Recipe: Braised Wild Boar Butt Steak and Ramps

I have learned more about meat in the last 3 years than I have my whole life. My biggest learning: there’s still lots more to learn.

We’ve virtually eliminated purchasing most of our groceries from large grocery stores in the last year. It didn’t happen intentionally and it’s not an absolute but it just seemed to be a natural progression. Part of that transition as included purchasing far less meat and, other than the occasional restaurant meal of unknown origin, we’ve been able to stick to the results of our hunting efforts or a giant percentage of small-farm and mostly local meat.

How to Cook a Wild Boar`s Head (or How to Cook a Pig`s Head)

Yesterday we shared why you would want to do this – if you haven`t read it, I highly recommend this as the first part of this series. All pictures are hidden after the fold (you`ll have to click to see more and scroll down to find them) – this may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

We posted the question on our Facebook group – did people want to see this post. The answer was a resounding `yes`even from some who admitted it isn`t their cup of tea but that we should share. What follows is the post on everything you need to know to cook a head of a pig…

Basic Dry Rub Recipe for Pulled Pork

Part of the reason we write this blog is to share inspiration with others, create a space where the community shares with each other (which is happening in the comments here as well as the FaceBook group that`s a lot of fun these days) – and part is to record the things that worked out well (and not so well) so that we can improve the flavors in our kitchen.

Our pulled pork was a phenomenal success this weekend (there`s a tonne of tips on how to make it here) and I thought I`d record our dry rub ingredients so we can repeat the success next time…

The Most Important Tip About Dry Rubs That Noone Shares

Theres an old joke that goes something like this:

A Professor stands in front of a class of eager students and fills a (mason) jar with stones. He asks if the jar is full – they all agree. He lets them know that the big stones represent life and then adds pebbles which fall into the spaces between the stones as he jiggles the jar to coax them onwards. He asks if the jar is full – and finds support again. He lets his students know that these are the commitments in life – job, social engagements and the like before adding sand and jiggling – it represents the important stuff that can be missed – family, friends, self… The students agree that the jar is full as there`s no room left for air. He pours a beer into the jar and walks away. As he reaches the door a student demands an explanation – `there`s always room in your life for a beer.`

I have watched Chefs on television and read recipe books that never account for this type of physics in a dry rub. Simply put: fine pieces of rub will always be at the bottom of your bowl and large chunks will remain on top even (and especially) if you stir the mix.

Dry rub sticks really well to dry meat – but doesn`t stick to other rub. If you were rubbing 3 pieces of meat and started with the top of your rub, your first pieces would have big chunks bu be splotchy and your final ones would be intensely covered in powder.

Pulled Pork…in a slow cooker

Back in June we finally pulled off pulled pork on our BBQ. It was relatively simple and we learned that the few previous attempts failed because of a few avoidable mistakes. It turns out that making pulled pork is fairly easy and predictable though it does take some time and attention.

I decided to make pulled pork in a slow cooker this weekend. I wasn’t expecting the same results but we had been on a very social weekend and decided it was time for a lazy Sunday (we actually rented 3 horrible movies and spent most of the day pretty quiet).

Pulled pork in a slow cooker is extremely easy:

Season the pork,
sear it,
throw it into the crock with some liquid (we used a can of Guinness, tomato paste and some homemade tomato juice from last year)
and aromatics (bay leaves, garlic, onions, chives)
and a few squirts of this and that (liquid smoke, worchestershire, hot sauce) and more seasoning.

We weren’t worried about drowning the pork – we covered about 70% of it.

Turn the crock on (we had it on high) and wait for things to start to fall apart. It’s just that simple.

The taste was decent – but certainly no substitute for what you can do on the BBQ. Having said that, it did take less effort/attention and I’ve done this exact same thing with chicken thighs (minus the guiness) and found the results to be stunning – a pulled chicked pasta sauce is the result.

BBQ Pulled Pork Tips

Finally we have success!

Cooking a picnic roast (or any roast) over an open fire

We shared the theory between of two different types of campfire yesterday and eluded to a third setup. Cooking over hot embers is great in theory and fabulous for steak but if you`ve got to cook a roast you will quickly find a problem – embers won`t last 6 hours (or longer) and flame is your enemy.

Here`s a little trick:

Cheap Tuesday Gourmet – Pork Chops in Brine (and in Bulk) and tricks to measuring ratios

Taking a break from Spring Preserving to delve into Cheap Tuesday Gourmet – a weekly series on eating affordable, sharing tips and, often, how preserving can lower your dinner bill. The last few weeks have been a little obscure for some – baked eggs, turkey necks and the mighty rutabaga are a little too edgy for some (tongue firmly in cheek). We`ll head back to a vegetarian option next week (I am so excited for the plans I can barely wait) and this week we`re heading back to the Lord of the Flies – yes, the mighty pig.

If you`re vegetarian you may still be interested in the first section (in fact the majority of this article has very little to do with cooking meat and is useful to those who bake or brine anything).

Homemade Ribs – Preserved dry rub included…

We decided it was time for ribs. They aren`t something I eat regularly though I do enjoy them when we do.

The biggest tip I have for ribs is fairly common knowledge now – take the time to remove the membrane from the bottom part of the ribs. I do this by cheating – I use needle-nosed pliers and things go smooth and quick. There`s no skill involved in this one.

I wanted to cook ribs because of our recent adventures dehydrating onions and celery root and our homemade celery salt. It`s funny how a pantry of ingredients made with care really starts to guide your food choices. We have eaten more and more vegetarian dishes and smaller meat portions these days – in this case it was a natural call (in my mind at least), to create a dry rub.

Cooking Sous Vide at home – pork belly

We had mentioned the Sous Vide Supreme a few months back. It is a new product that joins a few competitors in offering home consumers an appliance that they can use to create sous vide at home. We were curious so we wrote to them and they kindly arranged to send a sample unit for us to borrow for 2 weeks (there was no compensation, promise of posts or other benefit – we will only review things we genuinely like).

The machine is attractive – stainless steel, simple controls and trimmed in black.

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