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This was mentioned (April '07 Food Arts) in a dessert created by Christophe Michalak. Has anyone ever done this? How is it done? Can't get my head completely around it...

Went to the Manchester festival and had Heston's Summer (there was no summer) treats (see here http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=4891&st=698) Does anyone know how to candy raw bacon in a way that makes it pasturised? I presume a stock syrup & a dehydrator were used?

July 4th is here and now. I want to buy a few different kinds of sausage for a July 4th BB. So, where is everyone's favorite place to buy sausage? I tried many different kinds, from many places, but nothing really great. Thank you and have a great July 4th. Eric

Hello all, just wanted to know a few things here before I try making this blood sausage recipe I found on ochef. The ingredients call for a number of things, and I have all of them save for a few. Obviously you need blood, pork blood preferably. I have only been able to find beef blood and pork blood at the local Asian markets, which come in frozen containers. They contain "pig's blood, water, salt product" Now I'm assuming this is still usable, but the water and salt product threw me off a bit. Is this probably a low percentage of the total liquid, mainly for preserving? I really have never worked with blood before, and I know that fresh is prefered, however that's nearly impossible for me to find so I have to do with this. Do you think I can still use this blood? The recipe also calls for leaf lard, the only way to get leaf lard is to mail order and it's going to be more than I'm willing to spend for only needing a 1/2lb of it. The question I have is this: for the purpose of sausage making, do you think they leaf lard they're calling for in this recipe is just ground pork fat, or rendered fat (lard) that you find in the tubs? I know lard is good for baking, but I have always thought that the ground up fat would be what you would need for making sausages, right? Last but not least, the recipe calls for breadcrumbs. Correct me if im wrong (and I usually am) but if a recipe states breadcrumbs, usually its the small granular DRY breadcrumbs, and not fresh ones (the recipe for this calls for 1/4 breadcrumbs) I don't think 1/4 of fresh breadcrumbs would do the trick to thicken the blood, so I'm assuming the regular dry breadcrumbs are what is needed. Thanks for anyone who looks or helps out, it's appreciated.

I just scored a slab of Berkshire pork belly from Matt Jennings (our own stinkycheeseman) at Farmstead here in Providence RI. He asked what I was going to do with it, and I babbled about red cooked pork belly (Grace Young's from a recent Saveur), rillons (Stephane Reynaud's from the new Pork & Sons cookbook), and, of course, bacon. "Berkshire, so you gotta brine it first, man," says Matt. "Couple days, then the dry cure." "Uh huh," says I, nodding like I know what that would actually mean. Well, now I'm home and I'm realizing that I don't really have much of a sense of what precisely I should do to get this beautiful flesh curing. My bacon chops, such as they are, came from working through Ruhlman's Charcuterie (click), which doesn't mention any wet-then-dry curing. However, the dry curing has yielded some slightly spotty results now and then, so I'm game to try brining as an evolutionary advance in my bacon makin'. So, the questions. Any ideas about the brine solution? Should I adjust the dry cure in any way? I'm happy to go by feel at this point, but would the total amount of time curing be reduced because of a more efficacious brine?

Hi all -- Just wondering if anyone a) thinks it is possible to make a really good chicken (or turkey, I suppose) sausage and b) if so, if you have a recipe you'd share. I typically have shied away from poultry sausage, figuring it just couldn't be as good as luscious fatty pork... But then I figured, I'd actually wind up eating sausage more often if there was a tasty version that wasn't made with luscious fatty pork... Thanks in advance! Emily

I have made some homemade pancetta following the directions in Ruhlman & Poleyn's "Charcuterie". The preparation, curing and rolling went fine and now its time to hang it for a couple of weeks. The authors recommends hanging it at 50-60 degrees. The problem is there is nowhere in my home that maintains 50-60 degrees; it stays at around 70 degrees. My question: Am I better off at hanging at the higher temperature, or should I finish it off in the refrigerator? Thanks, Don

My charcuterier, Central Market, sells ends of their products. These are the tips of a ham hock, shoulder, sausage, etc. and I find them to be a great value. Prosciutto and bresaola ends are priced at $9.99/lb (considering that they sell San Daniele at $19.99 and bresaola at $29.99). Prosciutto ends are great to cook with: slice into small pieces and fry with scrambled eggs or use it to flavor a stock. I usually buy them with that intention but always end up eating too much of it straight. All other meat ends are $3.99/lb. This is usually turkey, ham, pastrami, and occasionally sausage. $3.99 is just a great deal for any kind of fully cooked meat. They sell boneless skinless chicken breast for more than that. And I actually prefer the taste of ends. On hams and turkeys, for example, you get much more delicious skin; on pastrami, more black pepper rub. I suspect that the employees snag the choicest ends as I never see anything like secola blue label prosciutto. Bresaola was the most expensive end I've ever seen.

I picked up Chorizo from Esposito on 9th, Fennel from Faccios in the West Village, and Kielbasa from Steve's in Greenpoint. Any other leads?

I thought this was hilarious: http://www.homecouture.com.au/index.cfm?ev...=29&idBrand=358 http://www.homecouture.com.au/index.cfm?ev...=30&idBrand=358

I love duck leg confit. I have never made my own, though, and the one time I bought one from my butcher, it wasn't as good as some I've had from high-end commercial canned or jarred types. But it's been a long time since I had a really delicious, well-seasoned, satisfying example of a store-bought, canned or jarred duck leg confit. What is your favorite confit? And how is its pricing? I assume small producer-type products can also be found in certain Paris shops, so do include, if that's the case for your favorite. Thanks!

I am trying to figure out how to build a cellar for curing assorted charcuterie. I have a wine cellar that is below ground, its temperature is fairly stable but not 100% stable. It goes to a low of about 8 degrees C in the winter (46 degrees F) to about a maximum of 17 degrees in the summer (63 degrees F). The humidity is fairly high to where the wine labels are getting a bit wet. i am trying to rig some circulation fans to reduce this and bring it down to a somewhat drier clime since i would like to use the cellar to cure meats. Does anyone know what the optimal temperature range/humidity is for this? what are the outside limits? if i start something in the winter will it spoil due to high temp. in the summer? I am concerned that by circulating the air and putting in an extraction fan to lower the humidity i will raise the cellar temperature. Any help from those of you with expertise is much appreciated. also if anyone knows of good books on building the right type of curing room/ sourcing the equipment that would be great. Finally, i am wondering if the cellar would be a good place to age cheese? so the same questions that apply to curing meats apply to aging cheese. Any guidance is really welcome.

I'm working on creating a vegetarian bacon for a rather elaborate plate. This is my idea for the process (try and follow): Using a long, rectangular terrine bold, I'll fill it with store-bought egg whites and steam it. I'll then thinly slice the big regtangular bar with a sandwich slicer so that I'm left with paper-thin, long, rectangular slices of cooked egg white that very closely resemble the fatty part of a bacon strip. I'll lay that on the plate. I'll then create a spice mixture that I feel closely resembles the flavour of bacon (smoked paprika, brown sugar, a bit of cayenne, a bit of hawaiian salt, ground sezchuan pepper, all spice, etc. [lots of 'red' spices]). I'll sprinkle the spice mixture in 'lines' of varying width along the egg white 'fat'. Voila, fake bacon! Should work pretty well, shouldn't it?

I recently was inspired by a thread on eG to make some bacon-wrapped enoki, which, surprise suprise, were pretty tasty. However, the bacon didn't quite crisp up as much as I liked. The enoki were done in the oven, at around 400F. Anyone have any good general pointers on wrapping stuff with bacon? Broiler vs. oven vs. skillet? What kind of skillet, and what sort of technique? Two things that I've found important: 1) Obviously, if the food you're wrapping cooks quickly, you should pre-cook the bacon. I've been pre-cooking it sous vide, so that it stays soft, but the fat renders a bit. 2) I know it's tempting, but if you want the bacon to crisp up, you really shouldn't wrap in more than one layer.

Back when I was younger, I used to wonder why some bacon had a strong Ammonia odor while some did not. A food rep told me that the ammonia smell came from pigs who had not been castrated. I don't know what made me think of this, but I'm curious again. Anyone have insight?

I'm currently on my externship in the deep south, and am quickly becoming familiar with the omnipresent hunger for Fried Chicken. I was reading an eG post detailing duck confit, and I just wondered if anyone has ever tried or at least thought to take a leg of poultry confit (frig cold), dunk in buttermilk, flour, and deep fry at a high high temp to cook the flour and just heat through the meat? Would this even work or would the meat fall right off the bone?

My brother the Rabbi is a very strict Kosher food person. (I, however, started eating pork and lobster at a very young age and haven't looked back!) While on the subject of Cassoulet (a sort of Cholent), he said that in Europe, he once found a place that made Kosher duck sausage. He hasn't been able to find it anywhere here, and has an absolute dream taste for it. My first question: Does anyone know a place that makes such a thing? My second question: Why does there seem to be a lack of creative producers of Kosher food meats? He tells me that some foie gras is Kosher. And, in New York and Israel, there are many Kosher restaurants that serve it. What a great thing if D'artagnan was able to open a Kosher food section!

I've searched high and low on eGullet as well as through Google. I came up empty-handed on D'Artagnan, Dean & Deluca, Neiman Ranch, and Snake River Farms. Amazon.com's searches through the food section were relatively fruitless. Even Aidell's offering seemed questionable (turkey?). All I really want are some absolutely gorgeous, hand-made breakfast links with lovely maple flavor. I can find unbelievable, small-batch bacons with ease, but finding a proper breakfast sausage made from pork is something elusive apparently. Are there any fine-foods markets in the LA/OC area with access to killer, restaurant-quality breakfast links? Bristol Farms makes a horrible fresh breakfast sausage so I'll rule that one out right away. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only help.

I would like make my own Lardo, like I had in Liguria and Tuscany last year. Also, I hear that Salumi Cured Meats in Seattle makes it but does't ship it. Who makes it? I would like to give it a try. Are there any experience lardo makers that can help me? I hear that Restorante Venanzio in Carrara actually marinates their meats in the Lardo brine before roasting, for amazing results. Thank You Lardo lovers for your help!

[Moderator note: The original Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 4)] Ah yes, but i'm counting on non-deadly sickness ! again to cover my ass, i do NOT recommend any method for making salame. You're on your own!

I still remember the porchetta sandwiches I had in Rome almost 25 years ago, a small shop with 4 tables, small glasses of red wine and paper cones with olives. The entire pg would come out of the oven, each pannini had meat and skin along with some fat, just great food I've always wanted to try this at home and the time has finally come. I'm going to do it for my girlfriends birthday. I have done the requisite searches online and come up with mostly variations involving a boned pork shoulder. One looks very good, it comes from Jamie Oliver, at least the photo looks like the real thing. What I'd really like to do is a small whole pig, just for the presentation value alone. I imagine I could do it with a 18-20lb pig, I have the skills to bone it. Would love to hear any comments, ideas, warnings, etc. before proceeding. thanks, Rob

FYI - for all those in the Chicago area interested in whole-animal cooking or charcuterie, Mado Restaurant in Wicker Park has a series of demonstrations: hog butchering, pate/terrines, sausage making and headcheese. I went to the butchering class and came out with a much better understanding of how the animal fits together - and how to make porchetta! Worth a look. Cheers, Ian

Linguine with Squash, Goat Cheese and Bacon Serves 4 as Main Dishor 6 as Side. I stumbled on this while looking for recipes with goat cheese. It's from Real Simple (and it is!). I couldn't imagine the combination of flavors, but it was wonderful. 6 slices bacon 1 2- to 2 ½-pound butternut squash—peeled, seeded, and diced (4 to 5 cups) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1-1/2 c chicken broth 1 tsp kosher salt 4 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled 1 lb linguine, cooked 1 T olive oil 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel, then crumble or break into pieces; set aside. Drain all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet. Add the squash and garlic to the skillet and sauté over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the broth and salt. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is cooked through and softened, 20 to 25 minutes. Add half the goat cheese and stir well to combine. Place the cooked linguine in a large bowl. Stir the sauce into the linguine and toss well to coat. Drizzle with the olive oil and add the reserved bacon, the remaining goat cheese, and the pepper. Serve immediately. Keywords: Main Dish, Easy, Vegetables, Dinner ( RG2158 )

Duck Leg Confit Potstickers Serves 4 as Appetizer. These are seriously decadent potstickers. I devised this recipe as part of a Duck Three Ways dinner wherein over the course of three days I dismantled a whole duck using various parts for various things, including rendering fat, making stock and confiting the legs. If you're super-ambitious and do it my way, you'll have duck stock and duck fat on hand as this recipe calls for; otherwise, substitute chicken stock and peanut oil or whatever you have on hand. 2 confited duck legs, bones discarded and meat shredded 2 c sliced shiitake caps 1/2 c sliced scallions splash fish sauce 1 tsp grated fresh ginger 1 tsp grated fresh garlic pinch Five Spice powder pot sticker wrappers 3 c duck stock 3 T duck fat 1. Saute shiitakes in duck fat over high heat until most liquid has evaporated and they are beginning to brown. Meanwhile, reduce about 1 C duck stock in a small saucepan over medium heat until it's almost syrupy in consistency and tastes sweet. Also, warm a couple of cups of unreduced duck stock over low heat in another saucepan. 2. Combine mushrooms, duck meat, scallions, fish sauce, ginger, garlic and Five Spice powder in a bowl. 3. Place a teaspoon or so of the duck mixture in the center of a potsticker wrapper; wet half of the edge with water and seal, pinching and pleating one side. If you prepare more potstickers than you're going to want to eat, they can be frozen on cookie sheets then put into freezer bags for later. 4. When all potstickers are sealed, heat a flat-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, melt enough duck fat to thinly cover the bottom, then add the potstickers. 5. Cook undisturbed until the bottoms are browned, 3-5 minutes, then enough unreduced duck stock to cover the bottom of the pan about 1/2 inch deep and cover the pan. 6. Cook until most liquid is absorbed, then uncover and cook until remaining liquid evaporates. While potstickers are cooking, make a dipping sauce by combining the reduced duck stock 1:1 with soy sauce, then adding a little rice vinegar, brown sugar (if the duck stock isn't sweet enough), and sesame oil. Serve potstickers immediately when done. Keywords: Hors d'oeuvre, Appetizer, Intermediate, Duck, Dinner, Chinese ( RG2052 )

Bean And Sausage Soup A very nice soup for a cold wintery day 1 onion chopped 2 tbspcanola oil 1 lbkielbasa sausage, diced 4 large garlic cloves, chopped (7) 1 bulb fennel; chopped 2 carrots; chopped 10 large Button mushrooms; chopped celery heart with leaves 1 small bag spinach leaves 900 ml box chicken broth water; plus 2 tbsp redi-base turkey stock 15 oz cans can navy beans 15 oz can can diced tomatoes with herbs 500ml ctner sour cream crushed red peppers; heaping bunch fresh dill; minced Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage and garlic and sauté until sausage is lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add in crushed peppers,fennel,onion, carrot, mushrooms and celery,;cook about 5 minutes more. Add broth, water, turkey stock navy beans with their juices and spinach. Simmer until flavors blend and soup thickens slightly, about 20 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and dill simmer 5 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. 10-3 cup servings approx Replacing the spinach with cabbage works well. could use more sour cream ( RG2000 )