Once we got back from our France trip, it seemed that the bottom fell out on just about everything my wife and were trying to do. It has been hectic, to say the least. Our calendar was suddenly jam packed with things that must be done, yesterday. It didn’t leave me a lot of time to do much cooking on my MAK.
The trip to France was great. I was able to eat a lot of cuisine that is not generally available, especially in this part of NC. I found myself trying to determine if I could prepare some of the dishes using my MAK. It has taken a while, but I think I was able to come up with a menu for a meal that went from some appetizers to a wonderful dessert. Here goes.
My wife came home from one of her book club meeting and said, “Here, try some this homemade pimento cheese. It is really good!” It was really good. She got a copy of the recipe and I have since made it twice. The second time I made it I decided to try add some chopped up pig candy. The basic pimento cheese recipe comes from Victoria.com. The ingredients are as follows:
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
1 cup grated Monterey Jack
1 cup grated Pepper Jack
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup diced pimentos
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
You can add spiced nuts, bacon, or even more jalapenos if you so desire.
This is appetizer number one. The basic recipe mixed in the bowl.
Bacon and Bacon Savor rub for making pig candy.
Pig candy off the MAK.
Everybody is mixed, in the bowl and ready to serve. I like a touch of Slap Ya Momma on mine.
Appetizer number 2 is a bit different than any appetizers I have seen. It is Pork Belly Confit. It is Jim Drohman’s recipe in Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s book
Charcuterie. This is a somewhat labor/time intensive process, but it was worth every minute I spent putting it together. And before anyone asks, yes, I would do it again.
I made a half recipe, following their directions as closely as possible. Two major differences, however. First, I left the skin on the pork belly and scored it in a diamond pattern. (I had further plans for the pork skin.) After cooking the pork belly slowly in my Dutch oven, I cooled the pork belly overnight and then smoked it on my MAK with BD cherry pellets.
The pork belly, scored and ready to be seasoned.
The spices have been rubbed into both sides of the pork belly.
The next step is to add the Pinot Grigio to the rubbed pork belly, and wait for about a day and a half.
The Dutch oven has enough lard melted into it to cover the pork belly, which I had to cut in half in order to make it fit properly.
After cooking the pork belly in the lard for several hours in the oven, the pork belly was removed and put on the MAK to get some cherry smoke. This is the cut up pieces of the “meat” part of the pork belly, ready to be deep fried and served.
This is what it looks like after deep frying.
Now this is the reason I kept the skin on the pork belly. I wanted to be able to make some brined, smoke flavored chicharones. That Pinot Grigio brine was amazing. It imparted a not-to-sweet flavor to the pork skins.
Here is an appetizer plate with some mixed greens topped with several pieces of Pork Belly Confit. I drizzled a little blood orange EVOO on and around the greens. This step really finished the appetizer. The slightly crunchy outside of the confit and the inside that just melted in my mouth.
Time to put the main course together. I bought several tri-tips a while back. I now had enough time to try this one the MAK. I started out with the glue, an espresso balsamic.
I put some Money on both sides and wrapped the tri-tip in plastic wrap and back into the refrigerator overnight.
In my haste to put everything together, I forgot to take any pictures while the meat was on the MAK. I had the MAK set at 250. However, I did keep an eye on the IT and pulled it when the meat was 125 in the thickest part.
This is what it looked like when I sliced it. The chef’s piece while carving tasted great. Wonderful flavor and it was fairly tender, too.
I finally plated my portion. From all the snacking beforehand, I limited myself to meat and tomatoes. The tomatoes had some garlic EVOO with salt, pepper, and some dried basil.
For dessert I had made a cake from a recipe I copied off the Bradley Forum. It was called Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake. The first picture shows the 9x13 dish with a few pieces missing. This cake was really good. It would make a great breakfast cake with coffee in the morning.
I barely had any room left, but I couldn’t resist. I had a small piece (with moo juice).
I will be taking samples of the cake to my neighbors. I have to get it out of the house. I could eat the whole thing by myself.
I hope it made you hungry, too.
Art
