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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Pork Pastrami and Canadian Peameal Bacon





Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I made it through the week, ate too much turkey and have two deer to show for deer season. Really happy with the venison, it will help keep me fed this winter. 

I'm not really sure what to call this dish. I used my favorite pastrami recipe to cure a hunk of pork leg, (homegrown hampshire), then smoked it on the drum. It's tasty stuff, almost a cross between ham, pastrami and corned beef.



Some of the pork leg (uncured, green ham) cut into 5 pound sections. They are easier for me to handle, also have more of a chance of eating the smaller pieces compared to a full leg ham.



 Cured the corned pork/pastrami for 8 days...
 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 for 5 pounds of meat. 





 Wrap and cure in the fridge..



Also started the Canadian peameal bacon in a pickle cure...
To the tenderquick water brine (on side of TQ container) I add
about 1 TBS of each...
juniper berries
whole black pepper corns
2 bay leaves
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp whole cloves

Also let this cure for 8 days in the fridge..



When the corned pork was cured, I rinsed well with cool water.
Before smoking, rub the meat with a mixture of 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 drum at 275F with some small potatoes...


I removed the potatoes when tender (about one hour) and added beef stock to the pork pastrami to let it steam until tender.



made a skillet of hot bacon dressing for the tatoes...








The pork pastrami with hot bacon dressed potatoes...






Back to the Canadian Peameal bacon.

After curing the peameal bacon in the pickle brine for 8 days, I slice, roll in cornmeal and fry til golden. (you can smoke if desired but most peameal bacon is not)
Peameal can be used instead of cornmeal but cornmeal is what I have on hand.


Made a batch of biscuits...





The Canadian peameal bacon, fried egg, grits and a biscuit with home made corn cob jelly...  It was pretty tasty. :)



Next day was a fried Canadian bacon, egg, biscuit sammich. :)



Really happy with the way the bacon and pastrami came out. The biscuits weren't  half bad too. :)


Hope everyone had a good deer season this year. Rifle season is still going on here but the weather has turned bad. I'm happy with what I have so I won't be going back out.
Keep safe and thanks for stopping by! :)


12 comments:

Leigh said...

I saw you on somebody's blog list and had to come read this post. This is exactly what I hope to do someday! Right now we just eat our homegrown chicken and goat meat, but someday we hope to have pigs. Your information is excellent.

cowgirl said...

Leigh thank you! I appreciate you stopping by.
It sounds like you are living the good life. :) I bet your homegrown chickens and goats are delicious! I prefer homegrown meats too.
When you do raise pigs, there are so many things you can make with the meat. I like to make the usual bacons and hams but sometimes this pastrami and peameal bacon are nice for a change.
Good luck to you and thanks again, it's nice to meet you!

Three Dogs BBQ said...

Looks great as always Jeanie. Quick question for you. What does corn cob jelly taste like? I have never heard of it before.

Chilebrown said...

I saw Zimmerman eating peameal bacon on his show. He claimed that cornmeal replaced the ground peas from the past. I have not tried either living on the West Coast. Your post is an inspiration to make some. Have you tried using ground peas?

Ohiofarmgirl said...

now all i can think about is pork pastrami... wow!

David said...

Haven't been by an a long time, house is under remodel so I finally got the chance to review my blogroll buddies. Hope all is well. That pork pastrami looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Absolutely Perfect!!!

cowgirl said...

Bill thank you! Corn cob jelly has a mild hint of honey flavor. I've used it on spares before when wrapping. It's interesting stuff. :)

cowgirl said...

Thank you Chilebrown! I've tried the peas but like cornmeal better. It's easier to use too.
Hope you give it a try sometime, thanks for stopping by!

cowgirl said...

Thanks Ohiofarmgirl! :)

cowgirl said...

David welcome back, I wondered what you have been up too! Sounds like you are keeping pretty busy. Thanks for stopping by!

cowgirl said...

Rolf, good to see you!
Hope all is well on your side of the world. :)
Hope to catch up with you sometime and have a good visit.
Thanks for stopping by!