Smokey Barbeque Pork Sandwiches.

 Recently we bought a smoker.  This week I used it to make smokey pork sandwiches.  You start by lighting your charcoal in the smoker.

Then you take your pork and rub spices into it.

Place it in the smoker, and let it smoke with maple wood chips for several hours.

I had a really nice pink smoke ring, and tasted very nice.

We ate it on freshly made buns with bbq sauce and some cheese (for some of us).
It was GOOD!

King Cake

A few weeks ago Martin made a King cake.  I saw pictures of it and thought that it looked good.  Yesterday I looked up king cakes on google and decided to make it, as they looked very interesting.  A king cake is traditional for Mardi Gras.  It sometimes have a filling, and it is traditionally iced with 3 colours, purple, green, and gold.  The colours signify, Green for Faith, Purple for Justice, and Gold for power.  There is traditionally a small trinket or bean hidden in the cake as well.

King Cake
1/2 c. butter or margarine 

4 to 5 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. warm water
2 packages dry yeast(1/2 ounce)
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. ground nutmeg or cinnamon

Some "prize" to bake in the cake: large bean, a large button, or a plastic baby doll.  (I didn't do)

Glaze: 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 Tb. lemon juice 1 Tb. water

 Over medium heat in a large saucepan, heat the butter, milk, sugar, and salt until the butter melts and the mixture steams. Do not let it scorch. Remove from heat. Pour the warm water into a large bowl, then dissolve the yeast in it. Add the warm milk mixture, the eggs, lemon rind, nutmeg, and 2 cups of flour. Mix well until free of lumps. Stir in 2 more cups of flour. Then add more flour as needed to make a dough that hold together and is easy to handle. Dust a surface with flour, turn out dough and knead it for 5 minutes until it gets springy. Grease another large bowl, place the dough in it and cover with a cloth. Set the bowl in a warm draft-free place and let it rise until it doubles in volume, about 2 hours. Punch it down and knead it again for about 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each piece into a rope about 30 inches long. Grease a large baking sheet and carefully braid the ropes close together, curving the braid around to form and oval. Wet the ends and press them together. Push the "prize" underneath and hide it. Cover the sheet again with a towel and let the braid rise for about an hour.  Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Then bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Let the cake cool. In a small mixing bowl, blend the ingredients for the glaze well. Drizzle or paint on the top of the cake and sprinkle it with alternating colors of granulated sugar.

I made the cake and put a filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in the dough, and rolled it up jelly roll style, twisting it into an oval.  I iced it with the glaze that I had coloured into the 3 colours, I didn't use the coloured sugar.  It tastes a lot like a hot cross bun dough because of the spices I used.  I really like it.  :)