Abra

Pontormo, that's very much like the way I cook pork for pulled pork when I'm not able to get it on the smoker. With large chunks of shoulder, I think you'd have to be really careful not to have the meat shred as you poured off the fat and set it to brown. Small pieces will definitely take much less time, perhaps only half the time, and the effect is going to be different because of all the exposed meat surfaces. Probably they won't shred, although I don't know if you want that effect anyway. However, I think the fat will be enough. I have a Niman pork shoulder in my freezer now, and it has plenty of fat for that treatment.

Me three, Michael. It's like having Paula Wolfert active in the threads about her books - it gives us such a richer experience of the book and its intentions. Oh, and be sure to try some of your pork products in that recipe of Paula's that I linked to above. It's a "made in porky paradise" little miracle. And sorry, Anna, I posted and then went away for the day. Yes, it was 1/4 cup/1/4 cup so you ended up exactly as I did. That's the version that my husband thinks isn't "bacony" enough, so I'm going to try one of the other cures next time to see if I can make him happier. I'm really happy that you guys are hashing out the andouille ahead of me. As soon as my grinder and stuffer arrive - oops, better order casings! - I'll be looking for your best recipe recommendations.

Anna, I added only 1/4 cup of dark maple syrup to the cure, and thought that was just right.

Chris, you can put some of that lovely more-done bacon in this fabulous dish. Actually, anyone in the pork biz ought to try this one, and if you have some Rancho Gordo beans to go in it, you're golden.

Klary, that tart is radiant! Did you have it on glass with a light underneath? It's gorgeous.

I did actually freeze the prosciutto then slice it with a grooved slicing knife, but it still wasn't thin enough. I can't see why shipping the andouille would be a problem. After all, we all order meat online and it arrives cold-packed overnight. Yours should be fine, unless the smell entices the postal folks into opening your package!

Neil, if I had a single negative thing to say about your restaurant (and I don't) I'd say it right out, because I know you can take it as well as dish it out. But not every restaurant occupies such a secure niche as yours, not all chefs are as experienced as you are, not all menus have settled into their rightful niche, and I see no point in publicly dashing the hopes and dreams of a well-meaning and hard-working staff, just because I had higher expectations than they were able to meet at the moment I was in their establishment. I just can't take myself that seriously.

Thanks, bigwino. I just ordered the Grizzly. By the way, I was in Armandino Batali's shop yesterday, and I mentioned to him that my duck prosciutto could use a little pepping up. He recommended adding a fennel rub to the curing stage, just in case anyone wants to try a variation. However, I served it to a bunch of eGers last night and people seemed to love it just as it was. Paper-thin slicing is sure a problem with cured meat. Don't tell me we're all going to start buying slicers now, in addition to stuffers and grinders and smokers!

I am so ambivalent about this, and will freely admit it. If I love a place, I'll certainly post that. If I hate it, I'll post that too. It's the middle ground that's more difficult. For example, there's a restaurant owned by an eG member that's getting lots of great reviews. I went there, and thought it was fine. Good. Not better than that. Now, do I need to warn you all that I personally don't think it's fabulous? When lots of my fellow members love it? If I'm in the minority, and my opinion could hurt the place, and I don't think anyone will be harmed by going there, but I myself have no plan to return because I was just underwhelmed, am I cheating the world out of my opinion if I just hold my tongue? Everyone can't like everything, and if my dining experience was not truly egregious in some way, isn't there a place for judicious silence?

Having made timballo on one occasion, I'd say this actually looks easier. Getting a dough to cover a 15" round/mound of filling practically undid me at the time. This looks pretty fun by comparison

Slow Oven-Steamed Salmon with Sauce Martiques. Oh yes. The oven steaming produces a great, moist texture. You can see it better in this shot and the pungent herb, caper, and anchovy sauce set off the fish perfectly. That, and a nice Sauv Blanc from British Columbia. We were drinking wines we brought back from Vancouver recently. The red went nicely with Red Beans with Pork and Carrots.

Allow me to post an ode to Red Beans with Pork and Carrots. If anyone knows how to take really good pictures of beans, please let me know. Mine always look fuzzy and gooey. I made these the other night for Suzanne F when she blew into town from New York. It's the best pork and beans dish in the whole wide world, as far as I'm concerned. Also, it probably contains the most different types of fat in any dish I've ever made. I used Rancho Gordo's beautiful Rio Zape beans, and both pork shoulder and pancetta as directed, and also couldn't resist sneaking in a few ounces of my home-cured and home-smoked bacon. So right there's the pork fat, then there was duck fat, and butter, and walnut oil. Even though it's not a good picture, you can see that it's not swimming in grease, but it did have enough fat to be swooningly lush in the mouth, rich and satisfying in the best possible way. Quick, before the weather gets too warm, you owe it to yourself to make this dish! And don't skip the Armagnac/red wine vinegar/walnut oil drizzle as a garnish. It sounds improbable, but it's a wonderful little touch.

On Thursday Suzanne F from NY was in town for the IACP and came over for dinner. Before I even figured out what to cook, I decided to employ her palate in a taste-off I managed to get my hands on a bottle of Mae de Ouro, and already had 51 and Ypioca in the cupboard. When I realized that we were going to have French food, somehow caipirinhas just seemed wrong, so we decided to go for the straight shot tasting approach. The only open bottle was the 51, which I had thought made a decent caipirinha. I'd never tasted it straight, though, and before Suzanne arrived I took just a tiny sip. Ptooie! Tasted like soap! For the actual tasting I thought we'd better start with the MdO while our palates were clear. Yum, delicious, with a nice floral nose. Good enough for sipping. If I hadn't known what it was, I would have had a hard time guessing between a light rum and a good grappa. You can definitely taste the oak, but it's a lot gentler than the woody grappa flavor. I'm sure it would make a great caipirinha, but I kind of hate to dilute it. We went on to the Ypioca. No nose at all to me, really just hot. Suzanne, however, detected the scent of corn, very strongly, which is odd since corn doesn't appear on the label anywhere. These shots went into the dump bucket. The 51 fared better this time, edging out the Ypioca easily, but still not making it into the stand-alone good category. I guess our palates must have been a bit numb, because this time I didn't get the soapy hit that had been so evident at first. Then, just to end on the right note, we each had another nice shot of the MdO. Wow, that's really good. When it gets warm here I'll try some in a caipirinha, but I think that until it becomes widely available, I'll probably use it for sipping, or special mixed drinks, keep the 51 for caipirinhas where the lime really covers up the flavor, and either find someone with no tastebuds to give the Ypioca to, or save it for the next time my drains get clogged.

Oh so appetizing and delicious-looking! I can't wait to follow suit. I need to figure out how to hang stuff in the CharGriller, and then I need to get the KA grinder, and then...take the consensus advice on stuffers. By then you'll be so far ahead I'll never catch up, but I'll be drooling over your pictures.

We're all hanging on your every sausage, Chris! The (sad) cure for drinking too much while smoking is to fire up your smoker about 9:00 a.m., but then, you didn't ask for a cure, so I'll just remind you to hold the camera really steady for those next shots.

Chris, I am so jealous. Ply us with pictures, please! I smoked a chunk of halloumi the other day when I was cold-smoking. I did halloumi because it doesn't melt, so it seemed good for a maiden voyage. It smoked for 2 hours, and all of the outer surfaces were nice and smoky, but the smoke didn't penetrate at all. I'd definitely do it again, but in smaller pieces, so as to get maximun surface area exposed to the smoke.

He has more fat, he has me! Oh, you mean on the bacon? It's from Niman Ranch, which is one of the book's recommended sources, but it does have more lean than store bacon.

Such an interesting blog, full of things I've never heard of or seen before! I love the story of your staff, and they certainly do look happy as clams. The thing that surprises me the most is all the savory foods and meats that you serve for breakfast. That would be extremely unusual in the States, where breakfast foods tend toward the sweet side, and fish is virtually never on the menu unless it's something smoked.

Yes, here it is double-smoked, cold smoked over apple, warm smoked over hickory, total of 7 1/2 hours in the smoke. I think it's delicious. My husband thinks it's very good, but he still thinks it doesn't "taste like bacon." I think he wants more nitrite, in truth. Would commercial bacon have more than the cure we're using?

I'm ordering the rifi, because it's so cute and funny-looking, and because bigger is better. 12-16 weeks is a long time to wait, but hey, I've waited all my life so far. I'm with Anna on the oven/stovetop confusion, and eagerly await any light that might be shed on that. But I never soak my clay stuff in water, just to add to the morass of inconsistencies.

In looking for a tagine here, I find it hard to know which one to buy. Any preferences among those of you that already have one or another?

Gorgeous, Elie. I'm looking forward to trying your recipe!

It was pretty firm, but not hard, or solid, so maybe it needed more than the 8 days it got. I just pulled it off the smoker again. Now it's been double smoked, 4 hours at about 90-100, and another 4 hours at about 150. It looks a lot more golden and bacon-y now, at least on the outside. After it chills down I'll take some pictures and fry up a sample. I finally got up the nerve to take my pancetta down, skin it, sniff it carefully all over (smelled absolutely perfect), re-roll, and re-hang it. I did salt and pepper the skinned side (thanks, Bombdog) but I didn't want to re-cure it because I had tasted a bit of it before the first hanging and the cure already seemed good. So, now it's hanging again, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Confidence and experience are all I'm lacking here, so I really appreciate all of the help from this bunch. Well, maybe my reading skills are also Needs Improvement!

That's an interesting recipe - I wouldn't have guessed that almonds were included. It's also interesting that you ground the whole cardamom pod. I always remove the seeds and only grind them. Am I wasting my time? If the kebabs were dry, I'm guessing it's the super-lean meat. With lamb I'll bet they'd have been a lot less dry. And I never heard of sav raita, although it sounds delicious. Lots to think about in this post!

Geez, woman, don't drink the stuff! Like you don't drink vanilla! It's a flavoring, meant to be a just hint in a mouthful. Personally, I love it and think it tastes like summer. I have Al Wadi too, not by any preference, but because that's what's always been available to me. Here's a recipe I created some years ago when I wanted a non-Middle Eastern use - try this and see what you think. * Exported from MasterCook * Rose Berry Tortoni Recipe By :Abra Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 basket berries of your choice -- use the most beautiful ones you can find 3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar 1 Tablespoon Chambord or Crème de Cassis 3 teaspoons rosewater (divided use) 1 cup half and half 1 cup whipping cream 5 egg yolks 1/2 cup sugar 4 oz Italian ladyfingers (savoiardi) Place berries in a bowl with sugar, liqueur and 1 teaspoon rosewater. Allow to macerate as you prepare the rest of the dessert. Make a crème anglaise by heating the cream and half and half gently together, either in the microwave or over very low heat. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and 2 teaspoons rosewater in the top of a double boiler and then place over rapidly boiling water. Whisk in the hot cream mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens somewhat. It will still be thin, but will coat your spoon, after about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Crush ladyfingers into small chunks. When custard is cooled, place in ice cream maker along with 2 tsp. of the juice from the berries, and freeze to a soft ice cream. Working quickly, in small clear glass bowls layer ice cream, crumbs, berries, a drizzle of the berry juice and a final layer of ice cream. Decorate top with a berry and a few drops of juice, and set bowls in the freezer. Remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving, to allow ice cream to soften to perfection.