Pork Shoulder Roast

I cannot stop talking about the pork shoulder roast! I don't know if we are blessed here in Portland, Oregon with unusually inexpensive pork cuts (I hazard to guess that we are not and that pork is generally somewhat inexpensive), but I frequently pick up a bone in shoulder for $.99 a lb. and if I get a four pounder, then that good sized chunk of meat feeds a dinner party of six or else it feeds me for a week. This dinner is easily listed in the economy meals section of any cooking publication.

Every year I go camping with a bunch of beautiful people and we plan a huge family dinner together out in the woods. I volunteered to brine and barbecue the pork shoulder roast as the best and most inexpensive way to feed my group of thirty people. Eyes lit up and smiles crooked and people started cheering when I mentioned that I could quit easily do barbecued pork tacos for the group. My vegetarian friends sat and silently yearned for my famous pork tacos.

So first thing I did was to keep an eye out for when the sale comes around and buy four big portions of the bone in pork shoulder roast. Each shoulder is somewhere around four pounds. Into the freezer they go until needed. Sure it takes a couple of days to thaw out, but with proper planning that is merely a fore thought. So the process starts many days before the camping trip actually begins.

The four hunks of pork shoulder roast were tossed into a basic brine, with some added chili flakes for twenty four hours. After I took the from the brine I patted them dry and put a little spicy, Mexican dry rub on them and tossed them on the barbecue with the coals shunted to the side to create indirect heat. After about an hour and a half I began to hover around the barbecue, occasionally prodding and probing the pork shoulder roast with me my meat thermometer.

I allowed the pork shoulder roast to reach 155 degrees, pulled it and allowed it to rest and cool. I then picked it apart and bagged the meat to go into the refrigerator until we departed for camp the next day. When the time came for dinner we brought out all the salsas, started frying corn tortillas, heated up the vegetarian black beans. I decanted the pork shoulder roast into a cast iron skillet, heated it up, and enjoyed a very lovely, delicious and inexpensive dinner out in the forest.

How to Find the Best Appetizer Recipes for a Party

Sometimes, organizing a party can be a very difficult task: you have to decorate the place you are going to use for the party, you have to select the music your guests will be listening to and you have to choose the dishes you will serve to your guests. The most difficult of all is to find simple appetizer recipes which must be delicious, easy to cook and prepared in a very short time.

Complicated appetizer recipes are difficult to cook and do not allow you to enjoy the party. This is why the best you can do is to look for the easiest recipes. The most important of all is to use your imagination and to be creative. Your guests will appreciate the taste and the flavor that your appetizers have and not the way they were cooked. You just have to know how to create the perfect mix of texture and taste. You just have to use the right ingredients to meet all your guests food preferences. This is why, the best you can do before organizing a party is to ask your guests about their preferences: ask them if they are vegetarians or which are their favorite dishes. This way you will not fail and you will make them all happy.

If you do not want to ask your guests for their preferences and you wish to surprise them, choose appetizer recipes which can satisfy any taste: look for appetizer recipes which contain vegetables, fruits and meat. Prepare different platters, such as cheese platters, vegetables platters and different types of meat platters. This way you can be sure that your guests will be impressed and will appreciate the fact that you have been thinking about them. Use your imagination and impress your guests by decorating your platters with parsley leaves, tomato slices or lemon slices.

They will look good and your guests will love them. If you do not have time to cook and prepare the dishes for you party, you can also look for already cooked ones. You can find them in supermarkets: some of them are fresh and you just have to display them on platters and some of them are frozen and you have to use the microwave to prepare them. Either way, it will last just a few minutes. Still, the best solution is to order your appetizers from a catering company: Appetizers To Go are probably the best choice. You can be sure that your guests will love them because they taste deliciously, they look great and they are fresh and healthy too.

Italian Cuisine

Italian cuisine is undoubtedly one of the best known and appreciated in the world and restaurants serving Italian cuisine in the world among the most popular by far, though often they have lost their ties with the homeland and the plates, therefore, have taken a local results, with crippling sometimes bordering on comedy.

The great strength of Italian cuisine, and, paradoxically, also its limit, is the great diversity that characterizes it. The cuisine of most states has a variety moving from region to region according to differences in climate, land, and the historical ones. In Italy these factors is extremely varied and diverse, have brought Italian cuisine to what it is, a kitchen that is very different by simply moving a few hundred miles.

The differences in climate and land are obvious: it goes from the Alps, with typical mountain climate, the Po Valley, continental climate, the hills of central, coastal areas, up to the southern regions and islands, with their temperate climate. These differences have an impact not only on the available raw material (for example the fish on the coast, inland to the flesh), but also on processed products. Think of a product used in the classic Italian cuisine such as sausages. In Emilia Romagna there is a humid climate with cold winters perfect for seasoning meats, which allows a minimal addition of salt and then the production of sausages and "soft", in Tuscany the unfavorable environment requires the use of much salt, in the south has forced the addition of even more aggressive seasonings like chili pepper and other spices, to ensure the conservation and cover any unpleasant flavors of the meat.

The factor that most influenced Italian cuisine is, however, the historical one: the tumultuous history of our country, made up of continuous invasions and a high degree of fragmentation in the states and small states has led to a great cultural diversity which has greatly influenced the cuisine of each area. For example, dishes and typical cuisine of Emilia are Lombard and French-style, cow's meat and pork, butter and milk. Entering Romagna, just out from the province of Bologna, traditional cuisine changes radically: the cheeses are sheep, sheep meat is consumed so much, and you use the extra virgin olive oil. The boundary that determines those differences is what divides the state of the Church and Lombard rule, first tied to the traditions of pastoralism and cultivation of the second related to the breeding of cattle. Such examples, there are dozens, all over the Italian territory, and that is why Italian food has become what it is, a collection of dozens of local and regional cuisines.

The disadvantage of not having a national cuisine Italian

The French do not deny we have a national cuisine, a true "Italian cuisine", but had only a strong local cuisine, based on the "grandma's dishes, so good, but certainly not refined. No accident that the great dishes of Italian cuisine famous around the world are actually simple dishes to fast food, like pizza or classic cuisine of the poor, such as pasta with tomato sauce. In contrast, the French cuisine is recognized as a great and fine cuisine with its rich national dishes: the great pastries, great dishes of meat, great cheese, egg dishes, etc.. In other words, less variety, but with major "pillars".

Using Video to Get More Traffic to Your Website

One thing that has happened over the past couple of years is the dramatic increase in the popularity of video on the web. This has happened as more and more people get faster and faster connections and video compression, hosting, capture and marketing capabilities have improved.

So, as a marketer, what can you do to integrate video into your site and how can you use video marketing to get more traffic to your website?

That's what this article is all about...

The Quickest Easiest Way To Create Video

There are tons of video cameras out there in the marketplace, and as time goes by they are getting easier and easier to use. However, of all the fun and easy cameras I've seen, there is one that stands head and shoulders about the rest, and that is the FLIP camera by PureDigital. You can find them by doing a search on Google, and I have to tell you that once you get one and start using it, you're going to get addicted!

The FLIP is perfect because you have so little that can go wrong. It has a big red button that you punch to start and stop recording, a little video screen to monitor what you're filming, a great built in mic that captures the sound, and that's pretty much it. Push the button, point the camera like a point and shoot digital still camera and you're shooting video! Pretty simple, huh?

Getting Your Video Onto Your Computer

Video capture, getting it from the camera to your computer, can be a hassle with some cameras, which is another huge advantage of the FLIP. The FLIP has a button you push and wooooosh, out pops a USB connector that you can plug directly into any available USB slot on your computer. And... voila, you are connected.

Transferring Your Video To Your Computer

Having plugged your FLIP camera into your USB slot on your computer, now you just open like any other external hard drive and copy the files over to your computer. Easy as pie.

Editing Your Videos

You can edit your videos using the software that comes with the FLIP camera, but I prefer to do it using video editing software that already comes installed on your Windows computer. Go to your Start Menu and under programs look for MovieMaker. It's a very cool, east-to-use program that you can figure out how to work without a manual and you can use it to cut, split, add titles and do other cool stuff to your videos.

There are other video editing programs out there. You can download a free copy of Vegas as a trial download from Sony's website, and Adobe makes a great video editing solution that includes timelines, tele-prompters, stock music and other goodies. It's called Visual Communicator (silly name, but great software) and it can give you a really polished look. But, hey, I like free stuff, so for me MovieMaker works just fine.

For you Mac types, there's iMovie, which is the bomb diggity MacIntish editing software for ease of use and lack of high cost.

Once you have your video shot, captured and edited, what's next?

Pushing Your Video To The World

After you have your video in the format you want it in, the next step is to get it out to the world so everyone can see what an awesome director and videographer you are, oh, and also they can see your stuff and hopefully like it enough to want to go to your website and find out more about you and whatever you are marketing.

Of course, you can upload your videos to YouTube, and you definitely should. Word on the street is that a full 10% of all web traffic these days is going to YouTube. Even if you don't have the appeal of a video like "The History of Dance" (you have to search that one, it's amazing), or the intrigue of a skateboarding dog, you can still find your niche, and your viewership.

Be sure your video doesn't contain any inappropriate content (see the YouTube guidelines) and be sure that it is under 10 minutes in length. If you find your video is too long, just go into MovieMaker or iMovie and split it into two videos.

Follow the easy upload instructions on YouTube and as soon as it's uploaded and processed, you can start watching it online.

Soul Food Recipes Update - Why is Hip Hop Soul Food the Fastest Growing Trend?

Hip hop soul food is an emerging cuisine made for today's active urban lifestyle.You've heard of hip hop music, clothing and videos. Right? Now this new fast growing cuisine is emerging from this dynamic modern day movement.

Soul food recipes have been a long time southern food favorite, enjoyed by many. But this southern cuisine is not your traditional southern food of past. Hip hop soul food is different in many ways. Now it's lighter and simpler. For example, lighter cooking methods and ingredients is offered to quietly make this a popular cuisine among today's young hip hop generation as well as baby boomers.

What Exactly is This New Trend and What's Behind It

Tasty dishes that's creative but uncomplicated is the hallmark behind this new trend in cuisine. Included are fresh ingredients, not overcooked, but cooked just enough to bring out the flavor of the dishes. Also included are natural seasonings, herbs and spices that enhance the flavor of the food without overpowering it.

With today's fast food and microwave generation, cuisine is a refreshing and healthier change as it gets more young people to eat healthier and lighter. According to the latest government health statistics this is one of the most overweight generations in history.

Hip hop soul food is one solution to the (pardon the pun) growing problem of obesity. A increasing number of young celebrities, sports stars and of course hip hop artist continue to flock to this tasty urban cuisine. Many love it for its tasty, satisfying and health -friendly benefits. "The fact that I can eat it, feel satisfied and not feel weighed down like I do with traditional southern food is what I like most," claims one young fan.

Cooking Techniques and Ingredients Involved

Most of the more popular hip hop soul food dishes include chicken, black beans, brown rice, seafood as well as traditional soul food dishes, such as collard greens, black-eyed peas cabbage and other dishes. However, the cooking techniques are healthier. You'll find more steaming, baking, roasting and stir-frying in the menus and very little if any deep fat frying, for example.

A Delicious Recipe for Caldo Verde

I have never been to Portugal, but I have eaten Portuguese food in large quantities on the other side of the world. As I have mentioned before in this column, I lived for many years in Hong Kong, which is situated on the south China coast, on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary. Just across the way, on the west bank of this great river, lies Macau which, until 1999, was a Portuguese colony. Indeed, it had been Portuguese since the 16th century. It was a place full of narrow, little streets, Baroque churches and here and there, eye-catching, ochre-coloured, public buildings. It was very different than Hong Kong with its towering skyscrapers and frenetic pace of life and during the 1990s, my wife and I often escaped there for weekends.

Macau was also seedy and run-down but it had character and, above all, it had good, Portuguese restaurants. It is there that I first encountered caldo verde, which means nothing more than, green broth. This soup probably is to Portuguese cuisine what Irish stew is to that of Ireland and I suspect that every Portuguese mammy has her own recipe for what is a national dish.

In its purest form, caldo verde contains nothing more than potatoes, garlic, couve gallego (a type of kale) and water. Over the years, other ingredients have been added to such an extent that it now sometimes bears little resemblance to its peasant progenitor. I love caldo verde for its potato flavour combined with the bitter taste of winter greens. It does not pay dividends to stray too far from its rustic origins. The recipe which follows has, I believe, the right balance. I recommend it to you as appropriate fare for these cold, winter days. As with all soups, it can be eaten as a starter but, served with good, crusty bread, it is a meal in itself.

900g floury potatoes

1.5l vegetable stock

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

250g chorizo

500g kale or savoy cabbage*

3-4 tablespoons olive oil (optional)

Simple Little Pie

Thanksgiving is the best time of the year to roll out the pies. A few years back, I used to make about 6 pies, my neighbor's husband was in Iraq, and I felt bad that she had to spend Thanksgiving without her sweetheart, so I had my husband truck over an apple pie. My other neighbors used to give me Gilfeather turnips and I returned the favor with a pie, and still another couple who were on a fixed budget, I sent a pie. There is something so cathartic about giving.

Pies differ from area to area, I don't go to Oklahoma for a authentic Key Lime Pie, or to California for a Michigan Cherry Pie. My parents live in Maine and that is the farthest north you can get on the east coast. Maine is synonymous with blueberries. When I go to Maine, I want blueberry pie packed thick with tart Wild Maine blueberries, and for unexplained reasons the crunchy breakfast cereal Grape-Nuts has made it's way into pie from Presque Isle to Kennebunkport. Traveling south the Apple pie begins to make its debut. Vermont, New Hampshire and New York are prime growing areas for apples. Apple pie can be double crusted or Crumb, which is my favorite.

As we travel into Amish/ Pennsylvania Dutch country the Shoo-Fly pie is common. It is a mixture of molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter, some pies are considered wet-bottomed meaning there is a sweet filling and then a crumb topping, or dry-bottom the crumb topping is folded into the filling. The unique thing about this pie is that all ingredients can keep without refrigeration. The name came about by the bakers having to shoo the flies away, because the flies were attracted to the sugar.

As we cross the Mississippi River, heading south into Virginia, pie makers compete for the best Sweet potato pie, yams or sweet potatoes were cultivated in the area since the 1600's. The sweet potato is treated much in the same fashion as the pumpkin pie resulting in a silky spicy custard. Moving a little west we enter the Volunteer state where soul food like egg custard pies and buttermilk pies are popular, motoring into the Music City, Nashville has taken the custard pie a step further by adding sweet toasted coconut. The difference is they make a rich pastry cream on the stove, instead of baking the custard in the oven. Folding it with copious amounts of coconut and decadent whipped cream.

Georgia is known for their peaches, and what better way to celebrate Georgia than having a piece of peach pie, what is also surprising is that Georgia is one of the top manufacturers of pecans and pecan pie. The pride of Atlanta, Georgia is Lemon icebox pie, which is the northern cousin of Key lime Pie from Key West, Florida. It is made with lemon juice, eggs and condensed milk. We round out our Eastern seaboard pie quest with, of course Key Lime Pie. The key lime arrived in the Keys with the Spanish in the 1500's, and was described as a confused lemon. Having features of both the lemon and the lime. Surprisingly hurricanes wiped out all traces of the actual key lime. You now, must know someone who knows someone to get an authentic key lime.

In the Midwest, the area still has shadows of their resourcefulness. Settlers developed the land with fruit trees and Yankee ingredients were in short supply. In Michigan they have tart Michigan cherries, made into delicious to die for cherry pies. Pies used less flour than bread and cakes, and could be cooked in fireplaces. Hoosier pie or Indian sugar cream pie was a very simple dessert consisting only of cream sugar and flour. Persimmons and paw paws are made into pies in the Midwest. Persimmons are an unusual fruit in that they ripen towards the end of the fall, and have a pumpkin apricot flavor, is cooked in the same way as a pumpkin. Paw Paws were important to the native Indians and take experience to work with them. They are cross between banana, pineapple and mango and are used in custards. Honorable mention is the Bean pie created in Chicago, made with navy beans.

Pies that have no home or an area to call their own, are pies that are made all over the United States and each state can trace the history of such a pie. Pumpkin pie it is said to have been created near Plymouth plantation, however the pie has made its rounds all over the U.S. Lemon Meringue pie, is said to have originated in the South, however lemons are known to grow out west. Pecans lay claim to Georgia, but Texas might dispute that. Washington might be a little upset about the origin of the Cherry Pie, but I am sure Michigan will debate it. The grand daddy of the pie debate hands down has to be the Apple pie. Apples grow all over the United States, and every pie aficionado from California to Maine claim the best apple pie. It is up for debate! The important thing is that Pie was created. The pie that I am going to share is a blend of pies that I have created in my life. I love pie crust, however I love the cookie crumb crust better.