Bacon Your Pardon, Annie.

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

13 years ago

Annie please don't rasher to judgment. It's not my sowr grapes reaction that I post these dishes. Over the Holidays, I totally pigged out on meat. So it's time for some vegan dishes.

Besides, at NYC prices, it's not baconomical for me to buy 15 lbs of pork belly. Well, may be when pigs fly.

Tofu on sesame noodles.

Wild rice, almond, chestnut, shiitake mushrooms and Meyer's lemon salad.

Thank you, thank you, Teresa! Meyer's lemon is very compatible with your gift of farmed wild rice.

dcarch

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Comments (7)

Teresa_MN
13 years ago
There you go again using that beautiful mold again. If I remember correctly - you created that mold yourself, didn't you?

Did you notice any difference with the "farmed" rice.

I think all wild rice is good. Wild grown, farmed - it is all delicious to me. I had a bowl of reheated rice this morning for breakfast with a generous amount of butter.

I recently discovered something else that is a great compliment to wild rice. I had a bag of Salt & Pepper pistachios. I crushed some and sprinkled them over a bowl of buttered rice. Yum!
strawchicago z5
13 years ago
Hi Dcarch: Thanks for those fab. pics. Wild rice does go well with Shiitake mushroom. Both used to be my favorites until my kid is so picky ... It's like my 9-years old nephew whose Mom spent $$$ at Old Country Buffet, but the kid ate nothing but mac-n-cheese. His Mom got mad, "I could had cooked that for 50 cents at home!"

My cooking went from gourmet to blah when I try to please my kid!
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Sharon, I'm not at home, I'm at work, so I had to search the web for someone else who made that bacon! Sure enough, I found this on a smoking blog, and it's the same recipe that I used, but with notes from the blogger. Maple Cured Bacon One 5 lb. piece of pork belly, rind on 2 ounces kosher salt 1/4 C. pure Maple syrup 2 t. pink salt (a curing salt, not the Hawain stuff) 1/4 C. Maple sugar (pricey, worth it) Simply mix up all the ingredients for the cure (it will be a sort of yellow slurry) and spread it all over the pork belly, making sure to get under all the nooks and crannies and on the sides as well. Make the coating as evenly as possible on both sides so the whole thing has a nice coating (including the rind). Place in a 2.5 gallon zip lock bag and sort of fold up the sides so that the liquid that exudes from the belly is in constant contact with the meat (will take a bit of folding, the bag will be much larger than the belly). Once you've done that, throw it in the fridge (36-40 degrees) for 7 days, flipping it over every other day. On the 7th day, remove the belly from the bag and wash all the cure off. Put it on some sort of drying rack (I use one of the cheapies from walmart used for allowing cookies to cool) and stick it in back in the fridge for 1 day to dry out (form the pellicle). Next, take the bacon out of the fridge and hot smoke it (about 200 degrees) until your therm reads 147. Take the slab out, place it in another zip lock bag, and immerse in a cool water bath to cool it quickly. Put it in the fridge, and now you've got bacon!!!! Ruhlman suggests slicing the rind off after smoking. I did it before smoking, because I wanted more smoke flavor for the bacon itself. I guess some people also leave the rind on and just slice as is (I'm going to do this next time...I've discovered I like rind on bacon). OK, those were the bloggers instructions. I removed the rind before smoking and I used Grade B maple syrup and Elery smoked it with apple wood. I hope that helps, so smoke away, my friend... Annie
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Chase, you need the pink salt and/or stuff like it in cured and semi-cured sausages/hams/bacon/etc. Things that you hang to air dry, stuff that will be kept in the rafters all year. So, today's home smoker needn't worry about it too much, I don't think. Except I'd be leery of omitting it from a recipe that had it in. Morton sells a cure mix. If you go to their website there is a smattering of info on it. Sorry, just re-read your post and see that I'm not answering it, heh. No, pink salt is not pink...that is a reference to the fact that it maintains pink in the meat it is curing. So you don't get the grey sausage or bacon. Except when it (the salt) is artificially dyed pink so you don't fill your salt shaker with it I guess. Pink salt is a mixture of table salt and sodium nitrate or nitrite. Nitrite is most common. Its also called Prague powder, probably only in the trade tho. Oh, and for those worried about amount of nitrates/nitrites, pink salt is 94-95% salt and 4-5% nitrites. So very little goes into a batch of whatever. Sodium nitrate and or nitrite is water soluble so any plant grown in soil that uptakes a lot of water has naturally occurring nitrites/nitrates. Lettuce is one. As I said earlier, your Caesar salad probably contains more nitrates/nitrites than your bacon and eggs, no matter who makes the bacon. Celery is another veggie with lots of nitrates/nitrites. Of course depending on where it is grown...the soil it is grown in specifically. Man, I ramble on and on when its late and I'm tired,eh? Here is a link that might be useful: This is what I use.
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Posted by hawk307 : "Hi everyone : I didn't know Dc was at it again. ----" Old dog new tricks? Old tricks old dog? New dog new tricks? I am confused. :-) "--There are 2 definitions , of " Rasher ", ----" Oh yeah? So you think you have the only answer? You are the authority? :-) "---DCarch: I don't care what anyone else says. I think your presentation is great as usual. You may be a little eccentric,LOL !!! -----" Maybe I have Mr. Abby Normal's brain? "---Some have to run to Google and then put in their comments? to show how smart they are ???----" You must be talking about me. I am the only one who Googles to show how smart I am. Here is what I found Goolgling: [Irish bacon may also be called rashers. The Traditional Back Rasher with a high meat quality and unqiue succulent taste. The Maple Cured Rasher, smokey with a sweet aroma for an indulgent, mouth-watering treat and the Beechwood Smoked Rasher for a robust, delicious taste; perfect on it's own or as a five-star bacon sandwich. What is a rasher of bacon? A rasher is a single slice of bacon or raw pork, ----- that it can (also) be a serving of several such slices. ---] dcarch
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Madonna, since it's only in the brine for 3 days/72 hours, and that's in the refrigerator, then sits still refrigerated for another handful of hours, I am comfortable not using the "cure", I just leave it out and otherwise follow the recipe. I'm also diligent about slicing and freezing the meat promptly after it's smoked. I found some other people on a couple of smoking forums that said they left out the pink salt and had good results, so I went ahead. Good luck! Annie
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mustangs81
13 years ago
Each offering I think is the best then you top your last!!!

What else could your use the mold for? I'm thinking of making one.
Teresa_MN
13 years ago
Cathy - Dc has used the mold for bread on a couple of occassions. I remember photos from about a year ago. It was beautiful!

Jello! Dcarch - come up with something using that mold and Jello!
annie1992
13 years ago
dcarch, you want some bacon with that? (grin)

Actually, I like tofu and I have some in the fridge. I don't have a lovely mold but it doesn't matter because I'll just cut it up and cook it in something anyway and it'll look like a big ol' bowl of "stuff", LOL. Maybe I'll add some bacon, although I'd not want to do something rash-er either....

Sesame noodles, huh? Elery's been wanting some of those peanut butter noodles, maybe I'll have to make some. And you just reminded me that I have red rice in the fridge tht I need to use for something, so thanks.

Annie
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you everyone. I think it's good for everyone to go meatless once in a while, not just for good health, but also for the discovery of other good tasting food.

Teresa, I have not done anything yet of similar recipe to compare the difference of farmed vs. natural wild rice. As I remember, the natural wild rice is of a more delicate texture and taste, and the farmed wild rice is much firmer. I will find out more as I get into more dishes.

The mold I used is a very simple thing to make. If you have a pattern or design that you like, you can buy RTV silicon rubber molding compound, food grade, to cast the mold. The compound is in two parts, just mix and pour. In a day you will have your mold which is flexible, strong and heat proof.

I have used it to bake bread, make Jell-O, meat loaf, chocolate, candle, soap -------.

I did not do anything to mold the tofu.

The tofu was the silken kind. I wanted it to be firmer, so I just had it sit on top of the mold to drain the water out. In a few hours, the tofu took on the shape of the mold. Great! Custom designer tofu!

dcarch
whgille
13 years ago
Hi Dcarch - I love your mold! I could use it for when once in a while I make flan for a party. It is probably very easy for you to make but not for me, sometimes I wish that I was crafty.:)

All your created dishes look fantastic and healthy!

Silvia

Bacon Your Pardon, Annie.

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Teresa_MN

strawchicago z5

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Bacon Your Pardon, Annie.

Comments (7)

Teresa_MN

strawchicago z5

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mustangs81

Teresa_MN

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