Fun Jelly and a bit of bacon

January 2, 2010


Well I have never been able to sit still long and walking pneumonia or not I decided to whip up something usual today. There are very few fruits online this time of year less a few type of citrus and what I find somewhat boring, persimmons. There is however an often overlooks edible found all over the western United States that most would pass by and mistakenly believe are a poisonous fruit, pyracanthus. The fruit is anything but toxic, instead it is more akin to apples. You can eat them raw but most would find them mealy. As a jelly with the addition of some citric acid (lemon juice), pectin and sugar it’s a lovely conserve.

The recipe for this is quite simple, locate ripe pyrachanthus berries and harvest them. You will know when they are ripe when the birds start nailing them in huge flocks, usually that is early to mid January where I live in the central valley of California. You will want to gather a few pounds of berries (if not more), which you will wash and remove any stems and leaves. To this add roughly ¾ cups of water to each pound of berries and boil hard for one to two minutes. Strain the berries through clean cheese cloth or a jelly sack. To this add (citric acid, fruit fresh) 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1 cup sugar to each cup of strained juice. Also add pectin as instructed by the directions on the band you use. Usually its one pack of pectin to 5 cups of juice. Bring this mixture to a boil for a few minutes than add liquid to clean sterile mason jars. Follow standard canning time tables, roughly 5 minutes in boiling water for jelly. Carefully remove jars from your boiler and allow them to cool. Should keep for over a year but I doubt they will last that long once you taste its subtle flavor.

Yesterday I also when ahead and bagged up the 40lbs of bacon, pancetta, tasso, scraps I had laying around for 6 hog bellies I processed for xmas presents. Curing your own bacon is probably one of the easier charcuterie exercises you can execute in the kitchen. This bacon is far superior to anything you can find domestically in any grocery chain and few shops produce to what I would consider this level of charcuterie in the states. Mario Batali’s fathers shop up in Seattle. So here goes the shameless plug for his shop http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

Should you not muster the courage to cure your own meat then be sure to patron their shop. But I encourage you all to attempt to cure some of your own meats. It really is a lost art that is being revived by a handful of faithful followers like me. You will find that it is critical to locate a reliable farmer or grow your own, preferably from heritage breeds. Stay away from any of the commercially grown animals at all costs, they are raised in horrible conditions, and butchered in filthy commercial factories. If you don’t live near a reliable butcher get together with some friends and go to your local county fair, buy yourselves a nice butcher pig…Plan a weekend, butcher and process the animal yourself. Be sure to follow local laws. Many areas forbid the dispatching of the animals in any area other than FDA approved facilities. But if you can take that next step and dispatch the animal humanely with a clean shot to the back of the head then I suggest it. My reasoning is twofold. First you should realize your food comes at a cost, second there is some ritual to the taking of an animal and you should experience it. Those that have done it tend to be more passionate about how animals are bred, reared and put down. Too much of our society believes meat comes prepacked in cellophane at the local grocery. Believe me when I say you don’t want to see where your meat was raised or processed in those commercial facilities. I realized a long time ago I was a definite carnivore, so I have learned to hunt, butcher and eat…

On to bacon. Nothing could be a simpler process or get you sicker if you don’t follow the rules. Curing by definition is chemically cooking meat to prevent the growth of nasties such as botchalism. Improperly handled and processed meats can and will make you sick if not dead. So make sure you read and understand all the steps in advance and be sure to cure your meats in the fridge and always use pink salt of insta-cure #2 if you plan on a ferment cure. Nitrates and Nitrites have been proven to be cancer causing but vs the painful slow death of botchalism be sure to use them. Pink salt aka saltpeter (this is the stuff your granddad told you was in his K rations that kept the troops from getting aroused) will keep the meat, when properly used, a nice pink hue and prevent the growth of all the nasty bacteria’s and allow you to safely consume the meat you cure.

Enough said on saltpeter and meat.

Get yourself a nice hog belly. You will notice a couple things about the bellies right away, one end is thicker and fattier than the other. From a good sized hog belly you should be able to carve it up into 4 equal pieces. True up the ends and make the nice and neat. With the thicker ends I normally cure then hotsmoke these, with the thinner ones I cure into pancetta. On the hotsmoke side its not uncommon for me to sweet cure these. The overall process is really simple you will make up a batch of cure. This is a combination of salt (only use Kosher Salt), pink salt, sugar, and aromatics.

Basic Dry Cure

2 Kilos Kosher Salt

10 grams pink salt

200 grams sugar (double this for sweet bacon)

Aromatics (pepper corns, red pepper flakes, rosemary, bay, nutmeg, allspice, mace, coriander, etc.)

Find yourself a container/s that will fit in your frig and hold your clean up, butchered pork belly. Mix your dry cure well, make sure the pink salt is very well incorporated. No working on one piece of belly at time rum in liberally the dry cure you just made. Once you finish the first piece place it in your container, stack the other pieces on atop the other. After the first 24 you will notice a good deal of liquid has drained from your belly pieces. Discard this and repeat the salt rub on each piece and restack in your container, make sure you switch up the order each day. Place the bottom piece on top. Repeat this process every day for 5 days and its done. Should any part of the pieces feel mushy let it cure a few more days. You are looking for a firm texture. Once you are sure its cured pull them out and carefully wash your bacon of all excess salt. Dry with paper towel and find a nice clean cold place and hang them for a couple days. I use my wine cellar. For the pieces I wish to smoke I pull those out slap them in the smoker and cold smoke for 3 hours then hot smoke until the internal temp on the thickest part of the bacon reads 150 degrees F. The other pieces I hang for 10 days or so then package those I will not eat right away with a vacuum sealer and drop them in my freezer. I keep one of the slabs in my fridge rapped in cheese cloth and use as required in all my cooking. Rapped this way the bacon will keep for several weeks. Enjoy..