Review and Giveaway: Michael Symon’s New Cookbook and a Delicious Pork Recipe From His Childhood

This holiday, why not take a break from filling up on turkey and tryptophan and indulge in the other white meat: pork. The National Pork Board and Chef Michael Symon have created amazing recipes perfect for holiday celebrations bursting with savory seasonal flavors.  From cinnamon to pumpkin, Chef Symon’s recipes include flavors that everyone will enjoy and techniques that enhance the taste and texture of your dish.

In order to create a perfect holiday pork dish, we received “Pork’s Perfect Pairing Holiday” which included a wide range of tools and gifts to aid in cooking our meal. We received a gift card to purchase pork, an assortment of aromatic spices perfect for holiday cooking, a holiday serving platter to add style to a celebration, a signed copy of Michael Symon’s new cookbook (my personal favorite), a digital meat thermometer, Hershey’s chocolate (as chocolate and pork make a great combo) and two festive aprons. Many people tend to overcook pork, but with a digital meat thermometer you can monitor the temperature for the perfect moisture and heat.

One of the pork dishes I am most looking forward to making during this holiday season comes from Michael Symon’s Live to Cook- Recipes and Techniques to Rock your Kitchen. His Creamed Corn with Bacon side dish offers up great, delicious comfort food dish. Of all the iron chefs on the Food Network, Michael Symon never fails to impress with his brilliant twists on classic dishes.

Here’s one of my favorite recipes he shares, with this background on the recipe: “Ohio sweet corn is the best in the world and I like to feature it in a dish that to me is about childhood comforts. This has great flavors not only from the corn, but also from bacon and, importantly from a stock I make from the cobs. Cobs release a lot of sweetness from the corn that remains attached after the kernels are cut- flavor that’s an important part of the dish. I also add onion, garlic, coriander, and a bay leaf to the stock, which I then use to cook the corn and bacon. The stock is reduced, then thickened and enriched with crème fraîche and finished with lime zest. I can’t think of a dish this doesn’t go with- pork, chicken, beef, fish, grilled, roasted, or sautéed- but my favorite match is sautéed scallops.”

Ohio Creamed Corn with Bacon
Serves 4 to 6
5 ears of corn
1 teaspoon of extra-virgin olive oil
¼ pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
½ recipe Corn Cob Stock  (see recipe below)
½ cup crème fraîche
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Grated zest of 1 lime

Cut the kernels from the cobs and set the kernels aside. (Use the cobs to make the stock.)

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and glaze the bottom with the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook, stirring as needed, to render the fat and brown the pieces, 5 minutes. Add the onion and sweat it for about 45 seconds. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring for another 30 seconds. Add the reserved corn and the salt and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in the corn cob stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid reduces to approximately 1 cup, 10 minutes. Add the crème fraîche and simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Stir in the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime zest. Season with salt if needed before serving.

Corn Cob Stock

6 Ears of Corn
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds, toasted ( to toast whole seeds, pour them in a dry sautee pan, tossing occasionally over medium heat until fragrant, usually 2-3 minutes)
2 quarts(8 cups )Chicken Stock or water
1 Teaspoon kosher salt

To make the Corn Cob Stock, cut the kernels from the cobs and reserve the kernels. Toss the cobs into a large pot with the onion, garlic, rosemary, coriander, stock, and salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the solids. You should have about 4 cups. The stock will keep in the refrigerator overnight.

This giveaway is now closed.

Disclosure: Mom Central received the holiday package, as well as another to share with our readers, in connection with this blog posting.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.