Pulled Pork with red wine barbecue sauce

The finished pork, with sauce in the back ground

My cousin and her family were coming for a visit, and we wanted something special but informal for a dinner. Especially as they had a long drive, finally through the tangled mess that is Montreal's road repairs. I chose pulled pork and have a little photo essay to accompany it.

The pulled pork itself was purchased the day before. It was a 9lbs butt roast. It was coated with worchestershire(Woos-ta-shire) sauce then mustard.  "Steak spice" was used as a dry rub, patting that on, then finally sprinkling smoked paprika to finish. The entire cut of meat, including any flaps, were coated.

The meat was wrapped in plastic wrap and left to sit over-night in the fridge.

Remove the plastic wrap before you place the pork on a foil wrapped roasting tray, and slip it in the oven.

9lbs of pork requires approximately 9 hours at 250F, so I started early to make sure I could feed the folks when they arrived. In the end, the roast required only 8 hours to reach 190F, at which point it was removed from the oven, wrapped in foil and a couple of clean towels to rest. In this case I left it for 1hour 35mins, but it requires at least an hour to reach maximum juiciness.

While the pork slow roasted, I made the barbecue sauce.

Olive oil and chili flakes on medium low heat

Two large cloves of garlic, mashed flat with the side of a cleaver

Diced fresh ginger

Saute the ginger and garlic

Add a couple of cups of wine. I did this instead
Malt vinegar, bourbon or mustard, which is the
basis of many fine recipes. The wine and ginger
worked very well, and my sone said it tasted a bit
like "asian barbecue".

add a 1/2 cup of brown sugar

Add half teaspoon of smoked paprika

Add a grated carrot. This is a great trick for adding
a subtle sweetness and roundness to recipes. It also
helps tame a sauce if it is too spicy.

Reduce the sauce on medium low to
desired consistency. It took a good
3 hours for this stage. By the end, the carrot
had broken down almost completely into the sauce.

At 4 hours,  'painting' the pork with sauce.

170 degrees at 4 hours! but it took
 another 3 hours to reach 190F

Out of the oven at 8 hours, and 190F
 internal temperature 

Wrap in foil and towel and left rest for an hour.
The meat will retain its heat for several hours
like this, so you can hold it 'til guests arrive.

After resting for an hour and a half, the meat
was beautifully tender and juicy.

Improvised Carbonara

So I am making supper for the boy and I. His mum is delayed downtown, so I've decided to make Spaghetti Carbonara. The inspiration was a Carbonara I enjoyed at an Italian resto near Atwater on Notre Dame Ouest. It featured a raw quail's egg that was mixed into the dish after serving. Tonight, I am going to play fast and loose with the recipe– and see what happens.

I start by cooking two portions of pasta.

Meanwhile I broiled bacon, red bell pepper and carrot, cut into small pieces.

I mixed egg with a half-cup of grated cheese. In this case, I used left over "Mexican Mix" from Taco night, last Saturday. Purists would call for fresh-grated Pecorino, Parmesan or Romano cheese.

After the pasta is cooked to al dente, I set it aside, tossing it with a little olive oil.

I then added a little bacon fat to a deep pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil a sauted the bacon and vegetables. I then added the pasta and heated it up a little as I mixed it with the bacon and vegetables.

Finally, I added the cheese and egg mix to the pan and mixed it all together.

The egg and cheese mixture is added last and mixed in
after the pan is taken off the heat.

The finished carbonara, with roasted red pepper, carrot and bacon.

What is cooking...

Well, a short and sweet update. Politics: I still think the Tories should be concerned about their weakness, given Michael Ignatieff has proven a weak leader. Despite all the criticisms and political missteps(i.e. bad communications) the Grits are only 2 to 4 points behind the Tories.

Academically, I am looking at the intersection of video games and performance art. I have an idea that developing a more sophisticated critical language around video games will give us new critical insights of previously existing genres and art works. I hypothesize  that existing insights into 'ritual' as discussed by scholars like Catherine E. Bell will help explain much of how digital games work. Is the time ripe for introducing ethnography( with it's phenomenological dimensions) to the examination of art works?

Personally, I ran the rather modest distance of 5 km in about 30 minutes. This is the first work out that will culminate in my completing the Montréal Marathon in early September.

Tonight, Anton and I dined on pork chops marinaded in rosemary, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. But what I want to try is cooking sous-vide. This entails heating the food to the appropriate temperature by wrapping it in vacuum sealed bag which is then submerged in hot water. Meats may be grilled after removal just to brown the exterior.  This method promises to avoid over- cooking because the food cannot be heated beyond the correct temperature. For example, the water is heated to 124deg F for a rare steak. The steak can't over cook because 124F is as warm as it will get. I will experiment myself with a pot, thermometer and beef, to see if I can avoid buying the ludicrously expensive sous-vide cookers.

A big shout out to Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog, which gave a great recipe for home-made hamburger helper. Balancing nutrition with what little boys will eat without a stern beating means looking for recipes like this.
Lower in sodium and tailored for the taste of the family in question, it makes me wonder why bother with the Hamburger helper product at all- it is not easier to make than home made(ok, you have to saute the onions and spices, first)
Having searched MGCC I can't wait to try their Perishky recipe(a delicious looking, turnover-like dainty)

I am coming to terms with being single, and feeling my heart un-thaw, a bit. But that emotional release is accompanied by many emotions both light and dark. Seeing my wife, as we pass our son from one another puts me in a foul mood. Childishly, she still denies that this has any more significance than change brands of soap powder. Her home-wrecking lover still denies he owes child support to his ex-wife.

So a bitter ending to a sweet beginning.

Christmas Duck, '09

A duck is a different beast from a turkey. It is smaller, and much fattier. My internet research indicates that you need to render the fat from the bird in order to get a crispy skin. As usual, I ordered my bird fresh from Boucherie Notre-Dame, and picked it up mid-afternoon Christmas eve. I hope it will be as succesful as my turkeys were this year.

So I am going to steam the bird for about 75 minutes in the roasting pan on the stove top. I placed a round baking pan in the roasting pan then put the roasting grill on top of that. I added about 5 cm of water in the pan, then put it on a burner to boil. When the water reached a boil, I placed the duck on the roasting grill, with the bird just suspended over the boiling water. That should melt the fat off of the bird, and ready it for roasting. I cross-hatched the breasts with a knife to help the fat escape.

The giblets were removed from the bird, boiled, and thrown out, and the broth saved for gravy.

Stuffing was as per my thanksgiving 2009 recipe, but with Toulouse sausage. I prepared it in the morning, so it is already at room temperature. The sausages were cooked at lunch time, with some used for brunch.This way the meat hasn't been hanging around for long at room temperature.

The bird went into the steaming pot at 14:17...










it exited around 15:30... It was stuffed loosely then put in the oven at 35oF for about an hour. 9 mins per pound with a 6-7 pound bird.
I basted in a little, but most of the fat was rendered, so there was little in the way of pan drippings.







At the 30 minute mark, I added potatos and carrots.In retrospect, I should have added them at the beginning.
Final result was moist, rich without being greasy and the skin was crispy. I served it with asparagus lightly poached in the microwave, the root vegetables and stuffing.

American Thanksgiving and Receptionista Montreal's Birthday Turkey

So on the basis of my Thanksgiving turkey from earlier this fall, I have been commissioned to roast one for my friend Receptionista Montréal, whose birthday roughly coincides with American thanksgiving(her family are from L'etats Unis). She has been having big feasts for years, with sometimes upwards of a hundred people. This year is relatively small at 40 persons.


I bought two fresh birds from Boucherie Notre-Dame. I ordered them Wednesday and it was fresh from the butcher's cold room this morning.This is more expensive, but eliminates the need to thaw. I delivered one to Receptionista and the other to my fridge. I will be interested in comparing the two, as she is much more experienced at this than I am.

Stuffing: 425 grams of plain bread crumbs, a small onion, a few cloves of garlic, 1 and 1/2 chorizo sausage, cranberries, savoury, nutmeg, cup of vermouth and 2 cups of water and the zest of a lemon.
Cook sausages and set aside. Saute chopped onion until translucent, add garlic, nutmeg and savoury. Add vermouth and water and bring to a low boil. Remove from heat, add lemon and breadcrumbs. Transfer to a non-reactive(glass or ceramic) bowl. Let everything chill in fridge over night( putting hot stuffing directly in the bird will promote food poisoning). Mix in sausage and cranberries and stuff bird.

Gravy: I sauted the giblets and neck in olive oil and lots of garlic. I added savoury to the pan, then a little black pepper and fleur de sel (sea salt). I then added a cup of red wine and a cup of cold water and boiled it slowly to a reduction. I combined this reduction with pan drippings to make the gravy.


Start: 11:40- 67C/375 F- Bird goes in, loosely tented with foil, in a commercial foil tin supported on a cookie sheet. At 20lbs, the bird is too big for my big roasting pan.

First basting check: 12:40pm(T+60mins) Looking good, but not much in the way of fluids yet. I bast the bird with olive oil, return the tented foil and pack the bird back inside the oven. I lowered the temperature to 325F. A quick synthesis of internet sites indicates 375 is too hot. I lower the temperature to 67C/325F.

Second basting check:13:18 (T+1:39) lots of fluids, so I bast with them. There is a debate as to the need or efficacy of basting. Next time, I may start the bird tented, then cover in pot, to retain juices without basting, then open and bast for the last 45 mins to get the nice dark golden finish.

Third basting:13:50(T+2:12) More fluid, and the odour of roasting bird is present. I try to get fluids into the stuffing, to add to flavour and to get a hot center, cooking the bird well from the inside, as well as adding to juiciness.

Fourth Basting:14:17(T+2:39) added some Fleur de Sel and black pepper. I am afraid the bird may be roasting too fast. My original estimate called for 6.7 hours at 20 mins per pound. However, other charts indicate a 4 1/2 hour time. I might lower the temperature if this seems likely. If i finish at 17:00, I can let the bird rest in the car while I head over to the venue Receptionista rented.

Fifth Basting:14:48(T+3:10) A quick review of the National Turkey Federation website suggests it will take 4 3/4 to 5 1/4 hours to cook a 20 to 24 pound stuffed turkey. So estimate 5 hours, plus 30 minutes rest in covered pan. I lowered the temperature to a hair above 300F. The bird can rest in the car on the way to its destiny.

Sixth Basting: 15:20(T+3:41) Still juicy, and I have photos to document this phase of the cooking.








Seventh Basting: 15:47(T+ 4:08H) Bird progressing nicely. It smells like a roast turkey- I hope it will be done at 17:15- ready to be served at 18:00.

Eight Basting:16:18(T+4:39) Continuing at 300F. I debated adding some brown sugar to the pan drippings, to aid in caramelising the exterior of the bird. It is browning-up nicely, however, so I'll leave it as-is.

Ninth Basting: 16:41 (T+ 5:02) Juices from the meatiest part of the leg are running clear- this bird is a go! I popped it in for one more cycle whilst I reduce some of the juices I extracted from the pan, combined with the giblet/red wine concoction I did earlier. I'll add a little thickener, then pack kid and turkey into the car and over to Il Motore.

Last post: 17:00 (T+ 5:21 ) I started the gravy, intending to add the remaining pan drippings so as not to waste them, or invite spillage on the trip over.



In the photo: Just out of the oven...

It was cooked just right- the thighs were just cooked, the breast juicy and tender. The exterior was a golden brown. Receptionista fielded a lot of compliments because it was assumed she did both birds. I am a little proud my turkey compared favourably to her wonderful turkey.

And Lake of Stew showed up and played, lured to the party by Bob, Receptionista's beloved hubby.

Baked Red snapper

So last Sunday's dinner was Red Snapper. The boy had requested a fish, so this is my first attempt at preparing a whole fish. We selected a fresh looking, bright red fish ('Vivaneau' en Québec) and had him cleaned by the fishmonger at the local grocery.

I stuffed the red snapper with some onions and cilantro, drizzled both sides of the fish with olive oil, then wrapped it in aluminum foil. The package then rested in a baking pan in a 425 F oven for 35 minutes.

I served it with a corn and red pepper compote seasoned with tumeric, and some steamed greens.

The end result wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped, but tasted fine.

Holiday recipe notes

As a departure from my political, philosophical and fitness oriented ruminations, here is my:
Stuffing Recipe 2008.

Saute 1 finely chopped onion in olive oil. When the onion is tranlucent,
Add 1 teaspoon of savoury, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg and four large cloves of garlic, mashed and chopped. Add a big dash(a quarter cup?) of Vermouth(I used Martini) and two cups of dried cranberries(Craisons?). Add the zest of half a lemon and a cup of water. Bring just to boil and take off the heat. Add 120 grams(about 4 cups?) of off-the-shelf bread crumbs and mix. Allow to cool thoroughly(overnight?) before stuffing Turkey.

I tossed the flavouring that came with the breadcrumbs. Obviously, I improvised this recipe some what. Next year I may add cooked chorizo sausage.

Updated!

My turkey was a success and so was the stuffing. Anton asked for a second helping so it must have been good.

Feel free to riff on this recipe- just remember, placing warm stuffing inside the turkey is a recipe for FOOD Poisoning. Stuffing should always be room temperature or cooler(but not frozen, either)