Michael Ruhlman

that's interesting about the wine. i would urge anyone using wine in cures or marinades to cook it till most of the alcohol is gone and chill it. what's left is a fantastically fruity liquid that won't denature the exterior protein or add the harsh effects of alcohol.

I would think (based on zero experience) that the vacuum would retard or totally inhibit circulation of the cure liquid. The book says explicitly that the curing liquid should be in contact with the meat at all times. ← i think it would speed up the cure.

I consider it a lucky day when i get a belly with the ribs attached. Braise or slow roast separately. no wonder spare ribs are so good, nestled as they are against the belly that is so good. also, the diaphragm will be attached to these ribs, the striated skirt steak, sooo good, rib meat without the bone. also, someone mentioned guanciale uptherad. niman often has hog jowl. the pancetta cure works great with this and because it's so thin, it dries very quickly and keeps forever.

wasn't there are a good caribbean restaurant in the strip mall at cedar and warrensville, across from the demolished part?

Both great points, ron's too Re infrastructure. Amateur service may be the main obstacle preventing Cleveland from being a higher tier restaurant city. And what an interesting and scary point, the chains may win out not because of food but because they were smart enough to realize that service, ultimately, is more important than the food. Few restaurants with great food and shitty service survive; many, too many, with shitty food but excellent service do. As for cheaper eats, also a good point and reminds me I forgot to mention an excellent indy called Marrotta's on Lee Road in cle hts. Excellent pizza and other higher end fare but reasonable.

FG is correct. I'd love not only to encourage excellence here, but also to recognize it when it shows up and to support it. I've known about Cleveland Oringinals and wish they did more to educate the consumer about the difference between chains and indies.

In a recent article I had a chance to mention cleveland chefs who I liked and my knee jerk reaction was to mention three I always do. but it's since been bothering me that I didn't think more about it. I wish I'd mentioned Paul Minnillo at Baricelli Inn in Little Italy. He was one of the front runners of chefs in this city putting out excellent individualized food, food done the right way, and has since gone on to begin importing some of the worlds best cheese. Down the street at Battuto are Mark and Giovanna Daverio. Mark's an akron native, and he and Giovanna worked at some of the bay area's finest restaurants before moving back here and taking over a Little Italy restuarant in the finest chef-owner tradition. I really admire what they do and love their food and wish I'd mentioned them. I had the best short rib of my life off the grill (the grill!) at Flying Fig on the near west side and I don't even know the chef's name--what is her name?! Shameful. So I wanted to start this thread to ensure that clevelanders who care about good restaurants know about chefs, importantly, chefs who own their restaurant or work their own food at independent restaurants. Basically I don't know enough about the chefs in my own town. With kids, I don't get out enough, I'm an incredible tightwad (a writer after all), and the amount of wine i drink at dinner can be prohibitively expensive, so this is in a way an attempt to educate myself about who's out there in clevelandtown and what they're doing. thanks.

I deferred to brian on that one. I'd had a discussion about it with Anne Burrell, the ace dry curer at mario's italian wine merchant, where it is a whole muscle, shoulder, but she didn't say that it was a particular cut from within the shoulder. I'd love to know specifics of inner shoulder cut if anyone knows them.

chris is right. cold. 33 degrees. try grinding the meat, spreading it on a sheet pan, and putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes till the fat is very stiff and the meat is on the verge of crunchy, but not frozen.

I continue to be astonished by this ongoing transglobal thread. the dialogue is smart and helpful, the pix are fantastic, the sausage shots, from attic to kitchen are great. I'm truly impressed. brian is particularly buried at this time of year but I've asked him to look in on this forum, too.

this is exactly right. we've added an explanation to the next editions of the book. the reason for adding so much bactoferm is to make sure enough of the live culture makes it into the sausage. too much won't hurt. Butcher-packer recommends using at least a quarter of the package. the rest can be frozen for serveral months.

not that i disagree with the august russ parsons, but learning to cook and actually working a line for a shit paycheck (and baby bearing health bennies) was the making of me. it's what enabled me to write the french laundry cookbook, mainly because it gave me a common footing with keller and his brigade. i'd have written a completely different book had i not been through skills classes with michael pardus or worked a grill station for seven short battle-shocked days fearing Dan Turgeon. Must you have a culinary ed or line cook or wait staff experience, no. but i sure wish more of the journalists out there did. Sage Parsons has gotten by more than fine without it. but he's been at this, what, some fifty years now, he knows what he's talking about. getting a culinary ed or working for six month at a really good restaurant, because time happens differently in such circs, can build up a lot of knowledge in a short time, a lot faster than old-fashioned legwork.

I don't know how saltpeter compares with sodium nitrate and nitrite. If you have a local charcutier, you might ask him or her. the two books i have that include it (la technique and saveur cooks authentic french) recommend 1/2 teaspoon per 5 pounds of meat, or about 3 grams per 2.25 kilograms.

I didn't know what college was for other than fun when i was there and i still don't. I always wanted to be a writer and set my sights on that, first on appallingly self conscious novels, then more succesfully with newspaper stories then magazines then books where i accidentally fell into food. My advice: learn how to write first, about anything and everything. write every day. read great writers. travel all you can. look out rather than in. engage interesting strangers. become a spy. find out where the locals eat.

you can also dangle a piece of plastic wrap into the grinder until the auger catches it and the plastic wrap will push out the remaing bits and won't get ground up. no white bread necessary.

It depends. Naturally raised pork will have a better meat to fat ratio, taste better, and be better for you. Factory raised pork, though, will still taste fine. If your butcher wags his head at you when you ask him for pork belly (skin on, ribs on, if possible), then he's not a real butcher.

that's my favorite sausage in the book, a delicious creation from brian. i'm especially glad to hear you didn't feel that you had to use casings. they're awesome in casings, cooked gently over hot coals, but this sausage would be great with pasta as well with diced tomato and more fresh basil.

hi anna, i don't know what readycure is, why there is bicarb in it or why it should be refrigerated. is it pink? does it say the percentage of nitrite in it? if it's 6.25%, then you can use as is. if it doesn't you probably can anyway--the ratios you give make it sound weaker than sodium nitrite here. or you can omit it altogether, you will still have tasty cured belly, though i'd go with a more savory pancetta style cure. in the future get pink salt for a buck fifty from butcher-packer.com.

I know what you mean about the texture. It doesn't sound like a broken forcemeat. with home equipment, it's hard to get that really tight almost rubbery feel you get from vienna hot dogs. they use high powered choppers. Next time you do an emulsified, try reducing the water and the fat a little. Sorry about the pastrami--that sounds strange because i haven't had a problem with the sweetness. I have on occasion with big muscles that the cure hasn't penetrated to the center, even though it's been the same size of others that cured perfectly. Part of why Brian likes to say "practicing" charcuterie. please take note of the pepper-coriander crust--it's an extraordinary combo seasoning that goes well on many things. You can do turkey galantine and coat it with this mixture. You could can make duck pastrami, or a cured salmon using this seasoning (david burke is the first guy i heard of selling salmon pastrami).

butcher-packer.com has the best price, $1.50 per pound (vs $8.99 per pound at sausage maker). please remember that you are using sodium nitrite (#1) and for dry-cured sausage sodium nitrate (#2). always follow instructions and warnings with this stuff. salt peter (potassium nitrate) has not been used for a long time in this country.

the recipe in the french laundry cookbook is very easy and delicious, perfect for caviar.

Looks purdy! Nice job.

as long as you cured it right and it dries thoroughly, shouldn't be a problem. As always, use your common sense when evaluating the finished product!

Brian rescaled the milk powder and he gets 54 grams so it's in between! we're reevaluating if we need to make a fix. any of those quantities should not effect the sausage greatly. milk powder helps a sausage to retain moisture, bind it, and adds a little flavor. sausage does look pale. pork used? looks like veal. right quantity of pink salt?

After it's cooled overnight, rewrap it well and it will be good for several days in the fridge. ← Oh, sorry for the confusion, I actually meant can I stuff it and keep it well wrapped uncooked in the fridge? I want to roast it and serve it on Saturday. ← my mistake, was thinking galantine. I think you could make it thursday and keep it cold and well wrapped till saturday without compromising it.