Abra

Gorgeous and interesting, Lexy. So the apple slices aren't actually cooked, only the shells and the syrup?

I have to report a little guanciale thrill I had yesterday. We met a friend for appetizers and drinks at a nice Italian place in Seattle, and we ordered the cured meat platter. I had brought a chunk of my guanciale for our friend, and thought to open the package and give him a slice to try with the restaurant's house-cured meat. Just then the server happened along. Busted! Would there be a corkage fee for guanciale? I quickly sliced a piece for her and one to send to the chef. Later she reported to me that the chef had given his slice a quick sear, eaten it, and said "I'd be happy to sell this here." Woohoo. I actually thought it was brave of him to eat meat cured by some anonymous customer, but that raised my esteem for him several notches.

I too have to travel for Fage Total, a ferry ride and a drive to TJ's, in fact. I now buy 4-5 at a time, and have found that it keeps well in the fridge for about 2 weeks. That makes the travel a little less onerous, but I know what you mean. There's nothing else remotely like it on the market. Although they've had availability issues with importing it from Greece, I'm dismayed about a US factory. I'm thinking (just cynical, I guess) that there's no way it'll ever be as good once they start manufacturing it here. I sure hope I'm wrong.

I think that's the same faucet we have - it's a Grohe, right? And black sesame Pocky. I'm normally not much for Pocky, but black sesame is one of my favorite flavors, so I'll have to see if we have some here. Arne, I think your luau needs cassava cake. Moosh has the recipe. I have all the stuff to make said recipe, but haven't yet had the right audience. Actually, I liked it so much at Josephine's that I could have gotten into a bathtub by myself with a whole cake, never mind the audience. Perhaps not a bathtub in the middle of the living room, however.

You know we've all gone bonkers when people start talking about "mold envy!" Me, for the moment, I'm just as glad not to have seen any mold. Scottie, I hope Michael will come along to answer your question, but I'll take a crack at it. Lardo and salted fatback are not the same creature. Traditionally, lardo is soaked submerged in brine for many months. This recipe has it cure for 12 days (mine has another 5 days to go), then hang for 3 weeks. Hanging, in a relatively humid environment, is not the same as drying. The low humidity in the fridge dries things from the outside in. That's what you don't want, a dry outer crust with a raw interior. Lardo should be smooth and meltingly creamy all the way through, not dry anywhere. To achieve that, you have to actually keep it from drying out, thus the instruction to hang it in a higher-humidity environment. I think. Michael?

Wow, Deborah, at first I thought Daddy-A was going to get the Lie Blaster. Whew! Nice work, you two. I look forward to seeing the new kitchen in action. Give Ms. Mouse a hug for me.

Dave - I used Jason's recipe on the lamb prosciutto. Is that what you used too? An hour and a half a day? Now I see the problem. That's a lot of treadmill! Too bad we can't figure out how to power a grinder and stuffer with exercise-power. Somewhere I read this trick, and I can't even remember if it was here, but if it was it must have been way upthread, so it bears repeating. After using the KA grinder, run a piece or two of bread through the grinder. Cleans out the crud like a charm. Plus, if your dog eats pork, you can toss the little squidgy bread bits into the kibble for a real dog treat.

Pallee, since you use fresh herbs, are you using triple the amount in the recipe? That looks like dried herb proportions. And are you stuffing the tenderloin with loose, raw sausage? I have to agree that it's a sad state of affairs when raw milk cheese and cured meats become contraband. Foie gras, well, I see a bit more how people can get worked up about it, although I eat it without qualms myself. Thanks, Dave, for pulling your lamb prosciutto today, which caused me to inspect mine. After hanging only a bit over 2 weeks, it's already lost 50% of its weight from the day I hung it! Of course, it did cure for a little over 3 weeks, but still, that's fast. My humidity has been within the recommended limits the whole time, so I have no idea why it went so quickly. I was really worried that it would be lamb jerky but no, instead it's ultra-plush and delicious prosciutto. I pulled the smaller of the jowl pieces too, to see how the guanciale is doing. It's been hanging over 5 weeks, and still feels somewhat tender to the touch. I know guanciale isn't meant to be eaten without cooking, but holy porker, that stuff is delicious just as it is! Sweet, mild, and almost all fat. It really makes me look forward to my lardo. Uh, am I the only one with weight issues? This is SO not what I should be eating day after day!

Pallee, you MUST cough up that recipe! Lyonaise sausage in tenderloin in smoked pig skin? I've got to try that! Dave, your lamb prosciutto looks beautiful. Makes me think I need to run downstairs and weigh mine. Last time I looked it seemed to be a lot dryer than I expected. Tell us how you served it.

So long, merry mooners, and thanks for all the butt! I'm sorry to see this edition of Smokin' in the Rain draw to a close - it's been fun all the way. And it's a total crack-up how the spouses are begging to eat an unphotgraphed meal, for once. Mine gets that way sometimes too - they'll get over it!

Blush not. Just feed me some ribs the next time we see you!

There are quite a few Hobarts on eBay right now. Ok, I'll admit to looking, but that's all.

Awesome. I hate to say it, but I think the reason you don't need to degrease the dish is because the beans have politely absorbed all the fat. But good for you, adding even more walnut oil and duck fat to your plate, lest there be a fat deficit! I really like the look of yours better than mine - you have bigger carrots, bigger meat chunks, and it's more liquidy.

I must be anatomically challenged. That, or you're the master of rib transmogrification. I see no bones in your finished ribs! That meat, however, whatever, looks delicious. I've never undertaken to peel all the membrane. How long did it take to do a whole rack?

Marlene, the Waring Pro got some iffy reviews on Amazon. Did you have any of the same problems?

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. of course, cheap and folding sound like scary but desireable traits. My counter space is so limited...but I've regretted cheap tools before. Does anyone alse have that Krups? Or should I spring for one of the bigger guys?

That's a beautiful cake, Marlene. Such nice, even layers - bravo. And the gratin is swoony. I confess that I'm at a loss as to any more adjectives to use for butt. Everyone of you does beautiful butt. Crack and stalls, we love 'em all. But as to the grilled pizza, I'll reiterate what I said way upthread. I think it's worth the extra hassle if you're grilling it over wood or hardwood charcoal, because of the added smoky flavors. On a gas grill it just seems like it would be a PITA, to me. But then, I've never learned to get any real flavor from a gas grill.

Dave, what a beautiful plate! Those are gorgeous. I really love the color of the peperone and the venison. And with any luck, Chris will soon be joining you on the peperone success front. I think Ron's extreme close-up really shows what I was looking for - it's almost like, in the bread analogy, you can see the gluten strands beginning to form. So that's a more developed bind than I had, although I paddled for a minute and 15 seconds. I think the liquids didn't get completely bound, because there was drippiness in the bag where I stored the tubed sausages. And Susan, you've reminded me that I had the seasoned meat at cold fridge, rather than freezer, temp when we ground it. So next time: colder, larger grind, better bind, and more gentle cooking with thermometer in hand. Whew, that's a lot of mistakes for one batch! I sure hope I've got that out of my system now. Thanks, you guys. You're the best. I honestly think this thread has one of the most helpful bunch of devotees of any thread on eG.

Doesn't blogging involve more dishes than typing? My poor husband, aka Dishbert, has been so glad when each of my blogs has ended. You guys are making a heroic effort, though, especially with the weather you all have been having. Just to get a geographic dig in, here in SEATTLE it's been in the 70s and sunny for several days now. Hey, why don't you put those dishes outside and let them get a free pre-rinse, courtesy of rainwater and gravity? Beautiful butts, and "most creative use of a vegetable holder" award!

I absolutely loved that pork and beans dish. I used Rancho Gordo beans, some duck fat, and managed to get some home-cured bacon into it as well. It was really fabulous.

I think you all are right, as I didn't watch the temp. Store-bought Italian sausage can seemingly be roasted with impunity, but the fat chunks are a lot larger. I'll be more careful next time. And whereas I am a very experienced cook, (dare I say this?) my sausage experience is rather limited, so my sausage skills are not yet highly developed. I'm not too sure about the bind, still. Does anyone have a good photo of how the bind on a non-emulsified sausage shold optimally look? I think it's one of those things I need to see,

THis beautiful thread is really inspiring me. I have some gorgeous pigs feet, with long shanks. I'm wondering whether they could be used as the basis for a terrine, making a roll that could be sliced into small-diameter rounds. Has anyone tried that, or seen it done?

That's a lovely sausage array, mdbasile! Me, I'm still having problems with my Italian sausage. Today I tried roasting some, to see whether even heat all around would keep them from bursting out of the casings. Yes, it did. They remained whole, but got very, very small. Why? Because an incredible big-ass lake of fat melted out of them, right through the casings. And then they were dry. So, did the fat need a coarser grind? Was it not bound properly? I'm at a loss, since no one else has reported on any problems. Can it be that I have bad sausage ju-ju?

Geez, Dave, nothing sad about your accomplishments so far! You've done about 8 times as much as I have. Assuming that your "pork jowls" are the same as my guanciale, the only thing I've got going that you don't mention is lardo. The main difference between the butt thread and this one are the butt jokes. It's not that sausages aren't a great inspiration for jokes, is it?

On the cedar planks, I too have only used the ones that are packaged for that use. It sounds like that's what you got anyway, but I second the notion of being very wary of any lumberyard wood, unless you really trust your lumberyard guy. If you're using a plank in the oven, it's worth soaking it so that you can re-use it. I find that on the grill it always chars and has to be tossed, so I don't bother to soak, unless I want a moist heat, for some reason. What is it with that smoke-aphrodesia effect, anyway? We all joke about it, but don't you think it must be some primal thing, hard-wired into our brains? And a bit off topic, but since Mike mentioned it: if you haven't seen the movie "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices" you owe it to yourself as a thinking person to get it from Netflix or wherever.