jmolinari

insomniac, that sounds good. Do you have a recipe for it?

Personally i'd reduce it a little bit.,..but the fat you'll get from the shoulder won't be in separate chunks like the fat from using fat back, it;'ll be in the meat, making it slightly different. now, i'm taling for salame, not cooked sausage. For cooked suasage i would reduce hte fat by a lot more sincethe fat in the meat will melt into the suasage.

I use the thai eggplants in curries. You could make a vegetable curry.

Gabriel, yes, belacan is the shrimp paste in a block, not the vietnamese stuff in a bottle.

Dave, the owner, Emile, seems like a great guy (i only know him though email). Let us know if it is worth the extra cost...as i've wondered.

Elie, I'm planning to use that exact recipe for the exact same purpose (cassoulet on New Years Day, in fact). Can you give precise details on your tweaks of the recipe? ← Yes Ellie, please share. I too am planning the same, but for Christmas Day. I made cassoulet from Les Halles last Christmas and it was immediately proclaimed "our new Christmas meal" by the family. I am truly excited by my purchase of heirloom pork today from Caw Caw Creek Farms. I got about 10 lbs of belly (truly wonderful looking belly), 8 lbs of fatback, and about 30 lbs of shoulder. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get everything unpacked and ready for processing. ← Caw Caw creek is the most amazing pork i've ever eaten. I've made pancetta from the belly, it is amazing. But i can't see myself using their pork shoulder for sausages, it is just too expensive for that use (in my mind).

The kitchen aid grinder is quite good. The disadvantage is that there are only 2 plate sizes, "too small" and small. There is no larger plate, which i personally would like. having said that, don't waste your time on the KA stuffer. That thing SUCKS

Salumeria Biellese

Firstly..chicken is safe to eat at 158 deg. F. not 180-190 as you say. Also, search above for the poultry tables listed and detailed by NathanM. How are you keeping your cooking vessel at temperature? the safe temperature for chicken is a combination of time and tempertaure, not just temperature alone.

Red prickly ash is Szechuan peppercorn

if you put them in a zip lock bag they'll keep their moisture quite well.

piper, don't tie off any ends until you are done. It won't squirt out the end if you just gently let it fill and come off the stuffing horn at the start, but it'll let the air out. Just gently hold the casing end and guide if off the horn as the meat is stuffed into it. jason

don't tie the end off before they are stuffed. Just leave a little excess open casing, and tie it off after you're done. Also if they are ruputuring while twisiting them, you've stuffing them too full. I wash my stuffer with soap and water, and then put it through the dishwasher. I thikn it should be fine. I've seen people recommend soaking the parts BEFORE use in some clorinated water. jason

so i won't waste my money on whole foods pork, and just save up to spend it on my farmer supplier:)

Can anyone tell me with certainty if the pig/shoulder at whole foods is considerably better than regular pig? I mean in flavor and fat content. when i cook pork at home, i normally cook an heirloom pig i get from a farmer, and the flavor is night and day. I'm wondering if the whole foods pork is that different from regular, and if it is worth getting for charcuterie. Are whole foods pigs just regular pigs raised without hormones, but still confined in factories? If so, i can't immagine the flavor/fat content will be much different. jason

The reason some hams can go to 12-18 months cure is because of their fat content. With regular pig hanging 12-18 months may render some pork jerky:) Just recently i took out my pancetta made from Ossabaw pig belly, aged 12 months. It is incredibly tasty.

Looks very nice. How is the flavor? Prosciutto like? or different entirely

double sealing the bag has gone a pretty long way towards addressing the issue of bags losing seal in the freezer. You don't use any more bag to do it, since you seal above the 1st seal you've made, but it seems to help.

The PID setting will not change for different temperatures, they WILL change for quantities. Remember with more or less water you'll have less or more "heat inertia" so the PID won't cut out soon enough. Either way, the differences may be so small that it isn't worth worrying about.

I'm goign to try making this soup with a mixture of kale and mustard greens...that is what my CSA gave me, so that is what i'll use. Looks very good Elie!

smoked bresaola? Interesting!

I think you'll be fine since you reapplied the 2nd 1/2 of the rub...go along with teh instructions.

Nice integration into the stove. Rememebr though, always use the same amount of water in the pot, or you'll have to rerun the auto-tune routine on the PID.

It is also good for dry goods you don't want to go stale, like crackers, cookies, and cereals

vac. packed meat will last near indefinitely in the freeze with NO freezerburn. Cheeses will also last a lot longer when vac packed. I wouldn't be without one, even if i didn't cook sous vide.