My recent cooking adventures have taken me into some new and interesting culinary corners. I’ve been making bacon for some time now (the real thing, to promote social intercourse, not the other!) and indeed some curious neighbors have taken up the art.
I say art because it elevates simple, tasteless pork belly from factory-raised pigs, obtained from national ‘big box’ warehouse stores to succulent, sumptuous and smokey delectations that I can store for a millennium and breakfast becomes a treat to brag about. Not only that but the scraps and ends are used to make ‘lardons’, a fancy French name for bacon bits used to improve the flavor of braises and sautés. ‘Coq au Vin’ would be lost without them!
I’m now upping my game and searching for better products to start with – Berkshire pigs, free-range lamb and beef from specialized farms and ranches. Luckily, I have a local butcher who’s in total sympathy with the pursuit and can be relied upon to come up with great products.
As a neophyte in the world of charcuterie, I’ve bought books and watched innumerable videos on YouTube, showcasing some clever experts on the matter. But in spite of the homework I’ve made some plainly ignorant mistakes and assumptions.
I fancied making some Italian ‘Guanciale’ – salt and pepper-cured pork jowls. It’s a simple process that requires patience and little else as it has to cure by hanging in an environment that’s not too humid and cool for eight weeks or more!
So I get hold of a fancy butcher in Chicago and order some pork cheeks without giving thought to the porcine anatomy.
Of course what arrived was an enormous box of frozen pork cheeks – not jowls or jaws. Telephone calls illuminated my mistake and jowls were sent by a sympathetic supplier.
Lest you think I would waste 40-some-odd cheeks, I’m looking forward to experimenting with these lean, hard-working muscles in all sorts of braises and stews – the winter’s nearly upon us, so the timing’s perfect. Apples and cider spring to mind as a starting point. Or how about in beer with braised red cabbage and sauerkraut? I can experiment till the cows come home while the jowls hang patiently to contribute to the kitchen.
Charcuterie can be a bit like alchemy; taking very ordinary cuts of meat or fish and ending up with something extraordinarily luxurious – just like gold!
I’ve been curing fish like smoked salmon for years and smoked haddock has joined the ranks to remind me of home in the UK. It’s expensive here and I can make a close approximation for a fraction of the price. It’s not the price that drives the desire to make these things, rather the satisfaction of a successful attempt to emulate processes that, borne from need, have become products with international acclaim and pursuit. Scottish smoked salmon, Iberico Ham, Parmisano Reggiano, Camembert cheeses and so on are all universally revered and rightly so.
I’m not saying that I would qualify as a South Carolinian Salumeria as I continue to experiment but I would give my eye teeth for a smokehouse on a larger scale; not something that would meet with the approval of our Architectural Committee!
Leave me to my small-scale devices – the neighbors don’t seem to mind the scent of smoking bourbon barrel wood chunks or hickory to fuel a brisket. Judging by their comments, they’d form a line at the door.
