It’s been over two months since I cured, cold smoked, and hung up a picnic ham to dry. A few days before Super Bowl Sunday I checked the weight and saw it was ready for slicing!
Category Archives: Recipes
Choucroute Garnie
One benefit of all my charcuterie experimenting is we usually have some sausages and cured meat tucked away somewhere, just in case. At the moment we’ve got quite a variety with some speck, coppa, sausages, and bacon, so there occurred a great opportunity to cook up a pot of cured meat deliciousness: choucroute garnie.
Homemade Chicken Soup From Scratch
I was a little under the weather last week and really needed some good old-fashioned chicken soup. As you may have heard, chicken soup is supposed to help cure the common cold or at least alleviate some of the suffering. Over the years there have been studies about chicken soup’s alleged healing properties and fromContinue reading “Homemade Chicken Soup From Scratch”
Riso al Salto: All Leftovers Should Be This Good
Normally, when you make risotto you make just enough that it all gets eaten. Even if there is little extra you finish it off leaving just an empty pan. However, this past weekend I made an extra-large serving for us and lo and behold what was in the fridge the next day but a smallContinue reading “Riso al Salto: All Leftovers Should Be This Good”
Pork Shoulder Speck: One Result From My November Cold Smoking Experiment
Just before Thanksgiving I cured and cold smoked a boneless pork shoulder and a picnic ham then hung them in my curing fridge in the basement. This past weekend the speck cured shoulder was ready. I was pretty excited to see how it turned out.
Savory Buckwheat Crepe Breakfast – Galette Complète
Happy New Year! Once again, I’m finding inspiration from our trip to Paris. While waiting to check into our Airbnb flat on Ile St. Louis we ate brunch at a place on the tip of the island called Café St Regis. I had a ridiculously fluffy omelet and Cheryl had a buckwheat crepe with ham,Continue reading “Savory Buckwheat Crepe Breakfast – Galette Complète”
Vin Chaud – Mulling Over a Paris Inspiration
I could not let our Paris trip go by without trying my hand on at least one thing we experienced there. As I mentioned before, the chilly December weather in Paris made vin chaud a perfect café drink to warm ourselves up with. Perfect winter warmer for Chicago too.
Roast Duck with Apple-Chestnut Hash
A few weeks ago I decided to roast a duck for our weekly Wednesday date night. Looking at The Flavor Bible, duck has a pretty wide and interesting mix of flavor ingredients and most are very seasonal for fall and winter; like apples, potatoes, ginger, allspice, chestnuts, cinnamon, and more. There were many ingredients onContinue reading “Roast Duck with Apple-Chestnut Hash”
Chronicles of Charcuterie Continued: Cold Smoking Pork into Speck and Country Ham
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! Normally I spend Thanksgiving week doing a lot of shopping, prep work, and pie baking but not so much this year as we’re celebrating with some friends. Even though I’m in charge of the turkey (and my favorite stuffing) I found I actually had time to do something I’ve beenContinue reading “Chronicles of Charcuterie Continued: Cold Smoking Pork into Speck and Country Ham”
Deliciously Spicy Hungarian Pork Shanks Soup
In a recent Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal there was a recipe for German goulash soup which looked pretty good but I didn’t have much of an urge to try it and promptly forgot about it. However, this changed when Cheryl and I were shopping at a nearby German butcher/grocery, Gene’s Sausage Shop,Continue reading “Deliciously Spicy Hungarian Pork Shanks Soup”
The Roaming GastroGnome 