Corned Pork with Hot Bacon Dressed Slaw

I didn't celebrate St Patrick's Day this year but couldn't resist the urge to "corn" something. :)
Instead of the usual corned beef and cabbage, I went with corned pork and hot bacon slaw.

I used the same curing spices I use on corned beef or venison..
For my dry cure, I mix...
5 tablespoons Tender Quick
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1 teaspoon ground bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

This is enough for 5lbs of meat



I cured a 5lb slice of pork hind leg. Lean pork works best. Back loin would be a good choice for this recipe. The less fat the better.



Rubbed with the cure, wrapped and let it cure in the fridge for 10 days. I went with 5 days per inch thickness of the meat for the curing time. This hunka leg was fairly thick.



After the 10 day cure I rinsed well and soaked in fresh cool water for an hour.



The cooking spices were..
allspice, garlic, crushed bay leaves, crushed juniper berries, onion powder, black pepper and mustard seeds.... I use about a tsp of each, and 2 cloves of the garlic minced. You can add more if needed.





Into the Hasty Bake on the smoke level...



When the pork had reached 145F I added beef stock...



Covered and let it steam until reaching 165F..



I let the pork rest covered for about 30 minutes before slicing..



For my hot bacon dressing I fry slices of bacon...



cook onions in the bacon drippings...



add 1TBS of flour.... cook for a minute...



stir in 1/3 cup of water
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 TBS sugar
then salt and pepper to taste



The sliced corned pork...





I topped the slaw with the warm dressing then sprinkled with crumbled bacon.



The pork was moist and tender.



Reminded me of a cross between ham, corned beef and pastrami. I'll definately make it again. :)

Morel mushroom season is here....

Headed down to my favorite place to hang out for the afternoon...



Drove in as far as possible...



then hit the cattle and deer trails.



I didn't see any wildlife this trip, not even any cattle...but the deer tracks were thick.



This old corral is in the middle of nowhere.



I guess at one time it must have been handy for rounding up cattle in the brush....





The grasses are starting to green up. No leaves on the trees yet but it's beginning to look like spring.



I found two little morels. I'll check back in a week to see if any more have popped out of the ground. :)



I made it back to the pickup in one piece....



It was a beautiful afternoon.... I really enjoyed the hike. :)

Walleye-n-Wild Onions on the Fire

Good friend Phesant from Wisconsin recently sent a package of some of his fresh caught walleye and Bear Lard for me to try.
I loved the bear fat biscuits and finally had the chance to cook up some of the beautiful walleye fillets.
Thank you again Pheasant!! :)



The walleye fillets...



The wild onions are doing great this year... I like to use them every chance I get.







I drizzled a couple of the walleye fillets with oil, seasoned them a bit and placed them on lettuce leaves to protect the bottom of the fillets while grilling over the fire.



Set up my horizontal woodburner for grilling...





The leaves worked great, the fillets stayed moist and flakey.



I sauteed the wild onions in butter. When tender I added a squeeze of lemon juice and about one tbs of sherry.



Then added the grilled walleye fillets to the skillet....







The fresh grilled walleye fillets with wild onions..... and a sip of wild plum wine.



The walleye was soooo good! Not sure if you will see this but I can't thank you enough Pheasant, one of my favorite meals to date again! :)

Smoked Spam....with some shrimp and crablegs

This was an unplanned cook. I needed some finger food at short notice so I went with what I had on hand at the time.

Started by making a batch of spicy shrimp.
Placed the shrimp in the smoker then added few thawed crab legs.



I scored two blocks of Spam....



When the spam "blooms" I sprinkle them with a mixture of brown sugar and cayenne pepper.





Spritz the Spam with whiskey ( or apple juice) and then it goes back into the smoker to caramelize the brown sugar.













The snacks took longer to cook than they did to eat. They disappeared fast! :)