Prep Time-Lapse
There's something relaxing about watching heads of broccoli get sliced into submission at high speed. For this party, I made four different proteins. Coriander Braised Pork, Buttermilk Thyme Roasted Chicken, Steak Au Poivre and Mojo Turkey Sausage with Peppers & Onions.
The pork was heavily coated in the fruity spice as well as salt, pepper and cumin. I dry rubbed this bad boy the night before and let him hang out in the fridge. In the morning, I added a heavy hand of chicken stock, orange juice, bay leaves, onions, celery and apple cider vinegar over the pork cut. I like to make sure the juice concoction comes to about an inch below the top of the meat when braising. Luckily, I'll be filming my first cooking show on braising in the next few weeks. Cover the dish of pig-tastic goodness with foil and cook at 350 for four to six hours. I like to pull the whole shoulder or rib or butt... really this can be done with any part of the pork, and let it rest when it's finished. When it's cool enough to pull, shred into tender bites of love. Place all of the braised meat, now shredded, back into the leftover juice and let it soak. Because why not? I watched a kid eat the stock with a spoon once and I've never let it go to waste since.
The Buttermilk Thyme Roasted Chicken is something I've fallen back on about a thousand times in my life. First, don't buy buttermilk. Get the white vinegar out of you pantry, add a tablespoon to regular whole milk, and it will curdle and turn into buttermilk perfectly on it's own. You can replace the white vinegar with apple cider, cream of tartar, lemon juice. Really, any acid you find lying around the kitchen. Most people have quite a bit of acid floating around that they don't even think of. If you don't have regular whole milk in your fridge, shame on you. Stop buying that 2% crap. If you buy skim... well, there's no words for you. Enjoy your goddamn well done steak and your watery milk. I don't blame you, I blame society. So take your chicken, you can even buy the cheap cuts like me and go dark, and season it copiously with salt, pepper, and thyme. Throw it in a gallon bag and top with your buttermilk. This needs to sit overnight, no exceptions. Heat up a cast iron skillet until it's ripping hot and add some grease. Place the chicken skin side down and allow to sear and crisp. Get the skin GBD* and throw the skillet down into the oven on 350 F. Flip the chicken after ten minutes. Give it another 5-10 on the flesh side. Use a thermometer to check the temp, it should be about 160 (it will carry over to 165 to finish). Poke the chicken! Get a feel for what nice, solid, cooked chicken feels like. Before you know it you won't even think to pull out the thermometer.
Steak Au Poivre is sickeningly classic French. I like to marinate the steak the night before. Start with a big, fat cut and season generously with salt, pepper, oil, Worcestershire, bay leaves, oregano and thyme. The day of, get your cast iron pan (once again) quite, quite hot. The easiest way for me to define the heat of this pan is that you should be able to hold your hand very close to it. If you want to be a pansy and not use the hottest pan possible because... well, you're a pansy, fine. But your steak won't have a crispy sear and it'll just be your loss, pansy. As your pan gets hot, dunk the steak in cracked peppercorns. Like, basically bread this sh*t with peppercorns. Use a blend of butter and veg oil to grease your pan. Sear the loving crap out of one side, about 3-4 minutes on a thick bitch like the one in my video. Sear the other side. Throw it down in the oven for 4-6 minutes on 350 to finish it to medium rare. Pull out and immediately remove from the pan onto a cool cutting board to rest. For a big guy like this broil I picked up, I slice thin, bite sized pieces to feed a crowd. When you're eating at a party you don't have two hands free for eating. You're probably drinking with one hand.
The Mojo Sausage might be the most delicious cop out ever. Wegman's makes a Mojo marinade that a client turned me on to. It's smokey, sweet, spicy... it's bottled sex. I literally dumped sweet Italian turkey sausage into a gallon bag and add a bottle of this stuff. I chop up onions and peppers and take them separately. When I get to the house, I unload the plastic bag of peppers and onions into a casserole pan, dump the saucy sausage over top, and bake until finished. 45 minutes? An hour? Nah, more like... about the length of two beers at 350 degrees. This is stupid easy to take car camping. Replace the casserole dish with a dutch oven and your set, son.
We'll get more in depth with veggies as the films start coming out. I can't wait to get these cooking specials underway! Coming soon we'll be braising, grilling, drinking, eating, packing our own knife rolls for any traveling cook and a crazy laundry list of other insanities. Follow me on twitter to keep up @jemarifik