Lasagna

UPDATE: Best meat sauce so far was the spicy sausage take on Babish below, with addition of 1lb of veal and browning the meat pretty well. 50% ipsola tomatoes and 50% whole foods brand. Result was fantastic with the rigatoni. Did not require any additional salt.

I've done two different lasagnas now, currently in process on a third. Both of the ones to date were Babish:

https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/ziti-lasagna

https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/2017/8/22/lasagna

I actually did the Babish ziti first, and that was pretty good. The Babish lasagna 2nd time worked better, though; the ziti had me and Layla breaking out more with whiteheads, and wasn't as filling.

Ziti I did pretty much directly by the book, except with spicy sausage instead of sweet. The lasagna I actually did using the sauce from the Garfield episode but otherwise based on the Carmela one. Top layer of that was with the leftover Carmela sauce. Overall this was very filling and satisfying.

2nd lasagna was straight up Garfield recipe. This one was...bland? I wasn't a fan. I think the difference is in the sheer volume of tomatoes. I did reduce the Garfield sauce more than I planned to the 2nd time, but I do remember something similar going wrong with the first one so that's probably not why the second lasagna wasn't as good. The selection of ricotta may have played in here as well, hard to say.

Today's try is using Carmela's method for two different batches of sauce, one with mild sausage one with spicy. We'll do spicy for the top layer again and the others with mild, and experiment with sweet sausage next week. Due to space constraints in the dutch ovens, we decided not to add extra water (and buy another dutch oven). Only other difference is marmite.

It's pretty noticeable (to me) that Babish's Garfield approach has a full mirepoux mix as the base for the sauce, same as the Bon Appetit ragu recipe. I think this works for the ragu, but might be bringing too much to the party for the lasagna - simple ingredients may be better.

We also shredded some of the mozarella last time, vs. exclusively slicing the first time. This time I've put the mozarella logs in the freezer so we can slice thin and see if that helps.

A note on ingredients, by the way:

* Best tomatoes appear to be either Isola (Whole Foods) or the ones from Trader Joe's. Most of the others hold their firmness more than I'd like, though we'll see how that plays out. Isola are also a pull-tab to open which speeds things up a bit. Unfortunately, these are $3-4/28oz vs. $1.50 for store brand, but I'm relatively ok with this.

* Best ricotta appears to be the Basket brand. It's only a few dollars more than Whole Foods' store brand and the difference is pretty ridiculous. 

Pork Ragu

This is actually the second time I've made this one. First time I don't entirely remember the recipe, it was a hybrid of a duck ragu recipe and another one actually intended as pork.

Might have been this one:
https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/braised-pork-ragu-over-pappardelle


This time it's this one:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cavatelli-with-pork-ragu

This second one smells a little too spiced.

EDIT: Made a 2nd round and while the nutmeg blends nicely, I think we should halve the cloves.

I also did English Muffins using the Knight Flour recipe last week; left them to proof for a long time though, so this week I'll do Bruno Albouze's version.

Did Babish's baked rigatoni as well. This time around, doing his Lasagna.

The wet-cured bacon worked pretty well, still a little saltier than I wanted. We'll continue using the Costco pork loins for it and probably dry-cure at a lower %; the savings are pretty huge compared to Whole Foods.

Also been doing English Muffins. Tried the recipe from Knight Flour; I think I let it proof too long and they came out kind of sour, then pushed on them during the griddling process and wound up with a very tight crumb. 2nd time was from Bruno Albouze; this went better but I think I let the yeast proof for too long before adding into the liquid levain, leading to a suboptimal rise. I do like his idea of just using pastry rings and a 2nd pan on top to guide how they form, though.

His recipe also uses instant yeast, which (from...I think it's Knight Flour again?) apparently tends to lead to a greater rise than what you'll see with active dry.

Ribs - Take 1

Ribs update:
Try 2.5-3hrs at 200; just did one for a little over 4hrs and the meat was way too soft (bones wouldn't stay in) but it seems like 2.5hr would be a happy medium

Cut the cumin content and consider dropping the cayenne as well - possibly also up salt. So maybe 30g Salt 5g Cumin.

Had 1g-3g of mustard in this one as well, uncertain what impact it had.

---
This worked fairly well, but needs work. I can't find my old recipe for the rub or anything else, so this is a process of experimentation/development.

The result from this one was tasty but a bit dry/lacking on tenderness, and felt like it had too much rub. Layla suggested reducing the cumin; I think I'll start by just not doing the extra rub.
High broiler may have been too much, or 3 minutes per side may have been too much. Let's try high for 1 minute per side next time.
Probably best to do the broiler step rib-side up once and then flip - the sauce sticks to the pan.


Changes to be made:
* Don't do the uncovered cooking step or just do it for 15 minutes or something (ie 3 hours at 200)
* Cook at 200, instead of 225
* I think I used to baste the ribs with the liquid from the foil, too.
* Don't sprinkle on the extra rub
* Broil only 1min per side for the sauce
* First broil should be rib side up, then 2-3 rounds of rib side down
* Trim membrane off the bottom - I decided not to do it this time and suspect it's a good way to both reduce fat (which layla likes) and get more rub into the meat (which everyone likes).

Potential future revisions:
* Longer cooking step
* Change rub recipe
* Try low broiler instead of high

Ingredients (for 1 Costco-sized rack):
10g Paprika
10g Cumin
10g Garlic Powder
6g Chili Powder
2g Cayenne
2g White Pepper
15g Brown Sugar
22g Salt
~1g Black Pepper

1) Mix all spices together (can toast and grind from whole spices if desired) thoroughly
2) Rub heavily on all sides of ribs and leave uncovered in fridge overnight, on a wire rack above paper towels or a sheet pan to catch moisture
3) Preheat oven to 225
4) Wrap ribs tightly in foil (Costco heavy-duty seems great for this)
5) Place ribs in oven bone-side up and leave for 2 hours
6) Unwrap ribs, sprinkle both sides with any residual rub, and cook uncovered for another 1hr
7) Remove ribs from oven and place on a broiler pan, bone side down. Brush with desired bbq sauce and place under high broiler for 3 minutes. Flip, brush underside with sauce, and broil again for 3 minutes. Flip again, brush with sauce, and boil again for final 3 minutes.
8) Slice and serve

Bacon Extra!

Costco actually had pork loins today, so I snagged one as well as the ribs for the previous "entry." I have a strong suspicion that these will be less good than the ones from Whole Foods, but while Whole Foods are out...

Calculator again:
https://eatcuredmeat.com/how-much-curing-salt-per-pound-of-meat-dry-or-wet-curing-tool-calculator/

This time, given the sheer size, I'm going to go with the wet brining approach. Total mass of pork is 2838g, and we don't need to correct for salt loss. Thus to get our 2.5% it's (rounding from the calculator) 10g curing salt, 100g Kosher salt, and 1.14L of water.

I'll have to prep the salts and water separately, possibly bringing up to a simmer first.

Procedure I'm thinking:
* Wet cure for ~5 days
* Flip over and do 5 more days
* Soak for 1hr in fresh water and clean surface --> I may just wash it, to be honest; equilibrium brining
* Leave to dry, flipping daily, for 3-4 days

This has me flipping it next Wednesday, taking it out on the 30th, and starting to eat it a on that Wednesday/Thursday.


Note: The Book suggests 1 gallon of 60* Brine and 81g of Cure #1 for 5kg. I'll have to do some math on that.

*http://seafoodacademy.org/brining-activity.php

Ribs

Getting this formalized.

I keep trying to figure out what rub I want...there's the foodwishes one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7WHAjxDxk
https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-want-your-baby-back-ribs-sure-just.html

Chefsteps:
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/smokerless-smoked-ribs-incredible-barbecue-no-smoker-required
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/apartment-rib-rub
Both of which are probably targeting smokier than I want.

And various ones from serious eats (links go to the main pages, not the recipes themselves):
https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how-to-make-oven-bbq-barbecue-baked-ribs.html (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/06/oven-barbecue-bbq-ribs-recipe.html)
https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/the-food-lab-complete-guide-sous-vide-pork-ribs.html (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/09/sous-vide-pork-ribs-recipe-food-lab.html)
https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/09/how-to-make-a-barbecue-rub.html

Bacon Note: Apparently connective tissue starts breaking down into gelatin starting about 130F; if long times at 132 don't negatively impact texture and fattiness, there may be a good case for a longer sous vide step to help weaken the connective tissue layer.

Trouble is I specifically remember that my favorite rub had cumin in it.
Here's one that does:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rib-dry-rub-recipe-1915626

For now I think I'll go with Kenji's

Found another one:
https://kristywicks.com/best-smoked-ribs-rib-rub-recipe/

Prehab/Rehab Notes

Based on all the stuff from PT.

NB: external rotation is rotation such that the main limb is rotating away from the body - hip external rotation has the front of the thigh moving outwards if you're in hip extension.
We hit a variety of exercises, so the list first:

Hips
* Sidesteps (with band)
* Monster Walks (with band around ankles)
* External Rotation mobe (lie on back with knees at 90, have one knee fall towards the floor without rotating your hips)
* Prone External Rotation (now with ankle weights)
* Clamshell with band
* "Squeeze Bridge" (this was with the "circle" thing orinally)
* Wall Ball Squats (single-leg squat with a med ball between a wall and your inactive thigh; start at about a quarter squat and keep all the weight on your heels)
* Single-leg bridges (inactive leg extended, don't let your hips rotate)

Neck
* Occipillow neck curl
* Occipillow rotation
* All-Fours Rotation
In all cases, trying to avoid recruiting the traps/pulling the head back

Shoulder
* IR/ER/45-degree --> IR and ER can be done with elbow at side, or as 90/90
* Standing CAR
* All-Fours CAR
* Wall Balls - front, side, taps (noon, 1:30, 3pm)
* Ys and Ts with light dumbbells
* Wall Walks (nowadays we're doing these with straight arms)
* Rows (banded, originally)
* "Scap Slides" or whatever on the wall (should do these throughout the day anyway)
* Banded Scap Slides

--

That's the "full" exercise list. There's also some diagnostic that needs to be done here.

Important notes:
* My shoulder/back issues are heavily due to my traps sitting too low, so Farmer Carries are also indicated here to help get the damn things to shorten up. This is another benefit to the scap slides.
* Hips are rotated a bit with the right one further forward and the left knee collapsing, meaning...
* Left side - missing external rotation range, plus issues keeping that knee "out"
* Right side - missing internal rotation range (potentially)
* Torso - some rotation towards the right side

Would be interesting to test what issues are actually coming up when I back step on the wall; you'd think the left hip being rotated "back" would actually help get my hips closer to the wall when turning that hip in, so maybe this is more a torso rotation problem.

The missing external rotation range on the left side is noticeable but may be a result of comparing against a right side in which the hip is already far forward. That being said, the inability to get into that same position on the left is a problem.

To be honest, I think that rolling out the area around the hips is the key there. That hip release trick from Starrett and Waterbury could also be a good thing to look at.

---

Proposed routine:

Rolling/Mobes
* Upper back Foam Roll
* Upper back Double-LAX
* Hip and Quad
* Open Book Stretch

Exercises (for now):
* Neck curls
* Neck rotations
* Band Clamshells
* Ball Circles
* Scap Slides
* Wall Walks
* Side Steps
* Monster Walks
* Ys and Ts
* ER/IR/45s

Question occurs whether it's worth splitting these up somewhat, e.g. having a stretching day or...something. Presumably the couch stretch and some hamstring stretching comes in here somewhere. The ideal here would be some full-body massage every so often...

Bacon Musing

Implications of the below:
* 132F for 1.5-2 hours in the sous vide should be acceptable to both sterilize the meat and minimize moisture loss and fat rendering. We're mainly concerned about bacteria on the surface, right?
* Sous vide step probably wants to take place before any long-term drying, as e. coli gets more resistant to heat as moisture drops (up to a point at least).
* May be some value in doing a test on the sous vide to see how long it takes a piece of meat to hit 132 throughout after you put it in. Sterilization for the very interior only starts once that gets above temperature, though realistically the parts of the meat that will have pathogens are on the outside (except for trich., which will die very quickly).

NB: There's a question here regarding rate of fat rendering at given temperatures as well. 132 degrees for two hours looks sufficient for total sterilization, while 150 degrees looks able to accomplish that in minutes. 130 may be low enough that the fat doesn't actually render, but takes a while to work (probably 3-4 hours in the sous vide, to get up to temp and then adequately disinfect? That being said, bacterial concerns are probably restricted to the surface.

"The Book" (see below) also describes dry-curing as involving something resembling a drainage rack. This partly explains the constant reapplication of cure.

Link for ref:
https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/magazine-archive1/februarymarch-2004/the-danger-zone-reevaluated/
D value here refers to the time required to get a 1-log decrease (base 10). The only one that worries me here is that e. coli in ground beef has a D-time of 40 minutes at 130; that drops by a factor of 10 at 135, so 132 degrees might be a good sweet spot here.

Doing some work in Excel - looks like you'd expect a high-end D value of 20 minutes at 132, so for E coli you're after 2 hours to get a 6-order kill rate.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2001-title9-vol2/pdf/CFR-2001-title9-vol2-sec318-10.pdf
(Elsevier basically ripped me out of $30 to get the article that linked that...)

So, 2 hours at 130 degrees should be easily enough to kill Trichinosis. Yay. That looks dated to at least 2001 (when trich cases were already going down a lot) so that should be fine.

Other things:
* Could be a benefit to slicing day by day rather than all at once. The pellicle will get thicker, but could/should be fine, and with the temperature low enough this may be enough to prevent spoilage completely. Possible that wrapping in foil will help to prevent it from getting too hard, though I suspect there's a limit to how thick the pellicle can actually get.
* Additional question here regarding why the cooked one doesn't spoil.

Based on "the book" (Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages) "bacon is dried for 1-2 hours at 122F, dampers are fully open" followed by "Bacon is smoked and cooked for 3 hours at 130F, dampers are 1/4 open. If trichinae-free meat is used the cooking may stop when the internal meat temperature reaches 132F, otherwise cook bacon to 140F." There's a bit of an internal contradiction there in that a 130F smoker can't hit either of those temperatures but w/e.
USDA limits on sodium nitrate in dry-cured bacon is 200ppm for "rind-off" and 180ppm for "rind-on." Rind-on is if the skin's still attached so NBD.
Apparently I've been roughly hitting if not undercutting that - 1lb of bacon should be 1.3g of Cure#1, so 700g should be about 2g of Cure #1, which is what we've got this time. So we're good.
At some point soon we can start adding sugar - interested to see what does to shelf life.
That's for belly bacon though.

There's a later page discussing loins - "usually pickle cured. They can be stitched pumped and then placed in cover pickle for 3-5 days, or only immersed in cover pickle for up to 10 days. After curing they are smoked and cooked to 142-152F." So Curing-wise we're probably fine, temp-wise we're being a bit cheeky.

The book does recommend doing the mixture in two goes, doing half of the dry cure on Day 1 then adding the other half on Day 7. That said, the recc is "2-2.5 days per kg" so in our case we should be fine.

There's a specific recipe for Canadian Bacon but the temps on that go way high, 3 hour smoke at 150F followed by a brief hold at 170F until the meat hits 154.

(Book also has some fun notes on jerky, which we can totally make at home)

Trichinosis is a mild concern but seems unlikely.

May have hit on one issue inside of the book - "after drying, bacteria become much more heat resistant."

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/bacon-and-food-safety/CT_Index/!ut/p/a1/rVNdT8MgFP0tPvhIgH73sVZbrdpFN13bF8Na6DCW1kLmx6-XbjGaTbdpBg9AOOdyz7lcWMAMFoIseE0UbwV5Gs6F84BukIP9ECUjH0foIr2_GV2GIfLGtgbkWwCpucaPguHajO69NMYoND_5v4wA7eJPYQGLUqhOzWHOJJegbIWiQh0jrtdeUL1rCBfHqOvbuieNBERUQNJ-wUsqB3pHalpRyWuxPJW8gjlCBivLGQaOjRiwKPYBMVgFXN_zTFxZLvbLDfEb2e0wL9nDXaO_Dq_rIUk1B1ywFmY1VVqDfKG9hBlrW62GMKreACOlAnJOqdIXDSUKdD3tSL-sJsxmRHuzVP-NBLNw8nAhKvq68vJ7QgjrqQWNrfMkNdHIWgf8UO4VYEs9tz5hGTDXprpfgPh2AETjCY7tExy7Nhz_sUo7AroHDphahw7oHDrg3z1M9uhj_vj8XAS6G4cGfFX6a_6jHbvm7q7xHtmV_VSfOrdnLE0BmXnItLvF-4Q10-Do6APh5-F8/
Another interesting link, as is this one:
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g2528

Bacon 4

Last batch of bacon was quite nice. The one I sous-vided was less tender and marginally less tasty but generally good; the uncooked one was in some ways nicer but went off fairly quickly, after only a couple of days. Part of this may be attributable to fridge temperature, and it may be possible to use wax paper or something to help preserve them longer.

The big loin one is still curing so no news on that one until this coming weekend. The bacon does, however, only keep for 5-7 days, ergo I need to have a continuous rotation going.

Given the loss of water and my annoyance at the last batch going off so quickly, I'm inclined to overestimate the amounts somewhat on the curing salt. Not sure of the chemistry on the water loss side, though. Easiest solution would probably be wet brining but especially with the fridge being fairly packed right now, I don't think I've really got the space. Also can't entirely trust the containers.

I think I'll overestimate things by 10% and see how that goes.

Two loins from Trader Joe's:

700g Loin

1.9g Curing Salt

19g Kosher Salt

770g Loin:

2.1g Curing Salt

21g Kosher Salt

We'll see how those do.

Bacon 3

Still based on the calculator!
https://eatcuredmeat.com/how-much-curing-salt-per-pound-of-meat-dry-or-wet-curing-tool-calculator/

The last batch went pretty well. Sous vide up to 145 still dried it out a lot, though - if we want to cook it we might want to take it lower than that - or probably just not do it at all, since the "danger zone" supposedly covers up to 140F. Sounds like 130F for a few hours is enough to sterilize though, so could be worth a look (https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/magazine-archive1/februarymarch-2004/the-danger-zone-reevaluated/).

So far it seems like the best flavor comes from the raw version, too.

I suspect I might want to overestimate the salt content by 10% to account for losses during bagging.

Anyway, today I got a "bigger" loin from whole foods. Described as:
* 6 bones (normal)
* "Rib end" (suspect this got me something more than I wanted)
* Leave a quarter inch of the fat still on (this also seemed to leave some extra on that I wasn't expecting)

The result basically looks like the standing roasts from Costco. We'll see how this one turns out, but since the cross-section is about twice what I'm used to seeing on any bacon here or elsewhere, I should probably just ask for a regular loin roast. More research to be done!

--> Note after small amounts of reading: I'm thinking the correct one is still basically just loin end.

This came out to 1.7kg, giving 4.25g of pink salt and 38.5g regular for the 2.25 (I'm just using the recommended %s rather than thinking about it).

EDIT:
Based on this pic, which looks like the most exaggeratedly good version:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fresh-pork-back-bacon-on-white-271034354

I think we can safely just go with the loin part. As long as the foot is still on it's good.


Pork Loin Anatomy Reading
http://www.meatmadesimple.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-boneless-pork-loin
http://www.meatmadesimple.com/blog/cutting-a-boneless-pork-loin
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-pork-loin-and-pork-tenderloin-meat-basics-213408
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/pork-cuts-explained
https://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/ap_pigc.html
https://blairsmarket.com/Kickstrap/img/PorkCuts.jpg
https://cimeatbook.com/pork-cuts-a-visual-guide/

Notes here -
Above recommends that the meat should be firm, which sort of touches on today's situation - wouldn't have said that today's loin was all that firm
"Blade roast" may be the magic words to ask for with the butcher. I asked for "rib end" this year and think there's a decent chance I did get this, but not 100% sure
Apparently this is the section where you get country-style ribs, so if you're willing to have a longer conversation with the butcher you may be able to get something relatively customized

Pasta Take 2

New developments on that pasta front.

Firstly, from a flavor profile perspective - Spicy italian is pretty much totally superior to andouille.
Secondly, we got a new sense on the timing - in total once you've got your mis en place going and water boiling, you can basically handle the whole thing in 10-15 minutes.

If using dried rigatoni you can start the pasta at about the same time as the broccolini or sausage; if something faster-cooking (e.g. pappardelle), wait until at least halfway through the sausage. You can get away with draining it and then holding it in the sieve while you wait for the capers to finish if needed.

#1 - Broccolini - small pieces, saute and toss on med-high heat for a bit (in our case we do this on the big burner), then move to a medium burner on medium, tossing/stirring occasionally. Remove to a bowl once it's starting to lightly char.

#2 - Sausage - Wipe out the broccolini pan, add oil, wait ~30 seconds for it to heat up, then drop the sausage in. Toss for a minute to get nice and oiled up, then get into a single layer. Getting a good crisp on each one is still a challenge, but with the spicy italian this seems less necessary - you just want it properly browned on both sides. Remove to a bowl (can be the same as the broccolini one).

#3 - Garlic. Make sure it's evenly-sliced and thin. More oil in pan, medium heat, drop in the garlic and start to saute. Keep it moving (off the heat occasionally if necessary, just shaking the pan) until decently browned, then immediately move to an empty bowl. Have to remove it fairly quickly - tends to burn if left too long. You can control this by reducing the oil temperature.

#4 - Capers. Should have some oil left over from the garlic; add a bit more, heat to fairly high, drop the capers in. This should roughly coincide with ~1 minute left on the pasta. You'll have to lift the pan up sometimes and keep it moving so they don't explode, catch fire, or jump out of the pan.

Once crisped up you just cut the heat, throw in the pasta (or mix the whole thing in a saute pan or the original pasta vessel - might be better), throw in the garlic, mix well. Grate in the parmesan and a sprinkle of vinegar if desired, then throw in the sausage and broccolini.

Bacon Take 2

Report from first try:

10 days may be too long. The saltiness was higher than I wanted, at least. Cooking at 200F may also be unnecessary - we'll see.

New thoughts based on reading up from here:

https://eatcuredmeat.com/how-much-curing-salt-per-pound-of-meat-dry-or-wet-curing-tool-calculator/

And from the blog links on there:

https://ruhlman.com/2016/04/11/bacon-time/

I also got a kindle copy of a Charcuterie book (one regarded as a good hybrid of textbook and recipe book, apparently). Ruhlman's blog has a link to his book, which could be interesting too.

RE: meats to use -

Whole Foods (at least, the larger one in Lincoln Park - up by REI) had standing pork rib roasts, so I snagged one with a decent "cap" and cut the bones off. The bones will take a bit of skill/practice to remove without cutting off much meat, but now what I've got is an ~800g slab of nicer pork than the TJs one gave me.

Based on the calculator, and a target of 2.25% salt, this works out to:

2.0g Curing Salt #1

16.0g Kosher Salt

Technically the calculator says 18g Kosher Salt, but I'm targeting 2.25% including the curing salt.

Considering doing the brine approach, but for this one at least I'll try the dry brine again.

Will keep 10 days for the one already in the fridge, but not cook it. KeefCooks suggests throwing it in the freezer before slicing, personally I think I'll just fridge it.

Reverse-Seared Pork Chops with Apples and Apple Pan Sauce

Ingredients (for 2 people):

Chops:
2 Pork Chops (thick cut ideal)
~2tbsp butter
3-4 cloves garlic
4-5 stems sage

Pan Sauce:
1 granny smith or other cooking apple/chop
1 shallot
~2 cloves garlic
~4tbsp butter
Apple Cider Vinegar
~1/2 cup chicken stock
Sugar (optional)

Apples:
1 granny smith or other cooking apple
~2tbsp butter



Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Thinly slice the pan sauce apple (thin as possible), medium slice the "apples" apple (~1/8"), finely dice the shallot, and paste the pan sauce garlic (diced and broken down with salt and chef knife, crushed in garlic crusher, or grated on microplane)

2) Put chops in with a thermometer set to alarm at 120 degrees, or manually check - should take ~15 minutes

3) In a medium saucepan or skillet, melt 2tbsp butter over medium heat until starting to brown. Add ~2-3 tbsp of cider vinegar, mix to combine, then add the thin-sliced apples and sprinkle with salt. Cook over medium heat until broken down and reserve.

4) Remove pork chops from oven. Heat a medium saucepan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, add 2tbsp butter

Dry-Cured English Bacon (Round 1)

Back bacon is a pain in the ass to find in the US. Some Whole Foods seem to have it (we lived next to one in Arlington), and there are a couple of butcher shops in the Chicago area as well. Unfortunately none of it is as good as what we've found in the UK, which (according to my dad) is still way less flavorful that it should be.

This is our first experiment in making it ourselves. We're using a ~completely trimmed loin roast from Trader Joe's, roughly 1.75lbs. Fully trimmed means no real fat cap, though, so I'm looking for a butcher who can do a loin roast with the fat and foot still ok. Longer term target is to just start buying whole pig torsos, but that's a good ways down the line (i.e. when we have a house, ideally similar to one we've seen in Richmond - giant basement with 2 concrete rooms under the garage, which would be ideal space for a climate-controlled butchering/meat-aging/curing space).

This recipe comes via two online resources, though I'm going to look into books that go into better detail about the process. Sources are:
http://www.keefcooks.com/how-to-make-home-cured-back-bacon/
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/homemade-bacon-3362606

There's a guy on telegraph.co.uk who has this one:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/maple-cured-bacon/

The maple syrup may have some antibacterial effect? Not sure here (honey works for this because it's supersaturated and so dehydrates most bacteria it touches; given that botulinum can show up there in small amounts - hence no honey for babies - and the curing salt is partly there to kill botulinum in particular, I don't know if that actually works).


For now I'm dry-curing. The Keefcooks guy seems like an idiot but at least includes some more detail on timeline; mainly I'm following the foodnetwork one.

Key questions:
* What's an appropriate amount of salt to use? (the amount of curing salt is probably suitable, the kosher salt may make it excessively salty)
* Any other herbs/spices to include?
* (via independent research) Can you do this using a vacuum sealer instead of a ziplock bag?
* (via independent research) Keef soaks his in cold water before the fridge step - what does this do?
* (via independent research) Is the cooking step necessary?
* (via independent research) Can you do the cooking step sous vide?
* (via independent research) is the curing salt purely necessary? (see telegraph guy and a lot of "natural" bacon recipes)

This first round is just for #1.

Apparently it works even better if hung/dry-aged, and I'm interested in getting some kind of extra fridge/minifrige to do this. Would also be helpful for the dry-brining step on my chickens.

Ingredients (targeted for a 2lb loin, but ours is smaller):
1.75lbs pork loin
~20g Kosher Salt (~2 tbsp)
~2g Curing Salt #1 (aka 6.25% Sodium Nitrite; ~0.5tsp)

Make sure your hands are clean. Wear gloves (I didn't, but will in future).

1) Mix the salts together (plus any spices - none this time) very thoroughly
2) Thoroughly dry the pork and trim off any irregularities in the shape. Put on a sterile surface (e.g. a plate).
3) Coat the pork with the salt mixture, being sure to keep it distributed evenly and rub it into all nooks/crannies/cracks.
4) Put the pork into a ziplock bag and tip in any residual salt mixture. Remove as much air as possible and seal (I did this by just dunking the bag in a tub of water to push the air out; I'm interested to know if vacuum sealing would also work here).
5) Refrigerate in the bag for 10 days (I'm erring on the side of caution - Keef did it as 1 day per half inch plus 2, vs. food network guy says 7 days for a 1.5" and longer for thicker). Flip every day.
6) Remove from the bag, rinse thoroughly in cold water, pat dry, then refrigerate on a rack in the fridge for 48 hours. Flip once.
7) Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and cook until the pork registers 150F in the center (2-3 hours).

Food network guy says this will keep for about a week in the fridge, others say months. I don't know how long it'll last with us either way.

Pasta with Sausage (inspired by Rigatona a la Barese)

I bumped into the original dish at an Italian restaurant the family visited once in high school. I don't remember it that well beyond "this was delicious" so I've tried to recreate it a few times; this evolved from that.

It's evolved over the years (and continues to evolve) via a few things, mainly (as of 1/29/2020):
* Discovery of sliced fried garlic, via Babish's aglio e olio video
* Discovery of capers, probably via Gordon Ramsay
* Discovery of broccolini, no idea where

Ranges below are based on appetite but the ratios should stay approximately the same (e.g. 50g pasta means more like 1 link sausage).

Unsolved problems here include the best way to do the broccolini, and the best timing/oil heat for the capers. Ideally I like them fairly crispy but this seems hard to do.

Ingredients (per person):
* Pasta (Rigatoni preferred), 50-100g depending on appetite
* Salt for water

* Spicy sausage links (Hot Italian or Andouille), 1-2 links. Fine to use good chicken sausage
* Garlic, 4-6 cloves minimum (typically ~1 head/2 people if doing 180-200g pasta)
* Optional: Capers, ~1tbsp. Relatively large ones often work better.
* Optional: Broccolini (3-4 stems)

* EVOO (usually about 2-4 tbsp total, I don't really measure)
* Optional: Parsley to garnish
* Optional: Parmesan to garnish. Aged is better.
* Optional: Pepper flakes to amp up the heat
* Optional: White/Sherry vinegar or lemon juice


Steps:
1) Put your pasta water on to boil - this tends to take a while and some pasta (e.g. store-bought dry rigatoni) can take upwards of 15mins, so best to start early.

2) Prep - slice sausages 1/8" to 1/4" thick, slice garlic thin, drain the capers and set to dry on paper towels. Break up the broccolini if using. Chop parsley.

If using a long-cooking pasta - put into the water around here
For the below steps, pepper flakes can be added to the oil while it heats up in order to add extra heat.

3a) Sausage: Heat ~1tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium/medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the sausages slices and toss/mix to coat with oil. Arrange slices in a single layer and cook 2-4 minutes, until very brown and crispy. Flip and repeat for the other side. Reserve. Don't clean this pan yet.
Note: I like my sausage crispy for this. Don't underdo it.

3b) Garlic: Heat ~2tbsp of olive oil over medium-low heat in a saute or fry pan (can be the sausage pan, if not using broccolini). Add the garlic and spread around; it should be just sizzling at the edges. Cut the heat to low and leave to fry for 2-5 minutes.

3c) Broccolini (Optional): Heat ~1tbsp of EVOO over medium-high heat in a large sautee or fry pan (can add a splash of oil to the sausage pan and use that if desired) and add the broccolini, tossing or mixing to coat well. Cook, tossing occasionally, until browned.

Proceed with below once pasta is 2 minutes from ready

4) Turn the garlic pan to medium heat. Once heated, add the capers and fry for 30-60 seconds, then cut the heat.

5) Drain pasta and add 1-2 splashes of pasta water to the garlic pan. Mix the oil and water around to emulsify, then add the pasta and mix until well-coated with sauce. Optionally, grate in a small amount of parmesan and continue to mix. Also optionally, add a light sprinkle of vinegar or lemon juice to cut the richness - be conservative here.

6) Add the sausage and broccolini and stir to combine. Serve, and top with parsley.