Next phase for cookies

I wanted to have the packaging for the cookies ready to go before leaving for China. After talking to friends over the cookies the other night I was going with the idea to stack 4 or 5 cookies and then vacuum seal plastic around them. Then the cookies would maybe go into a cellophane bag with a little twine tie.
Last night I stopped at a big box store and ran in to buy the vacuum sealer only to find they were not cheap. Then I saw that these vacuum sealed products were big flat things not at all attractive.
Here I am with no packaging yet and leaving for China in 3 days. Guess the whole project will be put on hold until I get home. Too bad I'll have no time to investigate packaging while in China.

Ribs, Cookies and more

When I thought about Mothers Day I thought I'd like to try smoking some baby back ribs. I LOVE Baby back ribs!!! So I set about looking for a rub and some ideas for smoking. I've only made these ribs once as we are not big meat eaters.
I found lots of info on-line and found a rub made from paprika, chili peppers, powdered garlic, and black pepper. Fortunately we still have plenty of dried paprika and chilies from our garden so everything is fresh.
In the meantime I was smoking almonds for Nate. I found that they must be tossed every 1/2 hour so that they do not burn. I also tried smoking a tray of almonds tossed with some spray on Canola oil and then ground chilies. Most of the chili powder did not adhere so I must research that.
Today we smoked the ribs for 6 hours. I think it was a little too long, they are really good but just slightly dry. I'll try 5 hours next time.

Smoking almonds

Yesterday I'd met Nate and he gave me a 50 lb box of almonds to smoke. He only wanted a few for the farmers markets this week so we were able to experiment.

We had to sort the almonds to remove those with worms or bugs, take out rocks and sticks. Then we put the almonds in a basket made to hold the almonds, then the baskets went into the smoker.

We got 3 baskets with almonds about 1/2" thick and smoked the almonds for 1-1/2 hours at 180. They are quite good!

Smoking meat part 2

As I wrote yesterday we would start smoking the food today. We got up early, I gave the pork roast one more rub then we put it into the smoker. I drained the salmon fillets and dried them on a rack over the kitchen sink, careful not to use anything that might be used for something else.

We put the pork roast into the smoker by 7:30a, on a bottom rack and then started preparing the salmon for the smoker. We made little boats for each fillet then put some rum on the bottom of each fillet boat, laid the fillet on the rum then drizzled some maple syrup on each fillet. We then added the salmon to the smoker. Salmon was done by 12:30 and we each ate ½ of a fillet. It was a little more salty then I prefer but perfectly done and nice flavors of smoke, rum and sweetness. By 7pm we took the pork out of the smoker, it was moist and pulled apart easily. It was very flavorful with the hints of paprika and peppers.

I didn't get any photos of the finished salmon but will take them on our next go around.

Dinner was pork roast with a chilled Hanna Rose Wine 2006 and a salad.

Life is good

Smoking meat

Our son was able to buy a used commercial smoker last week and I brought it back with me after helping process the almonds. He bought it to smoke almonds, but without a place to store it I brought it here and as far as I'm concerned possession is 100% of the law!
After searching for recipes for smoked salmon and pork roast we went out and bought salmon filets and a 9 lb pork roast. Of course the recipes served as a base for what we ended up doing.
The 4 salmon filets are soaking overnight in a brine made from water, lots of rum, brown sugar, maple sugar, a little dry mustard and some garlic powder.
The pork roast has a dry rub on it made from paprika, ground from paprika peppers we grew last summer and dried, chili peppers we grew last summer and dried and fresh ground black pepper. I'll do another rub tomorrow before putting the meat into the smoker.
We have not smoked meat like this before so we will see tomorrow if this experiment works or not.