The hock is the leg of the pig above the foot and below the ham/shoulder. When we had our pigs processed we always got the hocks back. We tried to sell them on to our customers but no one wanted them. Most said they didn't know what to do with them.

We smoke the hocks. When I'm doing run of smoking I bring in trays of smoked hocks and set them in the kitchen to cool. By the time that I get back with the second tray my kids are already picking at the first tray.

This is one of our favorite recipes. It's simple country food of barley, roasted pork bone broth, local carrots, and smoked hocks.

We started throwing one piece of smoked hock (they're normally cut into three pieces) with each order we delivered and included this recipe.

It didn't take long for the orders for smoked hocks to start coming in.

This isn't fancy but it's my comfort food. My family has been making this and calling it macaroni since before I was born. It's a super simple recipe that I cook mostly in the winter. Across the Midwest US this is known as (American) Goulash.

I start with 1 Kg (2 lb) ground beef, a large onion, 600 g (4 cups) of macaroni elbows (or other unit pasta), two 798 ml (27 oz?) cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, dry basil, dry oregano, garlic powder, salt, and the secret ingredient, ketchup.

I dice up the onion, heat up a deep frying pan, add a bunch of butter (30 ml, 2 T), and toss in the onions frying them until they start to caramelize. Then I add in the ground beef and fry it until there is no more visible red and I think it's mostly cooked. Next I add in all of the diced/crushed tomatoes, a palm full (seriously, that's how I do it...maybe between 15 ml and 30 ml (1T and 2T) each of dry basil and dry oregano, around 5 ml (1 t) of garlic powder, and around 10 ml (2 t) of salt. Finally, I add a good squirt of ketchup (maybe...250 ml, 1 c). I stir it up, bring it to a simmer, and turn the heat down to hold the simmer.

Next, I boil the elbows until they are al dente. When the elbows are ready I drain them and shake the colander to get rid of as much water as possible then dump the elbows into the sauce and mix. From there it goes straight into bowls.

Between you and me, I think it's actually better the next day fried in a frying pan with butter but that's just me...and my father...and my son.

I had these once at Boston Pizza. They call them, "Thai Bites". I can assure you that I have never had a craving for Boston Pizza but these I had a craving for in the middle of the pandemic. I decided to recreate them at home. They are super simple to make.

I just cut up chicken into nugget sized pieces. I used thighs and breasts. I put the pieces is a bowl and added around 6 g (1 t) of baking soda and 40 g (1/4 c) of corn starch, about 4 g (around 1/2 t) of salt, a good grind of fresh black pepper, mixed it up to coat, and left it to sit while I got the oil heated up. I use canola oil in my small deep fryer. I warmed the oil up to 160 C (325 F), mixed up the chicken again to make sure it was well coated, then dropped the pieces in alternating one end of the fryer and the other and shaking the basket to try to keep them from sticking. I fried them in batches until they were nicely golden then removed them from the fryer to a baking sheet covered with folded paper towels.

When I had them all fried I turned the oil up to 190 C (375 F) and fried them again until they were dark golden and crispy. I removed them again to a sheet pan covered in layers of paper towel, tasted for salt, and adjusted if necessary, then moved them into a large bowl, covered them with Thai Sweet Chili Heat sauce, and put them in bowls.

They were delicious.

The title really says it all.

I usually start out with 275 to 350 g (3 to 4 cups) of Brussels sprouts, a large onion, a large Bell pepper, and two large oranges. You want the chopped peppers and onions to almost match the volume of the raw Brussels sprouts because they shrink a LOT when you caramelize them.

Use a zester to remove the zest from two oranges, any kind will do but blood oranges work very nicely. Closely cover the zest immediately so that it doesn't dry out. Cut two oranges in half and set them face down on a plate so that they don't dry out.

I begin by cutting off the stem and peeling back the outer leaves. I then slice the Brussels sprouts in half and set them aside. Next I finely dice onion (I refer sweet onions or red onions) and bell peppers (I prefer red for the little bit of color) and slowly fry and caramelize them in butter and a bit of high temperature oil (I use local sunflower oil.) Don't forget salt and pepper. Go light at this point, you're going to adjust it at the end. Once the onions and peppers are going I start to fry the Brussels sprouts in butter and high temperature oil, face down at first, until they are a bit browned (as in the picture.) Salt and pepper them lightly. Then I flip them over and move them around a bit to try to get some color on the other side. I add some water (probably a bit over half a cup) then cover the pan and steam the sprouts. When they are just starting to become tender I remove the lid, fry off the water, and add the peppers and onions. Juice one orange and add the juice to the pan and fry off most of the liquid. Juice the second orange and add the juice to the pan and fry off most of the liquid again. Add the orange zest and some maple syrup (30ml, 2 tablespoons at least) and shake to coat.

Taste, adjust salt, pepper, and maple syrup.

Serve hot.

I love this cake recipe. It's super simple, you just mix everything together, pour it in a pan, and bake.