Abra

Jason, it sounds like you might have the most charcuterie experience of any of the usual posters on this thread, so I'm eagerly awaiting your formulas. I want to use the least amount of chemical curing agents possible, but I want an excellent and safe result, obviously. I probably speak for everyone in that regard. I realized that of course my concerns about botulism with regard to the duck breast prosciutto were silly, since it's a ground meat as opposed to solid muscle issue, but I am super safety conscious with regard to food and I still haven't solved the humidity question. I'm holding off on dry sausage until I figure that one out, although I've got the DC#2 and Bactoferm, and a Niman pork butt in the freezer along with some back fat, so I'm good to go as soon as I get my kundalini up. I'm going to put up my first bacon tonight. I never did find any 2 gallon bags, but I have a roll of foodsaver bags, so I think I'll work with that. Not vacuumed, though, for the cure, right? Just sealed is what I've been thinking, unless somebody here straightens me out.

Lucy, that lamb garnish is a stroke of genius, one I'm going to emulate at the earliest opportunity. Did you use lamb stock for the liquid, or just the bean water?

26 Brix is very good. We've only had Sunday brunch there, but it was wonderful. It's expensive! I'm going to have dinner there next time and am really looking forward to it. Whitehouse Crawford I think is pretty ok, or a little better. It's a beautiful space, but they have a lot of attitude that really bugs me. For example, on a day when it was over 100 degrees at dinner time, all the main dishes were hot, and I asked for a large salad with some protein as a main course, even though the chef was standing right there and the restaurant was less than 1/4 full, they wouldn't make me an off-menu cold dish. I haven't been back since. The Marc, in the Marcus Whitman hotel, has quite decent food. If they have the cantaloupe and almond soup, get it. Fine dining is not easy to come by in that area. You can get a good sandwich at Merchant's, a good pizza at Sweet Basil, and a trippy old-fashioned breakfast at Clarette's.

I have a how-to question. Last night, when others of the little casatiello breads were opened, the distribution of the meat was quite uneven, with some having very little meat in them. I just tossed the meat and cheese bits into the KA and stirred them into the dough. For better distribution, should I be envelope-folding the solids in, or what?

The hazelnut paste I used was made with 3 oz unsalted butter 1/2 cup sugar 3 oz ground hazelnuts 2 T flour 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs I used ground hazelnut meal from Trader Joe's and it was easy as pie. That chocolate creme d'amandes looks delicious, too. Devlin, are you sure you can't get hazelnuts? They're often called filberts in other parts of the country.

Today I made the casatiello. Instead of the suggested salami and provolone, I used a mixture of Armandino Batali's guanciale and cinnamon pancetta for the meat, and combined a raw milk Manchego and Le Marechal for the cheese. As you can see, I baked it in small pannetone papers to make individual servings. Here's the dough ready to go into the oven after baking while still meltingly hot and when cool enough to slice. I'm supposed to take these to a friend's dinner tonight, but it's awfully hard to be sure they'll last until then! It's all about the meat and cheese you put in, so I say, use the best and most flavorful stuff you can find. A delicious recipe.

Now I have my belly, a jowl, and back fat, plus the pink salt and the #2 cure have arrived. All I lack is 2 gallon ziplocks, which I'll get today. Next - bacon for sure, maybe pancetta, lardo..it's so hard to choose!

Rancho Gordo, linked to by Jim above, has fabulous beans. I put them in the crockpot on low overnight, and by lunchtime they're succulent and perfect. I often do cook them in homemade chicken broth, although they have so much flavor that water works well too. When cooked, I make soup with part, and eat the rest just as they are. They're in another universe from canned beans, honest.

Yes, it is essentially a hazelnut frangipane. And yes again, an adopted daughter is always a good thing to have, especially one who loves pastry!

I made duck confit rillettes, with the confit that I put up last year from Paula's recipe. I swear, if you have duck confit in the fridge, the world is yours!

Today I made the Duck Confit Rillettes, with confit that I put up before Thanksgiving. I did tweak it a bit from the recipe, because we thought it was a little bland. I added a couple of tablespoons of orangecello, for a sort of duck a l'orange effect, as well as some freshly grated nutmeg and a hint of ground celery seed. the tasting shot the art shot. I'll serve this tomorrow, and I expect that it will improve after a night of rest in the fridge.

The moment I saw the recipe linked to by pastrymama I knew I had to make it for my husband's breakfast. It's just what he loves, and I had all the stuff. So, here's what I had: The puff ( a purchased all-butter puff) spread with the hazelnut paste and topped with pain au chocolat sticks the patterned scoring made for a pretty treat after baking the interior crumb was quite rich, and the filling did puff and fall so there was a gap between it and the pastry and the leftover puff scraps made some cute little cheese sticks to go with our dinner. All in all, I think a bit less chocolate would be better, so the hazelnut would shine more. It's a very nice recipe, though, if that's what you meant by chocolate pithiviers. I've never seen a pithiviers before, so I'm hoping that I've got it more or less right.

What sadistick said, except that I like to put the lid on the pan and let them steam for 3-4 minutes after adding the splash of liquid, then remove it and toss the greens as the liquid evaporates. And of course a little pancetta never hurt anything!

Thanks to JAZ for pointing me to this thread, after I mentioned in her ongoing blog that I had a bottle of absinthe coming in to my liquor store. In actual fact, it turns out to be Absente, which has been discussed extensively above. Here's the question: I know it's not absinthe, I already have and love Pastis, and am not into trendy drinking. Is Absente a worthwhile bottle in and of itself, or should I give it a miss?

Drat. My duck breasts are salted and wrapped and I hung them in the garage yesterday. Today I finally got a hygrometer, and while it's a steady 59 degrees in there, the humidity is only 45%. Hey, this should prove to you that it doesn't rain all the time in Seattle! I have a big bowl of water under where the duck is hanging, but in an open garage at that low temp, I have no hope that it can really affect the humidity. We're going to be making a box for dry curing, but in the meantime, I have these duck breasts already started and am (semi) worried that they'll dry out on the surface, rot inside, and we'll all get botulism....would misting the cheesecloth in which they're wrapped be a terrible idea?

Only boobs would drink it.

I grew up in San Francisco and your kitchen makes me nostalgic for the miniscule ones I used to be used to. Now, though, my hat's off to you for being to produce such a nice-looking one in a very small space. Hey, I have a bottle of absinthe coming my way. What's a good thing to do with it?

This has been a very sweet blog, Kathy, thanks! I'm looking forward to your arrival in the food-fabulous PNW.

Beautiful bacon, Doc-G. I got my pork belly yesterday, now I'm just awaiting the arrival of my pink salt and I'll be following in your footsteps. This morning I have to improvise some sort of little hanging box for my duck prosciutto. It's only 2 breatss, so a small box should do it while I'm figuring out how to hang bigger stuff.

Those sound great, Ling! I can "taste" the banana and lime if there's ginger involved, like a ginger syrup or something. Or alternatively, the crepes and banana with your cajeta and maybe a little mango in there somewhere, like a mango creme instead of the Chantilly. The very idea of black sesame and cardamom makes me faint. I just bought black sesame paste today to make that cheeszecake. Yum! Pille, what are the petals on that flower on your brulee? The center looks like kumquat, but I can't see what the petals are. I'm assuming that even though it looks like artichoke, it really isn't. Now that would be truly weird!

Has anyone tried the duck prosciutto? I got a couple of fat duck breasts today and am ready to go with them, whilst I await the delivery of my pork and curing packages.

Hey, Ling, are you baking professionally now? I knew you couldn't hold out for long! Beautiful cake, Ruth.

It's better described as a glutinous rice ball, I guess. I think of it as a little bun, but it's steamed, so it must be glutinous rice. Hmm, that link takes me straight to the recipe. PM me if you like and I'll send it to you.

Your pork crostini look beautiful, Nathan. I just loved the way the salt and fennel penetrated into the meat. That's really a wonderful, and wonderfully simple, little dish.

Funny thing, but I just ordered some jowl from Niman yesterday, along with back fat and pork belly. I decided that if i'm going to do it, I might as well DO it!