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.
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Short Crust
In days when I crave something sweet and classy (and that’s daily, lately) this flexible short crust I discovered in Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef cook book saves me of going through intense labor to create a delicious tart.
I will be referring to this short crust many times so you better give it a try and familiarize yourself with it.
The next post will be a simple wicked chocolate filling that paired with this crust produces a sublime chocolate tart.
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Hey Mamaliga fans!
A quick one. One of the reference voices and food bloggers in Hungarian, Central and Eastern European cuisine, travel and culture Suzanne Urpecz from The Hungarian Girl blog, took an interview with me that is featured on her blog – some exciting stuff if you want to know more about the one behind the Mamaliga blog.
In the mean time make sure you read through Suzanne’s posts and fill up on the wealth of information for those of you traveling to Europe, or looking for precious info on European wines, or simply eager to try out some of the most delicious recipes from the same region.
Thanks Suzanne!
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Cedar Picnic Table
Only so you know on what am I spending usually the hot summer weekends, this post is about a picnic cedar table I built (commissioned by my wife) out of these six sided hexagonal picnic patio table plans
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Bacon Explosion
Had to do it. I knew it was going to come. The notorious creation of the BBQ Addicts, The Bacon Explosion a scandalous arteries clogging log of sausage, with crispy bacon bits, wrapped in … you guessed a layer of thick bacon! No trace of a vegetable in sight! None.
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