ISO: Clean out the freezer - ISO ideas for these weird cuts of meat (leave it to me to buy them)

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music-city-missy

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I have needed to sort of use up all the stuff in the freezer and pantry and since I am still unemployed trying to keep bills to a minimum and I have time to do some things. So the local butchers know I like trying weird cuts and they can always 'dump' them on me. Any ideas for:

2 pig's tails

3 hocks, fresh, not smoked or cured

Several packages of fresh bacon, I haven't opened it but I don't think any of it is cured or smoked

1 hog jowl, fresh not cured or smoked - I had intended on making either guanciale or jowl bacon

Then not so weird but DH doesn't really like sausages:

Sicilian sausage

Little smokies (warehouse sized package)

Bangers

Fresh local chorizo

Several packages of local country ham steaks/slices

 
Forgot a few more weird & not so weird things

I know by now you all think (KNOW) I am weird - I love trying things but alas DH not at all and DD is a little more adventurous. So I buy this stuff wanting to play around and then reality steps in.

2 pig's feet
package of pork skin that I was going to make fresh pork rinds with (has some fat and maybe a little meat on it
Locally made English bacon
cracklins
2 pcs. boudin
sliced hog jowl - don't think it was cured or smoked
smoked sausage with pepper jack
2 pkgs venison summer sausage
2 sticks of D&W pepperoni
Prosciutto

 
Well, if it were me...

the tails and hocks would be thrown into the pot to simmer for 4-5 hours with any other spare parts you have lying around (necks, cheap cuts, etc.) to make a very rich stock that will make aspic after gelling. A nice reduction would give a viande glace that you could portion into tablespoon servings and freeze. You could toss in a block or two to enrich soups and sauces to give them a great depth of flavor. I also love making Austrian canapés, small works of art on a thin slice of bread that are finished off with an aspic glaze to set everything. They are stunning. Have fun.

For the pork belly, Chinese...

Crispy roast pork belly: http://happyhomemaker88.com/2008/05/17/homemade-yummy-crispy-roast-pork-belly-siew-yoke-or-siao-bak/

http://happyhomemaker88.com/2008/05/17/homemade-yummy-crispy-roast-pork-belly-siew-yoke-or-siao-bak/

 
What he said and a couple more ideas

Jeez, you do have some hard things to combine and use up especially if your DH doesn't like sausage.

I'd do the same thing as Richard- make a good stock and reduce it. Pick off the meat and maybe make a sort of pulled pork/BBQ out of it.

Maybe, if you just want to use up the fresh bacon, just render the fat out of it to use. Use up the scraps of meat in casseroles. Or roast a turkey- first draping the bacon over it and roasting it to impart the pork flavor.

Ham: I had a bunch to use up not long ago and ground it up and made a flavorful ham salad out of it. Great sandwiches. Ham is usually not too hard to use up as you know. Make Eggs Benedict for brunch an use ham......

Use up the Chorizo- grind it up (or it could be loose too) and use it in a good red sauce for a taco salad or to stew chicken in. Or mix with other ground meat to make a kind of burger or a meatloaf. You could open up the Bangers and use them here.

Open up the Sicilian sausage casings and brown the loose meat then make a good pasta sauce. Or use it to make stuffed peppers.

the hard thing to use up will be those little Smokies......they are so intense- but a few here and there ground up and mixed with other stuff should work.

 
LOL, is there any pork left for anyone else there in TN? Some ideas

(I just did the same thing and have chicken and steaks to use... chicken with blackberry chipotle sauce is in the crockpot now).

For the ham, maybe lentil and ham soup with carrots and peas, ham and Swiss cheese rolls/wraps, deviled ham salad (like Cathy said), ham and asparagus quiche, or a frittata along with some of those other things you have like 1 or 2 of the sausages? Sounds good to me!

 
Now that looks good but I guess I need to find a different recipe as they marked it FAIL - LOL

I was wondering about braising them some way. Maybe Richard has a recipe for this or a friend whose mother is German.

 
Funny, I didn't scroll down that far. I always coveted the plates I saw people get

at a local German restaurant that had huge roasted hocks. They looked very yummy.

 
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