Pork – Craig Cooks

Grand Final Sausage Rolls

September 26, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Today should be the Australian Rules Football Grand Final – it is always the last Saturday in September. Thanks to COVID-19 and a late start to a shortened competition, the Final is going to be a month late.

Nevertheless, why not still make Grand Final Sausage Rolls. Eat some today and freeze some for next month! It’s a Win-win (unlike the actual game)!

Here’s the recipe that I made up today. It’s pretty good.

750g pork mince
2 eshallots (or 1/2 onion) diced finely and sauteed
1 grated carrot
4 tsp garlic
1 tbsp + 1 tsp freshly, coarsely ground fennel seeds (measure after you grind them)
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 – 1 cup fresh bread crumbled

4 sheets puff pastry
1 egg for brushing
Sesame seeds

Smoked Tomato Achiote Pork

December 10, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Tonight I put a Mexican twist on a Spanish roast pork dish.

The pork leg was studded with slices of 3 cloves of garlic. The pork was put in the following marinade for only a couple of hours and should have been longer.

Marinade
50g tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 1/2 tbsp achiote paste
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
A generous pinch of ground cloves (maybe 1/8 tsp?)

The measurements above are approximate.

Achiote paste is from the annatto plant – a peppery spice. I keep a block of it in the fridge. It has an intense red colour but is mild in terms of heat. Great with pork or fish (or chicken…)

The pork was barbecued with sprigs of fresh oregano from our garden and smoked with some hickory. The fresh herb adds a wonderful aroma to the meat.

I use a Thermoworks ChefAlarm probe to check the temperature. It is a fantastic tool. I use it every time I BBQ.

Served up with a warm salad of charred zucchini, baked cherry tomatoes, charred red onion, mango, baked carrot (really! It was OK), smoked corn and coriander. (I forgot the lettuce and other leaves that I had picked from our garden…) Plus a wedge of lime to give the salad some tang. And some home-made BBQ sauce on the side if people needed it.

I cooked the pork crackling separately in the oven. The roast leg had plenty of time to rest (which I usually fail to allow). The pork was crisp on the outside and moist in the middle. Perfect.

I must say this tasted fantastic. This is a winner recipe that I will tweak and repeat. I will probably add some chilli to the marinade…

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Toulouse Sausages

August 9, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

A couple of nights ago I made a cassoulet, a French casserole with pork and duck. It is a truly divine thing. Confit duck or goose, tender slow-cooked pork, pork sausage, beans. When I’ve made it, I’ve varied it based on what is at hand. I’ve never had confit duck or goose at hand. To be honest, in our one brief trip to Paris we did not get to eat a local cassoulet. I must post about making cassoulet.

Among other things, a cassoulet has Toulouse sausages. So I made some using the recipe from “The Sausage Book” by Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton. There are some good sausage-making recipes in this book. I wish there were more! A small part of the book is about making sausages and the rest is about cooking with sausages.

2 kg minced pork belly (I used pork shoulder – usually $8-9 per kilo rather than $14-20 for pork belly)
30g fine sea salt
2g freshly grated nutmeg
5g freshly ground black pepper
100 ml red wine
2og finely chopped or minced garlic
20g chopped flat leaf parsley
4g chopped sage leaves
4g thyme leaves

Parsley, sage and thyme from our garden.

This is a great recipe. Next time I want to increase the red wine a little or add a couple of teaspoons of tomato paste.

They were excellent in the cassoulet, and we’re about to eat the rest with some potato mash, peas and mushrooms. Mmmm….

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Pork Sausages

January 15, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

I’m still playing with sausage recipes. I should really write down the ingredient quantities…

These are made with pork shoulder.

#1 has my BBQ spice rub in the mince… sugar, salt, chilli powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, lemon pepper, cayenne pepper + garlic, orange zest and a dash of whisky.

#2 has pepper, salt, garlic, sage leaves, toasted fennel seeds, pistachios, grated apple.

yeah.