The Art of The Pig
http://blog.charcuteire.com
The Art of The Pig

Applesauce

We did apple sauce. It is a division of labor, my wife, of Dyson s Delectables, did most of the chopping. I do the canning.

Typical applesauce:

3.5-4 lbs apples
1 medium lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Seed and eighth the apples, do not peel them

Slowly cook in a heavy sauce pan with the lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon. Perhaps 30 minutes.

Run through food mill.

Bring back to boil add the sugar to taste and the vanilla.

Sage applesauce:

6 Tablespoon lemon juice
6 lbs cored, eighted but unpeeled apples.
1/3 cup sugar (adjust to taste)
1 Tablespoon fresh sage (adjust to taste)

Cook as above recipe, adding the sage and sugar after running through the food mill

Can in boiling water bath in pint jars. Check a preserving book for the time.

  







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Preserving

Well it looks like it will be this week.

I don't have work, I hope, and we are planning on tomato sauces, apples sauces and fruit salad.

The stocks will be coming up soon, and when it gets a bit cooler the sausages, starting with the dry cured ones. I will be doing a turkey pastrami as well. That is immediate with the turkey breast in the garage reefer waiting to be broken down this afternoon.

And I'm off to the farmer's market.

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Returning in Sept.

I plan on returning in September with notes on chicken stock, both the preperation and the canning. We are running low. I doubt there are more than 5 or 6 gallons in the house.

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Butterflying a half leg of lamb


We start with a half leg of lamb, either half will work, or it could be a whole one. You will need a very sharp knife, I use a boning knife but a good Chef's knife, 8" or so, should work just fine.



Where the meat is thinest over the bone cut a front to back slice down to the bone. The knife in the picture is the boning knife I use, it is a Henckels Professional 'S' and I think the 31024 140.



Continue the slice, working to separate the meat from the bone.



The bone is to the left, the thickest part of the leg, while still attached, is free.



That is boned, but not yet butterflied, you can see the bones at the top of the cutting board. They went in the freezer for lamb stock.



That is the leg fully butterflied. Keeping the meet as one piece use the knife to 'un-roll' it until you have a piece of meat about an inch to two inches thick.

Now you could stuff this and tie it back up, or simply tie it without stuffing, but we are going to grill this as is. It will get marinated however. (for recipe source and plate pictures check here ).




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Returned


At least for now I'm posting again, grilling season is here and Ive more to show you than cans in a pressure canner. Not that we haven't been doing that. I've done about 5 gallons each of veal and chicken stock, Meyer Lemon, Tangerine and Clementine Orange Marmalade, the latter in 18-22 pint put ups. I would have done Blood Orange, but they looked bad and I couldn't find Key Limes this year.



OK, that isn't organic, grass fed, rubbed down with beer or several other things it could be, what is is is inexpensive. That is a five rib 11 pound roast at $4 a pound.



What I'm going to do is cut an almost 4 pound rib roast for tonight, using the two largest ribs, and the other ribs with the inter-rib meat will give me steaks for grilling.



And there on the right is the two rib roast for tonight.

Now this isn't beef from Arthur Ave in the Bronx. I've paid more for a 1 1/2 inch Porterhouse there than I paid for that entire roast. And this won't taste as good, but it is in my budget.



All this takes is a big chef's knife, I'm using my wife's 10" which is shown two pictures above.


Seven steaks of about 1 pound each, 3 with ribs and 4 without.


And in food saver bags, which really do allow it to be frozen for longer. 

Well I'm off again, don't know what will be up and when it will be, but I will be doing seasonal jams and jellies.

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Missing in action

I am still here and will post again, I have been photographing what I've been doing. Recently there have been marmalades, a fine winter project as it warms the kitchen to the balmy 70s. 

I've also done both veal and chicken stocks, other things which are better done in winter than summer. 

I've taken a temp, part time job with the government. Part time means right now 40 hours a week but it could drop. Temp means it will end, but possibly not until fall. 

I'm entering data about job applicants and then hiring them as instructed. In the next 2 months we expect to hire over 1000 people, all short term temps. Of course everything is computerized and of course everything is done on paper. Is this what is meant by double entry?

In any case most of the photography is going on my wife's blog, and I hope to have photos up there on Saturday.


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Thanksgiving 2009 minus day 4

Sunday was simple, I had a short list.

  • Coffee
  • Feed the cat
  • Bagel with lox spread
  • Marylin's Toffee
  • Pralines
  • Smoke the bacon
  • Country Terrine
  • Duck Pate
  • Eat Dinner
  • Feed the cat

Some of those items I'm quite experienced at; coffee, bagel, feed the cat and the country terrine. I've even gotten Ruhlman to eat that terrine.

 

I've smoked a couple of sides of bacon in the past, but I have never attempted to bone a duck, especially with the added requirement that I not cut through the skin, just remove the duck from the intact skin.

I've never made either of the candys at all. My only attempt at candy have been chocolate truffles. OK I've burned a couple of things.

This then is the story of that list.

 Now coffee is simple and you may note, to the cat's disgust it is above feeding the cat. And you don't need a picture of a cat dish with food.

So we start with Marylin's Toffee. The recipe can be found on the second page of this thread toward the bottom.

 

Above is the mise, 1 pound of butter, 2 cups of sugar, slivered almonds, 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, water, salt and 2 cups of pecans, which will be Cusinarted.

 

Toast the pecans first, a few minutes - until they start to release an aroma - in the oven at about 350.

Melt the butter over medium heat.

 

Slowly add the sugar, stiring contantly.

At the correct time add the pecans and bring to the hard crack 310-320 point.

Then pour onto buttered foil on a half sheet spread smooth, pour on the melted chocolate and add the almonds.

Wait until cool and break into bite sized pieces.

By the way, go look at the recipe, it has a lot more detail including the amount of water and sugar. I've had Marilyn's Toffee made personally by Marilyn, and it is good. I expect this to go over well with the younger crowd.

I don't have pictures of the pralines, essentially it is dark brown sugar and lots of pecans. Melt the sugar, add the pecans and bring to about 230. Pour on to buttered foil on half sheet. You can make nice sanddollar shaped candies, but I need this as an ingrediant for a cheese cake on day minus 2, so I didn't. Don't think this will be a problem with the left overs, do you?

 Now on to the Country Terrine, first I need one large onion chopped.

The above isn't quite large enough, so I will to 3 halves.

Cut the onion in two, from pole to pole and trim off the stem end, leave the root end on it.

Cut the onion, not quite cutting into root end, from pole to pole, as if lines of longitude.

 

Now cut lines of latitude, starting at the stem end and working to the root end. The root holds the uncut part together, but each cut forms onion diced as finely as you would like.

(to be continued with pictures).

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Thanksgiving 2009 minus day 12

Now there is more than one breakfast planned, and if I have the bacon curing it is time to do the breakfast sausage. And as well I need sausage for the stuffing on the bird I will bone, stuff and truss: see here.


The top of the three is most of the mise, the middle whole pepper corns, the bottom, just freshly ground pepper.


Now not only am I doing breakfast sausage and the French Garlic, but I perfer doing three or four sausages at a time. So I will also do both hot and sweet Italian in casing. I've uncased of both in the freezer but for some things we want casings. The above is of the hot version as it is the only one of these four with basil. The breakfast sausage is CIA, the other three Charcuterie.

Pork shoulder, various spices and in the case of one, fresh basil and salt. I know what is in these sausages, no mystery meat here.



The last picture is a stack of the cook books to be used for Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving minus day 13


Thanksgiving morning we will serve breakfast, breakfast involving bacon. Home cured, home smoked bacon, from a pig who died happy.



So first we make the dry cure, salt, sugar and dry salt. This, as does the bacon recipe comes from Rhulman and Polcyn's Charcuterie, which I'm happy to report rumor has it is soon to be joined by a second work.



Then we mix the cure ingrediants well.



Then we pour some over the pork belly. We want it to stick to all six sides.



That is a five pound piece of fat back, on its way to being cured into Lardo, also from Charcuterie.



But first it must be skinned.



Then salted.

 

And bagged. All in all that is 3 pieces of soon to be bacon and one of fat back, 20 pounds all told. It is comfortable in the fridge, getting flipped, and long about Saturday will go in the smoker.

I will slice up and freeze two of the slabs of belly, the lardo will hang in cheese cloth in the basement. The third bacon will be left whole, to be sliced just before being fried on Thanksgiving morning.



And none for the starving cat.










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Thanksgiving 2009 day -14

Thankgiving 2009, minus 14 days the prep



OK, the beans are for a lunch a bit later in the week, but the meat is for meatballs. It does have to be ground, so we cut it into pieces small enough for the grinder.



Starting into the grinder above. Veal and pork, frozen, not solid, but below 32 F for sure.

And coming out of the grinder, bowl set in ice.



Above the meat balls, two half sheets of them, then into the freezer and the next morning into baggies.


Above phylo triangles being filled. These also have been frozen and await cooking.

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