Local Food Heroes Blog

Monday, 01 02 10 - 21:05

A 'Modern' Bacon Cure

I've written before about curing bacon and given a recipe for what is a fairly low salt product. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this bacon, I increased the salt slightly when I wrote a tutorial on 'beginners' bacon curing for the sausagemaking.org forum. I have subsequently increased the salt level I use in my own cures again and realised that I haven't even mentioned doing so on this blog. So, here's an updated version of the tutorial I posted, including an online calculator for the cure posted on the sausage making forum, with the optional addition of vitamin C which minimises any risk from the cure...

Monday, 25 01 10 - 17:18

At Last - A Fridge!

What a bloomin' lousy week! I said in my last post that the fridge in the kitchen had died; well, now the drying fridge has come out in sympathy! That's two fridges and a microwave in a couple of weeks.

We ordered a new fridge for the kitchen from a very large high-street retailer's website, along with a new microwave. The fridge arrived on Wednesday and, lo and behold, there was a dent in the door. An hour of navigating a labyrinth of the "push button one for..." variety finally got a replacement delivered on Saturday morning. Surprise, Surprise it had two dents in it! We finally got a new fridge today.

As you can guess, going from three fridges to one has meant that not much curing or sausage making has happened in this house recently. Fortunately, the jinx hasn't extended to the garden so my smoker is still working satisfactorily as these pheasants and partridges can testify; at least they could if they were alive. Oh, silly me - and able to speak!

Friday, 15 01 10 - 17:21

There's always something!

Finally the snow seems to have cleared. I've not bothered venturing further than the pub while it's icy, not because we couldn't, but it seemed a bit daft to venture far when we didn't have to. I'm getting to be even more of a grumpy old man and the TV set is in grave danger of flying through the nearest window if I have to listen to any more news reporters tell us that the few inches of snow we've had are unprecedented, or other such exaggerated terms. The only reason our roads weren't as clear as they should have been is because our penny pinching council couldn't be bothered to stock up with salt in time; they promised they would ensure adequate supplies last time they got caught out. It's a pity that all the hot wind that comes out of their mouths when they're caught with their pants down yet again couldn't be used to melt the snow.

I'd have gone out today to get more meat as I need to make sausage and ham and also want to try to make the Italian spreading sausage called Nduja, a fiery concoction full of chilli. It needs a particular type of chilli to be at its best and one of my sausage making chums, John from Quiet Waters Farm in Devon, has kindly sent me some. If you're ever down that way, be sure to pay him a visit and buy some of his superb charcuterie. Regrettably, there was no point as I haven't the fridge space for anything else as our kitchen fridge decided to give up the ghost, so everything's in the curing fridge at the moment. To add insult to injury the microwave came out in sympathy with the fridge so we need a new one of them as well. Neither of these items are old and the microwave has hardly been used. We bought an 'all singing and dancing' microwave with a grill and normal oven - neither have ever been used and the microwave has only been used to heat milk for sauces, heat baked beans and the like, and to defrost the occasional piece of meat. I'm sure these things have obsolescence built in nowadays!

On a more cheerful note it's great to read that my writings are appreciated by some, even if you have to go to Canada to find them! Barbecue specialists The Black Pig Competition BBQ Team recently featured my soft bread rolls on their blog, Les Noiracochon. Thanks for the plug guys.

On the cooking front things have been quiet. I know that others write about their everyday meals and the like, but I won't insult you by giving you a recipe for the slow cooked belly pork that we had last night. I won't insult your intelligence by giving a list of ingredients but here's what I did: grab some slabs of pork belly and just season it with salt, cook at 120°C on a grid above water for about 5 hours then blast with heat to crisp up - superb, melt in the mouth meat and crispy crackling, what more could anyone want?

What I will do though is give you the recipe for the hot water crust pastry that my mate Maurice used for this game pie:

Pastry: 9oz Plain Flour, 3oz Lard, ¼ pint water, ½ level teaspoon salt. Heat fat and lard until lard is melted then bring to a boil and mix with the flour and salt. This makes a pastry that's as good as any I've had. Some of the quality is no doubt due the fact that Maurice has got it just the right thickness to be crisp but not hard. He's from Yorkshire. They know a bit about pies in that neck o' the woods! He's now got his own cold smoke generator, so I look forward to posting more about his exploits in future.   

Sunday, 03 01 10 - 19:23

RIP Monster Bresaola

With nothing better to do because of the snow, I had a trawl through my past posts. I realised that I never posted the outcome of the monster piece of beef that I was making bresaola with here and here.

I'd like to tell you how brilliant it was - but I can't! After a while hanging in my drying fridge it started to smell like a tramp's underwear - take it from me, I know from personal experience what a tramp's underwear smells like and it isn't pleasant! There was nothing to do,other than bin it. As one of my forum colleagues has as his signature "It's Not a Sin to Bin". We all get occasional failures but it's all the more galling when the meat has cost a lot of money.

That's the last time I come up with a hair brained-scheme like injecting cure into meat that I'm aiming to dry out! If I'd used my head, I should have realised it was a daft idea in the first place.

Sunday, 03 01 10 - 18:54

You can't tell Stork from Butter?

It's the middle of Pantomime season so you're all allowed to shout "Oh, yes we can", but how about making your own butter? This time of year is great for picking up double cream that's near its sell by date from the Supermarkup [sic], or you could even buy local cream specially. Just after Easter or Wimbledon are also good times.

I make butter using my Kenwood mixer, you could also use an electric whisk, or even make it by hand.

I put the cream in the mixer with a pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar for every 300ml. I've no idea why I use the sugar it's just that I saw a lady who had made the butter for Chatsworth house for about 50 years do it; who am I to argue with her experience!

Using the K beater on the mixer, start 'churning' the cream

Nearly there!

If you don't have a bowl cover use a tea towel, or when it 'turns' it will splatter everywhere:

Turn it off quickly when you hear the butter slopping around in the butter-cream.

Now the important bit, rinse and work the butter in very cold water to get rid of as much of the milky stuff in the butter as you can, then put it onto a board and pat (beat) it - water will come out of it. I don't have butter pats so use my hands and a rolling pin.

I flatten it, then roll it like a Swiss roll to shape it.

You can see from the photo that it needs more work to extract water - I'm going to be using it quickly so it's not so important. This butter will freeze well, so there's no excuse for not making plenty.

The taste reminds me of the creamy Normandy butter you get in France; far better than shop bought and for about half the price. You also get the buttermilk; it makes great scones or can be used to dip chicken into before coating in breadcrumbs or flour when making fried chicken.

Thursday, 31 12 09 - 23:03

Review Of The Year

It's today that most 'proper' bloggers troll through their posts and do a review of their year. Me? I went to the pub instead! There's links to each month on the right below: pick your own 'cos I ain't doin' it for ya!

I hope that you all have a great 2010 and achieve everything that you would wish for yourselves.

Monday, 28 12 09 - 19:22

Pauline's Ham

I hope you all had a great Christmas and got all the pressies that you asked for. We had a superb turkey from Clump Farm, a farm that's only about half a mile from here. That along with home-cured ham and bacon, home-made sausage and home-smoked cheese made for some great food.

Now, the ham was one of the best flavoured I've made, even if it did nearly cause a divorce! You see, whilst you may think that saying that my 'bread rolls are just like the supermarket's' is a compliment, most cooks will not. Likewise when Pauline said: "Can you cure a ham to taste like the supermarket's". Well, I ask you, what would you think? Anyway, when she got back from the hospital we discussed the ham further and I came up with a revised cure. Funnily enough it has a lot more salt; something that the family had always said they didn't want when I suggested it before regarding my bacon! Sometimes I think that I can't win, but with just me in the house and three women, I guess I can't!

The post-Christmas remains of 6 kg of ham:

Anyway, here's the new cure:

Pauline's Ham

Water 2810gm
Salt 680gm
Muscodavo Sugar 405gm
Cure #1 105gm
Juniper Berries 2
Cloves 2
Black Pepper Corns 4
Bay Leaves 1
Coriander seeds 4

Method

Weigh the spices then bash them about a bit. Put the water, salt, sugar and spices (in fact, everything except the Cure #1) into a pan and bring to the boil. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Leave to cool.

Using water, make the weight back up to the original amount - that is the original weight of the water, salt, sugar and spices, added together. That's the total weight of everything except the Cure #1.

Mix the Cure #1 into the cooled brine mixture stirring to ensure that it is dissolved.

Weigh the meat and calculate 10% of its weight. Inject this weight of brine into the meat ensuring that you get brine into all areas of the meat.

Now put the meat into the remaining brine and put it in the fridge for around 5 - 7 days, turning the meat every day or two. My meat weighed 6kg so I gave it the full 7 days.

The meat was then rinsed, dried off, and left to dry further in the fridge overnight. You could smoke it at this stage if you wanted.

The other change I made was to the cooking method. I steamed this ham, keeping the temperature above the water to 80°C. The ham is cooked when the temperature of the centre of the meat reaches 75°C. I have found that this method results in less flavour loss and also less weight loss in the finished ham and that by cooking to 75°C, as against 72°C, it gives a more tender product. An alternative would be to cook it in a vacuum bag or boil-able 'roasting' bag in water at 75 - 80°C.

Tuesday, 22 12 09 - 18:09

Christmas is Coming!

A spell of bed-rest put me somewhat behind in the preparations for Christmas so it was 'all engines on full speed' last week to get some ham and bacon done so that it would be ready for the 25th. Hence the lack of posts.

I took the bacon out of cure today with the intention of quickly drying it and then smoking one piece, however Pauline has saved me the trouble by saying that we need it all unsmoked. I've popped a couple of Camembert and a piece of Edam in the smoker instead. Camembert and Edam I hear you say, that's not local, nor is Edam any good for anything other than rubbing out spelling mistakes; well apparently it's a different beast altogether when it's smoked. I find it hard to believe, but I'll let you know.

In all hobbies you accumulate a lot of 'kit' and I've written before about all the paraphernalia that a keen curer and sausage-maker acquires; I think my favourite has got to be my Pro Q Cold Smoke Generator. This simple but cleverly designed piece of kit will produce smoke for 10 hours unattended using just 100g of wood-dust. Maybe not earth shattering; I guess you've got to have been outside in the dark, cold and wet conditions that always accompany smoking sessions to appreciate it.

Tuesday, 15 12 09 - 21:06

I'm Back

I'm finally back in circulation, but am playing "catch up"; I've only just done some ham for Christmas! It's a new recipe. Pauline decided she wanted something different; how different it will be, we'll have to wait and see. It has very few flavourings; I've cut the spices right down, but it's got a lot higher level of salt and uses all Muscovado sugar.

I've also been making bacon and have still got to do some smoked sausage for slicing cold. It'll make a nice addition to the bresaola, coppa, lonzino, chorizo and pâté that I hope to serve either as a starter or as a lunch sometime over the Christmas period. I should have made some salami as well, but I haven't got around to it.

I was too late to get a half pig from my usual source so the meat's from Morris's at South Kilworth; well worth a trip - buy their meat in 5 kg lots and you get a quantity discount that really makes the trip worth while. Probably nearly half the price of the supermarket on things like belly pork and brisket.

Their current special offer price list is online in the 'freezer prices' section of their website.   

Wednesday, 11 11 09 - 17:05

Lest We Forget

IF YE FORGET

LET me forget—Let me forget,
I am weary of remembrance,
And my brow is ever wet,
With tears of my remembrance,
With the tears and bloody sweat,—
Let me forget.

If ye forget—If ye forget,
Then your children must remember,
And their brow be ever wet,
With the tears of their remembrance,
With the tears and bloody sweat,—
If ye forget.

Geoffrey A Studdert Kennedy
Woodbine Willie

Friday, 30 10 09 - 17:09

More Chorizo - New Recipe

When I started making my latest batch of chorizo on the 17th October it was my intention to photograph everything and create a sort of mini-tutorial. Need less to say when I got involved with making them I forgot to take most of the photos!

I started off with a big chunk of pork collar, also known as spare rib, and cut it into strips. If you have a small mincer you will have to cut it smaller. I prefer strips to chunks as the screw in the mincer pulls them through with very little need to use the pusher.

The meat with plenty of fat attached was cooled right down and then minced through an 8mm mincer plate.

The rest of the ingredients were weighed out and the culture activated in a little blood heat non-chlorified water for about an hour.

Ingredients as a percentage of the meat's weight:

0.133% ls-25 Starter culture
0.4% Dextrose
1% Fresh Garlic
2.533% Salt
0.4% Black Pepper
0.8% Smoked Hot Paprika
1.2% Smoked Sweet Paprika
0.133% Cayenne Pepper
0.2% Oregano
0.267% Cure 2

Wednesday, 21 10 09 - 16:05

The Coppa Finished

I took the Coppa out of the drying fridge yesterday and to be honest I'm a bit disappointed; the flavours fine, not much sign of the paprika, but there's a nice warm aftertaste from the chilli. However, the edges have hardened far more than I would have expected from the higher humidity that I dried this one in. I'm sure it'll be fine though when sliced thinly by the slicer, so far I've only sliced it by hand so the pieces are not as thin.

The recipe was:
(Percentages are of the meat's weight)

Salt 3.1%
Cure #2 - 0.27%
Cloves 0.04%
Cinnamon 0.04%
Paprika 1%
Cayenne Pepper 0.7%
BP 0.2%
White Pepper 0.2%

This cure was applied to the meat and left to cure in the fridge for 20 days. The meat was then dusted with more paprika and cayenne pepper and put into a collagen casing and tied. After hanging at room temperature for 12 hours in was kept at 12 - 15°C with a humidity between 70 and 80% for until it had lost 37% of its original weight; 40 days in this case.

Tuesday, 20 10 09 - 19:37

Hedgerow Happenings

Matti at Hedgerow Products is always kind enough to let me know what's happening - he'll be at Houghton-on-the-Hill Christmas Craft Fair on the 7th November, and then at the Leicester Food Festival on the 22nd November 2009.

It's a great time to buy some of his products as he tells me that it's been a bumper harvest in the hedgerows this year.   

Tuesday, 20 10 09 - 19:05

Leicester Food Festival 2009 - Producers Required - Trading Opportunity

Trader and stalls promotion

Leicester is hosting a Food Festival at Leicester Market on Sunday 22nd November and aims to bring together and capture the unique qualities of Leicester's food communities.

Leicester Food Festival has a wide reaching mix of food and fun:-

• The FREE admission Festival aims to provide stalls that will appeal to all
• The Festival aims to provide a mixture of hot & cold food
• Supported by an engaging Entertainment & Events Programme at the Corn Exchange square hosted by celebrity chef Rachel Green
• The correct balance of Festival participation (Stalls & Entertainment) is critical & as such will be carefully managed
• The event will be promoted by an extensive 8 week cross-media schedule including recipe competitions engaged by the public
• The Festival coincides with the nearby switch on of the Christmas Lights which will be at the Town Hall between 4-5pm
• This will provide an excellent captive foot-fall and brisk trading conditions
• Nearby car-parking is subsidised or free on a Sunday
• Event organisers are aiming to play host to 200 stalls
• Insurance cover is provided for Stallholders
• Estimate 20,000 visitors to attend the event

You can download a BOOKING PACK which must be returned by 30 October 2009. I know that Matti at Hedgerow Products will be there, will you?

Sunday, 11 10 09 - 18:43

Northfield Farm Xmas Open Day

A Food Fair will be held at Northfield Farm on 21 November 2009 from 9am to 6pm.

Northfield Farm says:

With free entry and ample parking, this is sure to be a fantastic day out for all the family!

Entertain yourselves with:

• Local Food producers
• Craft stalls
• Tea room / Mince Pies
• The Wine Workshop, Wine Tastings, Hampers
• Mulled wine
• Music
• Hot food all day
• Bar
• Antique Restorer
• Farm shop
• Christmas Gifts
• Children's Games

Clarissa Dickson Wright will be signing copies of her new book "Rifling Through My Drawers", a riveting read and certain to make fantastic xmas gifts!