Lil' Bitty Bacon!!

I went to the Gossets Famer's Market on Saturday (as I do most Saturdays) and purchased the most beautiful Cheddar-Chili biscuits. They were just begging for an egg and some duck prosciutto bacon. They came out just sooooooo cute. Itty bitty baby bacon slices... almost too cute to eat. I stress almost because after a snapshot and a sigh this meal was devoured by Big D and I in no time flat.

Also..... our pancetta.. is done!!! I seriously can't wait until the 15th to blog about this. I don't think I have ever made anything I was quite so proud of. Making bacon comes with a satisfaction I just can't describe. I encourage you all to try it for yourself if you haven't already.

Valentine's day is just around the corner. Made up holidays always make me feel weird. Part of me wants to indulge and take advantage of any excuse to celebrate in February. The other part says.... Gross comercialism=lame. But at the end of the day I'm a sucker for those Russell-Stoffer chocolates (all dark if you are taking notes). I usually buy them for myself the day after Valentine's Day so I can get one of those HUGE boxes and eat them in bed and whisper.. I love you.. to myself in the mirror...lol. Only half of that is true buy it made me laugh thinking about it.

Happy Valentine's!!

xoxo
Fast Alice

Duck Prosciutto Take Two :)

Sorry for the radio silence this weekend.  But we had a lot going on here at the ol' Fort.  It was our housewarming party this weekend.  Complete with In-Laws and City friends galore.  Seriously it was awesome... A lot of work.  But awesome.   For the party I decided to revisit the Duck prosciutto for our cheese plate.  This time I did a few things differently.  I did two different seasonings.  One breast was cracked pepper encrusted the other Herbs de Provence.  I used a scale to ensure that the breasts lost between 20-30% weight.  They were much more firm this time and more cured through the center.  I also used our new deli slicer to shave off super thin slices.  Which worked AMAZINGLY well.  We got our slicer at target online for $99 dollars and it was worth every penny.  I already sliced meats for the party which would have cost easily $50 to buy at the deli so it already half paid for itself. 

The prosciutto is hanging in our sun room.  Gently veiled like a bride in cheesecloth. (I was worried it would leave a greasy stain on the wall...lol).  I'm not gonna lie we sampled a little of the prosciutto that I trimmed when I was rolling/tying it... and it was CRACK.  It is taking all my power to keep from running outside and licking it right now... Sigh.  Seven days!!! Arrrghghghhh (shakes fist at the sky).  

But I have this to console myself with..

Hello Lover...

 (Duck Prosciutto and pear)

Ho.. Hum... and Ravioli with Duck Prociutto

So I started my two new jobs this past week and so far so good.  The health food store job is really fun.  But everyone there keeps telling me about how much better it was before the owners sold to a big investment company.  Apparently, the small chain of 6 stores was sold a few months ago to some big Canadian investment company and things have been going downhill since.  Not so much in sales but just in ease of day to day operations.  I'm sure sure most of you know the story... great place run by a family, amazing to employees taken over by evil bureaucracy with a new manager every day, nothing getting done, yaada yadda.  Just the general shittyness that ensues when it becomes all about turning a profit and everyone is expendable. 

 So despite liking it in terms of what I'm actually doing all day, it's kinda been a bummer.  I'm not sure if it's just the general moral being down but now I feel really down too.  And believe me folks I have 100% nothing to be upset about.  The biggest tragedy in my life right now is having a gloriously inconsistent e-flat above High C.  It is either totally amazing or completely non existent and I mean like.... whoa.. cry me a river over that one right.  

So in an effort to rally myself out of this totally unnecessary malaise lets talk about things that are great!!  

I found a provider of natural pork and other meats.  It is called Gaia's Breath farm and they have a stand at my local farmers market.  They have a limited variety of items at the market but you can put in an order and they will have it for you the following Saturday for pick up.  They also have a CSA that can be delivered Saturdays to my market too so I'm considering this as well.  Not only am I receiving my belly this weekend but the owner Mark is totally into charcuterie and willing to answer questions and help.  I also purchased 2lbs of pork back fat to freeze for future sausages and confit.  I'll let you know how the curing etc goes once the belly is mine!!   

My ravioli came out great the other night.  The stuffing was a little dry but other than that it was fab.  It was my first time making ravioli solo and I was pretty happy with the outcome.  I used the Thomas Keller recipe for Agnolotti dough.  It worked great.  However, I was really sceptical that it was coming out right.  The dough was REALLY dry.. I mean really.  I was convinced that my eggs, despite being large, were undersized making a less moist dough.  Perhaps I was right or perhaps it was the magic of Thomas Keller and it was totally fine the whole time. 

Pretty nice right!!  They were filled with chestnuts, garlic, parsley, Romano, home made ricotta, salt and pepper.

The finished dish: Chestnut Ravioli with a sauce of duck prociutto, carrots, cherries, and white wine over Khale.

It was pretty tasty, next time I need to get two quarts of milk to make my Ricotta though.  If I had a little more cheese the filling would have had a better texture.  Tonight I'm making the braised short ribs out of the Ad Hoc cookbook.  I'll keep you posted if it comes out great :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

TailSpin

Thus far I have been very true to my word about projects.  The duck was cured and it was time to begin spinning.  I had been reading the book I bought about spinning.  In fact I read it twice just to be sure I knew what the hell I was doing.  I also watched a few videos on how to spin on  Youtube, check out my fav here.  I was pretty nervous about starting.  

Just as a reminder my Aunt was kind enough to give me a beautiful bunch of wool roving made from the sheep she raises on our family farm.  She told me that it was Shetland wool and was prized among spinners as a great wool to work with.  I didn't want to waist a single fiber I was so honored that she gave me some!!  It takes almost a year to get the wool processed and it costs extra to get back the same wool you put in (think of it like a wool bank but it's cheaper to put in wool and just get back equal weight).  The bag she gave me even has a Ewe number so we know exactly which sheep it came from.  

So I read took notes and decided exactly what I was going to make.  I wanted a thick warm soft yarn to make something cozy.  I chose to make a Woolen double plied (two strands spun together after you spin two singles) with an S twist.  Choosing a plied yarn required more spinning.  First the singles then spinning the two singles together.  Although it is harder I figured it would give me more practice of the mechanics of spinning.  That way even if the outcome wasn't too fantastic I would have felt I truly took advantage of having such great material to work with.  And behold!!!!!.....  I give you... Yarn!

Not bad for a first try right??!!

It isn't totally even, but it did come out better than I expected.  And the Color!!! Who could think of dying this wool it is just soooo pretty.  I love the grey and it has little black fibers too.  

So I was feeling pretty confident folks.. pretty confident indeed.  My Duck came out beautiful, my spinning was great and then I moved on the the pork belly.. and low and behold!!! It is like impossible to get it around here... Whaaaaa Wahhh.  I found one butcher who could get it but I would have to buy the whole belly.  Aprox 20lbs, plus what they wanted per pound just did not make it feasible on our budget.  I went to our local farmer's market today and I may have some success there but I have to wait for the owners to respond to my email.  And I need pancetta right now!!!!  Well, maybe need is a strong word.  I have everything ready to go, salts, juniper berries, deli slicer, but no pork. But I do have a back up plan... Guancialle.  If I can't get or afford a belly I will go with cheek.. So There Universe!! Hah!  You shall not thwart my curing!!  I could also have Big D get one from the meat market in NYC.  But I'm trying so hard to go all natural peeps, so hard.  And it is even more important with a really fatty cut of meat to have good quality.  So if I have to do cheeks, I'll do'em... Sigh.

Now on to home made Chestnut Ravioli.  My Saturday project :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Charcutepalooza January!!

Duck Prosciutto

So as I mentioned before I am taking part in Charcutepalooza: The Year of Meat. The first challenge was of course Duck Prosciutto which I have posted on previously.  But the duck... she is a done!!!  I unveiled our pretty duck boobies yesterday afternoon and much to my great excitement they seem to have come out just great.  I was a little concerned that our temporary loss of heat may have affected the outcome so I let them sit in our heated porch (which I left at 50deg)  about 2 extra days.  In all honesty I think they could have perhaps used one more day.  I also don't have a scale so I didn't do any of that useful weighing stuff that may have saved me some anxiety.  I pretty much just went by a.. does it still feel squishy?... methodology.   Hopefully I won't end up with crazy food poisoning.  But who is a real adventurous chef without a little food poisoning....  Another thing was my (duck) breasts were HUGE.  I was wondering why they were so expensive at the Butcher.  

This is a regular size cutting board and you can see they easily take up most of the width... Crazy.  A few things about the outcome.  I was really surprised by how tasty the fat was.  I mean, of course fat usually makes things taste good.  But I'm really much more of a lean meat person.  I get totally turned off by blubbery chewy fat.  It is just not a texture I enjoy.  I was concerned that this recipe would yield a product with a lot of chewy fat and that I wouldn't like it.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that curing the fat made it firm, velvety and delicious.  Not at all what I expected.  Plus, I love that this will keep in my fridge for a few weeks.  This is totally a rich treat and I can't imagine having to gobble it up without sharing with company.  I also have to put it out there that the duck didn't really make me think of eating prosciutto.  It has such a deep minerally taste it really reminded me more of a red meat rather than pork.  Almost like venison.  If you want to get all technical game birds and wild animals usually have more endurance based muscle fibers to help them keep alive in the wild, hence the darker meat with a deeper taste... BAM!!! Personal trainer knowledge!!  

Anywho.. next week is the Salt Cure and I already have my Pink salt and juniper berries on the way. As well as my new meat slicer.  I am just writhing with excitement people.  I just can't wait to make some pancetta, which Big D and friends lovingly call Super-bacon.  Happy Curing and I can't wait to give you more job news soon :)  

xoxo

Fast Alice

SNOoooooooowww!!

So crazy CRAZY snow out there people. I have to admit things could be worse though. Being snowed in with my Hubby and crazy kitty are pretty awesome. As was our annual trip to Vermont this past weekend. Holy Hell was that just about the best time ever. Nothing compares with the food, friends and skiing we were privledged enough to enjoy. Big D and I look forward to it all year long and it did not disappoint. Some highlights? Skiing on fresh powder, playing with STL's beautiful baby boy, making pasta with The Boss, and playing a kick ass new version of trivial pursuit. What is not to love.

Not the best time ever was our furnace failing to start yesterday evening when we arrived home from work. Thank God we have a fireplace and had just arrived home with some wood. Also, the heating company was pretty great about getting here and fixing the damn thing. Ahhh Platinum service.. how glad I was to have paid for you. It still doesn't seem to be running totally right but they are coming back in February to clean it out. All things you never knew about as a renter. Along with paying for garbage service, water pumps, septic systems, and how insane taxes really are. Not that I am complaining.. AT ALL. To be honest if we had any idea about all this stuff we would have been totally overwhelmed. Being thrown in the deep end and forced to swim is in my opinion sometimes waaaay better than the alternative. I guess for me the terror of dealing with an new and scary situation is better than the anxiety of knowing and feeling the weight of impending responsibility upon you.. but I digress.

In the world of crazy arts and meat crafts things are going well. The Duck Prociutto seems to be well on its way. Technically it was supposed to be done tonight but the lack of heat I fear may have stunted the drying process a tad. Just to be safe I'm going to give them another 24-36 hours. I'm pretty sure they are close to done though from the texture of the meat. I also ordered a deli meat slicer with a gift card from the wedding as well as other meat curing supplies in anticipation of future pancetta. Mmm.... pancetta. Fingers crossed that it is next on the Charcutapalooza list :) I also read about half of the book on hand spinning today. I managed to totally ignore the laundry and dishes despite the snow and being home all day but whose judging.

I start my first new job on Friday. I'm very excited.. a little too excited. I keep wanting to go in and wander around the store and check things out. But I don't want to seem stalkerish before I even start. I also am dyyyying to know what kind of discount we get on stuff there. The other job, maybe next week. We shall see. I just hope they are fun and low stress. I can't tell you what being out of the city has done for my stress level. Sheesh I feel like a different person. I don't know how I tolerated living at such an excellerated pace for so long. Don't get me wrong there are things I love about NYC. But the little knot of anxiety it put in the center stomach 99% of the time was not one of them.

It's pretty hard to be stressed with this little guy on your lap. Or cold for that matter :)

xoxo,
Fast Alice