Corning Beef for Pastrami

Once again a post has come about by the graces of a little free-time, a great source for local and natural meats and some nudging from that large group of fellow Charcutepalooza participants. And by a happy coincidence I was able to use a fresh beef brisket I had ordered from Slagel Farms for the third challenge of the Year of Meat. March’s challenge was to corn some beef. The verb to corn simply means to preserve with salt. It comes from the fact that the best salt to do this with in the past was a course grained salt that at some point actually looked a bit like corn.

Basic Dry Cure, Asian Bacon

The Basic Dry Cure was one of the first recipes out of Charcuterie that I attacked once I placed my first order for curing salts and such from Butcher & Packer in Detroit, back in 2006. Since then I have made "bacon" many times. Lately I started doing variations of flavoring along with the basic dry cure. The largest variety I tried was back in the jowl post. So when the challenge was posted last month I decided that I would try to improve upon some of those ideas. We talked about which one showed the most potential for deliciousness and have it still be fairly easy for some of our readers to be able to replicate themselves at home. So we decided to have another go at an Asian Bacon.

Charcutepalooza: The Year of Meat, a needed nudge.

Having been in a motorcycle accident that has caused regular discomfort to my leg, spending additional time standing about in a kitchen outside of work hasn't sounded fun, lately. Add to that a new job that has me working evenings--the part of the day I had dedicated to my blog-work--and it seems clear why our posts have been few and far between. But for some reason, when a couple eager-beaver bloggers get together and create an outlet for the sharing of ideas, concerns, sources and experiences all based on Charcuterie, I can't walk away (pun intended). That outlet has become Charcutepalooza. Organized by Mrs. Wheelbarrow (Cathy) and The Yummy Mummy (Kim), it has grown from an idea to get fellow bloggers to try their hand at homemade charcuterie to a group of bloggers nearing 300 total (the list of them is here) all wanting to try it out and share their experiences on their various blogs. The daily banter can be found on Twitter using the hash tag #charcutepalooza

Drinking is Getting Hard: Hooked on Hard Cider

Way back when I was in Culinary School, I took an elective class on Fermentation. One suggested read was Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. I quickly picked it up and have tried only a couple recipes from it (tempeh, mead). But recently I decided that with so much delicious apple cider coming into Chicago from Michigan, I wanted to try my hand at a homemade Hard Cider. The recipe is really only quite simple instructions, so I doubt it would violate any legal grounds to simply explain it in my words:

Grab a gallon of fresh cider, without any preservatives or any over-modifying procedures. All ciders sold around here are pasteurized. Many contain preservatives. So look for those with one ingredient, apple cider. I found Hy's Cider from Romeo, Michigan at Whole Foods for $5.99 a gallon. I had a couple old empty "Louisiana Hot Sauce" jugs so I washed and sanitized one well. I then poured the cider into the jug and covered the opening with some cheesecloth for a couple days while storing it in my pantry at 65˚.

Latest Leg of the Journey

So if you follow my tweets, you already know what I was up to today. Otherwise: I went by the new pick-up point here in Chicago for Slagel Farms meats, Chicago's Downtown Farmstand on Randolph (a great source for locally/regionally sourced products). I picked up my Easter ham. After a 9 hour day in the kitchen that should have been plenty. But since I still needed the goods by which to brine that 25 pound hunk of natural porky goodness, I stopped at Whole Foods. Whew, just getting there wore me out. So I stopped at the bar inside WF and grabbed a tasty Goose Island Bourbon County Stout to warm me back up and relieve some soreness. I picked up the goods I needed to make my version of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Cider cure for the ham. I also grabbed some extra cider for another version (number 4) of hard cider that I am excited about since finding a nice local cider. It is fairly easy to make, I only hope that it turns out as well as I imagine it will! (hope to post more on this soon)

(Scotch Olives filled w/ homemade sausage on right at Bristol!)

As I write this I am eating quite low on the hog, er, cow. As a child I loved taco night with my mom. A pound of ground beef, a McCormick's spice packet, some cheese and tortilla shells. Tonight that's what I am enjoying since I have to fend for myself as Rebecca is in New Orleans on business (oh how horrible, I know. <20deg here right now)! I switched it up a bit by adding some Adobo sauce from the chipotles I included in my first batch on 'nduja long ago! Let's just say Sandra Lee would be proud.