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Roast for Great Sandwiches

I love this time of year. Life has quieted down; there's time to kick back, relax, either stay inside or spend time out of doors, what ever your pleasure. And "no muss, no fuss" cooking. Time to invite friends over, whether it's just for the evening, or for that football game, or for the winter movie marathon. Here's a great idea: cook a peameal roast and then slice it for sandwiches. You'll put out the fixings on the day of the event (rolls, condiments, lettuce, onion, tomatoe, cheese, etc.) and have plenty of time to enjoy your friends. No pictures...you know what it looks like!

1 Gord’s Great Canadian Bacon Roast, about 5 pounds
Whole cloves
Bottle of beer

Method:
1. Put whole cloves into the roast throughout.
2. Place roast into a small roast pan and add enough beer to cover the bottom of the pan, ½ inch deep.
3. Cover with aluminum foil tightly and bake until the center of the roast reaches 150 degrees F. Depending on your oven and altitude, it should take about 60 or more minutes.
4. Remove cloves, slice and enjoy. (The alcohol in the beer will evaporate during the cooking process but leave behind the flavor).

Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Happy Holidays

From Gord's Bacon to each and every one of you, we wish:

12 peameal roasts
11grillers grilling
10 brand new ovens
9 postal boxes
8 thick sliced peameal
7 jars of mustard
6 thin sliced peameal
5 Canada geese
4 Gord's aprons
3 dozen eggs
2 sticky buns
and
a
Gord's Gift certificate for thee!

Enjoy your Holidays and we'll see you in
the
New Year!

Comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Braised Pork and Turnips

Turnips? Aren't they the butt of jokes...you know, falling off the turnip truck? Like Rodney Dangerfield, turnips don't get no respect...until now. Here, the brine of the peameal works so nicely with the wine.Thanks to Mark Bittman, here's a great combination that will earn the turnip its R E S P E C T. And after one taste, no one will think you fell off the back of a turnip truck.

Braised Pork and Turnips

1 T. neutral oil, canola or corn
1 T. butter
1 1/2 pounds peameal, cubed
1 1/2 pounds turnips, pealed and cubed
3/4 c. white wine
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 T. parsley

Heat a 12 inch skillet over medium high heat for one minute. Add the oil and butter. When the butter foam subsides or the oil is hot, add the pork, a few cubes at a time. When it's all in there, turn the heat up to high. Cook for about 5 minutes, undisturbed, until the pork is nicely browned on one side. Turn each piece, return the heat to medium-high, and cook for about 3 minutes more.

Add the turnips and shake so there's one even layer. Cook for another 3 or 4 minutes until the turnips brown. Add the liquid and stir once or twice. Add salt and pepper to taste and half the parsley. Turn the heat to medium low and cover. Cook about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove the cover and raise the heat to medium high; boil the liquid until it is reduced to a syrupy glaze. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

Peameal Roast with Apples and Raisins

It is finally Autumn. Pumpkins, squash, apples, cranberries...and they all go so well with pork. And can be made into nice chutneys, too. To celebrate the season, try this sweet peameal roast with apples and raisins that make a nice mild chutney. Sugar and spice and everything...nice!

Peameal Roast with Apples and Raisins

1 peameal roast
1 can Vernor's gingerale (any variety, but we're partial to Vernor's...)

3 Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored and sliced in 1/2 inch thick wedges
leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
2T. unsalted butter or margarine
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
3 T brown sugar
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
Pinch of dry mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the peameal roast in a roasting pan. Cover the peameal roast with gingerale until about 1/4 inch covers the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake until internal termperature is 150 degrees. Remove from oven and let the roast rest, covered, for 20- 30 minutes.

While the roast cooks, melt butter in a clean skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and thyme and cook and stir for 8 minutes. Toss in raisins and add applesauce, stirring frequently. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and dry mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the apples. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the apples are softened. Spoon spiced apples over slices of peameal.

Eat and Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome at Gords! See you next month!

Gordette

Sweet Corn Fritters and Peameal Bacon

Here in the midwest, late August and early September are all about fairs. County fairs, regional fairs and state fairs. It's harvest season, and out come the fruits of the labors: pies made with summer berries and apples, produce grown lovingly all summer, and animals raised by youngsters who are anxious to see just how their hog, goat, lamb or cow compares to all the others.

And this time of year is about sweet corn and tomatoes. These two items will taste no better at any other time of year. So here you have it, from The Harrow Fair Cookbook by Moira Sanders, Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney, sweetcorn fritters, topped with peameal and a big ol' slice of tomato. Make it at other times of the year with frozen corn...still yummy! Breakfast, lunch or dinner...or all three!

Sweet Corn Fritters and Peameal Bacon

8 slices peameal bacon
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3 T flour
1 cup fresh sweetcorn kernels
1/4 c. fresh flatleaf parsley

Fry the peameal and keep warm in the oven.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, about 2 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl and fold in the flower, corn and parsley. Gently fold in the egg whites. Coat the bottom of a pan with oil and heat. Place 2 T dollops of the corn batter in the pan, careful not to crowd the fritters. Flatten and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Place fritters in a warming pan in the oven and finish frying the remaining batter.

To assemble, on four plates, divide fritters between plates, top each fritter with 2 slices of peameal, a slice of tomato and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Enjoy!

See you next month...comments are always welcome at Gord's!

Slab Bacon and Mushroom Strata

I was looking for a brunch recipe the other day that was not sweet. Something that was savory and a little bit out of the ordinary. I came across this in the cookbook, "Pig- King of the Southern Table". It calls for slab bacon, which peameal fits nicely. It's much more lean than other slab bacons, so the recipe called for a little adjustment as there's no drippings, even after frying a pound of it. Also, because this is a strata, you'll need to make it the night before you're going to serve it, or at least two hours ahead, so the egg mixture has time to soak into the bread.

As the author notes, you can use a variety of mushrooms (ummm...what about picking your own morels in season...) and a variey of cheeses (I would have used some nice aged Canadian cheddar if someone else would part with it...). Use your imagination with this versatile dish.

Slab Bacon and Mushroom Strata

4-5 slices of white bread, crusts trimmed
1 pound peameal, diced
2 t. butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 t. Dijon mustard
1 c. shredded swiss cheese
2 c. half and half
3 large eggs, beaten
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Tobasco sauce to taste

Grease a 2-2 1/2 quart casserole. Arrange the slices of bread on the bottom of the casserole dish, and set aside.

In a large skillet, fry the peameal. Set it aside. Add 2 t. butter to skillet and saute the mushrooms and onions until golden, about 8 minutes. Return the bacon to the skillet, add the mustard to the bacon, mushrooms and onions and stir well.

Spoon the bacon mixture evenly over the bread and sprinkle the cheese on top.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, Worcestershire, seasonings and Tobasco. Whisk until well blended. Pour over the cheese and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees and bake for 45- 50 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!


See you next month. Comments are always welcome at Gord's.

Gordette