Place each of the different pork bellies into an individual zip-lock bag, pour the dry cure in, and mix it around so the cure contacts all sides of the meat. Squeeze out all of the air from the bag and seal it. Place the bags into baking dish in case the liquid drips in your fridge (that's a gross mess to clean up). You'll want to flip the bellies every day or two in order to make sure the meat is curing evenly.
Curing time depends on the thickness of the belly. For me, it took 1 week.
To test to see whether it's finished, press on the belly and it should feel firm like a well-done steak.
How to smoke/grill cured pork belly:
Take the bellies out of the bags, wipe off the cure, and place them onto a pre-heated grill to 250F. You'll want to use indirect heat to slowly smoke the bacon. Turn on one burner at one end of the grill, and place your bellies on the other side. Or if you have charcoal or wood chips, pile them all on one side of the grill.
After an hour or 2, take the bacon off of the grill and remove the skin if it's still attached.
Congratulations! You have just made bacon! I bet it tastes way better than the store-bought stuff. You can either freeze it whole, refrigerate it, or get to cooking it right away. I'm guessing it won't last very long in your house - even if you live alone....
How to properly cook bacon in a frying pan:
Slice the bacon in even thickness. Since you worked hard to make this, you can slice it as thick as you want! You'll need a sharp knife. If it's still difficult, you can put the bacon in the freezer for about 45 minutes to make it more firm.
The best way to cook bacon is to start the slices in a cold pan on low heat. If you try to cook it too quickly, you'll end up burning the outside. The cold pan allows the fat to render out of the bacon. Once enough fat has accumulated, it will fry the bacon and produce crispy results. Don't rush it - good things are worth the wait.
Ingredient List for the 4 cures I made:
(All proportions remain constant - if you want to cure a larger piece of belly, do a little math)
Cure #1: The Traditional - Brown Sugar Cure A no-frills delicious bacon that is very versatile
2.5 lbs pork belly (900g)
1/8 cup kosher salt (25g)
1 tsp pink salt (6g)
1/4 cup brown sugar (50g)
Pre-cure
Post-cure and after smoking
End result
Cure #2: The Asian Sensation - Ginger, Garlic and 5-Spice Cure A unique blend of Asian flavors that would pair well with duck or Asian-style chicken
2/3 lb pork belly (300g)
2 tsp kosher salt (8g)
1/2 tsp pink salt (2g)
2T brown sugar (20g)
1/2 inch diced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp 5 spice
Pre-cure
Post-cure and after smoking
End result
Cure #3: The Smoky BBQ Burger Sidekick - Smoked Paprika and Garlic Cure Perfect if you don't have a smoker - a flavorful addition to a burger or with eggs in the morning
2/3 lb pork belly (300g)
2 tsp kosher salt (8g)
1/2 tsp pink salt (2g)
2T brown sugar (20g)
1T onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 cloves minced garlic
Pre-cure
Post-cure and after smoking
End result
Cure #4: The Ole School "Pancetta" - Juniper Berry, Rosemary, and Garlic Cure A savory cure similar to pancetta - great for pastas like carbonara
2/3 lb pork belly (300g)
2 tsp kosher salt (8g)
1/2 tsp pink salt (2g)
1.5 tsp white sugar (6g)
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
8 juniper berries, cracked open to release oils
Pre-cure
Post-cure and after smoking
End result
The Verdict:
Sven - Asian, BBQ, Juniper, Traditional
Lauren - Asian, Juniper, BBQ, Traditional
Zack - Asian, BBQ, Juniper, Traditional
