No Pressure Here!

I’ve written about my love for canned Venison before.  There is not a better meat dish, in my opinion, than one made with canned Venison or Elk.

However, I know the process for canning meat can be quite intimidating and time consuming.  In an increasingly hectic world those words are like garlic to a vampire.  Interesting reading but “Keep that stuff away from me.  I barely have time to read about it much less make it.”

Yeah, I get it.  As much as I love to cook with it, I find myself in that same predicament.  We were fortunate enough to get some Venison this year but I haven’t had time (or more like, made time) to can it up.  So I thought I would share another option that actually saves a little time over the old canning method.

Pressure cooking.  Instead of canning it up for later, cook some of it in the pressure cooker and make one or two dishes with it in the near future.

How does that save time?

Well, pressure canning is so long and drawn out because it is a storage method.  Very handy and probably the best way to store meat long term.  Pressure cooking gives you the result without messing with the jars and all the prep work.  Pressure canning has about 90 minutes of cook time per batch.  That’s after you get it up to pressure.  That’s not including all the prep and finish work in order to be sure you have a well preserved product.  On top of that I normally make 2-3  batches at a time. So it takes up a full afternoon.

Pressure cooking is different.  Same cooker but much faster results.  No jars to mess with.  Just get the meat ready, make sure your canner is clean and ready to go and presto, you have cooked meat in a fraction of the time.

For example I will take my Venison trim, cube it up into 1/2-1 inch squares, toss it into some water in the canner (about 1 quart) and in 20 minutes of cooking time it tastes like I slow cooked it for four hours.  You can do the same with roasts or Beef or Pork or even whole chickens.  Anything that will stay together through the cooking process can be pressure cooked. (yes, someone will probably come up with an exception)  The cooking times and amounts of water vary with the cut and type of meat, as well as, whether you want soup stock.  Here is a handy chart for a quick reference.

Time Chart

Now as it says on this chart, you will want more water for weighted canners as this chart is designed for valved canners.  Also, more time means more water.  The canner can not be allowed to run out of water and no more can be added during cooking.  You can put a quantity in and boil it to see how long it lasts.  That way you won’t run it dry.

The meat comes out tender and full of flavor.  Even otherwise tough bits of trim are ‘melt in your mouth’ tender.

Healthy, Tasty, Easy: Pita Chicken

Guest Blog by: Damien Riley

Recently my wife and I set out to improve our eating habits. Into my late 30’s now fun stuff like high blood pressure keeping the old waistline trim are unwittingly important issues. Though we know we need to eat healthy, busy work schedules and three kids can often lead us in the opposite direction. Plus, a big big big concern for me regarding food is this: “does it taste good?” I don’t know how most of you are, but for me taste is so important.

As a result of our family’s health quest, my lovely wife Sarah is always on the lookout for great tasting recipes that are easy to make. The one we are writing about today is called Chicken Pitas and we enjoy it often. The best things is: it is 100% free from guilt. And of course, yes, it tastes VERY good.

My wife created this recipe one day and it has made it into our permanent recipe box. Iis quick, healthy, and delicious. It is perfect for a lunch or dinner. Best of all, your heart and your waistline will thank you!

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Pita Pocket
4oz Boneless,
Skinless Chicken Breast
1/4 Sliced Bell Pepper
1/2 Large sliced Jalapeno
1 Large Clove of Garlic, diced
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tbls. Onion Flakes
1 Tbls. Olive Oil (optional)
Seasoning of your choice (sprinkled on chicken for flavor)

Directions:

1. Cut your chicken into strips, cook in a non-stick pan sprinkled with a seasoning of your choice (I used the Creole Seasoning seen in the photo which is a bit spicy).
2. In a separate pan heat the olive oil (optional) add diced garlic, sliced bell pepper, sliced jalapeno, and onion flakes. In this case I eliminated the oil. Since I like my vegetables well cooked I placed a lid over this with a touch of water, and lowered the heat allowing the vegetables to simmer and soften up.
3. Once the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables are cooked to your liking, remove them from the heat and stir together.
4. Meanwhile, place your pita (sliced in half) in the microwave for a couple of seconds to soften it up; 5 seconds should be plenty. Add the reduced fat cheese to both halves, then equally split your chicken/ vegetable mix between the two halves.

Serve with fruit and you have a balanced meal your wife, kids (and your husband) will agree is the tastiest chicken pita ever!

This whole serving (without the olive oil or fruit) has 350 calories/8g of fat/ 39g of protein/ and 3 grams of fiber.
My wife and I hope you try this recipe. Please leave a comment for us.

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I’m a dad, teacher, author in Southern California. I keep an eye on pop culture, psychology, and inspiration all around us. I have an MA in English with an emphasis in language, writing and rhetoric. I live with my three children and lovely wife.

Over and Over and …

I hope everyone’s Easter was great.  We had a nice gathering where everyone managed to gain more weight in one day than they had gained or lost in the last week.  That was just from the aroma.

We had the Sweet and Tangy Ham again.  It has become something of a hit with the family.  I know they will eventually tire of it but I am pleased with the response it has received.

Stuck in a rut you say, well if it’s not broken why fix it.  Don’t despair, even I, with my limited expertise in and around the kitchen will have more new recipes to share.  For now, I just want to relax and enjoy what was a nice successful meal and gathering.

The Promise

Today is the day that we celebrate the delivered promise. It’s the day we see that death can be defeated. It is the day we see who He was.

The powers of the world threw their worst at Jesus and thought they had defeated Him. It is on this day, that we celebrate their error. We celebrate the victory of life over death, good over evil, God over Satan. We observing this battle, can now know we are redeemed and victory has been won for us.

With that perspective, even if the weather does not cooperate, it is still a beautiful day. I hope yours is and that your gatherings are full of warmth and the wonderful aromas of a family gathering.

Happy Easter!

Sweet and Tangy

It was commented by Seriouswriter (a contributor here), sometime ago, that I should try coating a ham with a 50/50 mixture of brown sugar and mustard. Being distracted by all life has had to offer, it has taken all this time to give it try.

Last night we had some family over for dinner and I thought about this recipe idea. I made a few adjustments and whipped up the glaze (also called a mop) just before putting the ham on the BBQ. The initial review of the sauces smell and flavor was a bit lackluster by my wife, who thought the experiment should wait for a dinner without company. I, however being as stubborn as any mule within sight, went forward with the plan. I thought the sauce was perfect and loved the aroma.

The ham was a Butt half ham weighing about 9 pounds. I laid the ham on the BBQ with the cut side pointing to the side. A person could put the cut side down but I thought that would dry the ham out more. All of the other sides have been through the smoking process already and are able to withstand the heat without as much moisture running out into the flames. Since this is a fairly large piece of meat, I used an indirect cooking method. My BBQ has two burners, so I placed the ham over one burner and used the other to provide the heat. If you don’t have that option make sure you turn the meat two or three times during cooking (Not a bad idea anyway). If you are using briquettes, try to keep the pile to one side and the meat on the other. The downside of cooking such a large piece of meat is that the bottom gets the most heat through the whole cooking process. It could be a bit overdone on one side if you don’t have some way to shield it.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1/4 cup water ( just enough to dissolve to dry ingredients)
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Mustard (I used a spicy deli variety)
• 1/4 tsp Cloves (ground)
• 2 Tbs Honey (optional)
• 1 tsp Garlic powder or 1/2 clove of Garlic (optional)
• 1 tsp Horseradish (optional)

In a small sauce pan bring the water to a boil and add the brown sugar and spices. After stirring these in and bringing it back to a boil add the mustard. Give it a few minutes to simmer and the mop or sauce is done. Take it and the ham to the preheated grill. Place the ham on the grill and mop down the ham with the sauce. Use a basting brush or your hand to apply the sauce (have a towel handy). Close down the lid and let it cook. Your target cooking temperature is 325 or so, although mine was more like 375 for most of the cooking time. I use a meat thermometer to gauge its progress. The internal temp should be 160 plus and on the 9 pound-er I cooked, this took 4 1/2 hours. The ham should also be mopped with sauce at least 3 times during the cooking process to keep the outside moist.

Our ham turned out very good, even my wife liked the finished product. I kept some of the mop so that it could be used as a sauce on the ham at the table. The outside does dry out a bit but the inside was juicy and tender as could be. It was a big hit. Thanks to Seriouswriter for pointing me in the right direction. It worked great.

Good luck with your next ham dinner. Let me know how you adjusted this recipe for your tastes.

Hiatus

All:

Two events have occurred: I’ve taken a new job (minor), and my mother has become very, very ill (major). I won’t be around for a bit until the dust settles here. I’ll post when I can, but at the moment, I have to spend my time and thought elsewhere.

Paddio, I’ll be back when I can.

J.

What makes good sausage?

For most people, getting good sausage is as easy as going to the local store and grabbing a package of bulk sausage.

Some people like to make their own or are curious what it takes to make tasty sausage. So here we go, a short tutorial on this breakfast treat.

First you need trim with enough fat content. Roughly 30 percent. The range for acceptable fat content is fairly flexible but it is necessary to have some fat in sausage. It adds to flavor and texture as well as allowing the meat to hold together in patties for cooking. This isn’t like ground beef where you can select extra lean grind at about 7 percent and get a good result. I would guess anything below 20 percent would be unsatisfactory for most people.

Second you need seasoning. These seasoning can be mixed by your own hand or you can use a good premix. I hope to have list of seasonings you can mix for your own sausage before too long. For now I will give you a couple of good options. For breakfast sausage All American Seasoning has a seasoning for breakfast sausage that has been the standard for meat rooms around the West for decades. It can be a little difficult to come by though. They don’t sell retail. You can find it at meat markets that use the mix. Otherwise there are more brands of seasoning available than I could list. Zach’s have a long list of sausage seasonings as do Vecchi’s. For breakfast sausage, you are looking for country style sausage seasoning. This is a seasoning featuring sage and other spices. There are also fine Italian seasoning available from these outfits. The meat and the process are the same for these two varieties.

Once you have selected your desired flavor there will be a ratio of seasoning to meat. For example 1 lb of seasoning per 25 lbs of meat. For most seasonings I prefer to add a bit extra seasoning. About 5 to 10 percent. The limitation is the salt in the seasoning and how spicy you want your sausage.

• First, I add the spice to the meat spreading it out fairly evenly.
• Second I grind the meat and spice mixture with a course plate.
• Third, I add a little water to the ground meat and mix by hand. The amount of water varies. The meat should be able to absorb the water, so don’t get carried away. If you are running the sausage through a stuffer to make links you will want to add a bit more water.

That’s it. You’ve made sausage. Fry it up or freeze it for another day.

And You Thought Salt Was Simple

We use salt in our daily lives all the time without much thought. It’s just one of those things we have on the table and throw around freely. When we are cooking, however, the salt we chose can make a noticeable difference in the final result. Yes, there are many choices we have to make in our lives and now I’ve added a new one. My apologies for adding to the complexity of life.

It’s a surprise to many people that not all salt is created equal. The table salt most people use to fill their salt shakers at home is not pure salt. Most salt has iodine added to it, as a solution to a shortage of the element in most people’s diet. This is the ubiquitous Iodized Salt. In addition to iodine, table salt and some other fine pour-able salts have sodium ferrocyanide added to prevent caking. These additives have benefits but for some recipes they have drawbacks. In canning these ingredients will make the liquids cloudy. They can also contribute an off flavor for brine’s and dry cures. When you want absolute control of the appearance and flavor of your creation take salts with these ingredients off the list.

In addition to the purity issue, there are differences in the coarseness of available salts. Popcorn salt for example is very fine. Table salt is normally fairly fine. Canning and pickling salts and kosher salts are fairly coarse. Rock salt is left as crystals that are not ground. These salts can be mined or extracted from sea water through evaporation. They are normally made without additives and are largely the same in terms of content but they will react different in recipes and have different purposes because of how quickly they dissolve. Kosher Salt for example gets its name because it is used to help make meats kosher by extracting the last of the blood from meats. It’s coarseness prevents the salt from being absorbed fully before the blood is picked up by the salt.
In addition to these differences, there are salts available that have flavors added to them. They can have fruit flavors added for use in tropical drinks, smoke flavors used for dry curing, and even pickle flavored salt used for… well I was surprised at how popular pickle flavored salt was for making chips, burgers or your favorite side dish have that pickle taste. (Not to be confused with pickling salt which has no flavor added to it.)

Smoked flavored salts are very useful in dry cures. This is especially true if you are cooking the meat in an oven where smoke can’t be introduced. They are normally pure so the only thing they add is that smoky salt flavor to your recipe.

Knowing what is available and how it can be used can be very helpful when preparing to dive into that special recipe. The coarseness of the salt will also effect its volume when measuring it for a recipe. So until you get a handle on how it will change your recipe, use a little less salt. Then add to flavor. It won’t take long to get the right amount.

I have a variety of salts in the IGT Store so you can see some of the available offerings.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope the added complication added to your life is worthwhile.

A New Addition

I like to write about subjects that interest me and I hope it interests some of our readers. Once in awhile, there is an item that I have found useful in the past or that I am interested in and I like to share that item with everyone. It is hard to do because pictures are not always available and descriptions are difficult to follow. So I set up a new page with a little feature that will allow me to share some of these things with anyone who wants to see them for themselves. It is a store. I have selected items to be featured in the IGT store that I have used or would want to use. It will allow you to see what the item is and get an idea of what it’s price is. If you are interested in getting the item, you can use the info in the store to help you find it or order it directly through the store. Whether you buy it through us or at your favorite supplier you will at least know what I am talking about before you go searching for it. If you purchase the item through the store a small portion of the proceeds go to support the site but either way it allows me to share a more accurate picture of an item with you. I hope this is a useful way to share this info with you.

Not For the Faint of Heart

Just in case you are a bit squeamish, I should let you know this is not about food. This post is one of those sideline interests of mine. It’s about the curing of hides. Not only is it about hides but it is about the Indian Technique for preserving hides. I mention it here because part of the process involves cold Smoking.

It is a bit of a reach but, what the heck. You’ve been warned.

I have a book that describes the process in detail written by Arlington C. “Buckskin Slim” Schaefer. What is surprising about this book published in 1973 is that it lead to a renewed interest in this process that continues to this day in tanning hides and that it was published in the county where I live. Douglas County, Oregon

The title of the book is “The Indian Art of Tanning Buckskins” and has quite a following even today amongst those wishing to make their own leather. Another name for the process is brain tanning.

You see the substance used to cure a hide in the Indian style is the brain of the animal. For a deer the brain is combined with about a quart of warm water and simmered for about an hour or so. There is a lot of preparation that is done to the skin before and after the skin is place in the brain-dope, as he calls it. It involves scraping, soaking and wringing the hide. It can then be cured two ways.

The first option is to lay out with the (former) hair side up and the brain-dope is rubbed in by hand. The edges are folded in and the hide is rolled up for about fifteen minutes.

The second option is to take the wrung-out hide right into the bucket or pot that has the dope in it. Kneed the hide to work the emulsion into all the nooks and crannies . It is left in the emulsion overnight and then laid out to dry all day in the sun or indoors depending on weather. After the hide is somewhat dried out, it is then put on a rack to complete the drying process. I haven’t done this but it’s certainly a lot of work. This will take us to the last step, smoking.

The hide is sewn together staring at the neck and leaving a hole at the tail end (about 16-20 inches) to go over the coals. A hole (pit) is dug about 18-24 inches deep and about 16 to 18 inches around. A small air hole is cut into the pit from about 18 to 24 inches from the pit at about a 45 degree angle and reaching to the bottom of the pit. The hide can be hung from a tripod made of long sticks. The edges of the hide are staked down or held down with rocks. In the pit a bed of coals are made. On the bed of coals damp rotten wood is placed to create the smoke. The air hole is used to regulate the coals as a flare up can ruin the project. The flow of air is slowed with moss or rags when needed. The hide is smoked for and hour or so and then turned inside out and repeated. Between the brain-dope and the smoke the hide is cured and ready for use.

The book goes into much more detail but this gives you an idea. It is a fascinating process making an incredibly useful leather.

Is the leather edible? Surprisingly, yes it is. It’s pretty tough though. Commercial leather has all kinds of poisons in it, so it’s not a good idea to let your toddler chew on it. Brain tanned leather is not poisonous, however, there are organisms carried in brain matter that can be dangerous. Problems are unlikely, but I thought I would throw that caution in there.