Fireside Sage and Garlic Smoked Pork

Yield: 8 servings

   

Smoked pork amazingness

Kids: What’s for dinner

Mom: Pork butt

Kids: What did you say?!?!?!

Mom: Pork butt

Kids: Mom said butt!!!!! Between giggles and snickers….ehwwww! 

At least this is the conversation that happens with the grasshaven team.  Pork butt always gets lots of snickers and giggles from the kids.   But the parents won’t be giggling when this dish is plated and the first succulent bite is taken.  With aromatics wafting from sage and garlic to the reddish, orange color infused from paprika and turmeric, this dish is an appeal for the senses creating a perceptible change in the outdoor dining experience.

Now that the senses are engaged, let’s address the butt of the jokes.  First, the cut, though called the butt, does not come from the rear end of the pig.  It is actually a cut from the shoulder officially know as the shoulder butt.  Somewhere along the way, pork shoulder butt was reduced to pork butt.  As a cut, slow cooking creates tender, melt in your mouth meat.   Cooking the meat to a higher than normal internal temperature for pork yields meat so amazing it will not be the butt of anyone’s jokes moving forward.  Pair roasted sweet potatoes with brown butter sauce and broccoli florets and even the biggest skeptic of pork butt will be transformed.

ingredients:

Rub

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon turbinate sugar

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1 teaspoon ground mustard

Stick

¼ cup old fashioned yellow mustard

¼ cup oil

¼ cup fresh chopped sage

1 tablespoon vinegar

4 big cloves garlic, minced

3-4 pounds pork butt

Rub and stick dressed for the fire

at home preparation:

prep time 10 minutes · total time: 10 minutes

Mix spices for “rub” together.  Mix “stick” ingredients together.  Rub the pork with the stick (named because it helps the rub stick to the pork).  Once thoroughly covered, coat the pork with the rub until the pork is again thoroughly covered.  Place the coated pork, into a resealable bag and place in the refrigerator until departure time.

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: 3-4 hours

Start a low smoky, aromatic fire.  Place the pork in an aluminum pan (or on aluminum foil).  Add 1-2 cups of water to the pan and tent with additional aluminum foil.  Cook until a meat thermometer reads 180-205° Fahrenheit (82-96° Celsius).  Slice or pull apart and enjoy!

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

aluminum foil

disposable aluminum pan

meat thermometer

cook’s notes:

Meat thermometers will say pork is done at 140-160° Fahrenheit (60-71° Celsius) however, for tenderness, this cut of meat needs to be cooked longer and slower.

180-185° F (82-85 ° Celsius) for sliced pork

190-205° F (87-96 ° Celsius) for pulled pork

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Fireside Sage and Garlic Smoked Pork · Enjoy

Take the kids camping!

Here at grasshaven, family time is our primary motivation!  We also have no geographical boundaries so when our friends over  @gocampingaustralia shared five reasons to take your children camping, we knew we had to repost!  Think about it, kids today, all over the world are plugged in...plugged in to computers, watching television, playing video games.  Some estimates put a child's total multimedia hours in the 10 years between the ages of 8 and 18 at over 30,000 hours.  How can the estimate be so large, you might ask....kids are often interacting with multiple devices at one time.  So as parents, how can we reduce this time?  Grasshaven's answer: take the kids camping and experience the outdoors!  Sit around the campfire laughing at made-up stories; find an uncharted trail; reconnect as a family.  While you're at it, build some memories through amazing family time in the great outdoors!


Here are five great reasons to get the kids camping:

1. Family bonding time - we think this is one of the best ways to build family memories
2. Experience nature - a fluttering butterfly, birds singing its nature at its best
3. Learning experiences - what an amazing way to learn new things (for both kids and their parents)
4. Fresh air and open skies - breath it in and relax!
5. Exercise everyone wants to do - the gym or a walk through the great outdoors?  It's not a hard question in our minds to answer

So go ahead and get the kids outdoors!

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Getting the kids camping · Enjoy

http://gocampingaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/5-reasons-to-take-your-children-camping.html

Apricot and Honey Smoke Salmon Spinach and Kale Superfood Salad with Citrus Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Yield: 6 servings

 Sweet + Savory + Smokey + Superfood = Salivation!!!!

This is the equation for an amazing camp dining experience!  Food this good, cannot be good for you- yet it is!  Ok, so lets first talk about the boring, nutrition part… salmon with is Omega 3s; Spinach and Kale high in iron and foliate (and too many vitamins to count); blueberries with their Vitamin C and antioxidants – this is nutrition at its salivation.  What an amazing way to top off a day in the outdoors!  Especially when it is packaged with the gooey, smoky goodness of fire grilled salmon layered on a crisp, fresh bed of greens.  It will send outdoor hungry taste buds into overdrive! 

ingredients:

salmon:

2 pounds fresh, salmon

2 tablespoons honey

½ cup apricot jam

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup scallions (green onions), diced

vinaigrette

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (1 medium sized orange)

1/3 cup olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

½ teaspoon poppy seeds

superfood salad

fresh washed spinach

fresh, shredded kale, stems removed

1/3 cup scallions (green onions), diced

¼ cup dried blueberries

½ cup candied pecans

1/3 cup feta cheese

at home preparation:

prep time 15 minutes · total time: 15 minutes

salmon: Combine honey, jam, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and scallions in a resealable bag.  Place marinating salmon in refrigerator the night before you leave.

vinaigrette:

Combine orange juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and poppy seeds.  Emulsify (stir vigorously).  Pour into and seal in a small resealable bag.

supersalad:

Set out 3 resealable bags (1 gallon size-large; 2 pint size-small). Place washed and dried greens and diced scallions into large resealable bag.   Place dried blueberries and candied nuts in one small resealable bag and seal.  Place feta into second small resealable bag and seal. In the large bag with the greens and scallions, add the sealed fruit/nut bag, the sealed cheese bag and the sealed vinaigrette bag.  Place in the refrigerator until departure time

Salad components

Ready for the cooler 

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: 10 minutes

Place the salmon on a hot, smoky fire (we use aluminum foil between the fish and fire grates).  Cook until the fish becomes opaque, flakey and cooked through.

Open and pour the fruit/nut, cheese and vinaigrette bags into the large greens bag.  Seal and shake (this tosses and mixes the salad ingredients all together).

Plate the salad and overlay with a slice of warm smoky fish

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

aluminum foil

heat resistant spatula

cook’s notes:

Salmon should be cooked the first night of a camp trip and left overs (if kept super cold in the cooler) make awesome salmon omelets the next morning (just reserve a little spinach and feta!)

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Smoked salmon and citrus supersalad · Enjoy