Grub Hacker

Peach Smoked Madison Maple and Guava/Agave Bacon

2010-10-16T15:32:43-05:00

Its been too long since my last post... I have been cooking a lot but find it hard at times to get the proper lighting needed to get good looking photos. Today was a beutiful fall day and my cured bacon had just finished up its week long magical curing jorney.

I made two different types of bacon today, one was a Madion maple and the other was Guava/Agave. Both of these were smoked on some peach wood that my freind had cut for me earlier in the spring.

Bacon Cure

1 Poud Kosher Salt

8 Ounces of Sugar

2 ounces pink salt

Rub each pork belly with 1/4 cup of cure

Madison Maple bacon

1/2 Cup maple syrup added during cure

Mix and add to slab when you add the cure

Guava/Agave bacon

1/2 C Guava Necter

1/3 2 TBS Dark Agave Nectre

Mix and add to slab when you add the cure

Cure each bacon slab for 7 days with 1/4 cup of cure and select sweatner

Smoke at 200 degrees over your choice of fruit wood until bacon hits 162 internal temprature

Cool, slice and enjoy

Anyone have any other interesting bacon flavoring ideas?

Seth

First time Beehive

2010-04-26T21:12:21-05:00

I installed my first ever package of Russian bees the other day in the vineyard. Here is the video that John took of the experience. Warning, no stings but explicit language.

Seth

Fiddleheads for dinner!

2010-04-19T20:37:24-05:00

Had this delicious pile of yum a few days ago and since John has lit a fire again to get the blog moving, I wanted to share these. In my opinion, these are some of the tastiest forest morsels that we have in our area. They really have a very mild flavor much like asparagus with a very nice texture as long as you take care not to overcook them. These were sauteed in some light butter with some fresh fleur de sel sea salt.

Seth

The Reinvigoration of Grub Hacker

2010-04-19T20:28:17-05:00

It seems that work and hunting have consumed far too much of my time in the last year, and I have failed to document any of the activities in and around my kitchen. Seeing a steady stream of visitors here, browsing content over a year old, I have decided to begin documenting my culinary exploits yet again.

Two days ago, I had the fortune of running into a local dairy farmer who graciously allows me to hunt waterfowl on his land. I regard this particular piece of property as my best local hunting spot. Being the lone corn field harvested for silage to feed to his herd over the winter, it is cut much earlier than neighboring swaths of crops. As any avid waterfowler knows, having permission on the first cut corn field near a multi-thousand acre lake is what dreams are made of.

During the course of our conversation I asked what his cows were eating this time of the year. I was intrigued when I learned that their diet consisted of mostly alfalfa and other grasses, not the mixed corn diet that they are on during the winter. After a little prodding, I convinced him to allow me to take 5 gallons of raw milk, straight from the cow from the next mornings milking. This did come with a disclaimer: "If you get sick, I don't know you!"

Today, Seth and I will be making a run of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Stay tuned for pictures and our recipe in the next day or two.

John

Guanciale Spaghetti Carbonara

2009-06-09T21:46:00-05:00

The Guanciale is complete and I have been using it in all sorts or ways as a direct substitute for bacon. Guanciale has a taste like no other. It still retains the deep fatty, porky flavors that is unique in every way. Since Guanciale is not smoked but cured it also has a different flavor than bacon and no doubt makes a an incredible substitute. One of the mystique's of Guanciale is that its not available anywhere unless you order it at one of the few specialty places in the US that I could count on less then one hand..... When you make it at home you are able to use it in so many dishes that would call for bacon. This creates a wonderful new dish that tastes all its own.

I encourage you to make, cook, plant and grow as many things as you can. Its so deeply satisfying and rewarding when you create things yourself. I have found that the longer something takes to create, make, grow the more deeply satisfying it is to the soul.

Guanciale Spaghetti Carbonara

1 LB Spaghetti
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 Shallot, finely chopped
2 small Cloves Garlic, chopped
4 Eggs
3/4 Cup Parmesan Reggiano
1/4 - 1/3 pound Guanciale or bacon cut into small strips
Large Pinch Course Pepper
2 Tbs Chopped Parsley

Cook pasta from directions, drain and toss with 1 TBS olive oil.

Saute Guanciale or bacon or on med-low heat until crispy, remove and set aside on paper towel

Add Shallots and garlic to bacon oil and saute at medium for 3 minutes
Add Pasta back into pan and stir for 30 seconds

Add eggs, Cheese and bacon and raise heat to medium high and start stirring briskly. The eggs and cheese will start to melt and right as they form a creamy sauce scoop into large heated bowls.
Garnish with a sprinkle of cheese and parsley
Serve immediately

Fresh Pastrami

2009-03-02T14:49:59-06:00

I've been waiting to make something that I considered to be appropriate for my first blog post here, on Grub Hacker. Surprisingly, none of the imaginative wild game dishes created in my kitchen seemed to be able to make the cut, and I ended up choosing this!

Inspired by the most recent episode of No Reservations, and an appealing recipe in Charcuterie, I decided to make fresh pastrami. There's nothing quite like getting fresh, hot pastrami on rye bread from a hole in the wall deli; the results of the following foray into recipes from the aforementioned book are just as fulfilling.

The recipe is very easy, just brine, smoke, steam and serve. Pardon all of the pictures, I'm just becoming more comfortable with my camera and starting to get good pictures. My only regret is that I am unable to stop time and passing by clouds in order to have the sunlight right for pictures.

The brine is going to take a little longer to prepare than it will take to trim the brisket, so start with that. Here's what I put in my brine...

Pastrami Brine

1 gallon water
1 ¹/₂ c. sugar
1 ¹/₂ c. kosher salt
1 ¹/₂ oz. pink salt (6.25%)
1 T. Pickling salt (I made my own, but store bought is suitable)
¹/₂ c. brown sugar
¹/₄ c. honey
8 garlic cloves, minced

Combine ingredients over heat until salt and sugar are dissolved. After 2-3 days submerged in the brine, you should have something that looks like this.

Before smoking, grind up a tablespoon or two of coriander seeds and black peppercorns, both lightly toasted in a dry pan, and evenly coat the meat.

Smoke in a smoker at 250 with lots of oak until internal temp hits 165-170; to bring it to final temperature, place the pastrami in a foil covered pan, half submerged in water.

It should take another 2 hours for the internal temp to hit 185-190, at which point you're ready to slice and serve on rye bread with spicy mustard.

Enjoy!

-John

Cornichon Fail!

2009-02-24T18:31:00-06:00

I Purchased some fresh tarragon on Thursday in preparation to make some cornichon pickles on Saturday. Friday night I chop the pickles and salted them to let them cure overnight.
Saturday morning I get everything out and ready and realize that my tarragon is now brownagon..

Dammit!

Off to store in town.... Out.....
Stop at another store in town... Out.....
Drive to next town over..... Out.....

WTF! Who put the run on the tarragon?

I settle for a crappy bunch of dill and head home to make dill pickles...

Don't get me wrong, I love dill pickles. But I have made dill pickles so many times and the whole point of making pickles this time was to make cornichons, with TARRAGON!

Here is basically the cornichon recipe, substitute dill for tarragon

Grubhacker Cornichon Pickles

3lb Gherkin/Cornichon Pickles or equal weight of normal pickles cut into gherkin size
6 TBS Pickling Salt
6 Shallots peeled and halved
4 garlic cloves peeled and halved
4 large tarragon Springs or 4 Large Dill Sprigs
25-30 whole black peppercorns
4 chillies or 1 TBS of red pepper flake
1/2 TBS Coriander
2 Bay Leaves
3-4 Cup White Wine Vinegar or White Vinegar

Wash and cut pickles to gherkin size

Mix pickling salt with pickles,toss and refridgerage for 24 hours

Drain cucumbers and wash with cold water

Clean or Sterilize a large crock or jars depending on if you will be canning or making refrigerator pickles

Add pickles and equal parts of other ingredients depending upon your holding vessel

Can as normal for canned or refrigerate for fridge pickles

Refrigerate or store for 1 month before serving

I much prefer fridge pickles as you dont have to go through the steralization process and I generally eat them fast enough that I dont have to can them. I also like the added crispness you get with refridgerator pickles.

Seth

Homemade Italian Beef Sandwiches

2009-02-21T22:49:09-06:00

So I was at restaurant depot the other day and saw a beef knuckle roast. I picked one up since for one, I had never seen one, and two, it was cheap. At the time I had no clue how I was going to prepare it but figured I would let things evolve over the course of the week. This cut is lean and as it turns out has a ton of flavor and great value at 1.60 something a pound.

The timing of Paupered Chef:Homemade Italian Beef post this week was perfect and it provided a perfect fate for this nice looking cut of meat. I know the recipe did not call for this cut but it worked out perfectly and if you can get your hands on Beef Knuckle its worth a go. This basically is the Paupered Chef's recipe that is doubled and tweaked a bit.

Question O the Day

Have you ever bought something with no clue how you were going to prepare it? What was it? What inspiration did you draw from?

Homemade Italian Beef

Spice Mixture

5-8 lb Beef Knuckle Roast (or about same weight of beef round or beef sirloin tip roast)
1 TBS Red Pepper flake
4 tsp dried basil

4 tsp dried oregano
1 TBS garlic powder
1 TBS Kosher Salt
1 TBS Pepper

Beef Au Jus

1.5 Quart Water
1 TBS Beef Better than Bullion
1/2 of above spice rub

16 Italian Rolls
giardiniera
Roasting Pan

Trim any silver skin and excess fat from the exterior of the roast

Mix all dry ingredients together
Rub half of the dry mixture all over the roast and place in a medium sized roasting pan
Mix the remaining dry ingredients and 1 TBS of Boulian with the 1.5 quart of water and set aside

Preheat over to 450
Cook roast in roasting pan for 25 minutes

Reduce heat to 235

Pour liquid spice mixture into roasting pan and place wired meat probe in so it reads the center of the roast

Cook for 1-2 hours until internal temperature of meat reaches 130 degrees at center of roast.

Take out of the oven and let rest for 20 minutes
Reserve the liquid in the roasting pan and place into the fridge to cool
Wrap roast tightly in aluminum foil or place into a large Ziploc bag and place into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
Place roast in freezer for 2 hours until rather firm
Slice roast with a VERY sharp knife as thin as possible

Assembly

Warm a portion of the meat juice just to a simmer in a skillet or pot and place chosen portion sizes of sliced beef into juices

Cut the rolls half way down still leaving a good amount of uncut bread at the base or the sandwich
Grab meat and move quickly to bun so meat juices can soak into bread
Garnish with giardiniera and enjoy

This turned out KILLER! Big props to The Paupered Chef on this one, epic recipe!!

Seth

Salami, Saucisson Sec and Guanciale Update

2009-02-19T23:53:58-06:00

The curing closet in the basement has been working out great. At this point I have Salami, Saucisson Sec and Guanciale in the closet and I am just about ready to take the small Salami links down at about 3 weeks hang time.

The curing closet has been holding a steady 56-58 degrees Fahrenheit and 67-71% humidity and I have been amazed at just how well my humidifier has held these humidity levels. I think the humidifier was purchased at home depot some years ago and has a simple LCD screen read out with twin tanks. I would imagine that this setup could run my curing closet for a good month and a half on full tanks.

Here is the Guanciale drying, this will be done on our around March 5th. I absolutely cannot wait to make some pasta dishes with this!

Description from Wikipedia---

Guanciale (pron. gwanchaleh) is an unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig's jowl or cheeks. Its name is derived from guancia, Italian for cheek.

Guanciale is traditionally used in dishes like Pasta all'amatriciana and spaghetti alla carbonara. It is a delicacy of Central Italy, particularly Umbria and Lazio.

Seth

Review: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing

2009-02-13T19:00:00-06:00

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing

If you have not picked this book up and have any interest in making fresh or dried sausages, pates, smoked foods and other cured things I would drop everything and run out and pick this up. Charcuterie has a huge volume of wonderful, diverse charcuterie recipes. Some of the sections include fresh sausages, smoking, pates and other cured things like pickles, vegetables and kraut. This book reads very well and is choked full of great recipes with easy to follow instructions and should appeal to both amateur and the experienced.

In the past, much information on charcuterie as a whole has been very limited and spread across many different sources. Michael and Brian do a wonderful job explaining each process and technique which demystifies the entire process of salting, curing, smoking, and emulsifying.

Also, I am sure my girlfriend has been dreading buying me Charcuterie since as of late John and I have been making a ton of items from this great book with many long nights working on recipes with nothing to show for or feed our better halves... Doh!

Charcuterie: Amazon Link