Daily Blueberry & Strawberry Smoothie
Tell me, what would YOU do when berry season is in full harvest, when strawberries and blueberries go for less than $1.00 a pint, when you go berry picking on a farm, then come home wondering what to do with THIS much berries knowing that they go bad quite fast? Oh that wasn’t difficult, was it! Smoothies, of course. Hail to the Blender!
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I agree, lately my blog’s flavor leans on the meaty side (sorry vegetarians). This all has to do with my latest fascination with cured meats, and the craft of Charcuterie I consider an art in itself. After some (failed) attempts at curing sausage, some of which grew beards (literally), I finally got a grip on some of the key rules, so here is the the first successful result – Salame di Brianza!
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The Bagel
I had this next chapter in the BBA challenge on my list for a very long time but only now I got to actually get my hands dirty (literally!): Bagels! Partly because of my quest of finding the highest gluten content flour, and partly because of the residual insanity in my life that never seems to clear up. Here is my first adventure in baking Bagels, hope it’ll inspire you.
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So, I finally was able to sit down and watch Food, Inc. yesterday and ended up scratching my head about what to do from here. Robert Kenner did an excellent job at presenting the blunt fact about our food supply chain from seed, egg, suckling pig or calf to our tables.
While I was aware of our complex food system’s concerns, the movie brought it home in a new light – it is really down to my choice in deciding what I buy, cook and eat.
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Home Cured Pancetta
Pancetta or pork belly (aka bacon for us in the West), is the easiest meat that can be cured at home even without the need of a curing chamber. Inspired by Jason Molinari’s Cured Meats blog, I mustered enough courage to get this project running along with the others ones that are still sitting in the curing chamber.
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The Fermentation & Curing Chamber
Ok, I have to tell you about my latest bug. Growing up in Eastern Europe where EVERYTHING is cured, smoked, with prosciutto and sausages hanging in the pantry, I couldn’t help but try to reproduce the same delicacies here on US soil.
But I was faced with a couple obstacles like I had to keep my basement smell free, and keep my neighbors happy if I was to build a smoke house to cold smoke the meat outside for 10+ hours.
Here’s the first task for my charcuterie adventures in curing meat – the fermentation and curing chamber.
What is Meat Curing??
Without going into much detail and chemistry, (if you wish, you can read Wikipedia’s entry on curing meats) curing is the process of preserving and flavoring (sometimes cold smoking) using salts, sugars, nitrites, nitrates and/or a combination of these. It’s being done since time began and it became a craft in itself called gracefully by the French – charcuterie.
A Word Of Caution
Curing meat involves of course raw meat handling, which can become (if not careful) a source of all sorts of disease, not to speak about contaminated meat, etc. I cannot stress enough the need of proper sanitation, both, of your precious hands and the tools that get in touch with the raw meat. I will most likely write a whole post dedicated solely to safety on meat handling, since it is the most important ingredient of the charcuterie. You’ve been warned!
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Because he goes beyond the basic facts of how to put a (mind you, delicious) meal together. Watch Jamie Oliver’s TED presentation about child obesity in America. After all he has all the credentials of a proper chef, not that of an Iron Chef sensationalism, but who needs that anyway? After all, cooking is about you being in the kitchen and getting your hands dirty.
Parents watch this, and teach your children well (how to cook).
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Courtesy of Divid Gilkey/NPR
By now I expect that most of you know of the devastating Haitian earthquake, seen the pictures and reports of the survivors that now need to battle hunger and thirst. No need to update you on that.
You are probably left with the daunting question of “Why it happened to them and not us?” and feel the urge of somehow helping out in some way or another. Without going into deep thinking, can it be that those of us with resources are spared so that in situations like these we can share and help those in need? Just a thought…
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Panettone
Merry Christmas! This is the second time me baking the Panettone from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice for the BBA Challenge. I didn’t blog about it since there were some things I wanted to tweak and adapt from his original formula (that, with all respect to the man, doesn’t even come close to the quintessential Panettone Milanese). Quite a few changes. Now I know why Nicole calls the BBA Challenge a ‘challenge’…
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Chocolate Tart
Don’t be fooled. This humble chocolate tart is packed with enough potential to turn even the most chocolate-disciplined person into a dessert-ivore. So much more that is so easy and fast – if you read my previous post on baking short crust sweet pastry tart shells and you have two or three of them in the freezer.
Popularity: 93% [?]
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