[euge]

Think about ya all the time! Really.

Was making Spanish chorizo couple days ago and thought- wonder where cap has been...

[capozzoli]

Funny, yeah, been real busy the last, hmm. Year or so? Wow. Trying to turn the business around and get the shop fixed up after the disaster of 2008 and 9 and 10 and 11. Things are much better now that I have put much effort into a website, SEO and SMO and a few other letter acronym type things.
been doing some cooking as always but haven't had much time for ANYTHING else.

I want to get back into the cooking blog because that is all attached to the website and all. MAy be a fun for me way of updating my stuff.

Ill post some stuff soon.

I did make pumpkin pie yesterday with a Long Island Cheese pumpkin. WE went to the orchard to pick apples. Also made an apple crumble top apple pie with some wine sap apples thatr were on the tree only hours before.

I puts some walnuts in the food processor and chopped them a little to mix into the crumble top. very nice. 

For a good nutty crumble top.

Mix 1/2 cup butter, cup and a half flour, cup and one half brown sugar, one cup chopped walnuts or almonds etc. Pinch and mix with fingers until well blended but still kind of dry. Add flour as needed. Keep cold until you top the pie and keep it loose, dont pack it down when you top the pie just kind of sprinkle it on in layers until its even on top.

[bluesman]

Long time no see...glad to see you making some beer.  Love this time of year...fall harvest is the best. Made some fresh corn and potato chowder Sunday and Chorizo chili last night.  I wish there were more days in the week to do some more cooking and baking.

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Tonight's meal: smoked schweinshaxe, rotkohl (cabbage salad), and homemade pretzel. Orange blossom mead to wash it down.



Great to hear from you, Cap!!  Hope the business is doing well.

[euge]

Man that looks excellent! Smak-smak!

[Alewyfe]

Takes me back to many pleasant meals at the Black Forest Inn in your neck of the woods.
Prohst!

[euge]

Tonight's meal: smoked schweinshaxe, rotkohl (cabbage salad), and homemade pretzel. Orange blossom mead to wash it down.



Great to hear from you, Cap!!  Hope the business is doing well.

OK I've been fascinated with this dish after seeing No Reservations' Berlin and Czech Republic shows. Wasn't sure if it was hocks or not since they appear so huge in the episodes and so pathetically little at the store.

I guess we don't let our pigs get that large...

Anyway I got the largest hocks I could find and am brining them in a liter salt/cure#1 solution for up to 5 days. The recipes on the web are leaving something to be desired.

Most say boil/simmer at least 1.5 hours- which can't nearly be long enough? Then some suggest crisping them up afterwards in a hot oven. Others skip the boiling and roast in liquid in the oven.

I want the goo. Tender unctuous pork nearly falling apart. Crispy skin would be ok... Thinking about using some Shiner Bock as the braising liquid.

Any ideas? I'm probably gonna smoke one of them but not even sure how to approach that. BTW these things don't smell too great when you get them out of the package. In fact they smell like what they've been standing in! Took some scraping and washing before they went into the brine!

[tschmidlin]

The best schweinhaxe I've had are always roasted.  Some were smoked and were delicious, but the boiled ones I don't especially like.  I might braise them for a while and then crisp them up, like you were talking about.  No recipes though, sorry.  You might check Raichlen's books for one

[euge]

OK here are my initial findings:





Hocks went into dutch-oven (uncovered) with a bed of shredded cabbage, carrots and onion. One bottle of Shiner Bock and 12oz of water. Caraway, juniper, bay leaves, cracked peppercorns and dried garlic. Went into a 450* wood burning oven for 3.5 hours where the hocks were removed and placed into a small roasting pan on a raft of carrots seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg for another 45 minutes. Bavarian sauerkraut from a can heated separately. Served with house 50 IBU IPA hopped with columbus and cascade.

Very tasty if not a bit salty... Regardless, quite yummy gooey and tender! More fat and collagen was rendered out than expected or desired. Skin got a bit crispy- not as much as I'd like but a tease of what it could be! Overall demonstrates a good flavor.

I learned two main things: Eisbein and Schweinhaxe techniques are not interchangeable though at first was not sure if they were different dishes. Obviously they are.

Eisbein is boiled and Schweinhaxe is roasted, and the Shweinhaxe need not be brined/cured and is done in a shallow roasting pan.

Have some blackeyed peas soaking in which the the remaining roasted hock will simmer and season tomorrow. I'll thaw out some braised mustard greens to make a fine Southern meal!

Thanks Pawtucket for the inspiration!

Prosit!

[deepsouth]

that looks great.

[bluesman]

that looks great.

+1

I love using ham hocks in soups and stews...metric tons of flavor.

[Pawtucket Patriot]

OK I've been fascinated with this dish after seeing No Reservations' Berlin and Czech Republic shows. Wasn't sure if it was hocks or not since they appear so huge in the episodes and so pathetically little at the store.

Those hocks look great, euge!  Funny, I was also turned on to schweinshaxe and other hock dishes after watching this same episode.

[tschmidlin]

Awesome euge, well done!

[punatic]

I'm guessing that you made your sauerkraut the correct way - with a Krauthammer! 

[euge]

Thanks guys! I think these are going to become part of my repertoire. So cheap. So good. Just takes some preparation and you have something nice to eat.