Tasso Recipes

Steps:

• To Make the Brine: In a medium bowl, combine curing mixture, sugar, pepper, 2 tablespoons onion powder, 2 tablespoons garlic powder and water. Mix until the salt and sugar are dissolved in the water.
• Pour brine over pork. Allow pork to soak in brine for one week in the refrigerator.
• Remove pork from brine, then discard brine. Rinse and pat dry the pork.
• Preheat an outdoor smoker for 200 to 225 degrees F (95 to 110 degrees C).
• To Make the Rub: In a medium bowl, mix together the mace, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 2 tablespoons onion powder, paprika, sage, thyme and honey.
• Evenly coat the pork with the rub and work it in with your fingers. Place a roasting rack in a drip pan and lay the meat on the rack.
• Smoke at 200 to 225 degrees F (95 to 110 degrees C) for 12 hours.

Steps:

• In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the Tasso and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the corn, onions and bell peppers. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Saute for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the corn is tender. Add the cream, stir, and remove from the heat.

Steps:

• For the Seasoning Mix: Combine the seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl.
• For the Chicken with Tasso: Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix and rub well with your hands. In a heavy 4-quart pot, preferably nonstick, heat the olive oil over high heat until it begins to smoke, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken, in batches if necessary, skin sides down first, and large pieces first, and cook until the skin is brown, about 4 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook just until the other sides are brown but the chicken is not cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. To the same pot add the onions, celery, peppers and all the tasso. Stir well and scrape the bottom of the pot loosen the brown bits left from the chicken. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes-the colors are so bright they're almost glowing-then add the remaining seasoning mix and the garlic. Stir well, then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover and stir well, you'll see that the vegetables are beginning to brown and stick slightly. Scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any sticking material, then re-cover and cook for 4 minutes. At this point the vegetables are medium brown and may be sticking hard, so add 1/2 cup of stock and deglaze the pot by scraping to loosen all the material on the bottom. Add the flour and stir until the white is no longer visible, adding a little more stock if necessary to help absorb the flour. Scrape the bottom of the pot one more time, then cover and let the mixture cook for 3 minutes. Warning: do not do this if your pot does not have a good thick bottom. A thin pot will heat too quickly and your mixture will definitely burn, so reduce the heat and watch closely to be sure that the food doesn't burn. Your cooking time may have to be a little longer to make up for using less heat. But if you do have a good heavy bottomed pot, you'll discover that flour moistened with the juices from the vegetables and tasso creates a wonderful flavor when it is allowed to brown in this way. Uncover, add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of stock, and scrape the bottom of the pot well. Bring to a boil, return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pot, and return the liquid just to a boil. At this time, the broth is reminiscent of gumbo, but very salty from the seasonings. Reduce the heat to medium, recover and cook, stirring and scraping the pot occasionally, until the chicken is fully cooked, about 25 minutes. Serve over rice.

Steps:

• Trim the pork of all excess fat and cut it into strips about 1 inch thick and at least 4 inches long.
• Mix together the seasonings and place in a shallow pan. Roll each strip of pork in the seasoning mixture and place on a tray.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (preferable a couple of days).
• Prepare a smoker. Place the pork strips on the grill or rod (whichever your smoker uses) and smoke until done, 5 to 7 hours. Don't let the smoker get too hot.
• Remove the meat and let it cool completely, then wrap well in plastic and foil.
• The tasso will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 10 days, and it also freezes very well.

Steps:

• Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan and stir in grits and salt. Return to a boil, stirring frequently.
• Reduce heat and simmer grits, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until very thick and most of water is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
• Reduce heat further and cook grits at a bare simmer until cooked through, about 1 hour 10 minutes, stirring frequently and adding remaining 1 1/2 cups water (1/4 cup at a time) whenever grits become very thick.
• Add tasso, butter, and salt and pepper to taste, stirring until butter is melted.

Steps:

• First, make "1st dry rub" mix by combining all the dry ingredients together in a bowl making sure to break up brown sugar lumps (9TB tender quick, 1/2c brown sugar, 1/4c cayenne, 1/3c black pepper, 1/4c white pepper, 1/4c paprika, 3TB onion pwdr, 1/4c granulated garlic, 2TB celery seed, 2TB mustard powder, 2TB cinnamon). Once that's done, make "wet cure mix" by combining 3 or 4 tbsp of dry rub mix with 1 cup cold water in separate small container with a lid. Cover and shake well to dissolve all dry rub mix in the water. This liquid will be the wet cure that is injected. Set wet cure and remaining dry rub mix aside for now.
• Cut up the meat into roughly 1 pound chunks. This will make it easier to inject the wet cure. After that, slice the meat into roughly 1 or 2 inch wide slices. Inject each piece with the wet-cure (as much as it can hold -- about a syringe-full each). After injection, slice up the chunks and set them into pans.
• Now liberally rub all sides of meat with remaining dry rub, make sure they are coated well. Then place meat in two, one-gallon Ziploc bags along with the left over dry rub mix. Put both bags into a 9x13 roasting pan and into the fridge.
• Now wait for the butt to cure into Tasso. During the next 5 days massage and turn them over every 12 hours. Then we will rinse and smoke our Tasso.
• O.K, it's day 5 and we are ready to smoke. But first we have a couple of steps. We need to make a new, final dry rub (1/4c celery seed, 1/4c sylvias secret seasoning, 1/2c black pepper, 1/4c white pepper, 1/2c brown sugar, 3TB cayenne, 3TB granulated garlic, 1/4c coarse kosher salt). If you are unable to find Sylvia's Secret Seasoning, here is the recipe: 1 Tablespoon of dried basil, 1 Teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 Teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/4 Teaspoon dried rosemary crumbled. Combine as needed to obtain 1/4 cup. Combine all above ingredients and mix well. Store in airtight container until ready to use.
• Pull the curing meat out of the refrigerator and open the bag. First up is to rinse the cure-rub off the meat. Once all meat is rinsed off, plug the sink and soak them in cold water for 1 hour. During the soaking, change the water 3 times.
• Now it's time for the final rub. Dry each piece on a few layers of paper towels, then rub, and then stack onto a single pan. Start the charcoal for the smoker. Stabilize smoker temp at 225°F The plan is to keep it between 200 degrees and 225 Fahrenheit during the smoke. We want to cook it of course, but also want the drying out effect of the lower temp's.
• After just a bit over 5 hours, the meat should be ready. pull temp's on the pieces, especially the thick ones and call it done once they reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit minimum.
• Transfer meat into three pans to cool down to room temperature maybe 30 minutes or so, then vacuum-sealer went to work. Got 5 bags of 5 pieces each, so I figure there was about a pound, maybe a few ounces less, per bag. This is plenty for a single recipe dish of whatever it is you want to make.