Somebody get me one of these for Christmas…

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Pulled Pork – Round 1

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Pull my pork, I mean my cracker…

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christmas recipes, pork, pulled pork, the sausagesmith

Pull my pork, er I mean my cracker…

I love pulled pork.  Redundant statement.  Obviously, I love pulled pork.  I was thinking about a hog roast for christmas day, for all of 1 minute before thinking practically about logistics.  But, pulled pork? The same brilliant, tender, juicy end result but no need for a 5ft spit and 6 hours of cranking.  Gonna give this a go this weekend so will post the results next week.

Crown Roast Pork – A very Christmassy name at least…

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christmas dinner, pork, roast pork, sausagesmith

So, first problem encountered with this dish… Although I have NO doubt whatsoever that this dish is going to taste magnificent, when searching for an image of Crown Roast Pork I discovered that it looks awful. No matter how you dress it up (click on the picture for recipe and a few good examples of how unappetisingly 80s it looks) it isn’t going on my Christmas table unless it’s served up looking a bit more meaty, and a lot less like a skeletal desert island.

This photo makes it look great, but not officially a crown I guess. mmmmmmmmm.

So, trial 1: Home smoking.

Create the smoking chamber, cover and smoke, ta-da, eat!

Just thought I’d trial the home smoking method before risking a whole hunk of lovely pork.  So, having had a go a smoking in my kitchen using the video I posted the other day as a great instruction, I say…. hhhhmmm potential!

Bacon and haddock cooked brilliantly from raw in about 8 mins.

So, I don’t think i’d use dried tea from the bags again. It was a bit wishy washy.  I added black peppercorns, star anise and rice to increase smoke as instructed.  The only flavour that come through (apart from a little perfumy tea) was star anise.

I’ll have another go for sure but i’d need to research some better flavours – more chrismassy!

 

How to smoke food at home…

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home smoking, how to, pork, recipes, sausages, sausagesmith

Home smoking has got to make a meal special. I’m going to go and get some sausages from ‘The East London Sausage Company’ round the corner (how lucky am I?) and try smoking them later. I’ll let you know how it goes.

British sausage week – 4-10 November 2013

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food, pigs, pork, recipes, red tractor, sausages

British sausage week – 4-10 November 2013

Where better to turn to for special pork recipes than a website devoted to pork and people who love it? Oh and it just so happens it’s my favourite week of the year…

The search for Pork recipes fit for the Christmas dinner table!

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christmas, christmas dinner, cooking, ham, home-made, Parkinson's disease, pie, pies, pork, sausagesmith

So, I was talking to my Mum about Christmas this year and she seemed less than joyful about the prospect of another year of single-handedly feeding an army of fairly picky, very greedy and usually slightly pissed family members. Don’t get me wrong, we always try to help, (my brothers always willingly prep the veg as long as they can do it in front of the telly and get it finished before the village pub opens), but having spent the last 30 years planning, buying, prepping, cooking and serving countless successful christmas and boxing day dinners for up to 25 people, effectively managing a bunch of over excited, holidaying family members is usually one task too many.
Getting everyone down the pub for christmas dinner has been suggested more than once but no one wants to give up the delights of Mum’s christmas dinners for a substandard, over priced version at the pub.
Someone else needs to take on the management of this festive feast feat which my Mum has managed up to the ripe young age of 70, with Parkinsons might I add. (The gravy baster may need to be prised out of her hands, and she’ll need to be reminded to sit down and relax every 3 minutes but I know full well she’ll love it)
My boyfriend and I are well up for taking on the challenge but there’s a few things which need addressing.
1: If we attempt to replicate the exact same meal, we’re setting ourselves up to endless tirade of “ooooooooooh, the gravy’s not as good as Mums”, “I can’t believe you did the carrots that way”, “Is this supposed to be bread sauce?”, “Only two puddings?”.
2: Although I love christmas dinner, I always get more excited about all the extras rather than the turkey itself. Brown meat? Great. White meat? Boring.
3: We have half of the family just coming for boxing day so my wonderful plan to axe Christmas dinner and go straight to the show stopping Boxing-day feast won’t wash.

With all this in mind and taking in to consideration my love of all things piggy, i’m going to embark on a search for fantastic pork recipes fit for the Christmas dinner table. I’m looking for something which I can serve up to my Mum and the rest of the family confident that they will love it, that they won’t feel hard done by without their turkey and that there won’t be any kitchen disasters to disturb my Mum’s crossword.

So first port of call, BBC GoodFood Pork recipes… In particular, this pork and ham pie. A great addition to Boxing day dinner as it’s something which can be made in advance, but not the show stopping turkey substitute I’m after.