Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing, by Ruhlman and Polcyn

[Qarl]

I picked myself up a Berkshire jowl today to make guanciale!

And a small piece of belly (about 3 pounds)... I guess I'll make some pancetta with that!

These will be my first two pieces of cured meats!

 

[Qarl]

Well, the jowl I purchased was actually cut in half.  Didn't notice since it was vacuum sealed when I picked it up... so I have two smaller jowls.

They finished the cure in the fridge (bay leave, rosemary, black pepper, white pepper, salt).. and were rinsed in wine.  Now they have a fresh coat of peppper and are hanging to dry in the salumi curing chamber (i.e., converted upright freezer)

[dellavecchia]

I left the skin on and baked thin slices of the pancetta in the oven. The skin became puffed and crunchy, just like pork rinds. They were supposed to go on burgers but my kids and I ate them as-is before they made it to the table.

I have three jowls ready to go into the curing chamber this weekend.

John

[Bill/SFNM]

The guanciale was ready to try. I diced some up for a light tomato sauce for Bucatini all'Amatriciana with Setaro pasta. Best guanciale I have ever made or tasted. Score: 2 wins (pancetta, guanciale), 1 loser (salame), and 1 still in progress (lardo - ready in a few weeks!)

<a href="http://youtu.be/-x8QSgSWZKU" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtu.be/-x8QSgSWZKU</a>

Watch at 1080p if you can.

[Serpentelli]

The guanciale was ready to try. I diced some up for a light tomato sauce for Bucatini all'Amatriciana with Setaro pasta. Best guanciale I have ever made or tasted. Score: 2 wins (pancetta, guanciale), 1 loser (salame), and 1 still in progress (lardo - ready in a few weeks!)

http://youtu.be/-x8QSgSWZKU

Watch at 1080p if you can.

Bill,

That is unbelievably great looking. And I am blown away by your video production values. I am kind of expecting IMAX the next time around. Perhaps we can see the lardo debuted in 3D IMAX?

Love and know the all'Amatriciana sauce well. Its my favorite. Please post pics/video for my/our benefit if you can!

John K

PS I don't see a webpage or blog address for your videos. Do you keep those in one location on YouTube?

[Bill/SFNM]

[size=78%]PS I don't see a webpage or blog address for your videos. Do you keep those in one location on YouTube?[/size]

Thanks, John. I discontinued my blog last year. Most of my YouTube videos are here:


http://www.youtube.com/user/ExtremeCooking?feature=watch

[dellavecchia]

Looks great Bill. Beautiful fat. One of the three guanciale I had hanging was small, and it lost 40% of it's weight in just under three weeks. The other two are still cooking. Here is the small one and some carbonara I made.

Blog post with link to recipe (which is not a standard carbonara) can be found here:

http://www.johndellavecchia.com/2013/04/16/spaghetti-all-carbonara/

John

[jeff v]

Looks great Bill. Beautiful fat. One of the three guanciale I had hanging was small, and it lost 40% of it's weight in just under three weeks. The other two are still cooking. Here is the small one and some carbonara I made.

Blog post with link to recipe (which is not a standard carbonara) can be found here:

http://www.johndellavecchia.com/2013/04/16/spaghetti-all-carbonara/

John

Really nice looking blog John. The photography is great.

[dellavecchia]

Really nice looking blog John. The photography is great.

Thanks Jeff.

John

[Bill/SFNM]

John,


So here's what I'm thinking. Rather than duplicate your beautiful efforts, we divvy up the recipes and we send each other half of the results? I'll do lardo, you do pancetta... etc. Any else who wants in has to send us each a whole prosciutto to see if they are worthy.


Deal? 


Bill/SFNM

[TXCraig1]

Beautiful John. Where do you get eggs like that?

[dellavecchia]

Deal? 

Deal! Although you need to be the one who takes on the prosciutto first.

I am hoping that next February I will be able to set up a stainless steel table in my backyard, have a freshly slaughtered Mangalitsa pig set down on it, and I carve it up into the "big eight". All pieces go directly into various salt mixtures. Plus the rest to cook outright over coals that day.

John

[dellavecchia]

Beautiful John. Where do you get eggs like that?

Thank you Craig - There are alot of local farms in and around Boston, especially in Metrowest where I live. We can get very fresh eggs here that are organic and cage-free. The eggs have brown shells and come from Rhode Island Reds, the oldest breed in New England.

John

[Bill/SFNM]

Deal! Although you need to be the one who takes on the prosciutto first.

I am hoping that next February I will be able to set up a stainless steel table in my backyard, have a freshly slaughtered Mangalitsa pig set down on it, and I carve it up into the "big eight". All pieces go directly into various salt mixtures. Plus the rest to cook outright over coals that day.

John

I'll be happy to buy a share of that pig!!! Seriously.

[Bill/SFNM]

Lardo = winner!


http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,24850.msg250874.html#msg250874

[Bill/SFNM]

Spuma di Lardo - ground and whipped:


Spread on some warm Tartine bread it was awesome. Even better, though no surprise, was slathered on some super sweet grilled corn.

[shuboyje]

So far it seems like you guys would give this book a good review overall?  I've got half of a home raised Red Wattle coming in the near future and am looking for a nice guide to yield an abundance of meat candy.

[Bill/SFNM]

So far it seems like you guys would give this book a good review overall?  I've got half of a home raised Red Wattle coming in the near future and am looking for a nice guide to yield an abundance of meat candy.

Yes, I would say it is an excellent book to help you break down your pig and turn some of the special parts into special meals. As you can see from my posts in this thread, I wasn't impressed with the salame, but the pancetta, guanciale, and lardo where all outstanding.