Reuben Eggrolls and an Apology

Guys! Hi! Thank you SO much for not giving up on me.  I know I've been totally MIA since that last, very intense post on homemade bacon… But I have something dare I say better (?) than plain old bacon.  I have for you REUBEN EGGROLLS.  That’s right!  But before we even get to reuben eggrolls we get to explore the fabulous world that is homemade corned beef.  And I have a promise… a promise that I will never abandon you for that long again (adam)!

The March Charcutepalooza challenge was brining which, I have to admit, I wasn't really excited about because I tend to brine a lot.  So… it didn't feel as special or as exciting as duck prosciutto or ahem, cured pork belly.  But anyway… I decided to just go for it since I'd never made corned beef before and I absolutely love it in any way shape or form.  Up next was the decision regarding whether or not to use the pink salt.  I went back and forth on this one.  I even bought the cure.  I know a lot of people feel comfortable using nitrites but I'm not quite one of them and after a nice twitterscussion (see what I did there??) with Dr. Winnie, I decided that   for me, no nitrites was best.  Enter the beets!

I didn't want to have ugly grey corned beef and I noticed that Wellshire Farms' corned beef is nitrite free and they use beet dye for coloring.  So I went to my favorite resource, the interwebs, and asked it how to make beet dye.  Turns out it's pretty easy… just cube some raw beets, cook them down a bit in boiling water, let them sit for a couple of hours and then pour that shockingly purple/red liquid right into the brine.  And five days later… here is what you have!

I know… does NOT look right.  But as it turns out, it's PERFECT after you cook it for 10 hours in a sous vide surpreme with a Guinness, blood orange and homemade mustard glaze.  And I mean perfect.

So here's what I did to get this little guy ready for the SVS.  I lactofermented mustard (I know!) and that turned out incredibly spicy and totally amazing.  In my next post I'll talk about my recent adventures in fermenting but I'm so in love with the process that I really think it deserves a post of its own.  Anywhoo, I combined that mustard with the juice of 2 blood oranges and a cup of Guinness and reduced it a bit on the stove top.

   

Then I poured it into the vacuum bag and added the rinsed corned beef to it.  Then I froze this as it can be a challenge to vacuum seal pouches with liquid in them and tossed it in the SVS for about 14 hours at 164 degrees F.  Then I took it out, gave it a quick pass under the broiler and sliced that baby up.   

I promise to never doubt the charcutepalooza goddesses again!  PROMISE.  As a bonus I had a bunch of extra blood oranges that are currently being preserved in a crapload of salt. 

Which leads me to the (clearly) more important part of this post… the aforementioned reuben eggrolls.  Another of my lactofermenting projects included red sauerkraut which was clearly just crying out to be made into a reuben.  I also had wonton wrappers conveniently in my fridge.  In a (rare) stroke of genius I combined them into the most glorious deep fried package to ever cross my lips.   

I layered some of the homemade mustard, swiss cheese, leftover corned beef and sauerkraut into the wonton skins and popped them into the deep fryer.   

This was really great… so so delicious.  The best part about it was the way the slight bitterness and acidity cut through the richness of this tasty little package. 

 

So guys, again… apologies for the delay in posting but I have some good (meaty AND nonmeaty) ones lined up for you! And I will never abandon you like that again! 

Birch Bacon

I honestly can't remember in recent history, a time I've been more excited about something than January 15th, 2011 at 10am.  For all you curious types, that's when I read that the next charcutepalooza challenge would be bacon.  That's right people, homemade bacon... and pancetta.  What more could I ask for?

So that weekend, the hubs and I wandered down to a butcher we are huge fans of to get a large pork belly.  I figured I would do half of it as bacon and half of it rolled as pancetta. I had recently worked with smaller cuts of pork belly for the first time in our relatively new sous vide supreme with some amazing results so I was pretty excited to try this challenge.  Plus... bacon!

When I was reading the recipe in Charcuterie for the bacon, I saw a note that indicated for a sweeter note, you could add some maple syrup.  I have to admit now that I'm not crazy over maple syrup the way some people I know are.  The hubs could main line it into his body however.  Here's where we enter tangent territory. (I know, you all love my tangents)

Last summer I'd read a recipe I found through Liqurious for an Old Fashioned made with birch syrup instead of raw sugar.

Photo from Art of Drink blog 

I liked the idea of using a syrup instead of plain sugar in an Old Fashioned because I felt it would add some complexity to what was already a pretty amazing drink.  So I scoured the internet and ordered way more syrup than necessary in order to justify the shipping costs and because I was secretly dreaming of homemade birch beer.  I just knew this was going to be the best Old Fashioned ever.  Can we just talk about how right I was for a second?  This was the Old Fashioned of my dreams.  Birch Syrup has a nice (mild) smoky flavor and a caramel-y sweetness that is not cloying at all.  So much better than maple, I promise!  Maple is meh, get on board!

Anyway... Delorean yourself to a few weeks ago when I was getting ready to rub my belly (will that ever stop being funny? no.) When I thought hrmm, I have had some pretty great maple bacon...  and birch > maple... and I knew I was planning to make bacon jam with at least half of this bacon.  And suddenly my brain was like HEY LADY.... BOURBON BIRCH BACON.  Duh.  How did it take me so long to think of this?  The flavor of bourbon should work perfectly with the mild smokiness in the birch syrup.  So, I cooked off the alcohol from a few tablespoons of bourbon, (in case it did something to the meat?) added it to about a quarter cup of birch syrup, and added that to my dry cure.  Then I rubbed it all over the first half of the belly that was destined for a salt cure only and waited.  And waited.

Can I just tell you how hard all the waiting involved in making charcuterie is?  It’s hard.  You know you have something that is inherently great sitting in your refrigerator... But... if you wait it out that greatness gets better.  WAY better.

Fast forward to a week later and it is time to make the donuts bacon jam (side note: bacon jam filled doughnuts?!).  I cleaned off the cure and patted that puppy dry and sliced off a couple strips to try.  The bacon was a bit saltier than I would have liked (I think this is due to the fact that we couldn't find a belly from a butcher/farmer that we were happy with that had skin on it so we ended up with a skinless one) but the flavor was incredible.  A hint of interesting sweetness added to what I can honestly say was the best bacon I'd ever tasted.  This bacon is the JAM (pun obviously intended.)

Speaking of jam!  I'm sure if you have graced the internet with your presence lately you've seen or heard about this bacon jam recipe that is making the rounds from Foodie with Family.  I've linked to the recipe and the pictures there do it way more justice than I ever could but PEOPLE - make this jam. ASAP.

I followed the recipe pretty much as-is with a few specific things to note.  I wanted a bit of smoked flavor that I wouldn't get from my fresh bacon alone so I used half my bacon and half Wellshire Farms black forest smoked bacon.

I rendered about a cup of fat off of this (hold your horses we'll get to that) and pulled it from the pan when everything was good and crisped.  I added some rosemary sprigs to the onion and garlic in the pan but removed it once everything was cooked down.

The only other change I made was to use half maple syrup and half birch syrup (continuity! woop!) instead of just maple syrup.  I don't even know why I'm still typing since you've probably left to make your own bacon jam but whatever.  Then I pureed it and let it sit off the heat to cool down.

Then I ate like 4 cups of it.

Just kidding I only ate 3 1.  Since I had plenty of bacon fat, and a starving sister sitting in my kitchen staring at me, I figured it was time to make some dinner.  I wasn't particularly hungry due to all the aforementioned bacon jam eating but I had invited her over for dinner and felt semi-obligated to provide her with food.  I defrosted a pork tenderloin and cut up some onions, carrots, mushrooms and parsnips.  I browned all the veggies in the bacon fat with a couple of sprigs of thyme and then spread them out in an oven proof pan just big enough to hold them.

 Then the pork tenderloin got the same browning treatment while I made a glaze for it and the veggies.

I just mixed together equal parts bacon jam (!!) and whole grain mustard.  I added a splash of white wine, salt and pepper and some chopped rosemary and poured it over the pork that was now resting on top of the browned vegetables.

Then I popped the whole thing in a 375 degree oven for about fifteen minutes and dinner was served!  And my sister was no longer making a face like 'if you don't feed me something besides jam I will just eat you.'

Win-win, I say.
  
I should mention that I made pancetta as well but it's not quite ready to taste yet.

 

I have big plans for that puppy though so stay tuned!  Also I wanted to take this time to thank all the organizers of Charcutepalooza for being supportive and building such a great learning community. Well that’s enough bacon talk for today.  Time to start thinking about getting my brine on.  Can't wait!

The Big Time

Guys! Charcutepalooza has "gone viral" as they say...

The WaPo just did an awesome write up about it.  Check it out!

Also... There *may* be snow in the forecast for tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Adam!

Fingers crossed for a blizzard!

Duck Breast + Salt - Food Poisoning = YUM!

Hi all!

Well...  I am happy to report that my first official charcutepalooza attempt was a success!  We were growing nervous because our duck breasts were a bit thinner than it seemed they should be and yet they were taking longer than expected to lose their moisture.  I immediately assumed the worst, that the wine fridge we used did not have enough humidity and the outside had dried and the inside never would.

Anyway! We purchased a Bell & Evans whole duck from a local meat market.  This duck was just waiting to be broken down and turned in to delicious charcuterie!  As I mentioned in an earlier post, we used the extras after cutting away the breasts to make confit legs in our sous vide supreme, about a cup of duck fat, amazing cracklins, and a delicious autumn stock that I've since cooked down to make a duck demi glace (freezer space is at a premium here!)

But onto the the prosciutto.  Having two breasts, I knew we wanted to do one simply with salt and pepper as Ruhlman suggested in Charcuterie and another one with a different flavor.  We decided that for the second one, we'd use the rootbeer cure from the Alinea cookbook since we'd recently started using it on meat and were already in love with it.

So we toasted up a batch of the spices for the rootbeer cure, ground it in our spice grinder and mixed it in with the salt, reserving a spoonful to rub on the duck after its salt soak. The spices included sassafras, star anise, fennel and juniper berries, among others.  I can't think of anything that would smell better than these spices toasting on your stove.

 

As a side note, I know that cookbook seems a bit scary but it is really a great tool for the home cook because the flavors and foods that are put together are so well thought out and carefully chosen.  You can use parts of a recipe to really elevate your food without even cooking one whole dish.

Rootbeer cure being mixed up!

The duck breasts sit fully covered in salt and cure for 24 hours in the actual refrigerator at which point its time to get prepped for the second refrigerator... the wine fridge.

Right before we wrapped up the duck to go in the wine fridge, I rinsed them off and sprinkled pepper on one and a bit of the rootbeer cure (minus the salt) on the other.

And after a week or so of waiting we broke them out to try.

Guys! you HAVE to try this!  The rootbeer flavor is very mild but goes amazingly well with the gamey sweetness of the cured duck.  It cuts through the fat nicely and leaves a really pleasant flavor.  I think we're gonna dice some and have it with pasta with a creamy sauce, a bit of nutmeg and some caramelized onions.  I thought originally that the rootbeer flavor might be limiting but its definitely the opposite!  Its delicious and carries the flavor of the duck well. We had some for breakfast with fried eggs and some white beans cooked in veal stock.

I'm so pleased that month one of charcutepalooza was a success.  I will definitely make this again in the near future.  We picked up our pork belly and began month two's recipe earlier this week.  I'm really excited about this one too but I'm honestly not sure it will be able to compete with rootbeer flavored duck we made for this month!

Sick of It!

Hi friends! (both of you)

Sorry for the lack of posting lately... recovering from some sort of nasty stomach flu/food poisoning awfulness. So my charcutepalooza post is going to be delayed a couple of days (obviously).  I'll try to get that post up tomorrow.  I didn't want to cut up my awesome duck breasts and then not be able to taste them!

Anyway, just wanted to post quickly about two things I absolutely love.  What's interesting here is that the first thing I love actually brought the second thing I love into my life!

The first thing is a new company called Birchbox.  This is a makeup sample delivery company started by two amazing Harvard Business School grads from which I was lucky enough to win a year long subscription.  They send a perfectly packaged box of deluxe samples to you once monthly, and then make it exceptionally easy to buy the full sized products directly from their website.

www.birchbox.com

But they don't stop at lipgloss or lotion samples.  They have tutorials and tons of extra information on makeup, beauty, health and general well-being on their website.  They also send special treats each month... little birchbox bonuses.  Which brings me to favorite thing number two!

In this month's birchbox was a little tin of tea: Coconut Chai Black Tea. Sounds delicious right?  It was.

yum.

Especially perfect since we got a nasty storm of "wintry mix" last night.  This tea is amazing.  I took one sip and ordered the larger size from their site, which couldn't have been simpler.

Birchbox always manages to pick the best selection of samples and this month was no exception.  Besides the tea, it included two different skin care samples, a huge AHAVA hand cream sample and some great hair serum.  I am seriously smitten with this company.  I will definitely continue my subscription once my year runs out, and I've already gifted a year long subscription to my sister who is also a sample maniac.   The best part is you can sign up for month to month.  OK, I'm gushing.  go try it!

Lashtastic

Guys!  It's almost time for the first official charcutepalooza post!  I'm so excited.  The duck breasts are just about ready and I can't wait to taste and tell you about them!  Tom can't wait either.  I know this thanks to my friend Kate

I found this pic on a 2007 interview with Tom Colicchio in the New York Restaurant Insider but it's much better thanks to her craftiness.  Plus obviously that's what he's thinking.  So get excited, it's almost duck prosciutto time.


On another note...
I have a weird obsession with eyelashes/mascara.  I would LOVE to have ridiculously long eyelashes that didn't require a lick of mascara. All my cousins have this... its not fair.  Instead, all my eyelash wishes seem to have migrated up an inch to my eyebrows, which require a wax practically every other week.  I even went so far as to get novalash lash extensions before my wedding.  Sounds crazy, looked awesome.  But they were uncomfortable and definitely not worth the discomfort or the price.  I am contemplating a lash growing formula but I'm not especially interested in iris overpigmentation or itchy, red eyes... what's a girl to do.

My go-to mascara is DiorShow Blackout mascara from Sephora.  This mascara, applied right after a quick lash curl is really the best out there, in my opinion.  It's an amazing inky black that applies perfectly every time. But NOW they have gone a step further.

DiorShow 360 Mascara... it spins people! And look at that brush... weird!

I don't know if this is a good thing or not... but it certainly is intriguing.  I plan to pick some up this weekend and will let you know how it goes!

Charcutepalooza

Long before I had a blog to call my own I would read others' and envy their ability to participate in "challenges" that involved regularly cooking certain types of food or from specific cookbooks.  Anyone that knows me knows I like projects... sometimes these projects are seen through to the end and other times they're abandoned early on. I'm excited to say that I've signed up to participate in a challenge that not only has relatively lax rules (do what you can when you can) but if it goes according to plan, it will keep me in cured meat for the whole year!

The project I'm taking part in is called Charcutepalooza and it's being hosted by Mrs. Wheelbarrow and The Yummy Mummy on Mrs. Wheelbarrow's blog.  The challenge is to make something out of Michael Ruhlman's (fabulous) book Charcuterie every month and post about it on the 15th.  The first challenge is Duck Prosciutto and I've already got some curing in the wine fridge.

The best part of this project (so far... since the prosciutto isn't ready to taste) is all the other things you get when you buy a whole duck instead of just the breasts.  Once I broke down the duck for the breasts, I had two legs, thighs, and a carcass.  I know that doesn't sound especially appealing but I generally use every possible part of the meat I buy and this was no different. I confit'd the legs and thighs in my sous vide supreme (an INCREDIBLE tool making sous vide accessible to home cooks that we'll discuss later).  I also trimmed all the fat and skin and slowly rendered the fat.

What resulted from this was about a cup of duck skin cracklins and about a cup of duck fat (ie liquid gold).

Finally, I used the carcass along with some veal bones to make a delicious (albeit unusual) stock.  Phew!

Check back on the 15th for the (hopefully) tasty results!