Mother's Day and BACON!!!

Hi folk's!

This is a little bit of a repeat from the newsletter.  We have been getting wonderful response from our social network sites and not much from our newsletters so we are goiing to focus on the social stuff.  With all the chaos we are having right now I can't promise a weekly post but I will try and I need the break too!

My Mother's Day - a new Cuisinart from my Daughter, an antique
stained glass shade , punch bowl, 6 champagne glasses a bud
vase, a manual coffee grinder and finally the
Terracotta Cazuela and all for the price of just he cazuela!

Hope all you Mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day - I did.  We started VERY early with chorizo and eggs, breakfast patties, home made bacon, mimosas and almond flour and milk pancakes(these need some more work).  from there we made a trip to Santa Rosa for an estate sale, I know I need to have my head examined, but David and I have been expanding our culinary ethnicity.  We have been looking for a couscousier, cataplana and a Cazuela.  I missed the first two on ebay both in copper - too much fun yesterday and the third, the Cazuela, was the reason for the trip.  A Cazuela is an earthen ware dish used in Mexican dishes use to cook over an open fire for stewing or slow cooking.  I have seen them used to make mole which we do often and I am working on a short rib with blackberry mole sauce and since David is sensitive to chili powders, I have to recreate our BSO2 blend without the powder replacing it with maybe fresh peppers instead, we'll see.  The cataplana is next on the list as this is for making steamed seafood and we love our steamers.

Okay so on to the good stuff, If you haven't figured by now I love to play with my food!  our latestet endeavor is home cured/made bacon.  We have tried with and without the skin, a savory and a savory sweet version.  We are still changing the cooking process but I believe we are pretty set in the flavor department.  David likes the skin on because it makes a crunchy bit on the edge, I prefer to remove it, and to satisfy his cravings I have been making chicharone with the skin I remove.  Why make your own bacon you ask?  Because there is less fat and more meat, it's less expensive than store bought, it's easy, and better, and you can make it to your liking.  I will probably never purchase bacon again, that is as long as I have access to pork belly.  The process takes a week and I go through about a pound and a half in 10 days.  David like it so much he is having me make extra to give to family and some friends! 

Below is the recipe I use to make the our bacon.  Have at it folks - I know you can do it!

Home Made Bacon

1 1/2 pounds pork belly, skin removed

2 1/2 tablespoons flake salt

1/2 teaspoon pink salt, optional

1/4 cup honey, brown sugar, or agave (with or without flavor)

2 tablespoons black coffee or apple cider

2 garlic cloves, smashed, I leave the skin on - it does not matter

1 tablespoon ground royal pepper blend

2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted

1 teaspoon coriander seed, toasted.

In a large resealable bag, add everything less the pork.  Combine well and then add the pork.  Rub the ingredients all over the pork.  When covered, lay in the bag and remove all the access air.  I am able to lay it sideways in the bag and fold the bag over to once side so that the liquid that gathers stay around the meat.  if you own a FoodSaver you can use that to remove all the air.  Each day, flip the bag over. Some liquid will begin to gather in the bag.

After seven days, wash the cure off the meat, rinsing thoroughly. Pat the bacon dry with paper towels and set it on a rack over a baking sheet. Allow the bacon to air-dry in the refrigerator overnight for best results.  If you are anxious, you can go fro the drying stage to the next step.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Roast the pork belly in the oven to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for about 90 minutes. Chill the bacon well, then slice to preference. ( we are experimenting here as we are trying to get a thinner slice.  We will let you know how our experiments work on the next month or so as it may take a few batches to resolve the problem.