Grilling corn on the cob.... nekkid.

I have a very fun friend who has extremely funny sayings. My favorite was when their dog was kind of naughty and they said that he "was having a large day." It's a good way to describe it. When Kai is being a toot we say she is having a "large day."

So when my friend was asking me about grilling corn they asked if I just put the corn directly on the grill... just shucked and with nothing else... just nekkid. I thought it was a very very fun way to say it.

 Grilled corn. The perfect way to prepare it.

So several days later I was in town talking to some gals that I only kind of know. We were all standing around watching folks flock to the back of a truck to buy sweet corn. The farmers were selling tons and tons of it and so we were talking about the 'best' way to fix it. There are a million different ways to prepare corn on the cob.

I was thinking about the fun way my friend had described grilling corn and so I said, "Well all's you gotta do is grill that corn nekkid."

Both gals whipped their heads around and looked at me in shock, mouths open. I realized the error of my ways.

"No, no, no... I mean the corn is nekkid... not you."

The teetering began.

"What kind of farm are you running, OFG?" Asked one of the gals.

"NO! I mean..."

It was over. You know how sometimes a gaggle of gals will get to laughing and then go directly in scream-laughing? Yep. That was us. Almost to the point of tears. We were hanging off each other. Everyone was looking but we didn't even care.

So to clarify... how to grill corn on the cob:

Just put it on the grill. As is. Nothing else.

1. Go and get the freshest corn you can. NOT from the grocery store. Stop at a roadside stand and buy it a dozen for $3.

2. Heat up the grill.

3. Shuck that corn.

4. Place the corn directly on the grill.

5. When it starts to get a little color on it, give the cobs a quarter turn. This takes about 3 minutes. Do this until it's nice and done. A little char doesn't hurt anything.

Done!

There is no further preparation. You don't need to soak the corn, or grill it in the husk, or whatever. Directly on the (clean) grill. That is it. How easy is that?

My favorite way to eat corn on the cob is in the Mexcian street style. Prepare yourself. This might blow your mind.... 

Take that freshly grilled corn and butter it. Then take mayo and give it a slather. Next give a little shake of a spicy spice mix (like this one), shake a little Parmesan on it... and most important.... a squeeze of lime.

Did you totally gag?  Don't. This is life changing. You will not be able to believe this taste sensation.

If that is honestly too weird you can always use leftover corn to make fritters.

I know that it sounds weird. Mayo? On corn? Yep. It's a thing. You may never go back to butter and salt and pepper.

I can feel you not believing me. I was once in your shoes and then I saw the light. Just give it a go. What do you have to lose?

Happy Monday everyone! Are you grilling corn... nekkid?

Now THIS is a ham slab!

This isn't even a ham steak... it's a ham SLAB!

Yes. It's that big. Bigger than a plate. Isn't it beautiful. It tastes like victory.

Why aren't I talking about pigz this summer? Not getting them. None. Nope. Nada. Totally pig free. How do I feel about not having pigz? Fantastic. 

Don't I even feel a little bad? Nope.

After this misadventure I don't need to see those porkers for a good long time. As long as the freezers hold out we are living high on the hog and enjoying the fruits of our labor.

So far it has been a terrific pig-free summer. If you want to try your hand at pigz, tho, please check out these fine posts and I'll tell you all about it.

Happy Thursday, everyone, who wants a slab of ham?

I love summer.... peppers!

I love summer. I love summer food. This week we got our first peppers The best way to fix them.... grill them!

I picked these peppers. I did not poke my Bubby in the eye this time...

Spice them up!

I spiced them up. For lots of reasons our favorite spice mixe right now is Penzey's Arizona Dreaming. It is just terrific. I love Penzey's so much. They have the freshest and most flavorful spices. Friends, stop what you are doing right now and clean out your spice cabinet.You should only have fresh spices. There is no prize for having spices older than the dog. Fresh spices. Get them every season and you will not regret it.

Then grilled them up. The little bit of char makes them good.

And made tacos....

I absolutely love summer food. Now if the tomatoes can just start coming on I can make the salsa to go with this. 

Today will be another summer scorcher so I'm heading back out. The dogs have been getting me up about 5am so I'm focusing most of my work in the early part of the day. I'm actually hoping for some storms this afternoon - we could use the rain.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Are you grilling your peppers?

What's a smoker?

A couple of my non-USA friends asked me about the smoker I was using to make ribs and beans the other day. So let's check it out! What's a smoker? THIS! And yes you should have one.

 

Someone is going to ask so here, exactly, is the smoker we have.

American BBQ is practically a religion and it varies across different regions of the country. Texas BBQ is completely different, in terms of technique/ingredients/spices than for instance, someone plank-smoking salmon in the Pacific Northwest. If you walk into a dive in North Carolina and ask for pulled pork what you will get would be completely different from BBQ in Nashville. Everyone thinks their own regional BBQ is "right."

I think they are all right.  And what we all have in common is that we march out there with some kind of meat in hand, make a fire, and then cook it. We love doing this. It's totally a thing here in the States. A smoker is just one kind of method to make BBQ.

The very best source to sort this all out is Steven Raichlen the author of The Barbecue Bible and host of many many TV shows about cooking meat on fire. We love this guy. Some people watch sports - we watch this guy cook meat in a million different ways. He is fun, approachable, and detailed. If you've never made ribs or smoked a chicken before this guy will walk you thru every step of the way.

You end up with perfectly cooked ribs.

We used the recipe in this book to make our ribs the other day. Even tho we didn't follow the recipe exactly we use the techniques. It works out perfectly every time.

The smoker we have is an offset barrel smoker. It is not fancy and is about 12 years old.  It's pretty beat up, the handle is broken but I love it and I'm probably taking it to the grave. It's absolutely perfect and gets the job done.

You see that little roundy part on the far left? That's where you put the fire...actually it's kinda where you put the charcoal to generate heat to cook the meat and then you put wood chips on top of the fire or charcoal to generate the smoke that flavors the meat. It sounds more complicated than it is.

 The smoker in action... Bubby's eye view.

It's simple to use, works great, and makes for a fun afternoon of sitting around with the dogs making meat.

You can also just use it as a charcoal grill. Most folks in the States have a gas grill out on their patio that is fueled by propane. It's an easy peasy way to immediately cook meat over a hot fire. So for instance when we have burgers we just light the gas grill, wait a couple minutes for it to heat up, make the burgers, and turn the grill off. Super easy.

But if we wanted to grill them over charcoal we'll get this smoker set up, make a charcoal fire in the main body of the thing, and then cook the burgers (or steaks) directly over the charcoal. What's the difference? Depending on who you are it's either a heresy or convenience. I'm telling you.... Americans are very seriously about cooking meat over fire. We just do whatever works for us. A multi-purpose took like this off-set smoker gives us lots of options.

Seriously. Look at that!

Now if we want to smoke a big ol' fresh ham roast like this.... we use the offset box to make a fire. The roast is not directly over the heat source but it still cooks. The sticky glaze on the fresh ham roast kind of captures the smoke flavor and makes it delicious. And the longer cooking time makes it amazing. In this post you can see the video of the smoke and how it all works.

To be sure there are a million different kinds of smokers. Most folks have some iteration of the one we have but you can get very very fancy ones. The guys around here who do hog roasts use custom made, superbig smokers that they pull around in trailers. And yep - they cook a whole hog. It's glorious. You can see an example of this in Michael Pollan's extraordinary documentary on the Netflix called, "Cooked." He shows an old school North Carolina hog roast that is just heavenly.

You can also get an electric version. This kind of cabinet version uses electric heat cook the meat but allows you to add wood chips to add the smoke flavor. I do not have one but I know some folks who do and wow can they smoke a chicken in it! Theirs is something like this - it is also the best rated one on Amazon. If other folks have one and recommend it I can add the links.

I also use the smoker to make our bacon. After curing the bacon and letting it dry, I make a small, smokey fire (in the offset section) using apple would and let the bacon smoke for most of the day.... it's soooooo beautiful.
You can see it here - with video!
And here....

I think a lot of American have some kind of BBQ out on their patio but some folks have extremely elaborate set ups. For most of my adult life I've had at least two gas grills and a smoker and they don't just sit idly by. My dream within a dream is to have an entire outdoor kitchen, a smoke house, and a huge pit for whole hog roasts. But for now I'll stick with my good ol' offset smoker.

Happy Thursday everyone. Non-US folks.... does this make sense? What questions do you have?


Editors note: Yay! Affiliate links in this post!  I'm supposed to tell you that I get a tiny portion of the sale when you click on one of the links, go to the Amazon page, and purchase something. It can be anything - this book, a cool smoker or BBQ , or something you need from Amazon anyway.  Do you need anything Amazon? You can support this blog by just clicking one of these links. Or using the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. It doesn't cost you once cent more but helps me with the "cost" of this blog. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. Thanks!

Ribs and beans

We made ribs and beans this weekend - they were terrific! Last year I was making it my goal to be sure and use our ribs earlier rather than later... so we are going for earlier.

We smoke them to perfection. My hubs did a terrific job.

You can find the recipe here - this is a terrific way to get started with ribs. Plus the recipe has butter and bourbon in it. Seriously! What's not to love! Don't have those exact ingredients? That's fine - just use what you have. I think the rub was mostly an off the shelf spice mix and the mop sauce was honey, butter, bourbon, and who knows what else....but I kinda wanted to drink it because it smelled so good.

Yum.....

I also really like to make quick and smokey beans - here is the how to link. I didn't have the "right ingredients for this either. I just used what I had. For instance I didn't have Worcestershire sauce so I used soy sauce - and I used sorghum molasses instead of sugar. I also added a handful of frozen corn. Just heat up the beans on the stove, then move to the smoker while the ribs are going. They are absolutely perfect and they make your cast iron skillet smell like a campfire.

These ribs were so good that I might be digging around in the freezer for more ribs for next weekend.

Happy Monday everyone! Are you grilling like it's summer?

Making scones for marmalade!

I'm very very lucky to have such a good friend. She just got back from an extended vacation and brought me an adorable little jar of sunny marmalade. So of course I had to make scones so I could enjoy it!

What could be better!?!

Do you know you can make scones in about 30 minutes? It's so easy peasy that you can make them for breakfast just about any old time. Here is the basic recipe that I use.  You can fold in any kind of fruit... or just have them plain.

Sift together your flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. You don't need a fancy sifter - just use one of those little kitchen sieves.

Cut in the butter - yes, I made the butter. I like to use my little handy chopper to combine the butter and flour. I don't have a full sized food processor but I love this little one.

Next, make a little volcano with the beaten eggs and cream. I use a pastry blade and a fork to combine the dry into the wet ingredients. You really don't want to handle the dough very much - you just want it to come together. Then form the dough into a loaf and then cut the scones.

Fortunately for me I had a lot of help while I was making these scones. Thanks, Nicholas. 

I used a biscuit cutter for these scones instead of making them in traditional triangle shapes. Why? Because my pal A has been talking about strawberry shortcake for dinner! I figured after I finished the marmalade I could use the scones for shortcake. I did. Awesome!

Why was the dough so yellow? Fresh spring eggs, baby! Yeah! And also because I made the butter and it was really a beautiful color.

Finally just brush with cream/egg wash and bake them at 400* for about 20 minutes.

Would you just look at how beautifully they turned out!

Thank you so much, you-know-who-you-are!!!  I'm so glad you are back! And thanks for the jar of sunshine!

Happy Wednesday everyone - are you baking for the spring season?

Getting Started in Canning

One of my pals got a new pressure canner yesterday - I was so excited. The wonderful world of canning is a thrilling place to be. But... where do you start?

Are you dreaming of canning green beans? Now is a great time to get ready for canning!

Of course..... with the right tools!

I was terrified of my pressure canner when I first got it. I was sure I would blow up the house or kill us all. But nope. Now I have two canners and I discovered it's a fun and rewarding project. Provided that you follow the proper directions you will be just fine.

I think there are some people who are still pretty cavalier about "non-approved" methods... and truth be told, I have a lot of European friends who use methods that would send our FDA/USDA friends into fits. But then again, with all the current FDA approved products that are trying to kill you - like salad - you might as well take a run at canning. 

My strong recommendation is that you follow the guidelines to the letter and not go off on your own. Don't take short cuts even if Grammy used to do it that way.  The hard truth is that we live near-ish a community where several folks were grievously sickened - and at least one person died - when someone brought potato salad made from home-canned taters to a church pot luck. So my second strong recommendation is use your home canned products for your own use.

Whatever you do - get the right book which is the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Get it, read it, follow it to the letter. Do not trust recipes from the intertube without verifying the same directions from this book or your local extension office. 

What is a good project to get started with? Beans. Home canning beans is such a terrific project - it's relatively easy and you can really see the benefits. Sure you can grab a can of beans for about a dollar from the store. Or you can get a two pound bag of dried beans, can them at home, and have all your bean needs met for months.

Once you get into canning be sure to keep your pressure canner in check by getting it checked out. It's fun and easy.

It's super easy to order new parts so be sure to keep everything in tip top shape.

If you are nervous then ask around to see if some one will be willing to let you help them... or they might help you get started. Or check and see if your local extension office provides classes - I bet they do.

Happy Wednesday everyone - are you ready to get canning?

Editor's note 1: What's the word with another lame post full of links? I'm still pretty discombobulated. I have not fully been recombobulated from my wonky hip week of hell. I'm working on it. Until then this is all I've got. Mostly I've been sitting around complaining and eating everything that can't run from me.

Editor's note 2: Check it out - I have some affiliate links here.  Anything you buy from Amazon from these links gets me a tiny percentage of the sale. It doesn't cost you one cent more but it helps me with the "cost" of this blog. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. It can be anything - one of my recommendations, books, movies, or whatever. Every little bit helps. Thanks!

What a loaf!

Thanks so much to my pal, S, who reminded me about this terrific way to make bread!  My loaf turned about beautifully.

Wow what a loaf!

I didn't exactly follow the exact receipe as there are a million ways to make bread. Mostly it's just flour, water, salt, yeast...and time. But how you combine those few ingredients make all the difference.

What is a good bread recipe? Take your pick....

• My pal used this recipe to make her bread.

• I've always used this method for "5 minute a day bread" - a classic from Mother Earth News. But for the full instructions you can check out their book.

• If I want a quick loaf or pizza dough then I use this recipe - be sure you get food grade plastic buckets from your local bakery or deli for the fermenting process.

But when I want to start a "real" loaf of bread then I start the day before with this method. The real key to making such a beautiful loaf was that I baked it in one of my Le Creuset pans.

Put the dough in the pan for the last rise (lid on). Just before baking rub a little olive oil over the bread surface, score with a sharp knife, then put the entire thing into the oven for about 25 minutes. Take the lid off and let the bread bake uncovered until it is a beautiful golden brown and the internal temperature is 200*. How easy is that? (read all the details here)

Bread making isn't magical.. it's mostly science. How you handle the dough, the time you let it rise, and the moisture you put into it really create the character of the bread. It helps if you have a $12,000 professional oven... or maybe a cob oven like this....  but you can make a good loaf right in your regular old oven.

If you struggle with bread making then here are a few tips:

1. Get good yeastand proof it - that is.. make sure it is fresh. Then put the yeast in a small bowl, add a little sugar, then some 100* water. Let it set until it gets foamy.
2. Don't be in a rush. Let the dough rise in a warm area.
3. Make sure your oven is hot. Turn it on about an hour before baking time. While the oven is heating up you can put your loafs on the warm oven to rise.
4. Let it bake long enough. Most recipes will tell you the internal temperature to check to see when it is done.
5. Let the loaf set for a few minutes once you take it out of the oven - this completes the cooking process.

You can also do your research. Of course, my favorite resource is Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. She has a huge section dedicated to bread making. She will tell you to put down the fancy kitchen equipment and just old school it. But I like to use my KitchenAid.

Another terrific reference is The Bread Bible.But I have to warn you... it might scare you off. There is a ton of technical information on this book that, frankly, makes me roll my eyes. But if you are more nerd than chef this might be the book for you. Just don't freak out over all the steps.

It looks like we are getting a break in the weather... after we are tormented with freezing rain and a rain/snow mix... but thank heavens our temperatures will moderate.

We had a great weekend laying around and baking bread. How are you doing? Did you bake some bread?

Happy Monday everyone!


Editors note: Hey I need to tell you that there are affiliate links on this page.....and that I get a tiny portion of the sale when you click on one of the links, go to the Amazon page, and purchase something. It can be anything - one of these books, movies, or something you need from Amazon anyway.  Do you need anything Amazon? You can support this blog by just clicking one of these links. Or using the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. It doesn't cost you once cent more but helps me with the "cost" of this blog. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. Thanks!
 

Ruined day improved by stuff in skillets.....

I probably should have made more of an effort to watch the news last nite. No one was more surprised than me to find out about all that snow this morning......

The dogs were overjoyed. Kai's snow smile says it all.

Yesterday's snow could have been described as The White Malaise.... today it was The White Death for sure.

The Black Death loves The White Death and immediately shoved his big face in it. Oh Bubby!

Chores were tough. All of my boots now leak... but we are more than halfway past the point where buying a new pair of winter boots make sense. The winter mocks me.

Even My Most Excellent Good Dog got all derpy over the snow.

I had no choice but to make my attitude improve with stuff in skillets.

Yesterday I made this skillet cake. It improved things tremendously. Today I had to bring out the big guns....

...bacon. This is the before. There is no after pic ... other than an empty plate.

This is our home cured and smoked bacon. I love it because it's more like a tiny, little bacon steak instead of what store bacon is like. Even the stuff from our butcher is not really bacon-steak-y. You need to eat it this with a knife and fork... and maybe a drizzle of home made maple syrup.

The winter storm continues to rage against my good nature.... but I resist Snow Rage with stuff in skillets.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Are you making bacon? I mean like... marching out there and butchering a pig? I know someone who is today! Good luck! Yay you!

Turnips... still turnipin'!

Turnips really are one of my favorite things... especially in the winter. They just keep on keepin' on.

Still beautiful.

These are the turnips I planted late in July. And then didn't thin them very well. They are still going strong even this late (early?).  You would have thought that the cold weather would have killed them by now but nope. We had them for dinner last nite.

Turnips are a terrific cover crop. I'm making these notes so I remember to plant them again - even very late in the season - and to remind myself how long they lasted.

Happy Thursday everyone - do you still have root veg in the ground? How are they doing? Or are you planting for spring?

Chicken Fat Saturday

Normal people have Chicken Fat Saturday, right? You know - everyone gathers 'round the big ol' bubbling pot of rendering chicken fat and gives a big 'huzzah!' for the world's best cooking fat. That's a thing right? #ChickenFatSaturday? I know I've seen it....

Look at it! Schmaltz -yeah!

Need to get a few things in my notes today. First we butchered a bunch of the meats. Thank heavens our garage is now (mostly) chicken free! And that last meat roo who's been out there screaming his head off? Yeah well... guess who's head is actually off? Not so funny anymore is it?

There has been much rejoicing in the soon-to-be quiet land.

As we were working I got a pretty good laugh watching my lovely laying ladies out there trying to kill each other over some miscellaneous meat pieces-or-part.... thinking how some folks think "vegetarian chickens" should be a thing.

Those normally softly clucking hens are just really tiny cannibals waiting for an odd part of former comrade to be flung their way. Chickens are gross. If they ever actually got me on the ground I'd be done for.

To find out more about weird stuff we find on butcher day - or better yet how to render chicken fat you can read this link. Just don't walk away from the stove because you might burn down your house. Or the cats might try and get up on the counter and eat your livers while you are yucking it up on 'the facebook' with your pals. Ask me how I know this....

Also, it's sunny and 50* today. Go home, winter, you're seriously drunk.

Bitty in the box.

And.... looks like we have another box that we cannot possible throw away. Bitty thinks it's her spaceship and so we are now stuck with another cat trap that will remain in the living room until the end of time. Cats. *sigh*

Looks like the chicken fat has all rendered and now the only thing to do is chase the cats off counters, fry up the chicken livers, make the bourbon-soaked pate, and then shovel out the garage.

A good farm day if I don't say so myself.

Happy Chicken Fat Saturday everyone!

Editors note: Affiliate links on a post about chicken fat and box-crazy cats? Yep. Schmaltz by Ruhlman is the best reference I know. And someone always asks. So don't be offended - it's just a book reference. However, if you need something from Amazon you can use that link! I'm supposed to tell you that I get a tiny portion of the sale when you click on one of the links, go to the Amazon page, and purchase something. It can be anything - one of these books, movies, or something you need from Amazon anyway.  Do you need anything Amazon? You can support this blog by just clicking one of these links. Or using the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. It doesn't cost you once cent more but helps me with the "cost" of this blog. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. Thanks!

Pancetta is done!

Yesterday I took down the pancetta - it turned out beautifully!

This is the before...and this is the after. 

It always seems like making pancetta should be more complicated then it is - but just like most food processing - it's just not really that difficult. There are several steps with a bunch of waiting around in between.

Wrapped in cheesecloth like a little present.

What is pancetta? It's a cured but not smoked bacon. You find it mostly in Italian cooking. I just love it. It's like bacon's spicier, more exciting, international sister. 

Can you make pancetta at home? Yes you can! Here are the links to my bacon making and pancetta posts. 

Unwrapped. See also that the weight decreased. This is from drying out just like it should.

The only thing I do differently is that I don't roll it up. That is the only part of the process that kind of freaks me out. Also, I do such a bad job of skinning the bellies there would be pockets of air in them if they were rolled. So hanging wrapped in cheesecloth is just fine.

But raw meat hanging in the basement... just hanging there?  Yep. Can you believe it?

Look at it!!!

After I unwrap them I slice up the pancettas and put them in the freezer. It's so easy just to grab a couple slices, cut up or dice, and then fry up in a pan as the base for a terrific sauce.

If I had somewhere that stayed reasonable cool all year I'd love to do a prosciutto which is an air dried ham... but we have a mostly finished basement so that would never work. During the winter the unfinished side of our basement stays cool enough to hang the cured meat.

I had to fry up a couple of pieces. Yay!

Happy Friday everyone! Did you make pancetta? How did it turn out?

Just one more picture of the bacon....

I just have to show one more picture of the bacon.... it really worked out.

Look at it!

OK, I lied.... one more..... check this out.

This one was a lot more meaty - really beautiful.

Technically I think the second one is a smoked pancetta...Pancetta because of the seasoning but it's actually bacon because of the smoking.

In the end I weighed the smoked bacon and it was about 17 pounds. But that does not include the pancetta that is still drying. So if it is about the same then WOW what a bacon haul!

Happy Thursday everyone! Are you so excited about bacon? How's the snow looking?

Smoke gets in your eyes.... bacon smoke!

Yesterday was bacon smoking day.... it was glorious!

Just like heaven.

I had the smoker stuffed full of home cured bacon...

The "before"....cured but not smoked.

.... add some apple wood smoke and it was intoxicating.

Action shot.

...and then it was done. 

I have one more round of bacons to smoke today then I'll be able to concentrate on the dry cured pancetta I have hanging all over the basement.

Happy Tuesday everyone!