Charcutepalooza - Pancetta & Guanciale

Finally got going on some curing for Charcutepalooza, but it's not completely done yet. Everything is now out of the cure and on to the dry phase. I chose to have a go at pancetta and guanciale. I tried the former a while ago and had great results, but for some reason I never put it into my curing rotation. I usually cure a belly for Maple Bacon about 2 times a year but never bother to take a portion and put it into a savory cure. Guanciale, on the other hand, I have never tried and was something I really wanted to.

Getting a hog jowl has been tough. Some butchers don't ever stock hog jowls and others that do stock it probably keep the cut for themselves. I was only planning on curing a belly for pancetta but decided to pop into a local butcher, Olliffe and ask if he would be able to get me a jowl. As luck would have it, he had received a Tamshire pig in that day. The Tamshire is a crossbreed of a Tamworth and Berkshire pig. The benefits described to me by the butcher for this was that Tamworths have a long body, making for a long belly, perfect for bacon and that Berkshires have great fat and marbling. The Tamshire came from Perth Pork in Stratford, Ontario and they provide a fantastic product.

I went ahead and prepped my cure, mixing my ingredients based on recipes provided in our guide for our year in meat, Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn. I was familiar with the pancetta cure and used it as is, but something was odd to me about the guanciale cure - the ratio of salt to meat was really high at 7%. I sent out a quick note to Michael Ruhlman and he replied that Brian thought it was fine, but he agreed that it was high and suggested that I could scale it back to the percentages used for a bacon cure. I was curious to see how it would turn out so I stuck to the original percentages listed in the book. I'll have to report back on how it turns out. The other comparison I'm looking forward to is rolled vs. flat pancetta. I've seen a few warnings about interior mold problems with rolled pancetta but my first time trying home curing was with a pancetta and I rolled it then, before I had ever read any scary stories about food nasties. I decided to give that a shot again and also set half of the belly to dry flat. So far I have both air drying in the lower part of my fridge. If I find that the lower humidity is making the exterior dry too fast I will probably move them to my wine fridge which is at a steady 65% humidity and 56F, and should be perfect.

An Amazing Weekend of Wine, Food and Friendship! WGW #3

A little over a week ago at a friends cottage, I had another unbelievable weekend of wine and food, but most of all friendship. Our annual tradition of the Wine Guy Weekend, as we call it, was another success. We all love wine and we all love food and there was a lot of both! One of the most enjoyable aspects of this weekend is that we all take a break our different routines and just relax and catch up on the goings on in our lives.

The food is a grand effort from everyone. There are weeks of planning and plenty of email discussions  and revisions over menu items. We try as much as possible to make everything ourselves, if we can. This year my contributions came mainly from my curing and preserving. Duck Prosciutto, Pastrami, Tamshire Bacon, Jams and Pickles (most of these things have been documented here).

The organizational efforts also extend into our wine selections. What to pair with what, how can we organize the flights and what style may we be missing.. Ultimately in the excitement of it all we end up bring way more wine than we should. This years list was again incredible, offering up some of the best wines I have ever enjoyed (I say this every year and mean it!). L always digs deep into his cellar to surprise us with a selection so old it makes some of the 30-40yr wines we've consumed look young. Last years old stunner was and 1897 Lafite, this year it was a younger sibling... the 1912 Lafite. Just to look and handle a bottles if this age is amazing.. the aging and printing of the label the manufacturing details of the bottle, the journey it has taken? It wasn't a fantastic wine to drink, but the history, conversation and interest it gave us all was. I can't think of a better group of guys that I would want to haul out my best bottles with, dissect every detail of it and laugh it off when it really isn't the 99pt Parker said it was. Cheers boys to another fantastic weekend! Let the planning commence for WGW #4... can we get some more vegetables this time??


Full Menu & List of Wines
Friday Lunch - Charcuterie and Quebec Cheeses
Duck Prosciutto (home cured),
Chorizo, Rosetta, Coppa, Fegatello (the 4 from Les Cochon Tout Ronds)
Bouq Emissaire, Pied de Vent, Riopelle and ???

Friday Dinner
Shrimp and scallop with Vidal icewine/grainy mustard sauce
Braised Waygu short ribs, sauteed rapini, celery root mash
Chocolate Souffle

Saturday Breakfast:
Eggs Maple Tamshire Bacon (home cured/applewood smoked, Smoked fish (home cured and smoked by L).

Saturday Lunch:
Vitello Tonato
Baugna cauda on Roasted Peppers
Anchovies in a Green Herb & Garlic Sauce
Home made Pastrami on Silverstein's rye with Kozlik's double crunch mustard & homemade pickles
More Quebec Cheese

Saturday Dinner:
Torchon de Foie Gras, Balsamic Onion Confit & Jules toasted Brioche
Grilled Veal Chop with Red Wine/Veal Demi Glace sauce & Grilled Zucchini and Peppers. Potatoes roasted in duck fat with fresh thyme.
Plum & Almond Cake

Sunday Breakfast
Eggs with Leftover hash w/Pastrami, Potatoes, Shallots and Red Peppers & Tamshire Bacon

Friday Wines:
1996 Moreau Chablis Le Clos
1998 Renato Ratti Barolo Marcanesco Conca
2003 Guigal Cote-Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis
1975 Vega Sicilia Unico Ribera del Duero (magnum)
2006 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard
1989 Chave Hermitage
1990 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chappelle
1989 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild
1989 Chateau Palmer
1995 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve
2002 Verite La Joie
1995 Quintarelli Recioto della Valpolicella
2006 A Foreign Affair Cabernet Franc (100% Appassimento)

Saturday:
2005 Giacomo Conterno Barbera d'Alba Cascina Francia
2005 Aldo Conterno Barbera d'Alba Conca Tre Pile
1985 Krug
2006 Delas Condrieu Clos Boucher
1994 Chateau Haut-Brion
2001 Rieussec Sauternes
2001 Kracher TBA #6
1912 Chateau Lafite
1966 Chateau Latour
1986 Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tilden
1996 Dante Rivetti Barbaresco Riserva Bricco de Neueis
2004 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape
2001 Grand Veneur Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Origines

Bacon Bacon Bacon

Loads more bacon... love the new Bradley Smoker!

Bacon Gets Roasted

Pulled out the belly that was in the Maple cure for Bacon and roasted it for about 3hrs till it hit 150 degrees internal temp. Then sliced it up and vacuum packed it in batches to freeze. Had to fry up a few slice to give it a taste. Turned out pretty good, nice level of saltiness but i found it a bit too sweet, i would prefer it to be more savory. Next time I will try a smoked bacon.