Different from our earlier quick potato hash recipe, this version of the breakfast classic adds sausage for use as a robust full breakfast rather than just a starchy side dish.  Whether you’re a die-hard carnivore looking to have game meat in the morning or just someone looking for a protein-rich breakfast to keep you going until late in the day, this hearty recipe is sure to satisfy.

Drink Pairings: Bloody Mary

Ingredients: (Makes 2 Servings)
½ Yellow Onion, sliced
3oz Thin Cut Bacon, sliced (we used Magalitsa Bacon for extra richness)
¼ Potatoes, medium diced (we used whole heirloom “spud nuts” for fun)
2 Uncooked Game Sausages, casings removed (we used Garlic & Marsala Wild Boar Sausage)
2 Eggs
½ Roasted Red Pepper, finely diced

Instructions:
1. Partially caramelize the onion slices (how to caramelize onions) to a light brown.

2. Remove the onions, add the bacon slices, cook them over low heat until their fat has rendered out and they’ve crisped up.

3. When the bacon has rendered, remove it from the pan, leaving as much fat behind as possible.

4. Add the potatoes and pan fry in the bacon fat until tender.

5. Remove the potatoes from the pan with a slotted spoon. Add the sausage meat to the pan and break it up into small pieces. Increase the heat to saute the sausage meat.

6. When the sausage is cooked through, return the potatoes, onions, and bacon to the pan along with the pepper and cook just long enough to heat them through.

7. Heat some oil in a cast iron skillet and fry the eggs sunny side up.

8. Serve the hash alongside the sunny-side up eggs.

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Mangalitsa Pork Recipes
Sausage Recipes
Potato Recipes

Ingredients:   (Makes approximately 12 bruschetta)
¼ lb of Bacon, sliced into sticks
2 medium Yellow Onions, thinly sliced
8 Cherrystone Clams (Quahogs), steamed open (how to steam clams)
1 tbsp Fresh Thyme, chopped, plus extra for garnish
Top Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
French Bread

Directions:
1. Add the bacon to a pan and cook over medium-low heat to render out the fat.

2. Once the bacon has been rendered, remove it from the pan & reserve.  Caramelize the onions in the bacon fat.

3. Pull the clams from their shells and roughly chop them, removing any of the membrane that’s clinging to the meat and any particularly tough muscles.

4. Stir together the bacon, onions, clams and thyme.

5. Thinly slice the French bread and top with the clam mixture. Toast until the surface is browned. 

6. Drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with extra thyme.  Serve.

Sweet-spicy-crispy bacon, beefy Kobe hot dogs & a cool, creamy Greek-inspired cucumber yogurt sauce.  This is quite a hot dog.

Drink Pairing: Xynomavro from Greece or German Riesling

Ingredients:    (Makes 10 Servings)
10 strips of Peppered Bacon
½ Cucumber, peeled & diced
10 Kobe Beef Hot Dogs  (could substitute Bison Frankfurters)
Celery Salt for garnish
1 cup Greek Style Yogurt
10 Hot Dog Buns of choice (we recommend brioche buns if you can find them)
½ Shallot, finely minced
1 tsp Fresh Dill, minced
Olive Oil

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the brown sugar, chile flakes and black pepper.

3. Lay the bacon strips out on a sheet pan covered with a layer of tin foil and coat them with the chile-pepper-sugar mixture.

4. Mix together the yogurt, cucumber, dill, and shallot. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed.

5. Roast the bacon in the oven for about 12 minutes, until crisped to your liking.

6. Clean & oil your grill.

7. Brush your buns with olive oil.

8. Grill the hot dogs & the buns.

9. Spread the cucumber yogurt mixture on the buns, then top it with a slice of glazed bacon.  Add a grilled hotdog, shake on some celery salt & serve.

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Bellies & Bacon Recipes

Braising is a surprisingly easy cooking technique that can be used to turn affordable cuts of meat into meltingly tender, succulent treats.  The basic idea is to slow roast a tougher cut of meat in a pot with a small amount of flavorful liquid until the connective tissue breaks down and melts into the sauce. 

The braised dish Americans are most familiar with is probably pot roast, but it is also often used for braised lamb shanks, Italian osso bucco, and short ribs.

Check out our Braising Liquid Recipes for some great options, all perfect for this technique.

Basic Braising Technique:

1.  Remove the meat from your refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.

2.  Dry off any surface moisture & season the meat with salt & pepper.

3.  Get a thin layer of oil in an oven-safe pot or Dutch oven very hot on the stove.

4.  Carefully lay the meat into the oil and sear it on all sides to develop a flavorful brown crust.

5.  Once all your meat has been seared on all sides, remove it from the pot and set aside.  Reduce the heat to low and add vegetables (often carrots, onions, and celery (aka mirepoix)).

6.  Sweat the vegetables (sauté to release their flavor and aroma, but not take on color) until soft.

7.  Deglaze the plan with a flavorful liquid or combination of liquids.  Commonly used liquids include alcohol (usually red wine, but some recipes may call for beer or fortified wines) and stock or broth.

8.  Gently scrape the bottom of your pan while simmering the liquid to release the flavorful browned bits.  Once the liquid has reduced somewhat, add any herbs (thyme, rosemary and bay leaves are popular choices).

9.  Return the meat to the pan, add the lid, and move it to the stove to slowly cook for several hours over low heat.  Alternatively, you could do your braising in a pressure cooker on the stovetop, which will cook your meat significantly faster. 

Good Meat Cuts for Braising:
Bellies
Cheeks
Ribs (particularly short ribs)
Roasts
Shanks and Osso Bucco

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Culinary Techniques
Meat Recipes
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Leaving the pearl onions only lightly cooked gives this salad a crisp consistency and, together with the mustard and vinegar, a little bite.  It doesn’t taste heavily of bacon, there’s just enough in here to give it a bit of smoke and richness.

Ingredients:                           Makes Eight Servings
1lb Heirloom Potatoes (we particularly recommend Austrian Crescent Fingerling Potatoes)
1/4lb Bacon, diced
1 tbsp + 1/3rd of a cup Olive Oil, plus extra if needed
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme Sprigs
2 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard
1/4th cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tbsp Fresh Chives, chopped
6 Pearl Onions
3 whole sprigs Fresh Rosemary + 1 tbsp chopped leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook the diced bacon with the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat until the fat has rendered out and the pieces have crisped.  Reserve the bacon & fat.

3. Cover the potatoes with cold, salted water.  Bring to a boil & cook until al dente.  Drain.

4. Add the pearl onions to a small pot of cold water and bring it just to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally to dunk the onions.  Pour off the water and let the onions cool.  Peel & halve them.

5. Halve the potatoes and return them to the now dry pot.  Add the 1/3rd cup of olive oil, whole thyme sprigs, fresh rosemary sprigs, salt & pepper.  Toss to combine & top with foil.

6. Move the pot to the oven to briefly roast until potatoes are completely tender.  Check periodically, and add more olive oil if needed to keep the pan from drying out.

7. Once the potatoes are done, remove the pan from the oven.  Discard the rosemary sprigs & pour off about 1/3rd cup of the olive oil into a bowl.

9. While the potatoes are still warm, stir into the 1/3rd cup of oil the whole grain mustard, chives, chopped rosemary, bacon, 2 tbsp of the rendered bacon fat, pearl onions and apple cider vinegar.  Return the flavored oil to the pan with the potatoes & stir to combine.

10. Use a slotted spoon to the potato salad on to a plate or into a bowl. Serve.

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Potato Recipes
Bacon Recipes

Perhaps the ultimate breakfast sandwich, this one is hearty, creamy, with a little sweetness and a hint of spice from the peppered bacon.  At a recent photo shoot, it was how we used some of the leftover ingredients.

Drink Pairing: Mimosa or Bloody Mary

Ingredients:                     (Makes 1 Sandwich)
2 strips Peppered Bacon
10-12 Quail Eggs
Roll of choice (we highly recommend brioche rolls)
Fresh Chives or Micro Chives for garnish (optional)

1. Get a seasoned cast-iron skillet or sauté pan hot on the stove.

2. Mince the bacon and add to a pan over medium heat briefly to render out some of the remaining fat.  Crack the quail eggs into a bowl. 

3. Gently pour in the quail eggs and season with salt and pepper.

4. Once the egg whites have set, flip them as one piece with a spatula.  Cook briefly until the yolks are cooked to your preference.

5. Cut the egg “patty” as necessary to get it to fit in the bun.  If desired, garnish with chives or micro chives.  Serve.

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Quail Egg Recipes
Bellies & Bacon Recipes

Even though it’s much leaner than pork belly, wild boar belly has a richer, more complex flavor, especially when braised.  Pairing it with an acidic frisee salad balances that richness for a not-too-filling and and oh-so-satisfying dish.  Any type of pork can be substituted for the wild boar in this recipe.

Drink Pairings: Alsatian Riesling or Australian Semillon

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
8 oz Braised Wild Boar Belly with reserved braising liquid
1 large Shallot, sliced thin
3 oz Pancetta, sliced into sticks/batons
1 tbsp Champagne Vinegar
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Baguette
1 clove of Garlic, cut in half
2 heads of Frisee
Sea salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a pan over medium low heat, render the pancetta (saute until the pancetta is crispy and the fat has been released).

2. Reserve the pancetta, and add the sliced shallot to the fat in the pan.  Sauté until the shallot is slightly browned.

3. Add the honey and let it cook for about three minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Return the pancetta to the pan, and stir in the vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.  Taste and add more oil/vinegar/salt/pepper if necessary.  This is your vinaigrette.

5. Thickly slice the baguette, and rub each slice with the clove of garlic and some olive oil.

6. Grill the baguette slices.

7. Cut the ends of the frisee, separate it into bunches.  Put in a bowl with salt and a little olive oil.  Toss to coat.

8. Cut the boar belly into 2oz pieces.  Put it in a pan with a small amount of the braising liquid.  Simmer to reheat it and reduce the liquid to a glaze.

9. Plate the belly with the frisee and baguette.  Sauce both the belly and the frisee with the vinaigrette.  Serve.

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Wild Boar Recipes
Bellies & Bacon Recipes

We thought the porcini and caramelized onion kobe burger recipe was as decadent as burgers got. 

We were wrong. 

Really, the ingredients list below speaks for itself, but if you’re having difficult imagining the final flavor, imagine this: rich, buttery mangalitsa bacon, balanced with crisp lettuce and tangy pickled onions, overrun with a smooth, creamy egg yolk which blends the flavor of the toppings into the intense beefiness of the Kobe. 

Take your first bite sitting down, lest you be overcome and fall into a swoon.

Bacon Burgers with Sunny Side Up Duck Eggs and Pickled Onions

Drink Pairings: Beaujolais wine or Lambrusco

Ingredients:
Burger Patties (we used Kobe beef burgers)
2 slices per burger, Bacon (we highly recommend buttery unsmoked Mangalitsa Bacon, but you use any variety)
1 Duck Egg per burger (could substitute chicken eggs)
1 leaf per burger, Butter Lettuce
Mayonnaise
Brioche Buns

Plus: Quick Pickled Onions to taste (how to pickle onions)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Cover a baking pan with a layer of foil or parchment paper and lay out the bacon slices.

3.  Place the bacon in the oven and roast until cooked and just slightly pliable.

4.  Carefully remove the pan from the oven and set it aside.  Turn off the oven.

5. Grill the burgers (the best way to grill burgers)

6. While the burgers are grilling, fry the eggs sunny side up in an oiled skillet and toast the brioche buns.  Place the cooked bacon on the grill briefly to reheat it.

7.  Once the burgers have finished grilling, put them on the toasted buns, and top each with a fried egg, two slices of bacon, and drained pickled onions. 

8.  Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the top of each bun.  Add a single leaf of butter lettuce and serve.

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Burger & Slider Recipes
Ground Meat Recipes
Belly & Bacon Recipes
Mangalitsa Pork Recipes
Kobe Beef Recipes

Ingredients:          (Makes 4-5 servings)
11 Eggs
4 tbsp Stinging Nettle Pesto
Bacon to taste                   (to make it even better, why not use mangalitsa bacon?)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Make your pesto.

2. Scramble your egg(s) with a fork or whisk.

3. Stir the pesto into the eggs.

4. Cook your bacon in a large skillet, then remove it to set of paper towels on a plate to drain.  Cover to keep it warm.

5. Drain off the excess bacon fat and pour your pesto eggs into the pan.

5. Cook the eggs over medium heat to your desired consistency, moving them around with a spatula so that all the egg cooks.

6. Serve with the bacon and fruit, toast, hashbrowns or whatever other breakfast foods strike your fancy.

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Nettle Recipes
Wild Produce Recipes

Mire Poix & Tomato Paste Braising Liquid

i. Add 1.5 cups mire poix to dutch oven stirring occasionally, until caramelized
ii. Add a teaspoon of tomato paste, stir into mire poix and cook for a couple minutes
iii. Add cup of red wine
iv. Scrape the pan to release the fond
v. Reduce liquid by half to three-quarters, or until the liquid is thick.
vi. Once the braising liquid is thick, return osso bucco to pan. Rub the osso bucco in the liquid, then flip it over, rub the other side in the liquid and let sit.
vii. Add simmering stock to the braising pan. Add enough stock to cover meat half-way or you can cover the meat completely, depending on how much liquid you want in the final dish.

Port & Red Wine Braising Liquid
i. Add a tablespoon of butter to the dutch oven
ii. Add a sliced onion and cook on high until browned
iii. Deglaze with cup each of port and red wine
iv. Reduce by ¼
v. Add 1 bay leaf and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme
vi. Return the meat to the pan
vii. Add 2 cups of simmering demi-glace

Classic Italian Braising Liquid

i. Add 1 cup mire poix, 3 whole garlic cloves and ¼ leeks
ii. Sweat the vegetables, but do not caramelize.
iii. Add 1 large sprig each of thyme and rosemary
iv. Add half-bottle of red wine (Brunello)
v. Add quart of simmering veal stock
vi. Do not reduce.

Garlic & Tomatoes Braising Liquid
i. Add 1.5 cups mire poix and 2 minced cloves garlic. Brown slightly.
ii. Deglaze with 1.5 cups of red wine
iii. Add a sprig each of rosemary and thyme
iv. Add 2 large cubed roma tomatoes
v. Reduce to cook down the tomatoes and until the liquid thickens a bit.

Coconut Milk Braising Liquid

i. Add ½ cup onion and 3 tablespoons each of garlic, jalapeno and ginger. Sweat.
ii. Add 8 oz. coconut milk & 24 oz. chicken stock

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Culinary Techniques
Sauce Recipes
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