your advice needed: marinating stuff in cola

[Triple Zero]

ok, so kind of inspired by a couple of recipes i read recently, I did this:

- cut up some thick unsalted unsmoked baconmeat into bits (this meat is not nearly as exciting as real bacon, but it's cheap, and bacon flavour can be overwhelming)
- 1.5 onion in small chunks
- 2 cloves of garlic
- some spices that i thought would be a good idea: black pepper, chilli, coriander seed, cumin
- tablespoon of molasses
- half a teaspoon of mustard
- some leftover cola that wasnt fizzy anymore, enough to cover it all

now it's been marinating for an hour or two and I am not entirely decided about what to do with it yet.I could:

- add some potatoe chunks and let it simmer like a stew. i'd have to add more liquid in this case, but I'm out of cola, so that would have to be stock.
- separate it from the liquid, then fry the onion and meat. when done, deglaze using the liquid. prepare potatoes separately.
- butter an oven dish, put the marinated stuff plus liquid in it, with (probably pre-boiled, yes/no?) potatoe chunks (at the bottom or on top, or mixed through?) and put it in the oven at low heat (150 Celsius = 300 F) for some time. maybe cover it with something in the beginning.

what do you think would be a good idea? this? anything else? I just stirred the marinating meat a littlebit and it smells delicious.

thing is, it's sunday, so most shops are closed (and I don't feel like going out anyway), so my ingredient choices are a bit limited. In addition to what's mentioned above, I still have tomatoes, a red bell-pepper, half a cucumber, a bag of sliced curly kale (yummy but I'm not sure if it would go with this?), a can of brown beans, rice, pasta, cans of tomato paste and peeled tomatoes, gherkins, various sauces, condiments and spices -- okay so maybe not really limited, but I just don't really know what would be the best option to do with it.

HALP ME!

[Triple Zero]

i'm getting pretty hungry by now, so unless somebody posts a suggestion or idea in the next 15 minutes, I'm going to make up something.

but really I'm still undecided on whether I should stew it, fry it or bake it in the oven ...

[fomenter]

not sure where to go with bacon meat, most of the cola marinade recipes i have seen are for barbeque -  mix cola jack daniels and barbeque sauce cover meat in sauce cook on BBQ re coat as needed.. probably not helpful

[Triple Zero]

that would suggest frying it in a pan, so separating it from the liquid first.

well, i gotta use those potatoes anyway, so I'll start by peeling some of those.

Currently I'm kind of leaning towards the oven method, though.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Wrap it up in tin foil with your veggies and a little of the liquid and put it in the over at about 275F
cook it all freakin day

or, just bake it covered at 350F till its done w/ a little of the liquid and whatever veggies

What cut of meat is it?

[Triple Zero]

Stomach, I think. Or is that belly. that part there, anyway, but not the organ

and I baked it in the oven with the potatoes and all of the liquid, which I thought would evaporate, but didn't and now I got chunks of stuff and a lot of liquid that's like some kind of sweet soup, but it tastes and looks pretty good.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

PORK BELLIES!

[Triple Zero]

anyway, these:



it was pretty fucking tasty though.

i'll probably save the "soup" leftover liquid stuff. maybe as a base for potato/kale soup tomorrow? I really need to use up those potatoes

[East Coast Hustle]

your advice needed re: marinating stuff in cola

don't.

[Triple Zero]

your advice needed re: marinating stuff in cola

don't.

you're probably right, actually. while it was pretty good, I'm sure I could have gotten a better result with a more traditional approach, following the same procedure.

still, it's something I will probably revisit every once in a while. something to do with that coke is so acidic it can clear the rust off iron, but edible and doesnt really taste sour, it should be possible to do something with it.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

ech will kill me but, ham

(mix cola with other stuff like 5 spice, brown sugar and peppercorns)

result is best of you smoke it (in a smoker)

[Triple Zero]

yeah the ham recipe is all over the internet, I might try it. on the other hand, if I get my hands on a big chunk of ham that needs preparing, again, there's non-cola ways to do it, that might be better? i dunno