Pork & Ham & Beans

A good use for left over ham or pork bones & any pork is to make a pot of beans with it. I had a bone froze up from a Pernil Asada fresh picnic shoulder I made awhile back. I bought a package of spiral cut ham ends & pieces to add too.

I was busy today, I got 4 lbs of English cut chuck roast on smoking at 9:30. It’s wrapped & in the fridge. I will slice it tomorrow & add it to some Louie’s Italian beef seasoned broth, green peppers & onions for Italian beef sandwiches. I had soaked a lb. of great northern beans overnight for the ham & beans. I followed Mary’s recipe for Cajun white beans & rice on Deep South Dish. I basically do ham & beans about the same with the exception of adding chopped green pepper & Cajun seasoning. I think that takes it up a notch for some good eating.

At noon I covered my pork bone with water, some salt & pepper; brought to a boil & simmered about 2 hours. I removed it to cool & sautéed some of the ham, about 1 ½ cups, added it to the soup pot. I sautéed some diced pepper, onion, & celery; added it to the pot. I used my new carbon steel skillet & think I will really like it. I removed the meat from the bone & chopped, about 3 cups, then added that to the pot. I rinsed the beans & added them to the pot. Threw in about a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning.
Brought it to a boil then on low to cook couple of hours.

I mixed up some Miracle Maize cornbread & did it in a cast iron skillet. When the beans were done I covered & turned to lowest setting until supper time at 5:30.

I cut me a piece of cornbread, sliced in half, pork & beans over it and some chopped onions & Cholula hot sauce. Some of the best beans I’ve had in awhile, so good I had seconds. After I took the photo I added some of the good broth! My wife doesn’t know what is good, she had a Stouffers frozen soup & sandwich.

The Pork Bone

The Ham

The Trinity

The Soup

The Cornbread

My Plate

Smokin Don

Burger Hot Dogs

Yesterday I was looking through an old cook book, for a water smoker, for something different to cook. Hamburger wrapped around a dill pickle spear and served in a hot dog bun. I must have missed this; I would have tried them long ago.

The recipe was for 1/3 cup of crushed potato chips, 2 TBS of hot mustard, mixed with 1 ½ lbs. of ground beef. I used Grey Poupon country style instead of hot mustard and used ½ cup of crushed potato chips.

I would try some frozen sweet potato fries and do a stuffed Anaheim pepper wrapped in bacon. I stuffed it with a mix of my chorizo sausage, cream cheese, and 2 TBS. of Philly cooking cream, Santa Fe style.

I mixed the ground beef & put in a gallon plastic bag, rolled out as for a fatty. A good trick I read was to cut away one side of the bag, after rolling out, place a piece of wax, or parchment paper over it & flip over. Then remove the plastic bag and use the paper to help in the rolling up. It works well.

I started my smoker on smoke mode P1 & averaged 190 deg. At 4:30 I put the popper on; maybe I should call it a torpedo popper! In 15 min. I put the burger dogs on. I sprayed my sweet potato fries with a little olive oil & some seasoning salt, in a basket then on the smoker. At 5:00 I went to 225 deg. Then at 5:15 I went to 275 deg. At 5:45 all was done, a couple of my dogs had split open where I didn’t get the seam sealed good.

The wife & I both liked them, ½ of the torpedo popper was plenty for me. Bottom line on the burger dogs is, save the effort, a hamburger patty topped with dill pickles is just as good & much easier to do, unless you want the novelty of serving burgers on a hot dog bun. This is one that children might like to help with. This was the first time I tried the frozen sweet potato fries & they were good.

Frying the chorizo

Meat rolled out

Ready to assemble

Burger dogs

Pepper stuffed

All done

My Plate

Smokin Don

Muffin Pan Chicken Stacks No. 2

I decided to do my muffin pan chicken stacks. I got the idea from BBQ competitor, Myron Mixon, who did thighs in one. For mine I would use a slice of bacon, a piece of boneless skinless breast, some BBQ sauce, a slice of sweet onion, a slice of red pepper, more sauce, another piece of breast & fold the bacon over secured with tooth picks. I would cook them for a period in the pan then when they were set, place them on the grill to finish. My first ones turned out great. I had drilled holes in each muffin pan for the fat to drain but a pellethead friend said he did some without the holes & the fat would drain when finishing on the grill. I would do my second ones in a muffin pan without holes.

For these I would use my Peach Chipotle BBQ sauce, mild heat. My wife did not like the heat so I had to cook a batch for her without the heat & could take Mom one. I wanted to use fresh peaches but they are not in season so would use pears.

I put a thin pat of butter in each pan. A slice of bacon for each. This was the worst bacon I have seen, Hormel lower sodium. It looked like it was never cured but didn’t have time to get different. I didn’t think they would hold together but came out good. I did a slice of BSC breasts on the bacon, a little Cajun seasoning on mine, some Peach sauce, a slice of sweet onion, a slice of pear, more peach sauce, a piece of BSC thighs, then folded the bacon over. I used 3 toothpicks in mine & 2 in the others.

I did some baby gold potatoes, w/olive oil & garlic salt in my basket. I got them & the chicken on my smoker at 275 deg. After 45 min. they were at 160 deg IT so removed them from the pan & went to 300 deg. Another 15 min I added about a TBS of Peach sauce to each & went to 325 deg. After 25 more min. they were done.

I served them up & we reheated the fennel, quinoa salad. It tasted good the second time around. The chicken was moist & tender; the pear was good with it but still want to do peaches. I liked the breast & thighs together and thought the chicken was more moist than my first ones. I think I still prefer the onion & red pepper for best flavor pairing.

Building the stacks

After 45 min. at 275 deg

Ready to serve

My Salad

My Plate

Sliced

Smokin Don

Planked Salmon & Fennel salad

I had to post this to show we do eat something besides pork fat once in awhile! I am not that crazy about salmon but the wife loves it. I had some from Sams club that was wild caught, marinated in vac pacs. I found a recipe for a fennel, quinoa, & pomegranate salad at Bon Appétit I wanted to try. I was going to do it all inside but after reading the directions on the salmon I decided to do them on the Traeger. I did them on cedar planks for ½ hour on smoke about 180 deg. then went to 300 deg after 10 min. it didn’t look like they were cooking fast enough so went to 350 deg. & in 20 more min. they were done. A total of 1 hour 5 min.

During that time I sautéed the fennel, cooked the quinoa, & put the salad together. It was seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, mint, dill, & lemon, then topped with pomegranate seeds. I only used about an eighth cup of cilantro & mint instead of the half cup the recipe called for.

The salmon was just right, salad was great, & had some sliced beats on the side too. I have been using the cedar planks for fish, because I feel it lets the fish cook in its own moisture & doesn’t dry out. I can also use the planks over again, simply wash off, run through the dishwasher & ready to go again. This was about the sixth time using these & finally going to throw out & get new. I soak the planks in water at least 2 hours then dry & coat one side with olive oil.

Link to Salad Recipe

Getting the lemon pulp for the salad

Sliced Fennel

Dill, Mint, & Cilantro

Fennel sauteeing

Frozen Salmon on the Planks

After a half hour on smoke

Salmon is Done

My Salad

My Plates, My Supper

Smokin Don

Smoked Sausage Balls 3-Ways

Smoked sausage balls, I had done some awhile back, made from some of my home made boudin sausage. They were good but found they do not freeze well. They have rice in them and I have found any cooked rice does not freeze well.

Just lately on pelletheads forum a member did some with Bisquick. Everyone picked up on it and were making sausage balls using the Bisquick and some doing their own version. I thought the Bisquick recipe was too heavy on the Bisquick and would come out more like biscuits with sausage. It called for 3 cups of Bisquick per 2 lbs of sausage. I thought using some cornbread mix, like Jiffy, sounded better.

I decided to make some and while I was at it would try 3 different ones to see which I liked best. I remembered years ago at Christmas gatherings, my wife’s cousin made sauerkraut balls that were to die for. We found her recipe and it called for ground ham instead of sausage. It didn’t look like they would adapt well to doing on the smoker. They were browned in a skillet then refrigerated and deep fried when ready to use. I found one recipe that would be good to use but I used bread crumbs instead of Quaker oats.

I remember seeing an appetizer recipe lately that was cornmeal mush cut in circles, scooped out a little, and shredded beef was added. I buy cornmeal mush that is in a tube so that would be easy to use with sausage balls. Now I had my 3 different kinds to make, sauerkraut balls, cornbread with cheese balls, and some plain for in the mush.

I bought one and a half lbs of fresh sausage and used a half lb for each one. I mixed in 3 eggs beaten, about 2 /3 of med sweet onion diced small, and some course grind garlic powder, a teaspoon of salt and some fresh ground pepper. I mixed well and divided into 3 bowls, then placed in the fridge for a couple of hours.

For the sauerkraut balls I added 1/4 green pepper, diced small.
¼ cup plain bread crumbs.
About 1 cup of sauerkraut, chopped.
This made 8 sausage balls 1 ½ inch diameter.
I rolled them in some bacon bits before smoking.

For the cornbread balls I added 1/8 red pepper, 1/8 green pepper diced small
½ cup Jiffy cornbread mix
About 2/3 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
I made these a little larger and got 5 balls

I made plain ones for the top of the mush, I added ¼ red pepper diced small
¼ cup plain bread crumbs
I made these into 8 balls, cut the mush about 5/8 inches thick. I used a ½ teaspoon to dish out the mush and added the sausage balls.

I placed them all on a tray covered with parchment paper & placed in the fridge for about four hours until ready to smoke.

I added the second shelf to my smoker, placed the sausage balls on 3 different trays. This way I could rotate if necessary or pull if done at different times. I smoked them for one hour on smoke, about 175 deg. After one hour they looked like they were cooking about even so I went to 275 deg. After ½ hour I added some of my peach chipotle BBQ sauce to some of the ones on the mush. Checked the temp & they were all at 160 deg so I dropped back to 250 deg for the last half hour.

I pulled them all after 25 min and placed in a 200 deg preheated oven, while I fixed my Bob Evens Mac & Cheese in the microwave to serve with them; that took six minutes. I had made some horseradish sauce to use with the sauerkraut balls. One TBS of sour cream, two TBS of Woebers horseradish sauce, and a TBS of mustard. It was good with the kraut balls and pretty warm, made my nose run.

I liked them all, the ones on mush were good but I would say if I do them again I would do the balls on the smoker; then fry the mush with some oil or bacon grease until real crispy. If you like the mush just hot doing together is easier, but I am used to my Mothers mush. She made her own mush, sliced about ¼ inch thick then fried slow in bacon grease until real crispy. Her and my sisters liked butter & maple syrup on it but I usually just had butter, salt, & pepper.

Maple syrup would be good on the mush & sausage balls or the cornbread ones. Another good choice would be a good honey BBQ sauce. I especially liked the horseradish sauce for the kraut balls. My favorite of the 3 I would say was the Jiffy cornbread ones.

Printable Sausage Ball Recipe

The 3 mixes

Cornbread and Plain Sausage balls

The Kraut Sausage Balls

Rolled in Bacon Bits

This shows how I did the mush

After one hour on smoke

All done

Ready to serve

My Plate

Smokin Don

Mary's Old Fashioned Bread Pudding

Mary’s cooking blog, “Deep South Dish”, is one of the first cooking blogs that caught my eye. I bookmarked it and go back time and time again for recipes & ideas for my cooking. I used her microwave roux recipe to make gumbo. Anyone knows for a flavorful southern gumbo it needs roux added. Check out her blog for great recipes.

Lately her recipe for old fashioned southern bread pudding caught my eye. I don’t do many desserts but this looked like something I could do. My wife loves bread pudding and I had a ½ lb of French bread left that needed used. I don’t like to freeze my bread so when it gets old it is usually fed to the birds. This time I had a good use for it.

She did one with meringue bit I did the one without. Very easy to make, if I can do it anyone can! The whiskey sauce is a must; I only used ½ TBS of whiskey and didn’t tell my wife it was in there. If she knew she would have been able to taste it! As it was she didn’t say a word. I told her it would be the best bread pudding she ever ate. I tell her that a lot about my cooking! This time it was true I think. After serving her a warm piece she took it to the living room where she was watching TV, this was her words “this is good, no It’s really good, no this is YUMMY”. Later she said it may be the best she ever ate! Mary said to pour the sauce over individual pieces. This would make nice presentation; but I just sliced it in the dish then poured the sauce over.

Thanks Mary for the recipe, Nancy said thanks too! Here are some photos of my effort.

Ready for the oven

Done baking & sauce added

My Wife's Plate

New Years Day Dinner

My New Years Day good luck dinner is; brats, brockwurst, pork, sauerkraut, and Knopfles, (German drop noodles). I made some of Ree’s, Pioneer Woman, mashed potatoes to serve it over. I also heated up some seasoned black eye peas as a side and made no knead bread to serve with it.

Here in the US we have no one dish that is traditionally done on New Years Day. Black eye peas are probably done the most, but they are mostly a southern tradition. Any other dishes are derived from ethnic or religious backgrounds. The pork & sauerkraut is German & I got the idea from a friend and adopted it for my New Years dish. The black eye peas I got from my southern cousin. So now I have two good luck dishes for New Years. I have done the pork & kraut for at least 20 years and added the peas for about the last 5 years.

I don’t usually fix pork & kraut during the summer; it is more of a fall & winter dish. Served over mashed potatoes it is one of my favorite dishes & I am ready for it come New Years day. Some brats of choice and pork ribs are the best meats for my taste. This year I had some Pernil Asada left that I would use along with the brats.

I made the no knead bread and mashed potatoes the day before and my wife made the drop noodles. I usually let her make them; she does a better job than I do! She does not use a recipe, just some eggs, flour, & adds water to get the right consistency. We had never done the drop noodles ahead before but they did turn out good. After she drained them I let them cool awhile then drizzled some olive oil over & stirred to coat. This would keep them from sticking together. The first time I made them they were too mushy. I did find a recipe that works for me, & you need rapid boiling water as you cut them in. She usually cut them in right out of the bowl but this year she did it from a tablespoon & said that was easier on her arm. The photo of her doing them is from last year.

I found that 1 cup is the right amount of water to add to 2.5 cups of flour in my no knead bread recipe. This gives it nice air pockets and some rise. I will post a printable copy of the recipe.

I got my brats on smoking at 175 deg at 2:00 and planned on eating at 6:00 pm. I put the brats on first then about 20 min later I added the brockwurst, they are fully cooked. I sprayed my 5 quart Lodge Dutch oven with some olive oil & layered a med sweet onion and 3 smashed garlic cloves in the bottom. I had the pot on a med low burner to preheat some. At 3:30 I upped the smoker to 225 deg & brought 3 of the brats & 3 of the brockwurst in sliced in half & added to the pot. Next I added some on the Pernil Asada pork in, about two handfuls. I added a bottle of Yuenglings Black & Tan beer. I poured the juice off the sauerkraut & added about ¾ of the one pound bag over the meats, plus some salt & pepper. Placed the lid on the pot and back on the smoker & let it slow cook. My Traeger set at 225 deg. was running closer to 240 deg.

After one & a half hours with the lid on I removed the lid & added the drop noodles at 5:00 pm. I stirred to combine some and did for another hour without the lid. I had taken the noodles & mashed potatoes out of the fridge about 3:00 to warm to room temp. I dotted the mashed potatoes with pats of butter and a little Lawry’s seasoned salt, no MSG, for a little color. I put them in a 350 deg oven for a half hour. The pork & kraut was done at 6:00 pm and served over the mashed potatoes, a side of black eyed peas and some good bread & butter made for a fine meal.

Printable Bread Recipe

Printable Pork & Kraut and Noodle Recipe

No Knead Bread

Bread Sliced

My Wife Cutting in the Drop Noodles

Drop Noodles Finished

Some Pork & Kraut Ingredients

Brats Done Smoking

Onions & Garlic added to the pot

Brats & Beer Added

Pork Added

Kraut, Salt, & Pepper Added

Pork & Krauts Done

My Plate

Smokin Don