Jon Savage

This thread has been a great read so far. I too am anxiously waiting for the next installment.

Yep. Chicken Schmaltz - Adds a pronounced chicken flavor (not a bad thing in some cases) Duck Fat - Did not seem to change flavor much, seems more neutral than chix fat. Bacon fat - Great when you want a good smokey flavor.

It depends on mood and the cigars involved. Usually I'll just have water if a cigar is new to me; othewise the trick is to find drinks that complent but don't overwhelm the cigar. A few of my favorite parings: La Gloria Cubana M 'd O #3 - Pinot Grigio. La Gloria Cubana M 'd O #1 - Single malt scotch San Cristobal De Habana El Principe - a nice pastis. Punch Ninfa - good lager. Punch Margarita - Black Coffee. Partagas 8-9-8 - Glass of balanced red wine. Cuaba Tradicionales - sipping rum

Agreed--> also my money is on 2 out next week.

For the confit you could just render the fat from the ducks you use to make prosciutto etc.. You may have to reserve the legs in the freezer until you have accumulated enough fat though. Beef peperone as outlined in the book does not require add'l fat and in fact calls fo the use of lean beef. Chicken sausage has worked out well for us using (skinless) boned thighs. These seem to have plenty of fat. We've subsituted chicken for pork in many of the fresh pork sausage recipes quite sucessfully (not because we don't eat pork but rather because my parents don't). As noted elsewhere caution is in order w/ lamb fat unless that flavor is what you are after. I hope you continue to have fun w/ the book; I know we have so far.

Goose and/or Duck fat homemade Bacon homemade Panchetta smoked cayenne from our garden sourdough starter Pasta (dried and fresh) Arborio rica tomatoes (canned, fresh, italian paste) eggs

Had a dozen folks over for a cigar dinner last week; wanted to put some good food out but did not want to be stuck cooking all evening. Fresh foccacia + assortment of cheese + duck breast prosciutto 3 lbs seared ahi seafood paella spicy italian sausage loosly adapted from chaucuterie (these got smoked). Total active cooking/prep was maybe 45 minutes all told and the food was well received. What do you guys like to to when you want to put out a nice spread w/o burning up lots of time?

Our cat finds them quite entertaining. Mason jars, freezer ziplocs seem to hep as well but we are rarely completely moth free.

I hope you enjoy it.

I used a tweaked version hot Italian sausage recipe from Ruhlman's book substituting skinless thigh meat instead of using pork and it came out really really well. I did tweak the recipe a bit. --digressions from his recipe are noted as well 5 lbs bonless thigh meat skin off leaving as much fat as you can 3 tbs Kosher salt -mortons 2 tablespoons brown sugar (I substituted for white) 1 tablespoon Coriander toasted (I also cracked these a bit in my morter and pestle) 2 Tablespoons Fennel (had none on hand so omitted) 1.5 Tablespoons Sweet Hungarian Paprika (the book calls for 3 tablespoons) 1.5 Tablespoons Half Sharp Hungarian Paprika (to make up 3 tablespoons paprika) 1 teaspoon Ground Chipoltle/Habanero Mix (subbed for 1/2 teaspoon cayenne) 2 tablespoons each dried basil & Dried Oregano (subbed for 4 tablespoons each fresh, garden not ready yet) 2 Tablespoons hot red pepper flakes 2 Teaspoons Coarsely ground black pepper scant 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (more on that in a moment) scant 3/4 cup water (more on that in a sec) 1/8 - 1/16 cup basalmic vinegar to make the ice water and vinegar = 1 cup (No basalmic in the original recipe) Dice meat, season with all of the non liquid ingredients and chill until almost frozen. Grind fine or medium to taste. Add liquid ingredients and mix for a minute or two until well combined. Stuff into medium hog casings or freeze as bulk. This turned out really really well. Spicy but not overwhelming, each spice was detectable and we were both happy with the result. I think chicken used this way is wonderful because the chicken meat is fairly neutral and provides an almost blank canvas for the spices and other goodies you add.

We made some spicy italian sausage using chicken yesterday. Othe modifications included adding a little ground habanero, using 1/2 1/2 sharp paprika instad of all sweet. Pretty darn tasty and the new stuffer works like a charm.

I've been using Penzeys for years and agree that they are great to shop at. They have a number of retail locations as well but we have only used their website.

Also on Reuters, Potentially scary indeed.

Just started my first ever batch inspired by this thread. Should make for a mighty tasty lunch. --edit made a tasty dinner came out great - the carnitas, frijoles refritos and salsa... mmmm porky goodness... Just like taco stand carnitas

Kept cool enough to not go rancid the fat should keep a long time IMHO. If it smells OK then you should be good to go.

I've been paying more attention to sauces of late. Tonight's was slightly inspired by this thread. Sauteed 2 pork chops in my trusty cast iron pan. While they were resting put 2 slices homemade bacon (minced), 1/2 clove minced garlic and a few minced shallots in the pan. Added maybe 1 tsp flour, made a sorta roux toasted till nutty. Deglazed w/ 1/2 c sherry (flambe, reduce). Added about 1/2 c beef stock, reduced by about 2/3. Took off heat added a glob of Dijon (maybe 1 tablespoon). Was going to add butter but the mustard thickened up the sauce perfectly. Rustic porky goodness. Served over the pork chops with rice it was a very tasty dinner.

I found it entertaining. Bourdain is always a good read.

A large hyper thin sourdough pizza topped with just a smear of marinera, 8 oz (diced) fresh mozz a scattering of wafery panchetta (homemade), a little pepperoni (good stuff from the Italian deli) and a few thinly sliced mushrooms. Gotta love the gallon ziploc of sourdough that lives in the fridge. Grab a handful before work in the AM, let rise all day and pizza, foccacia or baguette with dinner.

Interesting question. We have a pretty good assortment of random cookware the stuff that seems to get the most use is: small cast iron frying pan (just right for a 2 egg omlette). Medium cast iron pan large cast iron pan cast iron dutch oven cheap carbon steel wok pasta pot w/ insert (strain, steam whatever) Large calphalon stockpot. 2 1/2 sheet baking pans from smart & final a pizza screen small enamel saucepans (these are on the replace list) What gets little to no use: non stick frying pans the rest if the calphalon (I really don't like it much).

As you may have read, I'm considering the same knife. What do you think of the squared-off handle? To be honest I did not notice the handle at all (which is a good thing). If you do choose to radius the edges if the handle just sand it progressively finer until it is as smooth as you like. re finishing should not be required since the whole handle is resin impregnated IIRC

Awesome info Bob, thanks for sharing. I'm sure happy with the Tojiro DP you'd mentioned further upthread. Confused about the single bevel. I checked my yanagiba and it is indeed RH (bevel on the right side of the blade as you noted) but unless I cut towards myself the fish slices will fall from the beveled side of the knife. Likely my technique is backwards but cutting towards me rather than away would take some getting used to. I'll need to pay attention next time I go to sushi and see how the sushi chef does his cuts. Seems like I might be using the knife backwards. Assbackwards technique or not the yanagiba is my knife of choice for duck prosciutto - slices thin enough to read through.

Ordered it today. Yes. I'd really like a larger plate. I keep thinking someone with more talent than I have should market accessory plates and blades for the KA grinder. Didn't someone once make a grinder attachment for the KA that took standard plates?

I also subscribe "just throw some water directly on the floor of the oven" school of thought. I use hot water. If I cared about the oven I'd use a sheet pan or giant cast iron skillet on the bottom rack.

Yesterday was kind of busy. Made a batch of saucisson sec, a batch of chicken/tomato/basil sausage, smoked three bellies. We had the links on the plate for dinner man that is tasty sausage. I don't seem to mind grinding using the kitchenaid grinder attachment but the "stuffer" is a f'n joke. Need to look upthread for an alternative.

Thanks for recommending it. Agree the bang/buck ratio on this is excellent.