JBug's Kitchen Antics

Soba Noodles and Katsu

We love Asian flavors around here. Actually, there aren't many things we don't like which makes life much easier. Big Guy did the cooking last night and the truth is, he's much more adventurous than I am. The last thing he said to me this morning was that he couldn't wait to read today's blog post to see what I had to say about it. So here you go, smarty pants. 

He started by cooking up a big bowl of Soba - Japanese noodles made from buckwheat that are virtually gluten free (check the packaging to be sure though, OK). Cooked quickly and dressed in a ginger/garlic/soy vinaigrette, they can be served on their own or mixed with an assortment of colorful vegetables for a super salad. They're amazing!

Katsu or "tonkatsu" as it's formally known, is usually made from pork cutlet that's pounded thin, lightly seasoned, dipped in an egg wash then coated in panko crumbs and fried. It's crisp golden brown on the outside and moist and tender inside. In other words, it is truly the bomb like this version we had a couple of year's ago.

Trouble is with Big Guy cooking you never really know what you're going to get and when left to his own devices, he's determined to make his wife into a wild meat eater. Point in fact, the katsu you're looking at below is made from javalina, aka peccary, aka skunk pig - a nasty looking, fanged scarey little creature that inhabits our current desert homeland (photo from http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net).

Big Guy and his hunting partner John go looking for them every February and depending on the year, one or the other will manage to bag one. Now personally I have a problem eating wild meat but Big Guy just laughs at me.

I mean I'm far from a vegetarian and I'll eat any meat that someone makes their living raising... afterall I grew up on a farm; however, the wild stuff ...not so much. I picture Bambi and it doesn't matter what kind of meat it is, I still can't get by the vision of a sweet little thing with huge eyes, long eyelashes and a gentle disposition. 

Last night Big Guy gave me the peccary's tenderloin, all cooked up crispy and golden with tender loving care. How could I say NO to that! 

Incidentally, javalina is slightly darker in color than pork has a longer grain in the meat and kinda' tastes like veal. Will I eat it again? Maybe ...but only after Big Guy consumes a bushel of green peas, a quart and a half of green beans and a stockpot of garbanzo's. 

Soba Noodle Salad:

Dressing:

Combine ingredients below in a screw top jar and shake until well mixed.

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1-1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Asian chili sauce (sambel olek) optional

---

4 ounces Soba noodles, cooked per package directions and drained

Toss noodles with dressing and serve either warm or chilled.

A year ago - The Ultimate Patty Melt

Two year's ago - Food Processor French Bread 

Country Terrine with Javelina

This lovely flavorful coarse style pate' might be wild but in no way is it boring. Using the last of this year's javelina, aka peccary from the Big Guy's February hunting fiesta with his hunting co-hort John, it fulfilled the second longstanding request on my man's wish list. How's that for 2 days in a row?

Another stellar item from Cinda Chavich's book, High Plains, the loaf of yum is loaded with bacon as well as onion garlic, herbs, toasted pine nuts and in my case, ground chicken as well as the boar - or at least I'll call it that. After all, javelina is the Sonoran desert's version of wild boar even if it's not quite the same thing. For someone that's not into wild meat in any form once I enjoyed my first taste, I almost forgot I was eating it. Must have been the bacon!

Along with a grin extending giant dirty gin martini, some pickles, mustard and a wonderful crunchy baguette, we called it dinner on a perfect Pink Mountain Friday. By the way, what makes this even more convenient for an easy breezy Friday night dinner is you've got to remember to make it a day or two in advance so it has a chance to mellow and compress. I neglected to do that, so the texture's not quite as dense as it could be but it was pretty tasty anyway. I'll be pulling out some leftovers to serve tonight at our dinner party.

Country Terrine with Javelina (adapted from High Plains by Cinda Chavich)

1 pound lean thin sliced apple wood smoked bacon, divided

1 large onion, quartered

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup apple jack brandy

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon each thyme, marjoram and sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black peppercorns

1 pound ground javelina, wild boar or lean ground pork

1 pound ground chicken

1 egg

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or chopped walnuts

Set aside 8 slices of bacon. Place the remainder into a food processor along with onion, garlic, and brandy. Process until a smooth paste. Add parsley, thyme, marjoram, sage, salt and pepper. Pulse lightly just to combine. Set aside.

In a large bowl using your hands combine javelina, ground chicken and egg. Fold bacon puree into meat along with pine nuts. Mix just until combined. Line a large loaf pan with 6 reserved bacon strips allow bacon to hang over the edges of the pan. Press in meat mixture and level top. Fold overhanging bacon strips over meat and finish with remaining 2 strips of bacon. Cover with foil and place in a roasting pan filled with 2 inches of boiling water. Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature and drain excess fat. Wrap in foil, top with a board and a weight (I used the cast iron lid of my grill pan). Refrigerate overnight. Loaf is best if served 24 hours after making it, so the flavors have a chance to blend. Serve sliced with assorted pickles and mustards on the side. Serves 8. Download Country Terrine with Javelina

A year ago  Pork Katsu with Soba Noodles

Peccary Porchetta

Our friend Nancy dared us to make this Italian version of slow roasted pork roast and we had no choice but to take her up on it. As you know, the Big Guy's hunting partner bagged a little Peccary also known as Javelina during the annual hunt in February and left us with some choice pieces, some of which have gone into chorizo and others coated in panko and fried.

Of course, in our version of porchetta we took some liberties and included a piece of wild piglike beast. Coated in herbs and left to marinate overnight in the refrigerator it was tucked into a seasoned butterflied pork loin which in turn was wrapped in spice coated pork belly with the skin intact and then tightly tied.

It's pretty darn hot in our neck of the woods so to have the oven on for an extended period of time would be ludicrous. The Big Guy cooked the roast on the barbecue, indirect method for almost 4 hours starting it off at a very hot 425 for a half hour, then lowering the heat to 250. He does this using a charcoal double barrel "Q", but you could certainly accomplish the same thing on a gas barbecue if you wish, though I'm assuming the smell of this piece of "poik" cooking in the oven would be darn near intoxicating.

The end product is very tender and moist and the crackle is ...well it's just amazing. The combination of spices is pretty darn delicious as well. Be sure to let the roast rest at least 20 minutes before slicing it as thinly as possible because it really does taste better that way.

Quite honestly, it is a pretty labor intensive method of cooking a pork roast and while delicious and tender, it's not something I would choose to eat a lot of because of the incredibly high fat content. Yup you heard right - this is the Cream Queen speaking. Hey, I choose my excess calories wisely.

Anyway, if you are going to try this on your own, check out Kevin's version at Closet Cooking for the directions that we rather loosely followed. I'm not going to include our version since it is doubtful that many of you will have the opportunity to enjoy javelina.  I will though pass along a few "hints".

1. Be sure to use a shoulder or butt roast as Kevin indicates in his recipe. The loin we used, although moist and delicious may be just too lean a cut of meat.
2. Make sure the pork belly you purchase is large enough to wrap around the entire piece of pork you're using. Our pork belly (actually 2 of them) were very thick and quite lean, so we sliced each piece in half and just used the fatty skin side portions, which didn't quite cover the entire roast. I'm not sure it made a lot of difference in flavor, but it just doesn't look as pretty.
3. Be sure to prick the skin side of the pork belly really well as we did, or "cut diagonal criss crossing lines across the fat side of the pork belly" per Kevin's instructions or you'll have a real mess on your hands once the roast starts to cook.
4. Roll and tie the roast as tightly as you can. It will cook more evenly and the slices will look prettier on the plate after it's cooked.
5. We found the fennel flavoring to be quite strong, so you may wish to decrease the amount of fennel seeds by one half.

Oh there's just one more thing before I forget. Nancy, when will you be dropping by to pick up the leftovers?