Bombdog
-
Posts
527 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Bombdog
-
-
Jaz, the Publix I shop at has bagged panko, similar to what you described in the oriental section.
-
Does marbling in pork matter as much as it does for beef? Why is there no USDA grading system?
I got lucky and found a great cut of loin from a Berkshire at Central Market today. Is this considered pretty good?
I think that the marbling in pork is just as important as it is in beef. Unfortunately in most mass consumed pork that marbling is non existent.
This is a cross section of some butt I recently purchased for a salami project from Caw Caw Creek
-
I've made a few sausages out of this book now, and wanted to try my own recipe. I'm thinking of doing a pork sausage with some Thai flavours. I was planning on using some chili's, garlic, and Thai basil, but was questioning whether to use fish sauce as the liquid base. What do you all think? Maybe dilute it with water. I'm just afraid that the fish sauce might over power the sausage and make it taste too salt. I was also thinking of using lemongrass, but think it might be too woody, and give it a weird texture.
Any other ideas?
I'd just add some lemon zest. You might think of Thai curry as your liquid base
-
My friend's father, a lovely Southern Italian gentleman has agreed to share his family tradition with me, as sausage making is not really part of my culture. I have fallen in love with all things charcuterie since having dry cured sausage in Auvergne, hanging illegally from the village-butcher's garage, served by his toothless wife, a cigarette butt dangling from her lips. Pork, salt, and whatever natural flora lingered in the air at this country home were the sole ingredients. And the result was near-miraculous.
Well, that was a few years ago. We'll see if we can recapture some of that magic with good old Canadian pork, peppered with some Italian sensibility. But I have some concerns. The product , no doubt, of having access to too much information and not enough experience (My current bedtime book: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn, and Thomas Keller).
Chico (our king sausagemaker) recommended we get three shoulders and one hip - too much meat for us. Upon the butcher's recommendation, we got two shoulders and 6 lbs of back eye. Then another relative wanted to pitch in, so we added a additional shoulder and a hip. Total, 3 shoulders, one ham and 6 lbs of back eye.
Chico does not concern himself with Insta-Cure or the use of time-released nitrites to ward off botulism. He doesn't add milk powder or dextrose to feed the Bactoferm, bacteria which will ferment the meat and lower the PH through lactic acid which will make the sausage an inhospitable environment for the bad stuff. He doesn't freeze the meat for 6-20 days to kill off any trichinosis.
Chico grinds the meat, adds the salt, makes the sausage. Period. And nobody ever died. (that he knows of)
Any thoughts on any stage of this? If you have experience in this very basic kind of sausage making, please share. I should also add that we have a cantina, just above the freezing point. It was about 1'C this morning. I'm also curious to know if I should keep the fat under the skin of the leg/ham to incorporate into the mix. It's not as good as back fat or jowl or kidney fat I suppose...
Many thanks!
You really should come on over here to the Charcuterie thread, where many of us have been doing any number of salumi and salume for the past year or so. I think you'll find most any question you have has been asked and answered in that thread. If not, jump in and ask away. We have a pretty wide experience base over there. Plus, Ruhlman occasionally is available to answer questions.
-
When I lived in Napa, Terra was my absolute favorite place. And yes, I have eaten at the French Laundry.
-
I have a 36" DCS 6 burner and am totally in love with it. My previous two stoves were commercial Wolf's and I'll take this DCS over either one of them.
Melissa, the salesman told me that the Monogram is made by DCS
-
Hocks I can possibly do- fresh or smoked? Smoked is no problem around here (despite the name, I am not in Chicago. The helpful butchers have not been so helpful on this)
I used smoked rind, from some bacon I smoked a while back, for Christmas dinner. I'm not sure it's authentic, but the flavor was nice, not overwhelmingly smoky, just a nice background.
-
Does anyone know where I can order Haricot Lingot in the US? I've googled until I'm all googled out and just can't find a source. I'd appreciate any and all leads. Thanks!
If you are searching for a bean to use in cassoulet, Rancho Gordo has a flageolet which is an excellent substitute.
-
Great article...thanks for sharing.
Jason, I've previously cured some pancetta flat. You're so right, it's much easier.
Ron, I just tied a couple of loose loops of string around the piece and let it hang as if rolled.
-
-
Thanks Mike. That's the technique I use also. Although my finished product never looks as pretty as yours.
I finally got around to uploading a picture of the Caw Caw Creek belly.
As you can see, they come too small to roll for pancetta. I actually have plenty of pancetta on hand. But after Jason's comment I decided one of them MUST be cured for pancetta. I'll smoke the other two for bacon.
-
I can get them here in South Carolina at Publix. They are definitely my 'go to' choice for out of season tomatoes.
-
Well...............it's not always that easy, Elie....although I suspect that Mike must have skinnier fingers than me n' Ron. That would certainly make it easier!
-
I'll second that Mike....that is one NICE rolled tight pancetta...
-
I just finished stuffing 18 lbs of salami's today and without the Grizzly I'd still be cleaning clogs from the KA stuffer!
-
Dave, do you have a picture of the belly as well? (where's the drooling emoticon when you need it?)
I do. Sorry I didn't take any pics of it yet. I need to get it in a some bags for cure today or tomorrow. I'll get some posted then.
Like the shoulder, he only sells it in certain portions. For bacon I think it'll be just fine. They are rather small though, so rolling for pancetta will be impossible. Guess I'll just have to cure that flat.
I forgot to say earlier....when I was commenting on the fat back, Emile told me he could get me some that is 6 inches thick! I think my lardo is coming soon.
-
I put this GE Profile hood in over my new DCS stove in August.
I would have preferred something with a bit more suck value (600 cfm), but so far it's performed nicely.
Ignore the missing base cabinet to the right of the stove. Simply a casualty of replacing a 30" electric drop in range with the 36" DCS. I've got the replacement installed now, I'm just too lazy to take new photos.
-
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.
Thanks Jason
That's what I was thinking.
The only sausage project that will come from this is the garlic ones for cassoulet on Christmas Day. I'm planning on Tuscan, Sopressata, and Genoa for this batch.
-
Sorry I took so long to get these pictures posted.
Here are several Boston Butts. Emile doesn't sell in primal cuts. You can only get shoulder this way. I couldn't believe the fat!
I tried to get a good shot of the marbling. Once again, amazing stuff.
Now my question. With what seems to be such a higher percentage of fat in these shoulder cuts, should I still use the 4lb of meat to 1lb of fat back ratio? These obviously contain much more fat than the stuff I have used in the past. However, I have been satisfied with the way the cured meats have turned out. If I add 1lb of fat back am I going to have too much fat? I'm not even sure if there is such a thing as too much pork fat
, but am interested in any opinions. -
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.
Yes he does. I met him for the first time yesterday.
I'm a bit under the weather myself today, so it might be a day or so before I get pictures posted. But I can almost promise you'll drool. These shoulders are just unbelievable!
-
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).
I suppose being able to pick it up from the owner helps, but I only paid 150.00 for all that I got today. I mean it's easily 2 or 3 times the cost of the other stuff I can get, but I am expecting that it will be worth every penny.
-
I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.
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.
-
I've kept them in zip locks in the crisper with no ill effects. Since purchasing a foodsaver I vacuum seal them, also with no ill effects. In all honesty, nothing lasts so long that it would go bad, especially this time of year.
-
Looking through the schedule I see that the first two episodes (Vegas and Philly) are being re-run at 4 and 4:30 pm eastern today.
Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 4)
in Cooking
Posted
Yes indeed. The only thing you need to do is make sure it's fresh, not salted fat back, which is very common in our area.