how to cure your own meat at home

FullBellyBlog wrote an article for Food52 all about how we took a stab at making our own charcuterie. We broke a fridge along the way but in the end the delicious snacks were worth it! 

mexican seafood boil

Seafood can be a little intimidating so choose whatever type of fish or shellfish your comfortable with here. The dried fish in this dish really makes the broth flavorful and gives it a rich umami flavor. Don't forget to add a touch of mezcal for some smokiness! Recipe Here. 

pineapple and black bean quinoa with pepitas

Quinoa is grain that orginates from Peru. We decided to make a Mexican version of a quinoa salad. We used pineapple for the acidity, avocado and queso fresca for the fat and fried pepitas for a nutty flavor. This dish is easy and healthy! Recipe Here.

Peruvian Ribs 

Peruvian food is new to us. We have a few favorite places to eat around us but we have barely cooked Peruvian food. We recently got a cookbook that focuses on Peru and after reading about some different sauces and chiles we decided to mix BBQ with Peruvian. There are a few ingredients that may be hard to find if you don't live in area near Hispanic supermarkets!  Recipe Here.

FRIED TOMATILLO AND PANCETTA SANDWICHES WITH MEXICAN PIMENTO CHEESE

This take on a BLT has been on my mind for a long time. The idea of using a tomatillo came when we knew living in the north it would be hard to find green tomatoes. The tomatillos worked perfectly. The saltiness of the pancetta and sourness from the tomatillos made this our favorite BLT ever. Recipe Here.

Deviled Eggs Carbonara

One of our favorite pasta dishes is pasta carbonara. The salty pancetta paired with the creamy eggs and spicy black pepper makes it the perfect combination. Why not make this deliciousness into a deviled egg? It's just so easy!   Recipe Here.

PORK BELLY TACOS WITH FULL BELLY FUNK SAUCE

These savory tacos are topped with something very special. Our very own Funk Sauce. The Funk Sauce is a mix of black bean sauce, chipotle adobo sauce, garlic and ketchup. It's the perfect punch to the salty pork belly. Recipe Here.

JAMAICAN POT PIE

This recipe is a spin off from a recipe from Edward Lee's cookbook. He makes delicious pork curry pies. We loved the pie vehicle and decided on jamaican flavors. Our main ingredients are beef shank, scotch bonnet peppers, pimento berries and onion.  Recipe Here.

hot fennel fried chicken

Still obsessing over the deep fryer we decided to play with Edward Lee's Adobo Chicken and Waffle recipe and make it into something of our own. This is Hot Fennel Fried chicken with a Peruvian green sauce and pickled fennel to cool down your mouth. Want to try it at home? Be our guest!  Recipe Here.

WHOLE HOG ROAST 

This summer we roasted a whole hog for 10 and a half hours. The meat was falling off the bone by the time we were finished. We pulled the pork and put some special sauces on to make sandwiches. This was our biggest accomplishment yet!!

Garganelli with Barolo Short Rib Ragu

Short Ribs cooked in Barolo wine is a delicious version of a ragu. Cooking this recipe is my favorite way to spend a Sunday. You can make the Short Rib a few days before you serve. This recipe serves 4 with room for leftovers! Recipe Here.

Sugar Cane Smoked Lobster Tail in Red Curry

Red curry is not something that we usually eat so when we set out to make our own we made sure to buy some canned pastes at the store to get an idea of the flavors. Luckily we have a great Asian market around us and found mostly all of the ingredients that are in an authentic red curry sauce. It was spicy but the coconut rice we made to go along with it really cooled the dish off. You gotta try this dish!

Cajun andouille kebabs

The idea for this recipe comes from our constant thoughts about food from New Orleans. We can't get that Cajun flavor out of our minds. The recipe is pretty simple - grilling kebabs, toasting buns and assembling. More versions to come! Recipe Here.

Grilled Short Rib and Pepper Sandwich

Ahhh short ribs. The tender little pieces of beef that are so juicy and so delicious. We usually smoke them or put them in the pressure cooker but today we grilled them, cut them thin and made a sandwich. The result? Heavenly. Recipe Here.

smokey marys

While Bloody Mary's are generally thought to best compliment a cold morning, we used the power of fire and smoke to transform the winter classic into a delicious summer cocktail that pairs well with any backyard BBQ.  Oak smoked tomatoes, pulla pepper infused vodka and canned chipotle juice are some of the original elements we used to make our spicy, Smokey Marys. Recipe Here.

PULLED PORK

This is the third pork shoulder we have done. Since getting our Weber Mountain Smoker we have been taking BBQ to the next level. In the past our pork shoulder has been good not great. Our new toy makes it great. We smoked it 9 hours and at the end it tore apart. It was beautiful. Recipe Here.

Jerk Smoked Pork

 The traditional way to make Jamaican jerk pork is to take the bone off the shoulder. Jamaican jerk seasoning is really hot so use as many peppers as you think you can handle. We thought that by removing the bone the cooking time would be shorter but to be safe I would say cook for at least 8 or 9 hours. Recipe Here.

Mussels with Duck Sausage and Roasted Fennel

Mussels are a great meal because they are cheap, easy to cook, and can be paired with almost anything. Duck and fennel go perfectly with mussels. We cooked our own duck stock then paired it with white wine and vegetable stock. In went the homemade duck sausage and fennel. This was the perfect way to break in our brand new kitchen. Recipe Here.