We published a number of Whole30 recipes to document our journey this month, but many things we had were just not enough to make a whole post out of so we thought we’d include a few of those as well.
Sous Vide Pork Chops
We get a lot of mileage out of our Anova Sous Vide. From wings to the most tender flank steak you will have have, it’s one of our secret weapons. We sealed up our chops and sous vide them with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper for 2 hours at 155°. When finished, we threw them in a screaming hot cast iron skillet with a little avocado oil just to get a sear on the outside. They were medium-well+ and delicious. To accompany the chops, we made mashed potatoes with compliant chicken stock and ghee and roasted Brussels sprouts seasoned with The Spice Hunter seasoning.
Sous Vide Chicken Wings
We were invited to a party and would never inconvenience hosts by having to cook something special for us so we brought our own! We’ve made these wings a number of times and it again relies on our sous vide. And we knew it’d appeal to the crowd because…chicken wings!
We got a giant package of wings and patted and dry generously and salted and peppered them. We then placed them in individual bags to vacuum seal as our sous vide heated water up to 150°. Once at temperature, we dropped the wings in for 2 hours. After removing from the bags, we threw them on a screaming hot grill. To finish we sprinkled with a generous amount of Brock Blend (see below) and made a hot sauce with Frank’s Hot Sauce and a compliant Ranch Dressing Recipe.
BROCK BLEND
From Sean Brock’s Heritage Cookbook
- ¼ cup white vinegar powder
- ¼ cup piment d'Espelette
- 3 ½ tablespoons Kosher Salt
- 3 ½ tablespoons bee pollen
- Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Store in tightly sealed jar.
- We place bee pollen in mortar and pestle and crush to make finer.
Products We Love
We’ve been introduced to a number of new products already this month. To keep yourself satisfied, you need to find work-arounds to replace the flavor enhancers you’re used to using. Here’s a few of our favorites so far:
We’ve been hooked on nutritional yeast for a while. Sprinkling it on roasted vegetables or topping our popcorn with it has been the main use. A local chef tops his nightly popcorn with it and salt, then uses what collects at the bottom of his serving bowl to make a killer sauce to top chicken with. Use it anywhere you would use parmesan cheese
Our Anova Sous Vide has been working hard for us for over a year now (They’re much cheaper now too!). Visit Serious Eats for their Flank Steak technique and it will change your world. And you never have to worry about over cooking a steak again. You’ll also want to pick up a handy vacuum sealer and bulk bag rolls really save a lot of money.
We’d been eyeballing a vegetable spiralizer for a long time but didn’t pull the trigger until Whole30. Turn vegetables into pseudo-oodles as a replacement for carb-laden noodles. Or just zoodle up some potatoes to deep-fry into curly fries if you’re not watching your diet!
Yeah, yeah, you hear about Olde Virden’s a lot from us. They don’t pay us, but we not only love their all-pepper spices with no salt, sugar or anything other than peppers, but they are great people that we’re friends with. Oh and we took this product photo!
As most of the world knows, La Croix rocks! And it’s become even more addictive on Whole30. When the craving for a soda or cold beer hits, we chug an ice cold tangerine or grapefruit sparkling water.
Coconut Aminos don’t really taste like coconut at all. You can read about Mr. KnoxFoodie’s feelings on the matter. But you definitely want to get a bottle (or case) of this before starting Whole30.
We’re going to make some compliant bacon, but when you go searching for bacon in the store, or any cured meats really, you’ll see that almost all contain sugar or some other disallowed ingredient. Proscuitto is a good choice and this bacon that Whole Foods sells is delicious if a little under-salted.
