FoodMan

Well, sure you do not "need" to. Any good butter crust will work fine. I still think, unless someone has an aversion to pinenuts, they need to try it with the crust in the book. It's different and makes for an awsome texture and taste. After all, the details, expecially in a Keller recipe, do matter.

I've had the same experience and thoughts. Cooking this bacon actually produces an astonishing fond bc there's just no water coming off of it. It's particularly remarkable for lardons, bc they crisp up yet maintain their meaty, thick texture. They don't turn into brittle Bac-Os. ← I concur especially about the lardons comment. I made a kick-ass frizee and lardon salad the other day.

That was Steingarten's conclusion too . Adam, can the breast remain pink and be well done and not stringy at the same time?? April, that is a fine looking rottolo...I have to make me one soon and pot about it!

Since this one will probably be my only Fruilian meal this month, I wanted to try something different. So, we had the following: Tagliolini De Zucca, pasta with pumpkin from Roden’s book. I used butternut squash because I think it had the best flavor and is easiest to work with. The pasta dough itself has some roasted pureed squash in it and it only uses egg yolks. the roasted squash gives it a lovely color and a mild sweet taste. The sauyce is more sautéed squash in butter with little onion. I rolled this one by rolling pin rather than a pasta machine and it was surprisingly pliable, elastic and easy to work with. It was certainly a very good primo to precede the pork and I will be making this again. The Secondi and contorno was a recipe I’ve always wanted to try from the Babbo Cookbook, “Braised Pork Cheeks- Fruili style” served with sautéed cabbage and prune vinegar. The pork is braised in a combo of aromatics, tomato, apple cider and dark beer. Unfortunately pork cheeks are nowhere to be found over here unless they are smoked as part of the jowl. If I could find them I would’ve made Guanciale a long time ago. So, I substituted what Batali recommends, boneless chunks of pork shoulder. The dish is outstanding and the pork work wonderfully with the tangy vinegar laced cabbage (which also has some homemade pancetta in it). The few drizzles of prune vinegar gives the whole dish a prefect sweet sour note. Since this week has been so damp and cool in Houston, this braise was a very appropriate goodbye to the winter. Sorry for the not-very-photogenic picture, certainly not like the one in the book. Take my word on it though, it was way better tasting that it’s looks.

Pastrami Spiced Gravlax (or Smoked Salmon) Serves 6 as Appetizeror 4 as Main Dish. This recipe makes a great cured salmon. Then it can either be turned into a Pastrami-spiced gravlax or into fantastic smoked salmon. The main requirement is to buy a very good fresh piece of salmon to start with, with firm flesh and fresh smell. Gravlax 2 lb center-cut salmon fillet with skin 1-1/2 T fresh lemon juice 1-1/2 T Bourbon or rum 1/2 c kosher salt 4 T raw sugar, such as turbinado, or light brown sugar 2 T coarsely cracked black pepper 1-1/2 c coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and stems 1 c coarsely chopped parsley leaves and stems 2 shallots, minced Pastrami Glaze 3 T molasses 3 bay leaves, torn into large pieces 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1-1/2 tsp caraway seeds 1-1/2 tsp coriander seeds 1-1/2 tsp sweet paprika 1-1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 1. Cure the salmon: Rub the salmon fillet all over with the lemon juice and bourbon and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the salt, raw sugar, cracked black pepper, cilantro, parsley and shallots. Sprinkle half of this mixture in a glass baking dish that will snuggly fit the salmon. Lay the salmon skin side down on the salt mixture. Cover the salmon with the rest of the salt mixture and rub it in. Cover the salmon loosely with plastic wrap. Weigh the fish down with another baking dish or a flat piece of cardboard with a few heavy cans on top. Refrigerate for 48 hours or until the fish releases a lot of liquid and feels firm instead of squishy if pressed with your finger on it’s thickest part. If not, then leave it to cure some more in the liquid. 2. Make the Pastrami Glaze: In a very small saucepan or in the microwave, combine the molasses, bay leaves and cayenne and bring to a simmer over low heat(or microwave in a small measuring cup for 20 seconds at a time and stir, then repeat). Let cool to room temperature. 3. In a small skillet, lightly toast the caraway and coriander seeds over moderate heat, shaking the pan, until fragrant. Transfer the seeds to a mortar or a spice grinder (coffee grinder) and let cool completely. Crush the seeds as finely as possible. Stir in the paprika and ground pepper. 4. Remove the gravlax from the cure and rinse under cold water. Dry well and set it on a plate, skin side down. Brush the gravlax with the molasses; pick off the bay leaves. Sprinkle the ground spices evenly over the fillet. Refrigerate the gravlax uncovered for at least 12 hours or overnight. 5. Once ready to serve, remove the skin using a sharp knife (or you can leave it on if you don't mind it). It should come off easily. Using a long, sharp knife, cut the gravlax crosswise into very thin slices. Arrange the slices on plates and serve. I like it with good onion rye, shallots and cream cheese. It will last wrapped tightly in plastic for about a week in the refrigerator. For Smoked Salmon variation: Omit the glaze and the pastrami spices. After removing from the cure, rinsing and drying, let the salmon dry uncovered for 6-12 hours on a plate skin side down in the refrigerator to develop a pellicle. Then hot-smoke it on the stove top (I use an old wok) or in an outdoor smoker over apple or cherry wood until flaky. Should take about 20 minutes under hot smoke. Keywords: Fish, Easy, Hors d'oeuvre, Appetizer ( RG1684 )

didn't we already have this discussion...or am I imagining things? Anyways, almond will probably work ok, but like rlummis said, yolu should try the pine nut at least once. Pretty awsome tart.

Not sure anyone really has actually. Ever read Steingarten's "Supergoose" article in his "Must've been something I ate" book? He tries every trick under the sun with many geese and never could manage to roast a perfect goose, with medium done breast, tender legs and crispy skin.

Sure, I'll enter it in RG.

This salmon is not directly from this book, but I started curing salmon because of the original recipe in Charcuterie and I also added procedures to this recipe based on instructions from this book. So, I feel it really belongs on this thread. The recipe I am talking about is from the latest F&W issue, “Pastrami-style Gravlax”. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to give this a try. It looked awesome in the magazine, and it was. So I bought a big hunk of wild fresh salmon and cured it based on the F&W recipe (salt, raw sugar ie Turbinado, shallots, parsley and cilantro). Even though the recipe does not state this, I still weighed it down like the Charcuterie recipe. Once done curing, and boy did it throw out lots of liquid, I divided it in half. One I prepared like the rest of the recipe states to make it into “Pastrami”, the other I hot smoked per my wife’s request. Both were outstanding, I especially loved the Pastrami one and served it with homemade onion rye, shallots and cream cheese. The smoked one was served on top of sautéed zucchini and more rye bread. I will definitely be making this Pastrami-style salmon again, since it makes for a great lunch at work…while my fellow employees heat up their Hotpockets Ready to get out of the cure The Pastrami-Salmon Smoked Salmon

Unfortunatly things did not go as planned and due to time constraints I did not manage to make the Gateau Basque at all. Instead I had to fall back on my standard tried and true dessert...shortcakes with strawberries and ice cream. I will give this a shot in the near future though and report back how it worked out as individual portions. On another note, the rest of the meal whose center piece was the "Roast chicken stuffed with garlic croutons" came out fantastic and juicy. The accompanying potato gratin (in a clay pot non the less) was outstanding as well. ← here are a couple of pics from this dinner, sorry was too busy with the guests and forgot to take more. The chicken while cooking...this was a pain to flip it around, but with a spatula I managed The gratin, this was sort of a hybrid between the one with blue cheese and another gratin in Paula's Slow Med. book. I did not use blue cheese because I would be the only one eating it if I did .

Lovely Tart! I also made a quiche this weekend, the quiche recipe alone is worth the price of this book (well, the trotters too) (..and the steak with shallots ). I made a hybrid quiche this time filled with leeks, smoked ham and spinach. The best part is that We slice a wedge of two from it for breakfast or lunch at work and keep the rest. It takes us a good week to get through the whole thing.

I tried this out on Saturday, and yes, it's really good. Reading the recipe, I was a bit concerned that it would be too rich and heavy; and even when I was making it, the combination of prunes and port smelled like rich Christmas pudding. But after long slow cooking, the flavour is subtle and adds just the right amount of extra interest. It was great with the steak, but I think it could be particularly good with roast venison (with a touch of juniper), sliced across the top. I'd say that slices of nicely cooked duck breast would be good too. ← or a nice pork rib roast I can definitly see it going great with venison though.

Let me roll out my complete American-ness here and say that those ducks and geese at the Asian markets scare me since they still have the heads on. Which leads me to worry that they may not be gutted, either. Besides, I don't have anything I could readily hack their heads off with. See, I can do duck breast okay, and duck legs okay, and a braised duck I do just fine, but roasting 'em is problematic, and I keep remembering similar results growing up whenever my mom would roast them. ← That is toooo funny! Kevin these geese do NOT have their heads attached. The ducks that do have been gutted and a sharp butcher knife is all u need to hack the head off, remove the skin from the neck in one piece and make a wonderful "stuffed duck neck" from Paula Wolfert's Cooking of SW France book .

Don't, my Hong Kong market carries frozen geese for less than half of that price. Never tried them though. Now, ducks, are awsome, but I usually cook the legs and breast seperate.

Right..Batali always rhapsodizes about te Jewish ghettos in Rome and their Carciofi Fritto.

I don't know. Good. ← Do they have trolleys or do u have to order off the menu?

ok, I made reservations at Lucques for Sunday supper. We will chekc the menu out on Wednesday and cancel if the menu is not to our liking. Although I really want to check out Grace's as well..decisions decisions.. Now, to decide on a Dim Sum place.... Thanks for all your suggestions.

Unfortunatly things did not go as planned and due to time constraints I did not manage to make the Gateau Basque at all. Instead I had to fall back on my standard tried and true dessert...shortcakes with strawberries and ice cream. I will give this a shot in the near future though and report back how it worked out as individual portions. On another note, the rest of the meal whose center piece was the "Roast chicken stuffed with garlic croutons" came out fantastic and juicy. The accompanying potato gratin (in a clay pot non the less) was outstanding as well.

I usually do what Paula mentioned, salt and let them sit for a few days and top off with extra lemon juice to cover. I never refrigerate mine though. Should I? This batch is over a year old and tastes lovely.

Thanks for the comparison Bombdog! I can only speak for the visual aspect of things, I could tell immediatly which one was cold smoked vs. the hot smoked in the picture. The cold-smoked one looked like it has a tighter grain and seemed like it held it's shape betgter under cooking. I will be sticking with cold-smoking myself. BTW, my belly had nipples too ...pork belly that is. I just loped them off before curing. Abra, I cold smoked my pork belly for about 5 hours and yes it does remain cool to the touch. That is the point. However, mine was thinner than yours, so I am guessing you need a longer time in the cure and a longer smoke time as well. Was it pretty firm when you removed ikt from the cure??

we are having some people over for dinner on Sunday, and I was thinking of making the Basque Cake with pastry cream for dessert. I was thinking that maybe this would work as individual little cakes, baked in muffin cups and served with some fresh berries, almost like a rif on cupcakes. Will that work? any pitfalls to avoid? Or should I stick with the classic and make a big round cake and cut into wedges?

This sounds like a ready-made experiment. I've loved the bacon I've produced via hot smoking but have yet to try a cold-smoked version. I've been to the hardware store and bought some supplies to rig a cold smoker, which I will use the next time out. But for now, I'm still working through my last 2 batches of hot-smoked product. =R= ← I really have never tried hot-smoked bacon, so I cannot tell for sure which is "superior" if any. Typically though good American bacon is cold smoked and that is why I went with cold smoking. I was very happy with the result, so I am not sure I will hot-smoke it in the future. My guess the difference might be more in the texture of the two bacons, since one is cooked the other is not.

It was really easier than expected. The "grill" section is quiet large, so I placed the meat on the grill grate at the end as far away from the smoke-box as possible. In between them, on the grill grate again, I placed an aluminum tray filled with ice (of course this had to be refilled every 30 minutes or so), so the smoke would hit the ice first. To get it going I lit about half a chimney full of lump coal, and dumped it in the smoke-box, from then on I just topped the coals with soaked wood chips whenever the smoke died down. I did not have to replenish the coals at all, just kept adding apple wood chips. Hope this helps.

Why write my own thoughts down if I can quote a very wise woman (not sure about the Aran sweater though) ? I could not agree more! I cold smoked my bacon slab this past weekend and it was amazing and perfect. I used my Char-griller grill with a smoke chamber to do that using apple wood chips. The temperature never went over 90F for about 5 hours. I made a smaller batch just in case something went wrong or the recipe did not work perfectly. I also omitted the maple syrup because non of us really cares for it and removed the skin after smoking. Now, I need to get a bigger piece of belly and definitly thicker. From now on bacon and pancetta will never be bought again. If you are not too bored with pictures of cured/smoked and crisped pork fat yet, here are a couple of pics

I cannot believe I forgot to post this! damn work. I made the "Potato Gratin with Prunes" recently to go with a steak with shallots (from Bouchon) and it was fantastic. The prunes make a nice sweet-garlicky sauce that mingles with the potatoes and as you can imagine, the top crispy ones are the best part. Do give it a shot, especially with this cold weather we are getting in the first week of Spring .