Monthly Archives: June 2010

Bacon Tastings: Nueske’s Cherrywood Bacon

30 Wednesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Bacon Tasting, Pork

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Nueske's Cherrywood Smoked Bacon: With the lake in the background

As we packed up the family truckster, I thought that our first family vacation to Northern Wisconsin (as in the first time that the 3 of us went away by ourselves) would be filled with adventures. The porkiest of our adventures so far has been the stop at Nueske’s Bacon in Wittenberg, WI.

Wittenberg is not far from Wausau and is only about 75 minutes from my hometown. As we approached Wittenberg on a country road, we saw a billboard that read “Nueske’s: Making Vegetarians Jealous since 1933″ and when we opened the doors, we were blasted with plumes of bacon smoke. Continue reading »

Pickled Grapes

28 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in Condiments and Pickles

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Pickled Grapes

Typically when I make pickles, I do so because I have overbought seasonal produce, but this case is different. I have been listening to the NPR Splendid Table podcast lately and really was interested in two of the recipes from the Lee Brothers. One was radish butter (which was very good) and the other pickled grapes. They recommended supermarket grapes and I was happy to oblige.

The Lee Bros. talked about using the pickled grapes similarly to olives and with our recent party, that seemed like a unique dish to accompany the meat plate. To me, it would both shock people that grapes could be pickled and please people that they could make something as everyday as supermarket grapes into something so interesting.
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Cured and Smoked Duck Breast

26 Saturday Jun 2010

Posted by in Duck, Making Charcuterie, Smoked Meats

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Cured and Smoked Duck: Looks like bacon, tastes like bacon, ...

In my lamb bacon post, I bemoaned the trend of calling the turkey mess that the sell in the grocery store “bacon”. I may end up eating my words — my smoky, salty words — with this cured and smoked duck breast. It looks like bacon, it smells like bacon, it tastes like bacon, but it isn’t bacon. It is duck. Duck bellies aren’t streaky (perhaps microscopically). Continue reading »

Ream’s Boudin

24 Thursday Jun 2010

Posted by in Pork, Tasting Charcuterie

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Ream's Boudin and Red Beans

We are hosting a party this coming weekend and I wanted to put together a Southern charcuterie plate. With that in mind, the sausage component that came to mind was Boudin, but, in Chicago, I doubted that I could find any available by retail. After checking a few sources in the city, someone suggested Ream’s Elburn Market. Their relationship with Fumare at the French Market makes it so much easier to get these sausages. Continue reading »

More Bolzano Meats

22 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Pork, Tasting Charcuterie

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Bolzano Paletilla: Corta and Hungara

After a pretty darned good first shot at tasting the guanciale and pancetta from Bolzano Meats, I figured that I’d stop at the Public Market in Milwaukee to try some of the other varieties on my next trip up North. The remaining varieties available were the Susslende, the Paletilla Corta, and the Paletilla Hungara. All three were excellent with my favorite being the Paletilla Corta. Bolzano, in my opinion, is delivering in a way that is unheard of in the Midwest. In an area where pork is plentiful, artisan charcuterie producers are in very limited supply. Continue reading »

Rosemary Rhubarb Jam

20 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by in Miscellaneous

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Rosemary Rhubarb Jam in its least effective setting

Staring at a ton of CSA rhubarb after a month of trying to tuck it into every dish that I could is daunting. There were pickles, sorbets, pork sauces, and simple syrups. After getting a good start on a windowsill herb garden, I rethought the jam idea and how to mash up the two of them. I already had plans for the lemon thyme, but given the good pairing of pork and rhubarb, I thought that the transitive property would indicate a great pairing of rhubarb and rosemary. Continue reading »

Napa Cabbage Kimchi

18 Friday Jun 2010

Posted by in Condiments and Pickles

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Big Crock of Kimchi

Despite a continuing obsession with David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook, I had completely avoided making kimchi due to fear that fermenting cabbage in our fridge would push my very understanding wife completely over the edge. However after closely reading a few accounts of kimchi making, it became clear that I could cap the cabbage therefore eliminating the offending odor from seeping into everything in the fridge (and outside).

On a weekend when she was out of town, I ran to Joong Boo Market to pick up supplies. Given the parameters and ingredients, success was a virtual impossibility. I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Kochukaru, jarred and salted shrimp, and Usukuchi? Please. No labels in English and no idea what to look for made it difficult. Finally, I broke down and asked a nice lady selling rice wine vinegar in the back. I used my iPhone to bypass any pronunciation issues and was taken to the ingredients. It was humbling to say the least. Continue reading »

Québécois Cretons

15 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Making Charcuterie, Pork, Rillettes and Other Potted Meats

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Cretons with Bread and Three Sisters Radishes

After a recent first taste of cretons at Kith and Kin in Chicago, I looked around the typical sources for a quick how to, but did not find anything. A ton of information about what it is, but nothing about how to make it. Finally after complaining to a Canadian friend about his country’s lack of documentation of a cultural treasure. I asked, “How many articles do we have to read about poutine (which is all well and good), but nothing about the tasty cretons?” What I did not know was that my friend a had Québécois roots and a relative very generous with a recipe. Continue reading »

Chipotle Venison Jerky

13 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by in Dried Meats, Making Charcuterie, Venison

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Chipotle Venison Jerky: The finished product

A friend of mine is planning an Oregon Trail fourth of July party and wanted to serve at least three different jerkies. I volunteered to try out recipes for beef jerky and, next, venison jerky. Given that my father is a hunter, we have a lot of local venison in the freezer making this number two in a series of preparation of random food gifts from Dad (#1). This project should help clear some freezer space out while providing delicious frontier food. Continue reading »

Momofuku’s Bacon Dashi

11 Friday Jun 2010

Posted by in Bacon Projects, Pork

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Bacon Dashi with Soba, Garlic Scapes, Young Shallots, Shittakes, and Pickled Rhubarb

One the conundrums of buying a bunch of different bacons to taste is that you can not eat 12 ounces of bacon each week and there is limited room to store the stuff. If you do not eat bacon every day or even every week, bacon will sit and creative uses need to be found. Once you get past the “bacon-wrapped” phase, the options get more obscure.

Recently, I have been unable to put down the Momofuku cookbook. It has great pickle and dessert recipes, but I kept going back to Bacon Dashi. It looks to be infinitely easier than making chicken stock and I certainly had bacon sitting around. Continue reading »

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