Bacon Part I

I have always loved bacon, and although I haven't gotten into pig butchery (yet), it seems time to learn how to make some charcutterie. Where better to start than bacon? First stop was mario's for some pork belly. Mario was in the basement looking for some deer meat when I took this photo. He's a real deal old school neighborhood butcher at 622 Metropolitan who has rabbits and osso buco for sale and a cadre of old italian men hanging out in his shop.

I picked up 6 pounds of meat, which is 1/2 of a pork belly. I don't know what the pig's name was or who raised it. I doubt it spent the last weeks of its life dining on hazelnuts and heavy cream, but it still looks pretty yummy and this is my first attempt, so I'm going to keep it cheap and simple. I mixed up a rub consisting of 1 cup of coarse sea salt and 1 cup of light brown sugar. I cut the pork into 2 pieces to fit into 2 large ziplock bags; massaged them with the rub and put them in the fridge.

I decided to forgo the saltpeter; I can save it to make black powder for the flintlock rifle i'll use to stun my pigs before I bleed them. Plus I don't care how pink it looks and if this bacon works out, it's not going to be around for very long anyway. For now, it needs to cure for a week and then i'll smoke it!

Sunday night italian dinner

I doubled the recipe for minestrone which doubled the chopping as well and led me to finally understand the concept of using your knuckles to position the knife. I learned about the not so secret measurements of the tang and the rivets of a chef's knife and made a lot of fine dice of zucchini, carrots, onions, celery, and potato. I made the beef stock yesterday and soaked the tiny white beans over night.


Mom and dad helped me make these mezzaluna; stuffed with a filling of hen of the woods mushrooms in a soffritto of onions, slab bacon and rosemary mixed with whole milk ricotta, parmigiano-reggiano, egg yolk, crushed pepper and salt. They were boiled for a few minutes and then served in a simple butter and sage sauce.

Pork loin braised in red wine, vinegar, bay leaves and crushed black pepper with finnochio braised in water, olive oil and salt.



The backup plan was fettucini, so we had two pasta courses. This one in olive oil, hot red pepper and garlic. Next time I want to add some sichuan pepper.

Sweedish anise carroway rye bread

1/2 rye and 1/2 unbleached white from the Tassalhara bread book, page 40. It's got some powered milk in it and an egg glaze, so it's not vegan, but super yummy. I made a sponge first and then let it rise twice after kneading. I baked it in a convection gas oven at 300° for 50 minutes which was colder and faster than indicated. I'm still getting the hang of my new oven. I think the best way to tell if it is ready is by thumping on it with your thumb to see what sound it makes. The bread was very good toasted with some homemade butter and raw local crystalized honey. The loaves really puff up fast in the oven, and they always seem to tear the fibers all around the top of the loaf. I would like to figure that out.

Homemade butter

Take 1 pint of local organic heavy whipping cream, this batch came from whole foods on 14th street, and put it into the Kitchenaid mixer with the whisk on speed 8. First it will turn into whipped cream, then stiff whipped cream, then it goes a little bit past whipped cream and begins to get sandy / grainy. A little while later some of the buttermilk will start to come out and it gets a little wet. Watch out, when it breaks, buttermilk is going to try to fly all over your kitchen, so keep the mixing bowl covered. Soon a number of little butter clusters appear and they quickly clump up into a ball that will stick to the whisk, leaving a pool of buttermilk in the bowl. The whole process should take about 10 minutes. You can rinse off the butter in a strainer; washing away excess buttermilk will make it last longer. Reserve the leftover buttermilk for the next time you bake bread, pancakes or waffles. I add some sel de mer and shape it into a stick using some waxed paper. It is very good on homemade bread.