Coppa and Lardo (Tasting Notes)

The caul fat casing worked like a charm and peeled off easily- the coppa dried out slowly and evenly. The cure was evident throughout the muscle; no evidence of oxidation. At room temperature, the black pepper was prominent which cut the salt in the coppa nicely. The only thing I would change is adding crushed fennel seed to the rub before wrapping with caul fat. The lardo turned out creamy and sweet with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The salt, however, was not prominent like most lardo I've had but noticeable. With hints of nutmeg and rosemary, the lardo was delicious.

USA vs. Brazil

USA defeated Spain, one the best soccer teams in the world. It was a brilliant game. This Sunday, June 28th, we go against Brazil. I'll be at North 45 Pub on Sunday.

Blitzcorner USA 2-0 Spain Video Highlights

La Quercia

La Quercia is based out in Iowa and produces some of the best artisanal prosciutto in the country using sustainably raised pork. The following video podcast was produced by Michael Gebert. You can try La quercia prosciutto at Apizza Scholls. Their meat plate features La Quercia Prosciutto Rosa, Fra’ mani Salame Gentile, Salame Soppresatta, Salame Siciliana & Mortadella ($10).

Sky Full of Bacon 10: Prosciutto di Iowa from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Bread and Meat

The pork collar and lardo that I started drying 3 months ago are ready. The caul fat that I used to wrap the collar worked perfectly and the lardo is firm and pearly white. I'll let them age another month before I conduct a tasting. Comparatively, this batch of pork collar (coppa) was dried in the wine cooler which has a slightly higher humidity than my cellar. The collar that I dried in my cellar dried out too fast creating larger indentations and uneven textures. The flavor was delicious but aesthetically and technically speaking, I wasn't pleased.

I love focaccia especially when Erin makes it at work. Next month, I'll make some focaccia for my friends to taste with the salumi:

Focaccia with Rosemary, Lardo, Black Pepper, and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Focaccia with Coppa, Caciocavallo, Mozzarella

(From left: pork collar, lardo)

Ingredients

I moved to Portland, OR for 3 reasons: public transportation is the best in the country (I hate driving), to learn how to flyfish, and to experience Oregon's bounty of sustainable practices. The documentary film, Ingredients, promotes the local food movement, however, they are in need of donations to help finish the film. They are asking for donations of $10.00 or more. To see the trailer, click here. Check out the YouTube clip from the documentary:

Sounds of a Restaurant Kitchen

I love recording the sounds of a restaurant kitchen. I remember this particular night because I was suffering from a severe allergy attack. My face became swollen, my eyes became bloodshot, and I had difficulty breathing but hey, I'm livin' the fuckin' dream. I love what I do regardless of being sick, hungover, drowsy, or swollen.

Timothy Lake, Mt. Hood National Forest

Timothy Lake was created when PGE built a hydro-electric damn along the Clackamas River in the 1950's. On Memorial Day weekend, we camped along the southshore of the lake. It was pretty crowded. Since the Timothy Lake Trail connected to the Pacific Crest Trail ( a trail that runs from the border of Mexico to the the border of Canada) on the northshore side, I decided to hike the entire lake- about 13 miles. The northshore is definitely worth checking out next time. You have to hike into the campground and the sites are primitive. The hike made me crave Fleur de Sel caramels.

Timothy Lake

Tributary to the lake

Steamboat Inn, May 2, 2009, Idleyld Park, OR

Every year, The Steamboat Inn hosts a dinner that includes an Oregon chef and winemaker. I was fortunate to be invited this year. Oh yeah, bring on the libations!

Library Reception
2007 Sauvignon Blanc

Select Pacific Oysters On The Half Shell with Carrot-Habanero Granite

Higgins Pig n' Pickles

1st Course

2007 Reserve Pinot Noir

Oregon Morel and Nettle Soup

2nd Course

2001&2004 Balcombe Pinot Noir

Higgins Cumberland-Style Ham with Spicy Salmon Sausage and Wild North Umpqua Greens

Main Course

2003, 2004, 2007 Balcombe Pinot Noir

Roast Porchetta with Cranberry Beans, Flint Corn Polenta, and Fiddleheads

Dessert

2006 Panama White

Kalitsounia of Fresh Curds with Wild Ginger Infused Honey and Rhubarb Compote

Foraging for Watercress (above) and Woody Sorrel (below) for the 2nd course

Grotto Falls (Glide, OR)
North Umpqua River

Tonkotsu Ramen (v.2)

Braised Carlton Farms pork shoulder (I prefer a more local producer)

Blanched spinach

Scallions

Tamari marinated hard-cooked egg

Until Portland gets an authentic Ramenya, I'm striving to perfect my own during the Winter months. V.2 is pretty good although I didn't use bones to make my stock. I used Golden Dragon brand egg noodles purchased from Anzen Importers on NE MLK Blvd. It was okay. I'm better off making my own. Until next Winter!

Suntory Yamazaki Single Malt Whiskey

For my wife's birthday, a couple of our closest friends, Devon and Eowyn, gave her a bottle of Suntory's Yamazaki Single Malt Whiskey. Named after a region in Japan where 3 rivers meet, Shinjiro Torii, built the Suntory distillery in 1923. Yamazaki is known for its moderate climate, high humidity, and pristine water. The bottle we are enjoying was aged 12 years in barrels comprised of American, Spanish, and Japanese oak which contributes to the whiskey's unique taste. The 12 year has flavors of honey and fruits with a dry woodsy finish.

Lardo

The most popular artisanal lardo in Italy is produced in Tuscany and Val d'Aosta but there are many industrial variations of this humble food being cured throughout Italy. Historically, lardo was considered peasant food- men brought lardo to the mountains to sustain them through the day of heavy labor. In Tuscany, the traditional way of creating Lardo di Colonnata, is starting with excellent pork fatback then curing the slabs in marble vats 3 feet high called conche layered by sea salt, herbs, and spices. After 6-8 months, the fatback becomes transformed into a sweet meltingly tender delicacy. Lardo is eaten thinly sliced with good bread and olive oil or the traditional quarry worker's way as a sandwich with lardo, tomatoes, and sliced onion. I can't wait until this Summer's harvest of heirloom tomatoes. I hear Mario Batali has lardo pizza on his menu at Pizzeria Otto- thin crust with olive oil and fresh rosemary
The version I started at home utilized local Berkshire fatback obtained from work. Since I do not have the mountain air or marble vats to cure my lardo, I'm pretty careful not to introduce anything to the lardo that may create off flavors and odors. More specifically, I cannot stand that "fridgey" or "walk-in" flavor that some house made salumi have. My number one priority is aging the protected slabs of fatback in a controlled environment for a minimum of 2 months. The curing mixture I used was fine sea salt (I feel that coarse sea salt picks up off flavors and odors), garlic, ground nutmeg, crushed black peppercorns, sage, and rosemary. The slabs were salted and turned every other day for 10 days in the refrigerator in a small lexan wrapped with plastic wrap and foil. After 10 days, I rinsed off the cure then reapplied a fresh coating of sea salt, herbs, and spices. I wrapped each individual portion in cheesecloth and hung them in my wine cooler where they will age for a minimum of 2 months.

This following video produced by the Wall Street Journal features Ignacio Mattos, the chef at Il Buco in NYC making lardo obtained from Ossabaw pigs from Bev Eggleston's farm in Virginia.

Domaine Lacroix-Vanel Coteaux Du Languedoc Clos Fine Amor (2005)

For my wife's birthday I decided not to buy any of the misc. items that was mentioned during the year (i.e. necklace, dvd of Mary Poppins). Instead, to show my appreciation for her taste in good food and drink, I chose to buy her some wine that she would love (thanks Andy Zalman). We have similar palates but she loves wine more than I do. I'm a beer drinker first.

In my opinion, this languedoc is balanced and complex at the same time. It's not foreshadowed by the taste of oak and is made in small batches. Grenache is the predominant grape.

Domaine Lacroix-Vanel
46 bd Puits Allier
34720 Caux Pezenas
Languedoc-Roussillon/Herault
France
Tel: +(04)- 67 09 32 39

Pork Collar

This Winter, I'm trying to perfect my recipe for pork collar in the style of coppa. These 2 collars felt firm after 12 days of salting. Usually, I let them go for 14 days depending on the moisture content. I rinsed off the cure and covered the collars with a pastrami rub of cracked tellicherry peppercorns and coriander then instead of using a beef bung or collagen for casings, I executed a technique I learned from a Denver chef that used caul fat for a casing. This batch should be ready in a couple months. My Cuisinart wine cooler is set at 55 degrees F and has a relative humidity of 65%.

Salted for 12 days

Cracked black pepper and coriander

Wrapped in caul fat

Wrapped in cheesecloth and tied

Goma dofu

Shojin ryori is a mostly vegan cuisine developed by Buddhist monks in Japan. Similar to tofu in appearance and texture, Goma dofu is a popular Shojin ryori dish. It's made from sesame paste, kuzu powder, and liquid. Some variations are quite bland like tofu but it's often served at room temperature with shoyu, grated wasabi, and ginger. The version I made utilized a little sea salt in the recipe.

Rose City Park School (NE 57th Ave.)

I live near RCPS and it's sad to see that it closed in 2007. It's a wonderful brick structure that was built in 1911. I heard it was structurally unsound. As an advocate for preserving historical homes and buildings (especially the shotgun houses in New Orleans), I believe that this school can be transformed into a functional structure again. Perhaps not a place for education but as a full service hotel with a "gastropub" within. It's a great location- close to the airport and bustling Sandy Blvd. If you have 10 minutes, please watch the following video that was dedicated to the school and its memories.

Sous Vide Pork Belly, Black Sticky Rice, Water Spinach, Sesame Vinaigrette

We had a simple and straightforward appetizer of pork belly cooked at 182 degrees F for 8 hours, pressed then cooled. I seared the portions in an iron skillet and served them with sticky black rice steamed in my new Thai rice steamer ($7.00 for the aluminum vessel and $2.99 for the basket). I sauteed the water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) with garlic and chili flake. Since water spinach, also known as swamp cabbage, on choy (Chinese), rau muong (Vietnamese), kangkong (Tagalog), is out of season, I paid a whopping $4.00 for the bunch at FuBonn. It has the same nutritional benefits of spinach and is very delicious.

Sous Vide tasting notes: The belly was fork tender, very juicy and tasty. However, I've had the same results through classical cooking techniques but cuit sous vide is fool proof. The margin of error is much smaller.

Willlie Mae's Scotch House

My wife and I returned to New Orleans for Mardi Gras to visit with family and eat some good food. We went to our usuals- Court of Two Sisters for brunch, Salvo's and Johnny's for po-boys, and Central Grocery for muffelatas but I especially wanted to eat fried chicken at Willie Mae Seaton's place since the rebuild. Devastated by hurricane Katrina, Willie Mae's Scotch House is a place to go for one pot cookery and has historical significance in the Civil Rights Movement. It's a small neighborhood restaurant in a traditional New Orleans shotgun home and continues to thrive to this day. Her great granddaughter, Kerry Blackmon took over the stoves since Ms. Seaton is 92 years old I believe but the food remains delicious as ever. My family and I ordered fried chicken, red beans and rice, fried pork chops, and braised green beans. Like mama's cooking. That's right boo.

Me with Kerry Blackmon

Me with Spike Lee at Central Grocery

Willie Mae's Scotch House

2401 St. Ann St.

New Orleans, LA 70119

Snack: Pork Rillettes and Sweet Coppa

Nothing satisfies hunger more than a pot of rillettes, prune puree, and good bread. Made a batch of pork rillettes over the weekend and it's even tastier today. I bought a jar of St. Dalfour prunes (some of the best prunes I've had) and braised them in Riesling.
The sweet coppa came out perfect. Compared to the last coppa I made, the fennel-black pepper rub on the outside of the coppa was prominent. We ate it with melted scarmoza, pickled fennel, and of course, some good bread.

Pork Rillettes: riesling braised prunes

Sweet Coppa: melted scamorza, pickled fennel

The 32nd Annual Portland International Film Festival, February 5-22, 2009

The Chicken, The Fish, and The King Crab
Spain
Director: José Luis López-Linares
Sat Feb 14 4:00PM B3 (Regal Broadway Metroplex, 1000 SW Broadway)
Sun Feb 15 5:15PM B3 (Regal Broadway Metroplex, 1000 SW Broadway)


The Bocuse d’Or competition is where 24 chefs from around the world create 2 courses of 12 portions each course in 5 1/2 hours. This documentary follows chef Jesús Almagro as he tries to bring victory home to Spain.

Choucroute Garni a L'Alsacienne

Choucroute is French for sauerkraut and Garni is anything you are serving it with. Choucroute Garni is a traditional Alsation dish comprised of sauerkraut braised in Riesling or Sylvaner, sausages, salted meats, and potatoes. The sausages can include but not limited to boudin blanc and noir, cervelas, strasbourg, and frankfurters. The salted meats are usually pork belly, ham hocks, and pork loin and shoulder. This dish is one of my favorite meals being a francophile and all and I'm pretty particular with the beer I'm drinking with Choucroute Garni. Currently, I have a bottle of Monchshof Schwarz Bier, a black lager. As a buddy would say, "get ready to live."

The key to a good Choucroute Garni is of course, the sauerkraut because it's all about the choucroute. I made a batch in October 2008 that I saved especially for our friends' homebrew fest today. The bacon and sausages were made in advance then frozen because it's pretty labor intensive and I didn't want to make a mess of my small kitchen doing several projects at once.

Making your own sauerkraut is so much different than the store bought variety. I was brought up thinking that sauerkraut always tasted strong out of the jar (well, it does) but making it at home doesn't include artificial preservatives or added acidity just cabbage, salt, and time. During the pickling process, several lactic acid bacteria such as Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, and Lactobacillus are responsible for fermenting the sugars in the cabbage. The environment becomes more acidic and the cabbage changes color from green to pale yellow. My batch fermented for a month then I refrigerated the batch to slow down the process until today.

Choucroute Garni: (clockwise from center) montbeliard, knackwurst, cervelas de strasbourg, belly

Nonfiction

I'm a fan of nonfiction- cookbooks and biographies mainly but I also like current events and history. Chef Marco is a legend.

Apprenticeships

When you work with your hands, there's always an apprenticeship. There's always something new to learn regardless of age or years in the business. Because if you think you've learned everything then you've stopped improving. I have a buddy of mine, Devin Lamma, that travelled to Italy to learn butchery and the art of making salumi. He documents everything on his blog. The pictures are amazing like the one posted. About 30 pigs were sacrificed that morning.

Knackwurst

For E & D's Homebrew Fest 2009, the second sausage, Knackwurst was made. The recipe was adapted from Charcuterie Specialties by Jean-Claude Frentz and Michel Poulain. Many available recipes of knockwurst involve smoking the sausage, however, in Charcuterie Specialties, the smoke flavor was added by including bacon in the forcemeat. The dark red color was achieved by poaching the knackwurst in a poaching liquid made from onion skins that I acquired at work. Lastly, next week I'll make the last addition to the Choucroute Garnie, Montbeliard sausages.

Poaching Liquid

Knackwurst

Onsen Tamago

Onsen Tamago is Japanese for "Hot Spring Egg" where eggs are traditionally cooked in a hot spring due to the low temperature. This technique allows the yolk to slightly harden before the whites. The egg whites have a silken tofu texture whereas the yolk is custard like. In my opinion, this is a perfectly poached egg. I used my rice cooker and PID temperature controller to maintain the water temperature at 149 degrees F and cooked the eggs for 45 minutes. I cracked the egg directly into the dashi.

Sous Vide At Home

So here it is. I invested $170.00 for a sous vide set-up at home. It's a simple sous vide set-up for 2 people. Hopefully, my wife will not mind the space it occupies in the kitchen. The Oster rice cooker can make 14 cups of cooked rice. The PID temperature controller I purchased through Auber Instruments and the vacuum sealer I chose was a Reynolds Handi-Vac.

Winter Projects

This Winter, I'll focus more on dry-curing solid muscles such as lomo and bresaola, my favorites. Currently, I'm preparing a Choucroute Garnie feast for a friend's beer event next month. The choucroute, smoked pork belly, and Cervelas sausage are done. The other two hot smoked sausages will be Montbeliard and Knackwurst. Moreover, I'm investing in a home sous-vide system to experiment with cooking "under vacuum." The equipment will include a rice cooker (10 cups), a vacuum sealer, and a PID controller which controls water temperature. I'm hoping to spend less than $175.00. Portland restaurants are not currently executing cuit sous vide techniques on a regular basis. What do 72 hour kobe short ribs taste like?

Cervelas de Strasbourg

Chorizo de Bilbao

Chorizo de Bilbao originated in Basque country and is one of the most popular cooking sausages in Spain. This chorizo is only cured for a few days then must be cooked. In the past, I've eaten chorizo de bilbao made with beef and pork. My version of this delicious sausage is all pork since one of our friends does not eat beef. After hanging the chorizo in my Cuisinart wine cooler for 3 days to enable lactic acid fermentation, I'll freeze one sausage then give away the rest to friends.

Fermented Pickles

To get me through the Winter, I made a 4 lb. batch of Kimchi, and 4 lbs. of Sauerkraut. I've eaten about 2 lbs of the Kimchi (with beer) and I've been saving the Choucroute for a buddy's beer event in January.

Braised River Run Farm Organic Beef Tongue

A few weeks ago, I purchased a 3.2 lb. beef tongue from work. The beef comes from River Run Farm based out in Clatskanie, Oregon. I brined the tongue for a week then braised it in rice wine, onions, garlic, and ginger. After braising for 3 hours in a 300 degree F oven, I removed the tough skin then cooled the tongue in the refrigerator for a couple hours. The braising liquid was reduced and the tongue was sliced using my rad electric slicer. It was served with mugi-gohan and carrot-kombu pickles (one of my favorites).

Portland Snow

During an effort to battle my delirium due to a cold, I accidentally deleted half of my posts. I tried to retrieve the deleted posts through feedburner but it was too late. I believe everything happens for a reason. I have several projects in store for this Winter. I'm pretty stoked. I just want to get over this cold!

Lomito Embuchado

The pork tenderloin was salted for 3 days in the refrigerator. I applied a rub of pimenton, olive oil, and garlic then stuffed the tenderloins in beef middles. The lomitos were dried in the cellar for 2 weeks at 65 degrees fahrenheit. The flavor was smokey with a hint of garlic but was too salty to eat as tapas. In my next batch, I'll salt the tenderloins for 12 hours then dry them and I'll add more garlic. This batch that I made will be sliced, julienned, and added to scrambled eggs, pizza, or pasta. Now it's time to restock on casings from Butcher & Packer based out in Detroit.

Lomito Embuchado

Last Summer, I made a batch of air cured pork loin spiced with pimenton and garlic. I wasn't quite happy with the results due to the size of our refrigerator. Although it was just one loin, my fridge was pretty packed with items. It was a pain to shift everything and not let anything touch the loin. The end result was delicious- smokey and perfectly salted but I believe I added too much sugar in my cure and that "fridgey" flavor was evident. My boss and mentor brought in some "iberico de belotta" lomo embuchado for us cooks to try. Unbelievable. I've never tasted anything like it. These pigs were fed acorns during their development and treated with so much care.

This time, I'm curing pork tenderloin in the style of lomo embuchado. It'll be a little smaller and the salting period will be shorter- approximately 3 days. I'll dry the lomitos in my cellar for a month. Hopefully, the salting period was adequate- 3 days seems short but reading Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook, Chef Pepin shares a recipe of Saucisson using pork tenderloins. In the recipe, he salts the tenderloins for only 12 hours then drys them.

Cure Salt

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbl black pepper

1 tsp #2 instacure

Rub

1/4 cup pimenton de la vera

5 tbl olive oil

1 clove garlic

Cleaned beef middles soaking in water.

Coppa (v.1)

I sliced into my first batch of sweet coppa but didn't know what to expect. Reading about curing techniques and learning the details of charcuterie at work were my only sources of information. Like anyone who cooks for a living, recipes are just guidelines for cooking. It's the cook's instinct that changes something from ordinary to spectacular. This batch was pretty good. The flavor is mild with dominant flavors of toasted fennel seed and a hint of black pepper. I was worried about the salt content but it was perfect.

Salame Piccante

My wife wanted to make pizza last night and wondered if the salame was ready. I sliced one of the chubs to reveal the garnish. I handcut the fatback and mixed it with pork shoulder ground with a coarse die. Apparently, I did not pack the meat tight enough in the casing therefore, there are empty gaps throughout the salame. Next time I'll grind the meat using the fine die and grind the fat using the medium die. But my ranting here is confined to aesthetics. The flavor was perfect with the taste of garlic at the beginning and a hint of cayenne at the finish; lactic acid fermentation occurred (without starter cultures) because the tangy umami flavor was evident. The only thing that was missing was a glass of wine, crusty bread, and some cheese. This batch was aged for 2 months.

Udon

My love of udon noodles began in 2001 when I worked for Whole Foods Market in Denver, Colorado. Man. This store was a top 10 Whole Foods in the country when comparing volume. I was hired as a cook in the prepared foods department and was quickly (seemed like it at the time) promoted to buyer or "inventory specialist."Although I kept my numbers in check (i.e. maintaining food cost), doing high volume food service can be very forgiving on ordering mistakes. On the sales floor, the deli was divided into 4 stations: the chef's case highlighting various salads and entree options, the sandwich station, the pizza station, and bento. The bento station was rocking everyday for lunch and dinner serving chicken and beef teriyaki, chicken curry, and stir-fried tofu and udon. The udon I purchased was a very expensive frozen parboiled variety that came in individual bags; 50 / 1lb. bags per case I believe. If I remember correctly, my par was 4 cases a week. The udon was stir-fried in a wok with tofu, fish sauce, and sweet chili sauce. I just enjoyed the chewy texture of udon coated with that salty, sweet, and spicy sauce.

When I moved to Portland, Oregon, I finally had udon the proper way- in dashi and garnished with scallions and an onsen egg. In the last 7 years, I've eaten a lot of udon either cold with a dipping sauce or hot with dashi, shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko, and tamari.

Perfecting my own udon will take hours of research and practice. I've read many recipes and watched techniques on YouTube but I've attempted to make udon couple of times this Winter with successful results. However, I'm playing around with the ratios between AP flour and bread flour or rather, low-gluten flour and high-gluten flour, respectively. I've fashioned a couple of rolling pins from a dowel and I constructed 2 komaita or noodle boards that guide my knife when I cut into the hama or dough. I do not have an udon kiri, a knife specifically made for udon because of its cost but I do have a thin Chinese cleaver. This Summer I'll try to volunteer at a restaurant that makes their own udon. This batch turned out okay. It was very glutinous and chewy but delicious in a bowl of soup. The onsen egg was a pain to watch over but well worth it.

After creating the dough, knead for 10 minutes by hand or do it the traditional way: place in a plastic bag and wrap in a clean cloth then step on the dough for 10 minutes. The latter technique works if you are making large amounts of dough and you do not own a Hobart mixer or you do not want to deviate from tradition.

After rolling out the dough to a 1/8" thickness, perform a tri-fold and cut noodles using the komaita as a guide.