APL Smoked Shoulder

Adam Perry Lang is truly a master on a BBQ.  This is his apple brine, apple glazed, apple smoked pork shoulder.  It took 14 hours after all said and done but maaaan was it worth it.  His technique is amazing and works beautifully.   Carolina pulled what?

Pastrami

This was done with a brisket from Pleasant Pastures co-op Amish farm in PA.  First trimmed of some fat then brine in a pickle spice and smoked on white oak all day.  After this steams for about 2 hours, you will have a moist, extraordinarily flavorful pastrami that will rival Kats no problem.

Spring In The Woods

March and April are when these beautiful wild greens start coming up on the north shore of Long Island.  Garlic Mustard (Right) is potent but delicious.  You can boil them then saute in garlic and oil.  I put these along with other dark greens in a calzone type thing called a pitt` in calabrese.  In the middle we have some field garlic.  It taste more like a sweet cipolini onion.  You can put these in anything you would small onions. The ramps (left) are the most prized.  I like to saute the tops with garlic and oil.  The bottoms are great braised with white wine vinegar and honey agrodolce style.

First Pheasant Hunt

This is also the first time hunting with my uncle in law, Sal who owns up to his reputation as a maniac hunter.  This guy is interested in one thing, and one thing only...and that is making sure he gets his kill.  Even though it was   not the best conditions for a pheasant hunt, Uncle Sallie made it happen.  We all had low expectations until we started spotting birds all over the road!  Long story short...without really having our own "hunting spot", we left with 4 pheasants.  Thanks to Uncle Sallies unique tactics.  He was nice enough to give me 2.  Since they are all shot up I will be deboning them.  Im defiantly going to make a stock with the bones. As for the meat, well...many ideas have been popping off in my brain since that rainy morning in the woods...We'll see.

Sunday pork sause

Also with Wells Farm pork I made this sauce with pig skins, sausage and ribs.  The skins gave it a very smooth, silky gelatinous mouth feel. 

This was done a bit off the traditional family recipe, but I didn't have the pignoli nuts, or parsley.  I used currents, parmigiano reggiano, jalapeno, walnuts, salt and pepper.  They were my favorite thing in the pot....sweetness from the currents, texture and big flavor from the walnuts...really good.  Plus I think it is more "traditional" to use what is in the house at that moment.

But first we ate a nice pasta salse with fresh parsley, a splash of olio santo, and parmigiano reggiano.

First sausage of the year

With a ham and a shoulder from the Wells Farm Pig I made a fresh sausage with salt tellicherry black pepper, sweet paprika, and red wine.  The lighter sausage is made with Turkey, (Teresa only bought the breast......), Pork Fat, clove, all spice, black pepper, salt, and cranberry's.

Porchetta di Testa

After I shaved and cleaned this head it was deboned. 

I had rosemary, sage, thyme, parley, and oregano growing in the garden so I Finley chopped them with garlic and lemon zest.  This marinated for 2 days in the refrigerator.

Following Chef Cosentino's video to the T, I tried to tie this thing up as best as I could.  The ears were folded in the tung was left in the middle to add more meat.  It took forever and a few blisters but It was tight. I then vacuum sealed it in plastic, then put the whole thing in a stock pot for 14 hours to poach at 190 degrees F.

It was put directly in the refrigerator and chilled for 2 days.  I was sure I did something wrong, when I cut in to it and saw this beautiful mosaic of pork, I must say I was proud. 

The two big fatty parts with light pink running through are the jowls, the dark pink peaces are the toung, the squiggly white lines are the ears and you can see the herbs throughout along with the gelatin kind of like head cheese.  The smell of this thing right out of the fridge was awesome.  but tasting it cold with some olive oil and parmigianoreggiano and basil was unctuous porky heaven.  The mouth feel was so silky.to the bread it also was excellent.