Worcestershire Sauce

Mr. Wonderful cooked me dinner one night: Cajun BBQ shrimp. I don't know why they call it BBQ shrimp when its sauteed and covered in butter sauce, but that's what it's called.  The recipe called for Worcestershire Sauce. Since I refuse to eat anything with any amount of corn syrup, even a miniscule amount, I had to make my own. Commercial Worcestershire Sauce also contains soy sauce, definitely not paleo. I searched through about 10 recipes, one dating back to 1876 (which was reprinted in 2009 in the NY Times). Food Renegade has an easy homemade Worcestershire sauce recipe. Mine is slightly less easy. In all the research I did, tamarind was one of the original main ingredients so I thought I needed it to be authentic. I don't know where to find tamarind paste, but I do know my local supermarket sells tamarind (aka tamarindo). It has a tangy flavor, so I can see why many recipes would use lemon or lime instead.

This goes great in marinades for all kinds of meat, especially steak. I also mix a table spoon of it into ground meat whenever I make burgers.

8 tamarind pods (yields about 1/4 cup tamarind paste)
1/2 cup shallots finely chopped
1 tsp coconut oil
2 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup coconut aminos
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 Tbsp Brewer's yeast
2 oz anchovies, drained
1/4 cup honey

Boil about 1-2 cups of water. Peel and devein the tamarind pods and put pulp in a bowl. Pour boiling water over tamarind pulp and let stand for 10 minutes. Once soft, separate seeds from pulp by pressing through a sieve or mesh strainer. Discard the seeds, keep the pulp.

Saute shallots in coconut oil. Once caramelized, remove from pan and put in blender. Add all of the other ingredients to the blender. Might be a good idea to chop the anchovies first, but they creeped me out, so I through them into the blender whole so the wretched creatures would be out of my site. Liquify all the ingredients and refrigerate. Should make about 3 cups.

Horseradish Mayonnaise

As seen here with crab cakes!

This is a great condiment with seafood or meat. Eat it with pastrami and eggs. Also awesome on crab cakes. This was the first time I ever used fresh horseradish root.

1 large egg
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp crushed mustard seeds
1/2 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup olive oil
4-6 inch piece of horseradish, grated with microplane.

First, you want all the ingredients to be the same temperature, so leave them all out for a few hours. In a food processor, combine egg, garlic, mustard, salt, lemon and about half of the grated horse radish. Blend everything together thoroughly. While blender is blending, slowly drizzle the olive oil in. Very slowly. When all the olive oil is in, blend for about 1 more minute. Remove mayo from food processor and mix in the remaining horseradish a little at a time until it reaches the level of spiciness you like.

Marinara Sauce

Squashetti Marinara

I'm in utter shock and awe that people actually eat tomato sauce out of a jar. I have yet to find one that tastes as good as any homemade sauce I've had, and I grew up in NYC so I've tasted a lot of homemade sauces. It's pretty simple to make and if you're pressed for time, you can do it in a slow cooker.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 bay leaf.

In a stock pot heat olive oil. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute then mix in herbs and spices. after 30 seconds, stir in balsamic and then add tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaf. Cook on a low flame for 1-2 hours. remove from heat and let cool. Discard bay leaf and puree. Reheat when ready to use. Or if you like a chunky sauce, don't puree, just serve hot.

Boar Burgers

I'm only posting this because Nikos said they were the best burgers I ever made. Most of my burger recipes are pretty generic: ground animal + vinegar + seasoning. Sometimes onions are thrown in the mix. And if I happen to have homemade Worcestershire sauce, it goes in there too.

1 lb ground boar (or pork if that's what you got. I think dark meat chicken or turkey would also work.)
1 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp homemade Worcestershire
1 tbsp Penzey's Tsardust Memories

If you don't have Tsardust Memories, combine cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic and salt into some blend of awesomeness.

I cooked these on the gas grill with applewood chips.

Quick Ketchup

Mmm, Boar Burgers!

I guess "quick" is a misnomer since the recipe calls for smoked tomatoes and they take a couple of hours too cook. I don't have a recipe for smoked tomatoes. I throw tomatoes on the grill whenever I smoke meat and keep them around for extra added awesomeness. I use them in omelets, meat toppings (great on burgers!) or in sauces. If you don't have a smoker, you can use a regular grill and wood chips. You want indirect heat and the grill temp to be 200-250 degrees. You can do it in an oven too, but I'm not sure about the wood chips so add smoked paprika or ground chipotle to give it the smoky flavor.

1 cup smoked tomatoes

Bison burger with a side of raw pickles and sauerkraut.

1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 cayenne,
1/8 tsp ground cloves
4 Tbsp vinegar (apple cider or balsamic or           whatever, doesn't matter)
Salt to taste (1/8-1/2 tsp or optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender. I used the mini blender attachment to my immersion blender.

Roo-gan Josh

Rogan Josh is an Indian Dish traditionally served with lamb. I just happened to have a small stockpile of kangaroo rumps that I ordered from Marx Foods. They only ship in bulk. I have a big freezer because I have the dream that one day I will actually go hunting for deer or javelina and I'll need some place to put it. But in the meantime, it's easier to sit at my computer and order exotic meats in bulk and have them shipped overnight.

Kangaroo is extremely lean so you're going to need to add some fat. I used lamb tallow, but coconut oil would also work.

3-4 lbs of kangaroo rump, cut into cubes
4Tbsp Penzey's Rogan Josh seasoning or make your own
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp fat, divided
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Brown the kangaroo in a cast iron skillet using 1 Tbsp of fat. I did it in 3 batches (1 tsp of fat at a time) because it was alot of freaking meat. Put meat in crock pot with all the other ingredients, except the shredded, dessicated, unsweetened coconut. Cook on low for 6 hours and add the coconut if you need to thicken up the stew.

Pastrami

Pastrami is like beef bacon, cured in brine for a week and then smoked to tasty perfection and sliced thin. Use it to top a boar burger or fry it up with some eggs. It goes nicely with sauerkraut and pickles.

1-2 lbs Brisket
4 cups water
3 tbsp kosher salt

Pickling Spice:
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp black peppercorn
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground allspice

Bring water to a boil and add salt until dissolved. Remove from heat and pickling spice ingredients. Let steep for 1 hour. Put meat in a glass baking dish and cover with brine (pickling spice and water mixture). cover and leave in fridge for at least a week, turning half way through the brining process.

Smoke at 200-250 for 2 hours, turning once. Use a mild wood, such as maple. Once done let cool. Freeze pastrami to make slicing easier. I use an electric meat slicer.