All things Pork/Ham

[Uli]

Hi - I'm new here, this is my first post.

My partner works on a large pig farm. One of the perks of her job is that we get the equivalent of two entire pigs per year, one in the winter, one in the summer. The pigs go from the farm to the local processor, who offers a good, but somewhat limited, selection of cuts, sausages, etc. I try to change our order up each time for variety, but what we get is always partly a surprise, for reasons I haven't yet been able to figure out

Anyways, this time around, I have a ridiculous amount of pork chops, some spare ribs, baby back ribs, tenderloin roasts, lots of sausage patties (some Italian, some sagey) and bacon, a couple hams, and several packages of pork steaks.

My long, rambling point is: hit me with your favorite pork/ham recipes and techniques using the above cuts, please and thank you:)

I'm especially in need of ideas on how to make delicious baby back ribs without a grill -- past efforts at boiling then broiling have falied miserably.

[BekkiM]

For the ribs, slather them with a dry rub, wrap in aluminum foil, and cook SLOWLY in the oven for a long, long time. Mmmmmm... Pooooorrrrrrkkkkk... (Where's that drooling smilie when you need it?)

[dockhl]

Oh boy, have YOU come to the right place ! You'll find that pork is one of egullet's favorite topics

You might start HERE, which is simply the topic search for "pork". Allow yourself some time, there is a lot of info there !

Once you browse the topics, you can narrow it down to specifically what you are looking for.

Good luck, and welcome.

[Hest88]

Yes, I also do a dry rub (though I don't do the foil method) and I stick it in the oven at about 200 degrees. I check it about 2 hours later and if the ends are brown and it looks tender, then I lightly baste it with a mix of 1/2 lemon juice and 1/2 water, every 20 minutes for another hour or so. Of course you can skip the basting, but I like the tang it gives.

[Kouign Aman]

I layer vegetables in a roasting pan, rub the ribs with seasoning of some kind (not much salt), cover the whole thing with foil, and bake at 250-300F for hours. Usually 2 is enough but more doesnt seem to hurt.

Sometimes I put the veg on top of the ribs too.

You dont get the crust, but they are falling apart tender.

Choose vegetables with care to your preferences for flavor. They should be fairly wet ones, or you'll need to add some liquid to the bottom of the pan before starting.

Onions and peppers produce a fairly sweet sauce. They are my usual choice. Mushrooms change the result nicely too. and of course, Lots of Garlic.

My mom used to make ribs in the oven with a maple syrup/mustard glaze. Lots of basting. The recipe is in McCalls cookbook.

[DaleJ]

Appropriated from A Tuscan in the Kitchen:

Anoint baby back ribs with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap in foil. Place in a 225F oven for five or six hours. Open foil for the last half hour or so. The best.

[Uli]

Well, this place is clearly very awesome! I'm slowly working my way through that pork search.

I'm going to try a combo of these wonderful rib recipes you've all shared tomorrow -- I'll report back.

Thanks so much, everyone:)

Oh, and so that I'm contributing, as well: soaking pork chops in generously salted milk for a couple hours prior to cooking produces wonderful results.

Edited February 22, 2008 by Uli (log)

[DTBarton]

You could make a large batch of posole. Most posole recipes call for pork shoulder, but you could use chops or steaks instead. The last batch I made I used a loin roast (basically chops on the hoof) and it was wonderful. It freezes very well, better after the freezing really.

http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/posole.htm

The recipe doesn't mention it (the comment touches on this), but you really want to have garnishes to serve with posole. We like chopped cilantro and fresh limes to squeeze in. Another good one is shredded iceberg lettuce. This sounds weird but we had it served that way in Cabo San Lucas and it works well.

[divina]

I am wild about pork.

here in Tuscany we eat a lot, even raw sausage!

stop by my blog, Going Whole HogI presented a panel at IACP with Fergus Henderson and Kate Hill and created the blog to document recipes where were working through.

I am now making a Capocolla , cured piece of pork! My first.

I just got final advice from DArio Cecchini's "Maestro", Orlando. ( mentioned in HEAT)

I worked with Dario for years and was there all day hanging out yesterday.

Orlando gave me pointers on the final rub and aging. Can't wait.

For lunch we did pork shoulder chops ( same cut the capocolla comes from )

rubbed with fennel pollen and then sauteed in oil, slowly.

Deglaze with Vin Santo ( Tuscan sherry) and salt to taste!

Last week I did a riff on a stew Dario does with sage, rosemary and VINEGAR!

FABULOUS

I could go on and on...

[judiu]

I've gotten raves with Baked Country Ribs with Onions and Kraut, and it's painless!

Take about six pieces of country ribs, bone in are best, a couple (or more) big yellow onions, sliced into thinish half-moon slices, a can or two of sauerkraut ( I like Barvarian Kraut with caraway seeds, it's a little bit sweet) rinsed a little. Pile in layers in a 9 x 13" baking pan, scattering minced garlic over each layer, and into a 325 degree oven for about an hour or so. When the meat's done the dish is finished.

I've also had good luck roasting country ribs with a glaze of Dijon mustard and apricot preserves. Not too much mustard, about 2 to 1. Potatoes with the sauerkraut dish, rice or couscous for the glazed. HTH!

[Uli]

I just put the ribs in the oven. I think i did a sort of combo of the above suggestions -- made a bed of celery, carrots, whole garlic cloves, and onions - sprinkled that with olive oil and a bit of lemon, s&p -- rubbed the 4 racks of baby backs with a mixture of s & p, dry mustard, paprika, and sage. Now, they're in the oven, tented with foil, hopefully travelling slowly along their path to yumminess:)

I'm about to start a slightly modified batch of that pasole recipe, too.

Thanks for all the inspiration!

[Peterh]

A friend's dad would put "country style ribs" into a baking pan, dump on a bunch of barbecue sauce, and bake for a while. I think country style ribs are really just shoulder meat cut up in rib-shaped hunks. Neither high cuisine or true barbecue, but I remember it as tasty.

I like to buy a loin and cut it into chops and leave a nice roast-sized piece, freezing what we don't eat that night. The chops can fried or braised like usual.

You can also use pork chops for all kinds of stir-fry. A lot of Chinese recipes call for pork belly, though. I have trouble finding that except after it's cured into bacon, so if you can get the processor to just give you some pork belly I'd be jealous.

For variety, get a bag of panko bread crumbs at an Asian grocery and see what it says. I haven't done them in a while, but typical breading process is dip in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, and pan fry / sautee in a little butter and olive oil. Cutting them thin lets them cook quickly.

Thinly sliced pork loin stands in pretty well for veal in a lot of situations. Make German schnitzels. Make Italian scallopinis.

[HungryC]

Don't be afraid to grind up some of those chops and/or other cuts. Ground pork is a wonderful thing--it opens up a world of quick-cooking Chinese and other Asian options, and it is also invaluable for a good meatloaf or meatballs.

[divalasvegas]

Hello Uli. Fantastic first post. What a score to have all those cuts of pork. One of the things I've gleaned here is to brine. The brine I used is inspired/ripped off from eG member col klink. His brine recipe can be found on a ribs discussion HERE. It's basically kosher salt, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and hot sauce (I just use a small bottle, about 6 oz. of pretty inexpensive basic one like Franks's or Texas Pete) to one gallon of cold water; however, I also add apple cider or apple juice to mine as well (one cup). Then refrigerate or put it outside in a very cold place in one of those brining bags. I used a large, green trash bag but heard that those might not be food safe. Please be sure to place the salt, brown sugar, vinegar, hot sauce and apple cider in a nonreactive pan (stainless steel, glass, enameled cast iron but NEVER plain cast iron) and heat over a low heat it to melt the sugar and salt, then cool that liquid to room temperature BEFORE adding to the one gallon of water.

A slab of ribs only needs a couple of hours IMHO; no more than 4 since you're dealing with a lot of surface area of the meat. A large pork roast, again IMHO, could stand an overnight marinade. Then I remove the ribs from the brine, rinse and dry them with paper towels and sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper and creole seasoning--I really like Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning--and bake in an oven for a couple of hours, though smoking them over coals would definitely be far superior. Once they are about an hour from being done, I start basting with bbq sauce. I don't know what it is, but the brine makes them taste "porkier" and tender and delicious.

BTW, can I be your new "best friend?"

Edited to add: That amount of marinade is really more than enough for 2-3 slabs of spareribs. Sorry for the omission; one slab marinated for 2-4 hours would be way too overwhelming. That amount of marinade is really more than enough for 2-3 slabs of spareribs.

Edited February 25, 2008 by divalasvegas (log)

[Uli]

So, the ribs I posted about up there turned out very well, so well, in fact that I woke up in the middle of the night to munch on the leftovers.

The posole seems to have turned out well, too. I froze most of it and just had a taste, but the pork was very tender and the broth had a nice flavor. I used kernal corn instead of hominy because it's what I had and because we don't really like the texture of hominy.

I also did a pork confit over the weekend from a recipe I found on epicurious. It's supposed to sit in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, but I couldn't help having a little taste as I was jarring it, and it was very nice, lots of strong herb flavors.

Yesterday I made cream of mushroom soup and added big sausage meatballs that I had baked before adding to the soup -- yummy!

I'm so glad I posted here -- I think I was in a bit of a 'pork rut', we had gotten a bit bored. But, now I'm newly inspired.

divalasvegas, haha, if only you lived closer (we're in southern Michigan), we'd be more than happy to share our plethora of pork!

HungryC thanks so much for the grinding recommendation -- I blame you for my meatball idea of yesterday. I'm also going to experiment with some pork stir fries, which will be a nice change.

Thanks everyone for all the ideas:) You saved us from pork boredom!

Edited February 26, 2008 by Uli (log)

[pax]

You make friends with someone with sheep and trade.

Hi. I'm Celia and I had two rams born last night.

Edited February 26, 2008 by pax (log)

[Uli]

You make friends with someone with sheep and trade.

Hi. I'm Celia and I had two rams born last night.

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Oh, man -- I wish it was chickens you had. For some inexplicable reason, my sweetie refuses to eat lamb. This is a continual source of sadness for me.

Congrats on the birth of those rams, though:)