I just had a great birthday weekend. Had all the grandkids here, which is always a fun time.

I have been hearing about Swineapple lately, I have seen it on Face Book, in groups and on Pinterest. Well for my birthday we decided to try it.  Bill fired up the smoker and did ribs and Swineapple.

 I will start with the swineapple.

You need

 a pineapple

pork loin, boneless ribs or equivalent. (I used boneless pork chops, best I could do in the middle of no where)

Package of thick sliced bacon

toothpicks (we were out so I use wooden skewers cut down to size)

salt, pepper and any other seasoning you want. (I used Jack Daniels Swineapple sauce)

Cut the bottom off the pineapple, but hold on to it, you will put it back on to help hold the meat.

Hollow out the pineapple (leave the top with leaves on), then stand pineapple upright and using a sharp knife slicing downward peel the skin off the pineapple.

 

Next, season your pork, then stuff it into the pineapple. Once it is stuffed, use your toothpicks (or cut down wooden skewers, which I soaked in water, in my case) and secure the bottom of the pineapple back on it.

Then wrap it up with bacon, again using the toothpicks/skewers to secure them in place.

At this point we put them in the smoker. DO NOT DO this. If I would have though about it, I would have figured it out before hand. If I were to make this again, it would go into a 350  degree oven, or in a cast iron dutch oven over a fire. Here is why. Pineapple contains an enzyme, bromelain. This enzyme breaks down protein fibers, which is why it is used as a marinade (it is also why you get a sore mouth from eating a lot of fresh pineapple). Pork should be cooked to 190 internal degrees - at the thickest part. This takes a long time in a smoker, took us close to 5 hours. Now while that pork is cooking inside the pineapple, the bromelain is working on the protein fibers in the pork.

 

 

When it was done, along with the ribs, we took it inside to slice. The ribs were to die for. The pineapple yummy, bacon great, pork - slimy. Yes, pineapple left the pork with a slimy texture, so slimy none of us could keep it in our mouths long enough to actually taste it. So, please, if you want to do this, either use another cooking source, or a much higher temperature.

To cook the ribs, all we did was peel the membrane off the back of the rack of ribs (you can use a knife to get under the membrane, the just use your hand a grab and pull it off. About an hour before they were to go into the smoker, they were sprinkled with salt and left to stand. Then just before smoking we added a rub. If you will paint them with oil (we use olive) it will help your rub adhere and crust. I just through together a rub this time (1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. brown sugar, a T. each; garlic powder, onion powder & paprika.) We have a huge assortment of ready made rubs, check your grocer, or online (Amazon has a ton). The ribs went into the smoker.

We kept the smoker around 250, used hickory chunks and spritzed the meat often with apple juice in a spray bottle. It is a gas smoker. Ribs were heaven.

Veggies were our side. A lot of veggies. Roasted in the oven which brings out their sweetness.



 

You can use any assortment of veggies. We did sweet potatoes, white potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, onion, peppers, carrots, mushrooms and a few tomatoes. Cut them in chunks, cutting slower cooking veggies (potatoes, carrots, etc) in smaller pieces than quick cooking one (mushrooms, squash, etc.). We put them on a cookie sheet. I drizzled olive oil over them, my two little helpers added sea salt and coarse ground pepper. We gave it all a toss and stuck it in the oven, about 350 or so for about an hour - time will depend on how big your pieces are. They are so good, even the 2 little ones loved them.

Dessert was Mississippi Mud Cake (the recipe is under the recipe tab), and the kids made ice cream in a bag to go with it.

Ice Cream in a Bag

1 gal. freezer zipper bag
1 quart freezer zipper bag

1 cup milk (or half n half or cream)
1 scant t. vanilla
1 T. sugar

ice
salt, rock is best but any will do, just be generous with it.

Mix milk, vanilla and sugar in quart bag and seal. Add ice to about half way in gallon bag, add plenty of salt, then drop sealed quart bag into ice bag, seal and squish, shake, whatever, just mix it up good. The ice cream is done when it thick, like ice cream. Store left overs in fridge. The older kids had made this a school when they were young, but it was new to the younger ones. We will be doing it again when we go camping in a few weeks.

We even managed to squeeze in a family swim while the smoker was going.

Perfect weekend!