I'm back at it over at JustPigs and I've just started my own Bresaola. I know that Jamie and Jim recently tried a new recipe. Since this is my first time trying Bresaola, I'm sticking to the Ruhlman/Polcyn recipe in Charcuterie. As I was preparing this one I remembered that Wayne had mentioned making Bresaola soaked in wine. Did we ever hear about/see the results? It sounded like a good idea, and I would be curious about trying it in the future. 

Additionally, I've been cooking a bit of offal. I made a very good grilled lamb's heart salad. (more pictures when you click through) 

I've also been experimenting with lamb's tongues in salads, stews and terrines. 

We have two other meaty projects planned: Beef Heart Pastrami and Mortadella. I have half a pig on order and am going to order a bladder casing this week from Butcher Packer. I'll let you know once we get started with those.

Lastly, because I know how you people feel about pork porn, here's a pig's foot we recently used in a huge pot of soup. First we boiled it with veggies and white beans, then we put a southwestern style rub on it and bbq'd it, finally we dropped it back in the soup and cooked it just a little more to meld all the flavors. 

Last night we cut into our spicy coppa from Big Pig Day. Rob says it's the best thing we've made so far. It was quite spicy, but we like that. (I did not wash any of the spices off as Jim did.) 

I found it a little difficult and messy to stuff the meat into the casing and the casing tore a little bit. I had to actually cut one or two of the bigger pieces in half lengthwise. Would love to make this again, if I could ever again find the right cut. 

 

Quick update on my Tuscans and Genoa from last weekend. I have kept my Genoa under a damp towel, changing and checking twice daily, for the past week. I have been able to keep the humidity at about 80-85% and the temp in the mid- to high-60s F. I took the Tuscans out of the oven on Tuesday morning and hung them downstairs in the same room as the genoa, but about 18" away and not under a towel. 

Just a note that over at justpigs we're going to make Longaniza this month. Join us!

Rob and I made liverwurst over the weekend. We got the recipe from Home Sausage Making. This was the first time I've ever done something in a muslin casing. I had to get out my old sewing supplies to stitch the cheesecloth, which was actually kind of fun and felt very old world. We really like the way this recipe is spiced and would definitely make it again (maybe a half recipe). We used a fresh, unsmoked ham steak instead of pork butt, as we are out of pork butt at the moment, and increased the amount of pork fat. We also had a little trouble maintaining the water temp at a constant 175F for 3 hours, but we watched it and adjusted as needed and it came out just fine. 

 

via Cured Meats

Check it out.

I made my first batch of saucisson sec last month. We have enjoyed the results very much. We got 5, roughly 10-12 inch sausages in hog casings from the recipe. They have been curing for about three weeks and have lost more than the 30% of their weight. I used a little less meat and a little more spice, but basically followed the recipe from the Charcuterie book. So they are a bit spicy, though to good effect (Rob basically ate a whole one by himself tonight!).

In my recent lamb box from Sierra Farms I had Mel throw in a lamb's tongue. I've been wanting to recreate the Lamb's Tongue Salad from Flour + Water. The tongue is served whole over lightly dressed potatoes with salsa verde and a poached egg. For my version tonight, I sliced the tongue and omitted the egg since we were also having lamb steaks. 

 

For Thanksgiving this year I decided to forego the turkey, primarily because I thought I would have a whole lamb-- and lamb for thanksgiving sounded great! Alas, the lamb delivery date was moved back and I was stuck. When David said he had rabbits, I jumped! I could do something rabbit-y. As it turns out we're having 25 people so the rabbits alone would not do it--I also bought a half dozen guinea hens--but I could use them for some awesome apps and a first course.