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

Spanish Food/Pork Tour 2012

A few days ago we returned from a tasty tour of Northern Spain. I have several posts lined up describing the items that we saw, we ate and we eventually conquered! Arriving in Barcelona, heading north through the cured/dried sausage region, making a left along the Pyrenees to Basque Country, a side trip to Leon, a hunt for Pata Negras on the Dehesa along the ham trail and finally ending in Madrid, we felt like we ate it all! Now we're home, each 5# heavier but not a regret for a thing. Check back regularly to read about the food, charcuterie, scenery and our plans to try our hand at some of our favorites. The first post will be up in a couple days. See you then!

Cooked Coppa: Fauxppa?

Traditional Coppa is an Italian dry-cured and air-dried ham-style whole muscle that is thinly sliced and enjoyed by itself or perhaps on a sandwich. The muscle is traditionally located in the neck, starting in the shoulder and running to the head. The term coppa actually means nape in Italian. When I ordered a whole skin-on shoulder I was excited to find the coppa muscle almost entirely in-tact. I hopped on the chance to make a version I had recently learned about, but unlike the traditional method, this one uses a brine instead of a dry-cure and is slowly poached instead of air-dried. Otherwise, all of the techniques are the same.

The shoulder I received was larger than a typical commodity shoulder that arrives two in a vac-packed bag. This was again from Slagel Family Farms and included the front end of the rib cage and the neck bone. The piece I would trim out for this coppa would include the butt end of the loin.

Sausage Porn, old enticing photos!

One of my favorite things from my brief stint in culinary school was the option to take electives. While most college students find this a fun benefit, it was exceedingly so for me in culinary school (as if tennis didn't measure up during my B.A.!). Some of my favorites included Fermentation, Cheese Making and Cuisines of China. But without question my favorite was Chef Pierre's Sausage Making Class. This was an evening class and it led up to the holiday break. It was one night a week and we made some damn good encased meats. Each class we made 2-3 types of sausage per pair of students. I took my camera in one class towards the end of the quarter. Here are some noteworthy photos!

Lardo, my first attempt!

I vaguely remember the first time I heard of lardo. I was familiar with Lard, but why add the O at the end? It was a Mario Batali show he used to do with a friend of his. They were visiting an area known for their lardo production. It featured the large stone "boxes" that held the salt cure. Big fat chunks of the fat off of the back of the hogs would cure in them for months before they were removed. I will admit it sounded pretty weird, but tasty. I finally got to try some a few years later here in Chicago, but for some reason I don't recall where it was. I liked it, a lot. Salty, some herb, and lots of porkiness.