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.