Weekend Cook: Chicken Thighs

Chicken Thighs

This was another lazy day cook that turned out better than I had hoped.

Thighs in the Traeger Smoker

I coated 9 bone-in thighs with DP Shakin' The Tree rub and set them in the Traeger pig at 225f for about two hours, until they registered 160f.  I turned them, and let them cook until they reached 171f - about 30 minutes later.  (All cooking temperatures in the smoker vary according to the weather).

Smoked Chicken Thighs

How about that?  So pretty, and crispy skin to boot!  Very moist, and with enough leftovers to make sandwiches the next day.

Life on the Farm 091310: Food for Thought

I’ve mentioned locavore eating many times – consuming only what has been produced within 50 or 100 miles of where you live; there are many variations on the theme, depending on how enthusiastically you wish to embrace the challenge. 

Further to that, you can now find nose-to-tail dinners in area restaurants.  For recreational eaters, this is an exciting concept; for others about town, it’s quite old hat.

Over 50 years old?  If so: cracklings, headcheese, liver pate, blood sausage, tripe, and pickled pig’s feet, are probably nothing new.

However, I’m in a holding pattern under the big five-o, and not so worldly-wise about preparing the unmentionable parts of animals. 

It’s my business to keep a licked finger held skyward to pinpoint the direction of culinary shifts, so I felt the urge to establish a cookable-connection to underutilized animal parts. 

No, not tongue, liver, or heart!  No testicles, sweetbreads, cockscombs, ears, tails, or unlaid chicken eggs!

I barbecued half a pig head.  It wasn’t easy; I don’t like to look anything I’m going to eat in the eye.

(Not terribly piggie or animal heady at first.)

The eye had been removed by the processor (whew).

It was without skin, ears, brain, or jaw - but still had a snout, smile, and a wink, on the bone.

After four hours on the smoker, it appeared even more like an animal face, and I couldn’t look at it; I took it off the grill, wrapped it in foil, and put it in the refrigerator.

(Avoidance, it’s a legitimate coping mechanism.)

The following morning, I cooked it (covered) for another 7 1/2 hours.  Some barbecue saucing action accentuated the piggy’s facial crinkles; then, it was over.

Delicious, porky, barbecue aroma filled the kitchen.  Pull-apart tender morsels of cheek surrendered up a very rich smoky flavor, and yielded enough meat to make four sliders.

I counted it as an incredible experience that would have cost a pretty penny dining out.

However, I felt oddly about it, and was concerned that I had merely hitched a ride onto yet another passing foodie trend – and while delicious – it held little substance. 

We produce our own milk, cheese, eggs, and meat.  Farmer’s market has filled our freezer with tomatoes and peppers; the refrigerator teems with local mushrooms, berries, artichokes, and leeks. 

Blessed with so much to eat, why indulge an exploration into the nasty bits?

It took me a while to realize that I already had the answer.  There’s a morality involved in taking an animal’s life for food.

It’s all too easy to take a meat package out of the supermarket case and put it in the cart without thinking twice about where it came from, or the conditions under which it was raised and processed.  This experience has served as a reminder not to waste what can be eaten, and one thing more.

All those people - with the foodie dinners and the eat-local challenges – I hope it can be more than just enjoying themselves in the moment - that it becomes an opportunity to consider farming and sustainability, and to reconcile themselves with their lifestyle choices.  All meat has a face.   

Weekend Cook: Pig Head

Got eleven hours?  You too, can dine on the most gourmet of trendy meats - pork cheek - at home.

Doesn't look like much at the beginning.  This is 1/2 a pig head, skin off, no brains, ears or eyes.

Coated in mustard and Dizzy Pig's Dizzy Dust.

On to the Big Green Egg smoker (250f) for four hours, then sauced, foiled (double-wrapped) and placed in a 250f oven for 7 1/2 hours.

It's done when the meat pulls, just like pork shoulder.   I was going to save it for some plated pictures the following day, but Dan couldn't wait that long.  It smelled so wonderful!

The head yielded about 1 1/2 cups of meat.  He stuffed it (all of it!) into an oversized hoagie bun - and proceeded to eat, making "nom, nom, nom" noises.   But, it was way too rich, and like a MAN V FOOD defeat, he had to leave the last two bites on the plate.  The man needs to exercise some portion control or he's going to wind up in a porkoma.

I reminded him that he had just eaten what could have easily been divided among four people, who would gladly have counted it "enough" as a plated course in a fancy restaurant.  He retorted that it was miles above pork shoulder, it would be weeks before I'd cook another, and the heartburn was totally worth it.

It all seemed like such a good idea...

I had two packages of meat to cook: one pork shoulder, one containing two beef ribs.

The ribs were done in about 8 hours, but the pork needed a longer cook, and it was late, so I put it into a cast-iron casserole in the oven.  I set the oven temperature around 250f.

At least, I'm pretty sure I did...as I said, it was late, and I distinctly remember setting the dial between 225f and 250f since it would be in the oven overnight.

At 6:30 a.m. the following day, I opened the oven door and - it's at room temperature.

So which part was the dream?  Turning the dial on?  Or did I sleepwalk and turn the oven off?  Because, I DO remember waking up around 1:00 a.m. and thinking - I'd better see if that shoulder is done, but I was actually too tired to get up and do anything about it.  Or was I?

Anyhow, the whole thing was pitched into the chicken pen for them to enjoy, even though Dan tried to convince me that he would indeed eat it.

He also said that I owed him some pulled pork, 'cause nothing is worse than anticipating a smoked barbecue sandwich all week and then not getting one - so guess what I'm doing this weekend?

Weekend Cook: Smoked Pork Shoulder

An overnight smoke on the Big Green Egg resulted in a succulent pork shoulder.

I coated the 6-pound bone-in roast with four tablespoons of chili paste and four tablespoons of turbinado sugar. I set it in the refrigerator, uncovered, overnight.

(Sprinkled even more sugar on top)

The next day, Dan started the fire early around 8 a.m., let it get too hot, and we had to wait until it cooled to 300f to put the pork on. It was around 1 p.m. when I finally started this cook. Around 6 p.m. he added 2 pints of cider to the drip pan for steam. The temperature was 250f at that point.

Somewhere around 3 a.m. the next day, the temperature alarm sounded pork perfection (195f). I pulled it off the fire, covered it in foil and a heavy towel, and went back to bed. At 7 a.m. the meat was still hot to the touch and very moist.

Pork in a rice bowl is fine for lunch, but I'm thinking sandwiches. Where's that box of wheatless bread mix?

Monday Menu: Barbecue Beef Ribs

I coated some beautiful meaty beef ribs in the house rub of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder. I set them on the egg at 250f.

After four hours of the temperature diving from 250f towards 200f, I coated them in barbecue sauce (KC Masterpiece), gave them a splash of red wine, and sealed them in foil. Back on to the egg for two more hours.

It was pretty dark outside, and they weren't quite done - but Dan declared them "done enough," stripped off the meat, chopped it up and ate it all. It had a lot of smoky barbecue flavor, but I'd prefer it to have gone another two hours to be falling apart tender.

Weekend cook: Turkey breast

It's a perfect day for a barbecue! The porch was covered in slush Sunday morning.

I put a 16-pound turkey breast on the Big Green Egg smoker for four hours at 275-300f, until the thermometer registered 161f. Then, I covered it in foil and several very heavy towels and let it rest for two hours on the countertop in the kitchen. The foil package contains carrots being steamed - they were put on during the last hour to cook. By the time lunch came around, the snow had nearly all melted away.

Weekend cook: St. Louis Ribs

It seems like forever that there's been some function on the weekend preventing me from firing up the smoker - but today, I'm at home and commitment-free.

I used my regular method of coating the rack with a dry rub of paprika, turbinado sugar and chili powder. The Big Green Egg was set at 250f. They went on for 3 hours indirect heat (with a drip pan), an hour in foil with 1/2 a Corona to steam, then another 2 hours indirect.

I coated them with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, which made them sticky sweet.

Peel 'n eats: no fuss, lots of muss

This is an easy-do when entertaining. A bag of frozen Colossal shrimp in the shells, defrosted, 1/2 to 1 hour marinated in Newman's Own Lime Vinaigrette (a.k.a. Cheetah Marinade). On to the grill (set on high), 2 to three minutes per side. The shells protect the flesh from becoming over-dry. I serve with cocktail sauce, but that is usually ignored by guests who say it overwhelms the smoky sweetness of the shrimp.

Operation Chick Rescue

This past Sunday was “chicken day”, the day we process Cornish Jumbo meat birds on the farm and throw a bang-out barbecue. In anticipation of feeding 20-30 people anything but chicken, I started two pork shoulders in the Big Green Egg smoker on Thursday evening, to be finished by Friday noonish. All was going to plan (even though I got up at midnight to babysit the smoker fire and never got back to sleep). The phone at the house rang at 6:30 a.m.

We had been expecting an early morning call; I had ordered 50 day-old baby chicks through the mail from Murray McMurray Hatchery. The plan was for Dan to hop in the car and go 5 minutes up the road to the post office and get them home after morning chores. BUT the call came from the Wolcott post office, the birds had been sent there by mistake, and would have to travel back to the Essex hub and be delivered to Highgate on Saturday – “maybe…” the post mistress said, “…there’s no guarantee they will arrive tomorrow.”

So Friday morning became “Operation Chick Rescue” because without food, water, or warmth they weren’t going to make it to Monday. I pulled the shoulders off the smoker, put them in the oven, and Dan and I drove 1½ hours to the Wolcott post office, located across from Buck’s Furniture store.

Back at home

Here are the finished pork shoulders, which were pulled and refrigerated for Sunday’s lunch. Happy babies were put into their enclosed pen under the heat lamps.

Monday Menu: Top Round

The least popular cut of meat we sell is top round beef, which means that more often than not, it's what's for dinner. I put a dry rub of paprika and spices on it, fired up the Big Green Egg smoker and cooked it at 250-200 for about 80 minutes, when the probe alarm signaled 131f. I let it rest under foil and a heavy towel for 20 minutes, then sliced it as thinly as I could. As you can see it is perfectly rare, but the slices are a bit too thick for sliders (small round-bun sandwiches). Since there are a lot of packages of this in the freezer, it warrants investing in a deli slicer for future roast beef sammies.

Farm Fresh Jumbo Cornish Chickens

Fresh frozen Jumbo Cornish chickens (whole, no giblets) are available for sale at our stand (on the St. Paul Street side) at Burlington Farmers' Market on Saturdays from 8:30 to 2:00 until sold out. Sizes average from 8 to 10 pounds. We have only a small number available; the price is $4/lb. Our chickens are processed on the farm and are uninspected by state or federal regulators, for home consumption only.

Weekend Cook: CS Pork Ribs

Here's a photo of our country-style ribs from last fall's pigs being cooked on the egg. Ribs are easy, you just need a lot of time. Lightly coat with mustard (any kind), then a spicy (not salty) rub. One to 2 hours as an indirect cook at 250f (until they form a crust), then wrapped in foil with some beer for an hour, then 1 hour sauced every 15 minutes to glaze them. Sorry, no finished photos this time. Fed a crowd that day and had other duties besides minding the meat to take care of. For more information about the Big Green Egg go to http://www.biggreenegg.com/