Biscuits of Today

Wrestling with Pork Belly

So I did it. I finally confronted the slab of pork belly that has been curing in the fridge for over a week. I had cured it using a mix of pink curing salt, kosher salt, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. I used what I had on hand instead of running out and buying more spices because my pantry is already overflowing with odd ingredients as it is.

I had been putting off hanging the pancetta because it has to be rolled tightly to prevent mold growth in air pockets. You can wrap the slab up in cheese cloth to avoid rolling, but that almost seems like cheating. If I'm going to the trouble to make pancetta, I want to do it up right, and I've never seen flat pancetta before.

My first strategy was to start tying at the middle, but the belly didn't seem to stay rolled tightly, so I started at one of the ends, and that worked better. It took several tries of wrestling with the meat, but I was finally somewhat satisfied with my work. My arms and hands are aching from the strength it took to tame the pancetta. Pretty pathetic, I know.

Now its hanging in my shed along with some questionable duck prosciutto that doesn't seem hard yet even though its been in there for over a week. I hope my second Charcutepalooza experiment is more successful, but for now it deinfitely looks like pancetta. I guess I'll see in two weeks...

Pasta, Pancetta, and Tomatoes

I feel like I've been in limbo for the past 2 months working feverishly at a famous cheese shop in New York through the hectic holiday season,  and then a week later quickly leaving New York to make the drive to Austin.

So I haven't been cooking at all, but this week we moved into our new house (and kitchen) in Austin! The movers haven't delivered all of my cooking gear yet, so I have to keep myself in check. One of the first things I made was a simple dish that I saw Anne Burrell make on the Food Network a few months ago.  Bucatini all'Amatriciana is  a pasta dish comsisting of a delicious tomato sauce containing guanicale, red peper flakes, onion, and tomatoes over bucatini, a tube-like pasta similar to spaghetti but hallow in the middle.
 
The search for guanciale in Austin made me miss New York where I always had access to it at my job, sometimes taking the guanciale ends home for free. I settled on a slice of pancetta from Mandola's Italian Market in my new neighborhood where I also picked up some bucatini.

 I have to say, subsituting pancetta for guanciale didn't make a difference. The sauce was still so savory and lucious. Growing up, I thought I didn't like tomato sauce. Now I know that I just hate jarred tomato sauces from the supermarket. They taste dull and too redolent of tomato paste. On the contrary, homemade tomato sauces often taste fresh and bright, and they don't take much work. Yes, this tomato sauce has to simmer for an hour, but I just used that time to take a long shower and clean up a little bit. And if you put in the effort to make this, please garnish with real Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano!!!

Butchery Demo with the Piggery

Last weekend I attended a pig butchery demo by The Piggery hosted by Jimmy's no. 43. The Piggery is an heirloom, pastured pig farm that sells their meat at farmers markets and through several CSAs in New York State. The farmers, Heather and Brad, butchered a quarter hog. Don't worry, the animal wasn't alive, and all of the internal organs were already removed. 

 

Brad started the demo by removing the leaf lard, the fat that cushions the pig's kidneys and other internal organs. Then he separated the hind leg, or the ham. He pointed out the concave area that defines the separation between the ham and the rest of the body. Next Brad separated the front leg, or shoulder, from the carcass. He then split that into the Boston butt and picnic roast.

Now all that was left was the center of the animal, which includes such choice cuts as the pork belly, chops, ribs, and tenderloin. The tenderloin is the most expensive cut because there is so little of it on the animal. For example, this 230 pound pig only had about 1.5 pounds of tenderloin. Brad separated each chop individually, cutting carefully around the bones. He trimmed each chop of the fat to use in rendering lard or making sausage.

The Piggery tries to respect the animals by attempting to use every part of the animal to make tasty charcuterie, such as liver pate and various sausages. I asked if they do anything with the head, so Brad brought it as a special butchering bonus. He explained the difference between pig jowls and pig cheeks (the cheeks are much leaner). I recently tried pig jowls in the form of guanciale on a pizza at Roberta's. It was outstanding! Better than bacon IMHO.

 

At least now if I ever obtain a quarter hog, which probably isn't going to happen anytime soon, I'll have some idea of how to deal with it. Brad and Heather emphasized that they feed their hogs a mixture of barley, field peas, and rye, instead of soybeans and corn, producing richly marbled, red meat. Actually, Brad reiterated what I've said earlier about the health benefits of lard, and added that lard from pigs raised on pasture is a fantastic source of Vitamin D. The pork from the Piggery really shamed the pale pink pork chop currently sitting in my fridge.

Making Headcheese Is Not for Me

Impressive. This guy on Serious Eats made his own hog's headcheese. You will never find me doing such a thing. I've given headcheese a few tries, and I don't think I'll ever come around.  After reading the article, I realize its all of the gelatinous collagen found in different parts of the pig head that I find so unappetizing. I admire this guy's bravery and enthusiasm. Check out the recipe if you feel so inclined.

Lard: The Trendiest Fat of the Moment

The word on the street is that lard has been making appearances in trendy restaurants, but I wouldn't know about that because I'm a shut in who rarely goes out to eat. All of the cool kids are eating lard, so why aren't you? Maybe its because for years lard has had a negative connotation. During the low fat craze of the 1980s and 90s, people were encouraged to limit fat and drastically reduce consumption of animal fats and especially saturated fats. Many of our ancestors, however, consumed large amounts of animal fats like lard, and they didn't suffer from diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity that are so rampant today

The Weston A. Price Foundation, who tends to be a bit extreme for my tastes but also give a lot of good advice, claims that big food corporations were responsible for the vilification of lard.  Their motivation was increasing sales of vegetable shortening, margarine, and other processed food products that contain hydrogenated soybean oils and the like. Today, we know that many of these foods are full of trans fats which are much worse for you than saturated fats. Actually, lard isn't even that very high in saturated fat; its mostly comprised of monounsaturated fats.

But lets ignore the health benefits of lard for now because I don't actually care about it that much. Lard just tastes good. It adds a special flakiness to pie crusts, and it give Mexican food that extra-authentic taste. I use it to make refried beans or ropa vieja (shredded cooked beef sauteed in lard with onions, garlic, and chilis). It gives food a certain pleasurable texture and mouth feel.

So where do you get lard? Its widely available in the Mexican neighborhood where I live, but its a cheap variety that contains trans fat and other preservatives. Sometimes you can purchase high quality lard at farmers' markets if you can track down a pig farmer. I've noticed high quality lard showing up at hip locavore butchers like The Meat Hook, Dickson's Farmstand, and Boccolone in San Francisco. Actually, I was in San Francisco last month and tried a lard caramel at Humphry Slocombe using lard from Boccalone. Although I feel a special connection to Chris Cosentino because he grew up in Newport RI like me, he really needs to stop permitting the use of his lard to create these abominations. It was reminiscent of candied jamon iberico, and there's just something wrong and offensive about that. Chris should just stick to the salumi and Humphrey to the ice cream. Both were astoundingly tasty.

I digress. Ok, lard at farmers' markets and at these rock star butcher places can be pricey. Well, I think you know where this is going. You can make your own lard! Its easy! Its best to render lard using fat back, but I haven't been able to track that down. So I usually buy some pork belly, which is one of the cheapest cuts of the pig. I often buy it from Whole Foods when they have some available from Winkler Family Farm in Rodman, New York. I prefer local meat because its important to me that the animals are raised humanely and free of antibiotics. As a bonus, the fat from these animals is also more beneficial to your health.

Now all you need to do is chop the belly into small pieces and put them in the slow cooker. Don't use more belly than will cover the bottom of the slow cooker, or it won't render correctly. You can add a little bit of water to get the fat melting. Turn on the slow cooker and let it go for about 8-10 hours. After all of the fat has melted off the meat, strain it into a glass jar. Place your new lard in the fridge where it will harden and turn a snowy white color. It should keep for a very long time. You will probably have some cracklins left over, so save those too!

 

Ingredients Breakdown: Homemade Lard vs. Morell Snow Cap Lard vs. Crisco

Homemade Lard: Lard

Morell Snow Cap Lard: Hydrogenated Lard, BHT, BHA to Help Protect Flavor

Crisco: Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oils, Mono-and Diglycerides.