jmolinari

Mark, that information is exactly correct. Using bronze dies for the pasta extrusion makes the surface rough and the sauce adhere more. This will usually appear on the package as they are proud of it, in some form of "trafile di bronzo". One important thing to remember, is that many of the artisan pastas (Cavalieri, Martelli, and most other made in Gragnano) will go from just right al dente to overcooked much more quickly than your industrial Barilla type, so you have to be a bit more attentive. Having said that, the artisan pastas are quite a bit better, and if i could spend $6 /lb for pasta given the amount of it we eat, I would, but i would go broke:) Can anyone explain how Cook's Illustrated always ranks the artisan pasta below everything else, and Ronzoni wins the tasting? That ranking alone makes me rethink my trust in their reviews.

Kent, i believe the iridescence is caused by the phosphates in the product. Fra' mani makes a very good product, as FG said, it doesn't quite rival good european products though. The price for Fra' Mani is obscene though. I'm sorry, I don't understand how a pork salame can cost $22/lb.

Wouldn't la Quercia prosciutto be "prosciutto di Iowa" And I love how US laws won't allow importation of stuff like guanciale, or for the longest time wouldn't allow prosciutto (and to this day, the prosciutto has to be made in a special process for the US market), but they'll allow Chinese food products full of chemicals and poisons which literally kill or injure people. I love our representatives.

Cool, i never saw a rally race live, and didn't know they had them in the area. I figured it out when you said "hairpin turns" and you said people were lining them.

A rally race?

I don't see any uniformed types...?

yeah the durian fruit was very disrespectful. Odd thing is, he ate balut without too many problems.

The herb mixture is definitely not standard. It varies from maker to maker.

The presentation of the beef tongue is beautiful

It is lardo of course! Yum yummy. Did you like it? It is fatback cured with salt and herbs. Really delicious stuff.

I use frozen pork all the time, don't know if fresh would be better, but frozen is perfectly fine. In fact, some say you SHOULD freeze it for an extended period of time first to kill off any trichinosis

Dougal, good recap. I do in fact use a lightbulb sometimes in my curing box forcing the fridge to cycle more often. It is a balancing act between the bulb, temp, hygrostat.

for humidity control in my chamber i use an ultrasonic humidifier connected to a humidistat. This temperature control is the same as the one you posted, with a remote temp. sensor, so you can hang the box outside the fridge: http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?produc...&cat=778&page=1 i got mine on Ebay. Also got my Greenair humidistat on ebay. http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/controls2.shtml Works quite well. edit to add: if you go with the cigar humidifier route, you're stuck with having to replace those expensive parts, and you'll probably have to refill it very often. Every time the fridge cycles on, the humidifier will also come on, since the fridge dries the air. My guess is you'll be refilling it every day or 2. The humidifier/humidistat combo is a bit cheaper ($100 or so) and you still have a perfectly functional humidifier if you decide not to make charcuterie.

Gigi bar..a classic:) Make sure you get some of their Margheritine di Stresa. Best cookies in the world? Possibly!

Depending how small your piggy is you could just rotisserie him like we did on our Weber. This one was real small. Weighed maybe 20lbs. He was split down the middle, so we put rosemary and bay leaves in between the 2 halves, then used steel twine to hold him together on the spit. Roasted for a couple of hours. SO GOOD.

Wurst, thanks for the info about the chamber, that is how i cure my salumi, a regular fridge with a johnson controls temp. controller, an ultrasonic humidifier and a humidistat. I may just use that fridge, as it is kept at about 50-54 for salumi, and put the cheeses in tupperwares for maturing. The stracchino is quite easy. 2 liters of whole milk 100ml of cream 2 tablespoons of yogurt with live cultures salt for brine rennet Warm 1 liter of the milk with yogurt to 35deg.C, and leave for 5-6 hours holding temp at about 32C. Add remaining milk and cream Bring back to 30 C. Add rennet (i don't remember the quantity, i use the pill form, and i don't have my notes here), you want it to set to a pudding texture. Leave for 1 hour. Cut into large cubes Leave about 20 minutes Transfer to baskets, being careful not to break up teh chunks too much. Leave for 12 hours to drain, at room temperature (max 18C) Transfer gently to a brine bath (again don't have the quantities here with me, about a fist full of salt per liter of water), leave for 2 hours. Trasnfer to a sealed container, and let it age at least 1/2 a day at about 12-15C. EAT. You'll have to experiment with the quantity of rennet, and salt in brine and time in brine to get it just right, but it should be a soft creamy, somewhat jiggly cheese with a distinct sour note and a slight bitter note. jason

Divina raises the exactly correct point. It is expensive to RECREATE here in the US what Italians buy super cheaply across the street. Having grown up in Italy ice cream makers were non existent in homes, as you could walk 10 minutes to get a really good one. The only espresso machine was the moka because you could walk 1 minute and get a good one for 1 euro. A pizza is 6 euro for something that is better than 99% of the pizza here. So it is only expensive here because you're trying to recreate at home what in Italy is a commercial item.

Wurst, cheesemaking is something i started but didn't have time to continue, hopefully i'll get back into it in the next few months. I've made mozzarella and stracchino (an italian soft cheese). The mozzarella was just OK, and cost me about 3 times the cost of good quality mozzarella, so i deemed it not worth it, the stracchino was excellent and well worth it. What do you age your cheeses in? Do you have a cellar/humidity/temperature controlled area?

Saw these rubber boards at a resto supply store yesterday, and good lord are they heavy. That reason alone stops me from gettnig it, my wife would have a hell of a time moving it around and cleaning it.

Wow. this season on Hell's kitchen is astoundingly bad regarding contestant quality. I know they don't want star chefs, but all but 3 of them have no experience/knowledge of a restaurant kitchen. Seems to me they've abandoned the original premise and just turned it into a drama TV show that happens in a kitchen.

I think your temperatures are on the borderline of OK. Maybe going a bit high for the summer. I would tend towards a range of about 50-60, maybe even a little lower on the low side. As far as humidity, you don't tell us what the value is. In my curing box i keep the humidity at about 65%, but ti fluctuates between 50-75% (the fluctuations only last an hour or so each direction) Just circulating the air isn't going to reduce the humidity. You have to get dry air in, or get the moisture out. Unfortunately dehumidifiers work by drying the air and dumping the now dry and HOT air back into the room, so that probably won't work. An air conditioner on the other hand, dries the air AND makes it colder. IS there any way you can put an air conditioner in there? I imagine the most humid time is in the summer, when it is hotter too, so you may only need to run the air conditioner during the summer months, and leave it to mother nature during the winter. If it is too humid during the winter but too cold for the air conditioner, you can force the A/C to come on by injecting heat into the area through the use of either some terrarium heat lamp (emit no light), or just plain old 150W light bulbs. jason Oh, for cheese i think you want a higher humidity than is optimal for salumi, but you'd have to check. There is a cheese-making mailing list where you could ask. I know a lot of them use dorm refrigerators to age their cheeses in.

I wish irradiation were used on more foods. Chicken for example. Gone is the fear of undercooked chicken.... Or vegetables....would have avoided all hte E.Coli issues we've had as of late. But ignorance in people will never allow it.

Got my knives sharped at the Bladesmith as well, havn't even had a chance to use them yet, they're REAL sharp though.

Just trying to spread the charcuterie love:)

Yep. It was neat to be on the menu:) Sucks that they didn't have a slicer. I needs to be nice and thin or it is chewy. anyone have a pic of the dish? I wasn't able to make it there tuesday. hope everyone who tried it enjoyed it. jason