It's bacon day....

Easily the most excited I've been about my meat in a long time. Yesterday we had some friends over and the timing was right, I was smoking a pulled pork and had the apple wood and hickory at hand, perfect time to smoke my bacon!!!

Smoked:

Slicing:

Well looky there, it a bacon!

Sliced:

Cooking:

And done!

I little salty, and I'm not getting much from the maple syrup I used, but this is attempt #1 and I know I'll be trying again!

The bacon project....

Slab of what's called "Side of Pork", $2.48 a pound:

Then some of this stuff with sodium nitrate:

Then I rubbed it with some brown sugar and thyme and maple syrup:

Anyway, after a few days a lot of moisture is extruded, looking like this:

Click here for the results http://toddsplate.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-bacon-day.html

Za!

Finally tried this and was pretty happy with the results.
Cody's dough recipe:

----------------------------------------

1 1/2 cups very warm water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup bread flour
1/2 cup semolina flour

dump all the dry crap in, dump the water in run through dough setting

----------------------------------------

Use the bread maker for the dough, the hardest part was spreading it out so a somewhat uniform shape:

Did put a LOT of flour on the paddle to keep it from sticking. Used Classico spaghetti sauce (with mushrooms) and then of course lots of meat! Black olives, mmmm. I melted a little butter and brushed it on the crust edges, then sprinkled with garlic salt.

I used a pizza stone and had the oven on 450. Put some corn meal down to keep it from sticking and watched it carefully after about 12-14 minutes:

  The end result:

Burger, you tasty little thang

From the bottom up:

• Toasted Bun
• Mayo
• Sliced turkey ham
• Ketchup
• Burger over open coals with hickory wood
• Cheddar Cheese
• Burger repeat
• Pickles
• Ketchup
• Bacon
• Chili pepper
• S&P
• Bun

Bacon Ends & Pieces. A good thing

What are they? Well! I assume they are ends and pieces of good old bacon. For some reason, they seem to be expensive. Why? I don't know. They also tend to be very tasty. Why? STOP ASKING QUESTIONS! I think it's just cause it's the outside pieces that get the direct smoke or flavoring from whatever it is to create sweet luscious tasty bacon! What you seem to get are pieces that are almost bacon, and then hunks of fat and meat that are very ham like. Tonight they are burger toppers and snacks.

Yummy Ribs

There's really not much to say....

Finished product:

I guess I do like soup

Tracy wanted "some soup" the other day, so I went digging around in the freezer and shelves, and I guess I *DO* like soup!! All homemade, found were:

• Onion Soup
• Pazole
• Clam Chowder
• Squash Soup (Ick)
• Chili
• Basque Beans (It's soup like)
• Veggie beef soup
• Gramma's soup
  
• SW chicken chili
• Tomato
• And Tortilla soup form the neighbor!
  

Some mexican stuff I'm not sure what to call, but it's good

I've cooked this twice and not really followed a recipe, so apologies if you try it and it's not as good as mine's turned out. Basically it's simmered meat in a variety of spice and peppers and the kind you make burritos, soft tacos, enchiladas or whatever out of.

• Hunk of meat about 4 pounds, I've used pork and cheap beef.
• Some (4-6) whole dried mild peppers (Ancho, Pasilla)
• A can or about a pound of tomatillos
• 1 large chopped onion
• 2 TB chopped garlic
  
• Some tomatoes, canned or stewed or whatever, maybe a cup
• Spices! TB of oregano, tsp of cumin, tsp of ground Ancho, some salt & pepper
• 1 cinnamon stick (yes, that's correct)
  
• Enough water or broth to cover things

Pretty simple, toss it all in a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer for 4-6 hours, the meat will get fall apart tender. Take out the meat and shred. Remove the pepper skins and cinnamon stick from the rest and use a stick blender on the rest and you have a nice sauce.  We put the meat in a tortilla with some cheddar cheese and broil a bit in the oven, top with the meat, sauce maybe some quac and sour cream and enjoy.