Liver and bacon fried "rice"

Had some left pig liver from the Ake recipe and didn't want to go to waste. Got home late and not of lot of cooking time. Poked around the fridge and found some bacon, cauliflower and eggs...some cauli fried rice came to mind.

Placed the bacon in the oven at 375deg for about 25min turning a couple of times for even browning. Chopped the bacon and scallions. Scrambled a two eggs, seared the liver to a nice medium rare and set aside. Processed the cauliflower and stir fried in some bacon fat. Added the rest of the ingredients and seasoned with tamari, fish sauce, garlic and salt/pepper.

Hawaiian Ake Poke

Searching through old Hawaiian recipes and came across a raw liver recipe called Ake poke. Preperation is similar to Ahi poke except the liver is rinsed after chopping to remove some of the blood.

Not as flavorful as Ahi but still pretty good. Will probably be an acquired taste/textural thing for most as raw liver is crunchy and slimy.

1lb liver (pork or beef) 1/2" dice
.5oz ogo seaweed
1tbsp hawaiian slat
1tsp chili flakes or to taste
1tsp toasted seasame oil
1/4c chopped scallions

Combine all ingredients and let marinate in fridge for 30min for flavors to meld.

Lechon kawali

My 1st attempt lechon kawali (crispy fried pork belly)

1lb pork belly with skin
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 bay leaves
Salt
Water to parboil
Lard for frying
Lime

Place belly in pot filled with water to cover, add garlic, bay leaves and salt. Boil for 60min or until tender. Remove from liquid and pat dry. Score skin and rub with course salt. For crunchy bits cut pork into small chunks, for moister meat leave whole. Bring lard to 350deg, carefully lay bell skin side down and fry till golden brown and crispy. When done remove from fryer to cool. Squeeze lime over lechon and enjoy

Grilled pig's feet

ILooks kinda gruesome like this but the flavor and crispy skin more than made up for it.

The braising liquid included 1/4c sriracha, 3tbsp chopped garlic, 1/4c tamari, 1/4c fish sauce, lemon grass and 3 bay leaves. The feet were then simmered for 3hrs then removed from the broth (reserve for later use) to let dry. Prepare coals in the BBQ for indirect cooking. Grill for 45-60min turning frequently to crisp all sides. Cool slightly and serve.

Cleaver

Perusing a local antique shop with my wife and found this ol' cleaver, they don't make'm like this no more. It's heavy! weighing in at just over 3lbs

If I would have had this when I was preparing that pig head I could have gotten the brain out.

Bring on the next one....

Crispy ears

Used the last of the pig ears tonight. Braised with star anise, peppercorns, garlic, lemongrass, bay leaves and sea salt for 90min. Let the ears cool and dry uncovered for at least an hour. Preheat oven and cast iron griddle to 500deg. Slice ears in 1/2" strips and when oven is hot place strips on griddle. Check every 10min and rotate till crispy, about 30-45min. Served on a bed of shredded cabbage and with vinegar/patis dipping sauce and sriracha lard mayo.

Fried Liver patties

Had some left over Kimchi Liver and was getting tired of cold or a room temp meals. So I made a few patties and fried them in tallow, then served on bed of baby kale dressed with tallow, vinegar, fish sauce, tamari, salt and chilies.

Salad

4c baby kale

1tbsp tallow melted

2tbsp vinegar

1tbsp fish sauce

1tbsp tamari

1 chili

salt to taste

Eggs upon eggs

In the mood for eggs but wanted something out of the ordinary omelette, sunny side up or scrambled. Chopped up some mushroom, baby kale and scallions then sauteed till kale is tender. Add veggies to 4 pastured eggs and scramble. To that I added the left over dipping sauce (patis, garlic, chili, scallions, vinegar)  top with some salmon roe and scallions for garnish.

What a great combination! Salty, sour, spicy with an essence of fish.

Crispy Pata

Since it's just me I used a trotter instead of a hock. Braised the pig's foot for 2hrs (also 2 pig ears for 90min) in a broth seasoned with peppercorns, Hawaiian salt, garlic, bay leaves and star anise. When tender it is removed to drain thoroughly.

Now to deep fry in lard. I set up the outdoor burner because I knew this was going to make a mess.

Getting violent

Then pow!

Made a dipping sauce of vinegar, tamari, garlic, serrano chili, scallions and patis

Mmm, was damn good! Crispy, sticky, chewy and gooey. The tendons dipped in the sauce were gummy goodness.

Black vinegar chicken

Nothing fancy, just a quick meal using cooked chicken.

Caramelized cabbage in lard. Add 1tbsp chopped garlic, 6 scallions, 2tbsp black vinegar, 1tbsp xiao hsing wine and 200g left-over chicken chopped. Season salt to taste and chilies.

Kimchi beef liver pate

In the past I've made pate from chicken and beef livers. While they were palatable the texture was just not appealing. Dry and grainy from cooking the livers thoroughly (well done) per instruction. Now that I'm a bit more familiar with preparing liver in other dishes I thought I'd give pate a try again. This time cooking it the way I like to eat it, medium rare. What a difference, smooth and creamy, not dry and chalky. Flavor was improved as well, not off-putting like the well done version and this is with no pre-soaking in milk. As for flavors I swerved away from the typical seasonings, leaning toward a more Asian influence. Kimchi for spice, fish sauce for flavor and salt, onion for sweetness, then cilantro for it's earthy note.

A quick fry in bacon fat to brown

Don't cook too long, you want it bloody

Then into the food processor with kimchi, cooked onion, cilantro, fish sauce and pureed.

Let cool and it's ready to eat!

1/4 bacon fat
1.5 lb pastured beef liver
1 onion
1c kimchi or to taste
1tbsp fish sauce or to taste
1/2c chopped cilantro