Yea, I finally got my latest Saveur magazine. As I was digging in, I saw a little blurb about a place in England that makes traditional cordials. Apparently they were originally started because all the men were drinking too much and was a way get them them to stop. Then there was a little recipe for a Ginger Cordial. I had to try it thinking it would make a great kiddie cocktail.

Ginger Cordial
2 cups sugar
1 water
4 inch piece of ginger chopped
Mince rind from 1 lemon
1 cup fresh lemon juice (I just used the juice from 2 lemons)

In a pot, add the sugar, water, ginger and lemon rind. Heat to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice and boil for 1 more minute. Strain into a glass jar and let cool.

Of course with the carnival going on in my head, I had to wonder how else I could change it. I ended up adding a handful of chopped mint to the boiling brew. Strained. Mixed it with club soda and let my official taster try.

I guess I'll be making this again

One of the blogs I follow is from a person on the South Side of Chicago. He recently posted about his sausage week and Oktoberfest. I thought that would be a cool tradition to start too. Well... the first annual Sausagefest got off to a slow start but still had fun. Tried to get several of my friends over but only one could make it.

I stuck pretty much to the three different versions of sausages I normally make; saucisse de Toulouse, saucisse de Ratatoullie and Lemon & Rosemary sausage. Saucisse de Toulouse is a mild French sausage that you can't find here in the US but is fantastic with green lentils. The last two are ones that we've come up with over the years. About 2 years ago I was making sausage when my daughter wanted to make one too.... that is where saucisse de Ratatouille came from. We were at the Spice House and she had to have the Ratalouille seasoning. The lemon & rosemary sausage was borne out of a failed attempt at something I had no idea what I was trying to create.

saucisse de Ratatouille
4 lbs pork (I normally use the shoulder)
1 1/2 lbs pork back fat
2 tbls of Ratatouille Seasoning from the Spice House
2 tbls salt (I use pickling salt)
1 tbls fennel

Lemon & Rosemary Sausage
4 lbs pork shoulder
1 lbs pork back fat
Graded rind from 1 lemon
2 tbls salt
2 tbls chopped rosemary
1 tsp Cardamon

saucisse de Toulouse recipe is here

Cut both the pork and back fat into 1 inch cubes. Add the ingredients into a bowl and mix. I use the meat grinding attachment for my Kitchen Aid and find it works great. Now start grinding.

Once all the meat is ground, mix it lightly so all the ingredients are spread out evenly but the pork and fat are not mashed together. At this point you will want cook some in a pan to taste making sure of the flavor. It's easier to adjust it at this point.

What I'm stuffing this into are 35mm natural casings from the Sausage Maker. These are preserved in salt and will last forever in the refrigerator. They will have to be soaked in water for about 20 to 30 minutes and then rinsed. I made that mistake the first time and it was a bear! Now comes the fun part of stuffing.

From my understanding, the vertical stuffers are the best to use. If you use the Kitchen Aid stuffer attachment, it will warm up the fat and melt it and that is a no no. This one I picked up at Amazon and works well... not the best but works. Using lots of water to lubricate the casings, feed them on to the stuffing tube. Fill the stuffer with your meat and slowly begin to stuff. You can do it with one person but two is easier and more fun. Have the casings come off the stuffer into a try with water in the bottom. This will help the sausage slide around. When done, twist into the desired length,

Now comes the fun part..... eating with your family and friends! Honey... can you clean up for me?

At least one of our weekend's breakfast usually always includes hash browns. My oldest daughter absolutely loves them.... smothered in ketchup. Of course we would always have the traditional American hash brown.... trudging off to the frozen section of the local supermarket and purchase a box of pre-made hash browns.

One Sunday morning as I was making our "traditional" hash browns, thought to myself that these would not be hard to make. After a little digging around, I found that they aren't. The key to a good crispy hash browns is getting as much moisture out as possible. 

5 to 6 Russet Potatoes (I use what ever I have on hand)

3 to 4 tbls Cornstarch

Oil

Salt to taste

Peel the skin off the potatoes and rinse. Next, shred the potatoes using either a mandolin or food processor. I find the processor makes for a quick job. Place the potatoes in a colander and rinse in cold water until starch has been removed. Shake out as much water as possible and place potatoes on several sheets of paper towels. Over the sink, ring out the potatoes trying to remove as much water as possible. 

Place the potatoes in a bowl and mix in cornstarch. Add oil to a flat skillet and pre heat. When hot, place some of the potatoes in the skillet forming a disk and cooking until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Salt to taste.

What we like to do is add graded parmesan cheese and let that melt into the hash brown topping it off with some fresh chopped oregano or parsley. mmmm.... YUM!

It's been a long time since I've last updated this site but going to make a concerted effort in doing so. Not sure why but always had trouble either finding a good recipe or having a recipe work out for something as simple as Carmel Sauce. Yes, I know I could run to the store to buy some but after reading the ingredients and not being able to pronounce most of them.... I would rather make my own.

I did find a couple of recipes for Carmel Sauce over the years but this one seems to work and taste the best. Still don't remember where but here it is.

Carmel Sauce
1/2 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Water
1/4 cup Cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the sugar and water under medium heat until sugar dissolves. Turn the heat up and boil until golden brown. Remove from heat right before the desired color since the sugar/water combination will continue to cook when removed. Stir in cream and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Let cool and enjoy.

I do have another recipe that I will continue to experiment with and will post results. This is for Shar! Semper Fi.

Photo by M

This one here has become my favorite breakfasts to make on the weekends. I found it a couple of years ago on Williams Sonoma's site looking for something simple but yummie. The original recipe can be found here but I've recently changed it a little bit. Looking for other recipes for making the crepe, I came across Alton Brown's version which I like better. What I ended up doing is mixing the two together for a wonderful Sunday meal.

Crepes
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp orange zest
3 tbsp melted butter
pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients in blender and mix well. Place the batter in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours or you can make it the night before. This allows the bubbles to work their way out.

Cheese Filling
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbsp sugar

Combine in a bowl and set aside.

Berries
1 bag of mixed berries or
1 pint each of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
2 tbsp of sugar

Combine in a separate bowl and let sit for about 30 minutes or while you are making the crepes

Making the crepes
This is the only difficult part and does take a little practice. The best part is that you can still enjoy your "Oops". Using an 8" non-stick skillet (you don't need a crepe pan) coat the bottom with some oil and get the pan nice and hot. Gently pour the batter in the middle of the pan while rolling it back and forth working the batter to the edge. Make sure you keep the crepe thin.... you will use about 1/2 cup of batter. Cook on one side until the top is no longer liquid, flip and cook the other side for another minute.

When the crepes are done, combine the cheese and berry mixture inside. Either roll the crepe or fold into a quarter. Of course you need to put a few berries on top of the crepe. Now Enjoy!

This is one of those things that is so easy to do... everyone should have one brewing in their refrigerator. In the past, I've always cured my salmon in a wet brine (water and salt) and then cold smoking the fish which is a challenge in the summer months. Its a time consuming process but recently I  found a good basic dry salt/sugar recipe.

Here is a basic dry mixture that I used on both filets
1.5 oz Salt
2.25 oz Sugar

For the first filet, I cut it in half adding 1 tbsp of cracked pepper to the above mixture. Covered each piece with the salt/sugar. Then I sprinkled about 2 tbsp (didn't really measure) of liquid smoke on each and then wrapped in plastic wrap.

For the second filet, I add 2 tbsp of Herbs de Provence to the salt/sugar mixture. Coated each piece with the mixture.... added lemon slices and then wrapped in plastic.

Both both filets in the refrigerator for 3 days, turning upside down each day. Results? Both turned out to be very tasty although I did prefer the smoked one. This method was much... much easier that I've done in the past.

I would like to welcome master chef Dano to the Le Cochon Fumant blog. He will be assisting me with posting his culinary insight and recipes. Welcome to the Smoking Pig!

After spending more than a few years in Japan, I've seen what the Japanese have done to our lovely pizza pie... corn, nori (seaweed), octopus... ish. It then raised more than one eye when my wife asked if we wanted to make pizza her way. Living in the Chicago area, pizza is a religious experience and what I've seen what that country has done to my earthly round delight. Finally giving in, we made a japanese style pizza and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Having Mayo and Soy Sauce... sauce covered in green onions and bacon pizza is different but very tasty.

Then again, anything tastes better covered in bacon.

I always make my own pizza dough. I make several batches, freeze it ensuring that I fresh pizza dough on hand. There are plenty of recipes out there for good dough so I won't post mine (unless requested).

Sauce
1/2 cup real mayonnaise (My wife of course thinks the Japanese mayo is better - I beg to differ)
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Shichimi Japanese Chili Pepper

Mix all of the above together

Toppings
a bunch of Green Onions
a bunch of cubed Bacon
Mozzarella Cheese

Spread the mayo/soy sauce mixture down on the dough like you would with a tomato pizza sauce. Cover with both the green onions and bacon then cheese. Bake in a 500º degree oven until done. Enjoy.

This will be my first official post since I've really put this blog off for a long time. For a couple of years now I've been wanting to make my own Corned Beef Brisket. Even bought the spices pack from the The Spice House that's been sitting in a drawer for the past year. Well, this year... this is the the year that I decided to make my own Corned Beef Brisket. Grabbed my 5 gallon bucket following the recipe I have in my Charcuterie book.

5 lbs Beef Brisket
2 cups Pickling Salt
5 tsp Pink Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
3 cloves of Garlic
5 tbsp of pickling spice
1 gallon of water

Combine all the ingredients in a pot and heat until the salt and sugar dissolve. Remove from heat and allow to cool until room temperature. Add the brisket and weight down. I have a brick that I use just for this occasion.



Refrigerate for 3 to 5 days. I had mine in the frig for 3 days but wished it was in there for another day or 2. Pulled it out of the the brine and rinsed off.



Cutting in half, thought it looked really good. Then I pulled out my favorite Corned Beef recipe to cook.

1 corned beef brisket, about 4 pounds
4 cups apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
6 to 8 small to medium red potatoes, cut in half or quarters
2 to 3 medium carrots, pared and cut into chunks
1 large onion, peeled and cut into eighths
1/2 head cabbage, cut into chunks
2 tbsp of pickling spice (optional)

Combine everything into a large pot and cook for about 4 hours until tender.



The finish Meal and it was a hit.