The Pauley Principle: June 2012

Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

Achieving the perfect barbecued baby back ribs is an accomplishment! These were spicy, juicy and with just the right tenderness. Read on and find out my method.

I wanted a rub that would give me all the goodness of baby back ribs that I see in televised cook-offs. We had had a family cook-off, and I did OK, but now I wanted a rub that I could actually offer in my farm market, something yummy with just the right blend of seasonings. So I experimented and watched what others were using. I finally got the flavors I wanted but still lacked the cooking style.

What I've discovered in my trials and errors is that it's not just the rub, it's the technique. Using a sugar-based rub requires using indirect heat. The meat does not come into contact with flame. Thanks to my grandson Tyler who took the photographs for this baby back rib BBQ step-by-step.

Sprinkle your ribs liberally with the rub of your choice. Then allow to stand for 30 while you start up the grill and prepare your hardwood for smoking.

Choose well-seasoned hickory, apple, or other suitable wood and give it a good soaking in water.

Then, when the temperature (220 to 250 degrees F) and the smoke are just right, add the ribs. Loosen the seal of the aluminum foil to allow plenty of smoke to permeate the meat. Check occasionally without disturbing the meat just to see that the smoker is doing its job and that it's not too hot. Allow to cook without intervention as much as possible over the course of 2 hours.

After two hours, remove the meat and try twisting a bone to see if it has any movement (it should be able to twist a little), and then finish the ribs off in a pre-heated oven at about 250 degrees F for another two hours. Then take it out and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. The internal temperature should have reached 160 degrees F a long time before this, but the extra time allows the flow of good juices to tenderize the meat and give the rub and good feel to the teeth.

Cooking ribs this way is almost effortless once you get into the routine, and the result I think will please you!!!

And yes, I now have Rockin' Rib Rub to sell at our Old Homestead Farm Market.

(Photos for this post were largely the work of Tyler Oyer.)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Hay Rake Rescue

My husband Chris did a residential job recently that resulted in some old farm machinery that the owner wanted "junked". Chris struck a deal with him on a rusty old hay rake that he pulled out of tall weeds. The rake hadn't been used in many, many years but Chris saw that it still had potential if it could have some well-chosen replacement parts and a little TLC. What he had found was a 1958 Oliver 5-bar hay rake. He trailered it to our farm and "completely disassembled it. There wasn't a bolt left in it," he said.

Total dis-assembly was necessary because of neglect over the years. Layers of metal were encased in rust. Chris said that without intervening, "the equipment would continue to rot down". Once he had the hay rake apart, it was time to evaluate and inventory each piece and then order any necessary new parts. He cleaned up all the useable old parts by sandblasting, priming and painting.

He replaced the worn-out bearings and seals and straightened the stripper bars, put in all new spring teeth and added a hydraulic lift. He replaced tires and tubes. He hurried to get it all renovated in time to try it out for the season's haymaking. After a few late, late nights of working, the restoration was complete.

When Chris took it out for a trial run, he said,

"It worked quite well, just like it was supposed to!"

I listened to the old hay rake while Chris did a demo for me. He hooked it up to an older John Deere tractor. That vision and the gentle hum and whir of the rake brought back memories of a bygone era. I am filled with pride that Chris saw the potential and did this renovation. He recently raked with it to make nearly 400 bales of hay.

Sorry to admit that, when he first brought it home, I couldn't picture what it should look like. What a mess! I regret that I didn't get the photo before he took it apart.

Give Yourself the Fast Food Alternative: 1, 2, 3 makes 4 and More

For many people, late night ballgames, church, work and other events make fast food too convenient to resist, but what's in that stuff? I can't begin to answer. Big franchises such as Taco Bell say the 63% or so that isn't beef is made up of "the secret ingredient". If we consume their food, don't we have a right to know what that secret is? And more importantly, what's it doing to our bodies? My plan is worth the effort since meals eaten at home with the family benefit our physical and mental health.

Here's an alternative and my answer to Rachael Ray's A Week in a Day. I call it 1,2, 3 Makes 4 and More. On the fifth day, Friday, make a quick and easy pizza.
In one day, you can make a roast, a hearty soup, and a one-dish casserole to get you through most of the work week.
Meal 1: the roast with salad and a veggie.
Meal 2: the soup served with warm bread or in a bread bowl.
Meal 3: the casserole with a salad.
Meal 4: soup from Meal 2 served with sandwiches using the roast, Meal 1.
Meal 5: homemade pizza.

Plan meals and shop for it. Then take a few hours to prepare the entrees ahead. Start with a roast seasoned to taste. I'm talking real meat. While that's slow cooking, start chopping veggies and meat for a good, hearty soup, one that will be a meal in itself. Get it started and simmering away and then begin a one-pot meal that takes a little more attention.

This week my plan is Day 1, a slow roasted ham with salad and mashed potatoes; Day 2, minestrone; and Day 3, shepherd's pie. I'm making mashed potatoes for two days (meals 1 and 3) at one time on my cooking day. The fourth meal will be ham sandwiches with minestrone. Salads and breads round out the meals for the week. Fruits with cheese make a quick and good-for-you dessert. A truly delicious recipe for shepherd's pie is in my blog.

Be good to you. Be good to others. On days 6 and 7, change it up by going out, having a pot luck with friends and family or grilling out. Remember, live your life abundantly.

About Venison

Venison should taste really delicious! No kidding. It is my favorite meat, except for crab.

Some things to consider though:
*If you wouldn't think of eating a bull, then don't eat a deer that had huge antlers or was in rut. I don't. It affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.
*Replace the deer fat with beef fat for your ground meat for an 80/20 ratio. Deer fat tends to be slightly bitter and leaves that thick coating in your mouth that, although edible, is not palatable.
*For roasts, sear with butter and olive oil. These impart a wonderful flavor.
*For sausage, use pork shoulder, at a ration of about 3 parts ground venison with 1 part ground pork shoulder.
*Venison by nature is a lean red meat. A good young deer processed properly will give you many delicious meals.
*Anything you would do with beef, except ribs, you can do with venison. Look for my recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Use either beef or venison. Enjoy, share, and live abundantly.

Plan Now for Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-45 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $8 a pint. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, and little water line spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. I buy little pint jugs to store it in. Very fresh, very pure. Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap will be running fast sometime in February.

Try my cousin Stephanie Krupla's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!