Kitchen Diary

For now just some pictures, comment when  I’ve got a little more time.

Organic pork shoulder, belly fat, sage, caramelized onions and apple sausage mix.

Chilling outside. This was just the first batch. We made many, many sausages that day. Cold weather is perfect, as heat, even just warmth, can ruin a good sausage mix. The colder the weather and the tools, the better. This is especially true for fine, emulsified sausages but even a rough cut mix benefits from chilling.

Finished in the smoker.

These worked out beautifully, far better than I had hoped for.

The rilettes matured underneath a layer of sumptious, creamy duck fat, the flavour of the fennel penetrating but not dominating the pork.

We served the rilettes with crackers, home pickled cucumbers, a fresh parsley and lemon salad and red onions, quick pickled in apple and wine vinegar. It was one of the highlights of the meal.

Fatty pork butt slow braised with a bouquet garni made from leek, celery and bay; then mixed with the paddle attachment of the food processor with some the braising liquid until the fibres start to break down. Pushed into a ramekin and sealed with duck fat.

What’s not to love? These classic pork rilettes are on the menu in pretty much every rural bistro in the south of France. I braised the pork with the bouquet shown above and a spice bag containing fennel and cracked black pepper corns. Strictly speaking it should have been covered with some of the pork fat, but it was late and I didn’t want to wait for the fat to cool down, so duck fat it was. Hardly a problem, if anything it’ll add to the flavour.

I’ll let these develop in the fridge for the next two weeks and will serve them on New Year’s Eve.

My first foray into the art of charcuterie, duck prosciutto. This, apparently, is about as easy as it gets, a perfect beginner’s project - or so I am hoping. Duck breast gets salted for 24 hours, then spiced, wrapped in cheesecloth and hang up to dry in a cool, dark space. Our basement fits the bill, being old and leaky there are always cool breezes wafting through the space. Probably far from ideal for energy efficiency, but perfect for keeping root vegetables fresh for weeks.

And now, hopefully, for drying duck meat. The recipe is from Michael Ruhlman’s latest book.

You’ll need:

1. 2 Long Duck Breasts, boned. I bought mine from Whitehouse Meats on St. Lawrence Market.
2. Salt, pickling salt is best as it contains no additives and flow control chemicals. Enough to cover the duck breasts.
3. Spice. I used a mixture of cracked black pepper and coriander.
4. Cheesecloth
5. String
6. One non-reactive bowl, just large enough to hold the duck breasts without them touching the sides or each other.

Fill the bowl about 1/2 inch high with salt. Place the breasts onto the salt, skin side up. Make sure they don’t touch, then pour more salt between them until they are covered. Wrap in plasic film and put into the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours, but no longer than 36.

Take the breasts out of the salt. The colour will be a deep red and the meat will feel denser. Wash the salt off the meat with cold water, then pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the meat side with the spice mixture and wrap them into a layer of cheese-cloth. Hang into a cool, dark room for 7-10 days. If they aren’t completely dried and stiff feel squishy and raw, dry for a day or two longer.

Slice thinly and enjoy.

Pork and chive dumplings in broth, with Chinese potato salad and green tea. Lunch at Mother’s Dumplings. One of my favourite spots in the city. Picked up a couple of bags of assorted dumplings for the freezer too.

Here’s one of our coming home late from work but want to eat something wholesome standbys:

• Home made chicken stock, as much as you like.
• Soy Sauce.
• One star anise.
• Chili sauce.
• A dash of brown sugar.
• A dash of rice wine.
• Dumplings, frozen. As many as you like.
• Greens of some description. Bok Choy work well, sliced thinly.
• Carrots, diced, if you’ve got one.
• A small red onion, sliced thinly.

Bring to a simmer, let all of the ingredients come together for a couple of minutes. Bring to a boil and add the dumplings and carrots. Reduce to a lively simmer. After about five minutes add the bok choy and red onion. Wait until the dumplings float up, serve.

The first batch of sauerkraut turned out to be a success. Like, a holy crap this is delicious kind of a success, which is nice when it happens. However, after feeding everybody who came over for our pre-Christmas party with braised kraut and assorted pork products the once so full pot was empty. Today I went out and picked up three large, firm heads of green cabbage for a second batch.

Lessons learned:

• Don’t worry too much. It’ll work out.
• Use proper pickling salt, with no additives. Don’t skimp on the salt.
• Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible. Last time I cut everything by hand, this time I used a mandoline. A food processor would probably be even better.
• Tamp everything down, really hard. You want to bruise the cabbage, to release the juices and to start the brine. The smaller the cabbage pieces, the better this works.
• Slicing cabbages with a mandoline is a messy business. Next time I’ll do it outside.
• Keep the water lid of the crock pot really, really clean. I sprayed it with a vinegar solution, to discourage unwelcome molds.

For now the crock pot is resting in the warm kitchen. Once the brine has developed and the fermentation has started it’ll move into the cooler basement. I’ve added garlic, pepper corns and fresh bay leaves as a flavouring. Can’t wait for the end result.

Yesterday we had our annual Christmas party. All in all thirty people needed to be fed. It is snowing in Toronto, so something hearty and warming was needed.

I still had half a crock of sauerkraut in the basement, so Choucroute Garnie à l’Alsacienne seemed like a good idea. There are many recipes out there, and you can improvise easily, but the following is  a good starting point. I added pig’s feet and duck sausage to the mix, omitted the slab bacon. I also smoked the sausages, the pig’s feet and the pork belly.

1-1/2 lbs, fresh ham hocks
1/4 cup goose fat
3 small yellow onions,
peeled and finely chopped
4-1/2 lbs. sauerkraut,
drained and rinsed
3-1/4 cups Alsatian riesling or
other dry but fruity white wine
1-1/2 lbs. boneless pork loin
1 lb. smoked ham
1/2 lb. slab bacon
Bouquet garni with 1 head garlic, 3 whole cloves,
6 juniper berries, and 5 coriander seeds added
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 medium red bliss potatoes, peeled
6 fresh pork sausages,
such as saucisses de Strasbourg
3 blood sausages (optional)
1 tbsp. peanut oil
6 smoked pork sausages

1. Place ham hocks in a large pot. Cover with water and simmer over medium heat for 1-1/2 hours. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt goose fat in a dutch oven, or a large heavy pot with a lid, over medium heat. Add onions, cook until soft, 10-15 minutes, then add sauerkraut, wine, ham hocks, pork loin, ham, bacon, and bouquet garni. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook in oven until meats are tender, about 1-1/2 hours.

3. About 35 minutes before serving, place potatoes in a pot of salted water over medium-high heat and cook until tender, 20-25 minutes. Drain and keep warm.

4. Prick fresh and blood sausages, if using, with a fork, then place in a skillet, cover with water, and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Drain. Dry skillet, add oil, and heat over medium heat. Brown fresh and blood sausages (if using), turning occasionally, then remove. In the same oil, adding more if necessary, brown smoked sausages, turning occasionally, then remove. To serve, spoon sauerkraut onto a large platter, discarding bouquet garni. Slice pork loin, ham, and bacon, and arrange on platter with ham hocks, potatoes, and all sausages.

Small white beans, cooked in chicken and beef broth with carrots, celery, red onions and rosemary. A handful of diced smoked pork belly, a spoonful of smoked paprika. A perfect winter lunch.

…is not just to use chicken. The lady who runs the Polish farm store put me onto this: when making chicken soup in addition to the oldest, toughest soup chicken you can find, add a handful of beef bones. I’ve never looked back.

It doesn’t make the soup taste of beef, it enhances the chicken flavour like nothing else. The gelatine in the beef bones also creates that lip sticking flavour that makes a good soup great.

Other ingredients: Carrots, celery root, red onion, a head of garlic and whatever else is in the stock bag. Parsley, black peppercorns, a bouquet garni if you’ve got it, otherwise just some bay leaves. I’ve experimented with the addition of half a star anise, which is nice and warming. During summer, I throw in tomatoes that are past their best, in winter it’s root vegetables all the way.

What can Is say? After three weeks of tasting, agonising (did I slice it too thick, hey is that mold, why is this getting soggy, why doesn’t it stay submerged) the sauerkraut is pretty much ready to eat.

And it’s fantastic. Sour, crunchy, full of flavour with an intensity that’s completely lacking in the pasteurised, store bought stuff. Just wunderful. The kimchi pot is working fine, keeping oxygen out but letting the build up gases escape. I ended up boiling a bunch of large stones to get them clean, then used them to keep the kraut submerged in the brine.

Tonight I am test cooking for our Christmas party where we’ll be serving Choucroute Garnie à l’Alsacienne. I’ve got smoked pork belly, smoked sausage, a pork hock. All braising in a Dutch oven on a bed of sauerkraut with white wine and juniper berris.