Guanciale for Charcutepalooza

If you can pronounce the words in my title, there is a special prize. I (don't ask why) have decided to attempt this year-long challenge of preparing a different type of charcuterie, each month with the participants of Charcutepalooza, currently taking place at Mrs. Wheelbarrow's site. It has been called A Year in Meat, and is hosted by Cathy Barrow and Kim Foster. These two women have come up with the quite inspirational idea for us to cure, smoke and salt our way right through Michael Ruhlman‘s how-to cookbook, Charcuterie.

January's challenge was Duck Prosciutto, which came and went before I had a chance to join in.  Though, I would say making Duck Confit several times comes close, as it involves salting, then slow cooking and preserving in fat, rather than dry curing.  At any rate, the hosts have decided to extend the January Challenge, allowing late posts throughout the coming year.  So, I'm okay, and certainly looking forward to doing Duck Prosciutto, and especially eating it.

The February challenge is the salt cure, either bacon, pancetta, guanciale ("gwan-chi- ah-lay") or lamb prosciutto.  Folks, this does not mean that I am not committed to using less meat.  Only to preparing more myself, and from humanely raised animals.  At any rate, for non meat eaters, salmon, salt cod or even lemons can be done with a salt cure on this challenge. One of the things I do with the lemons life gives me.  Lemon Mead is good too, but that's another story.

Having procured some small farm, locally raised hog jowl, I began the simple (very) process of preparing homemade guanciale.  From what I was able to read, this fatty cut of meat, the jowl or cheek,  has a more intense piggy flavor than bacon or pancetta.  Which, if you enjoy pork, is a good thing.  According to Mario, in The Babbo Cookbook:

Guanciale is the very distinctly flavored bacon made from the jowls and cheeks of our hero, the pig.  It has a depth of flavor and intense richness that is simply not present in commercially made American bacon.  It is quite simple to make at home; we make fifty pounds a week at Babbo and use it with abandon whenever possible.

Whoa, if Mario uses it with abandon, it is likely pretty darn good.  However, having never heard of it before (goes to show that I don't read every word in my cookbooks), seen it in a store, or eaten this item, it's all new to me.  But, being up for trying something different and tasty, away we went.

They Can't Be That Easy Pickled Vegetables

 
That was my exact thought when I read Michael Ruhlman's recipe for naturally pickled vegetables, in his book, Ratio.  No way.  Don't I need to get my pressure cooker out?  Do something else??  That's IT?  Just make a simple brine and stick my vegetables in there?  Well, apparently yes, as it worked magnificently, beautifully and best of all, easily.  Though, this photo was taken after a good quantity of the vegetables had been removed and eaten.

You may be tired (all 2 of you) of hearing the ways I have been trying to use up my CSA veggies during the week, but this was another of those last ditch attempts. And, a great, quick alternative, or addition to salad for a side dish.

I had some bok choy, to which I added zucchini, onion, carrots, and a few other things.  Use what you have on hand.  Some Cauliflower would be delightful, as would your old standard, baby cucumbers.

Turkey Tales

He's letting that skull dry on top of the bread oven.

Our intrepid grandson has been out hunting with a family friend over the holidays.  He comes home with carcasses of various sorts, sheep-goat (apparently there is such a creature), pig, erkel, turkey, quail, etc.(thankfully cleaned and gutted), puts said meat into plastic supermarket shopping bags, then throws it in the freezer.  I have only just noticed this practice, as it was not occurring at my house.  Offering to deal with a turkey was what brought me into contact with a freezer burnt, sad looking bird.  Probably should just have chucked the poor, wild thing.  But, fixed as I was on brining something, figured maybe this would be an appropriate test.   For more information, and the science of why it works, than you probably want or need on brining, check here.

First off, I let the bird thaw in its shopping bags, then got out Michael Ruhlman's Ratio book, for the brine formula, to which I added a few herbs and some cracked pepper, as he also suggests.  Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Basic Brine
80 ounces water (10 cups) - I used 8 cups and the remainder in ice to cool it down
4 ounces kosher salt (about 1/2 cup Morton's)
And, my additions:
about 10 bruised peppercorns
2 sprigs rosemary
bunch of sage leaves
1 bruised clove garlic

Combine the ingredients in a pan over high heat, stirring until the salt is dissolved.  Remove from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature (at which point I added my ice), then refrigerate until cold.  When completely chilled, put  your rinsed bird in a 2 gal. freezer bag (set in a large bowl for support) and pour in the brine solution, removing as much air as possible.  Seal the bag, then refrigerate 8 to 12 hours, or until needed.

The brine not only results in meat that's juicier, it carries the flavors of your aromatics into the muscle, and since it is also a preservative, the meat will keep fresh longer.  All this per Mr. Ruhlman.  The only question I had was, will this at all help a slightly freezer burnt turkey?  If you are a vegetarian (and even if you're not) you may want to skip this next photo.

OK.  It was at this point (I'm a tad unobservant I guess) that it occurred to me, this is the scrawniest, turkey I've ever seen.  And, some major parts seemed to be missing??  I weighed the guy and he came to a total of 3 lbs., as you can see, mostly skin and bones.  I asked Isaiah, "Did Mike take the breasts home for dinner and leave the rest for you?"  He just laughed and said, "No, they got blown off."  He aimed a bit low, apparently.  Bless his heart.  So, turkey soup.  And, his mother can do it.  You don't need another recipe for turkey soup here.

Duck Confit in White Wine Reduction

For this dish I used my Confit of Duck legs topped with a sauce of white wine, Kaffir lime zest and Galangal ginger - an important and popular ingredient in the foods of Indonesia and Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand. For those of you unfamiliar with this Asian spice, here is some history and benefits from a Thai cooking site I came across in my search for the best ways of preparing the fresh root. I wanted to concoct a pan sauce that would both counter and complement the rich, unctuousness of the duck. Something light and zippy.

History of Galangal

Galangal is now grown in most Southeast-Asian countries, but was first harvested for use in cooking and medicine in China and Java. But by the Middle Ages, galangal had traveled extensively, and was already in common use throughout Europe. Referred to as "the spice of life" by St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), galangal was, in fact, one of her favorite remedies. This famous herbalist used galangal to treat everything from deafness and heart disease to indigestion.
During the 13th-14th centuries, galangal was used by the Turkic peoples (who occupied much of present-day Russia) as a tea, and by the Arabs as a stimulant for their horses. It was used extensively throughout the East as a snuff for nasal infections, and in both Europe and Asia as an appetite stimulant and aphrodisiac.
Today, galangal is still in use in Russia, where it is used to make vinegars as well as liqueurs. It also has a thriving market in India, where it is not only valued as a spice but also as a perfume to make deodorants. Presently galangal remains, however, most commonly used in Southeast-Asian countries like Thailand, where the spice is not only a medicine, but has become part of the daily diet-which tells you how healthy Thai cuisine really is!

So, enough about that particular ingredient. I love it though, and am cultivating even more to supply my habit, since it does so well in Hawaii. Here's my little bed of galangal, behind the Mexican Heather.



Another ingredient from our garden is the lemon factor, both in my Lemon Mead and Preserved Lemons. You can see the gnarly galangal roots here.  The Kaffir lime used for its zest is also home grown.

 Confit of Duck, is an incredibly delicious and succulent preparation involving a salt cure, then slow cooking submerged in duck fat.  Though if you are in a hurry, it can be bought prepared. Or if the duck fat puts you off, you can use olive oil. I like to buy a whole duck, break it down, render the fat and use that. Aside from making confit with the giblets and legs, it's great for frying up potatoes, as I did for this meal.


The duck is preserved beneath a lovely blanket of duck fat, 3 weeks in the fridge, then brought to room temperature (so the tender meat won't pull off when you remove it).

Duck Confit with White Wine Reduction

This dish was partly inspired by Mario Batali's recipe for Duck with Preserved Lemons and Kumquat Vinaigrette from his book, The Babbo Cookbook.

Serves 2

2 confit of duck legs
1 tablespoon duck fat, grapeseed oil or olive oil
1/2 onion
3/4 cup duck or chicken stock
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used my lemon mead)
2 tablespoons galangal ginger, finely minced and pounded in mortar or food processor
1/2 teaspoon kaffir lime zest
1 tablespoons honey (taste, you may want more)
salt and white pepper to taste
for garnish - 1 preserved lemon quarter - skin only, rinsed and sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 350F

First, remove your duck legs (brought to room temp.) from the fat, and wipe down excess with a paper towel. In an ovenproof saute pan, heat the tablespoon of duck fat or grapeseed oil (does well at high temperatures) over high heat until smoking. Add duck legs and saute them, skin side down, until the skin is crispy. Remove pan from the heat and place it in the oven to heat through, for about 5 minutes. Plate and set aside, covered with foil, to keep warm.

In the same pan, saute the onion, until translucent and turning golden brown, then add galangal, and saute a few more minutes, add stock and wine. Reduce by half the amount over medium-high heat. Lower the heat, and add your kaffir lime zest and honey. Simmer gently about 5 minutes.

Pour over the duck and garnish with preserved lemon slivers. Serve with a salad of mixed greens (Ruhlman suggests a salad of arugula, red onions and and cerignola olives). I used arugula from our garden, some romaine lettuce and red onion macerated in Sherry vinegar. Amazing served with potatoes pan-fried in duck fat. Soooo good. I added in a few little sweet potatoes from my garden too.  Nice with a glass of dry Lemon Mead.


So, all in all, this meal used a number of items home grown, and I'll be sending it along to enter in the May Grow Your Own event, hosted this time by The Daily Tiffin.

As a short addendum, there was just enough sauce and duck left to have over pasta for my lunch next day. Topping with a bit of parsley was a good flavor and color note. I'd add it to the main dish next time.

Garbage In Garbage Out

My granddaughter offered me the choice of one of her TicTacs or a stick of gum. Neither one was at all tempting. Usually the only time I'll have some gum is if my ears are popping on an airplane. Sodas don't tempt me either. All that sugar (or sugar substitute) and misc. ingredients are very off-putting for some reason.

I found this article, leapfrogging from Organically cooked, as we habitually do on the web, and thought it worth posting the main points here too, as it reinforces what I've been mulling over, and talking about for some time. You may think it freaky that I'd eat some mushrooms growing wild outdoors, but shopping in your local supermarket can prove more dangerous to your health.

From the article reviewing Michael Pollan's lecture: 7 Rules for Eating

Choose Food Over Food-Like Substances,

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

March 23, 2009 -- Food author Michael Pollan in a lecture given last week to an overflow crowd of CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) scientists.

As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan -- a harsh critic of U.S. food policies -- to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency.

"The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people," Pollan said. "The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world."

In various parts of the world, Pollan noted, necessity has forced human beings to adapt to all kinds of diets.

"The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen," he said. "The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves -- the Western diet -- is the one that makes us sick."

Snowballing rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the U.S. can be traced to our unhealthy diet. So how do we change?

7 Words & 7 Rules for Eating

Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Probably the first two words are most important. "Eat food" means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat -- and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."

Here's how:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.
2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.
3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.
5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"
6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.
7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

He's even done a Manifesto. Altogether, I found his ideas helpful, also echoing what Michael Ruhlman has to say about the food industry and our cooking/ eating habits, joined by some other well-known chefs, food writers in this debate.

There is a spiritual parallel here. What the world serves up as true and right, depending on the cultural norms of the time and place, the politically correct thing to believe, ain't necessarily so. We are blessed to have our Creator's Word on the subject of truth, the Operating Manual as it were, for life. Just as we want to get our water filtered and pure, before we drink it down, there's for sure a lot of garbage that needs sorting out of what goes into our belief systems.

Another good parallel is the time issue. We don't have time to shake a few ingredients together in a bottle for our own salad dressing, but we can find the time to comment endlessly on blogs, or... We don't have time to spend meditating on Scripture and in prayer but... what are our priorities supposed to be anyway?

Banana Crepes

This is another, and highly recommended way of dealing with bananas. Just one of many things you can do with that wonderful fruit. I make my usual crepe recipe, which I've just noticed does not fit the ratio of Ratio, Michael Ruhlman's new book. But it's a favorite, originally from my mother-in-law, revised by myself, tried and true over many years. So, first whip up the crepes, and set aside (which is good for the batter) then, saute some bananas in butter, the amount depends on how many people will be eating them. For two of us, I sliced up about 5 small ones. We grow what are called Apple Bananas and they are so sweet and flavorful. Add a bit of nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, (not all of the above) or get fancy and flame some rum.

We put a little trail of jam (this is Starfruit Marmalade) on our crepes, then the bananas, add a bit of sour cream or yogurt, roll it up and top with powdered sugar or syrup. Bob uses syrup and I like the effect of a dusting of sweet white on top. Eat, then do another, and on and on...

My Crepes recipe:

3 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups milk

Beat the eggs well and add in some of the milk, and the flour, whipping like crazy with a wire whisk til smooth (this is the tricky part - avoiding lumps) and enough remaining milk, so that the batter still coats your spoon. Beat in the melted, slightly cooled butter. Pour about 1/4 cup batter in a hot crepe pan, with a tiny bit of butter first, if necessary, swirling around to coat the pan's bottom. Flip and do the other side.

This amount usually makes enough for us to have crepes for breakfast and a crepes dinner of some sort later, so I don't add any sugar to the batter. Not necessary. It's also another very delicious way of using some left-overs, which I did last night.

I was reading in my journal of ten years ago this morning, and my entry for April 21 was:

We are tenants in the vineyard of God's love - designed to produce fruit for his kingdom.
And this quote from Marcus Aurelius', Meditations:
As the earth is a pinpoint in infinite space, so the life of man is a pinpoint in infinite time - a knife-edge between eternities.

A good reminder to make the most of what I'm given.