Keeping in mind what we call bacon around here is different than what we call Canadian bacon!
I am of the opinion that if you take any fatty piece of meat, salt it heavily and pack it in brown sugar for eight weeks in the refrigerator and then smoke it for a few hours it will taste like bacon.
The sugar really draws out the moisture. If it turns completely to liquid just change it with new dry sugar. To be safe salt things lightly again.
If you don't have a smoker then bake at 200F for two hours and use liquid smoke. I suggest trying a small piece after smoking to be sure the salt is right. Too much, rinse it and snake a bit more. Too little just add some salt. Way too little salt and it doesn't quite cure right.
I find an electric clamshell grille is the best way to cook it. Second best is a pan in the oven. Last place is pan frying!
Currently have four pieces curing.
I am of the opinion that if you take any fatty piece of meat, salt it heavily and pack it in brown sugar for eight weeks in the refrigerator and then smoke it for a few hours it will taste like bacon.
The sugar really draws out the moisture. If it turns completely to liquid just change it with new dry sugar. To be safe salt things lightly again.
If you don't have a smoker then bake at 200F for two hours and use liquid smoke. I suggest trying a small piece after smoking to be sure the salt is right. Too much, rinse it and snake a bit more. Too little just add some salt. Way too little salt and it doesn't quite cure right.
I find an electric clamshell grille is the best way to cook it. Second best is a pan in the oven. Last place is pan frying!
Currently have four pieces curing.
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I don't have one at home. I use the one in my shop. It holds that, glue and other shop supplies that prefer cold and beverages.
I do have a cold drawer I built at home, but it currently is in pieces as I figure out where to put it and how to best use it.
I suspect I will do a few different drawers for various temperatures and humidity levels.
I also have added a wine cooler.
Today's project is to finish the kitchen's exhaust hood. Just have to make an eight inch hole through ten inches of masonry wall ten feet off the ground.
Don't know anyone here who calls it that. It's not labelled Canadian bacon either. It's just back bacon, and it's not very popular. If you want something like that, you buy ham.
Currently I have none as they are selling regular packaged bacon for half what it costs to buy belly. Not kidding. 375 gram for 2 to 3 dollars and belly is 6 to 7 bucks a pound. What's a guy to do?
Speaking of China I highly recommend the Netflix series Flavorful Origins by Chen Xiaoqing the producer of Bite of China. This is a series of very short vignettes deep into traditional Chinese dishes, Bill you can start running now Cal you can start drooling now. There are literally 100's if not more things here a Westerner would never have even heard of. I have been lucky enough to have tried a very few of them.
It was humbling to learn that contrary to all the Chinese ex-pat friends that I have had over the last 50yr., they did eat raw seafood in some regions of China for 100's of years in fact they did a perfected version of sashimi before Japan. BTW Wikipedia (and Quora) is useless here.
It was humbling to learn that contrary to all the Chinese ex-pat friends that I have had over the last 50yr., they did eat raw seafood in some regions of China for 100's of years in fact they did a perfected version of sashimi before Japan. BTW Wikipedia (and Quora) is useless here.
Thanks Scott, I will look into that.
Here is the ground beef underway. The mixer attachment is so much nicer than using a 1/2" drill on the Porkert, as it takes only one person and will grind at whatever speed you want rather than a drill's touchy trigger.
Here is the ground beef underway. The mixer attachment is so much nicer than using a 1/2" drill on the Porkert, as it takes only one person and will grind at whatever speed you want rather than a drill's touchy trigger.
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And the bean curd stick and black fungus from a couple days back, done in a simple chicken bouillon and sesame oil sauce. Light sauce for light flavours. The fungus while very nice tasting is quite mild. A good combo with the curd stick. They both have a similar somewhat chewy texture. Served with the chili in oil.
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Funny choice, one chapter shows two rows of guys beating beef into emulsified meat for meat balls by hand with metal clubs, it takes a long time.
We've got family from central Canada (Uppity Canada we call it) visiting next month, so of course will be cooking up a feed of lobsters. I am embarrassed to admit that while we cook lobsters a few times every year, we always cook them the same way. We boil them, in fact i suspect we over-boil them. I am not a young man and I have never cooked a lobster any other way. Now they are always tasty, but surely it is time for a change!
Back in the spring (by which I mean March, so actually winter) SWMBO and I went South, and I watched a man cooking rock lobsters (the clawless kind) over a charcoal fire. The result looked and smelled wonderful, thou we ordered the fish which was also great. So now I'm thinking I should grill my H. Americanus.
Has anyone here tried this daring technique? Google is suggesting a couple of ways to do it, and I think I know the approach I want to take (pretty much what I saw that guy in the Caribbean do except I would use tongs to turn them), but I am open to ideas and keen yo hear of others' experience.
Back in the spring (by which I mean March, so actually winter) SWMBO and I went South, and I watched a man cooking rock lobsters (the clawless kind) over a charcoal fire. The result looked and smelled wonderful, thou we ordered the fish which was also great. So now I'm thinking I should grill my H. Americanus.
Has anyone here tried this daring technique? Google is suggesting a couple of ways to do it, and I think I know the approach I want to take (pretty much what I saw that guy in the Caribbean do except I would use tongs to turn them), but I am open to ideas and keen yo hear of others' experience.
Live lobster straight on the grille?
Steaming or boiling time is hard enough to get right.
I suspect turning them on the grille with your fingers is also a temperature check.
My only suggestion is to stick to small ones 1 1/2 pounds or so and use a grille with good temperature control. Of course sacrifice your stomach and test things out before the visitors arrive to get everything right. Several times to be sure!
Best of luck, sounds good, makes me hungry.
I did just check the local price of lobster and it isn't on ridiculously low price sale yet. I also noticed folks seem to have more luck grilling lobster tails. Might be a problem getting the tail right without burning the claws.
Steaming or boiling time is hard enough to get right.
I suspect turning them on the grille with your fingers is also a temperature check.
My only suggestion is to stick to small ones 1 1/2 pounds or so and use a grille with good temperature control. Of course sacrifice your stomach and test things out before the visitors arrive to get everything right. Several times to be sure!
Best of luck, sounds good, makes me hungry.
I did just check the local price of lobster and it isn't on ridiculously low price sale yet. I also noticed folks seem to have more luck grilling lobster tails. Might be a problem getting the tail right without burning the claws.
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Split them in half length wise I've done it for large groups, I use nothing but butter (or herb butter to finish) and skip the freezer blast (you have to get over it). Caribbeans don't have claws but I never had a problem with Atlantic lobster.
You could always try one out first. Bad season for lobster here we have to pay $7/lb. $4 if you catch one of the lobster men off the boat.
Grilled Split Lobster recipe | Epicurious.com
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Thanks Ed and Scott. Yes I am going to test one tonight, it seems pretty simple. Some cooks recommend par-boilingor par-steaming first, but I don't see the point of that, might as well just leave them in the pot a few more minutes if you go that route. And yes, most suggest splitting them.
The guy I watched in Carriacou put them on the grill whole, presumably after dispatching them first, they weren't moving around much. As I recall he put them belly down, then turned then on their sides for a few minutes, then turned them on the other side , so bottom/left/right. Then he pulled them off and split them, added his garlic and oil sauce, and put them back on to finish. I am inclined to try that, though it would be simpler to just split them first.
As for the killing most suggest the knife through the head, though one website I read suggested severing the spinal cord. I think that might be a challenge with an invertebrate!
The guy I watched in Carriacou put them on the grill whole, presumably after dispatching them first, they weren't moving around much. As I recall he put them belly down, then turned then on their sides for a few minutes, then turned them on the other side , so bottom/left/right. Then he pulled them off and split them, added his garlic and oil sauce, and put them back on to finish. I am inclined to try that, though it would be simpler to just split them first.
As for the killing most suggest the knife through the head, though one website I read suggested severing the spinal cord. I think that might be a challenge with an invertebrate!
Annie Hall comes to mind:
YouTube
One of the NY radio personalities had "Live LOB" as an advertiser. His producer was an animal rights activist. After she had received a promotional lobster she immediately released it into a fresh-water pond near her house!
As for the killing most suggest the knife through the head, though one website I read suggested severing the spinal cord. I think that might be a challenge with an invertebrate!
The knife in the head works, you can start the split there.
I want to try steaming them with piles of galangal, lime leaf, and lemon grass Thai style.
Maybe wrap it all in a banana leaf? If you don't have a banana plant handy use parchment.
Angela Merkel is shaking and severe famine has obviously struck Germany - the end of Europe??
Seriously, we once cooked zucchinifloers in suger-water and filled them with ice-cream for dessert.
