Abra

Ron, those sausages are really enticing. Evidently I need a much bigger family, or a lot more friends! Are you guys managing to eat all that you're making?

Hurray, is it butt season already? I thought that wasn't until May. You know, that little rhyme I learned living in Canada "Hurray, hurray, the first of May Outdoor (er...) smoking begins today!" Just yesterday I found a place to get cherry trimmings, but they still have their bark. Jim, are you peeling your prunings?

Jason, I actually meant the process you used of putting half the cure on the lamb, refrigerating it for 2 weeks, then the other half of the cure and back into the fridge. That seems novel. By coincidence, my calendar tells me that my prosciutto might be ready today too. It's been hanging for 2 weeks - how long did yours hang, Dave, to look the way it does today? I have a wood question. I've been looking for a local source of apple, cherry, or maple wood, so that I can have logs or big chunks instead of having to use chips. I found a guy with a bunch of cherry, but here's the thing. It's not dry, as in kiln-dried. It's been cut, but outside, for a year. I'm not clear on the science of wood drying. On the one hand, it seems like I'm going to soak it anyway, so wet wood is ok. On the other hand, it also seems like in the drying process some volatiles, not water, are probably emitted from the wood, and that their presence in wet wood might not be desirable for cooking. Any ideas? And how about bark, on those fruit and nut woods? Do I need to strip the bark? On alder I've been leaving the bark on, but alder has a very thin bark.

I'll PM you the recipe, as it's huge and would be tedious to sanitize for the guidelines. I adapted a recipe from the Sunset Magazine website, and it's really yummy, as well as impressive. Frozen banana leaves are easy to find in an Asian market, if you have one where you are.

You could make sacahuil a giant chicken-filled banana leaf-wrapped sort of tamale pie. Serves 20 easily.

Ok, Susan, here's a super-easy, make-ahead menu for you. Should suit kids and adults, and it's festive but not at all fussy. Appetizers/nibbles Cornets of a really good spiral-sliced ham wrapped around some good cheese Creamy Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips Main Smoked Turkey Your favorite macaroni and cheese Roasted asparagus spears with a balsamic reduction drizzle Zesty Carrot Gratin (with horseradish) Spinach Salad with Oranges and Almonds Dessert Texas Chocolate Sheetcake Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (with banana and pineapple) Let me know if you want any recipes.

I have this countertop Haier. It rotisses beautifully, and cleans itself as it goes along.

I got the pork jowls from Niman Ranch, as well as fresh back fat, caul fat, and the more pedestrian bellies and butts. I just put my jowls in the cure, and was disappointed to see that they were in weird pieces. I'd envisioned something more uniform in size and shape, but I got one large and one small piece. Obviously not from the same pig. But of course that might be an advantage, since the small one should dry faster, the better to eat it sooner.

Doh! Yes, Jason did the double cure, and I just spaced it out. Sorry. Seeing no advice on guanciale, I'm set to do the Babbo cure. I only hesitate because I love Armandino's guanciale, and it has some sort of "wild" taste that I can't identify. But endless Googling reveals no secret spice suggestions, so off I go with Mario.

Has anyone made guanciale yet? I'm going to start some today, and am planning to use this Babbo recipe, unless someone has tweaks that will improve it. Dave (BD), that's a cute knife story! Chris, isn't pork the approved cure for flu?

Ron, that andouille looks awesome. Dave, how did you hit on the half and half double-cure idea? I haven't noticed that in any other recipe. I must say that the end result looks splendid.

Hey, would the next person to go to Phnom Penh do me a huge favor and ask them the name of the black rice they use for that special pudding, and the name of the pudding itself? It's driving me crazy not knowing.

Damn, you guys, I'm hooked! I don't watch TV at all, except for presidential elections and bits of the Olympics, but I swear I'm as hooked on this thread as people get on reality shows. I feel like I need to check every hour to see what you all are up to. Ron, that grind on the andouille sure has more of the look I'm used to. Can't wait for a review of the flavor. And while I'm here, I'd love any suggestions about this party I have coming up, where I'm having 7-8 eG types over for a Charcuterie Play Day. I'm looking for a "menu" of things a group that size can all work on, including some minding the smoker (since I have a CharGriller, you do have to mind it), some on sausages, etc. I can do curing in advance, so I thought we could do some bacon, maybe get it going first thing so that hot smoking can go on at the dinner end of the day. The idea is to learn new stuff, eat some killer products, and have stuff to take home. Any ideas what projects would be really fun for an event like this? Andouille? Some fresh sausage? Gyro Dogs? Quick, Dave and Elie, we'd better patent that idea! And hey, don't you want to have a play day of your own?

Wow, Dave, your duck prosciutto looks totally different from mine, too. Mine was also very dark red, and the fat was ivory, as opposed to the snowy look of yours. I just used Muscovy duck breasts, and they hung for 2 weeks. On the other hand, yours is sliced much thinner than I could get mine. Did you slice by hand, or with a slicer? And if by hand, please post a picture of your knife so I can get one right away! Ok, lamb prosciutto coming up as my next start.

This is a great thread, thanks in no small part to Lee's work. Tough duty, Lee, to have to eat your way slowly through the Okanagan! We're thinking of coming up for 10 days or so in mid-August, because it's my birthday then. I'm sure that's the worst possible time, from the touristical stampede standpoint, but there you have it, that's when I was born. From the crowd-avoidance perspective, but still wanting to hit the many high points pointed out here, any recommendations?

Well, what is the wine? That's sort of a key thing for the pairing of sides. Right now I'm in love with a puree of celery root and apple cooked in milk - would that go with your wine?

Great job all around! I feel like I should make some casing pom-poms for my little cheering section. Dave, I have to try those lamb and feta sausages. I'm thinking now how great it would be to do them with gyro seasonings. My husband would adore those. And Ron, thanks for taking so many for the team in search of the perfect andouille recipe! How did you feel about the texture of these latest ones? They look super-smooth, much more so than I'm used to seeing with andouille. That's a gorgeous emulsion - did you feel the need for additional texture, or were they just right? And what does make them red, anyway?

BV, if you can find the name, that would be great. I'm also still hoping to find out exactly which rice is optimum. I like this weird concoction!

Great, I'm glad it worked out for you!

I'm just kicking myself for failing to weigh my pancetta before hanging it. I'll never make that mistake again. I'm not sure how to tell when meat's done - firmness? That's sort of intuitive with a relatively thin roll of pork belly, but with a lamb leg, especially bone-in, how do you know how long to let it hang?

Whoa, that was quick! If you're taking bread home, I love the Rosemary Diamante, the Walnut boule, and the La Scala semolina with sesame. I've never had any of their pastries. Sorry, heresy, I know.

My Grizzly arrived today. Does anyone put them in the dishwasher? it doesn't say on the box. Maybe the seal on the plunger wouldn't like the heat?

I cooked the rice in water 2:1, as recommended for that particular rice. I actually think that a little soupier would have been better.

The last time we went to Vancouver we were lucky enough to eat at Phnom Penh restaurant with JamieMaw and Mooshmouse. At the end of the meal they served us a mysterious red-black cherry-flavored rice concoction. It was peculiarly delicious, and turned out not to have any cherries in it at all. I guess because I was with two local rock stars, they thought I was a famous chef, and they gave me the recipe for the black rice treat. Not only the recipe, they also gave me the key ingredient Shanghai yeast balls. Now I've found them at a local market, but at the time I'd never seen them before and so I carried them over the border as gently as eggs. Then, I smashed them all to bits and strewed the resulting powder over steamed black sticky rice. I decided to use Chinese black sticky rice instead of Thai, because what they served had very small and shiny grains, whereas the Thai black sticky rice I've seen is relatively long-grained. At the restaurant they said it was Thai rice, with a name that I remember as sounding like Cortina, or some Thai version of that, but I haven't found any rice like that here. The difference turned out to be important, but I didn't know that until the end. Once the yeast and rice were combined, I put the rice in a bowl, covered well and in a warm spot, for one week. When I uncovered it, it was gruesome the top was fuzzy and hard, all at the same time. I cracked through the upper crust and came to the "cherry" portion of the stuff The juice of the rice had become the most gorgeous red. I stirred in sugar, covered it back up, and set it back in its spot for another week. Each day I'd come by and give a sniff, and every day it smelled like bananas. Really, really ripe bananas. Not cherries, to my surprise. After another week, I stirred it all together and voila, black rice pudding wine. Because this stuff really goes to your head, with just a few bites. The texture isn't quite as firm as the original version, and the cherry impression isn't as strong, both of which I attribute to having used the wrong rice. If anyone knows the name of the rice I should use, please do tell. And hey, I don't even know the name of this dish. Do you?

Wow, that was quite a flight of fancy you went on there, back in 2004. It makes me want to try to dig up my copy and check your facts! Just from your synopsis of the oxtail dish, I'd toast the chiles in a dry pan, then soak them, then probably puree in the blender with a bit of broth, then fry that paste, just as you would for mole. But I haven't seen the recipe, so that could be not the right advice at all.