I shouldn't have an opinion about this

If seven year's ago you asked me, "Jon, if you had to pick just one...would you go to a Sesame Street production or something put on by Disney?" I would have looked at you like like I had just found extra terrestial life and then tried to quickly come up with a smart ass reply.

Turns out I have a preference. The music, storys, costumes, sound, lighting and any other performace value you can think of are better at......wait for it...... Disney. We braved the remains of Friday's snow storm to go see Elmo at the Palace last night. While it was mostly empty due to the weather, it was also thouroughly under-whelming. When compared to similar shows put on by Disney that have come to the area (Toy Story 3 on Ice and some morning TV stage show for example), the Disney shows are actually impressive. There was one song/dance number that was impressive enough to make you wonder how they were physically doing that on stage. Elmo...not so much.

And while I handing out opinions I shouldn't have, Yo Gabba Gabba freaks me out. 

Charcutepalooza Project #3

Brine

Earlier today this month's assignment was handed out. This month were are working with brines. I've brined turkeys and pork tenderloins before with good results. On the docket this month: a brisket to be turned into corned beef or pastrami. I think I will also try beef tongue. Both will be from our cows. My brisket is a little on the small side, but I refuse to buy any beef. It will have to do. I took the tongues when we slaughtered the cows because they were going to get thrown out. Wanting as little as possible to go to waste, I froze them for a "one of these days" cooking project. I've never cooked it before. Don't even remember having eaten it before. Guess I've got a little reading to do...

Charcutepalooza Project #2 - Continued

Bacon Explosion! 4 out of 5 cardiologists surveyed do not recommend this.

Way back in January of 2009, I read this article in the New York Times food section and knew that one day I would definitely make my own Bacon Explosion. What is a Bacon Explosion? On the outside, there is a bacon weave. Yes a bacon weave. Think lattice pie crust but bacon (a tutorial on how to make the nicest bacon weave I have ever seen is here). The weave is covering a mass of sausage. And pinwheeled inside this mass of sausage is some cooked bacon. This is the kind of meal that would be served in that Saturday Night Live sketch with the guys talking about "Da Bears" and drinking beer to work through their heart attacks.

Quick disclosure: My homemade bacon was not long enough to make the weave. I was bummed, but still moved forward. The cooked bacon on the inside is part of the Carcutepalooza project and I made the sausage. But the bacon for the weave was purchased.

First thing, make some sweet Italian sausage. My recipe is pretty straight forward -combine pork and fat, salt, pepper, and fennel. Grind. If you cut the pork into strips, the grinder grabs it and pulls it through by itself.

Then I fired up some homemade bacon. Couldn't resist a taste. It's good.

I made a weave out of the store bought bacon. As you can see, the pork belly I purchased to cure did not compare in size with what I picked up at the Fresh Market. I dusted the weave with some homemade rub. I left the salt out of the rub since there would be plenty in the bacon and the sausage.

 
Laid out the sausage in a rectangle, dusted it with rub and topped with chopped fried bacon. Seriously, how bad could this taste?

Time to make a log. I didn't end up going diagonally like Cowgirl. Maybe next time. I have never made anything like this so there was a little bit of a learning curve.I think I could have made the wave a little bigger and used less sausage. And the weave could have been tighter. In the bacon giddiness I was experiencing, I forgot to start the weave in the middle. Still, looking good though.

 

 Dinner was going to be at my brother and sister-in-laws house. We fired up the Weber kettle with the coals on one side And set up a little foil baffle to cut down on the direct heat of the coals.

I flipped it wound twice and after about an hour and a half the inside temp was 160 degrees. I put the Explosion on a plate tented with foil to rest.

Dinner is served....

I thought it was pretty good. There was some room for improvement. Didn't get as much of a pinwheel effect as I wanted, but overall not a bad first effort. At times, I can be my own worst critic but a kid will always tell you like it is. My niece Abby has been a fan of my homemade sausage in the past. Tonight, she was at the kids table when she took her first bite. "Wow, the sausage is REALLY yummy! Allison (her cousin sitting next to her) have you tried the sausage?" Couldn't help to puff up with a little pride after overhearing that.

The pancetta is still drying out in the chamber. Probably will be done a few days ofter the 15th Chacutepalooza deadline, but it is on the way. Looks and smells good.

Charcutepalooza Project #2 - Continued

Super Sunday-

Not a typical Super Sunday here. Last night water started coming into the basement. Typically, we don't get water coming in under the living room floor. I'm not even sure how the water could get there. It is clearly leaking in from some sort of ice dam on the roof, but the path the water took to the basement is very confusing. Luckily, there is no visible damage inside the house. After a lot of roof shoveling (some by a contractor and a lot by us), the influx of water seems to have stopped.

Usually what I like to do is take the kids to a nicer than average restaurant for dinner. Gives them a good restaurant experience, but the restaurant is close to empty because everyone else is watching the Super Bowl. I had my eye on The Epicurian this year. Maybe a little too fancy but I checked out the website and they don't have Sunday hours. So then I was thinking Wine N Diner, but this year the Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Personally, means nothing to me. I don't get football and not getting it has really freed up a lot of Sundays over the years. My brother-in-law is a huge Steelers fan so the family went to a party he arranged. It was a very nice time and I ate way too much including a very unique and addicting kind of warm dip. It had shredded chicken, melted cheese and Frank's Red Hot. It was like cheesy buffalo wing on a chip. Strangely addicting. We left pretty early to get the kids home and to bed.

Between the shoveling and the party, there was no real time to make bacon. It looks like it is back to my nocturnal chicanery.

After spending a large part of the day shoveling snow off a roof, it was time to shovel something a little more fun. I thought I'd be able to get the smoker out, but that wasn't going to happen without breaking it.

One slab of bacon, rinsed and air dried in the fridge for a day.

 Got a chimney of charcoal going.

And this is what it looks like without a flash.

Dumped the charcoal into the smoker, put on two handfuls of apple chips, got the slab in there and wen inside. WE ignored the Super Bowl and watched something we had recorded. When the show was over, Here's what I had:

Part of me wants to slice it thick and freeze it, but part of me wants to slice it a little thinner and use it all this weekend. There's something I've always wanted to make with a boatload of bacon. I'm leaning toward boatload of bacon.

The pancetta is hanging in the makeshift chamber. The humidity is holding in the low 60s. I can't seem to increase it. I think I might have to move the chamber. There is a strange shaped closet under the stairs in the basement. I might end up refurbishing that in the near future. The space definitely has potential.

Here is the pancetta before a rinse. I gave it a dusting of black pepper before hanging it up to dry. It smells really good. I didn't roll the pancetta. I did once and it came out OK. I thought it was more work than necessary. Rolling the slab makes for a beautiful presentation, but I typically dice the pancetta so the presentation value is lost.

Charcutepalooza Project #2 - Continued

Makin' Bacon. It's still fun to say.

Making 2 kinds of bacon. I eventually found a pork belly. Not quite 10 pounds. The more square end will be smoked bacon. And the tapered end will be pancetta. I'll also have some trimmings for some sausage for the upcoming Rib & Pierogie Day. Unfortunately a number of conflicts are forcing a schedule change for that event. It won't happen this weekend but it will get rescheduled.

I started with pancetta. I didn't follow the recipe out of Charcuterie. I made a slight variation of this recipe (I skipped the nutmeg) used by one of my Salami Making Heroes, Jason Molinari. One thing that is great about Molinari's recipe is how it is presented. Everything is a percentage of the meat. This method is perfect for cooking with a scale. Just multiply each percentage by the weight of meat and start weighing. And if you are a nerd like me and put everything in a spreadsheet, just type the weight of the meat in the right spot, and the spreadsheet sets it all up for you. This is the method I use to keep track of all my sausage/salami adventures.

Starts with weigh the pork being cured.

This piece weighed in at 1022 grams. Into the mini chopper accessory to a stick blender (stick blenders rule), I added the spices. In went peppercorns, juniper berries, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and brown sugar. This went for a whirl.
 

Then I added the salts, kosher and Cure#2. Cure#2 is a variation from the Ruhlman recipe. With the exception of previously made pancetta, anything I have hung in to dry had Cure#2. Using it makes sense to me but I should add that had I not been following a successful recipe from a good source, I doubt I would make the switch on my own.

 

It all went for another whirl to distribute everything. I really liked using the mini chopper to make a cure rub. It smelled great and I think it is better than just mixing everything up with a spoon.

Time to rub it all over the belly, both sides got coated. Still smelled really good.

Then into a 2 gallon bag  for curing. I bought a bunch of bags with a slide to seal the bag. The slide is useless. So I fold the bag over itself, usually have a clip to keep it sealed and then put it on a cookie sheet just in case something leaks.

Once that was done, I moved onto the bacon. Again, being a nerd, a spreadsheet was used. The basic salt cure in Charcuterie makes well over a pound of cure (725 grams). I needed less than a cup. So using similar handy-dandy ratios I combined kosher salt, Cure#1, and sugar to make 100 g of cure. I should mention that any weights shown in the photos are useless - I used the tare a lot and I'm pretty sure this picture is showing the weight of the spoon.

Here's the piece of pork belly ready for the cure and the trimmings waiting to be packaged for the freezer.

Another 2 gallon bag was used for the bacon and both packages were off to the basement fridge for curing. Next weekend, I'll smoke the bacon and hang the pancetta. The bacon will make the mid-month challenge deadline, but the pancetta and lemons will be a little late.

Speaking of Charcutepalooza, there have been a few developments. Those that complete all the projects are eligible for a pretty big prize. Judges include Chef Bob Del Grosso and Michael Ruhlman. Participants will also get a discount on meat from D'artagnan. If you care to read all the details you can do that here and here. Plus, the entire thing was written up in this week's Washington Post food section (Wednesday, January 26th). Very cool.

Charcutepalooza Project #2

The Salt Cure-

This month I am planning to make bacon, pancetta and lemon confit. I am still having problems finding a pork belly. Struck out at the farmer's market. Found some heritage pork belly for $15 a pound (ouch). I ended up ordering some from a butcher in Clifton Park. They were supposed to call me back and haven't yet. I'll call Monday to see where we stand. If that falls through, I should be able to get one from Rolf's later in the week. Time is running out to get these into cures and have a finished product by Valentine's Day. I think the pancetta will be coming in a few days late.

I got some lemons and manged to get them into salt on Friday night. Two Meyer lemons and one traditional. It is a moment like this that really sets this blog apart from may other blogs. These blogs I am referring to have stunning, well lit photographs of beautiful food. Here-not so much. Earlier in the day on Friday, I donated blood. Then after everyone went to bed, I was on the couch watching Top Chef eating a bag of Original Flavor Goldfish. I thought, what could go better with Top Chef and Goldfish? The answer: mmmm, beer. Completely forgetting I gave blood, I opened a beer. It was very tasty. So I had another. And now I'm watching TV and starting to feel a little loopy. Show's over, lets get those lemons into some salt. I put a bunch of salt into dish that has a lid. Cut the lemons in half and buried them in salt. Looking at this bowl filled with salt, it occured to me that I should have taken a picture. Oops.

Here I give you 3 halved salt covered lemons in a white bowl on a white counter lit by overhead kitchen lights. The first example showcasing my photography skills completly washes out my subject with a flash. I had enough sense to turn the flash off and get another shot. If I ever get a pork belly, I'll try to take better pictures.

Breath taking, right? The bowl got covered and put in the basement. In theory, I will remember they are there sometime in late March. If not, I definitely remember in November because until now, the sole reason for that bowl to be in the house is to serve stuffing at Thanksgiving.

The Week

I recently took 2 books out of the library. The first was Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes. I wanted to love the book, but I couldn't get into it. The format is a little weird, choppy paragraphs and one line thoughts. Just couldn't get into it.


The other book I took out makes me want to cook. A lot. It is Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. I've got to make something out of this. Tonight I am going to make my a starter that will eventually turn into a mother which will eventually turn into bread. There is also a pizza dough that is a must try. One of these days... but the starter will begin tonight. I think I'm going to have to buy this one.


The recent snow, constant trolling of Craigslist for my dream brick saw and all this daydream of bread have brought back my brick oven dreams. I started drawing. And drawing. And drawing. If I can't make it work in a picture, how the hell can I build it? I learned a lot making many variations of these pictures. Visualizing how certain bricks would get cut. How to make things fit so the dimensions work out. Figuring out how to get a running bond so joints don't line up. There are still plenty of things to draw, but here are some recent drafts for a 39" diameter brick oven. Someday....a work in progress though.

No luck finding a pork belly yet. None to be had at the Troy Farmer's Market this weekend. Found a local farmer that had some, but at $15 a pound. Way too steep. I wonder what the whole pig would cost at that rate? None to be had at Adam's down in Newburgh (more come on Friday but I won't be back that way for 2 weeks). My Adam's disappointment came too late for me to have one put aside at Rolph's. So I am left with 2 options that I know about: The Asian Market on Central or a special order from The Meat House. They dropped the ball on my last order, maybe they would come through now. I could try Henry's in Waterford. I'm pretty sure they make their own bacon.


And the stars have aligned. This year's Summer in Winter aka Rib and Pierogi Day is set for January 30th. Starting to drool already.