Mexican Chorizo

Posted by James F in Pork, Sausage

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I love the flavors of Mexican chorizo. I love the spice from the guajillo chilies, the earthiness from the canela and the tang from the achiote paste and vinegar. You can get these flavors from store bought Mexican chorizo but they all lack one important flavor quality….fermentation. I stuffed my chorizo in hog casings and hung them at room temperature for two days. This fermenting is traditional in Mexico and develops very powerful flavors yielding an incredible sausage best suited for pan frying or grilling. When cooking these fermented semi dry sausages you have to remember that the sausage has already lost a lot of moisture so it will cook faster. I made about 12 lbs of these a couple months ago and I only have a pound left….pretty good

Update Kombu Cured Bacon Complete

Posted by James F in Bacon, Charcuterie, Pork, smoked meats

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After 14 days of curing, 5 days of smoking and 10 days of drying, my kombu cured bacon is ready to be fried up. I cured the bellies simply with, pink salt, salt, kombu(a form of dried seaweed) bay, brown sugar and black pepper. I usually give the cure 14 day to fully penetrate the bellies and I give them a little more salt half way through. As for the smoking, I use my vertical smoker that I modified into a cold smoker by installing wooden dowels for hanging and using a hot plate and stainless steal pan instead of the propane heating element to create smoke. I smoked these bellies for about 3 to 4 hours a day for 5 days over hickory and pecan wood. After the last smoking I placed the bellies in my drying fridge at about 80% relative humidity and 50* F. Then I sliced the bellies and fried up some bacon.

Homemade bacon is so good!

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Pancetta

Posted by James F in Bacon, Charcuterie, Pork

IMG_0072This is a very simply seasoned pancetta: salt, bay, nutmeg, kombu, pink salt, sugar and black pepper.  I cured the belly for 14 days and then rolled it and tied it.  This one was dried for 2 months.  I have one more in the drying fridge that I am going let dry for 3 months or more.  The flavor it nice and porky and not too salty.  My best so far.

Can You Dry Age Select Meat?

Posted by James F in Beef

IMG_1568YES YOU CAN!  Sometimes the price spread between Choice and Select is a few dollars per pound.  I bought a case of select strips at work.  I bought them dirt cheap or I would have never even thought to buy them.  Select strips usually lack marbling which yields them tough and dry if not cooked properly. So the question I posed to myself was: “how do I make this mediocre piece of meat and transform it into something incredible?”  My hypothesis was to dry age.

IMG_1583My results were surprising. I dry aged the top loins for 21 days.  They developed a very deep beef flavor with a slight beefy musk in the fat.  The primal lost a lot of weight due to evaporation.  I didn’t weigh them but I would speculate that they lost upwards of 20%.  The steaks cooked up very nicely but remember when you cook dry aged steaks, they cook much quicker than regular steaks.  Also, do not cook dry aged select strips past medium rare and make sure to sear them quickly on both sides and then finish over more moderate heat.  I will be enjoying these for months to come.  For more info about dry aging go to this post.

Peameal Bacon

Posted by James F in Bacon, Charcuterie, Pork

When my Mother was a kid, her family would vacation on a lake in Ontario.  During my childhood, I heard stories from these vacations.  My Mom gushed about swimming in the lake, her father and brothers’ fishing for pickerel, and most of all the peameal bacon!  For Xmas I decided to try to make my Mom some peameal bacon.

IMG_1564I think I was quite successful but I am waiting for feedback from my Mom.  Today, peameal bacon is made by pickling a pork loin and then rolling it in corn meal.  My research and intuition told me that this is not the traditional technique for curing peameal bacon.  I wanted to create a more traditional peameal bacon or at least my romanticized version of peameal bacon from a lake town in Ontario in the 1950s and 60s.  I mean first of all it is called “peameal” so I forgot about the cornmeal and went straight for the dried yellow peas.  The peameal,  was used to prevent bacteria and mold from forming on the surface of the meat.  It protected the meat similar to the way a casing protects a coppa.  This suggests to me that traditional peameal bacon was dried for a period of time so I decided to use my normal dry cured method.  I decided to add the kombu (seaweed) because I picture the butcher creating the peameal bacon, on this lake in Ontario in the 1960s, as a thoughtful creator who would utilize his/her readily available lake resources.   I rubbed the pork loin down with salt, kombu, bay leaves, pink salt, juniper, black pepper and some dextrose.  I let the cure penetrate the loin for 14 days and then I rolled the loin in ground up yellow peas or “peameal”.  I then hung it in my drying fridge for 10 days.  The best way to cook it is to fry slices very briefly in a pan.  The bay leaves add a nice floral contrast to the sweet pork and the unctuousness of the kombu.  I’m not sure if the people who eat this will be talking about it 50 years from now but its a good first try.

Smile

Sourdough Bread

Posted by James F in Beef, Bread

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One of my many new year’s resolutions was to bake bread every week.  I have been complying with this resolution thus far.  Pictured above there is a sourdough bread I made with my starter.  In previous posts, I have talked about the various ways to use one’s sourdough starter.  In this case, I made a sponge with the starter….  I mixed half of my starter with water, honey and flour and then let it ferment over night at room temp.  The next day I mixed more water and flour to the mixture in order to get the correct bread dough texture.  I let this bread dough rise over night at room temp and then punched it down.  Then I let it rise again and then baked it.  The amazing thing about this loaf is that no store bought yeast was added to the mixture.  The yeast came from my Urban Starter in which the yeast was procured from the air and/or the whole wheat flour I use to feed the starter.  I can’t wait to cut into this loaf tomorrow.

I have been up to other stuff as well….Like making some kombu cured pancetta and dry aging some beef top loins in my home fridge(pictured below)

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Holiday Sausage

Posted by James F in Charcuterie, Holidays, Pork, Sausage

I tried to channel my Tyrolean roots on this one. I came up with this recipe about a month ago. Even though my Tryolean roots run shallow, I tried to imagine what kind of sausage alpine people would make after slaughtering their hogs in the late fall and early winter. I assumed that hearty herbs would still be growing on the alpine cliffs and wild onion would still be available so I added some leeks, fresh marjoram, and thyme to the sausage. I also threw some wine and some other spices in there.

I cold smoked my first batch but the smoke over powered the subtle herby flavor. I skipped the smoke on the most recent batch which allowed the sausage’s lactic acid flavor shine. I think this recipe is a keeper and may be a new holiday tradition.

Seaweed Cured Smoked Bacon

Posted by James F in Bacon, Charcuterie, Pork

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Cory and I just came back from an incredible trip to Munich, Interlaken and Amsterdam.  The food markets were filled with great cheeses, meats, charcuterie and bread.  One small meat shop in the Munich Vikualienmarket, displayed pork cheeks, sweetbreads, hanging tenders and lamb heart in their front window.  This is a far stretch from what Americans display front and center in meat markets.  The people of Munich know how to eat well.  We came home inspired by all the simple foods that were done so well.

I just sliced another slab of my seaweed cured applewood smoked bacon.  I cured the bacon with kombu, salt, bay leaves, black pepper and pink salt.  I then cold smoked the cured bellies intermittently for 5 days.  After smoking, I dried the bellies in my drying fridge for 10 days.  Pretty damn tasty!

Here are a couple photos from the trip:

Cory eating some carrot ginger soup on a chilly morning at the Munich Vikualienmarket

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Me drinking a litre of Urbock at the beer garden in the Munich Englischer Garten

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Chicken Skin Chicharrónes

Posted by James F in Chicken

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When I make chicken kabobs or any boneless chicken recipes, I buy a whole chicken and process it myself.  This is ideal for Cory and I because she likes the breast meat and I enjoy the thigh and leg meat.  I throw the bones in the freezer for later use for stocks but what do you do with the skin?  …..Well, you make chicharrónes for a snack.  First thing you do is boil the skins in water to render some of the fat then place the skins on a baking sheet with a rack.  Let the skins dry in the fridge overnight. The next day, heat up some oil and fry the skins.  They puff up and spit hot oil at you so be careful.  Dust the chicharrónes with ancho chili powder and salt.  Serve with salsa verde.