brined pork chop with fried okra

I was surprised that the chops only needed to set in the brine for 2 hours. I’ve often done lazy marinades overnight in the fridge. But, after having cooked the pork, I wouldn’t want it any saltier.

preparing the brine: salt, brown sugar, juniper, garlic, sage

We picked up a cast iron fry pan this weekend, and this was the best alternative we have to grilling. We’ve had a few warm days in March, but we also saw snow this week. Not quite grilling weather.

brined pork: cooked perfectly in cast iron

Our verdict? Delicious. Perfectly tender meat with a great deal of flavor. My small foray into brining has me seeing the potential. Perhaps I’ll try the chicken or turkey next time.

There is one member of the family who hasn’t been happy about all of this meat-making. Everything’s been too delicious to share with poor, dear, dog.

the saddest dog in the world

Ever wonder what 5lbs of pork belly looks like?

For the homemade bacon, I cut out two slabs of about 1.8 lbs. Not for any particular reason, but that’s just how they came out. I prepared the salt cure mix as described in Ruhlman‘s Charcuterie and then added my seasonings – brown sugar, maple sugar, maple syrup. I rubbed one of the slabs with a bit of homemade cajun seasoning (cayenne, allspice, paprika, garlic and onion salts, black and white pepper) before rolling in the salt cure, to see if I could get a bit of heat in with the sugar.

can't wait til this is bacon

Well, these two are now hanging out in the fridge, and I’ll get to cut them up and smoke them next week.

In the meantime, I took the left-over bits of pork belly and made a quick meal. I had a bit of pork broth left over from my weekend boudin project (more on that soon, I promise!), but a seasoned chicken broth will do just fine. If your broth is plain, add some dried herbs during the braise, and the pork fat will do the rest of the magic.

braised pork belly with vegetables

Braised Pork Belly with Cabbage, Parsnip and Carrots
1 lb (or more!) pork belly
1 head small savoy cabbage
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1 – 1.5 cups broth
Preheat the oven to 375F. Wash the carrots and parsnips but do not peel. Halve and cut into 1″ long slices. Remove the heart of the cabbage, halve, then chop roughly.

Heat a cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. Add the pork belly, fatty sides facing down, and brown on all sides. Once browned, add broth with the carrots and parsnips, along with salt and pepper to taste. Place cover on dutch oven and braise at 375F for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, stir in cabbage, and braise for another 5-7 minutes, until cabbage is soft. If your cabbage hasn’t wilted, you can stir it on the stove top removed from heat, as the cast iron will retain some heat for a while.

Serve, and enjoy!

The duck breasts cured in salt for 24 hours, then washed, patted dry

duck prosciutto salt cure

Breasts are seasoned then wrapped in cheesecloth

left: maple sugar, right: juniper berries and bay leaves

and here they are hanging in the pantry til next week, or until their weight is halved.

keep the duck at 50-60f in a cool humid place

Hopefully a few friends will be around when we cut into these next week. Now, onto the bacon challenge.

my food diary

We did stop briefly in New Orleans, though we unfortunately arrived the day of the Sugar Bowl, and entered a French Quarter awash in red team shirts (Ohio vs Arkansas). I had only an inkling of what the natives must feel of this constant rowdy tourist barrage to their home town.

After New Orleans, we stayed with friends outside Lafayette, LA and this is where I was shown a beyond-the-tourist, this place ain’t on yelp, Louisiana. I tried boudin balls (pork, liver and rice stuffing, breaded then deep fried) at numerous venues, had crawfish boil from a small-town dive beside their own crawfish ponds, ate alligator, had the most amazing rum bread pudding in the world, and tried to learn all I could about etouffee, gumbo and jambalaya. I hope I’ll be able to share more of my experiences when I have more time to write.

dwyer's cafe, lafayette

Cooking into the New Year

G got me the best holiday present – an ice cream maker. I returned the favor with a waffle maker/griddle, so we’ll be testing out lots of new ice cream and waffle recipes.

Amy has tried and tested methods for her ginger beer, and I’ll be giving this recipe a whirl asap. After that- homemade rootbeer. I’d love to hear on anyone’s successes (or missteps) in this matter.

Over the last year, I got pretty comfortable with breads, working from no-knead recipes to more complex stuff. Beard on Bread is great if there are any folks wondering what to try after you’re bored with those no-knead recipes. But, I’d like to work more with starters and make a decent sourdough.

Lots of food blogger types have signed up for Charcutepalooza, and I think this is a great idea. I’ve just picked up duck breast for January’s Duck Prosciutto challenge. Still, there are some very specific things I’m putting on my own charcuterie to-do list:

• Michael Ruhlman has a great homemade bacon recipe over at the LA Times
• Finding Food’s Pork Rillettes recipe

Some cajun-specific things I’d like to create, if only because they are hard to locate around Boston:

• Boudin (and Boudin Balls)
• Andouille
• Tasso

For those last three, I will probably start with Donald Link’s recipes and experiment from there. Oh, and here’s my list of cookbook I hope to break in during the new year.

John Besh: My New Orelans came courtesy of my big sis for Christmas, and I’ve already made one of the gumbo recipes this week. It’s gumbo weather, as they say.

We visited Donald Link’s Cochon Butcher with Amy and Paul, where we had boudin links, duck pastrami sliders and drank Abita. I should have picked up his book Real Cajun then. Still, it’s on order and should be arriving in a few days.

Joanne Chang’s Flour Bakery Cookbook is stillllllll on backorder. Nevertheless, I made her homemade pop tart recipe Thanksgiving morning (with pepper jelly! it was genius) and I look forward to trying more recipes once the book comes in.

Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman is the official guide for those signing up for the Charcutepalooza challenge.

Now that I’ve written that all down, it seems like quite a lot to get done over the next year. I guess we’ll wait and see, and have lots of beignets ready when I need a break.

beignets and cafe au lait at cafe du monde