If you like bacon, I’ll do you one better. Pork belly is basically uncured bacon. It’s delicious and full of flavor. Combine it with a fresh, citrusy salsa for one of your new favorite recipes. If you are inclined, wrap it in a warm corn tortilla for tacos that’ll make your tastebuds slap your eyeballs silly.

Here’s the recipe for Pork Belly with Pineapple-Avocado Salsa (PDF).

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork belly, 2-3” slab
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp cumin

Salsa:
2 c pineapple, diced
½ medium red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 avocado
2 limes, juiced
1 orange, juiced

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Rub pork belly with paprika and cumin.
2. Place in oven, skin side up, for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees.
3. Roast 1 more hour, baste, and turn skin side down for another hour.
4. Combine salsa ingredients and mix well.
5. Slice pork and serve with salsa.

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Master Your Kitchen

I have two tools for you to improve your cooking. First, there’s The "Master Your Kitchen" Cooking Course. This course is 36 video lessons to perfect the 12 most essential cooking methods. If you want to be able to have amazing food every single time you cook, you need to know how to execute these cooking methods flawlessly.

Cookbook Update In The Works

The second tool is The Real Food University Cookbook. Now, there’s no excuse for eating boring food! The Real Food University Cookbook is currently nearly 200 Beef, Pork, Seafood, Poultry, and Sides & Salads recipes for $15. In the next few weeks, I’m going to be adding Lamb, Eggs, Soups & Stews, Appetizers, and Desserts. All Real Food, all delicious…and GMO Free!

Episode 11 – Dietary McCarthyism

This episode is a bit of a ramble, but it’s something that needs to be said: The online nutrition world is off its rocker. Rational, thoughtful discussion has given way to tribalism and religious defense of diet. It seems that everybody has an ebook and each ebook has the 1 or 2 things you should or shouldn’t eat to be in perfect health.

Much like Senator McCarthy in the 40s and 50s with the Red Scare, now it’s the Food Scare and everybody wants to play McCarthy’s role of sniffing out the one offending element that’s causing all of the problems. It’s bacon, it’s butter, it’s gluten, it’s meat. In reality, it’s none of these and everybody just needs to relax, drink a beer, and cook some dinner in their own kitchen.

I’m not saying to go eating Twinkies and Oreos, but if what you’re eating is made from fresh foods cooked in your own kitchen, you’ll be fine. You have my permission to not worry about it anymore.

How Do You Cook That?

This episode, I’m back with the How Do You Cook That? segment where we’ll talk briefly about pork belly, one of my favorite cuts of meat. What can you do with it? How should you cook it? Is it really more delicious than bacon?

Tomorrow, I have a recipe going live for you using Pork Belly.

Sound Off!

Let me hear it!

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A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of why it’s important to build a relationship with your local farmers. One of my favorite local farmers, Jim, decided to retire from the pork and beef business. This was a guy that I’d spend 15-30 minutes talking to most Saturdays at the farmer’s market, whether I needed any of his products or not.

To expedite the process, he sold his remaining pigs at $1 per pound of live weight, plus the processing fee. Edie and I decided that we really liked that price and wanted to stock our freezer now that we’re not living in a truck.

Our First Pig

One of the things we learned on our trip is that we really want to get involved in raising some of our own food. Our eventual goal is to get a good piece of land and pasture raise some animals, including chickens, rabbits, goats, and probably sheep. After learning the ropes, we’d like to work up to a pig or two and maybe a cow, but first things first.

Instead of raising our first pig though, we just bought one of Jim’s and picked it up post-processing. It was much faster and easier this way.

I don’t have an exact weight for the actual meat, bones, and lard that we got, but it’s more than expected. The pig had a hanging weight of 220 pounds. I’ve seen conversions of about 66% from hanging weight to cuts, so let’s just say that we walked with 145-150 pounds of pork chops, belly, bacon, sausage, and roasts. Also in the freezer are 7 tubs of lard from this pastured pig, each holding about 4 pounds of lard.

Here is the take, guarded by our ferociously cute dog Knox!

“You want a piece of this…bacon?”

The Total Price

At $1/pound, we paid Jim $335. The processing fee was $118. That gives us an estimated 150 pounds of pork and lard, give or take 10 pounds, for $515. That works out to about $3.43 per pound, an unbeatable price for high-quality pastured pork.

This is exactly the reason that I say to make food personal. We didn’t meet our first pig, but we know the farmer quite well. It’s hard to come across a deal like this without getting out and meeting people that raise food the way you want your food to be raised.

And now it’s time to come up with some more delicious pork recipes.

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This is an absolutely awesome no-bake apple tart. For the crust, I’m using a trick I learned from my wonderful girlfriend who is quite the baker. We’re plumping the dates here to make them stickier, which makes for a much nicer crust. It holds together better and has a sweeter taste without adding much of anything to it other than a little apple juice: No-Bake Apple Tart.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: No-Bake Apple Tart.

For added fun and flavor, you can add bourbon or rum to the soaking liquid for the dates. Depending on the size of your crowd, you’ll want to upsize the amounts in this recipe.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 ½ c walnuts
1 ½ c pitted dates
Apple juice, see step 1
Pinch of salt

Filling:
2 tbsp butter
2 small green apples, like Granny Smith
Juice of 1 lemon in 2 cups water
1/8 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
2 ground cloves
1 tbsp honey
¼ c apple juice
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp coconut (optional)

Directions:

1. Place dates in a bowl and cover with warm apple juice. Let them sit for 10-15 minutes, then drain.
2. Chop dates in food processor. Add walnuts and salt and chop until smooth. Press evenly into a 9×9 baking dish.
3. Dice apples into ½” pieces, removing core as you go. Put into lemon water as you go to prevent browning, then drain.
4. Melt butter and cook all filling ingredients in a large skillet over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until apples are soft.
5. Use a slotted spoon to place apples and raisins on crust.
6. Reduce liquid about 50% and then pour over apples.
7. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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No holiday dinner is complete without a little dessert. This mousse finishes the Thanksgiving extravaganza off nicely with just enough sweetness to satisfy your sweet tooth: Pumpkin Mousse.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Pumpkin Mousse.

This makes about 6 ramekins like you see in the pictures above. Adjust accordingly depending on the size of your crowd.

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk
1 c pumpkin puree (made from scratch or canned)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ c honey
1 tbsp arrowroot
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Oil 6 ramekins or coffee mugs.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together coconut milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla and honey.
3. Mix arrowroot, spices and salt. Slowly blend dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture, stirring until well combined.
4. Pour batter into ramekins, about ¾ cup for each ramekin. Place ramekins into a 9×13-inch baking dish and add enough warm water until it reaches halfway up the outsides of the ramekins.
5. Carefully place baking dish in oven and bake for 40-50 minutes. When done, custard should be firm with lightly browned tops. Cool on wire rack.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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Sweet potatoes might be the most quintessential Thanksgiving food, right after turkey. Unfortunately, they’re usually made with 6 tons of sugar. This savory recipe covers your sweet potato fix without stunning your taste buds with too much sugar: Rosemary Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Rosemary Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese.

Depending on the size of your crowd, you’ll want to upsize the amounts in this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 lbs sweet potatoes, diced
4 oz butter
8 oz goat cheese
2 tbsp rosemary, minced
2 tbsp coriander
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ c honey
¼ c pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Cover sweet potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until soft.
2. Mash sweet potatoes, add butter, goat cheese, rosemary, coriander, and garlic. Mix well.
3. Spread in a baking dish and cover with pecans and honey.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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This is the perfect way to get your guests to love Brussels sprouts. This is my favorite way to eat these little balls of flavor, loaded with delicious seasonings and nutrition: Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

Depending on the size of your crowd, you’ll want to upsize the amounts in this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Brussels sprouts, stems removed, sliced in half
½ red onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp oregano, chopped
¼ c olive oil
¼ c balsamic vinegar
1/3 c Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Add Brussels sprouts to boiling water and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain and add to large bowl with onions, garlic, and oregano. Toss with olive oil and balsamic.
3. Pour vegetables into a large baking dish, cover, and bake 20 minutes.
4. Lower temperature to 375 degrees, remove cover, and top with Parmesan cheese, then bake another 20 minutes.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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Sage is a perfect addition to any fall or winter meal, particularly Thanksgiving. You can get this side on the table in no time, leaving more time to spend with your family and friends: Sage Green Beans with Pinenuts.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Sage Green Beans with Pinenuts.

Depending on the size of your crowd, you’ll want to upsize the amounts in this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter
½ c sage, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 lbs green beans, trimmed
½ tsp salt
1 c water
¼ c pinenuts

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat, then cook sage 1-2 minutes, until it starts to wilt and blacken.
2. Add garlic and cook until golden, about 2 minutes.
3. Add beans and salt, toss to coat, then add 1 cup of water. Allow to steam until beans are tender and water is mostly evaporated, 3-4 minutes.
4. Sprinkle pinenuts on top.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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This simple side will go perfectly next to your turkey, sweet potatoes, and other sides. The ginger and honey add the slightest hint of sweetness that matches the herbs and spices that are typical of Thanksgiving: Ginger Carrots.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Ginger Carrots.

Depending on the size of your crowd, you’ll want to upsize the amounts in this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb carrots, sliced
¼ c butter
1 tbsp honey
½” ginger, grated
½ lemon, juiced

Directions:

1. Melt butter and stir in honey, ginger, and lemon juice.
2. In a baking dish, spread carrots thinly. Pour butter over top and toss to coat evenly.
3. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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This turkey has a non-traditional flavor that your guests will flip for. How can you not love a stuffing that adds eggs and 3 more types of meat to your Thanksgiving meal? Cuban Stuffed Turkey.

If you want to download this to your computer, here’s a PDF of it: Cuban Stuffed Turkey.

(If you’re looking for a more traditional turkey, you’ll probably like this recipe for Turkey with Cran-Apple Sage Stuffing that I posted last year.)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Mix all asado ingredients and rub all over turkey, inside and out. Put turkey aside to soak up asado.
2. For stuffing, heat oil in a skillet on medium heat and combine onion and garlic. Fry until onion is translucent.
3. Add pork, ham, and beef and cook until meat is done. Add all other ingredients for stuffing. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
4. Stuff turkey loosely. Put turkey into oven for 2.5 hours, breast down, covered with foil. Then turn breast up for ½ hour uncovered. Baste every half hour of cooking.
5. When done, remove and let turkey cool under foil covering for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Click here to see all of the Thanksgiving menu posts

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