Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sid's Diner El Reno, OK
Thursday, April 18, 2024
The Heart of It All
For anyone that has cooked, grilled, and smoked beef the past couple of years has been a roll of the dice. It has long been accepted that the majority of American beef has been Herford, but the best beef in the good old USA has been Angus, most notably Black. The past 20 years have changed that. Kobe beef from Japan is the revered best of the best.
Kobe beef is Wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture around Kobe city, according to rules. The meat is a delicacy, valued for its flavor, tenderness and fatty, well-marbled texture. Breeding for this meat is strictly controlled by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association.
Now for the rest of us. For years and still Hereford Beef provides the majority of our American marketplace. First imported into the U.S. Certified Hereford Beef is a premium branded beef program built on the tradition of family farmers and ranchers across the United States. Established in 1995 by a group of Hereford producers, the Certified Hereford Beef® brand is the only Hereford beef brand in the industry owned by an alliance of local Hereford farmers and ranchers.
This beef helped the USDA establish quality standards for all beef produced in the US. It is important to put due weight on these standards when purchasing beef as this only applies to beef raised and butchered in the U.S. Imported meat will not display this. They do not state their standards. Something to think about.
About 100 years ago the U.S. began a swing thru the custom genetics of angus beef, black angus being the best. Angus is the name of the breed of cattle that was specifically bred from cattle indigenous of Scotland by a man named Hugh Watson in the mid-19th century. It is believed that nearly all the Black Angus cattle alive today came from the results of Watson's attempts to maximize the black hide of these animals. In the 1870s these cattle were brought to the United States and by the 1880s, the American Angus Association was founded.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Solar Eclipse 2024: Now that's a photo bomb
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Easter: Pit & Grill
Easter is a great opportunity to fire up the wood pit and make a GREAT piece of meat. It's just Barb and I anymore and usually for us it's Leg O' Lamb, but this year we changed the game. We chose a very nice piece of Picanha. Not a well know piece of beef in this country it is of Brazilian origin but is catching on. Thankfully here in Texas we can find it reasonably often. This cut of meat comes from the very top of the beef hind quarter above the sirloin and west of the oxtail where it sits on a large piece of fat. I have cooked this twice before, a previous chapter in this blog. Fifty Shades of Retirement: picanha (richhilts.blogspot.com)
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Carolina Hash; A Tasty Pork Side Dish
Carolina Hash is a different type of cuisine. Carolina style centers on slow-roasted whole hog barbeque and is one of America's oldest methods of cooking meat. The lowlands BBQ has a taste varying from Florence and Kingstree over to Myrtle Beach, a spicy blend of vinegar and pepper is standard. The so-called Upstate along the North Carolina border is home to a thin red sauce made from vinegar and tomato, while folks in the counties along the Savannah River prefer a thick ketchup-based version. I got this recipe from another AWACS veteran at one of the annual picnics; delicious.
I did not cook a whole hog but have made this before using a large pork butt roast. I smoke it using Kosmos Honey Killer Bee and Meat Church Honey Bacon. No injection, nothing else. About 6-7 hours. Once your meat is shredded, chopped, and diced small you can proceed with this recipe. You should have about 5 pounds of meat to begin with, but you can adjust the recipe as needed.
3-4 pounds smoked boneless pork butt, shredded
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1/2 medium sweet onion diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
1 bag diced potatoes
½ cup ketchup
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 to 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 to 3 teaspoons black pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce
6 tablespoons butter
All these quantities are approximate and should be adjusted if needed. You want chunky, not sloppy. Chunk out and shred pork butt from wood pit. Wipe a Dutch oven or deep-dish skillet clean and add 1 tablespoon of oil to it. Heat over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and potatoes and cook until onion is soft. Add the pork on top of the potato mixture. Pour in 1 cup of the chicken broth and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Add more broth if needed.
Add the ketchup, BBQ sauce, and 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 teaspoons pepper, and 1 teaspoon hot sauce. Stir well and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Taste the hash and add in more vinegar, pepper, and hot sauce if desired. Cube butter and add to mixture. Stir until it is melted and mixed in. Cook till texture/doneness meets your tastes. Serve as a BBQ side or on it’s own. You can have it for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. Serve with eggs or make a great BBQ Sandwich. Makes a great leftover OTR.
"I never met a meal I didn't like"
Miss Piggy
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