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Are you cooking your pork properly?
I know there are different temperature recomendations out there but you should always cook your pork to a safe internal temperature of 155°F (68°C), and rest for 3-5 minutes to a Health Canada-recommended final internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).
If you follow recipes in the USA they have a different temperature guidelines but here in Canada we are advised to cook our pork to safe internal temperature of 160ºF by Canada Health Authority.
Unfortunately Commercial pork with no fat can over cook very quickly.
When you are cooking well marbled, Berkshire pork to 160ºF you should have no problem with it drying out, even if you over cook it! I recently over cooked some of our tomahawk pork chops to 70ºF and they were still exceptionally juicy.
USE A THERMOMETER
I advise that you use a thermometer but what if you haven’t got one?
Before we had food thermometers we always cooked our pork for 20 mins per lb and 20 mins over and then we would stick a skewer in the thickest part and the juice had to run out clear - not bloody. Then it was cooked!
Did you know that you Can Make Pastry with Sausage Fat
Sausage Fat Pastry
I recently had some filler free sausages made. This means they have the simplest ingredients
Premium Berkshire Pork,
salt,
herbs
spices.
There is always some fat that leaks out of the sausages when they are cooking and because I know exactly what goes into our sausages I can save this delicious flavoured sausage fat and use if for
Roast potatoes
Frying cabbage or bubble and squeak
Cooking Yorkshire puddings
Fried Bread
In my bread recipes in place of lard
Making pastry
Yes it works for making pastry!
I just adapted my tried and true recipe using the sausage fat.
Ingredients
1 level cup All purpose Flour
3 oz butter frozen or from the fridge
2 tablespoons cold sausage fat
1/4 cup ice cold water
Directions
Food Processor
Put the 1 cup of flour, sausage fat and butter in your food processor. (3 oz butter, 2 tablespoons sausage fat)
Pulse the fats into the dry ingredients.
With the motor running pour in 1/4 cup ice-cold water until the ingredients come together and look like large breadcrumbs then stop the machine. Don’t overmix.
Take the pastry out of the processor and form it into ball.
Put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before you use it.
To Make The Old Fashioned Way - By Hand
Put the flour into a bowl
Cut butter and sausage fat into chunks and add to the flour.
Rub fats into flour with your fingertips.
When the mix looks like breadcrumbs add most of the water and bring the dough together - you may need to add the rest of the water.
Wrap the pastry in parchment and put it into the fridge for at least 1 hours to chill.
I only ever use lard from our pasture-raised pigs, never fat from commercial pigs or from other sausages that I don’t know whats in them.
(Click the pic below to find out how to render lard)
Our sausages have enough salt in them that you don’t need to add salt.
Next time you have some extra sausage fat why not try it?
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From My Kitchen to Yours: Our Favorite Asian-Style Pork Meatball Recipe!
We love this recipe! I have made more meatballs in the last month than I have made in my entire life! Yes, they are that good!
It’s inspired by 2 of my favourite chefs Pailin Chongchitnant (Hot Thai Kitchen) and Kenji Lopez Alt.
Usually, I make them for a Thai Glass noodle soup with meatballs - Gaeng Jeud Woonsen Moo Sub (Check out Hot Thai Kitchen for the recipe) but I have used this mixture for burgers - the sugar in it will make it burn, so I generally brown them first, then add water or stock to cook the burgers through.
You could also cook them in water or stock and reverse sear - I haven’t done this yet!
Meatball and red cabbage soup
Berkshire pork Asian- Style Meatballs
Ingredients
1 lb our ground Berkshire pork
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, freshly ground is best if you can
2 tsp fish sauce (I use Squid brand)
1 tsp salt (I use Celtic sea salt)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I tend to use either kikkoman soy sauce or healthy Boy brand mushroom soy)
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons sugar (I have used Palm sugar and granulated)
2 tablespoons rice flour or corn flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
Mix all the ingredients together in a stand mixer. Stop mixing when the fat starts to smear around the bowl. You can hand mix - the mixture needs to be homogenous and sticky.
Either roll the mixture into small meatballs or for rustic meatballs just get a dollop and drop bite-size pieces into hot broth. Cook until 160 degrees F
This recipe works with our Berkshire pork. I have also made it into pork burgers - though the sugar content means that it will burn when you fry the burgers.
I usually sear them on both sides, then add stock, or water, and put a lid on. When the Internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F they are ready to serve! They are great with sweet chilli sauce!
How easy is that?
Let me know if you try it!
Hot and Fast Smoking. Even a rookie can cook a pork leg on a smoker
While Pork legs are popular back home for roasting on Sunday with apple sauce and some beautiful crispy crackling, they are not often seen in the grocery store here in Canada.
Why is this? They are often reserved for smoked hams. When I worked at the processing plant in Manitoba we would stockpile legs just for Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas hams.
It's a shame because legs are such a versatile pork cut.
While you can cook a traditional pork leg roast you can also slice the leg meat to make pork skewers for recipes like lemongrass pork or pork satay. I cook these on our propane bbq or in the oven.
Or you can cut cubes of leg meat for kebabs or stew meat or even ground for lean ground pork.
We didn't grow up with BBQ and smoking meat so it wasn’t until recently that I attempted to smoke a pork leg myself.
🍺 Back in the UK BBQ means Bring Beer Quick (because it's going to rain in 10 mins). British BBQ food was always burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. It was always more about the gathering than the food.
After accepting that we couldn't BBQ Carl and I took a course with BBQ Champion Rob Reinhardt of Prairie Smoke and Spice. Yet until last week I still hadn't smoked anything other than fish.
What put me off? It was the Low and Slow approach. When you cook most of the meals in your household, getting up at 2 am to check on a piece of smoking meat is not cause for excitement!
🔥 🔥🔥 Last week a customer told me he does a lot of BBQ competition and that he never does the low and slow cook - he does Hot and Fast!
OK Bring it on!
I was going to have a go AND I was going to use a pork leg - I have been told that pork legs dry out on the bbq, so was this going to work?
OF course it was!
I might be a BBQ rookie but I am using the best pork!
This is our Berkshire Pork, it has built-in natural juiciness!
Here is what I used!
4-5lb Berkshire Bone-in pork leg roast - Fat scored
White oak wood (this is all I had) for smoking
Spice Rub (See below it is a recipe from Kenji Lopez Alt, The Wok cookbook, Mala Salt and Pepper Rub)
about 1/4 cup Orange Juice optional
2 tbs Soy sauce optional
To make Spice Rub I toasted all ingredients except sugar, allowed them to cool and then ground them with brown sugar.
1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
1 tablespoon red or green Sichuan Peppercorn
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon white peppercorn
1-star anise pod broken into pieces and seeds discarded
4 small hot dried chillies
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Here is what I did
Preheat the smoker to 320 degrees with white oak wood.
Score the pork leg and rub in the salt and pepper spice rub all over the pork.
Over indirect heat place pork on the grill for 3 hours or until the internal temp of pork reaches the 160s.
Wrap the pork in tin foil and put in a disposable pan. (I used a cast iron Dutch oven because I didn't have a foil pan or any tin foil - don't do this lol it's hard to clean!!!)
Mix 1/4 cup orange juice and soy sauce and put in the bottom of the pan.
Place pork leg in the foil pan.
Put back on the smoker until the internal meat temp reaches 203 degrees.
Remove from smoker, unwrap, and let it rest for 45-60 minutes before shredding.
OH NO!
IT’S BURNT!
Now like I said smoking is all new to me.
I was worried about the colour - I looked at it and said OH NO IT’S BURNT - but NO - I tried it, you can see where I took some chunks of fat.
It was flavourful deliciousness that I now know is called bark!
Yes, it came out juicy.
Yes it was delicious
and yes I will be making it again!
It was delicious on a bun with a sweet chilli sauce!
I had a lot of smoked meat so I froze some and added some to a soup. I will be trying it again, with a boneless leg roast - I want to make the smoked ham like we have on the deli counters in the UK. That is my next mission!
BBQ gurus Feel Free to share about BBQ with us!
We would love to hear from you, especially if HOT and FAST is your thing!
Did you know that you Can Make Pastry with Bacon Fat?
My friend Tina asked me if I had ever made pastry using bacon fat, I hadn’t, to be honest I hadn’t even thought about it.
Ingredients
1 level cup All purpose Flour
3 oz butter frozen or from the fridge
2 tablespoons bacon fat
1/4 cup ice cold water
Directions
Food Processor
Put the 1 cup of flour, bacon fat and butter in your food processor. (3 oz butter, 2 tablespoons bacon fat)
Pulse the fats into the dry ingredients.
With the motor running pour in 1/4 cup ice-cold water until the ingredients come together and look like large breadcrumbs then stop the machine. Don’t overmix.
Take the pastry out of the processor and form it into ball.
Put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before you use it.
To Make The Old Fashioned Way - By Hand
Put the flour into a bowl
Cut butter and bacon fat into chunks and add to the flour.
Rub fats into flour with your fingertips.
When the mix looks like breadcrumbs add most of the water and bring the dough together - you may need to add the rest of the water.
Wrap the pastry in parchment and put it into the fridge for at least 1 hours to chill.
I only ever use lard from our pasture-raised pigs in my original recipe but I know that most people don’t have lard but most people have bacon fat.
(Click the pic below to find out how to render lard)
I replaced the lard with bacon fat. I also cut the salt out completely because I use salted butter and bacon is usually salty.
I decided to try masking bacon fat pastry at 3 pm one afternoon, I had no bacon fat so I quickly cooked up some bacon, strained 2 tablespoons of bacon fat off and froze it.
A pie was on the table for 6pm.
Next time you have some bacon fat why not try it?
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A pig isn't all ribs and bacon - here is a quick guide to pork cuts and where they come from on a pig?
Are you confused by all the different Pork cuts?
How do you know what to order when you want to buy directly off the farmer?
You may know what you like to eat and cook but where does it come from? It’s not all bacon, ribs and chops.
A side of pork is half a pig, there is a lot you can do with it BUT there is only
1 loin,
1 shoulder,
1 leg and
1 belly on a side of pork.
meaning you can’t get all ribs and chops.
That said a side of pork is versatile and you can grind, smoke or cure all of it if you want to.
To cut up a pig carcass we break it down into 4 Primals, then go on to break it down further into smaller pieces, like roasts and chops.
Shoulder
Loin
Belly
Leg
Shoulder
This breaks down into 2 sub-primals (and you should also get neckbones)
The Picnic and the Blade (the blade is more commonly known as the Boston butt - In colonial New England, butchers packed inexpensive cuts of meat into large barrels, called butts, for storage and transportation. The shoulder meat packed into these barrels became known as Pork butt.)
What cuts can you get from the shoulder?
Roasts
Steaks
Stew
Ground/Sausage
Neckbones - these are great for bone broth
Hock/Shank
Loin
The loin is the back of the pig. It’s where the tenderloin, back ribs and pork chops come from.
The tenderloin can be left in or taken out for an extra cut of pork. If you leave the tenderloin in you will get T-bone pork chops.
If you want back ribs you will have to have boneless chops or roasts.
What cuts can you get from the loin?
Roasts
Chops - Rib chops, t-bones, tomahawks, sirloin
Tenderloin
Back ribs
Cutlets
Stew
Ground/sausage
Back bacon
leg
What cuts can you get from the leg?
While roast pork leg is really popular in the UK it isn’t often seen in Canadian grocery stores. Here they are often made into hams.
Fresh Roasts - bone in or boneless.
Chops/steaks - bone in or boneless.
Cutlets
Stew
Ground/sausage
Ham/Gammon, bone-in/ boneless, steaks or roasts
Belly
What cuts can you get from the belly?
Bacon - in the UK we call it streaky bacon, here in Canada it’s just bacon, or side bacon.
Fresh pork belly - our Berkshire bellies are most popular fresh, wth customers either making their own bacon, pancetta or simply using them for their favourite bbq recipes.
Ground/sausage - the belly has a lot of fat so can be used to up the fat content when added to leaner cuts that have been ground.
Side ribs - St Louis, spare ribs, sweet and sour
Toad in the hole and the best Yorkshire pudding recipe.
Feb 4th is Yorkshire Pudding Day and a perfect excuse to indulge in some comfort food. Toad in the hole with onion gravy.
What’s not to love, Yorkshire puddings, sausages and onion gravy, made with pork neckbone broth.
I always cook my Yorkies in cast iron. and like them risen at the edges and dipped in the middle - otherwise, they are a popover. I have a cast iron muffin pan for the small yorkies or I use my cast iron skillets.
There are tons of recipes out there, some use water, some beer, and some use a lot of eggs.
I have been making my recipe for over 30 years. I use more milk than flour because when I was trying to be self-sufficient, many years ago, I had a house cow and lots of milk, but I had to buy flour and eggs were sometimes in short supply so you can make it with 1 egg if you like..
Toad in the hole
Toads
1 lb our breakfast or Cumberland sausages
Yorkshire pudding batter
2 eggs
1 cup full-fat milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
good pinch of salt
1 - 2 tbsp lard
Onion gravy
2 onions sliced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
500 ml pork or chicken stock
Soy sauce
Directions
Make Yorkshire Pudding batter. I mix mine in a jug, it’s easier to pour and saves washing up. Start with the eggs then add flour, salt and milk. I always use a stick blender but you can hand whisk, or an electric beater, however, you like to mix your batter.
Rest the batter for at least 30 mins, but the longer the better, overnight if possible
Put the oven on 425 ℉
Cook sausages until browned, don’t overcook because they will cook more in the oven. I use a cast iron skillet.
When sausages are browned take them from the pan and add 2 tbsp lard to the pan and put it in the oven and get it sizzling hot.
Once it’s sizzling add the sausages back in and then pour the batter over them and put in the oven for about 40 mins. I usually take a quick peak at 30 mins.
While the toad in the hole is cooking melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan and fry the sliced onions.
Once they are soft sprinkle the flour over and stir to mix, then add a quarter cup of stock. stir over the heat and as it gets thicker keep adding more stock a little at a time, bringing it to a boil each time to cook the flour. Add as much or as little stock as you like to your desired thickness.
I always use soy sauce to season my gravy, Thai mushroom soy sauce is my current favourite, and sometimes I add a drop of oyster sauce too, yes I know it’s not traditional - that would be to use bisto or oxo.
When toad in the hole is cooked serve with onion gravy and your favourite veg. We like cabbage seasoned with salt and pepper and fried in butter or bacon fat.
The Yorkshire pudding recipe makes 6 muffin tin yorkies or 1 large - frying pan size
Enjoy! Let me know if you have a gluten-free version
5 Quick and easy recipe ideas for smoked pork chops or left over ham!
Last week I opened a pack of our smoked pork chops - not with the intention of cooking one chop each but I wanted to use them to add flavour to more meals.
Here is some recipe inspiration for quick to cook recipes and you can even use up left over Christmas ham!
Make a pot of chilli - adding a smoked pork chop to 1.5 lb each of ground pork and ground beef makes a great chilli!
Bacon and lentil soup - the smoked pork chop has the same flavour as our hickory smoked bacon so I cut the fat off the chop then rendered it in a pan. Add some chopped onion and a cup or so of lentils plus some pork or chicken stock. Bring to the boil, season and blitz up with an immersion blender. This was a very filling soup!
Ham and Pineapple Pizza - yes pineapple belongs on a pizza!
Ham and cheese Frittata
Ham and pineapple stir fried rice! We loved this and it’s a great way to use up odds and ends in the fridge!
All really easy and quick recipes that would also be great for using up leftover ham at Christmas!
Check out our mid year round up - pigs and peacocks!
It has been months since I put out a blog - shame on me!
Once the snow leaves we are so grateful for some weather and conditions that we can work comfortably in and everything gets so busy!
There is so much to do - a garden to plant, our piglets are born in spring and the repairs we have to do!
The Quonset roof needs fixing - I will need to have the money surgically removed for that costly repair!
All is good! The sun is shining, and we have had no tornado warning so far 😅, we had some rain and the pigs have finished farrowing!
My to-do list is long but I stop worrying about it. It will get done when it gets done!
Sometimes we have to enjoy our life and stop sweating the small stuff!
Pig videos always make me smile and I post quite regularly on Instagram, here are a few links to some of my recent posts
You don’t need an Instagram account to watch them!
Pigs can’t sweat they need a wallow
We don’t mow the grass here - I am too lazy! - the pigs do it for us
OMG the peacocks hatched some babies!
How to load pigs onto a trailer without any stress
I hope you enjoy the videos!
Have a great day!
Roast Berkshire Pork Leg With Guinness - or your favourite local brewed stout!
This week I have been trying Guinness recipes for St Patrick’s day. I know Guinness goes well with beef but wasn’t sure what it would be like with our pork. It was really delicious.
It was also really easy to make. I used a boneless leg roast but it would work with a shoulder too - you could even turn it into pulled pork - I haven’t done this yet, I ran out of Guinness!
I used a Dutch oven and cooked it in the oven but I may try this in the Instant Pot next time - I am sure it will work great. My Drunken Jerk Pork works really well in the Instant Pot.
ingredients
1 pork roast I used a 3-4lb boneless leg roast (To work out how long to cook for Rule of thumb is 25 mins per lb and 25 mins over)
1 bottle or can Guinness or support your local Brewery like Rebellion Brewing in Regina - they have an Oatmeal Stout & an Imperial Stout
1 onion cut in half
1/2 tsp salt
directions
Put the oven on to 450 degrees F
Score the pork fat - I do about 1/4” apart - and sprinkle with salt
Put the onion in a dutch oven with the Guinness and the Pork Roast
Put in the oven uncovered for 20 mins then cover and turn the oven down to 350 degrees F
Cook until 160 degrees internal temp.
Gravy
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup pan juices
Pour the pan juices out of the pan.
Use an immersion blender to blitz the onion into the liquid.
Melt the butter then stir in the flour.
Stir continuously, for at least 5 minutes over low heat.
Add the pan juices slowly to the roux while continuing to stir.
Bring it to a simmer, stirring all the time to prevent lumps, until it thickens.
Taste and season if necessary - I always add a splash of soy sauce to my gravy
The best pastry ever using lard from free range pigs
The Best Pastry Ever
This is hands down the best pastry I have ever tried. I probably made more sausage rolls and pies in the last year than I have made in 20 years because it works so well.
You can double the recipe and freeze it if you like.
I use this pastry for my meat pies which have gravy in them and I don’t get soggy bottoms! It is also perfect for sausage rolls.
Ingredients
1 level cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3oz frozen butter (I use salted butter but you can use unsalted)
2 tablespoons Berkshire pork Lard
¼ cup iced water
Directions
food processor
Put the flour and salt in your food processor.
Add the lard and frozen butter - I find the butter easily breaks or you can grate it if you prefer, though I don’t find it necessary.
Pulse fat into the dry ingredients.
With the motor running pour in ice cold water until the ingredients start to come together. Stop the machine as soon as the dough starts to clump together. Don’t overmix .
Take the pastry out of processor and form into ball .
Put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours before you use it.
to make the old fashioned way - By hand
Put all dry ingredients into a bowl
Cut butter into chunks and add to dry ingredients with lard
Add most of the water and bring the dough together - you may need to add the rest of the water
Wrap the pastry in parchment and put it into the fridge for at least 2 hours to chill.
How to make your own sausages at home without any special equipment
Did you know you can easily make sausages at home and you don’t need any special equipment?
When I do test batches at home this is how I do them. The hardest part is stuffing them into casings - so we skip that step.
Even though I have a small meat grinder with a sausage stuffer attachment, I never use it. It takes too long to set up and clean, and I would rather just hand mix the meat and spices, then wrap the sausagemeat in clingfilm or parchment. You can also make the mixture into burgers.
All you need is
meat
fat
spices
binder (optional) - wheat crumb, potato starch (for gluten-free) - again this is not necessary, though it helps to keep the fat in the sausage making a juicier sausage.
water - mixing your spices in water helps them mix easier into the meat - you can leave it out
A mixing bowl
parchment or cling film
Many sausages use a binder - usually wheat crumb- or potato starch for gluten-free.
We prefer to use only meat and spices but if you want a binder you can use breadcrumbs (about 3 tablespoons/lb meat).
Garlic & herb sausage
1lb ground Berkshire Pork
3/4 - 1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons your favourite mixed herbs
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder - not garlic salt. OR you can use 1 or 2 garlic cloves grated
Mix all ingredients together. You can use your hands or a stand mixer.
Divide the mixture into 4 or 6 - depending on how big you want your sausage. I make them about 8 inches long.
Get 4 or 6 - (depending on how many sausages you want to make) pieces of cling film or parchment - they need to be big enough to wrap your sausages tightly.
Roll the pork mixture into a sausage shape and roll it up tightly in the cling film
Put in the fridge for about 24 hours for flavours to blend and the sausage to set up.
Gently unroll and either fry or broil like you usually do until internal temp is 165 degrees F
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If you found this helpful and would like to buy me a coffee I would greatly appreciate it!
Homemade Bisquick recipe using lard from free range pigs
I love having a tub of this mixed up and ready to use in the fridge. I use it more in winter to make pot pies when I don’t have time to make The best pastry ever recipe
HOMEMADE BISQUICK MIX
INGREDIENTS
6 cup flour
1 cup Berkshire pork lard
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons baking powder
METHOD
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt three times into a large bowl.
Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Store the mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 months.
Or
Put all ingredients into a food processor and blitz
Our traditional Christmas Day on the farm
Food is definitely centre stage at Christmas. Since we moved to Canada almost 20 years ago we haven’t had a large family gathering but we are connected to our family through our traditional Christmas.
Mum always cooked a gammon before Christmas and we would have this with leftover turkey. She just boiled hers in water but I do mine in Cola… (get the recipe here - How to cook a Christmas Ham plus 2 of my favourite glazes)
On Christmas morning we try to call the relatives back home before they are too drunk then Carl feeds the animals, usually giving them extra feed.
I get started on dinner with my Christmas play list blaring some of my favourites are
Fairy tale of New York by the pogues - the best Christmas song ever IMO!
The lost Christmas Eve - the Trans Siberian Orchestra
It’s Christmas- Slade
Stay another day - East 17
Our oversized turkey goes in the oven before we open presents. I have to say there is no shame in having an 18lb turkey for 2 people, it’s the only day I cook one and I need leftovers. One year I bought a 7lb anorexic, free-range turkey that I think walked here from BC.
It was very disappointing because we didnt have enough leftovers for Boxing Day turkey curry!
We always do a toast before we eat with Asti Spumante and pull party crackers, read the silly joke and wear the silly hats.
When I took over cooking Christmas dinner I changed our starter from Prawn cocktail to celery and stilton soup, which was such a hit that every year someone would call me for the recipe.
Nowadays I don’t cook 27 (Ok slight exaggeration) different vegetables I stick with potatoes - boiled and roast, mashed carrot and Swede and of course the mandatory Brussels sprouts.
I used to have mashed potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower cheese, roasted parsnips, roasted carrots and peas on top of that. Carl doesn’t do peas - he says they are too hard to load onto your fork and he has no time for that lol!
Our main meal is a lot smaller now and to make it easier I cook what I can the day before.
Along side the turkey we always have:
Chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon,
Roast and boiled potatoes,
Mashed carrot and swede,
Brussel sprouts.
If we are lucky enough to get giblets we have giblet gravy.
There is no room for dessert, we prefer cheese and crackers if we can force feed ourselves anything else! We also don’t do Christmas cake, even though I have a great recipe from my Aunty Pat - it’s just too much cake!
After all that overindulging we have no option other than to plonk down in front of TV with a glass of port and some of our favourite chocolates.
Terrys chocolate oranges
After eight mints - I am that person who takes the chocolates out and leaves the wrappers in the box lol, this really annoys Carl lol.
Quality street - (is it just me or are the tins really small now?)
Then we binge watch some of our favourite Christmas TV
The Vicar of Dibley Christmas specials
Only Fools and Horses Christmas specials
Mrs Browns Boys - well I love it - Carl is not so keen!
That’s about the end of a traditional Christmas for us, Carl checks the animals again then we usually fall asleep on the couch!
Want to support our farm but can’t buy our pork
A coffee would be greatly appreciated 😊!
This blog post was written in participation in a Blogging Bee-an online gathering reminiscent of the quilting bees and sewing bees of days past when women would bring their work together to create art. If you enjoyed this post about “Traditions,” take a look at these posts from other farmers, small business owners, homesteaders, and creatives.
Three Sweet Traditions to Simplify the Holidays by Jessica Haberman
Our traditional Christmas Table - Celery and Stilton Soup
For years we had prawn cocktail as our Christmas starter but one year I made Celery and Stilton soup and every year since someone would call me for the recipe.
I always use stilton but you can use any blue cheese you like.
Ingredients
1lb celery washed and sliced thinly (save the leaves for garnish)
2 oz butter
7 oz potato peeled and cubed
1 small onion finely chopped
1 pint (570 ml) stock I use chicken or pork bone broth
5fl oz 150ml cream
5 oz stilton
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In a large pan melt the 2oz butter and stir in the 1lb sliced celery, cubed potato and chopped onion. Stir everything well to coat with butter . Cook on low heat with a lid on for 10 mins.
Add the 1 pint pork or chicken stock, turn up the heat and when the soup starts to simmer put a lid on and cook gently for 30 mins until the vegetables are tender.
Remove from heat. Stir in the cream and use an immersion blender or liquidizer to blend until smooth.
Taste and then season with salt and pepper.
To serve - reheat gently - do not boil.
Our traditional Christmas table - Grannys Bread Sauce
Christmas dinner is one of our favourite meals of the year. It’s the only time we cook turkey.
I love the leftovers even if the turkey has gone and we are down to veg, bread sauce and gravy.
Bread sauce Originates in medieval England when using a stale loaf of bread to thicken a sauce, stew or soup would have been cheaper and more accessible than animal fat or eggs. After all bread is just flour and we use that all the time as a thickener.
Even though bread sauce doesn’t sound as appetizing as the Spanish Romesco sauce or the Tuscan soup Ribollito (both use bread as a thickener) it is delicious.
I always looked forward to my gran visiting at Christmas. We only saw her once or twice a year because it was a 4 hour trip - which doesn’t sound much to a Canadian but in the Uk it’s a horrible drive.
Gran was a great character. We would sit in The front room at Christmas watching whatever was on Tv and she would give me a nudge and say “don’t tell your dad” and sneak me extra chocolates and a sip of port.
I always got the job of taking her shopping because the rest of my family got embarrassed when she tried haggling with the grocer over the prices of oranges and potatoes, which she insisted were not as good as the ones she could get back home lol. Of course the grocer knew it was all in fun and he even called her Gran. Everyone called her Gran.
When I think about her I always remember her strirring a massive pan of damsons to make jam - she always left the stones in - which is why as kids we didn’t like it much. She would have a cigarette in her mouth, which would slowly become a tube of ash and I would be trying to stop the ash falling in the jam.
Luckily her bread sauce wasn’t subject to stirring because we cooked it in the oven. Nowadays I just make it on the stovetop because it’s quicker but it can be cooked in the oven or even in the microwave.
Her bread sauce doesn’t really have any measurements, like most things she made. Basically, you fry up a bit of chopped onion, add bread, cover with milk, and season well with salt and pepper.
My grannies Bread sauce
About 4 inches stale white bread - crusts removed and cut into small cubes
A handful of onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 pint full fat milk - approx (enough to cover the bread and a bit more)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Soak bread cubes in milk
Melt butter over medium heat
Sauté finely chopped onion until soft
Add bread and milk and heat on a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens
season with salt and pepper and serve hot.
Our Traditional Christmas Table -Sage & Onion Stuffing.
Christmas is time for family and food, overindulging and making memories.
Up until we left the UK my mum always hosted Xmas dinner and I cooked. Anyone who was going to be alone would be invited, it was usually a very strange crowd but we had so much fun.
Our last big family Christmas was in 2003. Even though it’s just 2 of us I still cook a massive oversized turkey because it’s tradition!
Leftovers are part of Christmas for us and they are freezable! I freeze turkey dinners for Carl’s lunches and Boxing day is left over turkey curry day.
The first Christmas I cooked for a large crowd I really did overextend myself. Nowadays I don’t stress, anything that can be made a day ahead takes some of the pressure off - the stuffing, bread sauce, soup and boiled potatoes ready for roasting can all be done early.
A good stuffing is an essential part of our traditional Christmas and my favourite is sage & onion. ( Back home we used to have chestnut stuffing but I don’t have the patience to peel them so I only make it if I find peeled chestnuts - this year I actually found some in the frozen section of an Asian Grocery store.)
Our stuffings are different from the bread type stuffings that are popular here because they are mainly meat and yes it only uses 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs - which you can leave out if you prefer
I use our Cumberland Sausage or you can use ground pork and I don’t actually stuff the turkey anymore because it takes too long to cook. Instead, I cook the stuffing in muffin tins - sometimes mini muffin tins or even in a loaf tin. I have to make extra because we can’t help picking!
“It’s the best stuffing ever! I made it in a loaf tin and sliced it. - It’s delicious and very easy to make with a few ingredients.”
Sage & Onion Stuffing
2lb Cobblestone Farm Sausages or ground pork
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 large onion finely chopped
1 heaped dessertspoon dried sage
1 beaten egg (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1) Mix breadcrumbs, onion and dried sage in a bowl.
2) Add sausagemeat/ground pork and egg if using, mix well.
3)Season with salt & pepper. (Fry a little of the stuffing up to taste it)
4)Put in muffin tins or loaf pan (or Stuff into turkey) and cook at 425 degrees for about 40 mins or until cooked through
Check this out for the best Thai recipes including a recipe that cooks pork in 30 seconds
As the main cook in our house - well only cook really - I often get in recipe ruts.
Cooking is the easy part.. deciding what to make every day is frustrating.
Luckily I am surrounded by food lovers and recently my friend Sarah sent me links to some Thai recipes.
The website is called Hot Thai Kitchen and Pai, a Thai chef does short, entertaining video tutorials and demystifies Thai cuisine. Her recipes are deeelicious and you may even learn some of the language.
I am so hooked on these recipes that I signed up as a Patreon member, bought the book and may even get the tee shirt!
The first recipe Sarah sent me uses ground pork and was perfectly timed because this summer I had so much mint in the garden. I was blown away at how easy it was to make and how delicious it was.
Laab Moo - Ground Pork and Mint Salad
The second recipe I tried - Spicy Garlic Lime Pork takes 15-30 seconds to cook the pork!! - that’s insane and yes it is cooked properly - There is a little prep time and you have to velvet the pork for 20 mins but such a quick dish to cook and soo good!
Moo Manao - Spicy Garlic Lime Pork.
The recipe calls for pork shoulder but you can use loin so I used pork chops.
TIPS-
You have to thinly slice the pork against the grain - so it is a bit fiddly if you use pork chops and you do need a sharp knife - it's a little easier if the chop is partly frozen.
If you are worried about thinly slicing the pork you could cut the slices a bit thicker and pound them thinner with a rolling pin.
If you have a large pork roast you could take a few slices off for this recipe then you can roast the rest - 2 meals from 1 roast!
Here are some more recipes I tried
so far they have all have been delicious
Steamed Salmon with the Garlic lime sauce from the Moo Manao recipe - we steamed the salmon on a plate to keep all the juices - a tip I got from watching the Steamed fish video
Pad See EW (pan-fried rice noodles) - this is one of our favourites!
Thai salad with leftover roast chicken
Epic Thai burger - this is made with beef and I will definitely make it again with pork or chicken but probably not with beef - (just my preference)
Pad Thai - Carl is not a bean sprout fan so next time I will use cabbage.
Lemongrass Chicken - another favourite and I used pork chops that I sliced thinly
Thai green Curry - soo good
Lockdown glass noodle stirfry - I used rice noodles because I didn’t have glass noodles - this is a good one for stretching meat further
Panang curry - this is really easy to make and no veg - this is the one I am going to teach Carl how to make… wish me luck 🙂
honey garlic ribs - steam the ribs first - such a great tip.
Green curry Stir fried rice - another great recipe for stretching meat further - I used our ground pork
Pot Stickers - a great way to stretch out 1lb ground pork
I would love to hear from you if you try any of the recipes from this site or if you have any suggestions that I should try.
Summer 2022
This is for our readers who don’t do Instagram (and my sister who is on Instagram but can’t work it)
Click the links on the pics to watch some of the videos I posted over the summer.
We got a puppy & Our nephew came to visit from the uk
It rained yay! - we had a mini flood, a double rainbow and ducklings 🙂
Our Free range Berkshire pigs
This blog post was written in participation of a Blogging Bee-an online gathering reminiscent of the quilting bees and sewing bees of days past when women would bring their work together to create art. If you enjoyed this post with the theme "Summer Scrapbook 2022,” take a look at these posts from other farmers, small business owners, homesteaders, and creatives.
What to Grow in a Mid-Michigan Garden: A 2022 Garden Recap by Carrie Roer
Summer Fun at Midwest Prime Farms by Heather Leak
Storyteller Farm's Summer Adventures by Jessica Haberman
8 tips to help you stop wasting frozen food
Are you throwing food out of your freezer? Either because it freezer burned or it got buried in the black hole known as “the freezer” and you don’t know how long it has been there.
I remember my mums’ freezer- we just threw stuff in - no organization at all! Always the freshest stuff was on the top and we couldn’t reach the bottom anyway so it was a pit full of old freezer-burnt food that was about 10 years old!
The freezer is the place where we mean to preserve our food but we can end up wasting so much if we don’t keep it organized. I know you really wish their was a freezer fairy who would do it for you.
Try some of these tips to help you get organized.
1. Have 1 person designated as “Keeper of the Freezer”
I know this sounds like the worse job ever but I spend half my time looking for things that Carl does not put back where it belongs - so not a chance I let him loose in my freezers! I have 7 and not enough time to look through all of them every time I want a tub of ice cream.
2. Keep track of inventory with a Freezer Inventory tracker.
I know this sounds soo boring but there is no freezer fairy that is going to do this for you. You have to do it yourself.
Trust me it takes less time than looking for something you think is in there.
I designed my own laminated trackers that can be stuck to a freezer with a magnet. I also use magnetic drywipe boards and sometimes I even write on my freezer with dry wipe markers.- I have a lot of freezers!
If you have it written on the outside of your freezer you as the “keeper of the freezer” have a visual reminder.
Don’t forget to cross it off your list when you take something out.
3. USE Labels
Most of us convince ourselves that we are going to remember what we threw in the freezer in a ziplock bag.
Sorry, Not gona happen!
Half the time I can’t remember why I went in the other room so not a chance I will remember what is in a container buried under 2 chickens and a leg of pork in 6 months time.
Label and date any bags or storage containers
4. FREEZE FOOD FLAT or in blocks
If you are storing leftovers freeze them flat. This will give you a lot more room - I use baking sheets to freeze things like baked beans in ziplock bags. When you take the bag out of the baking sheet they are a perfect shape for stacking.
Make sure the ziplock bag is dry or use plastic wrap to prevent it from getting stuck in the baking sheet.
I also use bread baking tins to freeze stock and lard in - then I have nice blocks.
5. iNSULATED FREEZER bags
When you bring frozen food home do you throw it in the freezer quickly to stop it from spoiling?
This is how a Freezer abyss starts - we forget about it and just keep adding to it.
I absolutely love my insulated freezer bags.
If you like to just dump your freezer food and run then use an insulated freezer bag - you can bring your frozen food home in them, then just put the bag right in the freezer.
They help prevent freezer burn - If you have a lot of Vaccum sealed packages store them in an insulated bag. The vacuum seal is prone to breaking when they get knocked or dropped in a freezer. Keep them in a freezer bag you will have a bit of extra protection. Remember you need to use blown bags up quickly.
You can also store items that aren’t well wrapped in them - or you can add extra wrapping - but easier to keep in an insulated bag.
They safeguard your food if the freezer power goes out - in the bags, it may last up to 24 hours longer - or if you need to do a quick dash to a neighbours freezer they are really easy and quick to move
Remember to mark down what is in the insulated bag on your inventory sheet.
6. Coolers & Milk crates
Coolers - These are great for stacking. You can use coolers to store large items like roasts, turkeys, etc at the bottom of your freezer. They make stacking easier and like the insulated cooler will help prevent freezer burn. They just aren’t as easy to lift out if they are heavy.
Milk Crates - We use these for items that we go through quickly like sausages and bacon. When the top crate is empty we simply switch them over. I even put insulated cooler bags in them sometimes.
7. Store THINGS VERTICALLY (chest freezers)
It’s much easier to find. We use cardboard boxes that we stand on their end. We have 1 designated for roasts and 1 for ground meat.
8. Designate areas
If you really don’t want to be the keeper of the freezer or keep an inventory then you can designate areas for meat, veg, fruit, leftovers etc.
This at least will help you know what is where. You can put a magnetic wipe board on your freezer with the designated areas/shelves marked.
If you designated an area for food that you need to use up quickly this will help cut down on freezer losses.
Hopefully these tips have given you some ideas to help you stop losing food in your freezer.
You can download a free freezer tracker to help you keep organized.
Just stick it on your freezer and fill it in when you restock or take food out.
This blog post was written in participation of a Blogging Bee-an online gathering reminiscent of the quilting bees and sewing bees of days past when women would bring their work together to create art. If you enjoyed this post about “Eight,” take a look at these posts from other farmers, small business owners, homesteaders, and creatives.
The 8 Best Places to Find Vases
www.rudylaneflowerfarm.com/post/the-8-best-places-to-find-vases
Eight Delicious Ground Beef Recipes
www.storytellerfarm.com/eight-delicious-ground-beef-recipes