food project: ham

so here i am changing the rules yet again. what? it's my blog.

as has been in evidence, um, all year, i don't get much time to come here and post much. something about having a crazy job and a crazy two year old. so i'm going back to something bryan and i used to do in our early days - food projects.

when bryan and i were first dating, i was far more meek in my food choices. i had grown up with a huge organic garden, so i was already familiar with and a champion of that whole concept. mom cooked home cooked meals every night, made killer baked goods (and still does), and i enjoyed cooking and baking as well. but i had never been exposed to the professional side of cooking, or anything necessarily gourmet. bryan changed that, a change i rather welcomed.

however, that also meant stepping out of my comfort zone some, trying new things. so to keep from overwhelming me, we'd select a food project, something particular for me to tackle, be it eggplant or tofu. this worked very well. now that i'm past most of my food phobias, we've gone on to do food projects together - experimenting with intermediate and advanced techniques. i'm modifying my format here to do that with you, dear reader.


















so here's your first food project: wet cured ham, 2 varieties: baked, and smoked.

the first step in making your own ham it to get your hands on a fresh ham steak. a real butcher will have this. you could also cure a whole shoulder. again, this is something a butcher will have. it is possible you can ask for it at your super market as well; if they carry any large cut of meat and have an actual bandsaw in the back (something you'd expect but is a lot less likely than you'd think), they'll have it. i used 3 fresh ham steaks, about 2 inches thick, and roughly 7 or 8 inches long by 4 or 5 inches wide. so, not your normal giant christmas ham, but with a family of 3, i don't want to have huge hams that take a week for us to finish.

next, find a brine recipe you'd like to use. i used a very simple one from Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie, which can also be found online, here. in the past, i've also done hams in a brine with garlic, juniper berries, allspice, cloves, and bay leaves. a brine is essentially water and salt, and usually sugar. the recipe i used also called for pink salt (not hawaiian pink salt, but a specialty curing salt), which i didn't have, so i omitted it and added a small amount of potassium nitrate (also known as saltpeter) instead, which i have on hand for curing corned beef.

submerge the fresh pork in the brine. i have some cambro food storage bins i like to use (you can get them at a restaurant supply store). i did also have to use my giant roasting pan since i needed more space than i had (which is ok - since the brine didn't contain acid of any sort, it's safe to use metal pans). it's important to fully submerge the meat, which generally means weighing it down. i covered the containers with plastic wrap, then put bowls on top of the hams with cans inside of them. the containers then go into a fridge. the recipe suggests 1 day per 2 pounds of ham in terms of curing time - about a week for a large ham. i left my hams in for a day short of 2 weeks, knowing it wouldn't hurt anyone.

after 2 weeks, we smoked 2 of them, and baked 1 of them. the plan was to eat the baked one for dinner, but we ended up having one of the smoked ones. and it was so good. rich, salty, caramelized sweetness. mom and dad joined us, and we ate nearly the entire ham. dad loves ham, and i think this made him a convert.

baked ham


smoked ham




we sliced off some of the baked ham for croque monsiuers, and froze the rest of the baked ham and the remaining whole smoked ham for later use.

so there you have it! a big success. i urge you to try this. it's really simple - make the brine, put in the meat, and forget about it. even if you don't have a smoker, you can bake it, so you have no excuse not to. and it's far, far superior to supermarket ham, which is one dimensional flavorless meat that tastes of salt and not much else. home cured ham has a depth you can't match elsewhere. and you get to impress your family and friends, who'll think you're a magical genius with super powers. go forth and CURE!

2 years and counting

oliver turned 2 on october 31st (yes, i know that was nearly a month ago; i'm a horrid mom, k?!). hard to believe he is 2 already!

we started off the day with chocolate chip pancakes and presents. he finally got a boots to go with his dora, a mailbox (just ask him to wail about mail), a robot, paint with water, and his very own dora toothbrush with toothpaste (very exciting).

after all that, we geared up and headed to the zoo for trick or treat. i had made oliver his costume - a robot! i used a box, cut out the bottom as well as holes for his head and arms, covered in silver fabric, some old computer parts, and fun things ollie and i found at home depot (including a switch on the back!). it was so cute!! i was worried he wouldn't want to wear it, but he loved it. he was chilly so i bundled him up in long underwear and a fleece sweatsuit, a knit hat (which i had attached an antenna to), and gloves, and he was perfectly fine. everyone at the zoo loved his costume. too bad we didn't do the costume contest, because i'm pretty confident he would have won by a mile. we only saw one other homemade costume there, and ours was definitely the best regardless. it was his first trick or treat experience, and it took him longer to catch on to the candy part than i thought it would (probably a good thing).

after lunch, shannon and i took him to a few houses in the neighborhood, more so that the folks we know could see him in his costume. it was then he started to catch on to the candy thing. he helped hand out candy once we got home, and was very good at it, except he thought he deserved a piece every time he gave some out.




mom, dad, and shannon came over for birthday dinner and cake. we had tacos, one of oliver's favorites, and peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting and dirt (crumbled chocolate fudge cookies) and (gummi) worms. he got to open some more presents and play. all in all, i think he had a pretty awesome day.



more pictures from the day in the gallery.

my 2 year old is a wonder and a challenge. it is amazing to watch him learn, and grow. he is truly a little person now. his unique and charming personality in still firmly in place, and he now has the ability to communicate with more words. he's speaking in sentences, something i love and am still getting used to. he's incredibly silly. he's a pretty typical 2 year old - throwing tantrums and testing his limits. but he's incredibly intelligent (of course!), sweet, and fun. he brings joy to our every day.

i love you super oliver!

by popular demand

whilst in atlanta, i had a number of people request i post links to the food i talk about in my facebook statuses. today's list is too long for a facebook status, so - egads! - i'm updating my blog. and i completely admit i am taking the easy way out by only posting in regards to today's projects, entirely ignoring the past 2 months of food, events, and the atlanta trip. deal with it.

bryan started the day by making one of his lovely chicken stocks. for those not in the know, we almost exclusively use homemade chicken stock. because it is so easy. after we have a roast chicken, we toss the carcass in a freezer bag, along with vegetable scraps - the ends of onions, carrots, celery, whatever. after we have a few carcasses, we make stock. which consists of peeling the frozen hunks of chicken and veg bits out of their bags, covering with water, and slowly simmering for a few hours. once the mix has reduced nicely, we cool, strain, and freeze off in 1, 2, and 4 cup measurements. couldn't be easier. and it tastes roughly 400 million times better than store bought. cooking all day, leaching the bones of all nutrients leads to an incredibly rich stock - at room temperature, it is solid, like jelly. i call it chicken jello. appetizing, no?

i finally decided to tackle some of the giant cuts of pork we have in our freezer from our whole pig. i started with the easy route - wet curing 3 huge ham steaks. after a week or 2 in the brine, i will bake one as is, and slow smoke the other 2. i was reading my Charcuterie book, which started getting me very, very excited for doing more. i plan on doing a dry cured (salted and hung) ham, as well as a blackstrap molasses country ham. this excites me. it's practically naughty.

i also prepared a sirloin tip roast for roast beef with yorkshire pudding, which we'll have monday or tuesday. i seasoned the roast with salt and pepper, and rubbed it with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. it smelled heavenly. i am planning rocky road bars for dessert, because only chocolate and red wine can follow beef like that.

bryan is working on a potato and leek soup for consumption and freezing sometime this week.

and we're not even eating any of that today.

tonight we're having chicken fried steak and celery root and squash gratin with walnut-thyme streusel, a dish which sounds fancy and time consuming, but is a breeze to make.

enjoy!

robot corn

Greenpeace protests genetically modified corn in Mexico

"Mexico saw the first public protests this weekend over the government's decision to allow cultivation of the first genetically modified corn, which environmentalists and others say could ruin the nation's native crop."

i'll admit, i am at once thrilled, jealous, perplexed, amused, and saddened by this article.

i am thrilled that someone, somewhere cares to this extent, even if it's not here in the u.s. and i'm jealous for the same reason. i desperately wish we had this level of education, passion, and involvement regarding these issues here in our country.

i'm perplexed, amused, and saddened as well. the u.s. has been using genetically engineered corn for nearly 20 years. no where does this article mention this, however. and we haven't heard this kind of outcry yet here.

this is especially bad for mexico, where the majority of the diet is based on unrefined corn (we beat them in the consumption of refined corn products, however, but that's an entirely different debate), and where there are, essentially, heirloom varieties of corn that have been around for centuries, if not longer. replacing these varieties with genetically engineered ones impact not only the environment and the health of mexico's people, but also erases an important part of their culture.

read more:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corn/index.cfm
http://www.gmfoodnews.com/gmwrong.html
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

eat food. not too much. mostly plants.

thursday before last, i traveled to madison to see michael pollan speak. he was giving a lecture as part of uw-madison's go big read program, for which they are doing in defense of food this year.

i've read that book, and others of his, and of course the topic is a passionate one for me, so i was really excited to see him speak. i thought his lecture was very good, and his response during the q&a very thoughtful.

there were others there, though, who are not as enamored with pollan as i am. there was some controversy, and even some protesters there (very peaceful though). the protesters were farmers, and were speaking to people about how their animals/crops are raised, and even invited people to come see their farms.

the point i think they miss is not that pollan believes all farmers are irresponsible, but that the great number of them supplying the main food supply are. and he is not against these farmers - he is for them. he wants them to sell directly to the consumers, thus earning 100% of their profits (as opposed to the 10% they get now).

and i think the invitation to visit the farms is hollow proof - corn raised with fertilizer and pesticides, and cows raised with antibiotics, hormones, and indigestible corn don't look sickly, or evil. they look like corn, and cows. but that doesn't mean they're good for us, or the earth.

overall, i was very pleased i had the opportunity to hear him speak, and i hope the 7000 other people there were as well. i strongly recommend picking up one of his books and learning more.

down on the farm

today was the day: we drove out to solar harvest farm and picked up our whole pig and half cow.

after overshooting our destination some (what is it with wisconsin and not properly marking street names?!), we made it. we parked in a field near the house and barn, and the first thing we saw were the chickens grazing in the pasture. oh, the joy and happiness of things done right. bryan went to check in and pay and get things figured out while oliver and i waded through the grass to check out the chickens.

of course, he wanted to pet them, but being the nervous city girl i am (not to mention mean mommy), i wouldn't let him. we watched them peck happily for a bit, then made our way back across the pasture to see how daddy was doing. i noticed there were pigs penned by the barn, so we asked if we could look at them, and the farmers told us "of course!"


as we were approaching the barn, 5 tiny, tiny kittens came running up! the look of sheer joy on oliver's face was priceless. one ran right up to him and without a moment's hesitation, he scooped it up in his arms! absolutely precious. except he was holding it upside down. though the cat didn't seem to mind, i asked him to put it down, thinking, of course, that he would set it on the ground. silly me. he opened his arms and let it fall - but the cat proved the old adage to be true, and landed gracefully on it's feet.

oliver was telling me he wanted to touch the pigs, though when we got close enough, i think he was a little too scared (they were rather large). he did enjoy standing about 18 inches from their pen and just gazing at them in awe, though the kittens were far more entertaining. oliver had fun chasing the kittens around and petting them nicely until bryan came to round us up.



the jeep was neatly packed with meat (and bones, fat, and organs). i was surprised at how compact it all was - though it was neatly packed into boxes, so that made sense. we jetted home, all the while discussing our freezer organization ideas.

once home, bryan unloaded the truck, and began loading up the freezers while i took an inventory. at the end, bryan remarked how it seemed like we got more pig than cow, which was odd, considering there should have been about 60 more pounds cow than pig. we had 3 boxes of pork and 2 of cow. then we realized we were missing cow parts we had been expecting: cheeks, sweet breads, liver, heart, tongue, oxtail, rib steaks, sirloin tip, cube steaks, and tenderloin. the cut sheet had also marked that there should be been 3 boxes. i went to call the farm, and they had already left me a message, having realized the mistake. they have promised to deliver the missing box, which is great! good thing we have roughly a BILLION pounds of meat to get us through until it arrives.

more pictures in the gallery.

tonight, in honor of the delicious livestock, we'll be having steak au poivre. i'm not 100% sure what we'll be serving with it; i can't seem to think past the delicious, freshly cut steaks.

tomorrow's plan was tongue tacos, but as the tongue is in the missing box, i'm not confident that will happen. perhaps we'll have one of the 24 or so pork steaks we have.

i'm really quite interested to sort through the bags of pork fat to find the caul fat, which i'll be using to wrap around our american bronze heritage turkey for thanksgiving this year. me thinks with that kind of application on that fine a turkey, and the bird will need little else. i plan on keeping the rest of the menu rather simplistic as well: diana kennedy's corn budin (a fixure on our thanksgivings, no matter what), a traditional stuffing (more than likely with sausage i will make using the new pork), green beans (with garlic?), baked sweet potatoes, my apple & fennel pie (using an antique variety of apple from weston's apples). maybe some tart cranberry bread (and seeing that cranberries are native to wisconsin, i wonder if i can find some nice local ones??). mom's yeast rolls, of course. maybe shannon will do her gluten free pecan pie again. i do owe bryan homemade ice cream, so i'll do my vanilla bean ice cream to go with dessert.

dinner's at 6.

featured recipe: dirty rice

so this is new: the featured recipe. this will allow me to go into a little more detail on a meal, without overwhelming you, dear reader, with the many details of all our fabulous meals. in the future, i'd like to include multiple pictures of the meal prep, but for this one, you are lucky to be left with only the finished product. bet you didn't know i could make a short post?

why do this now? bryan and i saw julie & julia last week (cute movie!), and i've found myself reading the original julie/julia blog. besides making me want to eat things in butter and cream and wondering if i've been using far too little vermouth all my life, it's made me want to cook from our cookbooks more, and share it. no one may care, but i'll have fun.

i haven't quite decided on the rules of engagement yet. i'm not sure how often a featured recipe will appear here. but i do know that i am going to strive to only cook from our massive collection of cookbooks. oh, and while i'm at it, i suppose i should give a little review/note on the book itself. we've made quite an investment in them, and i usually find myself using recipes online. not that that's a bad thing - there are plenty good ones out there - and i'm sure i'll use some occasionally, when i come across one too good to pass up. oh, and i'll probably allow recipes from our magazine subscriptions (saveur and martha stewart living). but i'm going to try really hard to actually use all those books. there is something very satisfying to me about poring through the pages of a pile of cookbooks.

today's featured recipe is dirty rice, a cajun delight whose name derives from the dirty look the chicken livers give the rice (shannon, you did know you were eating chicken liver, right??).

the recipe i decided to use is one from marvin wood's cookbook The New Low-Country Cooking: 125 Recipes for Coastal Southern Cooking with Innovative Style, of which we own an autographed copy (he gave a cooking demonstration at a festival in decatur one year). the recipe itself is very simple, and i made a few liberal changes, namely including andouille and shrimp.

we've found this cookbook to be rather basic. which isn't all bad - if you've never cooked cajun before or don't plan to a lot, this is a great book for you. it is a little simple for us, but, as evidenced below, gives us a good base to build on. we'd like to pick up a more thorough, involved cajun cookbook at some point, so this isn't our end all, be all, but it doesn't suck either.

the andouille is where the recipe started. while shopping at the outpost, we asked our super awesome butcher (i think i'm going to get him a christmas gift, is that weird?) what was fresh and good. he offered up the andouille he had just made. oh hello, dirty rice with andouille.

below is the recipe from the cookbook, annotated with my changes in italics.

Dirty Rice

2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups long-grain white rice - i used medium grain, as that's what we had
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped red onion - i used yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken or turkey livers - i used closer to 1 cup, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Marv Spice (see below)
2 1/4 cups Chicken Stock
1 bay leaf
2 small green bell peppers, chopped (the original recipe didn't call for bell peppers - but i'm smart and know this is part of the cajun trinity so made a trip out to our garden to 'fix' the recipe)
2 andouille sausage, diced
1/2 pound shrimp, cleaned and deveined
4 tablespoons butter
4 - 5 cloves garlic, crushed

Marv Spice
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper - i omitted this in order to make it toddler friendly
1 tablespoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
i also added some crushed dried thyme

In a large saucepan, combine the water, salt, and rice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, 10 - 12 minutes. Drain and rinse under hot running water to remove the excess starch. Place the rice back in the pan, off the heat, and cover to keep warm.

here, i deviated from the recipe by cooking the sausage in a large saute pan. i removed the sausage, leaving the rendered fat in the pan, and added a small amount of vegetable oil before proceeding.

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and bell pepper and cook, stirring continuously, until softened but not colored, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken livers and Marv Spice, and cook, stirring frequently, until the livers turn brown, about 8 minutes.

Pour the stock over the rice, set the pan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and stir in the chicken liver mixture and bay leaf. here, i returned the sausage to the pan as well. Cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until the rice is soft and tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

for the shrimp, i slow melted butter in a sauce pan, and added 4 or 5 crushed garlic cloves, and just let that sit over very low heat until i was ready to use it (30 minutes or so). the result was an intensely garlicky butter that i very nearly just sopped up with bread and ate right then. instead, selfless as i am, i turned up the heat a little and popped in the shrimps, turning once, until just done, and served them on top of the rice.

the finished product?


it was quite good. i should have served it with a little louisiana hot sauce, though the anouille had a little spice to it. the shrimp had sucked in that garlic flavor, and were good enough shannon had one and didn't hate it, and she hates shrimp. the rice could have been a little less sticky (i think this was mostly due to using medium grain instead of long grain rice), but tasted very good.

i hope it would have made my new orleans friend mandy proud!