Monthly Archives: October 2010

Pistachio Rosewater Ice Cream

29 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by in Ice Cream and Sorbet

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Talk about late to the party.  I  am about three months into discovering that instead of wasting hundreds of dollars and many cubic feet of cabinet space buying cookbooks that I have never read and would use maybe once, I could simply check them out from the library for free. Evaluate if I would be a repeat customer and buy or not buy on an informed basis.

A book that I would have not chosen to buy before reading, but will now was My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King. The book explores the cuisine of a group who live in India whose families immigrated from Iran in the 10th century.  Two of the major dessert flavors in the book are pistachio and rosewater. Traveling in Italy, I have had pistachio gelato way more than I care to admit, but in nearly every dish that I have had rosewater, the dish tasted like the perfume of an old lady. Continue reading »

Turkey Pastrami

27 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Making Charcuterie, Smoked Meats, Thanksgiving Challenge, Turkey

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The second entry in a series of posts on different ideas for Thanksgiving dishes is turkey pastrami. You may see this in the cooler at your grocery store, but making it yourself (or buying it from someone who makes it with care, like City Provisions in Chicago) will produce a product totally elevated from your Jenni-O Turkey Pastrami. Continue reading »

Canadian Bacon

25 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Bacon Making, Making Charcuterie, Pork, Smoked Meats

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Canadian Bacon and Egg

With the price of pork belly on the rise, there is no better time than now to take a lesson from our neighbor to the North and cure the loin. Ordinarily pork loin is about double the price of belly, but not anymore. While in Wisconsin, I stopped by a  local butcher who was extraordinarily friendly, helpful, and generous. Unfortunately, the loin was split, but other than that it was a perfect and small portion for curing and smoking into Canadian Bacon.

Borrowing a wet cure recipe from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman, I brined the loin, let it rest for a day, and then smoked it over a slat from a Heaven Hill whiskey barrel. Once it has rested and chilled overnight, the Canadian Bacon slices really easily. Continue reading »

Smoked Turkey Rillettes

20 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Rillettes and Other Potted Meats, Thanksgiving Challenge, Turkey

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Smoked Turkey Rillettes: Using revised recipe

From Belly to Bacon Note: The smoked turkey rillettes won the challenge, but in my second turn I altered the recipe and got a much smoother texture. I have revised the recipe below and added the photo evidence above.

Smoked Turkey Rillettes

It is coming up to the time of the year where in every food magazine, there will be at least two articles about what to with leftovers from Thanksgiving. Is that really the goal? To use up what we didn’t want the night before.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love Thanksgiving. My family has a lovely Thanksgiving with a huge group of sixty people gathering in one spot for sweet potatoes, dressing, and, if there is space, a little turkey. I would put my grandmother’s dressing up against anybody’s, but if you don’t have a go to dish, then why not try to make something new? Continue reading »

Ciccioli

18 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Making Charcuterie, Pâtés and Terrines, Pork

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With a half of a pork shoulder left over, there are a lot of roads that you could take. However, without sausage casings or beef middles and a limited number of man hours, sausages were out of the question. Something that I have been wanting to make for awhile has been ciccioli (say it with me: cheech – o – lee). Continue reading »

Venison Bresaola

14 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by in Dried Meats, Making Charcuterie, Venison

≈ 18 Comments

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Venison Bresaola: In Need of a Meat Slicer

 

Growing up in Wisconsin, we did not get a day off of school for Kazimir Pulaski Day or Columbus Day, but we did get opening day of deer hunting season off. However, my hunting career never materialized. I never had the patience for it. You had to wake up early, it was cold, and I was never sure that I could pull the trigger. My dad is polar opposite. Those are things that he loves about hunting.  Continue reading »

Pickled Okra

11 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Condiments and Pickles

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Pickled Okra

On the list of my favorite things, you would find pickled okra near the top. Growing up in Wisconsin, okra was treated more like a weed and other that it thickening my great-grandmother’s soup, I had never had it. Only when visiting the hometown of my mother-in-law and Okrafest, did I discover that okra could be used for good, not just evil.

Continue reading »

Duck Cretons

09 Saturday Oct 2010

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

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Duck Cretons and Tomato Jam on Bennison's Pumpkin Sourdough

With fall in full swing, it is a perfect time for potted meats. Let’s face it, there is never a bad time for potted meats, but with cooler weather, it just fits a little better. One of the favorite projects from earlier this year was making the cretons based on a recipe of a friend’s aunt. The potted spread made from ground pork and baking spices was an interesting love child of country pate and rillettes. It was great. Continue reading »

Concord Grape Sorbet

05 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Ice Cream and Sorbet

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Concord Grape Sorbet and Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich

Concord grapes are one of my favorite fruits.  Not the gum or the Smuckers, but the grapes. To me, the flavor reminds me of growing up with vines cut and transplanted in on the back wall of the garage of my childhood home . At the time, it was such an unappreciated luxury as the seeds kept us from eating them out of hand.

I still get grapes from those very same vines in the fall and eating them out of hand is no longer a problem.  If any make it out of the “out of hand” stage, processing them is messy, but not difficult. First, remove and reserve the skins. Then cook the pulp over medium heat and push them through a strainer (some use a food mill). Finally put the seedless pulp along with the skins back over the heat. This is where the mixture turns a deep red-purple. This is where it gets purplized. You can freeze  and use this throughout the winter. Continue reading »

Bacon Cheddar Biscotti

03 Sunday Oct 2010

Posted by in Bacon Projects

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Bacon Cheddar Biscotti and Tomato Soup

In the past month, having an infant has “allowed” for many late evening showings of shows that were DVR’d throughout the day while feeding our new daughter while I would ordinarily be asleep. One of the shows in the rotation is “Molto Mario” hosted by Mario Batali and this week, he whipped up some biscotti. In a late night haze, I wondered if you could make savory biscotti and, if so, could you incorporate bacon?

Yes. Yes you can. Continue reading »

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