Sticky Asian Pork Neck

Unashamedly pinched from Chris's Facebook group Rotisserie, BBQ & Camp Fire Cooking

Ok here is yesterday’s effort. I had my good mate, and brilliant winemaker, David “Duck” Anderson over for dinner and a wine tasting with some friends. So slow cooked Asian style sticky pork (I used pork neck or scotch rather than belly). I’ve posted the recipe in the photos...I “kind of” followed that for flavour, but the way I cooked it was 2 hours in the Weber first with oak pellets for smoke, then about 10 hours in the oven at about 120C, covered, and in the marinade. Fall apart tender, and some of the guests were going back for thirds! 😋.

Aldi Champagne Veuve Monsingy

Yeah I guess I'm getting a little obsessed with Aldi's offerings lately. But it's very hard to argue with value.

Champagne Veuve Monsingy is bona fide. And it's $20.

Pale straw, persistent tiny bead. Notes of apple and biscuit. Faint hint of brandy.

Light body, touch of tingly acid, and crisp dry finish.

Absolute bargain.

Coppa-style pork tenderloin

Got a hold of some cheap pork tenderloins, and had my first crack at dry-curing.

• 2 x 1 pound pork tenderloins, patted dry and tails removed
• 1 cup of curing mixture:
• 60 % table salt
• 30% rock salt
• 10% habanero salt (home made)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar 

Into fridge for 10 hours or so.  The initial combined weight was 832g.

After curing, salt wiped off with some brandy; post-cure weight 571g, 69% of original weight.

For one of them, rolled in mixed herbs, the other one kept as is.  The aim now is lose another 30% weight in the fridge.

After three weeks, the herb-rolled fillet was very delicious, if maybe too salty.  Trimming the exterior assisted here.

After four weeks, the plain fillet was even more delicious, and in fact perfect. Will do again, and with other meats.

Aldi Single Malt Whisky - Glen Marnoch

Quite happy with the bargain whiskies from Aldi.  The ubiquitous supermarket chain has its own label, Glen Marnoch, and under this have released a variety of Scotches from different regions and age statements.  Aldi tends to announce these ahead of release date, and only small allotments go to the stores, and then only selected stores.

My good mate Dennis offered to do the queuing, so he picked up for us the 21 and 25 year olds, at $90 and $100 respectively.  Show me a $100 25 year old anywhere else in the world..... They get some good press too.

There are quite a few distribution companies that acquire barrels from various distilleries and then bottle under their own labels (e.g. Gordon & MacPhail and Berry Bros & Rudd). But these will generally advise of the original distillery. Aldi does not do this, so their providence is a mystery. 

A couple of weeks back I had great delight in pouring a couple of samples, sat in front of the Friday night TV, and sniffed, sniffed, sniffed and occasionally sipped.  Over time the aromas opened up and changed subtly. The two are considerably different in this regard. Personally, I found the intrigue mostly on the nose, rather than the palate, although they are both very approachable, smooth, and long.

Glen Marnoch 21 year old
A: Cigar leaf, vanilla custard, dried apple & fig. Honey and caramel.
F: Base notes of vanilla, but plenty of brandied/candied fruit. Palate more interesting than the 25's flavour.

Glen Marnoch 25 year old
A: Faint acetone early, not unpleasant, evolving into pear, rosewater, vanilla, citrus peel, pudding.  Orange notes later on. Far more interesting than the 21's aroma.
F: Smooth, sherry and fruit salad. Warming, but nothing particularly distinctive.

Looking forward to other releases, which from searches may include 18s, 24s, as well as different regions.

Fire Pit BBQ

I've been very excited with my birthday present. This cast iron fire pit has been well-used in the last couple of months, and for a variety of purposes.

As designed, it's very good at burning stuff.... We have lots of leftover timber from recent renovations, as well as plenty of native wood gathered nearby and also donated from neighbours. To store it all, we recycled an old wine rack to separate different wood grades and varieties, and this stands close by under cover.

One thing of note is the lack of am air hole at the bottom of the pit.  The curvature of the bowl means there's no problem with oxygen flow, but it made me wonder if water drainage would be a concern. Iron, water, rust.... Do we move it ever time, or perhaps find some sort of cover ?
Being very heavy, we sacrificed some lawn and laid down some old pavers. So the intentions are clear: it's a permanent structure and will need covering. While there are plenty of soft-cover options available, these tend to degrade over time, and also limit any alternate use of the contraption.

Well, as it happens we had an old dining table top, made of two semi-circles that fit together with metal dowels. Easy enough to push together for a fire pit cover-slash-outdoor setting.

A couple of things to consider, however.  Firstly, the seam between the halves is not water-tight. To allow for this, I bought a sheet of ply and cut an undercover to size.

And, of course, the table was originally indoor furniture, so it won't be able to withstand the elements for too long without some form of applied protection.  For this, I elected marine varnish, of which I used several coats, with the intention of supplementing at regular intervals.  And I varnished the ply undercover as well, for good measure. I'm not expecting water to get in the bowl by any obvious means.

The most gratifying aspect of the fire pit is the inclusion of a hot plate and grill. Made of cast iron, it's a very heavy piece, but sits snugly over 3/5 of the bowl. Washed with soapy water before first use (and lightly olive-oiled too), its first tour-of-duty was to grill some scotch fillet.

It's a great way to practice open-coal cooking, and good schooling for becoming a pitmaster. All I need now is a rotisserie and a suckling pig...

Fire, BBQ, table.... and the steaks were delicious.