The Handsome Salami

While I have very much enjoyed participating in the charcuteapalooza challenges this year, I’ve found that the one problem I’m facing throughout all this is that I have an inordinate amount of meat in the house.

I know what you’re thinking: “is that really a problem?” 

Okay, it’s not the worst problem in the world to have.  But everywhere I turn in my little home I seem to have some sort of meat curing, brining or just stuffed in the freezer – either waiting for me to do something with it or as the leftovers from the creations I’ve already made.  It’s gotten so bad that I’m sure the ragazza thinks we live in a butcher shop!

What’s of particular concern is the space in my freezer – specifically, that there is none.  From the top to the bottom there are stacks of pancetta and frozen bacon leftover from the earlier challenges alongside frozen ribs, pork butts and briskets just waiting for the next project.  Every nook and cranny of my freezer is stuffed with some form or pig, cow or lamb and there’s just no room for anything else. 

So after Easter, when I was trying to stuff even more meat into the freezer (the result of leftovers from a big family dinner at the house) I realized that I had to make some room.  And after giving the contents of the freezer a thorough review I realized that there was something I could take out which would easily make a lot more room:  the giant pork shoulder I had been keeping in there for the past month.

Now I remember when I bought the pork shoulder but I don’t remember why.  It could have been to make carnitas for one of our regular “taco nights” or I could’ve bought it to make a porchetta – but at this point I didn’t know and I didn’t care.  What I did know was what I was going to do with it now: I was going to make pulled pork.

I don’t think I’ve ever made pulled pork before and it’s not something I’ve had often in the past (I usually go for the brisket when we’re somewhere having good barbeque).  But with a great recipe from Ruhlman’s book I thought I would give it a shot.  The fact that pulled pork is one of the ragazza’s favorites may also have had something to do with it!   

So since it was a beautiful weekend and I had Sunday with nothing to do, I fired up the smoker and got my pork ready.  I had a lot of leftover rub for when I made the spicy pork loin, so I slathered that all over the pork shoulder making sure to get it in every crack and crevice.  Then I took it outside where, after preparing the smoker with some charcoal and hickory wood chips, I laid it on top, closed the lid and waited. 

Since this pork shoulder was so big I knew it was going to take a long time to cook.  So I grabbed a beer and a good book and sat by the smoker to wait.  Finally after four hours I took it off the smoker and brought it inside.  In the kitchen I placed the pork shoulder into a roasting pan with a little water in the bottom and then sealed it up in aluminum foil and stuck it in the 250 degree oven for a few more hours to finish it off. 

By the time the pulled pork was ready to come out of the oven it was late on Sunday night – but the wait was worth it.  When I took the roasting pan out of the oven and removed the foil I saw a piece of pork that looked simply amazing.  Roasting it in the oven had made the skin dark – but not charred and when we started to slice up the pork I couldn’t help but start tasting a few pieces – and it tasted great!  We used forks to pull it all apart and then I added a generous helping of homemade barbeque sauce.  After smoking it all day and then roasting it in the over I was exhausted – but when I put that pulled pork on a hamburger bun I knew that all the hard work I had done was worth it – it was absolutely delicious!  And if it passed the ragazza’s test for a good pulled pork sandwich then I knew I had done a great job!

More nice weather means more time outdoors with the grill.  And the April Charcuteapalooza challenge was another opportunity to get some more practice using the smoker – and obviously another opportunity to spend a few hours outside drinking a beer or two while I wait for the smoky goodness that comes from using my new toy.

For April’s challenge we were given the option of smoking salmon, a pork loin or a pork shoulder.  Salmon would have been too easy, and a pork shoulder would have been too unwieldy – so pork loin it was.  With the pork loin I could’ve made Canadian bacon or spicy smoked pork, the difference between the two being that the pork loin is coated with a rub before being smoked while the Canadian bacon is brined before being smoked.   Both options sounded delicious, but in the end I chose the spicier option – a good choice, I think, not only because I really like spicy foods, but also because I suspect the ragazza was sick of seeing a giant pot full of briny meat in our fridge. 

Since I was nearing the deadline for completing the April challenge, I didn’t have the time to visit the Italian market to pick up my supplies – which meant I had only one other option for getting a good piece of meat close to home: Whole Foods.

Whole Foods…just saying the name sends a chill up my spine.  Every time I walk through its doors a little part of me dies.  It’s not because of what they sell - I think their meat and fish departments are pretty good (albeit very overpriced) – it’s because of what they don’t sell.  For example, one day I had to stop in on my way home from work because I needed sandwich rolls – just regular, ordinary sandwich rolls.  You would think that it would be easy to find something like that at Whole Foods, but that was not the case.  All I could find was a bunch of fancy, multi-grain, birdseed-topped things that would have been a dishonor to the delicious porchetta sandwiches that I wanted to make that evening.  Why couldn’t I just get regular sandwich rolls!  My blood is boiling just thinking about it!

But I digress.   

So after leaving the local Whole Foods last week I had in my hands a fantastic looking, albeit slightly small, pork loin.  It was only about two and a half pounds – smaller than what the recipe called for, but I wanted something that I knew would fit easily on the smoker and be a little more manageable.

When I got home I stuck the pork loin in the fridge while I prepared the rub.  I mixed up some salt, pepper, brown sugar and other spices and then covered the pork loin in the rub, making sure to coat every inch of it.  I wrapped the loin in plastic wrap, stuck it in the fridge for a few hours and then got to work preparing the smoker.

As usual I filled the smoker box with some charcoal and then some woods chips.  I used hickory wood chips, which I think, in the end, was the right call.  Then I threw the pork loin on the grill and, with a bottle of ice-cold Brooklyn lager in my hand, I waited. 

The pork loin ended up smoking for over two hours, but I had problems getting it up to a final temperature of 140 degrees.  Being appropriately fearful of trichinosis, I ended up sticking it in the oven for about a half hour and that finished it off. 

The results were fantastic!  The exterior looked great, and once I sliced into it I wasn’t disappointed - it was nice and juicy, with a great smoke ring along the edge of the loin.  And the taste was magnificent – spicy, but not clear-your-sinuses hot.  Also, I was really happy that I used the used the hickory wood chips – it still gave the meat a great smoky flavor, but not overpowering (an issue I encountered when I made bacon with the mesquite wood chips a few months ago).

Of course I cut a few slices and made sandwiches for dinner (the ragazza and I do love a good sandwich).  With some tasty cheese on top (also procured from Whole Foods, I must admit), we ate very, very well that night.

I think this was by far my best effort on the smoker.  I was really pleased with how the pork loin came out; the looks, the taste - this baby was the complete package. This is a dish I can see myself doing a lot more – I think it will be a big hit at the next barbecue this summer and I can’t wait to go at it again.

Now that the weather is finally getting better it’s time for me to start grilling again.  I can’t think of anything better than being outside with a beer in my hand, grilling up some burgers or sausages out in the sun.  In the summertime I’ll go out and grill anything – from porterhouse steaks to Portobello mushroom burgers, it’s all been on my grill at one point or another and it’s always been delicious.

But while I may be pretty good with the grill, using the smoker has been much more of a challenge.  Turning the old kettle grill that was left out in the backyard into a smoker was the easy part – cooking with it has been another story.  My biggest challenge has been keeping the temperature constant in the smoker so as to thoroughly cook what’s inside.  It’s difficult because every time I want to throw a few more briquettes or some wood chips into the smoker box it involves taking off the lid of the grill and using gloves or oven mits to carefully remove the grill grate (with whatever I’m cooking laying precariously on top) before I can toss in the briquettes or wood chips.  This often changes the temperature inside the smoker, making it take a lot longer to cook everything completely.   Needless to say, this can be a real hassle.

But…it’s worth it.  It’s been such a treat to be able to get that great smoky flavor in the food I’m cooking and I’m amazed that I have been able to do it at home.  I never thought I’d be able smoke food in my tiny backyard in the city, but I’ve made it work (without annoying my neighbors) and the results have been amazing.

So after seeing a lot of my colleagues taking the March Charcutepalooza challenge a step further by smoking brisket to make pastrami, I decided that I had to give it a try myself. 

This time I started off with a much smaller brisket than the one I used to make corned beef – this guy only weighed about three pounds.  It was a lot less fatty than the last brisket I used, which I hoped would make it a lot more manageable on the smoker.  I brined it in a pot full of water and some pickling spice and I left it in the fridge for a week.  I then took it out of the brine, lovingly dried it off and covered it in crushed black peppercorns and coriander seeds.  

At this point it was ready for the smoker.  Once again I threw a couple of pieces of charcoal in the smoker box and waited until they had ashed over.  Then I threw in some wood chips that I had soaking in a bowl and laid the grill grate over the grill before putting on the brisket.  I stuck the probe of my digital thermometer into the middle of the brisket and, with a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other, sat down to monitor the progress.

Which bring me to another reason why it’s great to have a smoker: it gives you an excuse to stay outside for hours drinking beer!  I mean, I certainly can’t be expected to leave the smoker unattended, right?  You need to monitor the temperature of the meat and make sure the flame doesn’t get out of control—and if the added benefit is that this paesan gets a little bit of a buzz and a tan…well, who am I to complain?  I’m doing it all for the charcuteapalooza!

After a few hours the brisket reached an internal temperature of 150 degrees so I took it off the smoker and brought it inside.  It looked great – when I sliced into it, I could see that nice smoke ring along the edge that comes with smoking meat.  And not to brag, but the flavor was incredible – I could really taste the spice from the peppercorns and coriander; it was just so tasty!  With a little spicy mustard and between two slices of rye bread it made for an out-of-this-world sandwich.  I’m really looking forward to making some more the next time I can spare a few hours – which I have a feeling I’ll be able to carve out sooner rather than later.

This was a fun one. 

Ever since I’ve started participating in Charcutepalooza, I’ve been on the hunt for more projects.  Whether it was infusing my own vodka, rigging up a smoker out of a kettle grill for making bacon or just throwing another brisket in the brine to make a pastrami as well as a corned beef, I’m always trying to push myself a little further.

So, naturally, when I came across a recipe for fennel-cured salmon while flipping through Ruhlman’s book, I knew I had found my next project.  It brought to mind something I had enjoyed many years ago on Christmas Eve – salt-cured tuna (known as mojama in Spain or mosciame in Sicily).  It was very much like prosciutto – similar texture, but with a much darker appearance and obviously a fishier taste.  I had it sliced thin and drizzled with a little olive oil - it was delicious (or at least that’s what I remembered).

I knew I had to do it.  I had to try to make this.  It was on!

I visited my local fishmonger and discussed what I needed.  The staff was incredibly helpful and asked me to come back the next morning so they could cut exactly what I needed from the fresh tuna that they would have on hand.  They cut the tuna exactly how I wanted it, giving me a section of the loin which was about an inch thick and six inches long.  It looked amazing!  It wasn’t that big – a little less than two pounds. I couldn’t wait to take it home and turn it into something delicious. 

Admittedly, locating a recipe for salt-cured tuna wasn’t easy.  I spent a lot of time on the internet, looking for detailed recipes or instructions; the best I came up with was this.   It was a little vague but, with the memory of salt-cured fishy deliciousness from years ago as my guide, I decided to press ahead.

First I covered the tuna in sea salt, placed it in an airtight Tupperware container, and let it hang out in the fridge for two days. 

Then I took it out, rinsed off all the salt, and filled the Tupperware with cold water before sticking it back in the refrigerator for another two days.  The recipe instructed me to change the water in the container three times a day, so I made sure to do that and after two days I took it out, dried it off and hung it in the refrigerator for a week.

And this is where I encountered yet another conundrum.  Not only did I have to figure out a way to suspend the tuna in the refrigerator for a week, but I had to somehow convince the ragazza that this was not, in her words, “totally horrifying.”  I promised her that the end result would be delicious and that the salt cure would keep the fridge from “stinking to high heaven” (again, her words, not mine). I ended up running some wire through the tuna and hung it under a shelf as securely as I could, where it stayed for the remainder of the week.

After a week of staring at the tuna every time I opened the refrigerator, I finally cut it down for a taste.  Even with my meat slicer, I couldn’t get the slices quite thin enough for my liking, but I did my best and finally was ready to try my creation. 

I have to admit, it’s definitely an acquired taste.  And maybe it wasn’t as delicious as I had remembered – but it looks pretty good and it tastes even better (at least according to the ragazza and me) and I think it’s going to be a great addition to my charcuterie repertoire.

I was really excited about making corned beef.  It’s one of my favorite foods - whether it’s between two slices of rye bread or served with cabbage and potatoes.  And what better time of year to make it than March, when that important “holy day” is near.  I figured that it would be fun to give it a try and then, if it turned out well, I could always amaze my friends with corned beef made from scratch while we were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day (that is, if everyone isn’t already passed out from all the Guinness and whiskey).

I’ve always wanted to try brining my own brisket and making corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day, but I never seemed to get my act together in time.  I suppose the week-long brining time was always a deterrent, but when the powers that be decided that the March challenge for Charcutepalooza would involve brining it finally gave me the excuse I needed to make corned beef from scratch.

As per usual I headed down to the Italian market to pick up a brisket.  I was a little disappointed in what they gave me – it certainly was a brisket, but it was covered in fat and looked nothing like what I was expecting.  But this was the first brisket I’ve ever bought, so what do I know?

Things have been hit or miss at the Italian market lately, but since all the meat I’ve purchased there worked out well for the January and February challenges I decided to roll the dice and give it a shot with my odd-looking brisket. 

Ed. Note: regardless of how the corned beef turned out, I am definitely going to have to look for another butcher.  I just haven’t been satisfied with the cuts of meat I’ve been getting at the Italian market.  I think I’ll see what I can find this weekend at the Reading Terminal market, otherwise I’m just going to have to start raising pigs myself.

I took it home and got started on my brine.  I mixed up all the spices from the recipe in Ruhlman’s book and then a put a few tablespoons of this pickling spice into a pot of water along with kosher salt, sugar, garlic and of course pink salt!  I boiled it all up and then took it off the stove and let it cool overnight.  The next day I put the brisket into the pot and stuck it in the fridge, where it lived among the ragazza’s Greek yogurts and next to a giant hunk of tuna hanging from the refrigerator shelf (more on that next week).  Finally, I removed it five days later - in anticipation of our Sunday night dinner guests.

When I took it out I was a little worried – it really didn’t look like the corned beef you see in stores.  Then again, none of the Charcutepalooza projects I’ve done looked like what you would find in the store (and they’ve all tasted delicious), so I sliced off all the fat, cut up a few slices and served it up.

It was delicious!  While it might not look like the prettiest corned beef, it tasted great – and that’s what counts!  I’m really happy with the way it turned out - with all of the projects I’ve done thus far, I’ve always been worried about how they looked or whether or not they would work out, but I’ve always been pleasantly surprised about how good everything has tasted.  And the corned beef was no exception - I might just have to make another one for St. Patrick’s Day!

The pancetta is finished and I have to say that I think it came out fantastic!  I was really worried about mold, but apparently you can cure meat in my kitchen cabinets. 

I checked on it every day and I was happy to see that it never dried out and it was always free of mold.  And it tasted perfect when I added it to my sauce for a homemade sugo all’amatriciana.  It was a great experience and I don’t think I’ll be needing to buy my pancetta in the store anymore!