Crazy time of year for a BBQ

 Not even mid Feb, but we are going for it! Starting early before sun set.

Yuuuuum! We are still trying to lose some of the lockdown weight. So just salad with the delicious pork…

Pork roast in milk

This is soooooo good.

We used a bone in ankle from the front leg (not really sure what the cut is called - I guess it weighed 1.5 kg, skin on)

1/4 a lemon cut in to slices

1 onion cut in pieces 

1/2 litre of full fat milk (we used jersey milk which is extra creamy)

Salt the pork and leave for a few hours.

Put everything in a roasting dish (I have a large oval pyrex dish I use) with a lid and cook at 170°C for about 3 hours until the milk has curdled and caramelised and reduced to a thick (though somewhat lumpy!) sauce. If it seems to be cooking away too fast you can add a little more milk and if it isn’t reducing enough you can take the lid of for a while.

We had it with bread and cabbage, but also good with roast potato, mashed potato, or whatever else you fancy...

Coppa

Coppa is cured nape of neck.

Salted at 50g per kg with curing salt same as the ham

10g sugar per kg

Cured for 40 days in plastic bag in fridge with the salt
I put this one in a beef bung because some recipes ask for that and I happened to have one that needed using. Convenient way to hang it - from the string.

Hang for 4 weeks (or until loses 30% of weight)

Ham for boiling

1kg roast

Salt at 40g per kg

I just used normal cheese salt for this (not sure if that is different to table salt, but possibly table salt has added iodine)

Put in a ziplock bag with the salt for 5 days to cure in the fridge

Use straight away, of freeze, then boil to cook for about an hour. You can finish in the oven but I think this dries it out a bit.

I like leftovers fried with egg and chips

Saucisson and Chorizo

We haven’t succeeded with good saucisson (or other dried sausage) yet, so hoping for success this time! I have read lots and it seems likely that one potential problem has been humidity in the drying location and another is possibly the starter used. I am planning on spritzing these ones as they dry and I have put a starter from weschenfelder in them. It is hard to compete with the excellent dried sausage available here!

Saucisson
1.1 kg meat (approx 1/3 fat ground with 10mm plate)
Salami salt cure from Weschenfelder at 28g per kg of meat
0.25g or 1/8 tsp per kg Bactoferm T-SPX (also from Weschenfelder)
Salami seasoning from Weschenfelder at 15g per kg
Beef bungs (for thick saucisson shape)

Chorizo
1.1 kg meat (approx 1/3 fat ground with 10mm plate)
Salami salt cure from Weschenfelder at 28g per kg of meat
2tsp smoked hot paprika
0.25 or 1/8 tsp per kg (also from Weschenfelder)
Chorizo seasoning from Weschenfelder at 15g per kg
5g sugar (approx 1tsp)
Normal sausage casing from pig for thinner chorizo

Mix everything up and stuff in to casing (I did it with a funnel!). Hang somewhere at room temperature for 48 hours then somewhere cooler for about 3 weeks until they have lost 40% of their original weight.
I have weighed and labelled on in each batch as a sample one.
Spray with water occasionally to stop the outside drying too fast (if the outside dries too fast the middle doesn’t dry out properly)

Once they are dried to your satisfaction, eat some. Then sous vide (or put in ziploc bag) then freeze the rest.

In the end I didn't spritz them as the humidity upstairs where they dried seemed sufficient. They came out BRILLIANT. I have never made any before that come out like the real thing. I didn't make many as I wasn't convinced they would go well.

Bacon

Mostly made belly bacon, but some back too

There was 6.5 kg of belly

50g of salt cure per kg

10g of sugar per kg

Bit of pepper

Bit of ground nutmeg

Maybe this is pancetta not bacon

3.3 kg of belly (this one skin on)

50g of cure per kg

10g of sugar oer kg

2 cloves of garlic 

tsp pepper

tsp ground nutmeg

Salted in bag stacked up pile of 4 pieces.

Put in fridge for 10 days (14 for the thicker back bacon)

Heroically sliced it all before freezing, as when frozen unsliced we don't eat it so often because it is a hassle to thaw the whole giant lump then slice it then refreeze some.

I hung up some of the Pancetta to dry for a couple of weeks as well

Yum

Making Black Pudding and Liver Pâte

TBH I wouldn't bother making black pudding except I don't want to waste the blood. I do like black pudding, but it is quite an effort and those I make just haven't been as moist and tasty as you can buy.
This lot came out best yet, though I still think they could be more tasty.

This is Liz's lovely kitchen. Lot more space than in ours.
Lots of chopping going on. We made several batches. We cooked them in a bain mairie which I think is why they came out better than before. It is difficult to get a consistent temperature in a pan and overshooting spoils the texture.

Stuffing skins

Checking the seasoning

Ready to cook

We made a lot! We did a Portuguese recipe, a Spanish one and British black pudding

Fried ready for testing

We made some liver pâte that came out very well too. I have had problems in the past with the texture being dry, but this one was nice and moist. I did add quite a lot of fat as well as cooking relatively slowly in the oven. I have all the recipes written down somewhere which I need to find and record!

Lunch was pasta with veal, cream and lemon

Pigs to abattoir

Always a sad day, but we know it is coming and hopefully they don't.
These pigs were really good. They were friendly and funny and entertaining, they weren't scared of things and so learnt to load in to the trailer quickly and we hope they are tasty!
Pigs can't go to the abattoir the night before as they tend to fight so you have to take them in for 5am!
Previous pigs we have loaded the night before as we weren't too confident about them loading and we wanted to leave time to sort it out if needs be. These ones we decided were calm and happy enough to load in the morning and it seems kinder on them not to be wedged in the trailer overnight. So we were tottering around the woods looking for them at 4.30 am. Fortunately they woke up easily and took it in their stride that they were being fed at this unusual time.

Pork on the Pig

Piggy Piggy Piggy

Spring is always a hectic time with everything starting to grow and needing cut and mown and whatnot. This year we were worried we might not have enough work with all that and 3 calves (Buttercup is due any moment) so we ordered some pigs and some bees as well.
The piglets are here. They have a huge area, although we started them off in a small area round the house for a couple of days so they could get a little used to us and their new surroundings. They are only two months old and still quite shy. Hopefully they are going to get used to us quickly.

The pig house with hurdles round it and a mini enclosure for their first few days

We picked them up from somewhere 2 hours away. Bit of a long drive but we didn't want the local black pigs as they are too slow growing - we don't want fast growing, just normal!

In their new house with some yummy food with milk in it.

Their area is getting on for a hectare. That is a lot of fence! It has two strands at about 15 and 30cm as they are pretty small at the mo and pigs don't really jump. Things will grow up under this fast and start touching the wire so it takes a fair bit of work to maintain. We have put all the wires on reels now to try to make the strimming easier by making it easy to take a length in. The reels seem a bit crappy though and we might need to replace them (or hopefully return them...)

This is them setting off for their first explore one we removed the mini enclosure round the house. Bye bye piggies (hopefully not!)

We celebrated their arrival with ham hock cooked in milk with Lemon and Thyme. Yum!

Sausages

Stocks of pork are not exactly low but they are definitely not high either. We tend to scarf all the pork chops first and we eat sausages nearly as fast as we can make them (it takes a bit of planning to make them as massive frozen lump has to defrost somewhere it won't get too warm).
We just made a batch of sausages and we may only have meat for one more. These are apple and pork.

I made mini sausage rolls as well. Yum!

We need to get inventive with what to do with all the odds and ends in the freezer - the dog might get lucky!
Thinking of more pigs in the spring...

Boning a ham

Home grown, home cured ham.

YUMMY

It has been curing for 18 months. We didn’t exactly mean to age it so long, but we had quite a few and were only getting through them slowly - getting them out and slicing them was a bit of a job and we kept forgetting about them.
Not long ago we got a super electric slicer, this does mean the dried ham has to be boned which is a bit of a death defying job on such solid ham, but makes the whole thng easier once that is done.
We have not tried curing one with the bone out, but apparently they are more likely to go off during the curing process than with the bone in.

Yummy slices of ham

Macaroni cheese with ham

The super slicer

Lorne sausage

1kg pork
1kg beef
200g breadcrumbs
2tsp nutmeg
2tsp black pepper
1tsp ground coriander
4tsp salt (or to taste - better to add to little then add more)
250ml water

Some people do all pork or all beef or even lamb. But to me this is the ‘real’ mix of meat needed. Presumambly it was origionally whatrver scraps were left over from other things...

Mix everything together
Fry a little bit and taste to test the seasoning. Add more ass required...
Press in to a bread tin and chill
Slice in to slices around 2 cm thick
Fry until crispy on the outside and serve in a roll or with an egg on top or as part of a fried breakfast.

BBQ pork ribs recipe

This isn't exactly a recipe, and it needn't be cooked in the BBQ.

It is more a reminder to me what I did as they came out very well.

Enough pork ribs for 2 people
200 ml apple juice
BBQ sauce (a 'squirt or two')
BBQ rub made from salt, cumin, paprika, salt, thyme, ginger, cinnamon and any other spices you chose and some sugar (about 2 tablespoons full)

Make a 'bubble' out of foil so that the ribs can sit in the foil in a baking tray and you can add some liquid without it escaping from round the ribs.
Add the ribs and the apple juice and a bit of salt to the foil and wrap it up so the ribs are contained in the foil with the juice and it is reasonably airtight, but the steam can escape a little.
Put on the BBQ or in the oven at something like 110 degrees C so that it just boils but isn't frazzled.
Cook for about an hour.
Carefully open the foil bubble and rub the spice/sugar mixture into the ribs and rewrap. Cook for a further 30 mins.
Remove the foil and add the BBQ sauce (you don't have to use BBQ sauce, but it generally adds some smoky more complex flavour). Now the ribs are in a baking tray. Cook for something like another further 30 mins on a hotter setting until the sauce is reduced to a thickish consistency.

Preparing to wrap in the foil bubble

Ready to eat

Not much left as sooooo delicious. We ate with bread and salad.

Smooth liver pate recipe

1.2kg pigs liver
450g butter
3 onions chopped
6 garlic cloves
3 tsp salt
4.5 tsp allspice
1 tsp pepper
200ml cream

Fry the onions and garlic in some butter. Gently so they do not brown.
When they are soft add the cream and heat but don't boil for about 10 mins
Strain off the cream and keep it. You can liquidise in the onions if you want but it gives a smoother finish if you don't
Fry the liver slowly in more butter until it is cooked through.
Liquidise the liver in batches with melted butter and the conserved cream (you need some liquid in each batch else they are too gloopy
Put in a bowl and mix in the salt and spices
Line a bread tin with cling film and spoon in the pate mix
Put in the fridge until set hard
At this point you can slice and freeze (I put the waxed discs you get for burger presses between each slice to stop them freezing back together)

Back Bacon and wet cured ham Recipe

Bacon

8kg of pork back boned
4g saltpeter
240g salt
240g sugar

I did this in a box but would have been better with the back cut in to pieces in bags like the belly with the cure applied

Ham

9kg of boned leg (I cut in to 4 pieces as is huge)
16l water
1.6kg salt

Dissolve salt in the water.
Put the pork in there for 24 hours. Move around and turn over occasionally to make sure it is evenly salted

Pancetta and belly bacon recipe

Notes

1.5 kg piece of pork belly
Ziplock bag that the meat just fits in
Salt peter 0.5g per kg
Salt 30-40g per kg (did 45 could do a bit less as is quite salty)

Recipe

Pancetta spice mix

2 cloves garlic

1.5g saltpeter

60g salt
30g sugar

5g Juniper berry

20g black pepper

2g nutmeg

4 bayleaves

Bacon spice mix

1.5g saltpeter

60g salt
30g sugar

3 cloves

20g black pepper

2g nutmeg

1 tsp mustard seeds

Put garlic, juniper and bayleaves in a pestle and grind. Add the other ingredients and mix

Smear all over both sides of the piece of meat.

Put the meat in the bag and seal the end

Place in the fridge 

Leave for 7 days - every day shugle the bag around so you make sure the salt mixture goes all over the piece of meat. Water comes out of the meat so it ends up in liquid.

After 7 days take out of the bag and rinse under the tap.

You can now slice and freeze the bacon or for the pancetta hang it up to dry for either a couple of weeks in which case you need to freeze it and cook before eating, or for a month or more, in which case you can eat it raw like dried ham

Black pudding and Morcilla recipe

This recipe is mostly for me to remember what I did for next time

Black Pudding

3l Blood
2tsp white pepper (I have adjusted for it being too much)
2 tsp black pepper
3tsp nutmeg
2tsp thyme
200g breadcrumbs
200g wholemeal flour
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp chilli
100ml brandy
300g minced pork belly or back fat

Mix everything together and put in to skins.
Heat water to 70 C and cook puddings for about 25 mins until nothing comes out when stuck with a pin

Morcilla

3l Blood

300g cooked rice

6tsp pepper

5tsp nutmeg

8 tsp smoked paprika

7 cloves ground up

2 tbsp salt

3tsp chilli

3tsp cumin

350 ml sherry

2 onions

2 apples or two big handfuls raisins 

300g minced pork belly or backlit

1tsp ginger

200ml cream

Fry the onions. Mix everything together and put in to the skins

Cook same as Black Pudding