This is one of my “pre-mise en place” recipes. Earlier in life, I didn't generally prep ingredients ahead of time, but rather prepped each as it was needed. This will work with some recipes (like this one), but in general, leads to chaos in the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp bacon grease
• ½ sweet onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, cut into coins (5-6mm, ¼ inch thick)
• 2 medium yellow or red potatoes, cubed
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed
• 2 pork chops, 12-18mm, ½-¾ inch thick
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup apple juice
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice
• 1 tsp Wondra flour

Directions

• Begin heating a cast-iron skillet to sauté temperature with bacon grease in it.
• Dice the onion, and toss it in.
• Slice the carrot into coins, toss them into the skillet and stir.
• Cube a couple spuds. In they go. Stir.
• Peel, core, and cube a large Granny Smith apple. Into the pan. Stir.
• Unwrap and pat the pork-chops dry. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
• Move vegetables to the edges of the pan, and put in the pork chops.
• Put the veg on top of the chops.
• Add apple juice.
• Lid the skillet and lower the heat. Let simmer for 6 minutes.
• Flip the pork-chops, add five-spice
• Move veg back on top of chops, lid again. Simmer for 3-7 minutes, until meat is still just pink in the center.
• Pull meat and veg from the pan, and make a pan-gravy with the juice using 1 tsp of Wondra flour.
• Serve and enjoy!

Feeds: 2

Note that you can put the skillet on a grill if you want to cook this for tailgating. In that case, it's probably better to prep all the ingredients ahead of time.

#recipe #mains #pork

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Ingredients

• 1 pound pork shoulder (aka pork butt), ground coarsely
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• ½ Tbsp paprika
• ½ tsp fennel seeds, toasted and ground
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper, ground
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ⅛ tsp anise
• 2 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 Tbsp red wine

Directions

• Cube pork into 1 inch (25mm) cubes and grind coarsely
• Toast the fennel seeds in a cast-iron skillet until lightly browned, and then grind them in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.
• Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and mix
• Stuff into casings if desired, or form into patties, and grill

Notes

• The ratio of lean and fat in most pork shoulder today is too lean for this sausage, so if you have a little extra fat to add, that will give a better flavor. I generally put in a tablespoon or so of chilled bacon fat.
• The coarser grinding plate on my KitchenAid stand mixer is just about perfect for grinding the pork for this sausage.
• I didn't think the small amount of red wine would make a huge difference in the taste, but it does. Prefer a lighter-bodied and less tannic wine. Chianti (aka Sangiovese) is good. Pinot noir is ok. Cabernet Sauvignon is way too tannic for this.

#recipe #mains #pork

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