Slow Cooked Pepsi Pig Ribs

Pepsi BBQ Sauce
1 can Pepsi throwback
1 cup gelatin
1 cup pizza, spaghetti or tomato sauce
1/4-1/2 cup Gulden's mustard
1 TBS cream of tartar
1 TBS sea salt
2 TBS coconut oil


4-5 lb rack of ribs
(This was Sally's side, tons of meat and tiny bones.)

Rice or mashed potatoes for absorbing extra sauce.

1. Preheat oven to 450*F.
2. Grease broiler pan with coconut oil to make clean up easier.
3. Combine ingredients for sauce.
4. Slather ribs with BBQ sauce.
5. Place ribs fat side up on broiler pan.
6. Put in oven and immediately turn down to 170-190*F setting on oven. 
7. Cook for 9 hours or so. (This makes a great set it and forget it meal.)
8. Broil for a few minutes right before serving.

See Ya In The Gumbo
Hunk of Meat Monday

Piggy Spanish Rice

A yummy twist on Rice Cooker Spanish Rice....

BACON! 
Well, actually, cured jowls...you know....pig cheeks. ;)
Pork jowl is shorter than bacon anyway, but I still cut them up smaller before cooking.  I pan fried the bite sized pieces in their own fat at about "egg" temperature for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. We like our bacon with most of the fat rendered out but still meaty, on the chewy side, not crumbly.

I left out the additional fat and backed off the salt...the milk fed, homegrown, sugar cured jowls provide plenty of both.  Everything else is the same.  I did use a fruit based salsa instead of a cilantro based salsa, just for fun.  A huge hit!


Ingredients: Makes about 8 servings
2 cups Broth
4 TBS Beef gelatin
1 tsp Cream of tartar
.5 tsp Salt
a few dashes liquid minerals (optional)
1 cup Salsa
4 scoops Rice (rice cooker scoop is about 3/4 of a cup of actual rice)
Water to 4 cup fill line
.5-1 lb cooked bacon or jowl with grease

1. Put broth in pot of rice cooker and sprinkle with powdered ingredients, so gelatin can soak up some liquid.
2. When soaked, put rice and salsa into pot and stir.
3. Fill to 4 cup line marked on pot with water (or add extra broth).  
4. Add cooked jowl and corresponding grease.
5. Set to Cook.
6. When rice switches to "keep warm" setting, fluff and serve.

Friday Potluck

Fight Back Friday
Hunk of Meat Monday
See Ya In The Gumbo
Barn Hop
Melt in Your Mouth Monday 
Full Plate Thursday 
Simple Lives Thursday 
Your Recipe, My Kitchen
Ingredient Spotlight :Bacon
Ingredient Spotlight : Tomatoes

First taste...Milk Fed Ossabaw

Ossabaw Pork Chop

Sally was a lovely gilt, nice lines, good balance....had some more growing to do.  Sally led the charge anytime we we're outside, squealing like they were starving even after they just fed.  Sally made a bee line for any possible weakness in the fence when put in a new paddock.

Sally rushed into the crate intended for "Ham" for transport to the processor.

Sally has gone on to a good home.
Sally is very tasty.



The pigs have 24/7 access to pasture and are fed whole and skimmed milk at least twice a day.  We supplemented with too soft apples as well during the winter.  They mostly eat the grass.  When we had a thaw after a freeze, they'd select the mushiest stuff.  When we got mud, they would dig up the dandelion roots and spit out the tops.  They like new grass when it is first coming up, but seem to prefer the stems over the blades now that the grass is more mature.

The color is gorgeous.  The taste was wonderful, tender and moist.  I haven't eaten a pork chop in 15 years, but I remember them being very dry and bland.  What stood out for me the most was the nature of the fat.  We didn't feed any grain.  The milk was from our own grass fed cows.  The texture of this pork back fat was similar to the denseness of tallow (ruminant fat) but with the "lighter" taste of pork.  I don't usually eat the fat, but render it with the bones to make broth.  This stuff was amazing with just a little salt.  I ate it straight. Wow, yum.

The satisfaction of eating something I have cared for personally definitely added to the experience.

Simple Lives Thursday 
Barn Hop 
Hearth and Soul Blog Hop 
Real Food Wednesday
Gluten Free Wednesday
Fight Back Friday