I do wish the house weren't so cold.
At least Phil took the Volvo to Lexington today, not the Buick.
The duck prosciutto I made is really good. My second attempt at cured salmon not so good. The first salmon I cured was good, but Phil didn't like it much. I cured it in fennel with fennel seeds, actually followed a recipe. Second one I did with dill seed and dill weed, and it is seriously mediocre. Actually "was" mediocre; I tossed the rest of it.
I might thaw out that duck in the freezer, make more prosciutto out of the breast and cook the rest for dinner. This weather has one serious advantage: the laundry room/pantry is ice cold, and makes an excellent curing shed. It's too far away from the boiler to get a reasonable amount of heat from the system. We just keep it closed off, and it's a great place to hang prosciutto...
Cheers,
Hi there.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm joining this party late, but while you're learning charcuterie, how about having a go at something really useful, like pancetta?
(This comment serves a probe into the concept of "following" this blog. Will I be notified that a comment has been made, or do I only hear about full-blown posts?)
pva
pva,
ReplyDeleteWell, pancetta is actually on my list, and there are a couple of slabs of pork belly in the freezer for just that. Have you made pancetta?
While I'm on the charcuterie topic, I actually ordered a cassoulet kit from d'Artagnan, mostly because I wanted the beans and garlic sausage, as I can't find either here. Tarbis beans, aren't they?
Couple of comments:
The cassoulet is really good. I used all the beans, and ended up with three dishes of it. We ate one, gave one to the Curtz's, and the third one is in the freezer. The beans are good. The kit came with Ventreche, French cured bacon, not smoked. Tastes almost exactly like pancetta to me. Not sure there's any good reason they couldn't be interchangeable. Afraid I don't like the d'Artagnan garlic sausage. I think it had liver in it. Doesn't taste at all like the garlic sausage I've bought in southern France. Texture was very, very different, too.
I plan to try to make some.
In the meantime, I'm going to make some more duck prosciutto.
Does anybody know where I can buy cheesecloth cheap? The guys at Critchfield's meat market in Lexington are getting used to me. That's the only place I've found to buy things like pork belly.
and peter, my competence at this blogging business is limited. When you make a comment, I have to okay it before it gets published. Except my comments. About notifications, afraid I don't have a clue...
And another thing, this party you seem to have just joined is a very small party...
cheers,