This is a wonderful quickly cured salmon with fennel, sweetness, and a little saltiness. It's a slight modification of the recipe in Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn (which is pretty much THE place to start learning how to cure meat),
1/4 C sugar
1/2 C light brown sugar
6 T kosher salt
1 lb fillet of salmon, preferably wild caught
roughly 1/2 a fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 C toasted fennel seeds
1 T white pepper, cracked
Mix the salt and sugar and put a layer down in a container just large enough to hold the fish. Put down the fish, then add another layer of salt/sugar cure. Lay out the fennel, fennel seeds, and white pepper. Top with any cure you might have left. Cover with plastic wrap and weight it down. Keep this in the fridge for two days, making sure the fish is covered in the cure or the brine that will be produced as the cure draws moisture out of the fish. At the end of two days make sure that the fish feels firm and dense uniformly (leave it longer if it doesn't), then remove, discard the cure and seasonings, and rinse the fish off. Pat the fish dry, wrap in butcher or parchment paper and refrigerate for another day before thinly slicing; this could be used in the Cured Salmon, Fennel, and Grapefruit Salad.
Showing posts with label cured. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cured. Show all posts
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Pork Confit
Pork cured in herbs then slowly poached in fat. It may not be terribly good for you, but sometimes you have to indulge. You can make this with either loin or shoulder, with loin being better for things like slicing to put on sandwiches, but if you want to make rillettes you're really going to need to make it with the shoulder. This recipe is a slight modification of the one from Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn -- THE guide to curing meats, and as the weather gets colder and more suitable to hanging meat to dry, one you should definitely go buy.
Ingredients:
2.5 lbs of pork loin, or 4 lbs if using shoulder cut in to four slices for loin, or cubed for shoulder
2 T kosher salt
3 bay leaves
6 T flat leaf parsley
4 T fresh sage
1.5 T black pepper, ground or crushed
4 T shallots
5 cloves garlic
1/2 t pink salt (insta cure #1, a mix of salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite)
enough fat to fully submerge the meat, preferably rendered duck fat, but lard will also work (at some point I also want to try using fat rendered from beef marrow bones when making stock/glace)
Food processor together the herbs, shallots, and garlic, then add in the salt, pink salt, and pepper and processor briefly. Rub the meat with this mixture and refrigerate for three to four days.
Remove the meat and rinse off all the seasoning, then dry. Melt the fat in a pot or dutch oven, add the meat, and bring just to a simmer; the meat must be fully submerged. Remove from the heat and place in an oven preheated to 180-200 F. Cook until fork tender, approximately 4 hours for loin, and 4-6 for shoulder.
At this point you can remove the meat and separate out the meat and the juices from cooking, making sure to reserve both. The meat can be re-submerged in the fat and kept in the fridge for weeks or months (the original purpose of confit was to preserve meat), while the juices can be used as a seasoning for the meat, either mixed into rillettes or sprinkled onto the meat while pan searing. If you do this with shoulder the juices will also have a considerable amount of gelatin, which helps to produce a rich velvety sauce. Keep in mind that the juices and the meat will be fairly salty from the curing, so taste to make sure you don't over salt. The fat can be reused, but again, it will pick up salt.
Ingredients:
2.5 lbs of pork loin, or 4 lbs if using shoulder cut in to four slices for loin, or cubed for shoulder
2 T kosher salt
3 bay leaves
6 T flat leaf parsley
4 T fresh sage
1.5 T black pepper, ground or crushed
4 T shallots
5 cloves garlic
1/2 t pink salt (insta cure #1, a mix of salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite)
enough fat to fully submerge the meat, preferably rendered duck fat, but lard will also work (at some point I also want to try using fat rendered from beef marrow bones when making stock/glace)
Food processor together the herbs, shallots, and garlic, then add in the salt, pink salt, and pepper and processor briefly. Rub the meat with this mixture and refrigerate for three to four days.
Remove the meat and rinse off all the seasoning, then dry. Melt the fat in a pot or dutch oven, add the meat, and bring just to a simmer; the meat must be fully submerged. Remove from the heat and place in an oven preheated to 180-200 F. Cook until fork tender, approximately 4 hours for loin, and 4-6 for shoulder.
At this point you can remove the meat and separate out the meat and the juices from cooking, making sure to reserve both. The meat can be re-submerged in the fat and kept in the fridge for weeks or months (the original purpose of confit was to preserve meat), while the juices can be used as a seasoning for the meat, either mixed into rillettes or sprinkled onto the meat while pan searing. If you do this with shoulder the juices will also have a considerable amount of gelatin, which helps to produce a rich velvety sauce. Keep in mind that the juices and the meat will be fairly salty from the curing, so taste to make sure you don't over salt. The fat can be reused, but again, it will pick up salt.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Pastirma
It's getting cooler, which means this is the time to start curing meat, and this one is a rich, spicy, delicious cured beef common among many of the countries that made up the Ottoman empire. It originated in Armenia and is very common in Turkey though I was originally introduced to it by an Egyptian roommate in undergrad. It can also be called basturma or any one of a number of others depending on country.
A roughly 2 lb piece of beef like inside round. You want it to be fairly lean and with the grain of the meat running along the axis of the meat; you could use something like tenderloin if you want to shell out the money, but you don't want something thin like brisket. See note 1.
Salt for curing, you're looking for about a ten to one mix of kosher salt to pink salt* (see note 2)
Seasoning:
4 T red pepper powder (a mix of paprika and cayenne to taste)
1/2 t salt
1-2 t black pepper, ground
1/2 T cumin
3 T methi (fenugreek) seeds, ground
1 t allspice, ground
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
Note one: this is a piece of meat that's going to hang at close to room temperature for a month, and likely won't be cooked, so get the good stuff. Don't just get stuff from the supermarket, but find yourself a good butcher and get to know them so you know you're getting quality meat.
Note two: You'll occasionally hear stuff about how nitrites aren't safe (and pink
salt is 6.25% sodium nitrite), but in small quantities it's just fine and occurs naturally in food we eat. More importantly, it inhibits the growth of botulism. I don't do any curing outside of short cures in the fridge without nitrite, and I wouldn't do any multi-month cures without nitrate.
* Trim the meat, then thoroughly coat the meat with the curing salt. Put in a dish and cover with plastic wrap before weighting down and refrigerating for 3-4 days. Turn the meat once a day, and when the time is up it should be fairly solid to the touch.
* When done, rinse the meat, soak it for 20-30 minutes, then thoroughly dry it.
* Run a piece of string through a corner of the meat, then hang it up to dry in a cool place (60 F, ~60% humidity) for two weeks. Check it regularly, and if any white or green mold is starting, scrub the whole time down with white vinegar. If black mold forms, or if the mold recurs, pitch the whole thing. Some recipes call for wrapping in cheese cloth, but that's just asking for mold.
* After those two weeks, mix the seasoning together with enough water to make a thick paste, then rub it all over the meat. Hang it to dry for another two weeks.
* At this point you're ready to eat, just slice it thinly and chow down (yeah, the dried seasoning mix will crumble off, but it's imparted its flavor); alternatively, sauteing some up in a skillet then scrambling some eggs with it would be a traditional use.
A roughly 2 lb piece of beef like inside round. You want it to be fairly lean and with the grain of the meat running along the axis of the meat; you could use something like tenderloin if you want to shell out the money, but you don't want something thin like brisket. See note 1.
Salt for curing, you're looking for about a ten to one mix of kosher salt to pink salt* (see note 2)
Seasoning:
4 T red pepper powder (a mix of paprika and cayenne to taste)
1/2 t salt
1-2 t black pepper, ground
1/2 T cumin
3 T methi (fenugreek) seeds, ground
1 t allspice, ground
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
Note one: this is a piece of meat that's going to hang at close to room temperature for a month, and likely won't be cooked, so get the good stuff. Don't just get stuff from the supermarket, but find yourself a good butcher and get to know them so you know you're getting quality meat.
Note two: You'll occasionally hear stuff about how nitrites aren't safe (and pink
salt is 6.25% sodium nitrite), but in small quantities it's just fine and occurs naturally in food we eat. More importantly, it inhibits the growth of botulism. I don't do any curing outside of short cures in the fridge without nitrite, and I wouldn't do any multi-month cures without nitrate.
* Trim the meat, then thoroughly coat the meat with the curing salt. Put in a dish and cover with plastic wrap before weighting down and refrigerating for 3-4 days. Turn the meat once a day, and when the time is up it should be fairly solid to the touch.
* When done, rinse the meat, soak it for 20-30 minutes, then thoroughly dry it.
* Run a piece of string through a corner of the meat, then hang it up to dry in a cool place (60 F, ~60% humidity) for two weeks. Check it regularly, and if any white or green mold is starting, scrub the whole time down with white vinegar. If black mold forms, or if the mold recurs, pitch the whole thing. Some recipes call for wrapping in cheese cloth, but that's just asking for mold.
* After those two weeks, mix the seasoning together with enough water to make a thick paste, then rub it all over the meat. Hang it to dry for another two weeks.
* At this point you're ready to eat, just slice it thinly and chow down (yeah, the dried seasoning mix will crumble off, but it's imparted its flavor); alternatively, sauteing some up in a skillet then scrambling some eggs with it would be a traditional use.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Citrus Cured Salmon
A bright citrusy salmon, perfect on a bagel with some cream cheese or as a starter for a fancy meal.
2.5 lbs fresh salmon
1/2 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
zest of two oranges and two lemons
1 T lemon juice
1 T orange juice
1/4 C grand marnier
3/4 C kosher salt
Mix the sugars, salt, and grated zest. Sprinkle half the mixture over the bottom of dish just large enough to hold the salmon (this is important, you want to keep the brine in close contact with the fish). Place the fish in the pan and coat with the mixed citrus juice and grand marnier, then add the rest of the salt-sugar-zest mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap then place a dish on top of the salmon and weight it down.
Refrigerate for two days. The salmon should be firm to the touch when done, if it isn't give it another day in the cure. When it's done rinse the cure off and dry the salmon. Slice it thinly when you're ready to eat.
2.5 lbs fresh salmon
1/2 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
zest of two oranges and two lemons
1 T lemon juice
1 T orange juice
1/4 C grand marnier
3/4 C kosher salt
Mix the sugars, salt, and grated zest. Sprinkle half the mixture over the bottom of dish just large enough to hold the salmon (this is important, you want to keep the brine in close contact with the fish). Place the fish in the pan and coat with the mixed citrus juice and grand marnier, then add the rest of the salt-sugar-zest mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap then place a dish on top of the salmon and weight it down.
Refrigerate for two days. The salmon should be firm to the touch when done, if it isn't give it another day in the cure. When it's done rinse the cure off and dry the salmon. Slice it thinly when you're ready to eat.
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