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.

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.

So here we go.

First of all, I am most familiar with using a brine to cure and flavor the meat. In a bit of research about what is out there I see quite a few recipes from people that are not worried about using a cure, in addition to salt, for low heat cooking. I think this is a bit risky, especially on poultry and fish, unless you are using a fairly high salt content by today’s standards. In ideal circumstances there would be no problem, but if the meat has a higher bacteria count than normal (maybe Earl at the plant got a bit careless when moving Porkchop to the breakdown area and dropped her on the floor, giving her an unintentional marinade in unmentionables or perhaps you were distracted as you were getting the ham out to put it down in the brine and the game you gave up on became a higher priority than that special project that got a bit warmer than intended before brining) you may wish you Had upped your protection. Point is that a cure is a great insurance policy against the unknown without having to make your brine too salty. The low heat cooking process is a more favorable environment for bacteria than a normal cooking process. The meat will spend twice as long in the ideal range for bacterial growth. So I recommend incorporating a cure in any Low Heat Cooking.

The original cure used in this process is salt. However we have other preservatives we can use, so the level of salt needed is lower and more a factor of taste than necessity. These other preservatives are the dreaded Nitrites, Nitrates, and Phosphates we spent a decade or more fearing. When the big studies were conducted to put the nails in the coffin of preservatives like these, the scientists were red faced to report that there were no links between these preservatives and health problems. In fact they found that there may be some health benefits from them. So when putting together a recipe, I recommend including a cure with your other ingredients or substitute a mix like Morton’s Tender Quick. It includes salt, sugar, nitrites, and nitrates. You use a 1:4 ratio of Tender Quick to water by volume. The directions say 2 cups of Tender Quick to 8 cups of water.

Hot Smoking Similar to Barbecuing but generally done at slightly lower temperatures. Smoke can be used for adding flavor.

Kippering Devised in particular for fish, this process relies on both the curing and cooking of meat. Smoke here is also used as a flavor enhancer.

Cold Smoking The process involved the use of smoke to preserve meat. Today, cures are used to help kill bacteria and parasites. Some people will also use a period of time (3 or more days) in the freezer to eliminate parasites, especially from fish. The cure alone only slows the growth of bacteria.

If I tried to include all of the different sources that contributed to all the ways of smoking meat, we’d have a book or two not a recipe.

That having been said, how about a recipe for something.

First, a good recipe for brine.

• 1 gallon water (Hot)
• 1 cup salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup whole cloves (ground cloves are fine)
• 1/4 cup ground nutmeg
• 6 cinnamon sticks ( ground is fine, but I don’t have an amount for you, My guess 1/4 cup)
• 1-2 oz of liquid smoke (2-4 Tbs)

The original recipe calls for boiling the mixture. I combined the ingredients I used very hot water out of the tap and mixed it until the ingredients are dissolved as much as possible. If the ingredients aren’t dissolving as much as you would like, boil the brine for 20 minutes or so. Either way make sure the brine is cool or even cold before putting the meat down into it.
I adapted this from About.com And is by Derrick Riches.

I used this recipe because it is the most similar I have found to the recipe we used in the Smokehouse ( Yes, I added and subtracted a bit). The ingredients we used were only available commercially. This recipe does not include any cure, so here are some options. Add 1-2 oz of Tender Quick to the recipe or find a cure with no salt and follow the directions or substitute Tender Quick for the salt and the sugar.

Anytime you are making a brine or marinade you should be able to sample it and get an idea if the ratios are right. It will always be too strong to call tasty but it will give you an idea.

As far as time in the brine, that will vary a lot depending on the type of meat. Something small (A cut of chicken or a fillet of Salmon) can be cured in 8-12 hours. Something large (A Ham) may take 7-10 days. Also anything thicker than 2 inches should have brine pumped into it. We use, shockingly enough, a brine pump for this. It is a giant syringe like device, but with a needle about the size of a large nail, only longer. No you won’t want any flu shots with this. You pump it up like a beach ball and put it down in the brine. This is handy and recommended on hams, shoulders, and even loins.

After the meat is cured, you need to rinse it. For the large cuts, 1 1/2 - 2 hours under running water. It doesn’t need to be running at full tilt, just a light flow around it. In the meat business we use a sink that over flows into another sink, so the meat is immerse. You can use a container that can overflow into you kitchen sink or (raised eyebrow time) a container set in the bath tub overflowing into the tub. (There go the brownie points with the wife) You get the idea, use your imagination and have some good excuses ready.

And finally, you cook it up. An oven will work fine. Set it at about 225 and figure on 6 hours although it could take 8. A meat thermometer is critical here. Small or thin cuts will cook much faster, probably in 3 -4 hours. When it gets to 165, its ready. Remember in lost cases it will be heated up again, so don’t expect this to look like dinner. Smaller cuts may be ready to throw on a plate but the larger cuts normally are going to be cooked again. If you find the outside is getting too well done before the temperature gets to your target, then cut the temperature back to 210 or so. Adjustment is the name of the game.

Smoked meat is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding. I highly recommend that you write down exactly what you do to make your product. It will make adjusting your recipe much easier and since there are so many steps it can be hard to remember what you did a week ago when you made that brine.

Neck roast.

This recipe applies for any of the odd (cheaper or tougher) cuts from the Chuck (that is the front quarter on Beef or Venison). For my Neck Roast I used a Venison neck.

A 4-6 lb roast

(you can go bigger but the time will be longer and temp lower.)

2 Cups Brown Sugar

3 Tbs of Cajun Spice (Oregon Flavor Rack)

(OK, you can use your favorite Cajun spicy mix. I’m such a softy)

2-3 Tbs of Garlic Lovers Garlic (Oregon Flavor Rack)

(You can use 1 clove of fresh garlic minced or your favorite 3-4 Tbs of garlic powder)

I combine these dry ingredients in a bowl and then I adjust the flavor for my taste. How? I taste it and add as I see fit. It smells great by the way. I cover or rub the roast with the dry ingredients and then put the roast in a gallon sized Ziploc the night before I plan to cook it. (Yes, planning ahead is optional)

The roast goes in a roaster or roasting pan with some broth or water. I used 3 quarts in a huge roaster, you may want less. This amount of water gave me half an inch in the roaster, for a normal pan 2-3 cups should be plenty. I use the broth for a base for stew in another meal.

I put the roast in for about 3 -4 hours at 350. (These roasts require two things. Time and Water. If it doesn’t dry out it will be very forgiving about extending the cooking time.)
At the half-way point I do three things.

1. Turn the roast over
2. Sprinkle garlic and Cajun Spice on the roast. (just a little)
3. I put potatoes in with the roast. You can use carrots, celery or any hardy veggies you like.

At this point you can also add some salt to taste. I add the salt to the broth and baste the meat, keeping in mind I have plans for the broth. This keeps the meal reasonable on salt content, in case someone is watching their salt intake. Spices from Oregon Flavor Rack are salt free, in case you are wondering. The broth will make great base for gravy, stew, or as au jus.

These roasts aren’t pretty but the flavor is outstanding. The extended cooking time and moisture are needed to help break down the toughness of these cuts, which they do very well.

Make your pain a pleasure, cook it the right way and you’ll be a hero.

Take the recipe I’m including here — the original, from Gourmet, requires processing the garlic in a food processor and braising the chicken. It also adds 1/4 cup of water, but since my oven-roasted variation compensates for that with the juices from the chicken, I don’t bother. Anyway, give it a try (Paddio, this means you) and let me know what you think.

Chicken with Shallots, Garlic, Bacon and Balsamic Vinegar

6 slices bacon, fried till crisp, 3T fat reserved in skillet. Crumble the bacon and reserve for later use.

7 or 8 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken of your choice.

1 lb shallots, peeled and diced.

1 head’s worth of minced garlic — I usually assume a head is about 16 or 18 cloves (some heads can go as high as 40, but let’s not be ridiculous).

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

Spread the chicken pieces in the bottom of a baking casserole dish, 13 x9 x4 is good.

Sauté the shallots in the bacon fat until they turn golden, then add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes until the garlic softens a little. You may need to add a LITTLE water here, but make it minimal. Add the balsamic vinegar, stir, and boil for one minute.

Spread the shallot/garlic/balsamic mixture over the chicken, cover it and bake it at 350 or 375 until it’s done (meaning, when you cut into a center piece, the juices run clear). Note: Cook it uncovered for the last 15 or so minutes of baking time to let it brown a little. Sprinkle the bacon over the dish about 5 minutes before you take it out of the oven, so the bacon warms a little. Serve.

I am normally sane and I do not usually mix math, philosophy, and cooking in my titles, but it somehow seemed right.

For Thanksgiving we had turkey of course, but we also had ham. As I have mentioned in other posts, I am not a big fan of turkey. I eat a little now and then (once a year). Ham on the other hand is food worth cooking and eating.

First, if you should decide to have a ham for Christmas or New Years, what kind of ham should you get. Does it matter? You bet it does.

The boneless processed and shaped hams (chopped and formed) are handy for lunch meat but even the best of these hams can’t hold a candle to a bone-in whole ham or half-ham. The difference is in the flavor and texture. They may not be as convenient but they are worth the effort.

A bone in ham has more flavor because of that annoying bone. In our society today people are unaware of subtleties like flavor. People are caught up in the marketing terms and catch-phrases like lean and convenient, or worse cheap. Flavor, real good deep flavor, is not insignificant to people like it used to be. My advice. Don’t hold back if you are serving a ham for dinner. Especially for a special dinner. Go bone-in. You do not have to go to the top end to reap the benefits of flavor. You certainly can go to a Honey Baked Ham store and get an excellent ham from them. A less expensive Hillshire Farms ham at your local grocer or one of many other makers of bone-in hams will reward you with a solid flavor and a good smell spreading from your kitchen. There are also hams smoked by small local smokhouses around the country. Find one that fits your needs and go for it.

You can get a whole or a half ham, depending on how big a piece of meat you need. The half hams come as butt-end (or upper end of the ham) or shank-end (AKA leg-end hoch-end, this is the lower end of the ham) The butt-end has more meat on it and the meat is of higher quality.

What always surprises me about a bone-in ham is how good it is as left-overs. It seems to improve with a day in the frig. You can’t say that about turkey.

How long to cook?

About 13 to 15 minutes per pound. Oven temperature should be about 325. I watch the bone, on a butt-end ham, when it is starting to separate from the meat it’s done. You will find that all of the indicators of the ham being ready will come along near the same time. Outside color, internal temperature, the timber of the meat (how it pulls apart and separates from the bone). You will have the best results when you can look at several things about a dish and see how it is progressing during the cooking process. Each piece of meat is different and each will vary a little as it is prepared. You are shooting for an internal temperature of at least 120 degrees. A ham, unlike other meats you are cooking, has been through one cooking process already. It has been smoked or cooked to about 160 degrees internal by the smokehouse. The objective then is to get it warmed up, without over cooking it and drying out the outside.

This year we used a cooker to heat up the ham. It is like a giant crockpot and uses indirect heat to cook. This helps keep the ham moist. It also catches the juices allowing the ham to bath in them. We did not baste the ham but doing so can help keep the outside moist and soft. However you cook your ham, cover it and catch the juices. Also, you can cover the outside of the ham with brown sugar or honey. Other sauces or flavorings can be used to help moisten the ham or to add to it’s flavor. If you decide to BBQ the ham be aware that this is one technique that will tend to dry out the meat. I recommend using something to baste the ham like a sugar or honey based sauce. If you prefer your ham a little dryer you won’t be disappointed with one off the BBQ. If you like a moist ham and prefer to have it without any sauces or flavors added then baking is the way to go in my opinion.

Consider ham for your next special meal. It will make a great meal and the left-overs are just as good as the original meal was.

Table of contents for Tools of the Trade

1. Tools of the Trade Part One of Three
2. Tools of the Trade Part Two of Three
3. Tools of the Trade Part Three of Three

As we continue looking at some spices I use in my cooking, and the companies behind them, I am taken back to my time in the Meat Department. Quite a bit of what I learned about meat comes from that time, including my experience with Vecchi’s Seasonings.

We used spices from several different companies in the Meat Department in the making of pre-seasoned main courses and for making sausages of different types. I used Vecchi’s Italian Sausage seasonings and their Poketta Seasoning. In fact I still use those today.

Here is a description of the company from their website:

About Vecchi’s Seasonings

Vecchi Seasonings, Inc., is a family owned business that has been successfully marketing their special blend of seasonings since 1989. It is owned and operated by Ann Vecchi and her son David P. Vecchi. The first products introduced to the market were our private blend of Vecchi’s Italian Porketta Seasoning, Vecchi’s Sweet Italian Sausage Seasoning, Vecchi’s Hot Italian Sausage Seasoning, and Vecchi’s Country Sausage Seasoning. These blends are used in bulk by numerous meat departments to make their own porketta roasts and sausages for their trade.Due to many requests from our patrons we developed the retail jars. Now the seasonings are available for the user to use at home. Our line of seasonings has now grown from the four original blends to nine, offering a unique variety of special flavors.Our seasoning blends are all natural with no additives, preservatives or MSG. We have them available in four different sizes. Bulk (10 pound boxes), PC1, PC5, and Retail Jars.

The Porketta pork roast recipe in the post titled ‘A Pork Roast Surprise!’ is done, at least in my kitchen, using Vecchi’s. The blend of spices is perfect for Pork Roast. Complex and flavorful but not overpowering.

Vecchi’s Seasonings have a very good reputation in meat departments around the country. Again, I find that this company has a larger selection of spices than I was aware of. I sense a ’spice’ buying spree coming on. Vecchi’s will be on that list.

Their products come in a variety of sizes and they have a gift pack so we can try their whole line. You may also find these products in your favorite Meat Department. That’s actually where I get mine. They also take phone and fax orders if you can’t find it nearby.

Our final company is in Part Three,

Brutus.

I love Thanksgiving.  The family together, pretending they want to be that way every day, but can not due to some scheduling conflict that is just too stubborn to shake.  That’s a good share of what Thanksgiving is about.  Yes, there are parades.  There is football.  There is FOOD.!  Oh, yeah.

We normally have a small family gathering on Thursday, ie Turkey Day.  We have about 15 to 20 at our home and everyone brings something.  We normally prepare the main course and several side dishes.  Other side dishes come in with the crowd and a few important desserts.

When I say I love Thanksgiving, I mean it.  It’s a great holiday.  That doesn’t mean I love turkey, however.  It’s fine, but if it weren’t the traditional food of Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be eating it on any Thursday.

So, here we are eating Turkey, and all the trimmings.  About half of which I would never miss if their sources became extinct tomorrow.  That’s fine, one thing about holidays, there is always plenty of something good to eat.

This kind of brings me to one of my points.  What is it about Thanksgiving that makes changes or new things unsavory.  Try having some other meat in place of turkey, you’ll have a riot, even if everyone in the family is allergic to turkey.  Oh, some new foods might make it on the menu.  Trial salads and such.  But not as replacements for any of the traditional fair.  Those things are locked in.

Well maybe that’s for the best.  I’d be real sad to see pumpkin pie get the boot.  Or to see mashed potatoes and gravy sent packing.  Maybe that’s the point of the Thanksgiving tradition.  Keeping it the same preserves the whole package.  The food, the gathering, and being thankful for all the abundance we have in our lives and in our country.

Thank God for Our Family and Friends.  Thank God for All He has Given us.

Have a great Thanksgiving.  Whether you eat the traditional fair or you break out of the box, I hope the purpose of Thanksgiving is still at the heart of your day and gatherings.

Brutus

Well, first I can highly recommend this seasoning. It does work best on a roast, in my opinion. You can use it on any pork you’d like of course, but I prefer it on a larger piece of meat.

The flavor is mild and complex. It compliments the pork and the fat very well. I normally use it on a Pork roast from the shoulder or more specifically the Boston Butt. This portion of the shoulder has a fairly high fat content and good flavor. The roast will cook down to be quite tender. Because of the fat content it is very forgiving as far as moisture content goes. It is even a good piece for the BBQ, believe it or not. The key is to make sure it is done. It needs to get to 170 degrees all the way through. When your thermometer gets to about 160 or a little more take it off the flame or move it to a place to set for 10 to 15 minutes so it will finish cooking, unless your like me and like the outside pretty well done. I actually like to test it by checking how the meat pulls apart. As it falls apart easily and pulls away from the bone (if there is one) easily it is perfect for me. This will be after it has reached the safe targeted temperature but you should use a thermometer to be sure. As a starting point you can figure the time will run about 20 minutes per pound.

As far as adding the spice, if you are doing it yourself, you can lay it on pretty thick. It does not have a high salt content, unlike many BBQ rubs on the market.

If you’ve ever wondered about trying one of these, dig in and give it a try. Whether you cook it on the BBQ or in the oven it will melt in you mouth.

Brutus

That’s because no one will go out on a limb in case there is a problem.

First, the quality of the canning job and the canning materials will determine your outcome.  If you did a good job prepping and preparing the product it will last a long time.  In my case I have, with the appropriate disclaimers for this is an example not true in every case, eaten four year old canned elk.  It was excellent.

You have to pay attention to your canned products to tell if there is a problem.  If the lid is not concave and does not make the sucking noise when you open it, the food is spoiled.  Unless you find this problem right out of the canner, that food is garbage, no exceptions.  If the food has the smell of rotten meat, in the case of canned meat, it is garbage.  If there is mold growing on the food, it is garbage. 

I do have to say canned meat will turn dark, and the fat separates and will collect on the top of the meat.  This is normal.  The process of cooking kills the germs in the jar.  It drives out the air in the jar through the boiling process.  As the jar cools it seals and there is now a vacuum in the jar.  No air.  For most contaminants, this process eliminates the possibility of spoilage as long as the seal holds.  It is important that the jar be stored in a cool dry place for this to remain true, however. 

The process of canning is designed to eliminate the causes of spoilage, and allow the canned food to last a long time.  If a step in the process is done wrong, the results can be more than inconvenient.  Some bacteria can’t be smelled or tasted.  They don’t off gas so they don’t cause the vacuum to disappear.  These bacteria are anaerobic or non air dependent.  They are killed by the cooking process.  So it is critical that the process be done right.  If you are in doubt about the food, don’t take a chance.  If you are brave, try a small sample.  It will take hours to be sure of the foods safety.  Don’t serve food you are unsure about to a crowd and especially not to the very young or elderly.  The effects of a small amount of food poisoning can be fatal in small quantites to the weak.

If you are diligent and thorough you can be confident that the food is good as long as the good indicators I mentioned are present.  You should also be aware of rusty lids as these can be a source of bacteria infiltrating the jar and ruining a good thing.

As always look around at other sources and don’t take any chances.

Brutus