Espana 2012

About this time two years ago, Rebecca and I were finishing up planning our honeymoon, set to take place right after our late May wedding. But as any of my regular readers know, those plans were cut short when I was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident exactly four weeks before the wedding. Besides many changes that have followed that accident, we also had to cancel our honeymoon. It was to be two weeks spent in the Northern half of Spain. I couldn't fly. Neither my tending physician nor my overall comfort would allow the 8+ hour flight. Plus driving, walking and general mobility were an issue, since I was on crutches. Did I mention heavy drugs and a major loss of appetite yet? Well, anyway, almost 2 years later, most of those problems have been remedied.

We flew into Barcelona on a Saturday morning. I hadn't slept a wink, and Rebecca got some shut-eye, but I don't think it could be called good sleep. We gathered our baggage and took a bus into town and found the apartment we rented. We spent the next 48 hours there eating tapas, drinking large cups of cafe con leche and small glasses of cerveza, touring the mercados and trying to communicate as well as we could since neither of us speak español.

One of many walls of ham in a Barcelona ham shop

Review of recent goodies!

As it is about 12 weeks since my motorcycle accident, my leg is finally allowing me to get around fairly well. I can run errands and sit comfortably in most normal situations (I could barely get comfortable sitting in a restaurant chair for even a short meal). I have even gotten back into the home kitchen, too, and I hope to get back to some home meat-curing with some regularity. Thanks for bearing with me while I posted more reviews and great finds in a consecutive manner than I ever planned during the inception of "the Hog." I'm hoping now to get back to some of my own stuff for you all to enjoy and hopefully learn something from.

Some of the last things I had worked on before the accident were actually a couple items I had made for the wedding to use on a meat and cheese platter after the dinner had cleared. These items included some 'nduja, beef bresaola, pickles and some jalapeno jelly. Of course 4 weeks to the day before the wedding I had my accident. But with a ton of help from my wife Rebecca and our good friends Henning & Emily, everything was finished successfully and was thoroughly enjoyed by our party-goers! We were even able to knock-out some homemade favors for our guests like more jalapeno jelly, a smoky spice rub and some dill-pickled green beans.

Some hunger-inducing reading: Smithfield, Parma and Spain

In preparation of Easter it seemed I came across a lot of good reads about ham. I have been a little busy with wedding prep and work to get a post worthy of you, so I am offering a couple good reads to amuse you in the mean time.

The Wonders of Ham
A nice story comparing the country hams of Virginia and Parma, Italy. Informative!

Jamon
A great travel log in Spain eating some great sounding delights! Honeymoon here we come!

The Meat District
An article on the Meat District in London where I recently spent some time staging and dining. More than just ham!

(Smithfield Market from the balcony of Smith's, London)

I also just got news that a neighbor is going to allow me to use his garage rooftop as an urban garden. I have a great friend and also a newer acquaintance very versed is such things from whom I am looking forward to drawing on their knowledge. Pickle buckets, PVC and ladders are all in my future. Does this type of thing interest you? If so I might post things as I move along. But if you guys are just looking for meat, meat and more meat, I understand that too!

But worry not my friends, packages have been received and plans are in order for the next post. I'll give you a teaser, it involves a fiery Calabrian sausage I've attempted before!

Project Revisited: Air Dried Ham

During the Fall after returning home from my second stay in France I decided to get a little more serious about my cooking plans. At a local farmer's market I saw a pig farmer hocking his wares and asked if he'd sell me a half a pig. He did so happily and I picked it up a week later from the slaughterhouse in Chenoa, IL. I wanted it in part to practice some butchery, in part to get a lot of meat for less, and in part because I wanted to try to dry a ham, much like those I saw in that first charcuterie shop I wrote about here.

As I mentioned before, it was my first venture into this, so I wasn't looking for an acorn finished wild breed. This was a standard central IL mix, fed 85% corn and 15% soy, but raised just up the road. It came in at about 90#. I weighed out the main cuts and recorded them at:

Ham: 24.5#

Butt: 15#

Jowl: 1.3#

Belly: 8#

Ribs: 2.5#

Skin: 5.5#